PM Modi links India’s wellbeing to world’s prosperity

LUCKNOW, FEB 10 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the guarantee to world prosperity lies with India, as he urged investors to bet on the country -- and on Uttar Pradesh where a large “aspirational society” waited for them.

He was inaugurating a three-day Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit, which the state government claimed has already attracted investment proposals worth about Rs 33 lakh crore.

At the summit, India’s leading conglomerates Reliance, Aditya Birla Group and Tata Sons committed themselves to an investment of over Rs 1 lakh crore in the state to expand their businesses.

Welcoming foreign delegates and Indian industry leaders to the summit, Modi linked the world’s economic well-being to that of India.

He pointed at the state’s “double-engine” government – with the BJP in power both at the Centre and in Lucknow – and said UP is full of possibilities.

“There cannot be a better partnership than this.

Let’s not waste this time.

World’s prosperity lies in India’s prosperity. The bright future of the world is guaranteed in the bright future of India,” he said.

The prime minister referred to the impact of the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine on the global economy and said India emerged quickly out

PM silent on issues raised by opposition, claims TN CM

ing the wedding of DMK functionary Paruthi Ilamsuruthi with Nandhini at Korattur here.

of the crisis, showing resilience.

“The biggest reason for this is the increasing self confidence of Indians,” Modi said, adding that the country is seeing a big change in the mindset of its youth and society’s aspirations.

Every Indian citizen now wants to see more development, as quickly as possible, he said.

“The aspirations of Indian society today are giving a push to the governments as well, and these aspirations are also adding

Finance Minister rejects

‘green Budget for Adani’ charge

NEW DELHI, FEB 10

SRINAGAR, FEB 10

(PTI): Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami on Friday said imposing the Hindi language in Jammu and Kashmir will amount to an assault on national integration and further deepen the divide in the Union Territory. The imposition of Hindi is an arbitrary decision

CHEN NAI, FEB 10

(PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi is silent on the issues raised by the DMK members in Parliament, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Friday and claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha election will herald a new beginning in the country just as the 2021 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu ensured a new “dawn” in the state.

Modi, the Chief Minister said, remained silent as he had no answers to the questions posed by the DMK Parliamentarians.

“The Prime Minister has no answers to the questions posed by the DMK MPs like T R Baalu or Kanimozhi on the Sethu Samudram Ship Canal project or Madurai AIIMS project. The 2024 Lok Sabha election will herald a new dawn in the country just as the 2021 Assembly election led to the rise of the DMK in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said after solemnis- pace to development work,” the PM said.

Also, Stalin sought to know about the status of the BJP’s poll promises, especially bringing home black money stashed in foreign banks, creating two crore jobs for the youth per annum and crediting Rs 15 lakh in every person’s bank account. “Forget about Rs 15 lakh, did the BJP government credit at least Rs 15,000 or even Rs 15?” the Chief Minister asked.

Turning to DMK’s role in bringing prosperity to the state, he said February 10 flooded his mind with memories of his father M Karunanidhi becoming the Chief Minister on this day in 1969.

A five-time Chief Minister, Karunanidhi had contributed a lot to the development of Tamil Nadu and showed the way for India, Stalin added.

“Whenever Kalaignar (as late Karunanidhi was addressed) put his pen on paper, monuments like Valluvar Kottam and establishments like Tidel Park rose and so did the stature of Tamil Nadu. His signature led to the state’s prosperity and changed the destiny of the Tamils,” Stalin further said.

“Like entire India, a very large aspirational society is waiting for you now in UP,” he told potential investors.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attended the summit launch. More Union ministers were slated to participate later in panel discussions.

The prime minister talked about India offering new physical and digital infrastructure, seamless markets and simplified bureaucratic procedures. He said reforms in India are being carried out not because of compulsion, but because of conviction.

“India today is truly on the path of pace and scale. We have fulfilled the basic needs of a large section –and that is why it is thinking of the next level, thinking of the future,” he said.

(PTI): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday rejected Opposition charges of the Budget allocations for green and clean energy being made keeping the Adani Group in mind, saying it might be Congress culture to give benefits to ‘jijas’ and ‘bhatijas’ but not of the Modi government.

Sitharaman had in Budget 2023-24 provided Rs 35,000 crore for clean energy transition -- a space where the Adani Group has announced massive projects ranging from renewable energy capacity to green hydrogen production. Such allocation has been tagged ‘green growth’ budget and the Opposition punned it to imply it was meant for Adani Group firms such as Adani Green Energy Ltd.

“ ... kyun ki mera naam le kar ek vipaksh ke neta bole, kya Nirmala Sitharaman ne green mei itna amount allot kiya, kya itna amount kisiko mann mei rakhte hue allot kiya? (Because one Opposition leader took

Oppn attacks govt for not meeting expectations of commoners in Budget

AITC member Shan - tanu Sen said when the Prime Minister was speaking on Thursday “not a single MP from AITC, or Congress, AAP or anyone was shown exercising their basic democratic right” nor was it covered by the Rajya Sabha TV.

