Category: Articles

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today tore into ministers who had skipped parliament duty and asked for a list of absentees to be given to him every evening.

At a weekly meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, PM Modi asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi to give the names of ministers who had been absent despite being rostered for parliament duty.

The Prime Minister advised his party’s parliamentarians to “work beyond the sphere of politics,” according to BJP leaders present at the meeting.

Stressing on the water crisis, PM Modi reportedly asked lawmakers to sit with officials in their constituencies and discuss people’s issues.

“MPs must do some unique work in their constituencies, work with the local administration and participate in social work,” PM Modi reportedly counselled lawmakers.

He also urged lawmakers to “work in mission mode” to tackle disease like tuberculosis and leprosy.

Even earlier this month, the Prime Minister had berated party lawmakers for skipping parliament.

At another parliamentary party meeting, he had expressed dismay over the conduct of lawmakers like veteran BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s son Akash Vijayvargiya, who assaulted an official with a cricket bat and later showed no remorse.

Such people should be expelled from the party without exception, “no matter whose son”, the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 15 spoke to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and took stock of the flood situation in the state, where the deluge has claimed 11 lives this year while millions are affected, officials said.

During the telephonic conversation, the Chief Minister briefed the Prime Minister about the current situation and informed him that 31 of the state’s 33 districts were hit by the current spell of floods.

Modi assured Sonowal of all assistance from the central government in dealing with the situation, an official said.

On July 13, the chief minister had briefed Home Minister Amit Shah about the flood situation in Assam. Shah directed the National Disaster Response Force and other agencies to provide all necessary help to the flood affected people.

The flood situation in Assam worsened on July 14 with the death toll rising to 11 and nearly 26.5 lakh people affected.

Barpeta is the worst-hit district with 7.35 lakh people facing the flood fury, followed by Morigaon where 3.50 lakh people are hit. In Dhubri district, 3.38 lakh people are affected, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said.

Former Indian captain and cricket legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni may be dropped from the Indian squad as he is not in the future plans of Team India, the Times of India reported. According to reliable sources quoted by TOI, Dhoni is not the same batsman that he used to be and MSK Prasad will speak to him about retirement so that he retires and youngsters get chances.

“We’re surprised that he’s not done it so far. There are youngsters like Rishabh Pant waiting to grab their chance. As we saw in the World Cup, Dhoni isn’t the same batsman anymore. Despite coming in at No. 6 or 7, he was struggling to force the pace, and it was hurting the team,” said a source from BCCI.

This source also stated that MSD has no chance of getting selected for the West Indies series as he is not an automatic pick anymore.

“I don’t think he’s in the selectors’ plan for the 2020 T20 World Cup too. He must quit international cricket gracefully. He isn’t an automatic pick any more,” the anonymous official added.

He also mentioned that the board did not want to distract him before the World Cup talking about retirement but the time has come for the 38-year-old to take a call.

“We didn’t want to distract him, and he too must have wanted the team, and himself, to be focused on the Cup. But the time to take a call is now. He has nothing left to achieve or prove in international cricket anymore.”

Budget smartphones are getting better by the day when you look at the features they offer, but there are very few entry-level phones that offer what the Redmi 7A brings to the table. Last year’s Redmi 6A, did come across as a mild disappointment considering how well the Redmi 5A (review) did for Xiaomi, but with its latest entrant, the company’s definitely tried to up the game for its rivals — Realme and Samsung.

Xiaomi’s latest sub-Rs 6,000 phone boasts of an octa-core processor, a sturdy, splashproof build, a capable camera and a monstrous battery, making it a pretty obvious choice for those looking to buy their first Android smartphone. But the Redmi 7A, despite its appealing price and feature set, doesn’t really go beyond the limit of just being a good entry-level phone, and that’s definitely something worth looking at given the bevy of options available under Rs 9,000.

What’s changed with the Redmi 7A and what hasn’t?

Xiaomi’s overhauled how their budget phones look in 2019, as we’ve seen with the Redmi Note 7 Pro (review), Redmi Y3 (review) and even the Redmi 7 (review). Thankfully, the Redmi 7A’s no exception.

The moment I picked up the Redmi 7A, I felt like I was holding on to a chunky bar of chocolate. Compared to last year’s Redmi 6A, the front fascia doesn’t look too different, although the bezels have been shaved off ever so slightly. There’s also a rather loud ‘Redmi’ branding on the bottom bezel, which I’m certainly not a fan of.

 Nearly 50 days after Rahul Gandhi stepped down as Congress president, taking moral responsibility for the humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, the grand old party is yet to finalise a new chief.

Gandhi, now an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, became the Congress president in 2017. He offered to step down from his post at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on May 25, taking moral responsibility for the party’s drubbing in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.

In these 50 days that went by, not only has Gandhi made his resignation public but also removed the tag of “Congress President” from the bio of his official Twitter handle. The Congress, who has presently become a “leaderless” party, has also been facing multiple shocks at the state levels.

