Article 2

June 2, 2018, 3:20 am

Patna Pirates retain their Star Kabbadi players

ON JUNE 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Patna Pirates retain their Star Kabbadi players; the fresh talents to add a new dimension to the champion squad

New Delhi, June 2, 2018: VIVO Pro Kabaddi, India’s biggest non-cricket sports league, concluded the Season 6 Player Auctions on a historic note. Patna Pirates, the defending champion of Vivo Pro Kabbadi league retained their star players for Season 6. Pardeep Narwal “Dubki King” will continue to be team’s strength and star attraction for Kabbadi fans while representing Patna Pirates. Defender Jaideep, Manish, and all-rounder Jawahar have been retained by Patna Pirates for Season 6. They together will lend their experience to the team during Vivo Pro Kabbadi League Season 6 beginning October 19, 2018, with a hope to retain the champion title.

Patna Pirates has always planned a winning squad by keeping a balance between experienced star players and new talents. Taking ahead this formation, Patna Pirates has included all-rounder Vijay, Praveen, and Arvind as the three new young players in the squad who will add immense value to the team during competitive matches.

Patna pirates have strategically planned their auction bid and picked-up two international players for approx. Rs 20 lacs for Season 6. Taedeok and Hyunil Park went under the hammer for Rs 11.4 Lac and Rs 8.0 lac respectively.

The management also bided for Indian players and picked Kuldeep Singh (All-Rounder) for 22 lac, Vikas Jaglan (All-Rounder) for Rs 8 lac, Deepak Narwal (Raider) for Rs 57 lac, Surender Singh (Raider) for Rs 12.25 lac, Tushar Patil, (Raider) for 20 Lac, Manjeet (Raider) for Rs 20.4 lac , Vikas Kale (Defender) for Rs 27.4 lac, Ravinder Kumar (Defender) for Rs 8 lac and Vijay Kumar (Defender) for Rs 8 lac. Patna Pirates will be guided by its veteran coach Shri Ram Mehar Singh who has played an instrumental role in retaining the title.

Mr Pawan S Rana, Chief Executive Officer, Patna Pirates commenting on the auction said “Patna Pirates has always focused on the quality of the game and strived to raise the standard of Kabbadi. Our players have always thrilled sports lover through mental and physical skills during highly competitive matches. We have retained our star players while bringing in fresh talents to add a new dimension to our team. We are confident of retaining our title in Season 6”.

Patna Pirates had performed consistently in all their league appearances with the only team to reach playoff matches in all 5 seasons and winning the title thrice in a row.

NAPM expresses solidarity with the demands of Gramin Dak Sevaks t

ON JUNE 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

NAPM expresses solidarity with the demands of Gramin Dak Sevaks to implement Kamlesh Chandra Committee Report

Govt. of India must ensure dignified pay scales, benefits & regularization of services of Gramin Dak Sevaks, who are the backbone of rural communication in India

1st June, 2018: National Alliance of People’s Movements extends its support to the struggle of All India Gramin Dak Sevaks Union (AIGDSU)’s and their demand to implement the recommendation of Kamlesh Chandra Committee Report on Gramin Das Sevaks. Rural India Post Employees (known as Gramin Dak Sevaks) have been on a nationwide protest since 22nd May, 2018 under the banner of All India Gramin Dak Sevaks Unions. While the said Committee submitted its report on 24th November, 2016, it was published after two months and that too after an indefinite hunger strike call given by National Federation of Postal Employees, All India Postal Employees Union GDS and other organizations.

The government has delayed the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee for about 2 years now. Protesting non-implementation of the Kamlesh Chandra Committee’s recommendations and the Seventh pay Commission norms for Gramin Dak Sevaks working in rural areas, Postal staff have been demonstrating in front of several post offices including the head branches in Odisha, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other states as well.

Despite the all round inflation, Dak Sevaks are paid salary only Rs. 6,000 -7,000. Even after working for 20-25 years, they are not considered as permanent employees and are not eligible for many other benefits due to government employees. It was in the light of this situation that Kamlesh Chandra Committee had recommended minimum scale of Rs. 10,000 for 3 hours, Rs. 12,000 for 4 hours and Rs. 14,500 for 5 hours work, 3 promotions (financial up gradation) on completion of 12, 24 and 36 years of service, maternity leave for 6 months and paternity leave for a week, Children’s education allowance and support for hiring accommodation, office maintenance, electricity charges etc.

Despite numerous technological and communication related strides, the postal department plays an important role even today, particularly in rural areas across the country and the Grameen Dak Sevaks are at the heart of these services. It is both unfortunate and unacceptable that the human resource which serves as the backbone of the rural communications system is kept deprived and the entire postal department itself is structurally and systematically sidelined, due to increasing privatization of postal services and a flawed global-capitalist friendly economic policy of the State.

National Alliance of People’s Movements stands in solidarity with many of the long-standing and genuine demands of the Grameen Dak Sevaks and calls upon the Department of Posts and Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to acknowledge and fulfill their charter of demands to implement the recommendations of Kamlesh Chandra Committee and fix a time limit to regularize their services and make them permanent.

Alien INC – No Roti, Kapda, Makan, Water, Power, Transport+

ON JUNE 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June01, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

Surjewala appears to be closest to INC power center his article in TOI was very ordinary and then I saw RPN Singh engage in a DIRTY fight on TV Channels. I have also gone through INC shabby document ‘India Betrayed’ – I upload 100 Times more Data And INFO than Congress in spite of Age & Investment Limitation which are delivered to all Parties & Governments and NGOs all FREE – INC can’t even digest readymade info.

Why can’t Surjewala or Sibal or RPN Singh or Manish and others talk about Roti, Kapda, Wages, Makan, Bijli, Pani, Railways, Buses, Drinking Water Supply, Education to Children, Healthcare, Exports, Defense, Security or Law & Order and JOBS, Foreign Relations, MONEYLENDERS & MIDDLEMEN?

Ø Total Emoluments Growth in Last 4 Yrs of UPA was 94% almost Doubled from Rs.1,40,70 Cr to Rs.2,72,415 Cr than Dipped to 12.8% in FY2015

Today around 70% people are literate – or 80% Voters are Literate or Semi-Literate INC should talk to them with REAL Figures not just Manipulated Data.

When Ruler talk in numbers as its USP often pass of Inflated figures INC doesn’t respond at all – 7% or 8% GDP Growth doesn’t matter – here in Tables culled from RBI we can see out of Rs.5,93,900 Cr Non Food credit [NFC] growth in FY2017-18 – allocation to

Ø Agriculture was only Rs.37,800 Cr or just about 6% for 60% population

Ø Industry was even less Rs.19,500 Cr or 3.3% but Credit to

Ø Services was Rs.2,48,300 Cr or 42% of NFC and

Ø Personal Loans numbers were Rs.2,88,500 Cr which is more than 48% of NFC.

In 4 Years term NFC Credit growth was Rs.21,22,400 Cr but in this Credit Growth to

§ Agriculture was Rs.3,60,800 Cr, JUST 2% of GDP in 4 Years,

§ Industry was Rs.1,76,400 Cr, JUST 1% of GDP in 4 Years,

§ Services was Rs.7,13,599 Cr, JUST 4% of GDP in 4 Years, and

§ Personal Loans Rs.8,71,800 Cr, JUST 5% of GDP in 4 Years

RBI – Deployment of Gross Bank Credit by Major Sectors – Rs.Billions

SN	Sectors	Mar.22, 2013 – C	Mar.21, 2014 – D	% D/C	Mar.31, 2017 – A	Mar.30, 2018 – B	% B/A
I	Gross Bank Credit (II + III)	49642	56572	14.0%	71345	77223	8.2
II	Food Credit	946	912	-3.6	400	338	-15.5
III	Non-food Credit (1 to 4)	48696	55660	14.3%	70945	76884	8.4
1	Agriculture & Allied Activities	5899	6694	13.5%	9924	10302	3.8
2	Industry (Micro, Small, Medium Large )	22302	25229	13.1%	26798	26993	0.7
3	Services	11519	13370	16.1%	18022	20505	13.8
4	Personal Loans	8976	10367	15.5%	16200	19085	17.8

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS

Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857

Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,

Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects

Delhi Energy Consumption Growth 18.9%, Load 29.8% 6 Yrs +

ON JUNE 2, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June02, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

Since Electricity Tariffs for Air-Conditioning Load is reduced this year, when AC Load draws PEAKING HIGH COST POWER should be charged as per peak demand linked tariff, there shall be unusual growth in Peak Load – yesterday i.e. June01, 2018 Peak was 6651 MW at 3:36 PM. Minimum load was 4359 MW at 7:03 AM.

When Electricity Energy consumption grew 29.8% in 6 Years from 5028 MW in Summer 2011 to 6526 MW last year – Energy demand growth was reasonable – 18.9% from26,751 MU to 31,825 MU. This is less than Population Growth.

Obviously there are OPTIONS to Cut Peak Demand.

1. Promote ROOFTOP Solars – subsidize upto 5 KW Off-Grid Systems. 2,00,000 Installations would add up to 1000 MW in FY2018-19. Rs.50,000 subsidy per installation to Cost Rs.1000 Cr – but Delhi shall save 1500 MU every year worth Rs.1000 Cr annually and avoid 2000 MW Capacity Additions to cost Rs.15,000 Cr or more on Power Projects, Transmission & Distribution network, same for FY2019-20.

2. Instead of Standard Time for All Shops & Private Offices – Shops on One Side may operate from 6AM to 3PM and other side 1PM to 10 PM. Stocking of Shops could be moved to Early Morning or Late Evening hours. This means SHOPPING LOAD is spread over 16 hours from 9 hrs presently [10:30AM to 7:30PM]

3. Identify 1000 MW of Generators spread over Delhi to provide PEAKING POWER by Switching to Own Generation for 2 hrs When Delhi Peak Demand Exceed 6000 MW than Load Shedding.

4. Distribute 5m LED Lamps & 5m Energy Efficient Ceiling Fans – Rs.200 Cr Subsidy @ Rs.100 for LEDs and Rs.300 for Ceiling fan – Reduce 400 MW Load saving Rs.6,000 Cr on New Power Plants, Transmission & Distribution.

Others Programs

5. Distribute 5 Stage UV Water Purifiers Cost Rs.1500 Each Free to 2m Consumers – Cost Rs.300 Cr shall reduce Water Lost in RO Systems, Same Electricity and Reduce Health Cost.

6. Storage Dams on Yamuna to Ensure CLEAN, BLUE Water Supply to Water Treatment Plants and To Consumers – 24 hour Water Supply.

7. Uninterrupted Power to Avoid Home UPS could save 2000 MU of Power.

8. Energy Efficiency to save 2000 MU to 4000 MU every year.

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS

Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857

Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,

Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects

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Article 1

June 3, 2018, 3:21 am

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How digital technology help start-up culture

ON JUNE 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Jun

NITI Aayog, India International Centre and Centre for Policy Research are pleased to invite you to a special talk as part of the Metamorphoses: Talking Technology series on
Leading Digital Transformation and Innovation
Speaker:
Prof Soumitra Dutta – Professor of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and Chair, Board of Directors Global Business School Network (GBSN), Washington DCChair: Prof Ambuj Sagar – Vipula and Mahesh Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies, IIT Delhi

Friday, 8 June 2018, 6:00 p.m.

Seminar Room I to III, Kamla Devi Complex, India International Centre

Metamorphoses Website

The aim of this talk is to analyse how digital technology has enabled a more widespread start-up culture with reference to India and the US, their impact on public goods like health, education and micro-finance, the viable business models in this space and digital technology as an enabling and empowering instrument for women.

Opening remarks by Air Marshal (Retd.) Naresh Verma – Director, IIC

Speaker:
Prof Soumitra Dutta – Professor of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and Chair, Board of Directors Global Business School Network (GBSN), Washington DC

Chair: Prof. Ambuj Sagar – Vipula and Mahesh Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies, IIT Delhi

The talk will be livestreamed on the IIC website; available on Facebook-live on the Metamorphoses Facebook page; and video recordings will be available on YouTube, as well as disseminated through social media channels hosted on the Metamorphoses website. The promotional video for Metamorphoses can be accessed here.

Questions will be taken on a special number through SMS, provided at the venue, and selected ones will be answered given time constraints.

Soumitra Dutta is an authority on innovation in the knowledge economy, with a refreshing global perspective. Throughout his distinguished career, he has focused on how to drive business innovation and growth through the right combination of innovative people and technology. Soumitra Dutta is currently a Professor of Operations, Technology and Information Management at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, New York. Previously he was the founding Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (April ’16 till Jan ’18) and the 11th Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean and Professor of Management of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management (July ’12 till June ’16). Prior to July 2012, he was the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD and the founding director of eLab, a center of excellence in the digital economy. Professor Dutta obtained his Ph.D. in computer science and his M.Sc. in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

His current research is on artificial intelligence, technology strategy and innovation policies at both corporate and national levels. He has won several awards for research and pedagogy and is actively involved in strategy and policy consulting.His research has been showcased in the global media and he has received several awards including the Light of India Award ‘12 (from Times of India media group), the Global Innovation Award ’13 (from INNOVEX in Israel) and the Distinguished Alumnus award from his alma mater IIT Delhi. He is one of the very few faculty members around the world and across all disciplines who has been invited to Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos for more than 14 years. He has been a member of the privileged “Davos Circle” group of participants.

Ambuj Sagar is the Vipula and Mahesh Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. Prof. Sagar’s interests broadly lie in science & technology policy, environmental policy, and development policy, with a particular focus on the interactions between technology and society. While his current research focuses mainly on energy innovation and climate policy, he also studies, more broadly, various facets of technology innovation, environmental politics and processes, and engineering education and research. His recent papers have dealt with energy innovation policy and strategies (in areas such as biofuels, clean cookstoves, coal-power, and automobiles and institutional mechanisms such as climate innovation centers), climate change policy, and capacity development for the environment. He currently is advising/interacting with various agencies of the Indian Government and several multilateral and bilateral organizations; while in the US, he worked with a range of private and public-sector organizations in the US (including as a staff researcher for a major study on energy R&D for the White House). He currently is a member of the Indian Government’s Expert Committee on Low-Carbon Strategies for Inclusive Growth, the US-India Track-II Dialogue on Climate Change, as well as other advisory groups in the Indian Government.

Metamorphoses is a modest effort to try and bridge the gap between digital technologies, which are transforming our lives, and our understanding of their multiple dimensions. It will unfold in a series of nine interactions covering different aspects of the digital revolution.

This series will examine the impacts of digital technologies on the human psyche and on societies – exploring ways in which some of the negative elements may be mitigated. There will be a peep into the future – of what machine learning and artificial intelligence may bring to human experience – and the moral and ethical dilemma associated with these. It will also delve into issues relating to data privacy and cyber security as well as the emerging legal regime to regulate this critical domain.

World Bicycle Day

ON JUNE 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

ANI

@ANI

12m

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu & Miss World Manushi Chillar attend the “World Bicycle Day” event in New Delhi.

You Retweeted

The Star

@staronline

15m

Modi urges Indo-Pacific nations to ease up on border disputes (link: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2018/06/03/modi-urges-indopacific-nations-to-ease-up-on-border-disputes/) thestar.com.my/news/regional/…

Naresh Kumar Sagar

@Nksagar

10h

Indian Olympic Association, briefing media

ON JUNE 3, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Naresh Kumar Sagar

@Nksagar

Sagar Media Inc Indian Olympic Association press conference at Lalit Hotel New Delhi

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Article 0

June 4, 2018, 3:14 am

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Modi, Mattis pledge to continue strong US-India strategic partnership

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

India and the United States have pledged to continue their strong bilateral strategic partnership, the Pentagon said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis.

Mattis met the prime minister on the sidelines of the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ 17th Asia Security Summit — also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue — in Singapore on Saturday.

“The two discussed the importance of the US-India relationship, and the role of both nations in cooperating to uphold international laws and principles, and to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific,” defence spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis said here yesterday.

The two leaders “pledged to continue the strong US-India strategic partnership and affirmed their commitment to maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” Davis said in a readout of the meeting. — PTI

RFID chips for keeping track of organoids

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Researchers in the U.S. and Japan plan to use Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips for keeping track of organoids, samples of human tissue that mimic pieces of organs and are grown from stem cells. The organoids the researchers embedded with RFID chips functioned normally and withstood extreme conditions, suggesting that they could be a useful way to organize and identify the large quantities of organoids that are often needed in experimental situations.

Human organoids are a promising avenue for research into human development and disease because they replicate the structure, function, and phenotype of our organs in miniature in the lab. Grown from human induced pluripotent stem cells, they divide, differentiate, and self-assemble according to the growth programs of their corresponding organs. And particularly in medicine, they can illustrate the effects of certain drugs on our organs in ways that more traditional cell cultures cannot.

More work needs to be done to scale up the production of these hybrid organoids, and the research team is currently working to develop a system that could scan the radio frequency and fluorescence of an organoid at the same time. The team also hopes that other kinds of microchips could be integrated into organoids in the future and that RFID chips with sensing technologies could be used to record real-time data about the organoids.

biospectrumasia.com

13 Indian beaches will get the Blue Flag certification.

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Environment-friendly, clean and equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists, 13 Indian beaches will soon get the Blue Flag certification. These beaches of Odisha, Maharashtra and other coastal states will be the first in not just India, but in Asia, to get the Blue Flag certification.

The Indian beaches are being developed by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an environment ministry’s body working for the management of coastal areas.

Project Head of SCIOM Arvind Nautiyal said that to make the beaches environment and tourist-friendly in accordance with the Blue Flag standards, a beach has to be plastic-free and be equipped with a waste management system.

They also have to ensure availability of clean water for tourists, have amenities of international standards for tourists and be equipped with facilities for studying environmental impact around the beach, he said.

Mr Nautiyal was speaking at a five-day conference, which was organised to commemorate the World Environment Day, about making the beaches pollution free.

He said that according to the Blue Flag standards, a beach has to strictly comply with 33 environment and tourism related conditions. There is not a single Blue Flag beach in Asia so far, he added.

The Blue Flag beach standards were established by Copenhagen-based Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in 1985. The Blue Flag programme, which requires 33 standards in four areas to be met to make beaches environment-friendly, first started from Paris.

Within the next two years, almost all beaches in Europe were accorded the Blue Flag certification. This campaign spread outside Europe, to South Africa, in 2001.

Asia remains untouched by it till date. The environment ministry started a pilot project to develop the Indian beaches according to the Blue Flag standards in December 2017.

A senior ministry official said that 13 beaches from the coastal states had been chosen for the Blue Flag certification under the project. For this, these beaches are being developed in accordance with the Blue Flag beach standards under a Unified Coastal Areas Management Programme.

This project has two main aims. Firstly, to improve the aquatic habitat by cleaning the growing pollution and garbage in the Indian beaches. Secondly, to develop ecological tourism with constant progress and development of tourist facilities.

According to ministry sources, Chandrabhaga beach of Odisha’s Konark coast was the first to complete the tag certification process. It will be awarded the honour on the World Environment Day tomorrow.

Maharashtra’s Chiwla and Bhogave beaches are also being made a part of this initiative. Apart from these, one beach from Puducherry, Goa, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands each has been chosen as Blue Flag beach.

Met Dept advisory

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Met department has issued a weather warning of thunderstorm, gusty winds and lightning at various places in the country today. According to the advisory, thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning are very likely at isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathawada, Tamilnadu, Telangana, Rayalaseema and Interior Karnataka and Coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Heavy rain is also expected at isolated places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

The advisory further said, heat wave conditions are very likely to occur at one or two pockets over West Rajasthan.

Indian Navy evacuated stranded Indians from Socotra island

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Indian Navy today evacuated 38 stranded Indians from Socotra island in Yemen where they got stuck after cyclone Mekunu hit the area 10 days ago, forcing India to launch an operation to rescue them.

Indian Navy Spokesperson Captain D K Sharma said, the Navy evacuated the Indians as part of operation ‘NISTAR’ carried out off the coast of Socotra early today and embarked them at Indian Naval ship INS Sunayna to bring them back to India.

He said, the evacuated Indians were immediately provided with medical care, food, water and telephone facilities to call and reassure their families and all have been reported to be safe. He said, post evacuation, the ship is proceeding towards Porbandar.

Myanmar: Ready take back 700K Rohingya Muslim refugees

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Myanmar today said it will take back all 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh if they volunteer to return.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Myanmar’s National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said, if you can send back 700,000 on a voluntary basis, we are willing to receive them.

Mr. Thaung Tun said Myanmar does not deny that what is unfolding in northern Rakhine is a humanitarian crisis. He said that while the military had the right to defend the country if investigations showed they had acted illegally, action would be taken.

Since August 2017, about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a military crackdown in the country.

Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of the refugees within two years.

Myanmar signed an agreement with the United Nations on Thursday aimed at eventually allowing the Rohingya sheltering in Bangladesh to return safely and by choice.

Madrid’s direct rule ends with new Catalan regional government in place

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

A new regional government has been formed in Spain’s Catalonia region, ending 7 months of direct rule by the central government in Madrid. After months of tension with the central government, a new cabinet led by separatist Quim Torra was sworn in yesterday.

It came as Spain’s new prime minister took office the same day. Socialist Pedro Sanchez replaced Mariano Rajoy, who had been ousted following a corruption scandal.

Last October, the Spanish government withheld Catalonia’s autonomy, after the region unilaterally declared independence from Spain. The Catalan parliament was dissolved and its leader, Carles Puigdemont, was dismissed.

In December, pro-independence parties won a majority in the regional parliamentary election. The new government was formed after several failed attempts.

G7 FMs ask Trump no tariffs on Steel-Al imports

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Finance Ministers of Group of Seven nations have urged US President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to impose new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The group has ended it’s annual meeting at Whistler in Canada.

US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin faced sharp criticism from the Finance Ministers of other G-7 nations over the issue. The group that inculdes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, expressed unanimous concern and disappointment to the US President. United States is also a part of this group.

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau said, discussions should continue at the G7 leaders’ summit beginning on Friday in Quebec. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, the participants had tense discussions, describing the meeting as far more a G6-plus-one than a G7.

Germany Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said, US tariffs were a very severe problem for transatlantic relations. After Mr Mnuchin faced criticism over the US decision, US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that Washington cannot afford to lose a trade war when it is being ripped off.

Finance leaders of the closest US allies vented anger over the Trump administration’s metal import tariffs but ended a three-day meeting in Canada on Saturday with no solutions, setting the stage for a heated fight at a G7 summit next week in Quebec.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to soothe the frustrations of his Group of Seven counterparts over the 25 percent steel and 10 percent aluminium tariffs that Washington imposed on Mexico, Canada, and the European Union (EU) this week.

“Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors requested that the United States Secretary of the Treasury communicate their unanimous concern and disappointment,” the group said in a summary statement written by Canada.

“Ministers and Governors agreed that this discussion should continue at the Leaders’ Summit in Charlevoix (Quebec), where decisive action is needed,” the statement said.

All six of the other G7 countries are now paying the tariffs, which are largely aimed at curbing excess production in China. The topic dominated discussions at the finance meeting in the Canadian mountain resort of Whistler, British Columbia.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the US has only a few days to avoid sparking a trade war with its allies and it is up to the US to make a move to de-escalate tensions over tariffs.

Speaking after the meeting, Le Maire said the EU was poised to take counter-measures against the new US tariffs.

The meeting of top economic policymakers was seen as a prelude to the trade disputes that will dominate the two-day G7 summit that begins on Friday in Quebec.

Mnuchin is regarded as one of the more moderate voices on trade in the Trump administration,

The US steel and aluminium tariffs were imposed early on Friday after Canada, Mexico and the EU refused to accept quotas in negotiations with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Japanese metal producers have been paying the tariffs since March 23.

Officials at the G7 meeting said the tariffs made it more difficult for the group to work together to confront China’s trade practices, especially when Beijing, like most G7 members, supports the current World Trade Organization-based trade rules and the US is seeking to go around them.

Hodeidah in Yemen under seige

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Saudi-led coalition is reportedly seeking direct US support to recapture the port city of Hodeidah in Yemen. The battle for the humanitarian lifeline would spell disaster for the locals, human rights agencies warn.

Saudi-led coalition forces have been preparing to launch a large-scale offensive on Hodeidah, the fourth-largest city in Yemen, with a population of 400,000 people, in an effort to recapture the city’s port which currently serves as one of the remaining humanitarian lifelines in the war-stricken country.

United Arab Emirates approached Washington with the request. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now waiting for a “quick assessment” of the UAE’s plea, which seeks US intelligence capabilities, mainly drone overflights, to help a Saudi-led coalition retake Hodeidah. Washington’s potential involvement has excited a number of US officials and has left others worried about the potential consequences of such an operation. While the US is weighing its options, the UAE and Saudi Arabian officials have allegedly assured the US that they will stay clear of the port.

Recapturing Hodeidah and its port is crucial for Saudi Arabia. Over the course of the conflict, Riyadh has repeatedly tried to blockade the docks, claiming that the port is being used to smuggle arms for the Houthi rebels. Repeated calls from human rights groups and the UN have kept the port open, on and off, so that vital aid can be delivered to the country.

While human rights groups warn that the battle to retake Hodeidah would spell humanitarian disaster.

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June 5, 2018, 12:30 am

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“linguicide” of the Dutch language

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Hague: Dutch education officials said Monday they aim to rein in the spread of courses taught in English in the country´s universities and slow the flood of foreign students.

The move comes amid a growing outcry at the infiltration of English language courses in Dutch higher education institutions, with many warning that Dutch students are being disadvantaged and the language is under threat.

Even if “the internationalisation of higher education brings added value… there must always be a place for Dutch students” at the country´s 14 universities, the education ministry insisted.

The report comes after the largest lecturers´ union, known as BON, warned of the looming “linguicide” of the Dutch language if the trend continues.

Even though about 65 percent of bachelor´s degrees are taught in Dutch, only about 15 percent of master´s degrees are. And almost a quarter of students obtaining a master´s are foreigners.

Britain´s exit from the European Union next year has only accelerated the phenomenon, with international students flocking to the Netherlands drawn by the large number of English-taught degree courses.

“The clauses in the law pertaining to the choice of language in higher and vocational education must be revised,” the ministry said.

Greater accent must be placed on “accessibility to education for Dutch students”.

BON has launched a lawsuit accusing Twente University and the University of Maastricht of killing the Dutch language through the “Anglicisation” of courses as they both offer two master´s degree courses in psychology exclusively in English.

They termed the offers by the two universities as an “impoverishment” and a “dangerous abandonment” of the Dutch language.

But Education Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven also cautioned against becoming too inward-looking.

“I represent an open Dutch society in which we dare to look beyond the borders,” she said, quoted in the statement.

“We must not let ourselves be scared by stories in which internationalism is something negative which is swamping us,” she added.

Media agencies

US & NK meet on June12, Singapore

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

With hectic preparations are on for a summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un were going well, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Monday, and the two were tentatively scheduled to meet at 9 AM Singapore time (6 AM PST) on June 12.

After having cancelled the summit on Friday, Trump said the meeting was back on after he received the North Korean delegation bearing a letter from Kim.

Asked about the contents of Kim’s letter, Sanders declined to “get into the specifics” but added: “We feel like things are continuing to move forward and good progress has been made.”

“The president has been receiving daily briefings on North Korea from his national security team,” she added.

After meeting a senior official from Pyongyang at the White House on Friday, Trump said North Korea was being more cooperative and that although sanctions would remain in place, he would hold off on imposing new ones.

Trump said he didn’t want to use the term “maximum pressure” any more, because the two sides were “getting along”.

On consisting to the question at a news briefing on Monday whether the “maximum pressure” campaign would continue, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters: “We have sanctions on, they are very powerful and we would not take those sanctions off unless North Korea denuclearized.”

The Trump administration has credited its “maximum pressure” campaign, supported by the United Nations and major world powers, for helping bring North Korea to the table to negotiate giving up its nuclear weapons.

Top Senate Democrats on Monday told Trump not to make a deal that leaves North Korea with nuclear weapons and threatened to maintain or toughen sanctions on Pyongyang if that condition is not met.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and ranking Democrats from national security committees released a letter to Trump laying out demands for any pact, which they said must be permanent.

They also urged him to lean hard on Kim’s ally China to ensure it “will do all it can to help secure an agreement and then insist on strict North Korean compliance with such an agreement”.

Easing sanctions under a deal would likely need approval from Congress which has passed sanctions on North Korea.

Since most legislation needs 60 votes to pass the 100-member Senate and Trump’s fellow Republicans hold only 51 seats, that would require Democratic support.

29th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square 115 Ks turnout

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

People in Hong Kong have gathered for an annual memorial service for victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.Organizers say about 115,000 people turned out on Monday for this year’s gathering to mark the 29th anniversary of the incident. That’s 5,000 more than last year.

Participants lit candles in memory of the victims of the fatal crackdown on pro-democracy activists, many of whom were students.

The demonstrators demanded that the Chinese government re-evaluate the incident, which it says left 319 people dead.

Critics say the number was far larger.

The organizers displayed a bust of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo at the rally. Liu was a symbol of the pro-democracy movement in the country. He died last year.

The demonstrators protested against the Chinese authorities’ continued surveillance of his widow, Liu Xia, and called for her release from house arrest.

They also criticized what they see as an intensifying crackdown on human rights lawyers in mainland China, as President Xi Jinping moves to solidify his one-person rule.

A 61-year-old participant said that people in Hong Kong need to make their voices heard in the international community about the deterioration of human rights and democracy in China.

About 100 people also held a rally in the Taiwanese city of Taipei on Monday night to remember the victims of the incident.

Wu Renhua, a former university lecturer, told the crowd what he saw when he joined the student-led protest on June 4th 29 years ago. Wu now lives in exile in the United States.

Wu said more than 200,000 troops were mobilized against the protest. He said troops fired at crowds randomly and tanks charged into them. He said children and medical staff giving first aid were among those killed.

