Tag: President of India

  • Why did Congress never think of making an Adivasi our President, asks PM Modi

    By PTI

    DAHOD (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked why the Congress did not support Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election if the opposition party was so concerned about tribals.

    He was speaking at an election rally in the tribal-dominated Dahod town of central Gujarat for BJP candidates in the region.

    Constituencies in central Gujarat will go to the polls on December 5, in the second phase of the Assembly elections.

    Speaking at a rally in tribal-dominated Mahuva village in Surat district on Monday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of snatching away the rights of tribals.

    Modi referred to Gandhi and his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra in the speech.

    ALSO READ | Congress gave you MGNREGA, scholarships; BJP took away your land: Rahul to tribals in Gujarat

    “A person is conducting a foot-march to get back power. In his speech, he talks about tribals. I want to ask him, why Congress did not support the BJP’s woman tribal candidate in the presidential election? Instead, they fielded their own candidate to defeat her,” the prime minister said.

    “Despite Congress’ efforts’ Droupadi Murmu became President “with the blessings of tribal people,” he added.

    “Why did Congress never think of making an Adivasi (tribal) our President? It was the BJP which made a tribal person, that too a woman, our country’s President for the first time and sent a message to the world,” Modi said.

    He also accused the Congress of not paying attention to the development of the British-era Parel area of Dahod.

    “But, as PM, I remembered it, and now investment worth Rs 20,000 crore has come here for building railway locomotives. These locomotives will be exported to other countries too. This huge investment will ultimately benefit the locals,” he said.

    Dahod district received a host of facilities and benefits under the BJP government including engineering and nursing colleges, a medical college, tap water connections and development of amenities under the Smart City Project, Modi said.

    DAHOD (Gujarat): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked why the Congress did not support Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election if the opposition party was so concerned about tribals.

    He was speaking at an election rally in the tribal-dominated Dahod town of central Gujarat for BJP candidates in the region.

    Constituencies in central Gujarat will go to the polls on December 5, in the second phase of the Assembly elections.

    Speaking at a rally in tribal-dominated Mahuva village in Surat district on Monday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of snatching away the rights of tribals.

    Modi referred to Gandhi and his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra in the speech.

    ALSO READ | Congress gave you MGNREGA, scholarships; BJP took away your land: Rahul to tribals in Gujarat

    “A person is conducting a foot-march to get back power. In his speech, he talks about tribals. I want to ask him, why Congress did not support the BJP’s woman tribal candidate in the presidential election? Instead, they fielded their own candidate to defeat her,” the prime minister said.

    “Despite Congress’ efforts’ Droupadi Murmu became President “with the blessings of tribal people,” he added.

    “Why did Congress never think of making an Adivasi (tribal) our President? It was the BJP which made a tribal person, that too a woman, our country’s President for the first time and sent a message to the world,” Modi said.

    He also accused the Congress of not paying attention to the development of the British-era Parel area of Dahod.

    “But, as PM, I remembered it, and now investment worth Rs 20,000 crore has come here for building railway locomotives. These locomotives will be exported to other countries too. This huge investment will ultimately benefit the locals,” he said.

    Dahod district received a host of facilities and benefits under the BJP government including engineering and nursing colleges, a medical college, tap water connections and development of amenities under the Smart City Project, Modi said.

  • Sharad Pawar opts out of Presidential fray at Opposition meeting: Sources

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: Maharashtra leader and former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Wednesday declined West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s offer to be the Opposition’s Presidential candidate, saying he “still has an active political innings to play”, according to sources.

    Pawar, 81, had earlier shut down speculation on the top post at a meeting with his party leaders, who revealed that the NCP leader was reluctant to fight “a losing battle”.

    A crucial meeting of Opposition parties convened by Mamata Banerjee to build consensus on fielding a joint candidate against the NDA in the presidential election here on Wednesday with leaders of at least 17 parties in attendance.

    Leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, DMK, RJD and the Left parties attended the meeting called by the Trinamool Congress supremo, while the AAP, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Odisha’s ruling BJD skipped it.

    Leaders of Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), National Conference, PDP, JD(S), RSP, IUML, RLD and the JMM attended the meeting, which took place on a day the nomination for the Presidential election began.

