News Analysis India

Tag: President

  • Samajwadi Party govt tried to withdraw cases against terrorists: Nadda

    In another incident, a CRPF camp in Rampur was attacked, in which seven soldiers were killed.

  • President lauded government in modernising railways, in his address to Houses of Parliament

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: “My government is modernising the Indian Railways at a fast pace. In the last 7 years, 24,000 km of railway routes have been electrified,” President Ram Nath Kovind said while addressing the joint sittings of both the Houses of Parliament at the start of the budget sessions on Monday.

    Expressing the commitment of the government for developing railway infrastructure, the President said the New Vande Bharat trains and the new vista dome coaches have added new feathers to the Indian railways.  He also informed both the Houses that the works of new rail tracks and double-railway tracks are being carried out rapidly.

    He, citing the re-developed Rani Kamalapati in Madhya Pradesh and the Gandhinagar Railway stations in Gujarat as world-class railway stations, lauded the railways for providing the new glimpses of modern India through these stations.

    He also termed the arch rail bridge, being constructed across the river Chenab in Kashmir, in his address to both the Houses of the Parliament as a centre of attraction. “It is a matter of pride for the country that the capitals of North-East’s all states are coming on the railway map with the efforts of my government,” he said, adding that the rail and air connectivity has now no longer a dream for the people of north-east states, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

    Besides this, touching upon the government’s works on public transport, the President said that eleven new metro routes have been stated for benefiting the people in 8 states every day.

    “India is now also among the four countries in the world having largest driverless train networks,” he claimed and further added that an Indigenous Automatic Train System (IATS) has also been developed in the country symbolising the growing capability of ‘Make in India’.

    In his address to the joint sittings of members of both the Houses, the President further cited that the railway ran more than 1900 Kissan rails during the Covid periods on 150 routes for transporting about 6 lakh MT of agriculture products.

    Meanwhile, the Indian railway claimed on Monday that three zones out of 16, have achieved the targets of total electrification. “In a major leap towards 100 per cent electrification, 3 zones of Indian Railways namely West Central Railway, the Kolkata Metro and the East Coast Railway have been fully electrified reducing carbon footprints,” the ministry of Railway claimed.

  • President pays respect to martyrs of Kargil war 

    Express News Service
    SRINAGAR:  President Ram Nath Kovind, who could not fly to Kargil due to bad weather, offered floral tributes to soldiers killed in the 1999 Kargil War at War Memorial in north Kashmir’s Baramulla on Monday. The president was scheduled to attend the Kargil Vijay Diwas function at the Kargil War Memorial in Drass, Ladakh to mark the 22nd anniversary of Kargil war.

    However, due to bad weather, the trip to Kargil was cancelled and the president visited the Dagger War Memorial in Baramulla in north Kashmir and laid a wreath to pay tributes to all soldiers killed in 1999 war with Pakistan.

    “The nation salutes the soldiers and officers of the 19th Infantry Division, who have been safeguarding our borders in the most hostile terrains under adverse weather conditions as our frontline troops. They have scripted exceptional stories of indomitable courage, bravery and sacrifice,” the President said in his message. 

    He later visited Army’s High Altitude Warfare School, Gulmarg, which is a premier institution in the field of warfare. There he interacted with soldiers and officers. It is the second time that President Kovind had to cancel his Kargil visit on Kargil Vijay Diwas. In 2019, too, he could not visit Kargil due to bad weather. President Kovind became the first high-profile person to visit J&K since the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. 

  • Stuck in traffic during President visit, UP woman dies of post-Covid complications

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Stuck in traffic following diversions to facilitate the ongoing visit of President Ram Nath Kovind, the 50-year-old local chairperson of the women wing of the Indian Industries Association (IIA) died due to post-Covid complications in UP’s Kanpur on Friday. 

    While apologizing over Twitter for the tragic incident, the Kanpur Police Commissioner has ordered an investigation into the incident and four cops, including a sub-inspector and three constables, have been suspended. The probe ordered by the Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Arun will be done by ADCP (Kanpur South). 

    According to sources, Vandana Mishra, a resident of Kidwai Nagar, was infected with Covid in April, but nearly two months after testing negative for the viral infection, she was still experiencing post-Covid complications, owing to which she had to be taken to hospital on multiple occasions since then. 

