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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet women lawmakers of the BJP over breakfast at his official residence today, sources said on Thursday.

This will be the prime minister’s fifth such interaction with party lawmakers as part of series of meetings planned by the BJP, a source said.

In total, seven meetings of BJP lawmakers with the prime minister have been planned. The lawmakers have been divided in seven groups and PM Modi has already met party parliamentarians belonging to the OBC, SC and ST categories, and those who were ministers once.

These meetings have been planned so that BJP lawmakers from both the houses get an opportunity to directly interact with the prime minister, who can guide them and discuss various issues, especially related to Parliament, a BJP leader said.

A lawmaker, who attended one of these meetings, said PM Modi directly interacted with them and describe it as more of an informal one.

Barring Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also the BJP president and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, no other Union ministers are not part of these meetings.

Both Houses of Parliament worked extra time to finish the legislative business on Thursday. In fact, Lok Sabha functioned till 11:58 pm.

Railways Minister Piyush Goyal is expected to reply on demands of grant for his ministry, in Lok Sabha. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may give reply on Budget discussion in Rajya Sabha. Then there is Private Members’ business too.

Rahul Gandhi continues to enjoy a “larger than life image’ among Congress workers and the next party president should be someone who can work in tandem with him, said former Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Thursday.

Admitting that the current state of affairs appears to be “a little confused run to the finishing line”, Mr. Khurshid appealed to his colleagues to “courteously find a way forward” on the leadership.

“I am very clear that Rahul Gandhi is not walking away. He has said that he is going to be in fight. Now, if he has said he remains in fight, he will not be a little Salman Khurshid or a little somebody else. He will be the larger than life leader that he has been, but he won’t be president,” the former Law Minister said in an interview with the The Hindu.

“We should be looking for a leader who can work in tandem and not a replacement for Rahul Gandhi. I think it will be a mistake to for a replacement while he is vigorous, determined and made a clear indication that he would be there to fight with the forces we want to fight,” he added.

Talking about the ‘young versus the old’ debate that has broken out in choosing the next Congress chief, he said, “The ideological position must be let’s have somebody who is really outstanding, somebody who is the best. It doesn’t matter what their age is. Obviously, if you are very old then you cannot lead for the next 10 years. We already have a young leader in Mr. Rahul Gandhi and you need a companion leader who could lead for the next five or 10 years and build from where we are today.”

Ahead of the formal launch of his book, Visible Muslim Invisible Citizen, the former Law Minister spoke with the The Hindu on a range of subjects: from the Congress’ current leadership crisis to the 2019 election results to discussing what defines an Indian Muslim.

The Jharkhand High Court Friday granted bail to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam relating to Deoghar treasury. Justice Apresh Kumar Singh granted Yadav’s bail plea in the case relating to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar Treasury on the ground that he has served half of his prison term of three-and-a-half years.

However, the RJD chief will remain in jail as he is also serving sentence in two other related cases. Lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi, he has been convicted in over Rs 900-crore fodder scam cases which pertains to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Deoghar, Dumka and two Chaibasa treasuries of various districts of undivided Bihar in the 1990s when RJD was in power and Yadav was the chief minister. He then received bail in one of the two Chaibasa-treasury related cases.

Yadav, is also facing a fourth fodder scam case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of money from Doranda Treasure.

In April, the Supreme Court had dismissed Yadav’s arguments that he has been in jail for 24 months, saying in comparison to the 14-year sentence awarded to him, 24 months was nothing.

Yadav has been in a prison here since December 2017 and is now under treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in the city.

Despite the JD(S)-Congress coalition government being reduced to a minority  (100 MLAs), the opposition BJP is still wary of seeking a trust vote or of moving a no-confidence motion in the monsoon session of the legislature beginning Friday. Instead, the saffron party has been seeking the resignation of chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on moral grounds.

Why BJP is wary of a floor test

Although 16 MLAs from Congress and JD(S) have resigned, speaker KR Ramesh Kumar is yet to accept their resignations. Unless resignations are accepted, the strength of the legislative assembly remains 224. In the event of a trust vote or non-confidence motion, the coalition will easily pass the test by issuing a whip to all its MLAs.

However, the BJP may be a better position to plan its future course of action by the end of the day today once the speaker decides on the fate of rebel MLAs. The Supreme Court on Thursday asked 10 rebel MLAs of the Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka to meet the assembly speaker at 6pm and to resubmit their resignations to him.
The SC refused urgent hearing on the speaker’s plea seeking more time to decide on resignation of rebel MLAs. The apex court said the decision taken by the speaker has to be intimated on Friday when it takes up the matter again.
No-confidence motion vs trust vote
A confidence motion or a trust vote is normally proposed by the chief minister to test the majority in the assembly with or without a direction from the speaker or governor. A no-confidence motion is usually moved by the opposition when it feels that the ruling party or parties does not have a majority in the House any longer.
Consequences of violating party whip
If an MLA violates a whip, s/he faces expulsion from the House under the anti-defection law. The JD(S)-Congress government is also thinking of using the Tamil Nadu model to teach rebel MLAs a lesson.