Wu emphasized that the impact of Tiananmen continues. He said Chinese authorities still threaten veterans of the protest at home and abroad. He called on people at the rally to stand up and continue saying “no” to the Chinese government and Communist Party.

A man in his 20s said people in Taiwan need to sustain interest in how Chinese authorities persecute dissidents. Otherwise, he said Taiwan could lose its democracy just like what is happening in Hong Kong.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen delivered a message to people in mainland China on her Facebook page, using simplified Chinese characters.

She wrote that China is haunted by the 1989 tragedy. But she said it can be turned into a foundation to move toward a society that embraces freedom and democracy if Beijing faces up to history and admits using state violence on its citizens.

Tsai said she hopes the universal values of freedom and democracy can be enjoyed by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Hani Mulki has resigned

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Jordan’s Prime Minister Hani Mulki has resigned following widespread protests against plans to raise income tax. King Abdullah accepted Mulki’s resignation on Monday.

Media reports say the King has asked Omar al-Razzaz, the education minister, to form a new government as prime minister.

Mulki’s government sparked protests with a reform plan, backed by the International Monetary Fund, which included a steep tax hike.

Thousands of protestors have taken to the streets in the capital Amman since last week, clashing with security forces.

It is unclear whether Mulki’s resignation will end demonstrations. Labor unions have vowed to continue protesting until the authorities give up the planned tax hike.

Jordan’s economy has been hit hard by regional insecurity in recent years, in particular due to conflicts in neighboring Syria and Iraq. Jordan has accepted nearly 700,000 refugees from Syria.

Merkel: Iran is a ‘concern’ for Israel’s security

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that she agreed with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran’s activities in the Middle East are a concern, particularly for Israel’s security. She made the statement after a meeting in Berlin. “We agree that the question of Iran’s regional influence is worrying, especially for Israel’s security,” the chancellor said. Netanyahu’s European tour this week follows the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal which France, Germany and Britain have said they will continue to respect. The Israeli leader is also expected to meet French President Emmanuel Macron and possibly British Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss ways to stop what Netanyahu called “Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional expansionism,” Reuters said.

Groupe PSA begins suspending joint ventures in Iran

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Groupe PSA has begun to suspend its joint venture activities in Iran, the French carmaker said on Monday, following the withdrawal of the US from a nuclear pact signed with the country, Reuters reports. European signatories are scrambling to save the accord, by protecting trade with Iran against the re-imposition of US sanctions to dissuade Tehran from quitting the deal. “The group has begun to suspend its joint venture activities, in order to comply with US law by August 6,” PSA said in a statement. “With the support of the French government, the Groupe PSA is engaging with the US authorities to consider a waiver.” The suspensions do not alter PSA’s current financial guidance, the group said, adding that its Iranian activities accounted for less than 1 percent of revenue.

Putin is set to visit Austria on Tuesday

ON JUNE 5, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Putin is set to visit Austria on Tuesday – a country that traditionally has good relations with Moscow. His trip, however, might have wider implications for a Europe that seems to be at a crossroads.

Austria has had constructive and pragmatic –if not friendly– relations with Russia and its predecessor, the Soviet Union, since the establishment of the Second Republic back in 1955. Vienna has also strived to keep it that way through the recent turbulent years, marked by increased tensions between Russia and Europe.

Even though it had to join anti-Russian sanctions after Russia’s reunification with Crimea and the start of the Ukraine crisis, Austria repeatedly called for easing or even lifting the restrictions, pointing at their ineffectiveness and utter futility.

Austria was the first European country Putin visited in summer 2014, after the outbreak of the European conflict put a strain on Russia’s relations with the EU.

Now seems the right time to give these good relations a boost. Last month, the Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz praised Russia as a “superpower” as he expressed Vienna’s desire to “keep the channels of communication with Russia open.”

In his interview with the Russian media ahead of Putin’s visit this week, he said he sees a “positive dynamic” in the development of bilateral relations, adding that they have “enormous potential.” Kurz also chose Russia as a destination for his first visit to a non-EU country after he took up the chancellor’s post in what could also be described as a positive sign.

His Austrian People’s Party’s coalition partners, the right-wing Freedom Party (FPO), hold an even more favorable view of Moscow. The FPO called for the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions on numerous occasions throughout these years and even vowed to fight for it as part of the Austrian government.

The FPO members also visited Crimea in 2017. Austria maintains strong economic ties with Russia, even though bilateral trade between the two nations has been severely hit by a series of sanctions and counter-sanctions imposed by Moscow and Brussels against one another over the course of the Ukraine crisis.

Economic ties seem to be recovering: In 2017, the trade turnover between Russia and Austria grew by 40 percent, compared with the previous year. Some 60 percent of Austria’s gas supply also comes from Russia. Since the start of 2018, the Alpine nation has increased its gas imports by an impressive 77.2 per cent, compared to the same period of the already record-breaking previous year.

The Russian president’s visit also conveniently coincides with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of Soviet gas supplies to the Alpine nation. The Austrian OMV energy company became the first western enterprise to sign a gas supply agreement with the Soviet Union in 1968.

Against such a positive backdrop, Putin’s visit to Austria, his first foreign visit since re-election in March, is poised to be beneficial for both sides in terms of both political and economic relations. However, the two leaders might have some bigger plans in mind than just a bilateral agenda. Austria, which takes pride in its neutrality and geographical location “at the heart” of the European continent, apparently strives to fill a role as a ‘bridge’ in relations between Moscow and the EU, which Kurz says he wants to normalize.

One has to admit that a small Alpine nation could hardly be called a political heavyweight in the current European political landscape. Neither is Austria likely to single-handedly undo the damage done to Russian-European relations by the years-long bickering over the conflict in Ukraine, the Syrian war and some other issues.

Still, it might be able to influence the situation at a time when the future of European foreign policy seems to be left in a sort of limbo. Kurz has already said that his government would seek to “bridge” the rift between Brussels and some opportunist Eastern European governments, which has been plaguing the bloc for quite some time.

Kim invited to Russia

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un to pay an official visit to Russia. The invitation came in a personal letter that was delivered earlier by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

One of the possible occasions for the visit could be the 4th Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia’s Far Eastern city near its border with North Korea. The forum will take place on September 11-13.

However, the visit depends on Pyongyang, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “Time will show to what extent it is convenient for the North Korean side,” he told journalists on Monday. Peskov added that the issue is to be worked on via diplomatic channels and there are no specific details on the meeting so far.

The top Russian diplomat traveled to the North Korean capital last week to discuss the course of intra-Korean negotiations and de-escalation in the region with senior officials. After receiving Putin’s personal letter, Kim reaffirmed his commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The meeting with Lavrov came less than two weeks before the highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader. Trump disapproved of Lavrov’s visit to the North, questioning its purpose, but then conversely noted that “it could be very positive too.”

US: Chinese items targeted for 25 percent tariffs

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

China says it has made progress with the United States in weekend talks on bilateral trade in farm and other products. But it warns that any US trade sanctions on Chinese imports would nullify this progress.

Two countries held another two days of trade talks on Saturday and Sunday in Beijing. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross met with Liu He, the Chinese Vice Premier in charge of economic affairs.

After the talks, Chinese officials said in a statement that, “the two sides had good communication in various areas such as agriculture and energy, and have made positive and concrete progress.”

But it added that, “all economic and trade outcomes of the talks will not take effect if the US side imposes any trade sanctions, including raising tariffs.”

They said the latest trade talks were based on a bilateral agreement to avoid a trade war and that the outcome of the talks would be nullified in the event of possible US economic sanctions.

During the previous round of talks in Washington, the two countries agreed to avoid a trade war. China also agreed to import more American farm products to reduce its trade surplus with the US.

The US announced on Tuesday of last week that it would release a final list of Chinese items targeted for 25 percent tariffs by mid-June and promptly impose the levies, citing alleged violations of intellectual property rights by China.

Grenade attack in Shopian

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

16 people, including four policemen, were injured in a grenade attack in a busy market area in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district, police said.

Terrorists hurled a grenade on security forces in Shopian town, resulting in injuries to at least 12 civilians and four cops, a police official said.

He said the area has been cordoned off and searches started to nab the attackers.

Terrorists have carried out a series of grenade attacks on security forces and politicians since last week.

Modi, Mattis pledge to continue strong US-India strategic partnership

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

RFID chips for keeping track of organoids

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

biospectrumasia.com

13 Indian beaches will get the Blue Flag certification.

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The Indian beaches are being developed by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an environment ministry’s body working for the management of coastal areas.

Mr Nautiyal was speaking at a five-day conference, which was organised to commemorate the World Environment Day, about making the beaches pollution free.

He said that according to the Blue Flag standards, a beach has to strictly comply with 33 environment and tourism related conditions. There is not a single Blue Flag beach in Asia so far, he added.

Within the next two years, almost all beaches in Europe were accorded the Blue Flag certification. This campaign spread outside Europe, to South Africa, in 2001.

Asia remains untouched by it till date. The environment ministry started a pilot project to develop the Indian beaches according to the Blue Flag standards in December 2017.

Met Dept advisory

ON JUNE 4, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The advisory further said, heat wave conditions are very likely to occur at one or two pockets over West Rajasthan.

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THE GAME IS ABOUT TO GET REAL

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGAREDIT

L_to_R_Basketball_players__-_Gurvinder_Singh_gill__inderbir_singh__Palpreet_Singh_Brar__Cheif_Entert_2289024.JPG

3×3-basketball league to begin in Delhi/NCR

~The six-city multi tour league to begin from Delhi/NCR on 9th & 10th June 2018

~The league to witness marquee players like Palpreet Singh Brar and international basketball sensations like Inderbir Singh Gill, Leandro Souza De Lima and more

Delhi, June 6, 2018: The fastest growing urban team sport in the world, 3×3 Basketball comes to India for the first time with 3BL – 3×3 Pro Basketball League. The six-city multi tour league to begin from Delhi on 9th & 10th June 2018. The first ever FIBA recognised basketball league in India will see basketball sensations like players like Amjyot Singh, Palpreet Singh Brar and international basketball sensations like Inderbir Singh Gill, Leandro Sauza Lima and more.

The league also announced the fixtures and the teams for the season in the presence of Shri Manoj Tiwari, Member of the India Parliament for North East Delhi who were part of the monumental announcement. . The league is all set to kick-off from Delhi in The Great India Place – Noida on 9 & 10 June 2018.

The fastest growing urban team sport in the world, 3×3 Basketball is a shorter format, high-speed version of 5×5 Basketball. It has been recognised as an Olympic sport and will be introduced at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The inaugural season of 3BL in India will feature 12 teams – Delhi Hoopers, Chandigarh Beasts, Jaipur Regals, Aizawl Legends, Kolkata Warriors, Ahmedabad Wingers, Bangalore Machas, Goa Snipers, Kochi Knights, Hyderabad Ballers, Chennai Icons and Mumbai Hustlers.

The matches will be played over six rounds in Delhi/NCR, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai and Aizawl from 9th June 2018 to 26th August 2018. The winners of the tournament(s) will get to represent India at the FIBA World Tour(s).

Rohit Bakshi, League Commissioner, 3BL – 3×3 Pro Basketball Leaguesaid, “Bringing 3×3 Basketball to India has been more of an opportunity than a challenge and I believe there is immense talent and potential in the country that is yet to be tapped. We are here to provide a platform and make it larger than life and I am glad to get support from various influencers on this journey and I am confident that India will witness even more basketball stars in the coming years.”

Sudhir Vashist, Chief of Marketing & Business Development, 3BL said, “Our aim is to create a new fan base for basketball in India by promoting the 3×3 Basketball across level and through wider outreach plans for viewers and players both. It is definitely going to be a very appealing sport for both brands and audiences.”

Vivek Krishna, Entertainment Director, 3BL said “Shorter yet engaging content is exactly what the audience desires. 3×3 Basketball is a highly engaging form of the beautiful game which will going to charm India, as it has 144 other countries”

Mr. Mahim Singh, Mall Head, The Great India Place, said, “Basketball has always been the love of the youth since their school & college days. The unavailability of proper guidance and exposure has restrained many from participating in this sports arena. With, 3×3 Pro Basketball League at The Great India Place, we aim to bring back the love and craze for basketball in the hearts of the sports enthusiast around the nation.”

The first time ever India will be hosting the World Tour, organised and marketed by YKBK Enterprise Private Limited.

About YKBK Enterprise:

YKBK Enterprise Pvt Ltd, has the exclusive rights from International Basketball Federation (FIBA) to create and implement an International 3×3 Professional Basketball League in the Indian Sub-Continent. As a socially conscious 3×3 Professional Basketball League, YKBK Enterprise Private Limited strives to create a platform for aspiring players from all walks of life.

About 3x3BL

3×3 Basketball is a 10-minute high speed basketball game and it officially became an Olympic sport in June 2017. It will be introduced in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 Birmingham Common Wealth Games. The inaugural season of 3BL in India, featuring 12 teams with international and Indian sensations. The winners of the tournament(s) will get to represent India at the FIBA World Tour(s).

Media Contacts

MSL: Aziz Khan | +91 9869692946 aziz.khan@mslgroup.com

Laxmi Sharma/ + 91 9654515243 laxmi.sharma@mslgroup.com

Harshvendra Soin appointed as the Chief People Officer of Tech Mahindra – Effective July 1, 2018

Rakesh Soni, the current Chief People Officer to assume an advisory role in the organization

New Delhi, June 6th, 2018: Tech Mahindra Ltd. a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions, announced the appointment of Harshvendra Soin as Chief People Officer effective July 1, 2018. Harshvendra Soin will take over from the current Chief People Officer; Rakesh Soni, who will assume an advisory role in the organization.

Harshvendra Soin has been associated with Tech Mahindra since 2012. He brings with him a rich experience of more than 24 years in the industry. Prior to his current role, he was heading the Canada Enterprise Business as Senior Vice President and Country Head at Tech Mahindra (Canada). He was also the Global Leadership Acquisition & Development, and Head - Business HR for APAC & IMEA (Telecom & Enterprise) for Tech Mahindra.

Prior to joining Tech Mahindra, Harshvendra was the Chief People Officer at Fortis Healthcare Limited, looking after all areas of Human Resources. He also worked with Aditya Birla Retail Limited as a Chief People Officer before Fortis. Harshvendra has also worked towards creating innovative HR Processes and Policies in Bharti Enterprises where he was Senior Vice President – People Excellence before moving as the Head – HR for Bharti Retail Ltd. He has also worked with the Oberoi Group and Punwire Limited

He has been a recipient of many prestigious awards including HR Leadership Award – Asia Pacific HRM Congress, Ascent - Most Powerful HR Professionals of India Award – World HRD Congress. Other awards include Talent Magnet Award - Conscious Business Leader Award 2016 by LinkedIn.

About Tech Mahindra:

Tech Mahindra represents the connected world, offering innovative and customer-centric information technology services and solutions, enabling Enterprises, Associates and the Society to Rise™. We are a USD 4.8 billion company with 112,900+ professionals across 90 countries, helping over 910 global customers including Fortune 500 companies. Our innovation platforms and reusable assets connect across a number of technologies to deliver tangible business value to our stakeholders. Tech Mahindra is also amongst the Fab 50 companies in Asia as per the Forbes 2016 List.

The Mahindra Group is a USD 20.7 billion federation of companies that enables people to rise through innovative mobility solutions, driving rural prosperity, enhancing urban living, nurturing new businesses and fostering communities. It enjoys a leadership position in utility vehicles, information technology, financial services and vacation ownership in India and is the world’s largest tractor company, by volume. It also enjoys a strong presence in agribusiness, aerospace, commercial vehicles, components, defense, logistics, real estate, renewable energy, speedboats and steel, amongst other businesses. Headquartered in India, Mahindra employs over 2,40,000 people across 100 countries.

Minister WCD Maneka, highlighting the achievements

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Minister WCD ,Maneka Gandhi addresses Press conference highlighting Achievements in the past 4 year.

Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi has said that her Ministry has taken several initiatives to protect women from rising crimes against them.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi about the achievements of her Ministry in the last four years, Mrs Gandhi said, helpline number 181 to help women in distress is now available in almost every state. She said, for the first time, the government is providing coordinated support to women facing problems in their marriage to Non Resident Indians.

Mrs Gandhi said, her ministry is working towards effective implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace ( Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act 2013. She informed that provision of a panic button in cell phones is being worked out and work is in progress in this direction.

Need for making anti-rape laws gender neutral, Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has urged all States and Union Territories to include male child victims of sexual abuse in their victim. Air India sexual harassment case: Complete probe this month, orders WCD Minister Maneka Gandh.

We have found that the weakest part of crime detection is by use of forensic tools, said the Union Minister while announcing a plan to strengthen the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL).

The Minister said, rape kits are being provided in every police station for immediate check-up of victims and results are sent to laboratories.

IFAD and Nepal invest US$68.1 million

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

IFAD and Nepal invest US$68.1 million to improve incomes and food and nutrition security for rural smallholders

Rome, 6 June 2018 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Nepal have signed a financing agreement to significantly improve incomes and food and nutrition security for 35,000 rural farming households in 10 districts in State 6.

The agreement for the Agriculture Sector Development Programme was signed by correspondence by Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of IFAD, and,Shreekrishna Nepal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Nepal.

The total cost of the new programme is US$68.1 million, including a $38.2 million loan and a $1.8 million grant from IFAD. The project will be cofinanced by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation ($3 million), the Government of Nepal ($11.5 million) and others. It will be implemented over six years.

In Nepal, two thirds of the labour force is engaged in agricultural production, but the majority are unskilled and lack knowledge of updated cultivation practices. Food insecurity remains a key concern in the country, with rates of stunting and wasting being the highest in the programme area.

“The programme will target smallholder producers and landless rural people interested in engaging in targeted value chain activities,” said Lakshmi Moola, IFAD Country Programme Manager.

“We aim to improve incomes and food security by supporting producers in developing high-value agricultural products that correspond to market needs and can generate a profit. The programme will also invest in market infrastructure and producers’ access to markets,” she added.

Technical training and financial services will be provided and women and disadvantaged households will be specifically targeted.

The programme will be implemented in Dailekh, Dolpa, Humla, Jajarkot, Jumla, Kalikot, Mugu, Rukum (Western), Salyan, and Surrket districts in State 6, located in the mid-western area of Nepal.

Since 1978, IFAD has financed 17 rural development programmes and projects in Nepal, investing $301.8 million or $609.8 million when co-financing is included. These projects and programmes have benefitted almost 824,000 rural households.

Susan Beccio

Communications Division
Tel: +39 06 5459 2479

Blast in iron mine in China

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

China, twenty-three workers were rescued today from an iron mine in northeast Liaoning province, hours after they were trapped by a powerful explosion.

Authorities said, the explosion in the iron ore mine in Sishanling village, Benxi city killed 11 people and injured nine others who were above ground. It destroyed the hoisting system in the mine, trapping 25 miners underground.

The blast took place yesterday when miners were dropping explosives down the 1,000-metre-deep mine shaft. State-run Xinhua news agency reports that search is underway for the two others still remain missing.

RBI hikes repo rate to 6.25%

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

RBI hikes Repo Rate for the 1st time in over 4 years by 25 bps to 6.25%

Reserve Bank of India hikes Repo Rate by 25 bps to 6.25%. Reverse Repo rate at 6.50%. The central bank announced its bimonthly monetary policy on Wednesday amid expanding economic growth and the recent increase in crude oil prices.

The RBI projects inflation for 2018-19 at 4.8- 4.9% in first half and 4.7% in the second half of the year, projection for GDP is 7.5-7.6 in first half and 7.3-7.4 in the second half.

The meeting of the monetary policy committee headed by RBI Governor Urjit Patel, began in Mumbai on Monday. The committee will meet today as well, before the policy will be announced. This is the first time the six-member committee is meeting for three days instead of the usual two, due to certain administrative exigencies.

All six members of the MPC including RBI Governor Urjit Patel voted for the 0.25 per cent rate hike.

Fashion designer Kate Spade found dead

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Designer Kate Spade, one of the biggest names in American fashion, was found dead today in New York after committing suicide, police said. She was 55. Celebrity website TMZ said the designer — especially known for her sleek handbags — hanged herself in her Park Avenue apartment.

A police spokeswoman confirmed Spade committed suicide but told AFP the exact circumstances of her death were not yet clear.
Tributes to Spade poured in — from celebrities, the fashion world and everyday women who admired her quintessential American style.
The Council of Fashion Designers of America said it was “devastated” at the news.
Spade — a Missouri native who first worked as a journalist, launched her eponymous fashion label in 1993 with her husband Andy and the help of outside investors.

Media Invitations: 3×3 Pro Basketball League

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Hi,

Greetings!

3×3 Pro Basketball League

Cordially invites you

To announce the Kick-off of the Inaugural Season of the first ever FIBA 3×3 recognised Pro Basketball League

The fixtures along with players

In presence of

Indian basketball superstars

o Palpreet Singh Brar – the second NBA player from India

International top FIBA 3×3 Basketball Players

o Inderbir Gill – USA#2

o Bikramjit Gill – Canada#4

3X3BL Management

o Rohit Bakshi, 3BL League Commissioner

o Sudhir Vashist – Chief of Marketing & Business Development

o Vivek Krishna – Entertainment Director

Eminent personalities

o Member of the India Parliament for North East Delhi – Shri Manoj Tiwari

Venue: Hotel the Royal Plaza, Connaught Place

Date: June 6th, 2018 (Tomorrow)

Time: 11:00 am

RSVP: Laxmi Sharma | laxmi.sharma@mslgroup.com | +91 9654515243

Deeksha Chowdry | deeksha.chowdry@mslgroup.com | +91 9654154505

Putin: Lifting Russia sanctions benefit all

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Western sanctions against Russia haven’t worked and both Moscow and the West would benefit from lifting them. Putin, speaking on a visit to Austria today, said the restrictions are “harmful for everyone – those who initiated them and those who are targeted by them.”

The United States, the European Union and other Western allies introduced a slew of sanctions against Moscow over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and for its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Coupled with a drop in oil prices, the sanctions contributed to Russia’s two-year recession.
The Russian economy has rebounded, however, and Putin emphasized that lifting the sanctions would answer common interests. He said both Russia and the EU would benefit from resuming full-scale cooperation.

DMA, “World Environment Day”

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

PRESS INVITATION

To all the Chief/Health Reporter

Press/Media

We are pleased to inform you that Delhi Medical Association is observing “World Environment Day” on 5th June every year. This year Delhi Medical Association is celebrating World Environment Day on Wednesday, the 6th June 2018.

On this occasion, DMA is organizing a seminar on Ill Effects of Pollutions on Wednesday, 6th June 2018 at 2.30pm preceded by lunch at DMA House. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Hon’ble Minister for Environment and Science and Technology Govt. of India will grace the occasion as the Chief Guest.
Besides, that DMA is launching Save Environment Green Good Deeds Campaign along with therelease of the poster depicting green good deeds to save the environment.

You are requested to kindly depute your reporter and photographer to cover the event on 6th June 2018 at 2.00pm and oblige.

Copy of the invitation card is enclosed herewith for your ready reference

Regards,

Dr. Ashwani Goyal Dr. Harish Gupta Dr. G.S. Grewal

President, Chairman, Prog Hony. State Secretary, DMA

M: 9811113647 M:9810219482 M: 9811078010
DR.G.S.GREWAL
HONY. STATE SECRETARY
DELHI MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
M:9811078010

Austria’s Kurz to Putin

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Russia is crucial in bringing peace to Syria and Ukraine, Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, adding he hopes Moscow helps secure peace in Donbass, paving the way to lifting EU sanctions.

“Russia, as a superpower, has an important role in Syria and eastern Ukraine, and Russia has great responsibility,” Chancellor Kurz said after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vienna on Tuesday. “We hope that Russia will contribute to people finally living to see what they wanted to see for a long time – peace.”

We have the highest hopes for progress in eastern Ukraine so that with gradual implementation of the Minsk agreements to step by step lift sanctions”against Russia, the chancellor said.

“This is the scenario that we want to achieve for our continent.”

After the talks, Putin told journalists that Austria has expressed readiness to join the humanitarian efforts in Syria.

“If Europe wants the flow of migrants from Syria and nearby countries to decrease, it’s necessary to help the people to return to their homes; to help them to put life back on track in their country,” the Russian president said.

Russian Air Force was first dispatched to Syria back in September 2015 on the request of country’s president, Bashar Assad. The successful bombing campaign against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other jihadist groups, backing the advances of government forces, and the establishment of de-escalation zone have led to most of the Syrian territory being liberated from terrorists.

Ukraine, on the other hand, Moscow does not consider itself part of the conflict. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Western claims that it has been supporting the rebels in Donetsk and Lugansk regions with arms, money and manpower in their fight against Kiev. Despite not being a party to the war, Russia has been actively working to achieve peace in Donbass, brokering the Minsk-2 peace deal with France and Germany in February 2015, which led to a sharp decrease in violence in the conflict zone.

Farmers Right to Set Minimum Selling Price – Corrupt NGOs

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June06, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

India is let down by ‘Three Generations of Jakhars’ who always worked in Self Interest – Balram Jakhar was Crying when his Kinnows were sold for Rs.25 per kg when Director of Punjab Agriculture from his smaller Kinnow Farm nearby was realizing just Rs.8 Per Kg.

A Street Vendor owning a 4 Wheel Rusty cart buys fruits and vegetables at say Rs.20 per kg in the morning and by evening sells about 100 kgs of fruits and Vegetables at Rs.40 per kg and makesRs.2,000/- daily income. This translates to Rs.7,30,000 Tax Free Annual Income. In cases where Four Brothers are in Business – a joint Family Earns Rs.29,20,000 Tax Free income. Capital Investment required is just say Rs.10,000 or Rs.20,000 only.

But a Family of 4 Brothers Producing Sugarcane are Not Paid for 2-3 Years from day of Sowing and Investment of Rs.10,00,000 Plus Rs.10 Cr Cost of Land Yield No Profit or Net Income. If we Consider Moneylenders Cost it is Negative.

This year TOP – Tomato, Onion & Potato Farmers were paid just Rs.1 per kg. Garlic farmers paid Rs.2 per kg this year joins TOP – its now TOPG.

Jakhars had let down India – a Street Vendor is Free to FIX his Selling Price –

Why can’t 600m Farmers Coops ‘FIX MINIMUM SELLING PRICE’ for their produce?

Bogus Farm Leader ‘Krishan Bir Choudhary’ mislead Western UP Farmers –

KBC never Tells that UP Farmers also Produce 30 million tones of Milk, 50 million tones of Wheat & Rice – can make 2 million tones of Milk Cake or Burfi that retails for Rs.300/- to Rs.500/- per kg.

Why can’t Farmers own 1000 TPD Sugar Mills within 5 km radius that assures Cash Payment or Sugar For Sugarcane Delivered?

Why can’t Farmers produce ETHANOL Directly from Sugarcane?

In 2008 India imported 128.15 million metric tons of crude, constituting 75% of its total petroleum consumption for that year. By 2025 it will be importing 90% of its petroleum (UNESCAP 2009). In an effort to increase its energy security and independence, the Government of India in October of 2007 set a 20% ethanol blend target for gasoline fuel to be met by 2017. In India, the vast majority of ethanol is produced from sugarcane molasses, a byproduct of sugar. In the future it may also be produced directly from sugarcane juice.

Ethanol Policy 2007 was Sabotaged by Sugar Mills and RIL in 11 Years. India spent $2000b in these years on Import of Energy.

Why can’t FARMERS OWN SUGAR BUFFER STOCKS and Paid in ‘Sugar’ for Sugarcane Delivered – Farmer Delivering 10 T of Sugarcane – Returning with 1 T of Sugar?

Why not invest in 100-500 KW Solar Farms, SME Food Processing?

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS

Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857

Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,

Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects

DATA SHARING WITH 60 COMPANIES BY FACEBOOK IS VULNERABLE

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

05th June, 2018

DATA SHARING WITH 60 COMPANIES BY FACEBOOK IS VULNERABLE

CAIT URGE RAVISHANKAR PRASAD TO TAKE PREVENTIVE STEPS

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has expressed deep shock over the reported news of Facebook giving access to several cell phone manufacturers and other device makers of its data on users & their friends including their personal information and for such an access Facebook has entered into agreements with such companies. So far it has reached data sharing partnership with about 60 device makers.

In a communication sent today to Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for IT &. Technology, the CAIT has urged him to take immediate cognisance of the news and take immediate steps to deal with this crucial issue of cyber security.

The news appeared in a prominent news Paper today sending alarming bells to data security which may not only breach privacy of the users but may also pose threat to economy & security of the Country since data of Indian citizens using Facebook must have also been compromised since agreements seems to of global level.

CAIT National President Mr B C Bhartia & Secretary General Mr Praveen Khandelwal while raising serious objections on the matter said that from the point of view of businesses, sharing of such a data may result into consolidation of business into few hands as data analytical could easily give information about the nature, preferences, capacity & capability , trends, purchase or sale bahaviour of person or persons or trade groups etc. It may also lead to leakage of confidential information about particular business or businesses. Based on such analyses of data the Companies will attack trade or businesses in a most strategical and organised manner to control the markets.

Both Mr. Bhartia & Mr. Khandelwal said that usage of smartphones have become ubiquitous, and are forcing us to re-imagine the contours of privacy and data protection.We carry our phones everywhere we go, we use them for accessing critical services including banking and payments, we use them to store personal and sensitive data, to access our social networks and emails, and many “apps” are connected to servers and facilities that consumers and governments, often have no line of sight to.

Unsurprisingly, reports of phone hacks, theft of personally identifiable information and user-tracking, misguidance of consumers and evasion of law, by stakeholders within the digital ecosystem, has become an everyday phenomenon. The Indian smartphone user is particularly vulnerable.

CAIT has decided to sought authoritative information about such partnerships from Facebook itself and based on such information, it will pursue the matter with the Govt.

