Malappuram, Feb 11: The under 50-women duo, who entered Sabarimala on January 2- Kanakadurga and Bindu on Monday accused BJP of instigating their kith and kin to revolt against them.
Speaking to media here, they said that attempts are being made to isolate Kanakadurga from her family. There was no issue in the family till she entered the shrine.
BJP is behind mending Kanakadurgas' brother to speak against her in public, they alleged.
May 27: At a time when India is struggling with the deadly coronavirus, huge swarms of locusts in many states has bought nightmares to the farmers.
Experts warn of extensive crop losses if authorities fail to curb the fast-spreading swarms by June when monsoon rains spur rice, cane, corn, cotton, and soybean sowing.
Locusts entered India after traveling from Africa through Yemen, Iran and Pakistan.
After massive devastation in Pakistan, t swarms of locusts entered India through Rajasthan and Gujarat. The number is so large that the farmers and authorities are feeling helpless in tackling the threat.
The situation has become more alarming as the locusts is spreading across the country at an extremely fast rate. After badly affecting the crops in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, the swarm of locust have now entered Uttar Pradesh.
In Rajasthan alone, the locust attack has damaged 5 lakh hectares of crop and nearly 17 districts of Madhya Pradesh have also seen their terror. Earlier from May 2019 to February 2020, too, the locust swarms entered India several times.
Speaking on the current situation, Dr Ram Pravesh, District Agricultural Officer, Agra, Uttar Pradesh said the Department of Agriculture is working with farmers in dealing with the situation. He urged the farmers to inform their Mandal Krishi Adhikari if they require any help.
India's largest-ever locust attack was in 1993 when more than three lakh hectares of cultivated land were completely destroyed.
Earlier in 2020, farmers salvaged their wheat and oilseed crops from a previous locust scourge.
May 13: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Wednesday mocked the prime minister's announcement of a Rs 20 lakh crore financial package as a "headline and blank page", and said he was looking forward to the finance minister filling the blank page.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced massive new financial incentives on top of the previously announced packages for a combined stimulus of Rs 20 lakh crore.
Chidambaram said he would count every additional rupee the government infuses into the economy and examine what the poor, hungry and devastated migrant workers get after walking hundreds of kilometres to their home states.
"Yesterday, PM gave us a headline and a blank page. Naturally, my reaction was a blank!
"Today, we look forward to the FM filling the blank page. We will carefully count every ADDITIONAL rupee that the government will actually infuse into the economy," he said on Twitter.
The former finance minister said "We will also carefully examine who gets what?".
"And the first thing we will look for is what the poor, hungry and devastated migrant workers can expect after they have walked hundreds of kilometres to their home states.
"We will also examine what the bottom half of the population (13 crore families) will get in terms of REAL MONEY," he said in a series of tweets.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also slammed the prime minister's announcement.
"Last night the Prime Minister did what comes to him best. Maximum packaging, Minimum meaning.It was a case of classic NAMO. No Action Message Only," he said on Twitter.
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".
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