    “On Friday afternoon she went for some clinical examinations and tests at the hospital and returned at around 4.30 pm. But a couple of hours after returning home, she started complaining of nausea and other health problems, after which her kin took her in their car to a premier hospital. On the way to the hospital, the vehicle got stuck in traffic near the GovindPuri flyover. With her condition becoming critical, her kin, who included a doctor, tried to revive her. On reaching the hospital, the doctors declared her dead and added that had she been brought in time to the hospital, she could well have been saved,” an IIA-Kanpur office-bearer said.   

    A senior Kanpur Police Commissionerate officer said the traffic was diverted or stopped at various places as the Special Presidential Train was to pass through the concerned area of Kanpur City. 

    The President is on a three-day visit to Kanpur since Friday.

    Meanwhile, the Kanpur Police Commissioner Asim Arun in a tweet apologised for the incident, “Personally as well as on behalf of the Kanpur City Police, I apologize for the tragic incident. It has been a major lesson for the future, we take a vow that the route arrangements in future in such situations will be such that commoners are stopped for a minimum possible time to prevent reoccurrence of such tragic incidents.” 

    In another tweet, Arun wrote: “The Honourable President has expressed his condolences on the untimely death of sister Vandana Mishra.  The Kanpur Police Commissioner and the District Magistrate were called by him (the President), where he inquired from them about the incident and conveyed condolences to the bereaved family. Both the senior officers attended the funeral and conveyed the President’s message to the bereaved family.” 

    The mortal remains of Vandana Mishra were consigned to flames at the electric crematorium in Kanpur on Saturday. Her kin didn’t speak to the media about the incident. 

  • 52.96 Crore released by Urban Administration to Councilor, President, Aldermen

    Despite the decrease in revenue receipts due to Kovid infection, the Urban Administration Department released the remaining amount of Rs. 52 crore 96 lakh 50 thousand to the municipal bodies of the state to the municipal bodies on the instructions of the Urban Administration Minister Dr. Shiv Kumar Dahria. Done. With the release of funds to the bodies, it is natural that the basic amenities will not only increase in the 166 urban body areas of the state, development works will also get momentum. Public representatives have expressed their gratitude to Chief Minister Mr. Bhupesh Baghel and Urban Administration Minister Dr. Dahria for releasing the remaining amount of the councilor, president and alderman fund even during the Corona period.
    Urban Administration Minister Dr. Dahria said that with the release of funds to all the urban bodies of the state, due to the Kovid transition in the state and the country, there has been a natural decrease in the revenue receipts of the central and state government, but our government intends that in the state In particular, there should not be any hindrance in development related to basic amenities. Government facilities are available from poor to poorer people, so the remaining amount of councilor, president and alderman fund has been released. He has said that this amount can be used voluntarily for all the work related to public, local / ward level, public representatives of urban bodies. An amount of Rs.3 crore 57 lakh has been released to 119 Eldermen of 14 Municipal Corporations of the State, 22 crore 44 lakhs to 204 Eldermen of 43 Municipalities and 26 crore 95 lakh 50 thousand for 287 Eldermen of 109 Nagar Panchayats.

  • ‘Inexcusable act of carnage, chaos’: Hollywood and Bollywood react sharply to US Capitol attack

    By PTI
    LOS ANGELES/ MUMBAI: Several cinema and music personalities, including Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Cardi B, Richa Chadha, and Vir Das, have condemned the attack on the Capitol Hill in the US by thousands of supporters of President Donald Trump who clashed with police, calling it an act of “terror” and assault on democracy.

    The violent attack resulted in at least four deaths and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election.

    The police, outnumbered by the maskless protesters, had a tough time in managing the mob, as hundreds of protesters breached security and entered the Capitol building on Wednesday, where members of the Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes.

    Many pointed out the difference in police response to the rioters at the Capitol building and protesters for the Black Lives Matter movement. “Imagine if this was our side. There would be rivers of our blood in the streets and not a single one of us would be armed. This has been allowed. #CoupAttempt,” wrote Ruffalo.

    Imagine if this was our side. There would be rivers of our blood in the streets and not a single one of us would be armed. This has been allowed. #CoupAttempt
    — Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) January 6, 2021

    “Just think of the carnage had they not been white. So many people enabled this,” said Evans. Oscar-winning director Matthew A Cherry said they would have “dropped a whole bomb on the capitol if this was us”.

    The irony is pretty funny………weren’t people just wild animals in the summer for demanding justice and now?……Let me just watch.
    — iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 6, 2021

    Cardi B found the irony “funny” and the rapper asked, “Weren’t people just wild animals in the summer for demanding justice – and now?”