PM addresses opening session of 49th Governors’ Conference

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today addressed the opening session of the 49th Conference of Governors at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

The Prime Minister spoke at length about how Governors could leverage their experience in different walks of life, so that people derive maximum benefit of various central development schemes and initiatives. He said the institution of Governor has a pivotal role to play within the federal structure and Constitutional framework of our country.

He said Governors of States with significant tribal population can help in ensuring that the tribal communities benefit from Government initiatives in fields such as education, sports and financial inclusion. He said the tribal communities had played a key role in the freedom struggle, and this should be recognised and recorded for posterity through avenues such as digital museums.

The Prime Minister noted that Governors are also Chancellors of Universities. He said that International Yoga Day on June 21st can be utilized as an opportunity to generate greater awareness about Yoga among the youth. Similarly, he emphasized that Universities can also become the focal point of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Prime Minister mentioned some key themes of development such as the National Nutrition Mission, electrification of villages and development parameters in aspirational districts. He suggested that Governors could also visit a few recently electrified villages to witness first-hand the benefits of electrification.

He said that during the recent Gram Swaraj Abhiyan from 14th April, seven key schemes of the Government were implemented fully in over 16000 villages. He said that these villages have been freed from seven problems through Jan Bhagidaari. He said Gram Swaraj Abhiyan is now being extended to 65000 more villages, with a target date of 15th August.

The Prime Minister suggested that planning for the 50th Governors’ Conference next year should begin immediately. This effort should focus on making this annual event even more productive.

Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act (IRWA), 1986

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

WCD proposes amendments to widen the scope of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act (IRWA), 1986

Reformulated bill proposes new Centralised Authority under the aegis of National Commission of Women (NCW)

Based on the observations made by Parliamentary Standing Committee and recommendation made by the National Commission for Women on the basis of consultation with civil society groups and likeminded individuals, WCD has proposed amendments in IRWA keeping in mind the recent technological advancement in the field of communications such as social media platforms, over the top services etc.

The reformulated Bill proposes following amendments in the parent Act:

Amendment in definition of term advertisement to include digital form or electronic form or hoardings, or through SMS, MMS etc
Amendment in definition of distribution to include publication, license or uploading using computer resource, or communication device or in
Insertion of a new definition to define the term publish
Amendment in section 4 to include that No person shall publish or distribute or cause to be published or cause to be distributed by any means any material which contains indecent representation of women in any form:
Penalty similar to that provided under the Information Technology Act, 2000
Creation of a Centralised Authority under the aegis of National Commission of Women (NCW). This Authority will be headed by Member Secretary, NCW, having representatives from Advertising Standards Council of India, Press Council of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one member having experience of working on women issues.
This Centralised Authority will be authorized to receive complaints or grievances regarding any programme or advertisement broadcasted or publication and investigate/ examine all matters relating to the indecent representation of women.

The Government of India has enacted the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act (IRWA), 1986 to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements, publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner. Since the enactment of the Act, technological revolution has resulted in the development of new forms of communication, such as internet, multi-media messaging, cable television, over-the-top (OTT) services and applications e.g. Skype, Viber, WhatsApp, Chat On, Snapchat, Instagram etc.

Keeping in mind these technological advancements, it has been decided to widen the scope of the law so as to cover such forms of media on one hand and to strengthen the existing safeguards to prevent indecent representation of women through any media form on the other. Hence, the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Amendment Bill, 2012 was introduced in Rajya Sabha December, 2012 which referred the Bill to Department related Parliament Standing Committee for consideration.

Hi Naresh, Plastic waste

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Hi Naresh,

Plastic waste equivalent to the weight of roughly a billion elephants is poisoning our planet! It includes every plastic spoon, straw, packet of chips, and PET bottle you and I have used and thrown away.

This is what young volunteers decided to do to #breakfreefromplastic!

This Environment Day, the world is finally addressing the need to reduce our plastic production. Cleaning up and recycling is no more a sustainable solution to this uncontrollable crisis – hence we are urging the retailers, corporations, restaurants, and businesses to reduce their single-use plastic footprint urgently!

Volunteers visited single-use plastic harbours – and did this!

Besides taming our own consumption behavior to minimise the contribution of our choices to the world’s plastic woes, the retailers and manufacturers need to be held accountable for pumping out tonnes of plastic waste 24×7 – urge them to adopt sustainable alternatives!

There’s also a surprise in here for you – today we launched an updated version of our website. So please browse through the site, take action and share your web-experience!

Let’s break away from the chains of single-use plastic. There are five trillion pieces of plastic in our oceans – enough to circle the Earth over 400 times[1]. We can only imagine the magnitude of this growing problem – and today, we must do our part.

Towards a plastic-free future,

Nayan and the entire
Greenpeace India team

Source: [1] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/dec/10/full-scale-plastic-worlds-oceans-revealed-first-time-pollution

Show some love: thanks for sharing and caring.

Local fans train with Rahul Dev in Bishkek for “Torbaaz”

ON JUNE 6, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Actor Rahul Dev is currently busy shooting his next Torbaaz in Krgyzstan. An insider reveals that Rahul has totally got into the skin of the character & is very excited playing the antagonist in this Sanjay Dutt starrer film as his character is very different from the others that he’s essayed in numerous Hindi & South Indian films. The unit is reportedly shooting in tough locations & unpredictable weather conditions but despite a hectic shooting schedule, Rahul Dev, known to be a fitness freak never misses his workouts at the local gym in Bishkek, where his local fans make a beeline to train with their favourite actor.

Apart from Sanjay Dutt with whom Rahul Dev has worked in the past, the actor has also hit off very well with the film’s producer & co-actor Rahul Mittra as both are from Delhi & have similar backgrounds, Rahul Dev being a cop’s son & Rahul Mittra being a bureaucrat’ s son and are often spotted chatting between shots.

Directed by Girish Malik & presented by Raju Chadha, the film has been a lot in news for being shot on a massive scale across spectacular locations & also stars Nargis Fakhri.

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Leading Digital Transformation and Innovation

ON JUNE 7, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Jun

Chair: Prof Ambuj Sagar – Vipula and Mahesh Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies, IIT Delhi

Friday, 8 June 2018, 6:00 p.m.

Seminar Room I to III, Kamla Devi Complex, India International Centre

Metamorphoses Website

Opening remarks by Air Marshal (Retd.) Naresh Verma – Director, IIC

Speaker:
Prof Soumitra Dutta – Professor of Management, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business and Chair, Board of Directors Global Business School Network (GBSN), Washington DC

Chair: Prof. Ambuj Sagar – Vipula and Mahesh Chaturvedi Professor of Policy Studies, IIT Delhi

Questions will be taken on a special number through SMS, provided at the venue, and selected ones will be answered given time constraints.

Fathers are one of the best – UN

ON JUNE 7, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Fathers are one of the best, yet most underutilized child development resources – UNICEF

In honor of June Father’s Day commemorations around the world, UNICEF launches parenting site to bring fathers together to share experiences of parenthood

NEW YORK, 7 June 2018 – As Father’s Day is celebrated across nearly 90 countries this month, UNICEF today launched a new parenting site as part of its ‘Super Dads’ campaign recognizing fathers’ role in their children’s early development. UNICEF is calling for more support for fathers globally, including for policies that give parents the time and resources they need to spend quality time with their children.

“More than just a second parent or an extra set of hands, fathers are one of the best child development resources we have, and if we are going to give children the best start in life, we all need to fully recognize and utilize this role,” said UNICEF Chief of Early Childhood Development Dr. Pia Britto.

The online site will bring together fathers from across the world to share their parenting tips, their struggles, their needs, and their successes. It will also feature ‘mini parenting master g nutrition for healthy brain development.

The ‘Super Dads’ campaign is intended to remind parents everywhere that when fathers nurture their young ones in their earliest years of life – by providing love and protection, playing with them, and supporting their nutrition – their children will learn better, have less behavioural issues, and become healthier, happier human beings.

UNICEF is also using Father’s Day to renew its call to break down cultural and financial barriers preventing fathers from spending quality time with their young children.

“There is no time more critical for brain development than the first 1,000 days of a child’s life, and there’s a growing body of evidence that fathers hold a huge stake in this process. Yet this evidence is not being matched with investment in the support that fathers urgently need to step-up and be the best they can be,” said Britto.

Advances in neuroscience have proven that when children spend their earliest years of life – particularly their first 1,000 days – in a nurturing and stimulating environment, their brains can develop at optimal speed. These neural connections determine a child’s cognitive ability, their health and happiness, how they learn and think, their ability to deal with stress, and their ability to form relationships. Good nutrition, protection, play and love in early childhood spark these neural connections in children’s brains.

Research suggests that when fathers are able to bond with their babies from the very beginning of life, they are more likely to play a more active role in their children’s development, and will have better psychological health, self-esteem and life-satisfaction in the long-term.

The Lancet’s Series, Advancing Early Childhood Development: from Science to Scale, launched in October 2016, revealed nearly 250 million children under 5 were at risk of poor development due to stunting and extreme poverty. The Series also revealed that programmes promoting nurturing care can cost as little as 50 cents per capita per year when combined with existing health services.

# # #

Multimedia content: As part of the campaign, world-renowned photographer Adriana Zehbrauskas travelled with UNICEF to capture fathers’ earliest moments with their newborns in delivery rooms across five diverse countries – Guinea Bissau, Mexico, Thailand, Turkmenistan and the United Kingdom. UNICEF hopes the series will encourage fathers across the world to play a more active role in their young children’s early years. The photos, released today, can be viewed here:https://uni.cf/2sJpRAv

About ‘Super Dads’

The ‘Super Dads’ initiative is part of UNICEF’s#EarlyMomentsMatter campaign, which aims to drive increased understanding of how children’s environments and experiences in early childhood can shape their future health, well-being, ability to learn, and even how much they will earn as adults.

Note for Editors

The #EarlyMomentsMatter Campaign in India

Building on the success of last year’s #BaapWaliBaat #EarlyMomentsMatter campaign around #FathersDay this year UNICEF India will celebrate the ABCs of good parenting for healthy brain development and highlight the importance of protection, nutrition and stimulation in the earliest years of life. This year’s focus in India will be on nutrition and will build a community of dads online and offline who can share their experiences of parenting especially around feeding their child and exchange parenting tips.

With the FIFA World Cup starting before Father’s Day and with the Indian National Football Team currently on the pitch in Mumbai, UNICEF will build on many dads’ passion for sports with a series ofexclusive videos from the Team captain, players and coach that will be released on UNICEF India’s social media channels from 14 June and will be available for download here.

A special awareness drive around enhancing awareness on what to feed children and at what age utilizing local foods, will also be initiated.

Please follow us on on Facebook, Twitter, Instagrambecause the #EarlyMomentsMatter. For more information on UNICEF India and its work visitwww.unicef.in.

SAM – Royal Philips open advance oncology imaging

ON JUNE 7, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Singapore- Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, and the Singapore Institute of Advanced Medicine Holdings (SAM) officially opened the Advanced Medicine Imaging (AMI) centre at Biopolis, an international biomedical research hub in Singapore. The new facility will provide specialized oncology care to the fast-growing number of people confronted with cancer in the Southeast Asia region. In addition, the centre will facilitate scientific research and development and provide medical training targeted at upskilling the region’s healthcare professionals in the newest cancer therapies.

The AMI centre is equipped with advanced imaging systems and clinical informatics aimed at helping clinicians deliver confident diagnosis of cancer with increased speed and efficiency. The facilities, which will open in phases, are scheduled for completion by the end of 2019.

“The 100 million Singapore Dollar investment in the regional oncology centre reaffirms our commitment to strengthen Singapore’s position as the ‘go-to’ destination for specialized cancer care,” said Dr. Djeng Shih Kien, Founder and Chairman, Singapore Institute of Advanced Medicine Holdings. “Together with partners, including Philips, Varian Medical Systems and IBA Worldwide, we have a shared goal to provide a one-stop patient-centric hub where patients across the region can access the latest and most sophisticated technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.”

Cancer imposes an ever-increasing health burden in Asia, with the region accounting for half of the global burden of cancer. Due to the region’s ageing and growing populations, together with lifestyle and socioeconomic changes, the incidence of cancer cases in Asia is expected to increase from 6.1 million in 2008 to 10.6 million in 2030. This rising threat not only affects the population, it also has a dire economic impact as treatment costs spiral upwards. With healthcare systems already operating with limited resources and expertise, advanced technologies need to be leveraged to drive efficiency and deliver optimum patient outcomes.

Advanced imaging technologies realize accurate and timely diagnosis of cancer

With a comprehensive portfolio of advanced imaging systems and clinical informatics, the AMI centre will empower clinicians to deliver fast and robust oncology imaging. It will house two Philips Vereos PET/CTscanners, the world’s first and only fully digital PET/CT systems. Using proprietary Digital Photon Counting (DPC) technology, Philips’ Vereos PET/CT provides outstanding anatomical imaging and enhances lesion detectability with improved contrast and resolution.

Another world-first solution at AMI is Philips’ IQon Spectral CT, a new generation Computed Tomography (CT) solution that allows clinicians to characterize tumors with greater certainty than is possible with black and white images from conventional CT scans. Philips’ IQon Spectral CT is also the world’s first spectral detector-based CT that allows clinicians to do both in-depth spectral information on demand and retrospective analysis at low-dose – a direct benefit to patients.

The AMI centre also has a Philips Ingenia 3T MRI equipped with Philips’ unique Ambient Experience, which uses dynamic lighting, video and sound to provide patients with a calming immersive environment.

These state-of-the-art imaging systems within the AMI will be complemented by a full suite of Philips clinically-rich healthcare informatics solutions, supporting confident diagnosis and personalized treatment. Philips provides IT solutions to integrate systems, aggregate data, accelerate workflows, and facilitate informed decisions, giving clinical teams the insights they need to work effectively and efficiently. One example is Philips’ IntelliSpace Portal, an advanced visualization analysis and quantification platform featuring a comprehensive suite of multi-modality applications, powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). IntelliSpace Portal will also serve as a collaboration platform for clinical development and research for the Advanced Medicine Education centre within the AMI, which will be open to third parties in the future.

Beyond diagnostic imaging innovations, upcoming facilities at the regional oncology centre also promise more personalized and targeted cancer treatment pathways through the use of radioisotope therapies, such as Lu-PSMA (Lutetium Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen) therapy, and proton beam therapy for tumor treatment.

The regional oncology centre also aims to promote clinical research for breakthroughs in cancer diagnostics and treatment, and cross-border medical training to enhance the knowledge and expertise of the region’s healthcare professionals.

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June 8, 2018, 2:07 am

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UN agency President at EAT Stockholm Food Forum:

ON JUNE 8, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

UN agency President at EAT Stockholm Food Forum: striking the right balance to feed the world

Rome, 7 June 2018 – Ending poverty and hunger top the list of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but achieving this shared ambition by 2030 will only happen if the world finds the right balance between meeting rising food demands while simultaneously preserving the environment and building community resilience, according to Gilbert F. Houngbo, the President of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Already more than 800 million people go to bed hungry each night, a man-made travesty that will only worsen as agriculture is increasingly affected by climate change. It is estimated that by 2050, 22 per cent of cultivated areas will suffer impacts, agricultural production will shrink and rising ocean temperatures and acid levels will lead to declines in fish stocks. At the same time, demand for food will more than double as the urban population grows. As a keynote speaker at the EAT Stockholm Food Forum on Monday, Houngbo will explain the tenuous balance between feeding the world, protecting the environment and the role of the poorest most marginalized families.

“How we switch food from being a driver of many of our greatest global health and environmental challenges to instead becoming a powerful tool for tackling them, is one of the most critical questions of our time,” says Alessandro Demaio, CEO of EAT. “Just as these challenges are intimately intertwined, our actions to address them must be integrated across sectors, disciplines and continents. As such, the work of international organizations such as IFAD is critical, and our hope is that the leaders and experts converging in Stockholm this week will make decisive contributions toward the urgent food transformation that is needed to meet the 2030 Agenda.”

Each year the EAT Stockholm Food Forum attracts more than 500 top global leaders from science, politics, business and civil society to share knowledge and best practices, and coordinate action across sectors and disciplines to tackle the intertwined challenges of the global food system. Other speakers alongside Houngbo will include Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin and Norway’s Minister of International Development Nikolai Astrup.

While in Stockholm, Houngbo will join IFAD’s Recipes for Change chefs Ska Mirriam, a Lesotho born chef and media personality, and Ali Said Mandhry from Kenya, popularly known as Chef Ali L’artiste, a media personality, culinary instructor and food stylist. The Recipes for Change campaign exposes the threats rural communities face as climatic changes impact the essential ingredients used in their traditional foods and daily meals. It demonstrates how IFAD, through the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme, is working with farming families to adapt to the very real impacts of climate change in their communities. The chefs will join others in the community to launch at the EAT Stockholm Food Forum a Chefs’ Manifesto – a thematic framework that identifies food issues that matter most to chefs and grounded in the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Contact:Katie TaftMobile: +39 334 6083657Email: k.taft@ifad.org

Uttar Pradesh to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) status by 2nd October, 2018

ON JUNE 8, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Uttar Pradesh, June 05, 2018: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath reviewed the progress of the Swachh Bharat Mission Gramin (SBM-G) in Lucknow with all District Magistrates of the State through Video Conferencing last evening. Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Government of India was also in attendance, along with Chief Secretary Uttar Pradesh and other senior officials of the state.

The Chief Minister reiterated the state’s commitment to achieve open defecation free (ODF) status for UP by 2nd October 2018, one year ahead of the national deadline of 2nd October 2019. He highlighted the importance of making the SBM-G a Jan Andolan, and not just a government program. He said that the districts that have done well are the ones who have successfully gotten all sections of society involved. He also appealed to all DMs to take accountability and involve all sections of society in the mission, and spend at least one hour every day to personally monitor progress.

The Chief Minister also asked the DMs to leverage social media for better monitoring of implementation of the program in the field. He focused on the quality of the process being followed for behavior change triggering, and instructed the DMs to ensure timely payment of incentives to Swachhagrahis and masons.

UP has made significant progress in the last six months, with the sanitation coverage for the state going past 70%. Seven districts and over 28,000 villages have been declared ODF in the state. Nationally, the sanitation coverage has increased from 39% in 2014 to nearly 85%, with over 3.75 lakh villages, 389 districts, 13 States and 4 UTs already declared ODF.

Nickelodeon brings magic to the kids

ON JUNE 8, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Nickelodeon brings magic to the kids’ entertainment category with the Prince of Magic “Rudra – Boom ChikChik Boom”

~Rudra is all set to up the entertainment quotient for kids only on Nickelodeon, starting 11thJune, 2018 every Monday to Friday at 7.25pm~

June 6th, 2018, National:Nickelodeon, India’s leading kids’ entertainment franchise and a pioneer in creating homegrown content in the country is all set to introducethePrince of Magic “Rudra – Boom ChikChik Boom”. A category first, Rudra is a magic comedy series that is all set to enthrall young viewers of Nickelodeon starting 11thJune 2018, every Monday to Friday at 7.25pm.

Rudra is the story of a 9-year-old boy who is a spirited and intelligent. He lives in the magical Sun City with his grandfather Jai Singh, a supreme magician and patriarch. Always curious to learn, Rudra is being mentored by his grandfather to emerge as his successor and the greatest magician ever. Rudra’s journey in the world of magic is made exciting with his best friends Varun and Maira who together protect Sun City from the Super-Evil magician Shakaal and his minions.

All set for the launch, RUDRA will be painting the country orange and making friends with his young viewers along the way.

UC Browser Witnesses 50% Surge in Content Consumers for T20 Cricket League

ON JUNE 8, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

IPL 2018 most watched in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad
Chennai Super Kings & Sunrisers Hyderabad most popular keywords, followed by MS Dhoni and Mumbai Indians.

New Delhi, June 08, 2018: UC Browser, the leading mobile browser in India, witnessed a jump of over 50% unique visitors during the recently concluded IPL 2018. Having transformed itself into a leading content distribution platform, UC Browser provided cricket fans with over 2.5 lakh articles, to meet the increased demand for specialized content from users.

The total page views saw a jump of 24% this cricket season and the users spent 10% more time catching up on cricket news versus last year, according to UC Trends, a soon to be launched trend index platform from UCWeb, a business within Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group.

Further consolidates its position as a leading content distribution platform

“UC Browser not only empowers its users with access to a mix of regular and niche content on our platform but also the content partners who can gain followers and increase readership of their content,” said Damon Xi, General Manager – India & Indonesia, UCWeb, Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group.

“We are happy to be working with over 9000 content partners on our platform during this cricket season and look forward to embracing more partners to join the platform and deliver valuable content to our users,” he further added.

UC Trends, a platform for mobile content trends and insights, will soon be launched to empower content creators to better understand users’ demand and leverage insights into content consumption trends.

Insights into the content consumption trends for IPL 2018

According to the recent trend report from UC Trends, this year’s edition of IPL saw over 7,000 publishers in Hindi and over 2,400 publishers in English analyzing the cricket season from unique and interesting angles for the readers.

UC We-Media contributor Mysterious World’s ‘ChrisGayle out of IPL, won’t play matches anymore’ got over 5.3 lakh views followed by unique news pieces from Cric Claver Cricket, Sports 360 and News Bomb. Articles from Focus Cricket and Apna Cricket got maximum comments whereas articles from Dainik Bhaskar and Khel Wala ranked high in the Sharing Index.

Southern cities of Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad contributed most to the cricket frenzy, lending maximum eyeballs to IPL. Chennai Super Kings&Sunrisers Hyderabad were the most popular keywords, followed by MS Dhoni and Mumbai Indians. Chennai Super Kingsheld on to the top spot in all popular keywords throughout IPL, with almost 8,600 articles mentioning the team.

With increasing demand for online content consumption, UC Browser has transformed itself from being the largest mobile browser to a leading content distribution platform in India by integrating with news feeds from UC News. It is now an ideal platform for accessing different kinds of content and the first choice option for mobile browsing. UC Trends, a mobile trends platform by UCWeb, is dedicated to providing a one-stop platform for mobile content trends and insights.

Conference Antaram by Vision India Foundation

ON JUNE 8, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Naresh Kumar Sagar: Namaskar Sir/Madam Ji

It gives us immense pleasure to invite you to cover a two-day education conference Antaram by Vision India Foundation (VIF) as a part of nation’s foremost Public Policy Residential Policy Bootcamp in partnership with MHRD (Unnat Bharat Abhiyan). The conference would feature 8 amazing private educational initiatives in education, 3 state government interventions and the central governments perspective of education. The conference is to be hosted at IIT Delhi on the 9th and 10th June 2018.

Antaram features leading educationists, thinkers, practitioners, representatives of visionary schools across India, grass-roots leaders – teachers, principals, civil society representatives, education-entrepreneurs. The 250 delegates for this conference are coming from 24 states of India, and 90 campuses, and have interests in working in education domain.

Date: 9th-10th June, 2018

Venue: Lecture Hall Complex, IIT Delhi, New Delhi

Please find the detailed schedule attached hereby.

Also, for further details please feel free to contact me on +91 7000537085, +91 7587168737 (Suyash Pande).

Looking forward to your gracious presence,

Singapore FM to visit N. Korea

ON JUNE 7, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan will visit Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday, the country’s government said in a statement on Wednesday. His trip to North Korea comes nearly a week before the historic meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore. Balakrishnan will be accompanied by officials from the country’s Foreign Ministry. The summit between the US and North Korean leaders will be held on Singapore’s southern island of Sentosa, the White House said on Tuesday.

ALT Balaji all set to Launch “Hero Varrdiwala”

ON JUNE 7, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

ALTBalaji brings to you its first ever Bhojpuri show ‘Hero Varrdiwala’ starring Bhojpuri superstar Dinesh Lal Yadav. The show has names like Dinesh Lal Yadav, Amrapali Dubey and Mahesh Pandey (producer) associated with it and the makers don’t want to leave any stone unturned when it comes to making the show look authentic and massy. To add more glamour to this high-octane action and drama series, makers have roped in the sultry Sambhavna Seth for an item number.

Sambhavna, who has impressed the audience with her performance in TV show Razia Sultan and Bhojpuri movies Rakhtbhoomi and Nagina will be featuring opposite Dinesh Lal Yadav in the song and would also be making her digital debut. This is also the first time that any homegrown OTT platform is experimenting with an item number for the show.

Sambhavna recently posted a tweet on her social networking site and shared her excitement of being part of this hot and sexy item number.

Here’s Sambhavna’s tweet: Did a killer song yesterday for @altbalaji’s India’s Bhojpuri web series hero varrdiwala with the superstar and my very favourite Dinesh thank u so much for giving me best song of the year @maheshpandey05 and @baljitsinghchaddha it was lovely meeting you after so many years

Produced by Mahesh Pandey, the show stars Dinesh Lal Yadav in the lead and will soon be streaming on ALTBalaji app and website

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June 9, 2018, 2:09 am

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6934 MW Delhi Load – Corrupt DERC Lowered AC Load Tariff

ON JUNE 9, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June09, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

Though Delhi government wants penalty for ‘Power Interruptions’ but is it Possible without ‘Smart Meters Installed on All Distribution Transformers’ – one of the Few Critical demands I petitioned to GOI since 2002 – it was with repeated petitioning Tata & Ambani Discoms installed Meters on Distribution Transformers. Their data could have been used to Provide Better Services to consumers.

But they don’t record power cuts, highest and lowest Voltage of Supply. THIS IS SCANDALOUS. It was DELIBERATE CONSIRACY though Delhi has 5 million CONSUMER meters just one single phase meter in each Distribution Transformer served could accurately record POWER CUTS with time & Duration but not implemented in 16 years – COST NOTHING.

Though average Delhi load is barely 3650 MW but peak load to exceed 7000 MW this year.

But Average Load could be reduced to 2500 MW and Peak Load to 5000 MW.

1. Here it obvious Minimum Load in Delhi is around 7AM and Maximum around 3PM. Shifting Office & Shopping hours to 6AM-3PM and 2PM to 10PM in two generally normal shifts in summer April-September it is possible to cut peak load by 1500 MW.

2. Idea of penalizing BRPL/BYPL/NDPL for Power Cuts can be implemented easily. All new Consumers to have Modified PROGRAMS that records and Displays Power Cuts and their duration – Total Cuts & Duration in a month – more than 2 Cuts and 1 hour of disruption to attract Penalty of Rs.5 for every hour of power disruption or Rs.1 for every cut. Consumers should be SUPPORTED to AVOID Invertor Use. Penalty of Rs.80 Cr a year is enough for DISCOM to EQUIP & Train staff for better-FAST maintenance.

3. Energy Efficiency, Potable Water Supply under pressure and 5000 MW Off Grid RooftopPV shall reduce Average Demand to 2500 MW – Peak Demand to 5,000 MW.

4. TRANCO to register INTERRUPTIONS in Supply to Consumers. On June02 and June08 – Power Supply was interrupted 4 times for two hours in each day – Fault in a Consumer Premises was addressed by SWITCHING off the 1000 KVA Transformer.

Delhi	Peak Load	Peak Load Time	Min. Load	Min. Load Time	Avg. Load
June01	6651	15:36:37	4359	07:03:52	5446
June02	5636	15:25:17	3769	08:01:38	4797
June03	5955	23:36:39	3708	08:33:46	4733
June04	6438	15:36:20	4136	07:30:55	5384
June05	6562	15:45:52	4288	07:33:56	5590
June06	6377	00:01:22	4255	07:43:30	5440
June07	6568	15:20:39	4165	07:28:47	5517
June08	6934	15:28:33	4487	07:07:05	5777

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS

Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857

Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,

Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects

Monaco welcomes Japanese Ikebana

ON JUNE 9, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Monaco welcomes Japanese Ikebana

All India, For immediate release:

Ikenobo, the oldest and most prestigious school of Japanese ikebana, to visit Monaco and offer free ikebana demonstration of the traditional artform.

Ikebana Arrangement by Headmaster Designate, Mrs. Senko Ikenobo

Ikebana flower arrangement is one of the representative aspects of Japanese traditional culture and was established by the Ikenobo more than 555 years ago. Like a poem or painting made with flowers, Ikenobo’s ikebana expresses both the beauty of flowers and the beauty of longing in our own hearts. Ikenobo’s spirit has continued to spread around the world, with local chapters in major cities and the hosting of exhibitions both across Japan and abroad. Ikenobo hopes to draw the worlds people together through their art.

As Honorary Consul of Iceland, Headmaster Designate Senko Ikenobo has continuously contributed to fostering international friendship, for example through a flower offering ceremony with wishes for world piece which was conducted in 2013 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. To encourage cultural relations between Monaco and Japan, which celebrated its 10th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations last year, the Headmaster Designate will visit Monaco and present the traditional cultural art of Japan ikebana floral arrangements through an ikebana demonstration.

On Sunday June 10th, the Headmaster Designate will perform an ikebana demonstration at the Salon Bellevue in Café de Paris from 16:30 to 18:00. This special demonstration will be open and free to the Monaco public. Ikebana arrangements by Mrs. Senko Ikenobo, as well as Professor Yukei Miura of Ikenobo Central Training Institute, will also be on display starting June 10th in the lobby and entrance of Hotel Hermitage Monte Carlo.

About Ikenobo’s ikebana:
Changes over the centuries in customs and living environments are reflected in the evolution of Ikenobo’s ikebana styles. Each age has brought new challenges for ikebana to express the spirit of the time. Today’s styles include ” rikka”, ” shoka”, and modern “free style“.


Rikka	Shoka	Free Style

Senko Ikenobo, Ph.D., Headmaster Designate of Ikenobo

Senko Ikenobo is Headmaster Designate of Ikenobo, a family whose first generation is traced back to Ono no Imoko and whose philosophy of ikebana was established in the Muromoachi period (14th -16th century). She serves as Vice Head Priest of Shiunzan Chohoji (Rokkakudo) temple in Kyoto, Honorary Consul of Iceland and Guest Professor of Gakushuin Women’s College and Ritsumeikan University.