    Apart from Pawar, NCP leader Praful Patel, Mallikarjun Kharge, Jairam Ramesh and Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, HD Deve Gowda and H D Kumaraswamy of the JD(S), Akhilesh Yadav of the SP, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference were among the prominent leaders in the meeting.

    ALSO READ | Sharad Pawar refused to be Opposition’s Presidential nominee, says Yechury after meet

    The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) skipped the meeting at the Constitution Club in the national capital, besides the Aam Aadmi Party, TRS and the BJD.

    The meeting began at 3 pm.

    West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last week invited leaders of 19 political parties, including seven chief ministers, for a meeting in the national capital to produce a “confluence of opposition voices” for the election on July 18.

    A day ahead of the meeting, Banerjee and Left party leaders met NCP chief Sharad Pawar at his residence separately to try and convince him to be the common opposition candidate for the top constitutional post.

    With numbers on its side — the ruling NDA has about half the votes of the electoral college — and the possible support of fence-sitters like the BJD, AIADMK and YSRCP, the NDA candidate will likely sail through the contest.

  • SP Balasubramaniam, Shinzo Abe among seven Padma Vibhushan awardees, here is full list

    By Online Desk
    Padma Awards, one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, have been announced on Monday night. 

    ​The list comprises seven Padma Vibhushan, ten Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri Awards. 

    The Padma Vibhushan is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service. Padma Bhushan for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field.

    These awards are conferred by the President of India at ceremonial functions which are held at Rashtrapati Bhawan around March/ April every year. 

    Here is the full list of Padma Vibhushan awardees:

    Shri Shinzo Abe- Public Affairs- Japan
    Shri S P Balasubramaniam (Posthumous)- Art- Tamil Nadu
    Dr. Belle Monappa Hegde- Medicine- Karnataka
    Shri Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthumous)- Science and Engineering- United States of America
    Maulana Wahiduddin Khan- Others- Spiritualism- Delhi
    Shri B. B. Lal- Others- Archaeology- Delhi
    Shri Sudarshan Sahoo- Art- Odisha

    Here is the full list of Padma Bhushan awardees:

    Ms. Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra-Art-Kerala
    Shri Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous) -Public Affairs- Assam
    Shri Chandrashekhar Kambara-Literature and Education-Karnataka
    Ms. Sumitra Mahajan-Public Affairs-Madhya Pradesh
    Shri Nripendra Misra-Civil Service-Uttar Pradesh
    Shri Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous)-Public Affairs-Bihar
    Shri Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous)-Public Affairs-Gujarat
    Shri Kalbe Sadiq (Posthumous)-Others-Spiritualism-Uttar Pradesh
    Shri Rajnikant Devidas Shroff-Trade and Industry-Maharashtra
    Shri Tarlochan Singh-Public Affairs-Haryana

    Here is the full list of Padma Shri awardees:

    Former Governor of Goa Mridula Sinha, British film director Peter Brook, Father Vallés (posthumous), Professor Chaman Lal Sapru (posthumous) are among 102 recipients of Padma Shri award. pic.twitter.com/oMoHg3DXcc
    — ANI (@ANI) January 25, 2021

    (Inputs from Press Information Bureau)

  • Address by the President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind at the India-Greece business forum meeting

    1. I am happy to  address the India-Greece Business Forum.  First of all, I would like to thank Entreprise Greece for bringing us together this morning. I am  happy that  30 companies from India, led by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture and the Trade Promotion Council of India are participating in this business engagement.
    1. India and Greece are two ancient civilizations. Our economic, trade and cultural engagement go back over 2500 years. There was flourishing trade network between Greece and India as early as the 3rd century  BC.  With such rich history of engagement to inspire and build on, one cannot, perhaps, be more optimistic of the future of India-Greece trade and investment relations.
    1. Yesterday, I had meaningful discussions with President Pavlopoulus on the way forward for India-Greece relations.  Both of us were convinced that there is immense potential to take India-Greece economic ties to a higher level. Similar sentiments were echoed in my interaction with Prime Minister Tsipras There are ample opportunities for our businesses to grow in the areas of trade, technology and investment.
    1. Our bilateral trade at US Dollars 530 million is way below what had been achieved in the past, and what possibly could be a reasonable target for the future. As per market survey, with some efforts this can easily be made to cross US Dollars 1 billion in the next few years. My Government is keen to take lead in this effort. We have accepted the Greek Government’s invitation to be the “Honoured Country” at the ThessalonikiInternational Fair, Greece’s flagship business event, to be held in September 2019.  I hope this will   give a major boost to our bilateral trade. And while the two Governments are taking lead, we would expect Chambers of Commerce, Export Promotion Councils and Industry Groups to participate in the Thessaloniki fair in large numbers and make our partcipation a grand success.