    Democracy is fragile, everywhere…needs to be saved from “leaders” everywhere.
    — TheRichaChadha (@RichaChadha) January 6, 2021

    Chadha said it was a “dark day” for America, describing the country an “erstwhile spreader of offshore democracy”. “Democracy is fragile, everywhere…needs to be saved from ‘leaders’ everywhere,” she tweeted.

    All these world leaders condemning the ‘shocking images’ from America. This is an architectural problem.We need to design leader houses with more windows. So they can see their own back yards.
    — Vir Das (@thevirdas) January 7, 2021

    Das said world leaders condemning these ‘shocking images’ from America was an “architectural problem”. “We need to design leader houses with more windows. So they can see their own back yards,” he tweeted.

    What mob anarchy looks like. #MAGATerrorists #CapitolBuilding #USA pic.twitter.com/Ho825sAVH5
    — Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) January 6, 2021

    Sharing pictures of the attack on Twitter, actor Swara Bhasker said this is “what mob anarchy looks like”. Both the House and Senate and the entire Capitol were placed under a lockdown. Vice President Mike Pence and lawmakers were evacuated to safe locations.

    Four people died on Wednesday, including one woman who was shot by a police officer, amid protests and rioting on Capitol Hill that resulted in dozens of demonstrators being arrested, police said.

    If this were a movie, I’d also say there is NO WAY a significant amount of people are gonna fall for this tan sprayed, combed over, blustering charlatan. But I have underestimated the power of a large media site (FOX “NEWS”) pumping propaganda 24/7. But–
    — Mangold (@mang0ld) March 21, 2020

    “Ford vs Ferrari” director James Mangold called for a full boycott of the Fox News appealing for all “fellow content makers” to cancel any appearances on the network and use their power to keep ads for their projects off the channel as well.

    “Frozen” star Josh Gad questioned the police’s credibility over the violent assault on the landmark building. “This is either a dereliction of duty by the Capitol Police or a complicit desire to not plan for the known threat of chaos today. Either way, this is inexcusable. If you can be prepared for imaginary ANTIFA protesters, you had no business not prepping for these actual terrorists,” Gad said.

    “The Office” star Rainn Wilson said the Capitol is “under attack by terrorists”.

    Legendary musician Stevie Wonder was among several Hollywood names who demanded Trump’s impeachment and said he was “heartbroken and astounded” with the turn of events. Calling the outgoing POTUS a “narcissistic and dangerous president”, Wonder said Trump is no longer able to serve as president because “he can’t accept defeat”.

    Scores of celebrities such as Dylan O’Brien, Chris Hayes, Dylan Minnette, and Halsey also called for his impeachment.

    Trump, who earlier encouraged his supporters to head to the Capitol, urged them to abide by the law and go back home after the violent clash. “This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home,” Trump said in a video message posted on Twitter.

    Director James Gunn said that Trump “had to wait until AFTER his followers had pushed past police and entered the Capitol building and there was a face off with guns, but, you know, okay”.

    Actor-comic Sacha Baron Cohen, a staunch critic of Facebook, urged Mark Zuckerberg and the heads of Twitter, YouTube and Google to ban Trump. “Is that finally enough for you to act?! It’s time to ban Donald Trump from your platforms once and for all!” he tweeted.

    Singer Selena Gomez also slammed social media platforms for “failing” the American people. “I hope you’re going to fix things going forward,” she added. “The President just said ‘we love you’ to the armed mob storming The Capitol, replacing the American flag with a makeshift Trump flag,” ‘Top Chef’ host Padma Lakshmi tweeted.

    The microblogging site later removed the video and some tweets in which Trump appeared to defend the actions of his supporters. In an unprecedented move, Twitter and Facebook have suspended Trump’s accounts after he continued to push conspiracy theories about the November 3 election.

    Twitter suspended Trump’s account for 12 hours and also blocked three of his tweets including a video of his address to his supporters. Facebook said it would be blocking the president’s account from posting for 24 hours due to two policy violations.

    The protesters dispersed following the enforcement of curfew in the national capital. Mayor Bowser announced the curfew to prevent the situation from escalating. Officials said the Capitol was secured, putting an end to nearly four-hour violent occupation by Trump supporters.

    Heavily armed police personnel were deployed to disperse the crowd.

  • PFIZER corona vaccine gets approval from US, will be the first vaccine within 24 hours

    A major step has been taken in the direction of start vaccination campaign against this deadly virus in America, which is facing the worst corona epidemic in the world. The US Health Agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the emergency use of the Pfizer vaccine. After this, US President Donald Trump made a big announcement. He said that the first dose of vaccine would be given in less than 24 hours in the US.