Senko Ikenobo’s varied activities focus on life as emphasized through Ikenobo ikebana. From 2012, in remembrance of those lost in the disasters, and to offer sincere prayers for happiness and world peace, Senko Ikenobo started a pilgrimage to 33 temples in West Japan and performed flower offering ceremonies. She completed the pilgrimage in May, 2016. In 2013, she visited Boston and New York, U.S.A. on the occasion of the Ikenobo Ikebana 550th Year, conducting an ikebana workshop at Harvard University and performed a floral offering ceremony at United Nations Headquarters.

Mr. Yukei Miura, Professor of Ikenobo Central Training Institute

Professor Yukei Miura is from Aichi Prefecture of Japan located in the Central region. Professor Miura continued his studying of ikebana at Ikenobo Central Training Institute and began his teaching of Ikenobo ikebana from 1971. He has since completed Special Advanced Courses in Classical Rikka, Meiji Rikka, Modern Rikka and Free Style. Professor Miura is now teaching at the Ikenobo Central Training Institute as a Special Professor in Kyoto. In 1987, Professor Miura served for 6 months as Ikenobo Special Visiting Professor for North America, giving workshops and demonstrations in cities throughout the United States and Canada. He also visited Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan, China, Korea and Russia for workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions.

***

For further press information or images please contact:
Ruma Gupta | Public Relations Manager
Monaco Government Tourist Bureau | TRAC Representations India Pvt. Ltd.
+91 11 23730136 | pr@tracrep.com | visitmonaco.com

***

About Monaco
Welcome to Monaco. A Riviera Gem. An international cultural center for ballet, opera, music, theatre and exhibitions. A place where great minds meet for business at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco. Experience heart-stopping sports action at Monaco’s F1 Grand Prix and Tennis Masters and at the tables of the Casino de Monte-Carlo… or retreat to our luxurious spas (Les Thermes Marin, ESPA, Les Cinq Mondes, Willow Stream). World-class hotels (including the Hotel de Paris, Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo, Fairmont Monte Carlo, Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel, Le Meridien Beach Plaza, Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel, Port Palace Monaco and the Hotel Hermitage) host the world’s most discerning guests.

IOA: Plight of sports person reels in real

ON JUNE 9, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

ANI UP‏Verified account @ANINewsUP 1h1 hour ago
I want to take part but I’ve been told that I’ll need Rs 3-4 lakh. My father is a labourer. He is trying his best but isn’t able to arrange funds. I wrote to UP CM & PM Modi. I even went to Sports Min twice but couldn’t meet him: Priya Singh shortlisted for ISSF Junior World Cup
ANI UP‏Verified account @ANINewsUP 1h1 hour ago
More
I requested MLA, CM, Sports Minister as well as PM, but didn’t receive response from any of them. I have sold my buffalo, have taken loans from friends and I will send her to Germany at any cost even if government refuses to help us: Brijpal Singh, Priya Singh’s father

Weather Report

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June 11, 2018, 2:19 am

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India producing first indigenous Lithium-Ion batteries

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

India will soon start producing first indigenous Lithium Ion batteries. A memorandum of understanding for transfer of technology for India’s first Lithium Ion (Li-ion) Battery project was signed yesterday between CSIR’s Central Electro Chemical Research Institute (CECRI), Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu and RAASI Solar Power Pvt Ltd.

In a release Ministry of Science and Technology said, at present India depends on countries like China, Japan and South Korea for import of Lithium Ion batteries. India imported Li-Ion batteries worth 150 million dollar in 2017 and is one of its largest importers in the world.

Speaking after the signing of MoUs, Science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan said, the project is in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi vision of “Make in India”, to turn India into a manufacturing hub and to cut down outflow of foreign exchange.

He said it will give tremendous boost to two flagship programmes of Mr Modi – increasing the share of Clean Energy in the energy basket by generating 175 Giga Watts by 2022 and the second, National Electric Mobility Mission, to switch completely to electric vehicles by 2030.

The indigenous technology of Lithium-ion cells has been developed by a group of CSIR-CECRI headed by Dr Gopu Kumar in partnership with other Laboratory and Research Institute.

Akhilesh Yadav alliance with BSP to continue

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has made it clear that his party is ready to sacrifice a few seats to defeat the BJP in 2019 general elections and form a grand alliance.

Addressing a rally on Sunday, Akhilesh said, We are committed to the alliance with the BSP and will continue working with them, even if we have to sacrifice 2-4 seats, we are not going to stop. We will bring the BJP down.

Joint opposition candidates had emerged victorious in the recent Lok Sabha by-elections in Kairana, Gorakhpur and Phulpur. However, there have been questions about the sustainability of the grand alliance.

Akhilesh said the main motive is to defeat the BJP and parties will form an alliance to achieve that. They’re wondering how we will stay in this alliance, but we will work together and together we will defeat them, he added.

The SP chief had earlier suggested that a joint candidate must be put against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi in 2019. The Congress, however, remained non-committal to the idea and said it is “too early” and it was up to political parties to decide.

Global eyes,Trump-Kim summit for peace

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

President Donald J. Trump has touched down at Paya Lebar Airbase in Singapore for the historical summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after fierce barbs.

US President Donald Trump will today hold a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, ahead of the historic US-North Korea summit tomorrow.

The meeting between the two leaders will be followed by expanded bilateral meetings.

Talking to reporters White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said, Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North, will lead a US delegation for a working group with a North Korean delegation.

She informed that White House Chief of Staff, and National Security Adviser have arrived in Singapore for the June 12 summit.

Trump and Kim are set to meet on Tuesday at the Capella Hotel on Sentosa for talks which could see North Korea dismantle its nuclear arsenal in return for economic help and security guarantees. Around 2,500 journalists are reporting on the event.

United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to participate in the ‘historic summit’ on June 12.

As reported by the Yonhap News agency, Singapore is witnessing stronger police presence, stringent security checks, and roadblocks are around the area where the two leaders are expected to meet. This area has been designated by Singaporean authorities as ‘special event areas’.

The area includes the summit venue, Capella Hotel on Sentosa Island and the places around Shangri-La Hotel and the St Regis Hotel where Trump and Kim are expected to stay, respectively.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump’s Air Force One landed at Paya Lebar Air Base in the central east of Singapore after undertaking a 17-hour long flight from Quebec Canada where he attended the G7 summit.

Later, Kim’s plane landed at Changi airport.

Apart from the presence of the two global leaders in Singapore, the reason behind putting a heightened security in place is also that Kim faces a massive amount of global criticism due to his high-handed regime and records of human rights abuse.

The summit, which was on a brink of being canceled multiple times, may bring a certain amount of diplomatic and political benefits for both leaders.

Trump, who is going to face the elections in 2020, will be able to tout this summit as a big victory under his presidency.

On the other side, for Kim sharing a common platform with the US president is itself a landmark as previously the US leaders have avoided doing so.

Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un summit is being considered as a major step towards the denuclearisation of the so-called “nuke-bound” nation, North Korea.

Trump is expected to stay at the Shangri-La during his visit to Singapore.

Why Christian Missionaries Hate Modi And RSS So Much

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Madhu Purnima Kishwar

01 June 2018

[The Sangh parivar and Narendra Modi in particular are not willing to go out of their way to assist Christian missionaries in harvesting souls – and that irks the missionaries]

As someone who studied in a convent school and whose mother also studied in a school run by Irish nuns in Peshawar, one could not help but have a benign view of the Christian community. Most middle-class people of our generation grew up believing that the Christian missions were sincerely committed to the spread of education and healthcare. However, even as a schoolgirl, I resented the subtle indoctrination inflicted on us by converting the “Moral Science” class into a Bible study class. Our Moral Science book had stories only from the Bible. There was no mention of Hindu faith traditions, leave alone study of the Bhagavad Gita, the Vedas or the Ramayana.

Though the overwhelming majority of students in our school were from Hindu or Sikh families, we were made to say the lord’s prayer not only during the morning assembly but also before each class and another Christian prayer after each class with due reverence, including crossing our hearts after each prayer.

Anyone who topped the class in monthly or weekly tests, got “holy pictures” by way of reward. Not surprisingly, possessing a large collection of beautiful Vatican-produced pictures of Lord Jesus, Mother Mary, the Holy Trinity and a whole range of Christian saints came to be seen as a prized possession. Since I routinely topped my class in every subject and won all the school competitions in debating, dramatics etc, I owned the largest collection of holy pictures in the entire school.

It is noteworthy that Hindu and Sikh parents, whose children studied in that or countless other missionary schools never objected to this daily dose of Christianisation and systematic attempt to inculcate “love of Jesus” in our impressionable minds. For the record, no pressure was ever exerted on us to “convert” because the school authorities knew that trying the conversion game with middle and upper middle class/caste families was bound to backfire. However, it was well-known that the same order of nuns ran special schools in Punjab villages and in urban bastis, targeting children of the poor and “lower castes”. These schools had been established mainly for the purpose of getting converts and “harvesting souls” for the Church. But in those innocent days, nobody seemed to mind or care, leave alone sense any sinister agenda.

Despite the horrors of colonial rule and the religion-based Partition, most Hindus still continued to chant the pious mantra of sarva dharma sam bhav. We were taught to believe that all religions lead to the same path and that if Christians gave good education to the deprived classes, they were performing samaj sewa (social service). Nobody paid much heed to the fact that the Christians and Islamists never reciprocated sarva dharma sam bhav. Instead, their entire strategy of conversion was based on defaming and demonising Hindu faith traditions because that is a core mandate of Abrahamic religions, for whom dharma, as Hindus understand it, has no value and their open agenda is to crush the dharmic civilisation of India.

Even as a schoolgirl, what bugged me most was that we were not only discouraged from speaking in Hindi or Punjabi — the mother tongues of most students in our school — but also punished for doing so. The punishment was of course not corporal. Every classroom had a chart with the name of all the students to rank the weekly and monthly performances. Those who excelled in various subjects and extra-curricular competitions got gold stars for each accomplishment, followed by red star, yellow star, green star. The dreaded black star proclaimed that you belonged to the bottom rung.

As an all-round topper, I invariably got gold stars for everything else but continually got black stars for speaking in Hindi, despite prohibition on the language even during lunch break. I kept defying the ban because even at that age I found it offensive to my national pride, though I understood its far-reaching implications only much later.

It is through one’s mother tongue or native language that we stay rooted in our culture and sanskars. By forcing us to become monolingual and English-dependent, we were being systematically deracinated. English inevitably brings with it disdain for Indic cultures and faith traditions and harbours the tendency to view the world through lenses of the imperial West, which is deeply rooted in Christian ethos. Sadly, this enslavement to English was made state policy under Nehruvian influence. Not surprisingly, elite schools founded and run by the brown sahibs of India are following the same pattern of intellectual enslavement set in motion by missionary schools.

No surprise then that a vast majority of India’s English-educated elite act as the intellectual warriors for Christian missions. They defend the right of evangelical organisations to convert Hindus to Christianity even while they use questionable means and rabid hate-Hindu propaganda to bring in converts. But they go ballistic when Hindu organisations try winning back Christian converts to their original faith. Abusing and demonising Hindu faith traditions is treated as proof of “liberalism” and defended as “freedom of expression”, but even modest questions raised against the means and methods adopted by evangelical groups and consequences of large-scale conversions to Christianity is treated as proof of a person being a obscurantist “Hindutvavadi”— with Hindutva (its plain meaning is “essence of Hindu faith”) being projected as synonymous with fascism.

In the initial years of Manushi, the human rights, women’s rights journal I founded in 1978-79, Christian organisations of all hues embraced it warmly and came to constitute a large chunk of our subscribers. I was often invited to speak at their events in different parts of India. Many of them translated reports from Manushi into regional languages. At that stage, I naively believed that just as the “Liberation Theologists” within the Church-led “progressive” movements in defence of human rights of black Africans, the Christian organisations of India were carrying forward that tradition by contributing their might to movements for social justice and women’s rights. But I was disabused of this notion when I found that when Manushi started defending Indic faith traditions from malicious attacks, Christian organisations — including those wearing the secular mask — began to not only distance themselves from Manushi but also started to work against it.

It is not a coincidence that during that very phase, Kancha Ilaiah came to be feted and celebrated by church leaders and organisations and catapulted into international fame after he converted to Christianity and wrote a rather pompous, malicious hate tract against Hinduism titled Why I Am Not a Hindu. It is based on willful distortions and clearly written for the purpose of ingratiating himself with rabid evangelicals. Before Ilaiah wrote this, he was neither an avant-garde academic nor a celebrated public intellectual. As soon as he published his hate tract, he was touted by Christian organisations as a leading global intellectual and radical reformer of the “decadent Hindu society”.

Since Christian organisations carry a lot of influence in Western universities, Ilaiah became a professional globetrotter, lecturing at the most prestigious universities in the West. Overnight he became a star speaker at high-profile international conferences, including at the United Nations. His views on India and Hinduism came to be treated as gospel truth. If a person of his intellectual mediocrity had said good things about Hinduism, he would not have been invited as a speaker even by a small-town Rotary Club. But abusing India and Hinduism brought him handsome monetary rewards and celebrity stature.

Ilaiah’s article “Disowning Hinduism” is likely to have been inspired by my controversial article “Why I do Not Call Myself a Feminist”, in which I explained how followers of all “isms”, including Indian feminists, ape the means and methods of Christian missionaries out to harvest souls and treat those who don’t adopt their ideology as sub-human species, who need to be saved from ignorance and perdition. That sealed my fate with Christian organisations and even foreign universities..

Until then, I was a very sought after speaker in universities abroad, especially universities in North America. But with that article, I began to get blacklisted, even though mine was far from a hate tract. It was a well-reasoned carefully-worded piece analysing how all ideologies are products of specific cultures, social contexts and historical phases, and therefore cannot be blindly applied to altogether different social contexts and timeframes.

Moral of the story: while I faced severe punishment for distancing myself from copycat feminism and all proselytising ideologies, Ilaiah became a global celebrity as a reward for Hindu bashing and open conversion to Christianity.

Modi’s Demonic Image

I personally woke up to the seriousness of the danger posed by Christian missionaries during my study of Narendra Modi’s tenure as Gujarat chief minister. As I explained in my book Modi, Muslims and Media (MMM), I undertook that study only because I wanted to check out for myself whether the evil deeds attributed to Modi and the demonic image painted of him by the Congress-Left combine in cohorts with select foreign-funded non-govermental organisations (NGOs), bore any resemblance to chief minister Modi and the impact his model of governance had on the ground. Since he was being accused of a genocidal bent of mind towards “religious minorities”, I made Muslim and Christian communities the focus of my study. A good part of the material I gathered regarding the Muslim community is already published in MMM, but I could not give space in the book to the interactions I had with the Christian community.

It all started with an hour-long phone conversation I had with V V Augustine, a Malayali Christian based in Thiruvananthapuram. During his tenure as a member of the Minorities Commission, Augustine had interacted with Modi on multiple occasions. This is what Augustine told me in our very first phone chat.

“Contrary to the propaganda that Modiji is supposed to be anti-minority, my experience is that Modi is a very minority-friendly person. When I was member of the Minorities Commission, the Christian community of Vapi district in Gujarat brought a serious issue to my notice. They number around 7,000. There are several churches in Vapi of different Christian denominations that include Catholics, Protestants and Syrian Christians.

“Since the last 40 years, they had been trying to get a piece of land for a cemetery. They had even approached the central government; and they were willing to pay for the land. But the administration kept dragging the matter on for decades. This caused enormous inconvenience because they had to take dead bodies 40 miles from Vapi for burial [I found later the distance was 18 km, not 40]. In order to lobby collectively, they formed a Vapi Christian Association and approached me for help as a member of the Minorities Commission.

“I asked them to write one more fresh application addressed to the collector of the district. When I went to meet the collector, he told me frankly, ‘this has to be a government decision because the local people have a problem with having a graveyard in their midst. Please approach the appropriate authority.’

“I therefore decided to talk straight to Modiji and explained the matter to him. He listened with full attention and said, ‘Yes, you have a genuine issue. Have you identified a piece of land?’ I told him that we have a place but the local people are resisting our acquiring it. Modi said, ‘that is not your problem; that’s mine. Just tell me where you want the land and I will call for a report.’ Within a matter of hours, he had the full report from the collector, who told him that since that particular piece of land was right in the middle of the town, the local people were resisting having a graveyard there.

“Modi then asked the collector to work in coordination with the Vapi Christian Association and identify another suitable piece of land. Within no time, the land was identified on the outskirts of the town and the Christian community was gifted one-and-a-half acres of land by the state government free of charge.

“I have interacted with him on numerous issues since then and have always found him extremely helpful and responsive. For instance, in the Dang tribal areas, there are settlements of neo-Christians. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had become very active in the area, resulting in a lot of tension. When they planned to organise a big Shabari Kumbh Mela in that area in 2006, the Christians became extremely nervous and feared that they would be attacked. We went to Modi with our apprehensions. Christian organisations demanded a ban on the Shabari Mela.

“Modi did not ban the mela because that would have given the VHP an excuse to create a ruckus that Hindus were being put down at the behest of Christians, leading to more tension. He assured us that nobody would be allowed to indulge in any lawless behaviour and issued firm instructions to the police commissioner of the area. Indeed, the mela passed off peacefully, this despite the fact that, during 2002, non-Christian tribals had attacked Christian settlements leading to a great deal of mutual hostility and suspicion. Not surprisingly, most Christians vote for Modi. They have never complained against his regime.

“When I met Modi even on small matters, he supported all genuine demands. In another incident, there was a problem between Hindus and Muslims in a small village near Vadodara in 2004. He gave me a free hand to act as an intermediary. I called a joint meeting. A Muslim had killed a Hindu over a business issue and Hindus retaliated. They were not even on talking terms. We conducted peace meetings to bring in communal harmony. The collector was given instructions by Modiji to extend full cooperation.

“Gujarat newspapers gave prominent coverage to how the ‘Augustine Mission’ was successful. But the peace mission could not have succeeded if the administration had not been fully supportive. People who spread the canard that Modi is against minorities are reflecting their own political biases. My experience is entirely different.

“As a member of the Minorities Commission, I dealt with several states. The governments of Odisha and Madhya Pradesh have also been good. But no chief minister is as good, as strong and determined as Modi. Once he takes up an issue, he sees it through to its logical conclusion.

“Now, even Muslims realise that Modi is good for them because a riot-free Gujarat and a resurgent economy with new opportunities have provided them avenues of upward mobility. I admire Modi and I want him to be the prime minister. I always go by factual accounts. Those who are obsessed with injustice done to minorities should ask: Who has given full rights to the minorities? It is the Hindu majority! Who wrote the Constitution? Mostly Hindus! We must appreciate Hindus for this and give them their due credit.”

This glowing tribute came as a very pleasant surprise for me because for years one had heard John Dayal, Teesta Setalvad, Aakar Patel, Father Cedric Prakash and other Christian activists talk of Narendra Modi as though he was the devil incarnate out to cleanse Christians and Muslims from the state of Gujarat. Cedric Prakash in particular had been at the forefront of the international campaign against Modi to get him blacklisted “as a mass murderer” and denied visa to America and European countries. What is worse, Cedric Prakash along with Islamist groups had lobbied with the US Commission for Religious Freedom to get India blacklisted as a country which crushes religious minorities — notably Christians and Muslims. To quote from one of his interviews referring to Modi’s Gujarat at the Berkeley Centre for Religion, Peace and World Affairs:

The people that follow Hindutva are fascists; they are the equivalent from (sic) the American context of the Ku Klux Klan, and they draw inspiration from the apartheid of South Africa and Nazi ideology. The basic ideology asks for one nation, one language and one people.

December 2, 2010

But Augustine had painted such a glowing picture that I decided to go personally to the Christian pockets of Gujarat in Dang and Vapi to check what the church leaders there had to say about Modi.

I had expected that at least the Vapi Christians would endorse Augustine’s version and display goodwill towards Modi. But I was taken aback when I found most of them reluctant to utter even one good word about him. Since I had informed them of my visit in advance, half a dozen pastors from various Christian institutions had gathered in one place. Since they knew that Augustine had given me his firsthand account, they could not altogether deny the sequence of events nor paint Modi in the demonic light that Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal and their associates among the human rights NGOs routinely do. But their demeanour and the hints one got from their guarded sentences and body language spoke volumes about their innate hostility towards the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and Modi, which had nothing to do with what Modi actually did or failed to do.

For instance, Father Jose Dali from Kerala, who has lived in Gujarat for 36 years, attributed their success in getting land for the graveyard to the “power of the lord”, and the fact that all Christians were “praying together”. To quote him, “we believe in a living god. We believe that he is a god who is able to do miracles, even if the government is against us. We believe in the power of the lord. It is a special faith of the Christians. People all around the world prayed together and because of that, the lord worked on the hearts of the magistrate as well as the leaders.” In other words, they presented to their congregation the success in getting the graveyard land as yet another miracle of Christ.

Their reluctance to give credit to the Modi government either for securing free land for them or for ensuring that even minor skirmishes don’t take place among Christians and non-Christians tells its own story.

They also tried to convince me that the Modi government discriminated against tribal areas with regard to development programmes and that in the interior tribal villages, road and other infrastructure was not as good as in non-tribal areas. To quote Francis Fernandes: “in tribal areas, if they are pockets of Christian faith, they will not get certain facilities”. When I asked to give him concrete examples, he couldn’t give me any.

I found that charge baseless because I had travelled to the remotest tribal areas and had seen that the quality of roads was no different. True, medical services in villages near big cities were better than in interior villages. But there was no difference between tribal and non-tribal villages in this respect. The difference is more to do with doctors and nurses not willing to work in villages far from major urban centres.

Thereafter, they complained that the sarpanch of that area had refused to sanction a power connection for the graveyard. Since burials don’t take place at night, I was a bit surprised that they needed a power connection for the open ground. Even so I decided to check whether this charge had any substance.

I met both the current as well as the previous sarpanch of Paldi taluka panchayat. Both were categorical that the pastors had never applied for a power connection so there was no question of refusal. I called the most voluble among of the pastors from the sarpanch’s house and put my mobile phone on speaker mode. Now, the pastor, who had claimed that he had personally gone and applied for the power connection, came up with a lame story that a long while ago he had gone very early morning to the house of the sarpanch(not the panchayat office) and since the sarpanch was not at home, he left the application with an unknown person who opened the door. I asked him whether he had followed up on the matter. The answer was, “no, we didn’t follow up since we knew they would not sanction the connection.”

This was a clear case of building a victimhood narrative out of a situation where the Modi government had gone out of its way to help the Christian community in more ways than one.

The Truth Behind The Victimhood Narrative

Father Francis Macwan, one of the senior pastors of a missionary school on Ahwa Road, where Shabari Dham is situated, had told me that their school and their mission had received all possible help from the Modi government. When I asked him to provide concrete examples of “help”, he described how the district administration had been instructed to provide as many free school textbooks, children’s notebooks, stationery, school bags and uniforms as demanded by missionary schools, even though as privately-run schools, the state government is not obliged to provide such support to church-run institutions, especially considering that the mission schools set up in tribal areas have the express mandate to win over converts to Christianity.

Thus, when any state government provides free books and other educational materials to mission schools, it is in a way furthering their conversion agenda since free education and related benefits are one of the primary incentives offered by the Church to tribals and other poor communities. And yet the Modi government, as perhaps several other state governments in India, provide this as a goodwill gesture towards the Christian community.

But barring a few individuals like Augustine, the hostility of church leaders, especially the aggressive evangelical variety, towards the BJP in particular, and Hinduism in general, has only exacerbated instead of abating. The reason for this came out through their own narrative.. For the Christian missions in India, “freedom of religion” promised as a constitutional right means essentially one thing — unchecked right to convert people to Christianity, through fair means or foul.

In my case study of Bishrampur village in Sasaram district of Bihar published in Swarajya in February 2018, I have described the blackmail tactics, including violence on children used by Christian bigots to force children from poor families to adopt Christianity.

But finally they let it out that the real issue bothering them was with regard to government policy over conversions. To quote Jose Dali: “actually, what the government feels about conversion and what we believe are different. Conversion will take place within the heart. We are not converting anybody. Those who are truly believing and personally accepting Christ as their saviour and after confessing by themselves publicly, we will accept them. Baptism is not a sign of the conversion. Baptism is a part of the faith. Those who are converted will be baptised as per the Bible, Gospel of Mathew.”

Father Francis Fernandes added: “conversion and baptism are not the same. What the pastor is explaining is that there is a change of heart in a person. The change of heart is when the person is ready and the person says, I want to join this way of life. Then only we initiate him in the field. He is saying ‘yes’ and we are acknowledging that ‘yes’, that is baptism.. By seeing the way of life, by seeing the faith of the people around, by seeing that Jesus is there, god is there, then this person comes and says, I want to receive baptism. It is not that we are going and forcing people.” He justified Father Cedric Prakash’s virulent opposition to the Modi government on the ground that “we are not free in our own country, in our own state. Why are our constitutional rights being curtailed? I have the freedom to believe in any god as per the Constitution and after my confession, any time I can follow the principles of the faith.” In other words, the government not allowing support to conversions made them feel India is not a free country.

Another charge made by these pastors was that there are restrictions on building churches. To quote Father Francis Fernandes: “this is our freedom curtailment. As an active member of the Christian faith, we are not free in our own country to call our own place of worship which is called internationally a church.” At the same meeting, Father Mathew told me, “in South Gujarat alone, there are hundreds of Christian institutions.”

Several IAS officers, including those working as district collectors, confirmed that there is no blanket ban on building churches. But the problem arises when evangelicals want to plant a church in the middle of a Hindu settlement where there are no Christians, or position it right next to an important Hindu temple. That invariably gets resisted by local communities. But evangelicals have got used to the administration riding roughshod over local sentiments under pressure from Christian missions to give them endless special concessions they claim as a “minority”. They succeed often because they have both the monetary clout as well as political backing to get the government to do their bidding. The fact that under the Modi government, they could not bulldoze the administration with unreasonable demands was provocation enough to join not only with the conversion-friendly Congress party but even rank Islamists in running an international campaign to present him as devil incarnate.

Jose Dali belongs to a Protestant group called Brethren Assemblies, which is spread all over the world. In response to his litany of complaints, I asked him if he had presented the complaints to the district collector. His response was a giveaway: “we don’t want to make allegations. If there is some problem, we won’t go to the police station or outside. We believe that maybe God’s plan will work things out.” But that didn’t prevent them from taking their imaginary complaints against Narendra Modi to the US Senate, the European Union and various UN platforms.

How do they justify the virulent campaign to get the US and European governments to deny Modi visa for a whole decade? To quote Father Francis Fernandes: “maybe when our Indian Penal Code or Indian court is not giving you proper justice, you appeal to the international level. That is how Cedric Prakash must have gone to that extent. When my children are not fed in my own house, they will go out to beg, borrow and eat. So that is what is happening. If they have taken this step, that means something is wrong with my own house.”

Father Francis Macwan, the most reasonable and straightforward of all the pastors I met, from the Jesuit order, summed up the nature of the conflict candidly: “Father Cedric Prakash is a social scientist and an activist. His view is different from ours because we are staying in the midst of people. So my experience is different. Cedric is also in touch with Protestant groups, who go for conversion and faith formation. I have a very positive experience in working in Gujarat under Modi. We Catholics are not directly aggressive in conversions. But for Protestants, the main activity is conversion. So their experience is different.” It is noteworthy that he could speak his mind, though very diffidently, mainly because I chanced to meet him alone while all others met me as a group.

Meanwhile, the Church has tried to adopt Hindu nomenclature, rituals and vocabulary for Christian myths and church rituals, to make Christianity appear less alien. As elsewhere, so also in the Vapi church, the statue of Mother Mary was dressed in a Gujarati-style saree. Father Francis Fernandes explained they have named her “Our Lady of Velankanni” after a place in Tamil Nadu where Mother Mary allegedly “appeared” to several persons in her bodily form. That place has become a Christian “pilgrimage centre”. Such miracle mongering is a standard technique of evangelicals to attract converts. Adopting local Hindu names, rituals, aarti, bhajans are also part of the strategy to make Christianity appear rooted in the soil of India instead of being an alien imported religion.

I also saw for myself how the local Hindu population, especially the youngsters, routinely visited the big church compound in Vapi for relaxing in its vast garden and often went and prayed inside because they found the atmosphere peaceful. For some youngsters, it has become the most convenient dating place because Vapi does not have many such pleasant gardens with beautiful shaded trees.

The lack of hostility of the Hindu population to Christian institutions is evident from the fact that out of 1,800 students in Father Mathew’s school, the vast majority are Hindu. Only 1 per cent of children are avowedly Christian, and only 10 per cent are tribals. However, they run a separate residential school only for tribal children, which is where there is a heavy dose of evangelical brainwashing to convert them to Christianity.

For the benefit of “secular Hindus”, the pastors describe their evangelical agenda in highly sanitised terms: “we propagate the love of Jesus Christ, we propagate the gospel, and we are teaching everyone to become a good human being so we propagate Jesus Christ and his love. We never try to convert anybody. Message of Christ is the message of love. It is a very open message.”

However, the Joshua Project, of which all these Protestant missions are a part, makes no secret of the communities it has targeted for conversion. This is what it says about communities that are the soft targets in the tribal-dominated Dang district:

Almost all of the Central Bhil practise ethnic religions that have been highly influenced by Hinduism. Shiva is considered the supreme god. Ancestor worship (praying to deceased ancestors) is also quite popular. Shamans (priests) are also called upon to offer sacrifices to the many gods and mud idols.

In spite of their traditional beliefs, there have been interesting manifestations of god’s spirit among the upper caste Bhagat gurus. They now worship light and ‘the word’, singing prophecies of the future, such as the coming sinless incarnation. At the turn of the century, one guru warned his disciples that there would be a great famine, after which they should look for teachers from the north and west who would teach them the true way of salvation from a book, free of cost. They would teach about the true god, and about a sinless incarnation, who was born of a virgin. The guru also said that they should worship this sinless, invisible god, turn away from stones and idols, and live blameless lives. A famine occurred in 1899-1900, soon after the guru’s death.