Currently, the ongoing crisis in Karnataka has become a major cause of concern for Congress, which is leaving no stone unturned to save its government in the state.

According to the Congress’ constitution, the CWC has the right to elect Rahul Gandhi’s successor as the new party president. However, the senior leaders are yet to announce it.

As per sources, senior leaders of the party are squabbling over possible names. In this regard, senior leaders convened two meetings in the Congress War Room, but, only Karnataka politics was discussed.

One of the possible reasons behind the delay in the selection of Congress president is that the party’s general secretary KC Venugopal is currently busy in solving the ongoing Karnataka crisis and is camped in Bengaluru. It is believed that the way to the CWC meeting will open only after a resolution to the Karnataka issue.

Despite offering his resignation, Gandhi has met the leaders of electoral states. In Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, the party’s new state chief was also appointed.

A dozen disgruntled Congress MLAs in Karnataka have resigned and reached the Supreme Court against the state speaker. Similarly, two-thirds of the MLAs in Telangana and Goa have also changed sides.

Meanwhile, things have apparently worsened between Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) chief Sheila Dikshit and in-charge PC Chacko. While Chacko is defying the decisions taken by Dikhsit, the three executive leaders and a large section of the Delhi Congress are accusing the DPCC chief of arbitrariness.

Similarly, in Haryana, an election committee created by party’s state president Ashok Tanwar was cancelled by in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad.

In Maharashtra, the Congress recently announced Balasaheb Thorat as party’s state president instead of Ashok Chavan. However, a cold war is allegedly on between party leaders Milind Deora and Sanjay Nirupam with the latter taking a jibe at Deora when he talked about his resignation as Mumbai unit party chief.

During a review meeting of general results in Jharkhand, party’s state president Ajay Kumar and in-charge RPN Singh faced flak from workers. Gandhi met leaders from different states but so far he has not met leaders from Jharkhand. However, in the state, Congress is more dependent on Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

In Punjab, Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu has tendered his resignation from the state Cabinet after his tussle with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh over his post reshuffling and many other reasons in the past. However, a faction supporting the chief minister has termed Sidhu’s decision to resign as “drama”.

An apparent cold war is also being witnessed in Congress-ruled Rajasthan between Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his Deputy Sachin Pilot.

In Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, a race is underway for the party’s state president.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday said if his minister Navjot Singh Sidhu did not want to do his job, there was nothing he could do about it. This came hours after the cricketer-turned-politician sent his resignation to the chief minister on Monday.

“If Sidhu doesn’t want to do the job, there is nothing I can do about it… how could a soldier refuse a job assigned by the General,” said Amarinder Singh. “There has to be some discipline in the government if it is to function effectively,” added the CM.

“The minister should have accepted his new portfolio instead of shunning work in the middle of the crucial Paddy season,” said the CM who has been at loggerheads with Sidhu even since the latter joined. The differences deepened after Sidhu visited Pakistan on PM Imran Khan’s invitation an reached a flashpoint after last month’s reshuffle.

Sidhu was, in the reshuffle, stripped off his portfolios of Local Bodies, Tourism and Culture and was left with only Power ministry, but he had not taken charge. He had sent his resignation to Congress president Rahul Gandhi soon after the reshuffle.

The CM said he did not see any harm in Sidhu sending his papers to the Congress president. “The cabinet was decided in consultation with the Congress high command so it was okay for Sidhu to send his resignation to the party president,” said the Chief Minister. He was talking to reporters at Parliament House after a courtesy call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On Sidhu’s resignation, the Chief Minister said he had been informed that the resignation was sent to his residence in Chandigarh but he was yet to see it. He said he would have to read it first to be able to comment on it, he added.

The Chief Minister expressed his unhappiness with the statement issued by Sidhu and his wife regarding the latter’s candidature for the parliamentary elections. He clarified that he had never opposed Mrs. Navjot Sidhu’s candidature and had suggested she should contest from Bathinda, which the couple rejected.

On Rahul Gandhi, the Chief Minister said he would certainly be meeting him. Rahul continued to work for the party, which was not at a standstill, as being projected by the opposition and sections of the media. The work (in the Congress) is going on, with a whole team to lead, said Captain Amarinder.

Captain Amarinder said he had called on the prime minister since he had not met him so far during the latter’s second term. However, he said that he used the opportunity to discuss the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. “The prime minister confirmed his participation in the mega event and assured of all possible help to make the programme a grand success, befitting the historic occasion,” said the Chief Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit the United States in September for the upcoming U.N. General Assembly meeting and is likely to address Indian-Americans in Houston during his trip, community leaders said Friday.

Chicago and Houston are the two American cities in contention for the Prime Minister’s venue to address the diaspora when he is likely to travel to the U.S. later this year to attend the United Nations’ Annual General Assembly in New York.

No official announcement about the trip has been made yet. According to informed community sources, the Prime Minister is likely to travel to New York from Houston to address a special meeting of the UN on climate change on September 23.

