New Delhi, Aug 22: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday extended greetings on Eid al-Adha, hoping that the festival of sacrifice would deepen the spirit of compassion in the society.
"Best wishes on Id-ul-Zuha. May this day deepen the spirit of compassion and brotherhood in our society," Modi tweeted.
Best wishes on Id-ul-Zuha. May this day deepen the spirit of compassion and brotherhood in our society.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 22, 2018
Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.
"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.
India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.
The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.
Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.
The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.
"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.
He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.
"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."
Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.
Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.
"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.
"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".
New Delhi, Jun 8: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced that malls, restaurants and religious places in the national capital would open from Monday after more than two months since the coronavirus-induced lockdown was imposed, but banquet halls and hotels would remain closed.
At an online briefing on Sunday, Kejriwal said hotels and banquet halls might be converted into hospitals in the coming days to treat coronavirus patients and therefore, they would remain shut.
"Malls, restaurants and religious places will be opening from Monday in Delhi in accordance with the Centre's guidelines," he said.
The city government will comply with the instructions of the Centre and its experts like maintaining social distancing and wearing of masks at these places, Kejriwal said.
"In view of the rising number of coronavirus cases, we might attach hotels and banquet halls with hospitals and convert them into hospitals. Hotels and banquet halls will not be opened for now," he said.
The Centre had said on May 30 that "Unlock-1" would be initiated in the country from June 8 and the lockdown would be relaxed to a great extent.
The Delhi government also issued an order allowing opening of restaurants, shopping malls and places of worship except in the COVID-19 containment zones, "subject to compliance with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare".
Kejriwal urged the elderly people, who are at a higher risk of contracting the coronavirus, to confine themselves in a room and not to interact with even the family members in order to protect themselves.
Delhi has so far registered over 27,500 coronavirus cases, including 761 deaths.
Bhopal, Mar 12: The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Thursday took a dig at Jyotiraditya Scindia, who broke ranks with the party and joined BJP on Wednesday, by pointing out that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Amit Shah had not even put out as much a tweet to welcome him in the party, and construed it as "humiliation" for the "maharaja".
"Not even a tweet by Narendra Modi-ji or Amit Shah-ji to welcome Scindia-ji! Modi-ji, Shah-ji, at least do not do it so soon. It has not even been 24 hours yet and you guys have already started humiliating him...!" Madya Pradesh Congress tweeted in Hindi.
Taking a jibe at Mr Scindia, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Gwalior who ended his 18-year-long association with the Congress party on a bitter note, the state Congress said: "He is a maharaja, the one whose history is often mentioned by Shivraj-ji (former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan)."
On Wednesday, Jyotiraditya Scindia joined BJP in New Delhi in the presence of party president JP Nadda. He had resigned from Congress a day earlier after meeting Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Scindia will file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections on March 13. He is expected to go to Bhopal today.
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