NEW DELHI, FEB 10

(PTI): Opposition parties on Friday criticised the government for not meeting the aspirations and expectations of the people in the general budget this year, with some even calling it so lacklustre as to not aim at India’s future development. Participating in the general discussion on budget, DMK member M Mohamed Abdulla said that the people expected an “amazing government” from NDA when it came to power in 2014, but instead, they got an “Amazon government.”

The Union government has given a lacklustre budget which does not aim at the growth or welfare of the people of this country, he said, as he highlighted the high rate of unemployment and inflation in the country.

“This budget shows that this government does not have any road map to build India’s future, instead this government want to push the fortune of gift city Ahmedabad at the cost of other financial and commercial centres of the country,” Abdulla said, and called into question scant relief for poor people and ordinary taxpayers in the budget.

“Government sells public sector firms to their corporate masters and when corporate companies struggle, very recently like your friend Adani’s companies were struggling, your government takes common man’s money from government company like LIC or SBI to infuse funds into those and who uses the money to manipulate the stock market,” the leader said referring to a recent wipe out of Adani Group shares in the wake of the Hindenburg report.

He claimed that the Budget was opportunistic, rhetorical, and had “turned a blind eye to the plight of the common man” with its silence on inflation, unemployment, and other key issues.

He alleged that although the Union Finance Minister spoke of inclusive development, there was a “38 per cent budget cut for minority schemes.”

“Budget for madrasas and minorities education has been slashed to Rs 10 crore...,” he said, adding, there has been no significant increase in budget allocation for higher education and school education, he stated.

The unemployment rate in December 2022 was 8.3 per cent – the highest in the last 16 months – with four crore youths currently jobless, Sen said. He alos said that the outlay for healthcare seems to have increased but, adjusted to inflation, there is actually a decrease.

Stones pelted at Vande Bharat train in Telangana

tion Force (RPF) noticed it and an investigation is underway, they said. Asked if there was any damage or cracks to window panes, the officials told PTI: “It (damage) will be assessed after the train reaches Visakhapatnam”.

last month, unidentified persons had pelted stones at a coach of the train at the railway yard in Visakhapatnam breaking a glass window.

PM Narendra Modi had on January 15 virtually my name and said, did Nirmala Sitharaman allocate so much amount to green sector keeping in mind a particular individual?)

“Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi government, any allocation is not made keeping anyone specific in mind, rather by keeping everyone in mind.

The government keeps country in mind. Such kind of remarks is absolutely wrong...,” the minister said without naming any company or individual. She was replying to the general discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha.

Proceedings of Parliament have been disrupted by

Opposition parties demanding a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee or a Supreme Court monitored enquiry into allegations of financial fraud made by USbased Hindenburg Research against the Adani Group.

While participating in the debate, Congress’ Leader of the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury sought an explanation from the Finance Minister on how can investors have confidence when the market capitalisation of one of the richest persons in the world eroded by 47 per cent following allegations of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation. Without naming the Congress, Sitharaman said there were times when phone calls were made to banks for giving loans to benefit certain people.

“...if phone calls were made, if relations were given benefit, if jijajis and bhatijas (brothers-in law and nephews) were given benefit, it might be their culture,” she said in an apparent dig at the Gandhi family.

Here as family member, not as PM: Modi at Bohra community event

MUMBAI, FEB 10 (PTI):

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday recalled the decades-old bond he shared with the Dawoodi Bohra community.

“l am here as a family member, not as prime minister,” Modi said after inaugurating the fourth campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy, premier educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra community. Modi said visiting the campus is like visiting his own family, and spoke about his bond with the community.

The Bohra community has stood the test of transforming with the times, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said in the last few years an atmosphere of unprecedented trust has been created in the country as he reached out to the influential Dawoodi Bohra community and praised its members for changing themselves with the times.

Presenting himself as a family member of the community and not as Prime Minister at an event at Marol in suburban Andheri, Modi fondly recalled his decades-old close ties with the social group.

Inaugurating the fourth campus of Aljamea-tusSaifiyah Arabic Academy, a premier educational institute of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of the Muslim community, he said the country has put an end to 40,000 compliances and decriminalised hundreds of legal provisions. These laws adversely affected businesses of entrepreneurs, but the government is now standing firmly with job creators, said the PM on his second visit to Mumbai in less than a month.

Job Opening

HYDERABAD, FEB 10 (PTI): Unidentified persons pelted stones at a coach of the Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam Vande Bharat of the BJP government that has a singular purpose, to deepen the divide in a multilingual, multi-ethnic society of Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

“The direction of Jammu and Kashmir State Council of Educational Research and Training (JKSCERT) to teach the Hindi language of classes Ist to 10th in all schools amounts train while it was passing through Mahabubabad district of Telangana on Friday, railway officials said.

The Railway Protec - to deepening the divide further,” Tarigami said in a statement. He said such recommendations are negating the legacy of the freedom struggle and the constitutional promises of nourishing unity and diversity.

“Favouring Hindi at the cost of other languages amounts to an attack on national integration,” he added.

It is suspected that some children may have pelted stones at the train, however, investigations were on, they said based on preliminary investigation. The probe is on and the railway police will file a case on its own, the official further said. Ahead of the launch of the Vande Bharat Express