The Joshua Project thus admits that the Bhils are steeped in Hindu faith and that their agenda is to wean them away from attachment to their “false gods” and adopt the “true god” but they also admit to using devious strategies including natural calamities as a way of making in-roads among the unsuspecting tribals.

Modi And Conversions

The BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in general and Narendra Modi in particular become objects of hate and are perceived as threats not because they want to smash churches and attack or kill Christians or shut down schools. They are hated because, unlike the Congress and Communist parties, the Sangh parivar is not willing to go out of its way to assist Christian missionaries in harvesting souls. Modi became the bête noire of the Christian community despite being very liberal in yielding to the reasonable demands of Christian organisations, and seeking a relationship of cooperation with them and not confrontation. In the very first year of his tenure, his government passed a law entitled Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act, 2003. As per this law, anyone who wants to change his/her religion has to first report to the civil authority, namely the deputy commissioner of the district.

This provision is meant to prevent conversions through fraud. Even though seven states in India already had such a law, the Gujarat law came to rankle the Christian community all over India because Modi took its enforcement somewhat more seriously, whereas almost all Congress governments either turned a blind eye to conversions — whether fair or foul — or even actively assisted in the planting of churches in areas favoured by Christians through free land grants and other overt and covert forms of assistance.

During British times, churches of various denominations came to occupy the best and the most premium tracts of real estate in every state of India. But even after Independence, the Indian State has been generous in patronising missionary activities, making available countless stretches of prime land as virtual gifts, or at best charging a token amount.. In that sense, the combined real estate of various churches in India may well place them among the biggest land owners in India. The growth in planting of churches has also proceeded at frenetic pace in recent decades, especially after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power and Sonia Gandhi became the all-powerful authority figure at the Centre as well as for state governments under the rule of the Congress and/or its allies. To quote Dr Ralph F Wilson, writing on the website of the Joyful Heart Renewal Ministries:

“The truly exciting thing is that the percentage of Christians has increased substantially from 2.5 per cent a decade ago to about 5.8 per cent today. That represents a huge increase in the growth rate. Something is happening!

“Mycologist and church growth expert C Peter Wagner has been receiving reports that the percentage may actually be 25 per cent Christian — at least in parts of this large country — most of the growth coming in the past 10 to 15 years. And the growth may not all be in traditional churches. A substantial part may come from Jesus-follower groups within the Hindu culture.

“In this huge and very diverse country, it’s difficult to get accurate statistics regarding religion, but anecdotal stories indicate exciting changes. According to Christianity Today, Operation Mobilisation, one of India’s largest missionary groups, has grown to include 3,000 congregations in India, up from 300 in less than a decade. A hospital-based ministry in north India has seen 8,000 baptisms over the past five years after a decade of only a handful.

“Everybody knows about the massive scale of growth among Dalits,’ says Operation World’s Jason Mandryk. Somewhere between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of Christians in India are Dalits, low-caste groups, so that many higher-caste Hindus view Christianity as a low-class religion, worthy of contempt.

“’Now we see signs of growth in the middling castes and among the under-35s,’ Mandryk says. ‘There’s a new dynamic for the urban, educated generation….’ Wagner writes, ‘it is becoming more and more common for whole villages or other people groups to all decide to follow Jesus Christ together at one time.’ There are reports of both new churches and traditional denominational churches seeing signs and wonders in the spirit.”

Church organisations also manage to secure a big chunk of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds as well as grants from various central government ministries and departments and state governments for their activities.

As described in my article on Bihar, it is not as if tribals and Dalits are desperate to convert. In most instances, missionaries use fairly dubious means to bring people into the Christian fold. Missionaries are also not just content with Hindus accepting Jesus as their saviour. An essential requirement is that they begin hating their original faith, disown their ancestral culture and break off ties with relatives who refuse to convert.

During Modi’s regime in Gujarat, the district administration had been advised to keep a close watch over conversions, not because Modi hated Christians but because the virulent hate campaigns against Hinduism and the indigenous faith traditions of tribal communities often led to clashes between Christian and non-Christian tribals, leading to law and order problems in areas targeted by evangelicals.

Missionaries also seemed resentful of the fact that the Modi government took on the task of improving road connectivity and provision of civic infrastructure to backward regions, including tribal pockets, on a war footing. With high quality all-weather roads reaching the remotest regions, along with 24×7 power supply, internet and mobile phone connectivity, safe drinking water, functional primary health centres, systemic improvements in state-run schools and one of the best ambulance services in the country just a phone call away — the space for missionary work began shrinking. Christian missions and evangelical activists thrive only so long as communities remain poor, illiterate and deprived of means of social and economic advancement. Congress, during its long tenures as the ruling party, had not only left the field free for conversions by its callous neglect of tribal areas but also by facilitating the activities of the church. But the Modi government made a special effort to mainstream neglected tribal communities. This appeared as a palpable threat to the evangelicals.

During Modi’s tenure as chief minister, Hindu groups also felt emboldened to report to the district administration all those meetings where tribals were invited for baptism even while the pastors decribed those meetings as community gatherings, not conversion melas. But they gave the game away by repeatedly asserting that the Modi government was tampering with the freedom of religion of tribal communities to accept Jesus as their lord and saviour. The logic is bizarre. Tribals are most comfortable continuing with their ancestral belief system. It is the evangelicals who tamper with their religious freedom by pressuring them to convert — that too through hate propaganda against the native faiths.

The Modi government merely kept a vigil over conversion activities. And yet these pastors termed it as a crackdown on Christianity even though they were free to practise their religion and run Christian schools and hospitals. This is how they tried covering up their real agenda: “The xyz gathering we planned was only meant for baptism, not conversion. If people come to us after an inner awakening of the love of Jesus, how can we turn them away? We don’t ask them to convert, it is they who came to embrace Christ. So how can they charge us with conversions?”

They had no answer when I asked how they could say “baptism” was not conversion and whether as per law, they provided the list of those seeking baptism to the district administration. If seeking baptism was a genuine individual choice, why hide it from the deputy commissioner?

The Story Of Shabari Dham

That Christian leaders of Gujarat had got used to the government of India bending over backwards to keep them happy becomes evident when we consider how aggressively they responded to the presence of the Ramakrishana Mission, social workers of the freedom movement, Hindu sanyasis and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram social workers in the tribal areas of Gujarat. This aggression was more pronounced in the pre-Modi era, and extended even towards Gandhian social workers sent by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in the late 1940s to undertake the work of tribal uplift through spread of education and to set up village industries.

This was narrated to me by 1924-born Gelubhai Gulabbhai, a devoted follower of Mahatma Gandhi. He described to me his first-hand experience with Christian missionaries when he moved to Dang in 1948 after completing his education and made it his home and karmabhoomi. Sardar Patel had handpicked him and his brother for social work among Bhil and other tribal communities of Dang. He settled down in Ahwa.

At that time, the area was considered the backwaters of civilisation. Since they had no place to stay, the district collector helped him and his brother to rent a small dwelling within the local mission compound. Since they had come on behalf of the Mahatma Gandhi-initiated Khadi Gramodyog Board with the aim of introducing craft industries among the tribals to enhance their economic status, within no time the news spread by word of mouth that “Gandhi manas (men), the men of swaraj” had come to Dang. Within days, thanks to the magic of Gandhi’s name, people started visiting their khadi centre from all over the district. Apart from promoting spinning and khadi production, the two brothers began moving from village to village helping people resolve their problems with the administration in addition to starting educational work in tribal villages. They set up student hostels and elementary health services. As a result of their selfless work, the brothers became fairly popular.

As per Gulabbhai’s account, since local communities began to gravitate towards Gandhi-inspired social work, the Spanish missionaries of the time became resentful and tried to get the two brothers thrown out of the area. They first asked them to vacate the rented premises and pressured the administration to banish them, alleging that the presence of these social workers was inimical to tribal welfare. Gulabbhai and his team refused to buckle under this pressure and the local administration also supported them, since khadi promotion was part of state policy of that period. However, in order to escape harassment by missionaries, they set up their own “Dang Swaraj Ashram” so that they did not have to live as tenants of the mission. The two brothers have devoted their entire life to the Gandhi mission. Even for this, they faced strong opposition from Christian leaders.

Gulabbhai recounted how during the 1980s, Modi, as an RSS pracharak, used to move around in this area on a bicycle. He tried cultivating good relations with the church leaders, saying, “if your aim is to uplift the status of tribal communities and our mission is also the same, why can’t we work together towards our common goal?” As per Gulabbhai, this was obviously not acceptable to the missionaries whose real agenda was conversions with education and health services used as mere baits. “They were hostile to the Gandhi ideology because they felt that Gandhi was himself rooted in the Hindu faith. Therefore, spread of Gandhi’s ideas would only strengthen the Hindu ethos.Faced with such hostility, we too decided to strengthen our ecosystem by inviting prominent Hindu saints like Murari Bapu and sadhus of Swami Narayan sect for discourses in this area.” Murari Bapu is known for promoting communal harmony and bridging divides. He did stellar work to heal the wounds of the 2002 riots. Similarly, the Swami Narayan sect is also not known for violent or aggressive activities involving counter proselytisation.

But the presence of even these peaceful Hindu preachers upset the missionaries, because Hindu faith leaders were able to establish easy rapport with local people speaking to them in their very own idioms and built on their local faith traditions instead of asking them to disown their own ancestral faith. Gulabbhai describes the absurd tricks used by missionaries to convince tribals that they were worshipping false and evil deities:

These missionaries would try to convince Bhils that Hindu gods are weak and fake whereas the Christian god is true and all-powerful. To demonstrate this, they would take a metal plate with the name of Ram written on it. They would put that plate in water. It would naturally sink.

Then they would take a similar looking plate of wood with the name of Jesus written on it. Naturally, it would float. The missionaries would then gleefully offer it as proof that Jesus alone could save their souls while Hindu gods condemn them to perdition. In order to blast their devious narrative, we started challenging them in their meetings. We would insist that they write the name of Ram on the wooden plate instead of putting it on metal. Everybody could see that the wooden plate floated, no matter whose name you wrote on it, and the metal plate sank even if you wrote the name of Christ on it. We had no choice but to expose their lies because they were creating religious strife. Our mission was tribal development, not conversion. We spoke to tribals in their own idiom, therefore they took to us.

The Bhil tribals have an age-old tradition of Ram bhakti because of the iconic story in the Ramayana where Lord Ram, Lakshman and Sita rested in the hut of a Bhil woman named Shabari during their 14-year exile from Ayodhya. Shabari was so overjoyed at the presence of Ram that she gathered wild berries (ber) from the jungle to feed her beloved Ram. In her anxiety to ensure that Ram ate only sweet and ripe bers, she tasted each fruit before offering it to Ram who ate them with joy and respect as an offering of love. This loving encounter between the Raghuvanshi Ram and a humble bhilni explodes many of the deftly crafted prejudices against the “evils of the caste” system and the “the curse of untouchability” associated with Hinduism through two-and-a-half centuries of missionary propaganda.

The Shabari-Ram connection has stayed an integral part of the cultural and spiritual ethos of the Bhils; the stones on which the two sat have since time immemorial been objects of worship in Dang. Morari Bapu proposed a grand memorial be built to honour the memory of Shabari. Consequently, a picturesque temple named Shabari Dham was constructed in 2004 on a hill named Chamak Dungar, near Subir village on Ahwa-Navapur Road.. This is believed to be the spot where Lord Ram met Shabari.

This memorial became a matter of great pride for the tribals while Hindu leaders began promoting it as a pilgrimage site by planning the first Shabari Kumbh in February 2006. Lakhs of tribals and members of Scheduled Castes were brought for puja at Shabari Dham, which has a murti of Shabari offering juthe ber to Ram in the sanctum sanctorum. Another important ritual connected to Shabari Kumbh involves a dip in the nearby Purna river as a symbol of equality and oneness of all within the Hindu faith, irrespective of caste, class, tribe or creed. However, at the very inaugural day of Shabari Dham, Hindu leaders, as well as chief minister Modi made no secret of the fact that this temple was a symbol of their commitment to combat conversions by evangelicals.

With the construction of Shabari Dham, the Christian leaders felt so aggravated at Hindu leaders embracing tribals and setting up residential schools and other facilities for them to counter conversions to Christianity that they began a systematic slander campaign against Hindu saints and social workers, accusing them of promoting religious strife and bringing in “fascist” terror to crush Christians. As a result, Hindu organisations started becoming more militant, especially after VHP and Bajrang Dal entered the scene and Swami Aseemanand of RSS became a leading presence in Dang. They were not inhibited by Gandhian civilities and unconditional commitment to non-violence. They had come ready to battle in order to stop conversions and prevent the missionaries from making the Dang region into a “Nagaland of Western India”, meaning a call for total Christianisation. Consequently, attacks and counter-attacks and ethno-religious conflicts became fairly common. In a few instances, Christian churches were attacked by Hindu tribals who took to militant resistance once they found support from Hindu organisations.

It is not as if missionaries were merely hapless victims. Their methods of conversion had always been questionable and wherever strong, they too did not hesitate to use outright violence and vandalism against their opponents. Moreover, their very ideology of treating non-Christian faiths as satanic amounts to a declaration of war against Indic faiths. They use all manners of subterfuges to convince people that Jesus alone can save them and that by rejecting Jesus they would be inviting permanent perdition and roast in hell fires for all eternity. I have experienced this first-hand how Christianised tribal girls from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, etc are taught by church leaders that they should refuse to participate in Hindu pujas and rituals while working and living with Hindu families.

They are indoctrinated into believing that if they participate in the traditional pujas of their ancestral faith organised by their own close relatives, demonic forces would overpower them and they would be stricken with fatal diseases. Their exclusionist ideology leads to breaking up not just village and community solidarity among the Bhils of Dang (as they do everywhere they plant their churches) but also tearing asunder families. This had led to plenty of strife among tribals because most of those who gravitated towards Christianity did so to avail of educational opportunities and not to disown their culture and family bonds.

Faced with militant resistance from Hindu Bhils, the missionaries unleashed a national and international campaign to project the VHP and RSS presence in the area as evidence of rising “Hindu fascism”. Shabari Dham was demonised and defamed as an assertion of Hindu aggression. While in the Hindu imagination, Shabari is a revered figure, the missionaries gave it a bizarre twist to project it as a misogynist story. To quote the foremost “intellectual leader” of Christians in India, Cedric Prakash, who set up an NGO with a Hindu name “Prashant” to project church activists as defenders of “human rights” in the international arena with frenetic lobbying against Hindu organisations in the UN and with the US government:

Many Hindu groups take some kind of religious sanction to negate the girl child, as well as women. For example, in our textbooks there is a myth about Lord Rama. It says that when Rama came to Gujarat, he found a place that was very clean. He wondered who was cleaning this area and then he realised that there was a tribal woman called Shabari who was working to keep the place clean. Lord Rama looks to her as an ideal woman and a great disciple because she kept this place so clean in case he decided to visit. This story then becomes a trope about the place of women in society. The boys are taught this type of stereotyping in school, that their mothers and sisters should be at home and clean the house…

Now there is group in India, a council formed by community elders called Khap that belongs to a certain feudal mindset. They have passed a law in Gujarat that unmarried girls cannot have a telephone.

The mischievous intent behind the narrative is evident from not just willful caricature of the Shabari story but also gratuitous reference to Khaps which exist only in Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh; Gujarat had no acquaintance with Khap panchayats. Moreover, no Khap has the power to enact laws. They can at best pass resolutions on issues of common concern, that too if there is total consensus. And nowhere in India have girls been prohibited by law from carrying mobile phones.

The Christians not only defamed Shabari Dham through church networks but also used “secular” NGOs, many of whom are secretly funded by the church (and now even by Islamist groups), to declare war on Shabari Dham and the annual Shabari Mela simply because it resonated well with tribals.

The War Over Shabari

So long as the Bhils and other tribals remain poor and marginalised, they remain easy targets of conversion drives. But the moment they feel part of mainstream Indian society, missionaries can’t prey on their isolation. The Christians therefore began frantic efforts to pressure the central government to ban the Shabari Mela, with secular NGOs and Left-leaning mediapersons leading a concerted attack against Hindu organisations embracing the work of tribal welfare to wean them away from Christianity and its divisive agenda. The Christians argued that since there were no historical antecedents for this mela, Hindus should be prohibited from holding it.

With the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre, they got full backing and support in demonising Hindu organisations. Missionary- backed secular fronts such as Indian Social Institute, Medha Patkar-led National Alliance of People’s Movements and even People’s Union of Civil Liberties (PUCL) and People’s Union for Democratic Rights (PUDR) acted as foot soldiers for evangelicals in opposing Shabari Mela and endeavours of Hindu organisations to persuade tribals to assert their own faith traditions. Despite their democratic pretence, both PUCL and PUDR have been for long used as proxy fronts by Maoists.

The PUCL, which started off as a save-democracy organisation following the Emergency, turned into an obedient ally of evangelical groups and went so far as to file an intervention petition in the Supreme Court in 2006, supporting the Christian demand to ban Shabari Mela and put restrictions on ghar wapsi endeavours of Hindu organisations. This, when the Shabari Kumbh was being attended by lakhs of people from different parts of India of their own volition. Fortunately, the court refused to yield and the Shabari Mela was not banned.

But this campaign clearly revealed that Christian missionaries and the self-appointed guardians of civil liberties — PUCL and PUDR — joined hands to clamp down on the religious freedom of Hindus in their own homeland. They argued that Shabari Mela was being used as a platform for “communal propaganda to Hinduise or Brahmanise” adivasis. The charge is bizarre beyond belief. On the one hand, Christian missionaries don’t tire of attacking Hindus in general and Brahmins in particular of being exclusivist. On the other hand, any signs of inclusiveness is condemned as “Brahmanising” or Hinduising them, as though both these represent an intrinsically evil force. To Christianise tribals is “progressive”, even though it means making them disown and hate their ancestral faiths and cultures. But bringing them closer to upper-caste Hindu culture is dubbed “fascism”.

The missionaries have worked with zeal to drive a wedge between Hindu society and various groups erroneously designated as “tribals” simply because they were forest dwellers and therefore remained outside the varna vyavastha.. The core belief system of groups designated as tribals consists of ancestor worship and nature worship. Hence they are termed animists. But both these are core beliefs of Hindu faith traditions as well, even while rituals involving these two beliefs might differ from one group to another. The big chink in the tribal armour exploited by missionaries is that they don’t have a written history or literary tradition because most of their languages did not have well-developed scripts. Therefore, missionaries have used that vulnerability to invent a whole new history for them on the lines of the Aryan-Dravidian divide theory used with fair degree of success in the South.

Two men were specially targeted by church leaders — Narendra Modi as chief minister of Gujarat and Swami Aseemanand of the VHP.

The work of Hindu organisations suffered a major setback when Aseemanand, the prime mover behind Shabari Kumbh, was arrested by the UPA government on the charge of being part of “Hindu terror” groups engaged in the Ajmer Sharif bomb case in 2007, and the Samjhauta Express blasts.

Recently, the entire bogey of “Hindu terror” has been exposed to have been invented as a counter-blast strategy by the Congress leaders to deflect attention from Pakistan’s ISI-backed terrorist groups mushrooming all over India. Assemanand was acquitted of all charges on 18 April 2018.

During my long interviews with Narendra Modi in 2013, he provided me valuable insights into the games being played by missionaries in crafting a narrative of victimhood in order to defame India globally and put the Indian government and political leaders on the defensive, so that they dare not challenge even the patently illegal and subversive activities of missionaries.

Right from the inception of Shabari Dham temple, Modi as Gujarat chief minister was put under pressure to ban the entry of Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and VHP preachers in the area. Modi told me that he assured the Christian leaders who met him that he was willing to guarantee their safety and ensure that no attacks would take place on any church or any Christian home but that he could not possibly shut down the Shabari Dham or ban the Shabari Kumbh since that would amount to depriving Hindus of their religious freedom. Thereafter, Modi instructed the deputy commissioner and senior police officers of the area to ensure that not even a pebble was thrown at any Christian home or church nor any tiff allowed to flare up.

In the process, Modi invited the wrath of the radical fringe of Hindu preachers because they too were put on close watch. Modi told me he took a firm stand not just out of concern for the safety of Christians — which he took seriously as his constitutional duty — but also because he was well aware of the intent of a section of the missionaries, especially those who belong to the bigoted Baptist sects.

Often, they themselves would provoke a fight with the well-thought-out purpose of blowing it up out of proportion — even a minor skirmish which would be made the basis of an international smear campaign that the government of Gujarat was on a genocidal mission vis a vis Christians. He added that after his firm instructions, the district administration ensured that no group was allowed to take liberties with law and order.

Modi’s explanation sounds logical: “the fact that not a single Christian needed even first aid at a local dispensary on account of inter-faith violence indicates how Christian leaders had exaggerated the threat of violence from Hindu organisations. Had there been serious attacks, at least some persons would have suffered injuries worth an FIR to the police or gone for medical treatment.”

I too got the impression that the missionaries didn’t seem happy with the administration becoming firm about ensuring law and order. Modi could see clearly that missionaries thrived in a situation of conflict because that enabled them to unleash campaigns defaming Gujarat as a fascist, intolerant state that endangers the rights of minorities. If they are deprived of the opportunity to create even small skirmishes that can be exaggerated beyond recognition through friendly media, they get more desperate. That is why, despite cessation of attacks and counter attacks in the Christian tribal belt, the church leaders remained in the forefront of the anti-Modi brigade, backed by the Congress and Left parties. Father Cedric Prakash, John Dayal and other Christian activists addressed countless meetings in the UN, in the European Parliament as well as in leading universities of the West to ensure that the international communities treated Modi and BJP as untouchables.

It is ironic that liberal educated people in India go ballistic and hyperventilate their outrage towards ghar wapsi but take a very benign stand when successive Popes openly proclaim their wish to “witness a great harvest of faith” in India. Imagine the Left liberal outrage in India if a Hindu leader expressed something close to what Pope Paul Francis declared in 15 March 2013 while addressing the College of Cardinals:

Let us never yield to pessimism, to that bitterness that the devil offers us every day; let us not yield to pessimism or discouragement: let us be quite certain that the Holy Spirit bestows upon the Church, with his powerful breath, the courage to persevere and also to seek new methods of evangelisation, so as to bring the Gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). Christian truth is attractive and persuasive because it responds to the profound need of human life, proclaiming convincingly that Christ is the one Saviour of the whole man and of all men. This proclamation remains as valid today as it was at the origin of Christianity, when the first great missionary expansion of the Gospel took place.

[To be continued]

Madhu Purnima Kishwar is Maulana Azad National Professor, ICSSR, and the founder of human rights organisation, MANUSHI.

La pazza gioia by Paolo Virzì

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Istituto Italiano di Cultura New Delhi's photo.

JUN14

Screening of Italian Movie – La pazza gioia by Paolo Virzì

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La pazza gioia (English: Like Crazy ) is a 2016 Italian comedy-drama film directed by Paolo Virzì, starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and Micaela Ramazzotti. It tells the story of two women from different backgrounds who become friends while being treated at a mental institution.

Summary: Donatella and Beatrice reside in a psychiatric facility in Tuscany. They have very different life stories, but a chance to escape brings them together in an adventure that will change their lives forever and will help them realize the beauty in imperfection. Paolo Virzì’s new film tells the story of the unpredictable and moving friendship that develops between the two women as they flee the mental institution in search of love and happiness in the open-air nuthouse – the world of sane people.

Genre: Comedy I Drama

Cast:
Micaela Ramazzotti – Donatella Morelli
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi – Beatrice Morandini Valdirana
Valentina Carnelutti – Fiamma Zappa
Marco Messeri – Floriano Morelli
Bob Messini (it) – Pierluigi Aitiani
Roberto Rondelli (it) – Renato Corsi
Anna Galiena – Luciana Brogi Morelli
Tommaso Ragno (it) – Giorgio Lorenzini
Sergio Albelli (it) – Torregiani
Marisa Borini (it) – Signora Morandini Valdirana

Production details: The film was produced by Lotus Production and Rai Cinema. It was shot in Tuscany and Rome. Filming began on 18 May 2015 and lasted eight weeks.

Awards Won:
71th Nastri d’Argento – Best Director:- Paolo Virzì
Best Actress:- Valeria Bruni Tedeschi and
Micaela Ramazzotti
Best Script:- Paolo Virzì e Francesca
Archibugi
Best Costumes:- Catia Dottori
Best Score:- Carlo Virzì

29th European Film Awards – Best Film:- Paolo Virzì
Best Director:- Paolo Virzì
Best Actress:- Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

62th David di Donatello Awards –
Best Sets and Decorations:- Tonino
Zera
Best Hairstyling:- Daniela Tartari

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Modis bullet train project in fix

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

India is set to miss a December deadline to acquire land for a Japan-backed $17 billion bullet train project following protests by fruit growers, government officials said, likely delaying one of Prime Minister Narendra Modis most ambitious projects.

Modis office is now monitoring the project week-to-week, as officials seek to reassure Tokyo that the hurdles can be overcome through intense negotiations with sapota and mango growers in Maharashtra.

Protests, backed by local politicians, have flared up in recent months against attempts to secure sections of a 108-km stretch, which is around one-fifth of the entire bullet train corridor connecting Mumbai with Ahmedabad, the largest commercial city in Modis home state Gujarat.

Ive worked hard for three decades to develop this plantation, and they are asking me to hand over this land, sapota farmer Dashrat Purav, 62, said as he showed his orchard in the town of Palghar, a three-hour-drive north of Mumbai.

I havent worked hard to surrender land for the project. I did that for my children.

Purav said he would sell his land only if at least one of his two unemployed sons was promised a government job.

Failure to procure the bullet train land by the deadline would delay disbursal of soft-loans by Japan International Cooperation Agency, a government development body, which is reviewing the project next month, said two senior officials with the state-run Indian Railways, declining to be named.

To assuage Japans concerns, Indian officials have sought a meeting this month with transport ministry officials in Tokyo, one of the Indian officials said. India wants the projects completion target to be advanced by a year to 2022, the 75th year of Indias independence. Rediff.com

Former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee health is stable

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, yesterday, has been diagnosed with a urinary tract infection. His condition is believed to be stable, but it is uncertain when the former prime minister, who has been ailing for years now, will be discharged.
A team of doctors is closely monitoring his condition.
Yesterday, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi visited AIIMS, followed by BJP chief Amit Shah and Union minister JP Nadda. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visted Vajpayee an hour later. Several Union ministers and senior BJP leader LK Advani were seen at the hospital.

A statement issued by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi last night said that appropriate treatment was being administered to him by a team of doctors under the supervision of AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria.

The statement added that Mr Vajpayee was admitted to the hospital following complaints of a lower respiratory tract infection and kidney issues and he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited AIIMS yesterday evening to know the condition of Mr. Vajpayee. Mr Modi interacted with family members of Mr Vajpayee and also spoke to Doctors and inquired about his health.

BJP President Amit Shah, Senior BJP leader LK Advani, Health Minister JP Nadda and Congress President Rahul Gandhi also visited the hospital.

Delhi CM spends night at LG’s office

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues spent the night at the Lt Governor’s office after their demands including a direction to IAS officers to end their “strike” and action against officers who have struck work for “four months”, were not met.

Kejriwal along with his deputy Manish Sisodia and two other ministers – Gopal Rai and Satyendar Jain — met Lt Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal at 5.30 pm yesterday and since then stayed put at the L-G office.

Last night, the chief minister, who is a diabetic, had to take insulin during the sit-in and got “specific food” from his home, sources said.

It is the first time in the history of Delhi that the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues spent the night at the L-G office to press for their demands.

Kejriwal tweeted at 6.27 am from the L-G office, saying “My dear Delhiites, good morning. Struggle continues”.

A number of AAP MLAs, party’s leaders and workers have also camped near the L-G office, and the police have barricaded the area.

The L-G office slammed Kejriwal’s sit-in, saying it is another protest in the sequence of “dharna without reason”. A statement, issued by Baijal’s office last evening, stated that the L-G was “threatened” to summon officers and issue directions to them to end their “strike” immediately.
In the morning, a letter, signed by Kejriwal, Sisodia, Rai and Jain, was sent to Baijal, asking him to take all necessary steps to end the “strike” by IAS officers including issuing written orders that all those officers who do not return to work will be proceeded against and “if necessary, ESMA may be invoked”.

According to the government, IAS officers have been on strike since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash and are boycotting meetings with AAP ministers due to which public works are getting affected. — PTI Media agencies

Kim Trump meet as the “talks of the century”.

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

US President Donald Trump, is when asked if North Korea had agreed to denuclearize, Trump said they would be starting that process quickly.

Kim said they had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind and that the world will see a major change.

US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sign the ‘comprehensive ‘ document, Kim says the world will see a major change. “We have decided to let go the past and now the world will see a major change,” Kim says. “The relationship with the Korean peninsula will be different,” the US president added. Trump, who pumped Kim’s hand several times and gave him a pat on the back, said he would “absolutely” invite Kim to the White House. “We’ll meet again and we’ll meet many times,” the US President said.

President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un signed an unspecified document that Trump described as “important” and “comprehensive,” to conclude their meetings in Singapore, CBS News reports.

Trump said he “absolutely” will invite Kim to the White House. Trump said he thinks the summit went “better than anybody could have expected.”
“We are very proud of what took place today. Our relationship with North Korea and the Korean peninsula has changed today. We’ve spent a lot of time together, a very intensive time. The letter we are signing is very comprehensive,” Trump said.

But it’s unclear yet exactly what that means. A press conference is scheduled for 2:30 pm local time, noon IST, where more details will come forward.

Trump said he thinks he and Kim will have a “terrific relationship,” and Kim, through a translator, said North Korea had to overcome a number of “obstacles” to get to this moment.