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    1. There are clear complementarities  between the Indian and Greek economies. Both have their strong points. India happens to be the fastest growing major economy in the world with a growth rate of 7.7%.  We have undertaken  an ambitous plan to build next-generation infrastructure including 100 Smart Cities, airports, high-speed trains, highways and cyber connectivity. Last year, we built nearly 10,000 kilometers of national highways – that is 27 kilometers daily, almost double the speed few years  ago.  Our Sagarmala project proposes to develop a string of new ports including  5 major ports along our vast coastline. It has initiated a robust programme for portled industrialisation and connectivity. We have  also designated 111 rivers as National Waterways. In addition, we have opened coastal shipping  to international players. These measures will change the way we harness our maritime and inland river transport corridors in India.

     

    1. To boost our manufacturing sector and Make In India programme, we have undertaken pathbreaking reforms. The most transformative of them has been the introduction of Goods and Services Tax which makes India into a single unified tax market  for the first time in its modern history.  We have repealed over   1400   outdated laws. Both the Central and State Governments have undertaken over 10,000 measures to make it easier for business to establish and grow in India.  Due to these reforms, we have jumped 42 places in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index in the last four years. As a result, Foreign Direct Investment flows into India have risen from US dollars 36 billion in 2013-14 to US dollars 60 billion in 2016-17.  All in all, India is set to be a 5 trillion dollar  economy by 2025 with the 3rdlargest consumer market in the world. This sort of growth and demand opens up immense business  opportunities.

     

    1. The Greek economy has global reputation in several  fields including shipping, tourism and agriculture. I would encourage greek shipping, agriculture, food processing, tourism, infrastructure, technology, defence and Start-up companies to look at investment and technology tie-up openings in India. There are lucrative opportunities for the Greek Shipping Industry in the Indian growth story. Greece is also a frontrunner in agriculture and food processing sectors. We have a target to double farm incomes by 2022 in India.  This represents major prospects for Greek agro-based companies. There are opportunities for us to collaborate in defence manufacturing, pharma, tourism, real-estate, entertainment, infrastructure and technology sectors as well. Both our countries have a strong renewable energy programme, especially in the solar energy sector. India’s target is to produce 175 Gigawatt of renewable power by 2022.  We should explore how we can leverage each other’s strength in the field. On the Start-up side, India has the third largest network in the world. I undertand that Greece also has a niche start-up sector in place.  We should explore opportunities in this sector as well.

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    1. Indian companies have a  global standing in the fields of IT, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, automobiles, energy, technology,  entertainment and hospitality sectors. We have our business representatives from these sectors present here. There are still others here from agriculture, electronics, real-estate, footwear, mining and skill development  sectors.  I am hopeful they  would all  have an engaging day ahead with their greek counterparts. On skills side, I must highlight that we have an ambitious Skill India programme to train 150 million youth by 2022. Greece with its proven capacity in the tourism sector could be a potential partner for developing skills for the hospitality sector in India.

     

    Ladies and Gentlemen,

    1. Opportunities before us are manifold. It is for us  to  see how we convert them into real business prospects. I wish the participants in this business engagement a fruitful day of deliberations and discussions.
  • President of India’s greetings on the eve of Idu’l fitr

    The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind has greeted fellow citizens on the eve of Idu’l Fitr.

    In his message the President has said, “On the auspicious occasion of Idu’l Fitr, I offer my greetings and good wishes to all fellow citizens, and especially to our Muslim brothers and sisters in India and abroad.

    The culmination of the holy month of Ramzan is a moment of celebration. May it promote fraternity and understanding in our shared society”.