The phone was naturally quite popular in the budget segment due to its attractive price tag of just Rs. 5999 ($87). At this price, the Redmi 7A offers Snapdragon 439 octa-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, and an HD 720p 5.45-inch display. The polycarbonate body and the 18:9 aspect ratio ensures the phone doesn’t look cheap. Further, there’s a large 4000mAh battery on board to power the device for a couple of days easily. With these specs, you get tremendous value for money under $100.

However, it looks like Xiaomi couldn’t prepare enough stock in the first sale with the device selling out in a matter of seconds on both Flipkart and Mi.com. India MD Manu Kumar Jain has promised more stock in the second sale next week (July 18) but it remains to be seen whether it’ll be enough for users to grab a unit for purchase.

Note that the Redmi 7A does not have a fingerprint sensor but users can take advantage of its AI face unlock. There are two storage variants available, a 2GB+16GB model priced at Rs.5999 (~$87) and a 2+32GB one priced at Rs.6199 (~90). However, for a limited time this month, the company is offering both the variants at discount. So you can get the 32GB model at just Rs.5999 (~$90) which would be a steal!

Smriti Irani is a social media queen and there is no denying that. From her impeccable timing with memes to her adorable pictures with her family, the BJP minister’s Instagram page is the most relatable thing on the internet.

Last evening when India lost to New Zealand and its place from the finals in ICC World Cup 2019, Indians were left with shattered dreams.

But during the initial overs of the match we all still had hopes from Dhoni, even when Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma were bowled out of the game with just one run.

And seems like the Minister for Women and Child Development also had the same emotions for India’s former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Taking to her Instagram, Smriti posted a status for Captain Cool in which she talked about the cricketer’s greatest achievement in the sport.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has asked global warship makers to submit proposals to build six conventional submarines in India to boost local shipyard capability and plug gaps in the navy’s underwater warfare fleet.

France’s Naval Group SA, German Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems GmBH, Swedish Saab Kockums, Spanish Navantia SA and Russian Rosoboronexport OJSC were asked to show if they can transfer technology to build the diesel-electric powered submarines in India, people familiar with the matter said in New Delhi, asking not to be identified as the discussions were private.

The request for expression of interest to the foreign companies were issued earlier this month, they said, but the award of contract could take at least three years.

Defense ministry spokesman Aman Anand wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The government issued a separate expression of interest on June 20 for an Indian shipyard to build the submarines at a cost of 450 billion rupees ($6.6 billion). The program is already delayed by at least three years.

The Indian shipyards asked to respond include two private companies — Larsen & Toubro Ltd and Reliance Naval & Engineering Ltd. — as well as five state-owned groups Mazagon Docks & Engineers, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, Goa Shipyard Ltd, Hindustan Shipyard Ltd and Cochin Shipyard Ltd.

The Indian shipyard selected under the process would tie up with the chosen foreign company to establish dedicated manufacturing lines for the submarines in India.

There would be an option to build six more submarines under the same project.

Modi’s government is aiming for 50% indigenous content in its new submarines program, and aims to fully produce its own submarines through the technology transfer, Indian Navy’s Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition Ajay Kumar Saxena said in New Delhi on Monday.

China Dominance

India is woefully short on underwater fighting capabilities.

The navy has a fleet of just 13 conventional submarines, all at least 20 years old. Its plan, approved in 2000, envisaged the construction and induction of 24 conventional submarines by 2030. This acquisition schedule has been hit by delays of more than six years in the program to build six French Naval Group-assisted Scorpene submarines at the state-owned Mazagon Docks and Engineers.

It also has a locally-manufactured nuclear-armed vessel and a nuclear-powered vessel borrowed from Russia in 2012 on a 10-year lease worth $1 billion.

That compares with China’s vast fleet, which includes 50 conventionally-powered, four nuclear-armed and six nuclear-powered attack submarines. Beijing’s submarine force will likely grow to between 65 and 70 submarines by 2020, according to the U.S. Defense Secretary’s report to the Congress in May.

A Gujarati folk singer who dedicated a song to Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him on Monday after it became a hit. PM Modi said in a tweet later that he was impressed by her efforts to popularise folk music. 

“People like Geeta Rabari inspire our society. Belonging to a humble background, she dedicatedly pursued her passion of singing and excelled. I am deeply impressed by her efforts to popularise Gujarati folk music among youngsters,” PM Modi tweeted, wishing her the best for her future endeavours.

The singer told news agency ANI that she decided to meet PM Modi after her latest song “Rona Sherma” – dedicated to the Prime Minister – became a hit.

Geeta Rabari also said that she had met PM Modi when she was a child.

“Back then I sang in my school and he (Narendra Modi) was there. He gave me Rs. 250 as prize and told me that my voice is good and that I should practice and keep singing,” she said.

“Now that my Gujarati song has became a hit so I came to seek his blessings,” she added.

Geeta Rabari said PM Modi was “like her father”.

The singer also said it was this government’s “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” scheme that made her education possible. ‘

This special edition comes with a Spider-Man-themed UI and arrives in a red-colored retail box which includes a cool phone case with a Spider-Man logo. There’s also a white-colored gift box which likely includes some goodies.

  
Realme X Spider-Man Edition

The Realme X Spider-Man Edition will be making its way to India next Monday alongside the regular model. These phones will be likely joined by the Realme 3i, which is expected to be a new version of the Realme 3.