Kim Jong-un is believed to have already left Sentosa Island for Changi airport, heading directly home to Pyongyang. President Trump will be holding the press conference at noon.

US President Donald Trump said he had forged a “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the start of a historic summit in Singapore on Tuesday, as the two men sought ways to end a nuclear standoff on the Korean peninsula.

Should they succeed in making a diplomatic breakthrough, it could bring lasting change to the security landscape of Northeast Asia, like the visit of former US President Richard Nixon to China in 1972 led to the transformation of China.

“There will be challenges ahead,” Kim said, but he vowed to work with Trump. Both men sat alongside each other against a backdrop of North Korean and US flags, with Kim beaming broadly as the US president gave him a thumbs up.

As the historic first meeting between a South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday said Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met for what local media billed as the “talks of the century”.

US president and North Korean leader began in Singapore, images of Trump and Kim exchanging handshakes and warm words drew jubilant reactions in Seoul and hopes for a new beginning with Pyongyang.

“We hope the summit will be a success and bring us a complete denuclearisation, peace and a new era” in relations between the two Koreas and the United States, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said.

Moon, whose earlier meetings with Kim had paved the way for the Singapore summit, smiled and applauded alongside his cabinet ministers as they watched live-streamed scenes from the summit at the presidential Blue House.

He has spent “a sleepless night” with excitement ahead of the meeting, his office said.

The English language Korea Times welcomed the meeting as a step towards ending tensions on the Korean peninsula, which has been divided between the communist North and democratic South for nearly 70 years.

Since the 1950-53 Korean War, South Korea has grown into one of the most prosperous countries in Asia, while the isolationist North has suffered a stagnant economy and alarmed its neighbours with its increasingly sophisticated nuclear weapons programme.

“The two leaders are certainly under great pressure to make the talks of the century a success,” the editorial said.

“We hope today’s summit will make a breakthrough to open a new era of peace and prosperity.”

Many watched live footage of the summit on their phones.

“A great shift in world history is in the making,” one Internet user said in a comment response to a news story.

But others were sceptical of Pyongyang´s intentions, citing earlier attempts to improve relations that later foundered.

“Kim Jong Un’s agreement to meet Trump means he´s having a hard time (from sanctions). But we´re giving him a chance to survive again after we did so with Kim Jong-il,” wrote another, referring to previous peace overtures to the North Korean leader´s father.

Media agencies

The IBC (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 has amended the IBC, 2016 which provides for insolvency resolution of corporate persons in a time bound manner for maximization of value of assets of such persons, and whereas, a need has been felt, inter alia, to balance the interests of various stakeholders in the code, especially interest of home buyers and MSMEs, promoting resolution over liquidation of corporate debtor by lowering the voting threshold of committee of creditors and streamlining provisions relating to eligibility of resolution applicants.

The Hon’ble President has promulgated the IBC (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018. Under this code, in section 5 of the principal Act,

(i) in clause (8), in sub clause (f), the following explanation shall be inserted namely

a) any amount raised from an allottee under a real estate project shall be deemed to be an amount having the commercial effect of a borrowing; and

b) the expression, “allottee” and “real estate project” shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in clauses (d) and (zn) of section 2 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016.

Hence, the new ordinance equates an “allottee” of a “real estate project” to be a person having a commercial effect of borrowing. He is now treated as financial creditor. He can initiate a corporate insolvency for a resolution against the errant developer. He acquires the right to be on the committee of creditors. He gets voting right and can influence the resolution process. In the unlikely eventuality of liquidation, he stands at par with other financial creditors.

Please find enclosed detailed The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2018 for your kind reference.

CAIT WILL HOLD NATIONWIDE PROTEST DHARNA on July 02,2018

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

11th June, 2018

CAIT WILL HOLD NATIONWIDE PROTEST DHARNA

AGAINST WALMART DEAL ON 2ND JULY

Walmart-Flipkart deal have to face a new attack as the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has declared to hold protest Dharna across the Country on 2nd July against Walmart-Flipkart Deal. Approximately at 1000 places in different cities in different States, the protest will be held. The CAIT took this decision today at its two days meeting of National Governing Council began today at Ahemadabad.

The CAIT in a unanimous resolution passed at the Conference demanded the Government to reject the deal and an e commerce policy is framed and a Regulatory Authority is formed for e Commerce.

CAIT National President Mr. B.C.Bhartia & Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal said that this time we shall be pursuing the matter with both ED & RBI so that e commerce companies including Flipkart and its newly owner Walmart should not escape from the liability of malpractices, predatory pricing and deep discounting.

The CAIT has said that the e-commerce market in India which remains very critical since its inception in the Country due to ill designed business practices adopted by various leading E Commerce players with a single motto of controlling and dominating retail trade by offering deep discounts and predatory pricing has vitiated the basic fundamentals of e-commerce and in the absence of any policy both in e-commerce and retail trade and easily circumventing the law,

It further said that e-commerce platforms are grossly and openly flouting Press No.3 of FDI Policy issued on 29th March,2016 which restrains e commerce companies for influencing the prices and make responsible for creating an even level playing filed but despite several complaints Government choose to remain a mute spectator giving them an open play ground to play the game with their own rules.

In the wake of current situation, the CAIT has demanded that till the time the e commerce policy is formulated, strict directions should be issued to adhere to Press Note No.3 and implement the same in toto. To monitor the same a Special Task Force should be constituted with Officials and representative of trade & e commerce platforms. Further, we should be made part of the formulation of e commerce policy.

Driving Industry-Railway Partnerships

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Rail Contact 2018

Driving Industry-Railway Partnerships

19 June 2018| Kamal Mahal, Hotel ITC Maurya, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi

Ministry of Railways has set itself a vision to transform Indian Railways (IR) to a truly world class, safe and modern transporter. The key plans to achieve the vision include speedy electrification, increasing speed of trains and a complete overhaul of the signaling and telecom network.

With the objective of working closely with IR to achieve its vision through industry partnerships, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), under the aegis of Railway Transportation Equipment Division, in association with Ministry of Railways is organizing National Conference- ‘Rail Contact’– Driving Industry-Railway Partnership on 19 June 2018 at ITC Maurya, New Delhi. The initiative aims to understand renewed vision of the IR, discuss and understand the emerging opportunities for industry members as well as provide a platform to Industry to showcase their readiness to cater to the emerging requirements.

Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Coal and Finance has kindly agreed to join as the Chief Guest and address at the Inaugural Session of the event. Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog has also agreed to join us during the Valedictory Session.

I am writing to cordially invite you to join and participate in the Conference. To register kindly click here. For further details kindly get in touch with Ms Vasundhra Chopra, +91-11-2465 3305(Dir)/24682230-35, vasundhra.chopra@cii.in / vicechairman.rail@cii.in

I look forward to your kind confirmation and participation.

With regards,

Vasundhra Chopra

Executive

Confederation of Indian Industry

4th Floor, Core 4A, India Habitat Centre,

Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110003

E: vasundhra.chopra@cii.in

Tel: 011-24653305

Loudest.in & Exchange4Media,

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

JUNE 12-13, 2018 | JW MARRIOTT, JUHU | MUMBAI

Hi,

Greetings from Loudest.in !

On the bahalf of Loudest (An Exchange4Media Venture), it’s our pleasure to invite you to be part of
Music Inc. scheduled for June 12th & 13th 2018, JW Marriott, Juhu, Mumbai, India. Music Inc. is a two-day eventbeing curated by Loudest.in & Exchange4Media, with an audience of about 500+ in Mumbai.

Our theme for the conference this year is to bring together Brands X Music X Technology. Forming an alliance between three industries, technology, media, advertising & marketing, and music business. The idea is to inspire, inform, connect and celebrate the music business in India. This event presents a great opportunity for you to connect with the key representatives of the music industry.

Meet with Our Esteemed Speakers

Anupama Chopra – Author, Film Companion
Ashish Bhasin – Chairman & CEO South Asia Dentsu Aegis Network
Atul Churamani – Turnkey Publishing
Badshah – Musician
Bhushan Kumar – Chairman & MD, Super Cassettes Industries Limited (T-Series)
Blaise Fernandes – President IMI
Clinton Cerejo – Musician
Ellis Rich OBE Hon DMus – CEO, Supreme Songs and Former-Chairman, PRS(UK)
Llyod Mathias – Former Senior Director of Marketing, Hewlett Packet (APAC & Japan)
Raj Nayak – COO, Viacom
Sabbas Joseph – Founder-Director, ‎Wizcraft International Entertainment Pvt Ltd
Salim Merchant – Musician
Shailendra Singh – Former MD Percept, Incept and many more..

The Program Agenda : http://loudest.in/musicinc-india/index.php/event-schedule/

Time: 10:00 am onwards (Registration will start from 8:00 AM onwards)
Venue: JW Marriott Juhu Mumbai
Date: 12 & 13th June 2018

I sincerely hope that you will be able to take out time from your schedule to join us , and be part of our endeavor. Request you to kindly save the date on your calendar & drop a line of confirmation to reserve your seat/seats and confirm your name on the guest list.

Look forward to see you at the event .

Note: RSVP is Compulsory

RSVP : chandrakant@exchange4media.com or anjana.yadav@exchange4media.com

Regards,
Himani Saxena
BW BusinessWorld

CSIR – Gangotri of Indian R&D & Progress Dry, Corrupted, Polluted

ON JUNE 12, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June11, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

Mercifully this time Industry-Academia interface was not dominated by CSIR-NRDC. Way back in 1978 I reported to PM Morarji Desai that NRDC is Corrupted and Incompetent when Honorable President sh. Ram Nath Kovind was his Special Assistant and in 1978 PM also visited the Pushp Vihar site which had very substandard water supply installation. I temporarily fixed problems on ‘Eve Of Morarji Desai’s Visit’ but nothing improved.

Gangotri of Indian R&D and Development DST-CSIR-NRDC is Dry, Corrupted and Polluted nothing works – Industry, Energy, Exports, Rivers, Drains, Floods, Water Supply, Healthcare, Agriculture, Environment, Transport, Education, Foods are worst managed.

In 1980-81 reported ‘Brief Report on Blunders in Water Supply Installations’ was actually detailed for a Complaint and in Detail how‘CSIR & NRDC had failed to create or award a single Commercial Technology.’

India is let down by CSIR-NRDC Scammed R&D over 70 years – it has Laboratories in all sectors of Industries but had TOTALLY Failed to serve India. 2005 I was asked by Starnews for Story on FAST METERS – though the 30m Program was ready in two days but CEO Starnews wanted expert opinion of CPRI [CSIR] which had R&D facility in the Baghpat Constituency of HRD Minister sh Satya Pal Singh. NO ONE RESPONSIBLE WAS PRESENT IN CPRI TEST CENTER. CPRI was Corrupted and didn’t report anything wrong with Tata & Ambani DISCOM meters – (I reported SOFTWARE Run Fast Meters – similar to VW Tweaking Emissions by cars recently).

China Residents File 300-1700 Times More Patents/Utility Patents

In 2008 I was asked by AAJTAK for BRT in Delhi – in 30m I pin pointed all the BLUNDERS in BRT Delhi design – CRRI [CSIR] operates from OKHLA in Delhi itself.

I warned Rajiv Gandhi instinctively SAM PITRODA is MISLEADING India when he sought huge INVESTMENT to improve TELECOM – 1000 Line Exchanges made in 8 Years were SUBSTANDARD – India had to import DIGITAL TELEPHONE EXCHAGES.

2005 warned GOI Sam Pitroda files ALL BOGUS Patents – but was made ‘Knowledge Commission Chair’ since then India didn’t make any S&T Progress – current S&T Secretary Prof Ashutosh Sharma too files BOGUS Patents. Nothing is progressing.

It is more than 40 years since my reports to PM – India has gone Bad to worse – in 1978 water quality was generally good – most contaminated presently, until 2005 China in R&D achievement was about 3 times ahead of India, in 2016 is 302 times ahead of India in Patent Grants to Residents – 1700 times ahead when Utility Models are included.

http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/country_profile/profile.jsp?code=IN – http://www.wipo.int/ipstats/en/statistics/country_profile/profile.jsp?code=CN

Country	Patents Filed	Resident P. Grants	Patents Enforce	Utility M. Applications
India	25,795	1,115	49,575	0000
China	1,257,202	302,136	1,774,402	1,468,295

Top 10 PCT Patent Filings Are By China 2017 [Latest Figures]

PCT Applicant	2015	2016	2017
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.	3,898		4,024
ZTE CORPORATION	2,155	4,123	2,965
BOE TECHNOLOGY GROUP CO.,LTD	1,227	3,692	1,818
LE HOLDINGS (BEIJING) CO., LTD.		9	1,397
SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OE TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD	710	1,163	972
ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LIMITED	16	452	707
TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) Co., Ltd.	981	172	560
YULONG COMPUTER TELECOM TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.	71	256	517
GUANG DONG OPPO MOBILE TELECOM CORP., LTD	27	80	474
XIAOMI INC.	126	298	354

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Article 5

June 9, 2018, 11:55 pm

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MeT Department forecasts thunderstorm

ON JUNE 10, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Meteorological Department has forecast thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning at isolated places over North India, including Delhi, and also in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

In the national capital, the mercury slipped by several notches this morning, a day after the city was hit by a dust storm and rain.

The minimum temperature settled at 23.4 degrees Celsius, five notches below normal. The MeT department said, cloudy weather will continue for the next three to four days.

Talking to AIR, senior MeT department official, Kuldeep Shrivastava said, the Monsoon is expected to reach Delhi by the 29th of this month.

The MeT department has also predicted rough to very rough sea condition over East Central, West Central and Southwest Arabian Sea, Odisha, West Bengal Coasts and North Bay of Bengal. Fishermen have been advised not to venture into these areas.

India, China inks two agreements on Brahmaputra, export rice.

ON JUNE 10, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

India and China signed two bilateral agreements following the meeting between the Prime Minister and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the summit. The agreements include continuing to share Brahmaputra water data during flood season and exporting non-Basmati rice to China.

Talking to reporters in Qingdao, Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale said, the two countries have set a trade target of 100 billion dollars by 2020. He said, during the hour-long meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Xi, both countries agreed on several initiatives to take forward the spirit of Wuhan Informal Summit. He said, the Chinese President accepted Prime Minister Modi’s invitation for a Wuhan type informal summit in India next year.

The Prime Minister also held bilateral meetings with Presidents of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Mr Modi reached Qingdao yesterday on a two-day visit to take part in the SCO summit.

PM Modi, Mantra for SCO,Security & Connectivity

ON JUNE 10, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The SCO summit concluded with the adoption of the Qingdao declaration. The declaration calls for implementing the three-year plan to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism. It also calls for implementation of the treaty on long-term good neighbourliness, friendship and co-operation.

All the heads of SCO countries held a restricted meeting before the summit.
Mr Modi will have bilateral meetings with Presidents of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan later in the day. Yesterday, Mr Modi met with the Chinese President after arriving in Qingdao on a 2-day visit.

Both sides signed two agreements, one on continuing to share Brahmaputra water data during the flood season and the other on exporting non-Basmati rice to China. The two countries also set a trade target of 100 billion dollars by 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that connectivity with the neighbourhood and in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation region is India’s priority as he stressed that his country was committed to extend full cooperation to a successful outcome of the summit.

He said, S stands for security of citizens, E for Economic Development for all, C for connecting the region, U – uniting the people, R – respect among nations and E – Environmental protection.

The Prime Minister also said, Afghanistan is an unfortunate example of the effects of terrorism. Citing Afghanistan as an “unfortunate example” of effect of terrorism, Modi said he hoped the brave steps towards peace taken by President Ashraf Ghani will be respected by all in the region, apparently referring to a cease-fire announced by the Afghan leader for the Eid festival. His reference to ,the Taliban announced its first ceasefire in the war-torn country in nearly 17 years.
On Thursday, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani offered a temporary ceasefire with the Taliban for Eid.It is the first time since the 2001 US invasion that the Taliban militants have declared a ceasefire in Afghanistan.

Mr Modi said, that connectivity with their neighbourhood in the SCO region is India’s priority. He called for setting up a roadmap for the 25th anniversary of SCO in 2026.

The Prime Minister asserted that only six percent of foreign tourists in India are from SCO countries, which he said can be doubled easily by increasing awareness about the shared cultures.

“Increasing awareness of our shared cultures can help boost this number.We will organise a SCO food festival and a Buddhist festival in India,” he said.

“We have again reached a stage where physical and digital connectivity is changing the definition of geography. Therefore, connectivity with our neighbourhood and in the SCO region is our priority,” Modi said.

The SCO currently has eight member countries which represents around 42 per cent of the world’s population and 20 per cent of the global GDP.

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Article 4

June 10, 2018, 11:50 pm

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An experience, Modi in Singapore

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Yesterday, for the first time I was physically present to hear Prime Minister Modi live at an event. I passed an opportunity to be standing right where he would walk in and shake hands with people simply because I did not want to be that fan who screams like a besotted dumbo. The brain, the brain – use your brain said my brain. Go sedately and listen to his speech said the brain. And so I focussed on reaching on time for the registration, security check and finding the best seats in the gigantic hall at the iconic Marina Bay Sands which can seat over 2,000 people (though I hear some 4,500 people were present). My husband joined later after finishing his office meetings.

Some cultural programmes were staged while we waited for the PM. We texted friends to find out where they were sitting, we waved to people we recognized. Suddenly the screens in front began to show the place where Modi was greeting people after reaching Fullerton Hotel. Live! And there stood some of my friends. The audience in the hall erupted at the sight and went “Modi, Modi, Modi…”

Still later when the PM arrived at Marina Bay Sands and began to come closer to our hall along with Singapore’s Prime Minister, even as every movement of his was telecast on our screens, the excitement began mounting all around me. We saw him going to different booths in an exhibition in the building and people cheered loudly. And then he finally entered our hall. OMGs it was like a movie star making an entry. I do not know if any Indian political leader including anyone from Gandhi or Nehru family has commanded this kind of euphoria, mania or whatever you call it even in a foreign country. [Subhash Chandra Bose is an exception going by the archival photos of the crowds he attracted in Singapore.]

The compere requested everyone to sit and we watched a beautiful dance cum yoga programme by Apsaras Arts Dance Company. It was an excellent audio-visual experience to watch Bharata Natyam and yoga asanas with the screens being used to convey some profound shlokas from the Gita and Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Singapore’s got talent!

Next, Singapore’s Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran came on stage to update us about all the business collaborations going on between Singapore and India. He told us that India has the world’s 3rd largest ecosystem for startups. A Singapore-India Incubation Programme will soon help Singapore start-ups break into the Indian market.

Three digital payment platforms RuPay, Bhim and SBI were launched by PM Modi in the presence of Dr Iswaran to a thunderous reception. 3 platforms which I wish had been launched right in those days when I struggled to send money to India. With these 3 Apps it will be a breeze to spend in India using Singapore dollar accounts or to send remittances.

Finally, the most awaited moment came when Dr Iswaran invited PM Modi to speak on the stage. It was a moment of total delirium all around me. Perfectly normal people in office-wear were chanting Modi, Modi or “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and even “Vande Mataram”. I looked all around to understand what this phenomenon was and then turned to my husband to see if he could decode it for me. But he was busy looking at his iphone to check on the results of the Kairana bypoll. “See how they have all ganged up against him,” he whispered. “BJP has lost to the combined might of the opposition there! 2019 will not be easy.”

The PM spoke.

But, he spoke in English which was a bit of a dampener because we all know his superb oratory in Hindi. But really, you have to give it to this man for being able to speak fluently without tripping, without getting confused in a language he must have learned so late in life. One might laugh at his pronunciation (after a while I felt as if I would start saying “nayver”, “praysence”, institusun, phreedom, breej, naytural, naval sheeps) but it is so much more appealing than a London educated colonized PM speaking in perfect English. How the hell does he reel off data like they are engraved in his mind? He spoke of the staggering pace of infrastructure development going on in India right now. Roads, railways airports, freight corridors, train station modernization, ports, manufacturing, energy generation, banking, social welfare. Hard data which cannot be faked. Here is a man whose every utterance somehow infuses Indians (even Indian-origin foreign citizens) with a little more energy, a little more confidence and makes them walk a little taller than before. I thought of the time when there was no Modi in the horizon. The hopelessness. The helplessness. When it seemed like termites were eating up India.

We’ve got a Prime Minister who motivates like no PM did before! I am remembering the speeches of Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi but none of them made one feel like getting up immediately and doing something, anything for India! The hope and inspiration that Modi has given to millions of Indians worldwide cannot be quantified. We will not know how many industrialists decided to invest in India, how many people began to raise funds for India, how many decided to volunteer in India because of the hope that Modi represented – these are things which cannot be measured. Before Modi, Indians abroad did not feel this connected with India as they do today.

Yes, we need Modi to be elected back in 2019. I know the man focusses too much on development to the exclusion of everything else. I know there have been gaps in the implementation of promises. I know there are many who are upset with his silence and inaction on important matters. All it means to me is that we need to push him more, shake him hard and force him to hear us. We need him to appoint more ministers who are as good as Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goel, Sushma Swaraj, Suresh Prabhu and others. But it has to be him. Him and no one else for PM for another term. Inspiration matters.

Sahana Singh

Union Steel Minister dedicates to nation rebuilt Blast Furnace-1 of Rourkela Steel Plant

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

New Delhi, 11th June 2018:

Union Steel Minister dedicates to nation rebuilt Blast Furnace-1 of Rourkela Steel Plant

The Union Minister of Steel, Chaudhary Birender Singh dedicated the rebuilt Blast Furnace-1 ‘Parvati’ of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to the Nation today. Union Minister of Tribal Affairs, Jual Oram, Dr. Aruna Sharma, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Binoy Kumar, Officer on Special Duty, Ministry of Steel along, senior officers of SAIL and a large number of employees were present on this occasion. Parvati is the first Blast Furnace of SAIL that was dedicated to the nation on 3rd February 1959 by the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad. The Blast Furnace was put down on 6th August 2013 for total rebuilding. Although erected on the old foundation, the rebuilt furnace equipped with superior technology has a higher production capacity. With the rebuilding, the annual production capacity, of the furnace has increased from 0.438 Million tonnes (MT) to 1.015 MT.

The Steel Minister also laid the foundation stone of the Burns and Plastic Surgery Department of Super Specialty block at Ispat General Hospital. This unit is the only burns and plastic surgery in the region and will fulfil the requirements of not only Rourkela but also of the people of neighboring districts and states.

The Minister also visited the state-of-the-art New Plate Mill of RSP and planted saplings in the Pragati Udyan situated in front of the Mill.

Decisions taken by the Union Cabinet

ON JUNE 11, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Naresh Kumar Sagar

Admin · Just now

· Cabinet approves the joint issue of postage stamp between India and Russia

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the agreement signed in connection with release of Joint Stamps between Department of Posts, India and Russia Post (Joint-Stock Company “MARKA” of Russian Federation) to establish postal cooperation and strive towards mutually beneficial operational excellence in the field of issuance of stamps. Bilateral relations between India and Russia are marked by broad understanding on issues of mutual interest. India and Russia enjoy enhanced levels of cooperation in almost all areas of the bilateral relationship.

· Cabinet approves the extension of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Netherlands on technical cooperation in the field of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Netherlands on technical cooperation in the field of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management in April, 2018.

Details

The objectives of this MoU are to promote and strengthen the collaboration between the signatories in the areas of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management on the basis of equivalence, affordable housing, smart city development, geographical information system (GIS) for water supply & sewerage system, waste water reuse and recycle, conservation of fresh water by artificial recharge of aquifer, integrated solid waste management and heritage conservation and mutual benefit, taking into account the practical needs of both the countries.

Implementation strategy

Under this MoU, a Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group will meet once in a year, alternately in the Netherlands and in India.

Major Impact

The MoU will promote bilateral cooperation in the field of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management between the two countries.

Beneficiaries

The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of Spatial Planning, Water Management and Mobility Management, smart cities development, affordable housing, waste management, urban environment and heritage preservation.

· Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Denmark on technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Denmark on technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development in April, 2018.

Details

The objective of this MoU is to promote bilateral cooperation in the field of sustainable and smart urban development on the basis of reciprocity and mutual benefit through exchange of knowledge, institutional cooperation, research & development and commercial relations on related issues. Areas of cooperation include smart urban solutions, liveability, sustainable and integrated urban planning, re-development and land use, integrated solid waste management including waste to energy, sustainable transport systems, water and sanitation management, energy efficiency, resource mobilization and other related areas mutually agreed upon.

Implementation strategy

Under this MoU, a Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group will meet at intervals agreed upon by the Participants, alternately in Denmark and in India.

Major Impact

The MoU will promote bilateral cooperation in the field of Sustainable and Smart Urban Development between the two countries.

Beneficiaries

The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of integrated solid waste management including waste to energy, sustainable transport systems, water and sanitation management, energy efficiency, resource mobilization.

· Cabinet approves Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III Continuation Programme – Phase 6: Thirty Operational Flights of PSLV

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) Continuation Programme (Phase 6) and funding of thirty PSLV operational flights under the Programme. The Programme will also meet the launch requirement of satellites for Earth observation, Navigation and Space Sciences. This will also ensure the continuity of production in Indian industry. The total fund requirement is Rs. 6131.00 Crores and includes the cost of thirty PSLV vehicles, essential facility augmentation, Programme Management and Launch Campaign.

Major Impact:

The operationalisation of PSLV has made the country self-reliant in the launching capability of satellites for earth observation, disaster management, navigation and space sciences. The PSLV Continuation programme will sustain this capability and self-reliance in the launching of similar satellites for national requirements. The PSLV Continuation Programme – Phase 6 will meet the demand for the launch of satellites at a frequency up to eight launches per year, with maximal participation by the Indian industry. All the operational flights would be completed during the period 2019-2024.

The Programme will also meet the launch requirement of satellites for Earth observation, Navigation and Space Sciences. This will also ensure the continuity of production in Indian industry. PSLV Continuation Programme was initially sanctioned in 2008, and four phases have been completed and the fifth phase is expected to be completed by Q2 of 2019-20. The Phase 6 approval will cater to the launch of satellite missions during the period Q3 of 2019-20 to Q1 of 2023-24.

· Status-cum-Progress Report of “Special Committee for Inter-Linking of Rivers”

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the progress report of Special Committee for Inter-Linking of Rivers during 1.7.2016 to 31.3.2018. The progress report on interlinking of rivers has been submitted to the Cabinet in compliance of the Hon’ble Supreme Court judgement dated 27.02.2012 in the matter of Writ Petition (Civil) – 512 of 2002: “Networking of Rivers” along with Writ Petition No.668 of 2002 which directs the Union Government of India to constitute a Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers. A periodical report is required to be submitted to the Cabinet on the progress made by the Special Committee for Interlinking of Rivers.

The Status Report of Special Committee on ILR consists of substantial progress made in three priority links namely Ken-Betwa Link, Damanganga-Pinjal Link and Para-Tapi-Narmada Link alongwith status of other Himalayan and Peninsular links identified as per National Perspective Plan of 1980.

· Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and United Kingdom on technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi was apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and United Kingdom on technical cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development in April, 2018.

Details

The objective of this MoU is to facilitate and strengthen India-UK institutional cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development. The areas of cooperation include smart cities development, solid waste management, green affordable housing, waste water management, capacity building of urban institutions, skill development in urban areas, urban mobility, intelligent transport system and transit-oriented development, innovative access to finance and other related areas as mutually agreed upon by the Contracting Parties.

Implementation strategy

Under this MoU, an Indo-UK Joint Working Group (JWG) will be set up to strategize and implement programmes on cooperation under the framework of the MoU. The Joint Working Group on Urban Development is expected to meet once in a year, alternately in UK and in India.

Major Impact

The MoU will promote strong, deep and long term bilateral cooperation in the field of Sustainable Urban Development between the two countries.

Beneficiaries

The MoU is expected to create employment in the areas of smart cities development, solid waste management, green affordable housing, waste water management, skill development in urban areas, urban mobility, intelligent transport system and transit-oriented development.

· Cabinet approves Continuation Programme for Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved funding for the for Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-III (GSLV Mk-III) continuation programme (Phase-I) consisting of ten (10) GSLV (Mk-III) flights, at a total estimated cost of Rs. 4338.20 crores. This includes Rs. 4338.20 Crores and includes the cost of ten GSLV Mk-III vehicles, essential facility augmentation, Programme Management and Launch Campaign.

The GSLV Mk-III continuation Programme – Phase 1 is the first phase of operational flights that will enable the launch of 4 tonne class of communication satellites to meet the country’s satellite communication requirements. The operationalisation of GSLV Mk-III will make the country self-reliant in the launching capability of 4 tonne class of communication satellites, and sustain & strengthen the space infrastructure and reduce the dependence on procured launches from foreign countries.

The operationalisation of GSLV Mk-III will make the country self-reliant in the launching capability of 4 tonne class of communication satellites and sustain & strengthen the space infrastructure and reduce the dependence on procured launches from foreign countries. The GSLV Mk-III Continuation Programme – Phase 1 will meet the launch requirement of communication satellites to meet the national demand for High Throughput Satellites for rural broadband connectivity, increase and sustain the availability of transponders for DTH, VSAT and Television broadcasters. GSLV Mk-III Continuation Programme – Phase 1 will be the first phase of operational flights of the GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle and the approval will cater to the launch of satellite missions during the period 2019-2024.

· Cabinet approves Revision in the wage structure and allowances of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) of the Department of Posts

The Union Cabinet chaired by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today has approved the revision in the wage structure and allowances of Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) of the Department of Posts. The revision in the wage structure would entail an estimated expenditure of Rs 1257.75 crore (Non-recurring expenditure – Rs 860.95 crore and Recurring expenditure of Rs.396.80 crore) during 2018-19. 3.07 lakh Gramin Dak Sevaks will be benefitted by this wage revision.