    Let us know that more than two lakh 95 thousand people have died due to corona epidemic in America. American company Pfizer and German company BioNotech jointly developed the vaccine. The company claims that its vaccine is 95 percent effective. Its vaccine has been approved in the UK, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Canada. A massive vaccination campaign has been launched in the UK since last Tuesday.

    The FDA stated that the vaccine could be given to people 16 years of age and older. In the first phase of 2.9 million doses, mainly health workers and elderly people will be vaccinated. US President Donald Trump said in a video posted on Twitter that America is the first country in the world to produce a safe and effective vaccine. Today’s achievement is a reminder of America’s unlimited potential.

  • We’ll be happy if Pawar sir becomes UPA chairman: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut

    Asserting that the Congress, which leads the UPA, has become weak now, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Friday suggested the opposition needs to come together and strengthen the alliance.

    “We will be happy if (Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad) Pawar sir becomes the UPA chairman. But I have heard that he refused it. We will support him if such a proposal comes to the fore officially. Congress is weak now so the opposition needs to come together and strengthen the UPA,” said Raut whose party was earlier part of the National Democratic Alliance.

    He added the Congress is a big party and that these are big things to decide. “Just like MVA was formed here (Maharashtra), it needs to be seen if such a front can be formed (nationally)…,” he said.

  • PM Modi congratulated on Guru Nanak Jayanti, wrote this message while tweeting in Punjabi language

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi (PM Naredra Modi) has greeted the countrymen on Guru Nanak Jayanti on Monday. PM Modi wrote a congratulatory message on Twitter in Punjabi language and remembered Sikh Guru Nanak Dev. Today, the 551st Prakash Parv of Guru Nanak Dev is being celebrated. Please tell that on the full moon day of Kartik month, the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev is celebrated. On this occasion, there is a festive atmosphere in different parts of the country, gurdwaras have been decorated.

    Prime Minister Modi tweeted on Monday and wrote, “I salute Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji for his illumination. His thoughts keep inspiring us to serve society and ensure a better world.

    President Ram Nath Kovind wrote on Twitter while congratulating the countrymen on the occasion of Prakash Parv, on the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary, I wish all the countrymen and all Indians abroad, especially brothers from the Sikh community And heartfelt greetings and best wishes to the sisters. Come, on this auspicious occasion, let us all follow his teachings in our conduct. He further wrote, Guru Nanak Dev showed the people the path of unity, harmony, fraternity, harmony and service and gave an economic philosophy to realize a lifestyle based on hard work, honesty and self-respect. His life and his teachings are the inspiration for all mankind.

    At the same time, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also congratulated the countrymen on the Guru Nanak Jayanti by tweet. He wrote, ‘Heartiest greetings to all the countrymen on the 551st Prakash Parv of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Guru Nanak’s thoughts will always give us the power to walk on the path of religion and national interest. ‘Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh has congratulated the countrymen on the Guru Nanak Jayanti. Also paid tribute to Guru Nanak.

    Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has congratulated the countrymen on Twitter on this occasion. He wrote, “Salutations to Guru Nanak Dev Ji who taught me truth and brotherhood, far from ego.” Best wishes to all of you, Guru Purab.

  • Tibet’s PM invited for the first time in 60 years to visit White House

    After 60 years, the US has taken such a step regarding Tibet, which can worsen its relationship with China. The White House has invited Central Tibet Administration (CTA) President Lobsang Senge to come here. It is believed that only after six decades, America is now recognizing the Tibetan government in exile. This exiled government of Tibet is headquartered in Dharamshala city, India.

    A CTA spokesperson present in Dharamshala has also confirmed that President Senge has received an invitation to visit the White House. Last month, Senge was called to the US State Department for the first time as a guest. Here he met Robert Destro, the special director of Tibet affairs. No Tibetan leader went to the State Department before this. CTA spokesperson said- We are happy that two democracies are recognizing each other. The CTA and its leader being invited from the White House can be said to be an important start. Senge will meet with White House officials here.

    According to the news agency, Senge became the President of the CTA in 2011. For the last about 10 years, American officers have been meeting them secretly. But, the US, taking a shocking decision this time, invited him to come directly to the White House. Senge has been very active in recent months. He met many leaders. He has also interacted with Republican senators in the US. The Dalai Lama, the highest religious leader of Tibetans, has been living in India since 1959.