News Analysis India

Tag: Piyush Goyal

  • Union Minister JP Nadda Named Leader Of House In Rajya Sabha |

    JP Nadda, the Union Health Minister and a prominent member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was named the Speaker of the Rajya Sabha today. In the Cabinet, Mr. Nadda is also in charge of the Chemicals and Fertilizers portfolio. The Union Minister will be replacing Piyush Goyal as the Leader of the House. Goyal took oath as a member of the Lower House.

    Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge is the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. Besides Nadda, there are 11 members of the Upper House who are in the Union Council of Ministers.

  • Piyush Goyal rejects speculations on change of leadership in Maharashtra BJP

    Union Minister and senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal rejected speculations on a change of leadership in the party’s Maharashtra unit following the party’s dismal performance in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

    Goyal said that the BJP leadership has no such idea and no such discussion has taken place in the party’s core committee meeting. There were speculations that Rao Saheb Patil would be made the state president.

    Earlier on Tuesday, a meeting of the Maharashtra BJP core committee was held at the BJP national headquarters under the leadership of BJP National President JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.According to sources, the party’s central leadership has given a road map for the assembly elections in Maharashtra. The reasons for losing the Lok Sabha elections were also discussed in the meeting, they said.

    After the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters that all such issues were discussed, including those that had impacted the Lok Sabha election results, and how to overcome those shortcomings in the upcoming assembly elections.

    Fadnavis said that the BJP will enter the fray to contest the assembly elections with full force.Union Ministers Bhupendra Yadav, Ashwini Vaishnav, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, State President Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Pankaja Munde, Ashish Shelar, Chandrakant Patil, and Rao Sahib Patil were present in the meeting.During the meeting, Bhupender Yadav was appointed as the in-charge for Maharashtra and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will be the co-in-charge for the state.

    The BJP dipped to nine seats in Maharashtra against 23 in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The vote share stood at 26.18 per cent. The Congress, on the other hand, marginally improved its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state.

    The Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won seven and one seats respectively, taking the total tally of the NDA to 17. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackrey) got nine seats while the Nationalist Congress Party – Sharadchandra Pawar won eight seats. (ANI)

  • Modi 3.0: Cabinet sees 6 Maharashtra ministers including Gadkari, Goyal; State’s strength dips by 2

    Mumbai: Six MPs from Maharashtra have joined the Modi 3.0 coalition government, with the BJP securing four positions and allies Shiv Sena and RPI (A) receiving one each. Notably, the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar declined the BJP’s offer of Minister of State (MoS) with independent charge, insisting on a cabinet berth for Praful Patel.During the second term of the Modi government from 2019-24, there were eight ministers from Maharashtra representing the BJP and its allies. This number has decreased to six as of Sunday.In the new government, BJP MPs Nitin Gadkari and Piyush Goyal retained their positions as cabinet ministers.Raksha Khadse, the sole woman MP from Maharashtra representing the BJP, along with first-time MP Murlidhar Mohol, were sworn in as Ministers of State.AllUttar PradeshMaharashtraTamil NaduWest BengalBiharKarnatakaAndhra PradeshTelanganaKeralaMadhya PradeshRajasthanDelhiOther StatesAmong the BJP’s allies, RPI (A) chief Ramdas Athawale retained his position as Minister of State with independent charge, while Prataprao Jadhav from the Shiv Sena, under the leadership of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, also took oath as Minister of State with independent charge.The NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, declined the offer of Minister of State, insisting on a cabinet berth for Rajya Sabha member Praful Patel due to his extensive experience.Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said coalition formulas must be respected, assuring the NCP would be considered in future cabinet expansions. “We had offered one berth of minister with independent charge to the NCP but they wanted Praful Patel’s name to be finalised. Due to his experience, the NCP believed he could not be made MoS with independent charge,” Fadnavis said.

    In a coalition government, a formula has to be drawn, which cannot be broken for one party, he said.

    “I can confidently say whenever cabinet expansion takes place, the government will consider the NCP. We did try to include NCP right now, but they insisted on cabinet portfolio,” the senior BJP leader said.

    Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Ajit Pawar asserted the NCP “was ready to wait” but wanted a cabinet berth.

    The eight ministers from Maharashtra who were part of the Modi-led government from 2019-24 included Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Rane, Bhagwat Karad, Raosaheb Danve, Bharti Pawar and Kapil Patil- all from BJP, and Ramdas Athawale of the RPI (A).

    In the recently held Lok Sabha elections, the BJP fared poorly in Maharashtra as it could win only nine seats, compared to the 2019 tally of 23 out of the total 48 constituencies in the state. The Shiv Sena led by Shinde bagged seven seats and Ajit Pawar-led NCP just one.

    Gadkari, Goyal, Khadse and Mohol won from Nagpur, Mumbai North, Raver and Pune Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively, in the recent elections.

    Notably, the BJP did not re-induct Narayan Rane in the Union cabinet though he won from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat.

    Three other BJP ministers – Raosaheb Danve, Bharati Pawar, and Kapil Patil- in the previous government lost the elections this time.

    Inputs from PTI

  • India AI Mission: Check 8 Key Components Of Cabinet’s Newly Launched Plan |

    New Delhi: Yesterday, March 8, 2024, the union cabinet under the leadership of Minister Piyush Goyal introduced the India AI mission, allocating Rs 10, 371.92 crore for its implementation. The mission is launched to boost AI development in the country for the next 5 years. For ease, we have decoded the key components of India’s AI mission.

    IndiaAI Mission: How It Will Be Implemented?

    According to the union minister Piyush Goyal’s briefing, the implementation of the mission will be executed by IBD and DIC. (BIG Bonanza To Ujjwala Beneficiaries; Govt Extends Rs 300 LPG Subsidy)

    1. Compute Capacity

    Speaking to the reporters after the cabinet meeting, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said, one of the primary focuses of the AI mission is to establish an ecosystem equipped with AI compute infrastructure, comprising 10,000 or more graphics processing units (GPUs). (Also Read: Good News For Job Seekers! Elon Musk’s Firm X Has Over 1 Million Openings)

    The government has planned to develop this infrastructure through public-private partnerships.

    2. AI Marketplace

    The government plans to create an AI marketplace, offering AI as a service and pre-trained models to AI innovators. This initiative aims to facilitate access to AI resources for developers and entrepreneurs.

    3. Startup Financing

    Deep-tech AI startups will receive support under this initiative. This will boost the growth of innovative ventures in the AI space.

    4. Non-Personal Dataset Platform

    The India AI Datasets Platform will streamline access to non-personal datasets for entrepreneurs and startups. A unified data platform will be developed to provide seamless access to these datasets, aiding Indian startups and researchers in their endeavors.

    5. Innovation Centre

    The India AI Innovation Centre will focus on developing and deploying indigenous large multimodal models and domain-specific foundational models in critical sectors, contributing to technological advancements.

    6. AI Application in Critical Sectors

    Through the IndiaAI Application Development Initiative, AI applications will be promoted in critical sectors, addressing problem statements sourced from the government. This initiative aims to leverage AI to enhance efficiency and address challenges in various sectors.

    7. IndiaAI FutureSkills

    Under the FutureSkills program, entry into AI programs and courses at undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. levels will be encouraged. Additionally, data and AI Labs are planned to be set up in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across India to provide foundational-level courses.

    8. Responsible AI

    To ensure the responsible development and deployment of AI, projects will be initiated to develop indigenous tools and frameworks. Self-assessment checklists for innovators and other guidelines and governance frameworks will also be established.