Details:

i. Time Related Continuity allowance (TRCA) structure and slabs have been rationalised. The total GDSs have been brought under two categories viz. Branch Postmasters (BPMs) and other than Branch Postmasters namely Assistant Branch Postmaster (ABPMs).

ii. The present 11 TRCA slabs will be merged into only three TRCA Slabs with two levels each for BPMs and other than BPMs.

iii. Introduction of new Time Related Continuity Allowance (TRCA) will be as below:

Minimum TRCA of two types of proposed categories of GDSs as per working hours / levels

S.No.

Article 1

June 12, 2018, 11:46 pm

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Farmers block oil refineries and depots across France

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

French farmers began a blockade of at least 14 oil refineries and depots belonging to energy company Total on Sunday evening.

The demonstrators positioned their tractors and straw bales at the sites to protest against what they see as unfair standards in the importation of palm oil for use in fuel.

President of the National Federation of Agricultural Holders’ Unions Christiane Lambert insisted that the imports can undermine French agriculture, according to local media.

The blockage was described as “illegal” by French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert. He said that the government is not going to backtrack on its decision to allow Total to use imported palm oil, and warned that the protest could not lead to any “adequate solutions.”

Putin’s visit ‘strong impetus’ to Sino-Russian relations

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to China was successful, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang. The spokesman told reporters on Monday, that the visit gave a new “strong impetus” to the bilateral relations and said that the friendship medal given to the Russian leader reflects the “deep friendship” between the two states. He became the first foreign leader to receive one of the highest awards of China, officially called Order of Friendship. Putin came to China on June 8, where his met his counterpart Xi Jingping and later took part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation SCO summit.

Erdogan vows to ‘drain terrorist swamp’

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Erdogan vows to ‘drain terrorist swamp’ after strikes in Iraq’s Qandil Mountains.
Turkey has destroyed 14 Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) targets in northern Iraq’s Qandil Mountains. The region is considered to be the headquarters of the PKK, which is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara. Some 20 Turkish jets were involved in the attack on Monday. Speaking at a rally in the central Turkish city of Nigde, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “drain the biggest of the swamps” in reference to the region, which he said was a “source of terrorism” affecting Turkey, according to Daily Sabah.

Netanyahu questioned in probe

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Israeli PM Netanyahu questioned in probe for corruption.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been quizzed by the police on Tuesday in his official residence in Jerusalem, in a criminal investigation into his involvement in a telecom corruption case. New testimony, presented by his former confidant Nir Hefetz in the so-called Case 4000, reveals that from 2014 to 2017 Netanyahu had allegedly used his former position of communications minister to have Walla!, a news site run by Bezeq communications giant, provide favorable coverage of him and his wife Sara.

Is South China Sea, in crucible treat

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Modi echoed American rhetoric about a “shared vision of an open, stable, secure and prosperous” Indo-Pacific, which he described as “a natural region” — countering those who wonder if an area stretching from Bollywood to Hollywood might too vast and disparate to be cast into a geopolitical fact on the ground.

Modi also heaped praise on China, despite its border dispute with India and increasingly close economic ties with Pakistan, India’s neighbor and nuclear rival.

“Our cooperation is expanding. Trade is growing. And, we have displayed maturity and wisdom in managing issues and ensuring a peaceful border,” Modi said.

Ending the “provocative actions” is an essential step towards easing tensions around the Korean Peninsula and creating the “atmosphere of trust” in the region, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. This was in response to US President Donald Trump’s statement that it was now “inappropriate” to stage war games in light of the negotiation process. Trump made the remark after the historic summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Stopping the US-South Korea war games was one of the conditions Pyongyang proposed for denuclearization.

China’s foreign ministry described Modi’s speech as “positive,” while one of its military delegation at the Singapore conference gloated that India and the U.S. “have different understandings, different interpretations, of this Indo-Pacific.”

The Trump and Kim summit has its new fulcrums, US denuclearisation means North Korea dismantling its nuclear arsenal, for Pyongyang it means scaling down of US forces from both South Korea and Japan, besides ending the annual military drill between the US and South Korea.

Further, there was no mention of missiles, an issue that was brought to the fore in 2017.

Also, the text on MIA remains implies US military figures will visit North Korea. As contained in the joint text, the US and North Korea commit to recovering PoW/MIA remains including the immediate repatriation of those already identified. However, commitment to ‘expeditious’ implementation is good.

The most important of those four key points in the joint text is the third point in which both Trump and Kim ‘commit to work towards the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula’.

Indeed, there is plenty of wriggle room in committing to work toward denuclearisation.

The joint text clearly mentions thus: ‘President Trump committed to provide security guarantees to the DPRK, and Chairman Kim Jong Un reaffirmed his form and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.’

According to Jonathan Cheng of The Wall Street Journal, there are four key points in the Trump-Kim Declaration.

First: The US and North Korea commit to establish new US-North Korea relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.

Second: Both would make efforts to build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.

Third: Reaffirming the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration, North Korea commits to work towards the complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

And fourth: Both sides commit to recover PoW/MIA remains including the immediate repatriation of those already identified.

China welcomed the summit as ‘historic’. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi observed the fact that the two leaders ‘can sit together and have equal talks has important and positive meaning, and is creating new history.’

Wang also spoke of the need for a peace mechanism for the peninsula. While calling for ‘full denuclearisation’ to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Wang observed: ‘Resolving the nuclear issue, on the one hand, of course, is denuclearisation, full denuclearisation.’

‘At the same time, there needs to be a peace mechanism for the peninsula, to resolve North Korea’s reasonable security concerns.’

It needs to be remembered that Beijing is Pyongyang’s sole major ally and main trading partner. However, it supported others in implementing a slew of UN sanctions to punish the North over its nuclear and missile tests.

Yet, Beijing welcomed Kim twice in quick succession prior to the latter’s summit with Trump. That China continues to remain relevant in any peace process in the Korean Peninsula remains unquestioned.

Despite tensions, the Cold War-era allies sought to mend ties recently, and Kim even borrowed an Air China plane to travel to the landmark summit with Trump in Singapore.

Take others view, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s account of a conversation he had with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, was startling.

During a meeting between the two leaders in Beijing in May 2017, the subject turned to whether the Philippines would seek to drill for oil in a part of the South China Sea claimed by both countries. Duterte said he was given a blunt warning by China’s president.

“[Xi’s] response to me [was], ‘We’re friends, we don’t want to quarrel with you, we want to maintain the presence of warm relationship, but if you force the issue, we’ll go to war,” Duterte recounted.

A year later, Duterte was asked for a response to news that China had landed long-range bombers on one of the South China Sea’s Paracel Islands — a milestone that suggests the People’s Liberation Army Air Force can easily make the short hop to most of Southeast Asia from its new airstrips. “What’s the point of questioning whether the planes there land or not?” Duterte responded.

His refusal to condemn China’s military buildup underlines China’s success in subduing its rivals in the South China Sea. Since 2013 China has expanded artificial islands and reefs in the sea and subsequently installed a network of runways, missile launchers, barracks and communications facilities.

These military advances have led many to wonder if Beijing has already established unassailable control over the disputed waters. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have overlapping claims to parts of the South China Sea and its islands – claims that are looking increasingly forlorn in the wake of China’s military buildup.

“What China is winning is de facto control of nearly the entire South China Sea, including all activities and resources in it, despite the other surrounding Southeast Asian states’ respective legal rights and entitlements under international law,” said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

At stake is the huge commercial and military leverage that comes with controlling one of the world’s most important shipping lanes, through which up to $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year.

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis insists that China faces “consequences” for the “militarization” of South China Sea, which he says is being done for “the purposes of intimidation and coercion.”

“There are consequences that will continue to come home to roost, so to speak, with China, if they do not find the way to work more collaboratively with all of the nations,” Mattis said on June 2 at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, a security conference organized by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Mac Thornberry, chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, added that the U.S. naval presence means China does not have a free hand in the South China Sea.

“I think you will see more and more nations working together to affirm freedom of navigation through the South China Sea and other international waters,” Thornberry told the Nikkei Asian Review.

But what those consequences might be was left unsaid by Mattis, who suggested that there was little prospect of forcing China to give up its growing network of military facilities dotting the sea.

“We all know nobody is ready to invade,” he said.

Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, “There is no reasonable basis for the U.S. to use military force to push China off its outposts, nor would any country in the region support such an effort.”

The U.S. pushback so far has included disinviting China from a major Pacific naval exercise. It also continues to carry out so-called freedom of navigation operations, or FONOPs, the most recent of which took place on May 27. This was followed by U.S. military aircraft flying over the Paracel Islands in early June, a move that prompted a countercharge of “militarization’” against the U.S. by China’s Foreign Ministry.

China regards the FONOPs as sabre-rattling and “a challenge to [our] sovereignty,” according to Lt. Gen. He Lei, Beijing’s lead representative at the Singapore conference.

He restated the government position on troops and weapons on islands in the South China Sea, describing the deployments as an assertion of sovereignty and said that allegations of militarization were “hyped up” by the U.S.

Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana stopped short of endorsing the FONOPs but told the Nikkei Asian Review that “it is our belief that those sea lanes should be left open and free.”

In contrast to Duterte’s reluctance to confront China, his predecessor as president, Benigno Aquino, was frequently outspoken about China’s increasing control of the sea. He pressed a case against Beijing to an arbitration tribunal in 2013 after a protracted naval stand-off the year before around Scarborough Shoal, a rock claimed by both countries and lying about 120 nautical miles off the Luzon coast.

In mid-2016 the tribunal dismissed China’s expansive “nine-dash line” claim to much of the South China Sea and its artificial island-building and expansion, all of which the tribunal said contravened the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.

Duterte said he would not “flaunt” the tribunal outcome, in contrast with his campaign pledge to assert the country’s sovereignty — he even vowed to ride a jet ski to one of China’s artificial islands and plant the Philippine flag there. Manila hopes for significant Chinese investment in roads, rail and ports, as part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, a multicontinent plan outlining China-backed infrastructure upgrades.

Defense Secretary Lorenzana emphasized in remarks to the media in Singapore that good relations with China remain a priority, regardless of bilateral disputes. “It is just natural for us to befriend our neighbor. We cannot avoid dealing with China, they are near, [and] many Filipinos, including me, have Chinese blood.”

For the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, there are growing doubts about whether the American navy would protect them in a conflict with China, something Duterte, a brusque critic of the U.S., has questioned publicly.

Mattis, like former President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sidestepped a question on that issue in Singapore, saying, “The reason why public figures do not want to give specific answers is that these are complex issues.”

American evasiveness is a reminder to the Philippines that the U.S. might not risk war with China over its old ally. “It is debatable whether Filipinos believe that the U.S. will have its back in a conflict with China,” Batongbacal of the University of the Philippines said. “Duterte’s repeated statements against the reliability of the U.S. as an ally tends to undermine this further.”

Duterte’s reticence has left Vietnam as the sole claimant willing to speak up. Discussing recent developments in the South China Sea, Vietnamese Defense Minister Gen. Ngo Xuan Lich told the Singapore conference, “Under no circumstances could we excuse militarization by deploying weapons and military hardware over disputed areas against regional commitments.”

Lich did not name-check China in his speech, but described “a serious breach to the sovereignty” of another country that “violates international laws, complicates the situation and negatively affects regional peace, stability and security.”

As well as hindering oil and gas projects in waters close to Vietnam, China’s navy has for several years harassed Vietnamese fishing boats — as it does around the Philippines — and continues to occupy islands seized from Vietnam nearly five decades ago.

In 2014, anti-China riots kicked off across Vietnam after China placed an oil rig in South China Sea waters claimed by Hanoi. In early June there were demonstrations against proposals that protesters claimed will give Chinese businesses favored access in so-called Special Economic Zones in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s response to potential isolation has been a cautious dalliance with the U.S. In late 2016, shortly before the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, American warships docked in Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay naval base, the first such visit since the former antagonists normalized ties in 1995. That landmark was followed in March this year by the arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier to the central Vietnam city of Danang.

Hanoi recently called for greater Japanese involvement in the region’s maritime disputes, perhaps signalling an interest in a wider effort to counter China. But unlike the Philippines, Vietnam, which like China is a single party communist-run state, is not a U.S. treaty ally. Historical and ideological differences mean that there are limits to how closely Vietnam will align with the U.S.

“I think there is a good momentum with defense cooperation with the U.S. But I don’t think that it would immediately mean jumping into the ‘American camp,’ whatever it means,” said Huong Le Thu, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

U.S. has sought to widen the array of countries it hopes will join it in countering China’s rising influence. During his 12-day swing through Asia in late 2017, Trump peppered his speeches with references to the “Indo-Pacific,” dispensing with the long established “Asia-Pacific” label in favor of a more expansive term first used by Japan.

The “Indo-Pacific” was then mentioned throughout the U.S. National Security Strategy published soon after Trump’s Asia trip — a document that alleged China aims to “challenge American power” and “is using economic inducements and penalties, influence operations, and implied military threats to persuade other states to heed its political and security agenda.”

Three days before his Singapore speech, Mattis announced in Hawaii that the U.S. Pacific Command would be renamed the Indo-Pacific Command, describing the expanded theater as stretching “from Bollywood to Hollywood.”

Mattis later added some gravitas to the cinematic catchphrase, saying in Singapore that “standing shoulder to shoulder with India, ASEAN and our treaty allies and other partners, America seeks to build an Indo-Pacific where sovereignty and territorial integrity are safeguarded — the promise of freedom fulfilled and prosperity prevails for all.”

The Trump administration clearly hopes for greater Indian involvement in its efforts to counter China’s growing influence. Kori Schake, deputy director-general of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while “Indo-Pacific isn’t yet an established part of the lexicon,” the implications of the term are clear.

“India is an Asian power. The countries adopting the term are encouraging India into greater cooperation in maintaining the maritime commons in the Indian and Pacific oceans,” said Schake, a former U.S. State Department official.

South Korean media were sharply divided in their assessments of Tuesday’s historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with conservative news outlets blasting the meeting and one liberal paper lauding it.

North Korean media regard Tuesday’s summit with the United States as an epoch-making event to create “a radical switchover” in hostile bilateral relations.

State-run media reported on Wednesday for the first time that the nation’s leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump had held an “epoch-making meeting” in Singapore and signed a joint statement.

The report says the leaders shared the recognition of the principle of step-by-step and simultaneous action in achieving peace, stability and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. It suggests that Trump showed his understanding of a North Korean demand for the phased denuclearization of the peninsula.

The media report quotes Kim as saying that “it is urgent to make a bold decision on halting irritating and hostile military actions against each other.”

It says Trump expressed his intention to halt US-South Korea joint military exercises over a period of goodwill dialogue between North Korea and the United States.

The report says Trump suggested the US would offer security guarantees to North Korea and lift sanctions against it, if mutual relations improve through dialogue.

It says the summit was an “event of great significance in making a radical switchover in the most hostile North Korea-US relations, as required by the developing times.”

The media made no mention of Trump’s remarks to reporters that the leaders had discussed the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea, or that Kim had agreed to destroy a major testing site for ballistic missile engines.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton will hold follow-up talks with North Korean officials next week.

But some observers say the upcoming talks are likely to face twists and turns because the leaders did not agree on any details of the denuclearization process

media agencies

Bangladesh’s Rohingya Refugee Camps need HR

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

This is beginning of the monsoon and the sojourn camps dwelling are of conflicting Rohingya with their colleague in old settlement for and on trivial matter, putting the life of each other in disarray are finding themselves in natural catastrophe, where safety is first priority. Myanmar government needs to send some spiritual and best motivators to teach to live in peace and harmony for the betterment of the the inhabitants are their native place with brotherhood among, the Buddhist, the Hindu and the Muslims and the Christians. Lesson of ethics is also responsibility of the democratic government of land.

Cox’s Bazar – Heavy monsoon rains that began on Saturday (9/6) have caused severe structural damage to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar Rohingya refugee camps. Over 31,000 of the camps’ one million refugees, who fled Myanmar, are still living in areas considered to be at high risk of deadly flooding and landslides.

Within 24 hours of the rains starting, humanitarian agencies reported some 59 incidents, including landslides, water logging, extreme wind and lightning strikes. The incidents are being mapped and shared on an interagency communal incident overview platform. Over the same period aid agencies reported that over 9,000 people were affected and that this number will increase as the rains continue.

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is working against the clock to secure infrastructure, including road access and drainage, and to improve preparedness. Working with partners, it is ensuring that refugees continue to receive lifesaving assistance, including water, sanitation and hygiene, health, protection and shelter support during the monsoon.

The risks remains huge, given the vast size and nature of the congested, makeshift camps. The hilly terrain is now largely bare of vegetation and the rains have made the soil extremely unstable, increasing the risk of large scale flooding and landslides.

IOM and its partners have responded by relocating thousands of vulnerable households to safer ground ahead of the rains. Since January, 5,196 households (about 25,000 individuals) vulnerable to landslides and floods or in areas of communal infrastructure construction have been moved to safer areas. Before the end of June, IOM and its partners plan to move another 1,602 vulnerable households (7,248 individuals) to safer ground.

In Unchiprang, a camp in Teknaf sub-district, IOM moved 787 households ahead of the heavy rains. But another 65 households remain at risk of landslides and floods. “Yesterday 19 households were identified as at risk of landslides and moved to learning centers and child friendly spaces of the camp. They’ll be relocated to a new land once the rain stops. Relocation of these families is not possible as their shelters can’t be properly constructed amid continuous heavy rains,” said IOM site manager Mohammed Manun.

“The situation in the camps is growing more desperate with every drop of rain that falls,” said Manuel Pereira, IOM’s Emergency Coordinator in Cox’s Bazar. “You have close to one million people living on hilly, muddy terrain with no trees or shrubs left to hold the ground in place. People and their makeshift shelters are being washed away in the rains. We are racing to save lives, but we urgently need more funding to maintain and expand key humanitarian support during these rains. Without this, our operations, which are currently only 22 percent funded, will run out of money by the end of this month,” he added.

IOM, WFP and UNHCR have also strategically positioned heavy machinery in key camp locations for disaster response operations in a joint project called the Site Maintenance Engineering Project (SMEP.) Teams are also continuously working to increase available land for relocations. IOM has already prepared 186.8 acres of new land to relocate at least 7,000 people.

Existing refugee shelters have also been upgraded to better withstand heavy rain and high winds, and refugees have been advised on measures they can take to reduce their vulnerability to any upcoming disaster.

Key shelter and non-food items have been stockpiled to ensure sufficient provision during times of high demand. Mobile medical teams will also ensure that displaced and hard to reach populations have uninterrupted access to healthcare.

Access to clean water also poses a huge challenge during the monsoon and IOM and its partners have worked to improve water and hygiene infrastructure, as well as pre-positioning acute watery diarrhea kits and aquatabs in remote areas to meet basic needs.

For more information, please contact IOM Cox’s Bazar:

Manuel Pereira, Tel: +8801885946996, Email: mpereira@iom.int

Shirin Akhter, Tel: +88034152195 or +8801711187499, Email: sakhter@iom.int

CII Business Delegation to Belarus : 4-6 June , 2018

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) organized a business delegation to Belarus on 04 to 6th June 2018. The visit aimed to promote Indian industry’s commitment to strengthen investment and trade between India and Belarus. The 14-member delegation met with diverse stakeholders – including government, industry and media in a bid to strengthen the economic relationship between the two countries.

CII business delegation comprised of 14 members from 8 companies interested in setting up business in Belarus in sector such as Textile,Machinery, Agro Chemicals, Automative, Tractor and Farm Equipments, Financial Technology (Fintech) , Power Transmission. Members of the delegation included Industry Representatives from Bajaj Industries Limited, Expotech International Pvt Ltd, KEC International Limited, Maruti Suzuki India Limited ,Tafe Limited, Iris Business Services Limited and Uniphos International Ltd and Durofibretex.

India- Belarus Business forum

India-Belarus Business Forum was organized in Minsk (Belarus ) on June 4th, 2018. Indian Ambassador to Belarus H.E Saangeeta Bahadur and Leader of Indian Delegation Mr Pankaj Bajaj spoke from Indian side during the forum. Ambassador stressed the need to reimagine the existing pattern of economic relations between the two countries and open news ways of economic cooperation for private sectors of both the countries. For example Joint Manufacturing for EAEU market, parternering the reform process of Belarus by sharing IT and regulatory support and increasing the current level of trade between the two countries were the main topic of discussion among Forum members. Vladimir Ulakhovich Chairman of the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) adressed the forum and led the Belarussian Delegtaion during the forum. A presentation on Business and investment climate of the Republic of Belarus was done by Mr. Mikhail Dashuk. The deputy director of the National Agency of the Investments and Privatization

More than 50 representatives from various industries of Belarus participated in the Forum.Many Belarussian companies participated in the B2B meetings organized by the BCCI.

Delegation met with Deputy Minister of Economy, Deputy Minister of Anti-Monopoly and Regulation, Chairman of Belarussian Stock Exchange, Head of Settlement Registry of Belarus Central Banks and Mr Myasnovich Speaker of Belarus National Assembly.

Visit to Special Economic Zone – Orsha

Some of the delegation members visited the special economic zone located in Orsha region of Belarus . Chairman of the Orsha District Executive Committee hosted a business lunch and participated in business negotiation with the interested members of Indian Delegation.

Orsha region is located near the border of Russia and has very well developed infrastructure for setting up industries, logistics hub and can be an important business hub/transit point for Indian Businesses interested in EAEU market

Manish Kumar

Deputy Director, International

Confederation of Indian Industry

The Mantosh Sondhi Centre

23, Institutional Area

Lodi Road, New Delhi 110 003

Tel: +91 11 4577 1000

Ext:463

Email: manish.kumar@cii.in

Mobile:8860030312

Website: www.cii.in

Odisha can produce 100 million tonnes of steel: Steel Minister

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Union Minister of Steel interacting with MDs/CEOs of major steel producing units in Kalinganagar, Odisha

Union Minister of Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh visited Kalinganagar on 12th June, 2018 and interacted with MDs/CEOs of major steel producing units located in the State of Odisha. In his remarks the Minister stated that India has become the second largest steel producing country. In the financial year 2017-18, India produced more than 100 million tonnes of steel. Indian Steel Industry has come out of the difficulties faced during 2014-15 and 2015-16 due to various policy interventions by the Government of India. National Steel Policy and DMI&SP Policy were notified during 2017 giving direction and fillip to the domestic industry.

Odisha is a major steel producing State contributing more than half of steel production in the country. It is rich in minerals and mines and has a potential to produce 100 million tonnes of steel out of 300 million tonnes envisaged in National Steel Policy by the year 2030-31. Kalinganagar is a major industrial hub. Around 15 steel plants are located in this region which include public sector plants like NINL and private sector plants like TATA Steel, Jindal Stainless Limited, Visa Steel and MESCO. To achieve the common objective of producing 300 million tonnes by 2030, enhanced production from Kalinganagar and Odisha State is important. The Minister expressed the hope that Kalinganagar will develop potential for downstream facilities which include ferro alloy plants, duct iron pipes, steel furniture, power component manufacturing as well as stainless steel units.

Industry representatives spoke about increased need for utilizing iron ore fines for pellet manufacturing so that precious iron ore can be preserved. The Minister discussed in detail the challenges to the growth of Indian Steel Industry, such as logistics in terms of development of ports and increasing capacity of Indian railways, creating dedicated freight corridors to move raw materials as well as finished goods. The Steel Minister expressed confidence that both Central Government and State government together find solutions at policy and operational level to achieve higher level of production in Odisha.

Officers from the Central Government and the State Government were also

present in the meeting.

Procter & Gamble:First ‘Women Business Empowerment Program’ in India

ON JUNE 13, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

P&G India recently concluded it’s first ‘Women Business Empowerment Program’ in India with its partner WEConnect International.

20 women entrepreneurs, who were selected via an application process graduated from the four-week program aimed at developing capability of women entrepreneurs. As part of the program, P&G conducted training and workshops with real-time case studies covering various aspects of building a sustainable business including professional skills like consumer engagement, digital marketing, legal and tax system, effective communication etc. Taking this a step further, the holistic program also provided women entrepreneurs access to business opportunities with P&G and its partners. Through the holistic Women Business Empowerment program, 25% of participants secured business opportunities with P&G and its partners.

The training sessions and workshops were mentored by senior leaders from P&G and prominent women leaders and entrepreneurs from across industries. P&G India has committed itself to sourcing US$30 million from women-owned businesses across India over the next three years. This initiative to support women entrepreneurs is built on P&G’s global commitment to promote greater gender equality in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Procter & Gamble (P&G) India along with its partner WeConnect International recently concluded the Women Business Empowerment Program in India. 20 women entrepreneurs, who were selected via an application process, graduated from the four-week programme aimed at developing capability of women entrepreneurs.

As part of the programme, P&G conducted training and workshops with real-time case studies covering various aspects of building a sustainable business, including professional skills like consumer engagement, digital marketing, legal and tax system, effective communication and others. Taking this a step further, the holistic programme also provided women entrepreneurs access to business opportunities with P&G and its partners. Through the holistic Women Business Empowerment programme, 25% of participants secured business opportunities with P&G and its partners.

The training sessions and workshops were mentored by senior leaders from P&G and prominent women leaders and entrepreneurs from across industries, including Richa Arora, COO, Consumer Business, Tata Chemicals; Simran Hoon, Executive Vice-President, Viacom18; Poorvi Chothani, Founding and Managing Partner, LawQuest; Vineeta Dwivedi from SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR); Richa Pai, FMCG Merchandising head, Aditya Birla Retail; Aarti Bindra, Managing Director, ACPL Systems, Kalpana Anantraman, CEO, Avion Systems and Gauri Sawant, transgender activist and Managing Trustee, Sai Savli Foundation and Founder ‘Aaji Cha Ghar’.

P&G India has committed itself to sourcing S$30 million from women-owned businesses across India over the next three years. This initiative to support women entrepreneurs is built on P&G’s global commitment to promote greater gender equality in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Madhusudan Gopalan, CEO, P&G, India Subcontinent, said, “We are delighted to conclude the first edition of the Women Business Empowerment program (WBEP). Through this initiative, we conceived a holistic capability platform which will help women entrepreneurs build their businesses sustainably. This initiative is in line with our global commitment to empower women-owned businesses which is an important aspect of our citizenship efforts. We are committed to source $30 million from women-owned businesses across India over the next three years. Through this commitment, we believe, we will not only be able to stimulate economic growth but also bring about a social change via empowering women entrepreneurs.”

Gender Equality is a priority focus area of P&G’s Citizenship efforts. P&G has been steadily working to improve gender equality by leveraging its unique strengths in partnership and collaboration with industry stakeholders. P&G has also announced a series of measures designed to support a push towards gender equality across the Indian Subcontinent, Middle East and Africa region and the recent initiative in India is another strong statement in that direction.

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National Museum, New Delhi added an event.

5 mins

‘EGYPTIAN BUDDHISM’: Tracing the route of the Buddhist Proselytism in Ptolemaic Egypt and the indo-Egyptian contacts before and after the Ashokan proselytism Movement.

This presentation will showcase Buddhist proselytism in the Hellenistic world,
particularly Ptolemaic Egypt under the rule of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283-246) BCE, mainly
through the Buddhist emissaries Ashoka, the Indian-Mauryan emperor sent to the Hellenistic
kings. A detailed comparative study of the various Egyptian and non-Egyptian archaeological
and literary sources will be focused upon. This study will then allow for an understanding of the
politico-diplomatic as well as the cultural connections between the Ancient Egyptian and Indian
people, which was hitherto vague.

WED, 27 JUNE AT 15:30

I&W lecture

National Museum, New DelhiNew Delhi

You like National Museum, New Delhi

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June 14, 2018, 3:58 am

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International Day of Family Remittances:

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

International Day of Family Remittances: Working to build prosperity at home

Rome, 14 June 2018 – Ahead of the International Day of Family Remittances to be observed on 16 June, Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) called for continued efforts to help remittance-receiving families build a sustainable future for themselves and their communities.

Houngbo’s message comes as the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Tuesday which endorses the International Day originally created by IFAD’s Governing Council. The resolution highlights that remittances play a key role in sustainable development.

In 2017, 200 million migrants sent USD481 billion to remittances-reliant countries of which $466 billion went to developing countries, helping sustain about 800 million people across the world. This amounts to more than three times the annual official development assistance that countries give in aid.

According to IFAD estimates, $6.5 trillion in remittances will be sent to developing countries between 2015 and 2030, involving over 1 billion senders and receivers. Close to half of remittances will go to rural areas where poverty and hunger are the highest.

“Remittances are vital for millions of families, helping them to address their own development goals, but we can help them do more and build their longer-term future,” Houngbo said.

According to IFAD analysis, families spend about 75 per cent of their remittances on basic needs such as food, housing, education and health. Remittances help reduce hunger and malnutrition, improve education and health levels, and lift people out of poverty. By doing so, remittances contribute directly to the Sustainable Development Goals set by the international community three years ago.

According to IFAD, the remaining 25 per cent, over $100 billion, can be invested in financial and tangible assets such as savings or small business development that help families build their future. These productive activities can also create jobs and transform economies, in particular in rural areas.

“Given appropriate investment options, customized to their circumstances and goals, remittance families will invest more and become agents of change in their communities,” Houngbo said.

To this end, more than 400 decision-makers, representing the public and private sectors, civil society and IFAD, attending the Global Forum on Remittances, Investments and Development in Kuala Lumpur in May endorsed a set of recommendations to make remittances a full engine for development.

In particular, the recommendations propose ways to develop access to basic financial services, such as saving and credit, which are fundamental for families to make productive use of their money. Today, most remittances are still received in cash and consumed immediately.

Recommendations were also made to develop investment mechanisms and opportunities tailored to the needs of diasporas keen to invest back home.

In recognition of the high cost of sending remittances, on the international day IFAD is calling for a further reduction in transfer fees. While the cost of sending money has been reduced by half over the last five years, it still represents, on average, 7.13 per cent of the amount sent. In many places, costs are much higher, for example in Sub-Saharan Africa senders can spend as much as 9.3 per cent.

