Month: January 2020

The Congress party from the very beginning was against giving Veer Savarkar a Bharat Ratna. Statements from various parties, ruling and opposition added spice to the burning topic.   Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut’s statement has now sparked tension between the Maharashtra’s ruling allies – Congress and Shiv Sena.    “Those who oppose Savarkar, whether due to its ideology or differences, should be made to spend some time at Cellular Jail. These people will then realise the sacrifices made and the hardships he faced during his times in jail,” he said.   Savarkar’s grandson…

Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Pratap Sarangi said on Sunday in Surat that those who can’t accept the chanting of Vande Matram have no right to live in India.   Accusing Congress for spreading hatred, misinformation about CAA, Union minister Sarangi said, ”Those who set the country on fire are not patriots. Those who don’t accept India’s freedom, unity, Vande Matram, have no right to stay in the country”, said Sarangi in a press conference.   He further said that people of India should…

The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced the name of their new national president. Its working president Jagat Prakash Nadda is elected unopposed and replaces Amit Shah from the top post. He emerged as the only leader in the nomination process in which his candidature was endorsed by top party leaders.   The BJP leader from Himachal Pradesh was appointed as the party’s working president in July, 2019. Senior BJP leader Radha Mohan Singh, who is in charge of the organizational election process, made the announcement at the party headquarters in…

Mikhail Mishustin was relatively unknown internationally before being appointed prime minister of Russia by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.   The appointment came as the government resigned following Putin’s speech on constitutional reforms.   Many experts said the governmental changes were in preparation for Putin’s future role in Russia after his term as president expires in 2024.   But it is unclear what the future holds for the new prime minister who since being appointed has been both hailed as a successful career bureaucrat and accused of corruption.   Born…

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal will lead the Indian delegation to the 50th World Economic Forum at Davos that is going to held from January 20 to 24.   The commerce ministry said in a statement that Goyal will also participate in an informal WTO Ministerial gathering being held in Davos during this period.   The union minister will hold bilateral meetings with ministers of Australia, South Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Korea and Singapore.   He will also meet Director General of World Trade Organization and Secretary General of Organisation…

The Prime Minister can certainly assume that he did many things right in his first term, but it is less easy to concede that he did many things wrong.   Unlike the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, which did practically no reforms in its first term and still won a second term with an improved mandate in 2009, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government did many reforms (the goods and services tax, the insolvency and bankruptcy code, subsidy delivery reforms through direct benefits transfers, etc) and won. So, if one…

China’s Great Wall Motor has agreed to buy General Motors’ (GM) car plant in India. The Chinese automaker expands overseas amid slowing domestic demand.   The deal is expected to be completed by the second half of 2020. Through this deal Great Wall will jumpstart its plans to build and sell cars in India and bring to an end GM’s manufacturing operations in the country. The two companies had agreed on the sale. According to reports, Great Wall is likely to pay around $250 million to $300 million to acquire…

Senior advocate Indira Jaising urged the mother of Nirbhaya to follow Sonia Gandhi’s example and forgive the convicts. Four men in death row were convicted for the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case shall now face death penalty on February 1.   Jaising took to Twitter to make the request, shortly after Asha Devi (Nirbhaya’s mother) expressed her disappointment on the postponement of date.   Jaising wrote, “I fully identify with the pain of Asha Devi, but I urge her to follow the example of Sonia Gandhi who forgave Nailini (Rajiv…