Community leaders said that the dates for the Prime Minister’s address is not final yet, but they have been asked to make preparations for a potential address of Mr. Modi in Houston on September 22.

Houston is the energy capital of the world. Energy security is a priority area for the Prime Minister.

This would be Mr. Modi’s third major address to the Indian-American community after he became the Prime Minister in 2014. The previous two being at the Madison Square Garden in New York in 2014 and Silicon Valley in 2016. Both the events were attended by more than 20,000 people.

While the planning for proposed the Houston event is yet to kick off, community leaders are looking at multipurpose NRG Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 70,000 people.

Houston has one of the largest concentrations of the Indian American community in the U.S. The Texas Governor and Mayor of Houston had visited India last year.

Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant dropped four ministers from his cabinet on Saturday and replaced them with three defectors from Congress and a BJP MLA.
Former opposition leader Chandrakant Kavalekar, former minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues and Jennifer Monserrate were administered oath of office by governor Mridula Sinha at Raj Bhavan. All three rebels were part of the 10-member Congress splinter group.

Calangute MLA and BJP leader Michael Lobo was also sworn-in as minister in the state cabinet.
Kavalekar, who led the Congress rebels to join the saffron party, is likely to be made deputy chief minister. He is a four-time MLA from Quepem.
Jennifer is the wife of Panaji MLA Atanasio Monserrate. Atanasio had wrested the seat from BJP which was represented by former chief minister Manohar Parrikar for nearly 25 years.
Rodrigues has served as a minister both in the BJP and Congress governments in the past.
Like Jennifer, Lobo has become a minister for the first time and has served as a deputy speaker.
Portfolios will be allocated to the four later in the day, sources said.
Chief minister Pramod Sawant, who took over the reins of the state following the demise of Parrikar, dropped three ministers of BJP’s ally – Goa Forward Party (GFP) – earlier in the day.
Deputy CM Vijai Sardesai, fisheries minister Vindo Paliencar, housing minister Jayesh Salgaonkar as well as Independent MLA from Porvorim Rohan Khaunte were dropped by the Sawant-led government.
Following Sardesai’s move, GFP said it would withdraw support to the government.
In the 40-member house, BJP has 27 MLAs, Congress five, GFP three, Independents three and NCP one.

Earlier today, specifications and renders of the Xiaomi Mi A3 leaked telling us what to expect from this smartphone. And now, an anonymous tipster has sent us a few images of the Mi A3 and its retail box which confirm the phone’s design and key specs.

The white-colored retail box confirms that Mi A3 will come in Blue and White shades. But one of the images show the phone in Black as well.

Rest of the specs include a 6.08″ AMOLED display, UD fingerprint scanner, and a 4,030 mAh battery with 18W fast charging support. There’s also a 48MP camera at the back and a 32MP selfie shooter on the front.

All these details suggest that the Mi A3 will be a global version of the recently announced Mi CC9e, but, while the CC9e comes with an HD+ display, the A3 is rumored to sport an FHD+ panel. Well, that actually makes sense as the Mi A2 came with an FHD+ screen and Xiaomi wouldn’t want to launch its successor with a lower-res display.

Future conflicts will be “more violent” and “unpredictable” with technology, cyber domain playing a greater role, Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat said on Saturday. He was speaking at a seminar in New Delhi to mark the 20th year of the Kargil conflict.

“The military must be ready for a mutli-spectrum war. The rise of non-state actors and the rapid changes in technology is changing the nature of warfare. Cyber and space domain will increasingly play a bigger role as the battle field becomes more contested and at the same time will be seamlessly connected,” General Rawat said drawing out the contours of future conflicts.

The Indian Army needs and is going through a transformation. “The formation of the Space, Cyber and Special Forces divisions is indication of the transformation that the armed forces are going through,” he said.

The cross border strikes after Uri Brigade Headquarters attack in 2016, and Balakot air strike after the Pulwama suicide bombing in February this year not only demonstrate the political-military resolve but also another indication of the changes, the army chief said.

In 1999, the intrusion by Pakistan Army was detected in the early stages despite it being spread over 160 km across Kargil over a few months, but General V P Malik, the Chief of Army Staff during the Kargil conflict ruled out intelligence failure.

“There was no intelligence or even assessment about Pakistan trying to carry out an operation,” the former Chief staff said in a candid admission at the seminar. As a result, for a long time, it was believed that the heights had been taken over by the Mujhahideen and therefore the approach adopted to was that of counter insurgency,” General Malik said.

“We lacked surveillance equipment and depended mainly on the foot patrols,” General Malik said and added, “Unlike Siachen, there wasn’t much awareness about the Kargil-Batalik sector. Winter clothing, special equipment weren’t even authorized for the Kargil-Batalik sector.”

The Kargil conflict saw one of the greatest counterattacks in military history when the Indian army overcame heavy odds to recapture strategic heights where Pakistani intruders had sneaked in and entrenched themselves firmly.