It is estimated an additional $20 billion would be available to families in developing countries if the 3 per cent fee target set by the international community in Sustainable Development Goal 10, reducing inequalities, was reached.

According to Pedro De Vasconcelos, senior remittance expert at IFAD, mobile technologies and digital money could potentially transform markets radically, reduce costs and time for sending remittances, in particular to rural areas but their development is still hampered by a lack of harmonization of regulations between countries.

“The promise of digital technologies still has to be delivered, it is imperative that regulatory environments enable the implementation of safe, cheap and rapid transfer solutions for the benefits of families,” De Vasconcelos said.

For more than a decade IFAD has worked to increase the development impact of remittances. Its dedicated programme has a portfolio of over 60 innovative projects in more than 45 countries. Completed projects resulted in increased competition, reducing transaction costs through mobile technology, and promoted financial inclusion and literacy.

Contact:

Caroline Chaumont

International Fund for Agricultural Development

Communication Division

Thematic Workshops Parallel to AIIB’s Third AGM in Mumbai

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Around 90 CSOs and Social Movements to Organize Thematic Workshops Parallel to AIIB’s Third AGM in Mumbai

Raising the serious issues of social and environmental costs in infrastructure projects, its economic burden on public and financial non-viability, Civil Society Organisations and social movements are set to organize a three day convention on Infrastructure Financing from June 21 – 23rd in Mumbai parallel to the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank’s third Annual Governors Meeting slated for June 25-26 in the same city.

During the Convention, almost 90 regional, national, and international grassroots and research organisations have come together to organise 20 workshops related to Infrastructure Financing; Development Financial Institutions; Policies and Safeguards; Urban Development; Transport; Port and Coastal Infrastructure; Energy and Energy Finance; Trade and International Financing; Water and Water Sector Reforms; Privatisation and PPPs, Gender; Social Marginalisation among other areas.

“The participants of these workshops would include activists, researchers, projected affected people among others. So far, over 200 people from across the country have registered for these workshops. The Convention will be attended by Prof. Arun Kumar, Medha Patkar, Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Ulka Mahajan among others. The registrations for the workshops are still open for the individuals and media,” said Himshi Singh, one of the coordinators of the Convention.

Speaking about the Peoples Convention on Infrastructure Financing, Maju Varghese, another coordinator of the Convention, said, “the Convention is a resistance to International Finance Institutions, which are pushing massive infrastructures like industrial corridors, smart cities, sagarmala, bullet trains over peoples land and livelihood. The massive physical infrastructure will not improve peoples lives, livelihood, and social infrastructure like schools, hospitals will be left behind.”

Deliberating on this, Ulka Mahajan of Sarvahara Jan Andolan says, “The infrastructure that is being developed is not what people demand, but it is what global capital demands. The international financial institutions are promoting corporate interests over that of people and also pushing the states to the financial debt. On the one hand, the Maharashtra government does not have money to allocate 26,000 crores for the social sector, on the other hand, it has 42,000 crores for the Mumbai-Nagpur expressway, which will reduce the present distance only by 24 km.”

The Peoples Convention intends to demand accountability from the development financial institutions, particularly AIIB which lacks robust policies on environmental-social safeguards, transparent public disclosure and a complaint handling mechanism.

Meera Sanghamitra from the National Alliance of People’s Movements stated that The push for massive infrastructure projects has become a legalised way of grabbing land. Andhra Pradesh has a history of justifying land grabbing and resource appropriation in the name of multilateral donor-funded development aid and the WB-AIIB funded Amaravati Capital City Project joins this bandwagon by further legalizing the loot, leading to livelihood loss for thousands of families and a shared debt on all people of the state. Projects like Sagarmala, industrial corridors that are being pushed and promoted without considering the irreversible impact on the people’s traditional livelihoods and the environment are disasters-in-the-making.

The movements and CSOs will hold the Convention under the aegis of Working Group on International Financial Institutions (WGonIFIs), which include around 90 people’s movements and other CSOs, including National Alliance of People’s Movements, National Hawkers Federation, National Fishworkers Forum, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Ghar Bachao Ghar Bano Andolan, Soshit Jan Andolan, Samajwadi Jan Parishad, Bhumi Adhikar Andolan; Environment Support Group; North East Peoples Alliance, and others.

Kim invites Trump to visit Pyongyang

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Kim Jong Un invited Donald Trump to visit North Korea during their historic summit and the US President accepted, Pyongyang state media reported Wednesday, calling it the start of a “radical switchover” in the nuclear-armed Cold War foes’ fraught relations.

The unprecedented encounter in Singapore Tuesday saw the leader of the world’s most powerful democracy shake hands with the third generation scion of a dynastic dictatorship, standing as equals in front of their nations’ flags.

Kim agreed to the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula”, a stock phrase favoured by Pyongyang that stopped short of long-standing US demands for North Korea to give up its atomic arsenal in a “verifiable” and “irreversible” way.

In its first report on the landmark summit, the official KCNA news agency ran a glowing dispatch on the talks, describing them as an “epoch-making meeting” that would help foster “a radical switchover in the most hostile (North Korea)-US relations”.

The report said the two men each asked the other to visit their country.

“The two top leaders gladly accepted each other’s invitation,” KCNA said.

Pyongyang has reason to feel confident after the meeting which was a major coup for an isolated and heavily sanctioned regime that has long craved international legitimacy.

In a blockbusting press conference after the summit, Trump said the US would halt military exercises with Seoul — something long sought by Pyongyang, which claims the drills are a rehearsal for invasion.

The US stations around 30,000 troops in security ally South Korea to protect it from its neighbour, which invaded in 1950 in an attempt to reunify the peninsula by force.

“We will be stopping the war games which will save us a tremendous amount of money,” Trump told reporters, adding that “at some point” he wanted to withdraw US troops from the South.

Both Seoul and US military commanders in the South indicated they had no idea the announcement was coming, and analysts expressed immediate concern.

Ending the drills “is in excess of all expert consensus, South Korean requests, and even a close reading of North Korean demands”, said Adam Mount of the Federation of American Scientists.

The KCNA report said Trump committed to ending the drills during his meeting with Kim.

It added that denuclearisation on the Korean peninsula would be dependent on the two sides “refraining from antagonising… each other out of mutual understanding”.

US approves sale of Apache attack choppers

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

US Govt has approved a deal to sell the Indian military six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for $930 million,the contract also includes night vision sensors, GPS guidance &hundreds of Hellfire anti-armor &Stinger air-to-air missiles.

United States government has approved a deal to sell the Indian military six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for $930 million, the State Department said Tuesday.

The agreement has been passed to the US Congress for approval, but if no US lawmaker raises an objection the contract is expected to go ahead.

Boeing and Indian partner Tata have begun to produce Apache fuselages at a plant in India, but Tuesday´s approval concerns a direct sale of finished products from US manufacturers.

The lead contractors are US arms, aviations and engineering giants Lockheed Martin, General Electric and Raytheon.

In addition to aircraft, the contract includes night vision sensors, GPS guidance and hundreds of Hellfire anti-armor and Stinger air-to-air missiles.

“This support for the AH-64E will provide an increase in India´s defensive capability to counter ground-armored threats and modernize its armed forces,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said, in a statement.

“India will have no difficulty absorbing the helicopters and support equipment into its armed forces. The proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.”

Media poll: Trump’s handling of North Korea

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Nearly over half of all Americans say they approve of how President Donald Trump has handled North Korea, but only a quarter think that his summit this week with Kim Jong Un will lead to the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Wednesday.

In a joint declaration following their meeting in Singapore on Tuesday, the North Korean leader pledged to move toward complete denuclearization of the peninsula and Trump vowed to guarantee the security of the United States’ old foe. Forty percent of those polled said they did not believe the countries would stick to their commitments.

Another 26 percent said they believed the United States and North Korea would meet their commitments, while 34 percent said they did not know whether they would follow through.

Thirty-nine percent believe the summit has lowered the threat of nuclear war between the United States and nuclear-armed North Korea, slightly more than the 37 percent who said they did not believe it changed anything.

Trump has pursued what he calls a “maximum pressure” campaign” against Pyongyang to force it to give up its nuclear weapons. He toughened up international sanctions to further isolate North Korea and then agreed to meet directly with Kim after South Korea’s president convinced him that the North was committed to giving up its nuclear weapons.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll suggests the Republican president has broad support for one of his biggest foreign policy efforts, despite criticism from non-proliferation experts that Trump had exacted few concrete commitments from Kim on Tuesday on dismantling his nuclear arsenal.

Republicans appear much more enthusiastic than Democrats about the potential benefits of the summit. The poll found that Republicans were twice as likely as Democrats to say that the meeting lowered the threat of nuclear war, and they were three times as likely to say that both sides would follow through on their commitments.

Democrats typically give Trump low approval ratings – only 12 percent approve of his overall job performance. But about 30 percent said they approved of his handling of North Korea.

Trump, who returned to Washington early on Wednesday, hailed the meeting with Kim, the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader, as a success that had removed the North Korean nuclear threat. Their seemingly friendly meeting was in sharp contrast to their tit-for-tat insults and bellicose rhetoric late last year while Pyongyang carried out its biggest nuclear and missile tests.

In the poll, Trump received a 51 percent approval rating for his handling of North Korea and also led the list of leaders who should take the most credit for the summit and the joint pledge. Forty percent say the former real estate developer should take the most credit, followed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in

Trump has repeatedly touted his role in bringing the reclusive North Korea to the negotiating table, a feat that he says his predecessors were unable to pull off.

It may be too soon though to know whether Trump’s diplomatic breakthrough will help Republican candidates in congressional elections in November, when Democrats will attempt to retake control of both houses. Typically foreign policy is not a major concern for mid-term voters.

“It’s too early to say if there is a net positive out of that,” said Republican strategist Alice Stewart. “It’s a good step to have the conversation but that doesn’t yet mean that it’s a success.”

Ron Bonjean, also a Republican strategist, said voters were more likely to be influenced if there was serious and measurable progress closer to the election.

Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll was conducted online in English, between June 12-13 in the United States. It gathered responses from more than 1,000 adults, including more than 400 Democrats and 400 Republicans.

It has a credibility interval, a measure of the poll’s precision, of 4 percentage points for the full sample and 6 percentage points for the Democrats and Republicans, meaning that the results could vary in either direction by that amount.

Media agencies

Trump: Oil prices high the cartel “at it again.”

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Iran and Donald trump exchange barbs over higher oil pricesand sanctions. ‘This is business Mr Trump, we though you knew it,’ Iran‘s representative said. In Iran media rteports, Iran blames Trump policies for high oil prices.

Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, Iran’s OPEC governor, emphasized that the sanctions that Trump had devised against Iran and Venezuela were largely to blame for high oil prices.

“You cannot place sanctions on two OPEC founder members and still blame OPEC for oil price volatility,” he said in a statement to Reuters.

Kazempour Ardebili’s comments came in response to a Trump message in which he had accused OPEC of working to push up the prices.

“Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not good!” he wrote in a post on Twitter.

Oil prices have risen by around 60 percent over the last year after OPEC and some non-OPEC producers including Russia arrived at an agreement in 2017 to reduce supplies, Reuters wrote in its report.

The price of Brent crude peaked in May at $80.50 a barrel, then pulled back, trading on Wednesday near $76 at barrel, partly in anticipation that the agreement may end.

OPEC will meet next week in Vienna, and producers are seen as likely to raise production, perhaps before the limits are due to sunset at year-end.

The oil supply agreement is set to continue through the end of 2018, but plans for its continuation were unclear. The calculus changed after Trump announced in May that the United States was pulling out of the 2015 deal that restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.

Trump also said he would launch mechanisms to re-impose what he described as the “highest level of sanctions” against Iran.

US President Donald Trump and Iran exchanged sharp words over oil prices on Wednesday, with Trump blaming OPEC for high oil prices and Tehran accusing him of stoking volatility after he withdrew last month from a global nuclear arms deal with Iran.

Trump sparked the latest back-and-forth when he renewed his attack on OPEC in a tweet that said oil prices are too high and that the cartel was “at it again.”

Oil prices have risen around 60 percent over the last year after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producers, including Russia, started reducing supplies in 2017. The cartel meets June 22-23 in Vienna, and producers are seen as likely to raise production, perhaps before the limits are due to sunset at year-end.

Iran’s OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, fired back at Trump in a statement to Reuters. “You cannot place sanctions on two OPEC founder members and still blame OPEC for oil price volatility,” he said, referring to his country and Venezuela.

“This is business, Mr. President — we thought you knew it.”

The oil supply deal is set to continue through the end of 2018, but plans for its continuation were unclear. The calculus changed after Trump announced in May that Washington was pulling out of the 2015 deal that restricted Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions.

The US move has pressured European and Asian clients to stop importing Iranian oil or doing business with the country. Saudi Arabia, Iran’s rival and OPEC’s largest producer, and Russia, the world’s largest producer and a party to the deal, have already increased supply. Saudi Arabia supported Trump’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear agreement.

“I think the Trump tweet makes the Saudis’ job of getting compromise at the OPEC meeting tougher,” said Joe McMonigle, senior energy policy analyst at Hedgeye Potomac Research in Washington.

Saudi production rose to 10.03 million barrels per day (bpd in May, in line with deal quotas, according to OPEC data. Russia’s production was 11.1 million barrels a day at the beginning of June, exceeding its quota, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The price of Brent crude peaked in May at $80.50 a barrel, then pulled back, trading on Wednesday near $77 a barrel, partly in anticipation that the deal may end. US crude traded Wednesday near $67 a barrel.

“Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not good!” Trump wrote in his post on Twitter after last raising the issue in April.

The potential for OPEC to boost production has raised concerns about the cartel’s limited spare capacity, which could fall to as low as 2 million bpd. This would make it harder to respond to a supply shock, such as in Venezuela, where output has declined to a 33-year-low due to an economic crisis.

“OPEC has the lowest spare capacity ever right now,” said fund manager Pierre Andurand, in a tweeted response to Trump. “There is going to be a real issue,” he wrote, predicting prices above $150 per barrel within two years.

In the United States, gasoline pump prices nationwide have risen to near $3 a gallon during the peak summer travel season, still less than the $4 a gallon during the 2007-2009 Great Recession. Gasoline demand has remained strong, rising to an estimated 9.9 million bpd as of last week, according to US Energy Department data.

Trump sent his tweet hours after returning to Washington from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

Separately, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives was pushing legislation that would subject OPEC to US antitrust law and fight what the group called artificial production controls.

The measure would have to pass the full House and the US Senate before Trump could sign it into law. Past presidents have not supported similar bills when they have been proposed.

Moon meets Pompeo

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Moon meeting Pompeo raises many eyebrows on the global scale and the leaders of Russian and Chinese group has welcome the move but with the vast amass of interest of Chinese the fulcrum which has shifted to US is likely to be on the condition of the US and its allied forces or the other polar are to make their interventions in time of development to have their influence too embedded in the region so the best is the route of follow of International laws or conventions to bring durable peace to the regions and the influence by way of trade and economical development is shared in its proportion.

South Korean President Moon Jae-In said on Thursday the world had escaped the threat of war after this week’s Singapore summit, echoing US President Donald Trump’s upbeat assessment of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump and Kim issued a joint statement after their historic meeting that reaffirmed the North’s commitment to “work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”, an end to joint US-South Korean military exercises and gave US guarantees of security to North Korea.

“There have been many analyses on the outcome of the summit but I think what’s most important was that the people of the world, including those in the United States, Japan and Koreans, have all been able to escape the threat of war, nuclear weapons and missiles,” Moon told US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ahead of a meeting between the two in Seoul.

The summit statement provided no details on when Pyongyang would give up its nuclear weapons program or how the dismantling might be verified.

Skeptics of how much the meeting achieved pointed to the North Korean leadership’s long-held view that nuclear weapons are a bulwark against what it fears are US plans to overthrow it and unite the Korean peninsula.

“I am confident that we took a very good, significant step in Singapore,” Pompeo told Moon on Thursday ahead of a trilateral meeting including Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono.

Pompeo insisted after the meeting that Pyongyang was committed to giving up its nuclear arsenal but said it would “be a process, not an easy one”.

Pompeo asked the South Korean president to play a leading role in the process of denuclearizing North Korea, using his close personal relationship with the North Korean leader, according to the Cheong Wa Dae spokesman.

Moon and Kim have held bilateral summits on April 27 and May 26, while they are also set to meet again in Pyongyang before the end of the year.

Pompeo said there remained many tasks to be discussed and done but insisted the ongoing U.S. efforts to rid the North of its nuclear weapons and long-range missiles will prove to be successful and eventually bring peace to the Korean Peninsula, according to the pool reports.

The top U.S. diplomat arrived here Wednesday to directly explain the outcome of the historic U.S.-North Korea summit to his South Korean counterparts.

President Moon stressed the importance of close discussions and cooperation between the allies to swiftly and thoroughly implement the outcome of the U.S.-North Korea summit.

Kim Jong Un understood getting rid of his nuclear arsenal needed to be done quickly and there would only be relief from stringent UN sanctions on North Korea after its “complete denuclearization”, Pompeo said.

United States has long insisted on complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization by North Korea but, in the summit statement, North Korea committed only to the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”, phrasing it has used in the past.

Pompeo said a day earlier he would like to accomplish major nuclear disarmament in North Korea within Trump’s current term.

“Absolutely … you used the term major, major disarmament, something like that? We’re hopeful that we can achieve that in the 2-1/2 years,” he said.

Pompeo, who is charged by Trump with leading follow-on negotiations, bristled at a question about why the words “verifiable” and “irreversible” were not used in the summit joint statement in the context of denuclearization.

“It’s in the statement. You’re just wrong about that … Because complete encompasses verifiable and irreversible. I suppose you could argue semantics, but let me assure you that it’s in the document,” Pompeo said on Wednesday.

Trump returned to the United States on Wednesday and took to Twitter to hail the meeting, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, as a major win for American security.

“Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,” Trump tweeted. “There is no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea. Meeting with Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea has great potential for the future!”

Democratic critics in the United States said the agreement was short on detail and the Republican president had made too many concessions to Kim, whose country is under UN sanctions for its nuclear and weapons programs and is widely condemned for human rights abuses.

Tokyo has reacted with concern at Trump’s plans to cancel military exercises with South Korea, saying such drills are vital for East Asian security.

Two North Korean missiles flew over Japan last year as Pyongyang made rapid advances in its program to develop a missile capable of striking the U.S. mainland with a nuclear warhead.

Tokyo is working on arranging a meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Kim Jong Un, with one possibility including the premier’s visit to Pyongyang around August, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

A government source familiar with the matter told Reuters that Japanese officials planned to discuss the summit meeting with North Korean officials at an international conference on Northeast Asian security to be held in Mongolia on Thursday and Friday.

Despite Trump and Moon’s assertions about the North Korean nuclear threat being over, a senior US official responsible for studying the North Korean military said the US intelligence assessment of the nuclear and other military threat posed by North Korea to US and allied forces in Asia and the northwest Pacific remained unchanged.

U.S. officials said it was unclear what types of training involving US and South Korean troops might cross into Trump’s now forbidden zone of “war games”. But big, joint US-South Korean exercises appeared off-limits under the new guidance.

“Make no mistake, we are going to maintain the readiness of our forces in South Korea,” said one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official acknowledged, however, it was still not certain how that was going to happen.

The United States maintains about 28,500 soldiers in South Korea, which remains in a technical state of war with the North after the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.

Media agencies

Nissan alliance to launch midsize electric vehicles by 2020

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Nissan Motors alliance with Renault of France and Mitsubishi is trying to boost its lagging sales in Southeast Asia, various fiscal,marketing and technical cooperation are being sorted out to give big leap inits sales of cars in region of South Asia. Electric car innovation work is in progress and as per media reports the midsize electric vehicles will be launched by 2020.

Renault-Nissan Alliance stands as number three among, top 10 biggest car manufacturers in the world in 2018, Chairman of Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi signals focus on lowering prices and Electric car range issue has been solved, says Ghosn.

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Nissan Motor will deepen ties with Mitsubishi Motors through such steps as rolling out each other’s vehicles.

Mitsubishi Motors on Tuesday held an opening ceremony for a plant in Indonesia that is expected to supply multipurpose vehicles to Nissan starting as early as 2019. MPVs, commonly known as minivans, are widely popular in Indonesia.

The 65 billion yen ($585 million) plant, located in Bekasi regency in the province of West Java, is operated by a joint venture of Mitsubishi Motors, trading house Mitsubishi Corp. and a local partner and has an annual output capacity of 160,000 units.

The factory will initially churn out 30,000 units of Mitsubishi Motors’ Pajero Sport sport utility vehicle. It will also produce 80,000 units of an MPV to be released as early as this fall. The Colt L300 commercial vehicle will also be made.

The plant’s output is expected to reach 140,000 units a year. With the remaining capacity, Mitsubishi Motors will be able to supply Nissan, President Osamu Masuko said.

Nissan, for its part, may produce Mitsubishi Motors vehicles, said Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both automakers. Nissan became the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors last year by taking a 34% stake.

Nissan has been struggling in Southeast Asia. Its Asian sales, including the Oceania region, accounted for just 6% of its global total of 3.99 million vehicles in the April-December period.

Family-oriented MPVs make up 70% of the new-car market in Indonesia, while low-cost green cars represent just shy of 30%. Lacking an attractive MPV offering, Nissan holds a mere 4.2% market share in the country, trailing Mitsubishi Motors’ 6.6%.

Top 10 biggest car manufacturers in the world in 2018:

1. Volkswagen Group

2. Toyota

3. Renault-Nissan Alliance

4. General Motors

5. Hyundai-Kai

6. Ford

7. Honda

8. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles

9. Suzuki

10. PSA Group

Nissan Motor’s alliance with France’s Renault and new partner Mitsubishi Motors generated 5.7 billion euros ($6.71 billion) in synergies in 2017, as the automakers combined procurement and development operations.

The alliance’s impact grew 14% from the 5 billion euros seen in 2016. Nissan alone gained 3.1 billion euros in cost savings and increased revenues. Renault reaped 2.3 billion euros in benefits. And Mitsubishi enjoyed 300 million euros in savings and revenues during its first full year in the alliance. Nissan acquired a 34% stake in its smaller peer in October 2016.

The trio is aiming for more than 10 billion euros in synergies by the end of 2022.\

Collaboration on procurement and the integration of the automakers’ research and development operations reduced costs across the board. The companies have also begun sharing warehouses for repair parts in Europe, Japan and Australia. Nissan and Renault’s sales financing operations now offer auto loans and other financial services for Mitsubishi.

Nissan and Renault have adopted common vehicle platforms, slashing development and production costs. The Japanese partner makes Renault vehicles at its plants in Mexico and elsewhere, raising efficiency in production. In Thailand, Nissan has teamed up with Mitsubishi to more cheaply transport cars from the factory to dealerships.

All three companies plan to jointly develop a platform for midsize electric vehicles by 2020, and to launch a $1 billion venture capital firm.

IFAD attracts business to climate smart investments

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Rome, 13 June 2018– Agriculture is stepping up in the fight against climate change with help from the private sector. A new report from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) shows that investing in climate-resilient agriculture can attract sizeable contributions from the private sector.

The Business Advantage – Mobilizing Private Sector Led Climate Actions in Agriculture, a study of IFAD investments through its Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP), shows that for every dollar of ASAP investment, between US$0.77–2.85 was leveraged in private-sector investments – helping countries reach climate finance commitments scheduled under the Paris climate agreement.

“IFAD works with the private sector on adaptation investments that are both financially profitable and socially and environmentally sound,” said IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo. “Many of these adaptation investments were deemed high risk by the private sector, but ASAP operates as a de-risking or insurance instrument to encourage business to invest in them.”

Previously, in Bhutan the private sector was wary of investing in small scale dairy farms due to product quality concerns. With IFAD investment leading the way, however, local farmers improved the quality of their milk and then partnered with a local dairy company to create an assured market. In the first year, the investment ($77,429) was close to 2.5 times the amount invested by IFAD. The company’s supply of milk was greatly improved while farmers reported their income from dairy sales increased by 54 to 170 per cent.

In Vietnam, a grant scheme was established by IFAD’s partners to finance company business plans that helped to develop climate resilience among smallholder farmers. With this approach, the development of the companies was bound to the development of the rural communities.

With upfront payments and revolving funds paid to farmers by the project, farmers were encouraged to invest in good cropping practices and select high-quality seeds, which eventually ensured high-quality supply of agricultural products to business. The total investment was close to $1.5 million, of which IFAD contributed $0.4 million and the remaining $1.1 million was from private companies.

“This report is ground-breaking work that links the private sector into climate change adaptation by finding opportunities for partnership that benefit both businesses and smallholder farmers,” said Bruce Campbell, Program Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, which led the research for the report. “Public-private partnerships are an essential ingredient of the agricultural transformation we need to address climate change.”

According to Margarita Astralaga, Director of IFAD’s Environment, Climate, Gender and Social Inclusion Division, the private sector is becoming an increasingly important partner in IFAD’s work. “While the fundamental goals underpinning IFAD’s purpose have remained constant over the years, the way by which IFAD is achieving these goals has undergone changes, with business taking a more central role in the agenda,” she said. “IFAD wants to include producers in these new partnerships with business. Valuable lessons are being drawn from IFAD’s experience in partnering with the private sector, via mechanisms such as public-private-producer partnerships (4Ps), where business is increasingly recognized as a main force in development.”

For a copy of the Business Advantage Report click on to this link

Ten new Swachh Iconic Places launched under Swachh Bharat Mission

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Swachh Bharat Mission, India

सन २०१४ में हुआ स्वच्छ भारत अभियान का प्रक्षेपण, आज तेज़ी से अपने आखिरी पड़ाव की ओर बढ़ रहा है यह जन आंदोलन। आइये हम सब मिलकर इसका हिस्सा बनें और देश को स्वच्छता की ओर ले चलें । #SBM

See Translation

Naresh Kumar Sagar

Ten new iconic sites, namely, Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh); Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal); Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana); VidurKuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh); Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand); Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh, J&K); Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh); ImaKeithal/market (Imphal, Manipur); Sabarimala Temple (Kerala); and Kanvashram (Uttarakhand) have been taken up under Phase III of the flagship project Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

The project envisioned by the Prime Minister is being coordinated by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation with the support of State governments and local administration. The consultation is in process for finalizing the PSUs/corporates for extending support to new sites as CSR partners. These new sites have joined the 20 iconic places under Phase I & II where special Sanitation work is already underway.

Launched in 2016, the Phase I iconic places were: Ajmer Sharif Dargah, CST Mumbai ,Golden Temple, Kamakhya Temple, Maikarnika Ghat, Meenakshi Temple, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi, Shree Jagannath Temple, The Taj Mahal and Tirupati Temple.

Phase II of Swachh Iconic Places was launched in Nov 2017, included Gangotri, Yamunotri, Mahakaleshwar Temple, Charminar, Convent and Church of St. Francis of Assissi, Kalady, Gommateswara, Baidyanath Dham, Gaya Tirth and Somnath temple.

SIP is a collaborative project with three other central Ministries: Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, M/o Culture, and M/o Tourism. It also involves local administrations in the concerned States and Public Sector and Private Companies as sponsoring partners.

The third phase of SIP was launched at Mana village which is situated close to the Badrinath temple in Uttarakhand. The village, which now becomes a Swachh Iconic Place, is visited by tourists and pilgrims as it houses places of mythological interest.

The Phase I iconic sites have witnessed initiatives taken up such as improvement in sewage infrastructure, drainage facilities, installation of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), sanitation facilities, water vending machines (Water ATMs), Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) set-up, structure restoration, roads maintenance, lighting arrangements, beautification of parks, better transport facilities in approach and access areas besides at the main sites. The annual review of Phase I & II iconic sites for assessing the progress is scheduled at iconic site, Charminar, Hyderabad later this month. Further, four major SLWM activities in Mana village, including community soak pits, compost pits, separation centre for organic and inorganic waste, and naalis for liquid waste with a sanctioned amount of Rs. 26.87 lakhs were also launched recently.

RBI Blind, Incompetent – Creating Loss Making Monopolies

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June13, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

It is two years since Urjit Patel took over as RBI Governor ahead of more experienced Banking Professionals. Ever since he took over entire Banking in India is subjected to all kinds of stresses likeDemonetization, Schemes to Write of Corporate Loans at 50% to 70% Price, Loss Making Companies taking over Loss making Companies.

Banking NPAs as per his own admission are Rs.8.99 Lakh Crores as on Dec.2017. It could go beyond Rs.12,00,000 Cr this time 2019.

RUCHI SOYA’s NPA of Rs.12,000 Cr Shall Be CHARGED 66% or Rs.8,000 Cr as ‘HAIR CUT’ for lending banks – ADANI FAMILY who already owe Rs.1,10,122 Cr to lenders shall Contribute Just Rs.4000 Cr that too from BANK LOANS – already taken or to be taken.

It is scandalous ADANI GROUP which has a group turnover ofRs.77,060 Cr, reports Operating Profits of 15,182 Cr but Net Profit is NEGATIVE Rs.815 Cr and Borrowings of Rs.1,10,122 Cr. [Fortune India 500]

Adani Group itself is NPA Case NOT EARNING PROFITS For Shareholders.

Adani-Wilmar already has 55% Branded Vegetable Oil Market Share – 4 million tones of Annual Capacity by adding nearly 5 million tones capacity of RUCHI SOYA – it shall more than Double Vegetable Oil Processing Capacity.

Why RBI do wants to Create Monopolies?

Adani-Wilmar is 50%-50% partnership – 50% owned by Singapore Company.

So WILMAR is acquiring RUCHI SOYA EQUITY at 66% Discount.

Ø RUCH-SOYA operates Processing Plants in 16 Locations – Can be SPLIT and Sold to 16 different HEALTHY PROMOTER COMPANIES through AUCTION. Perhaps Banks could recover even 100% of their dues.

Ø It is better to SPLIT a Company which has MULTI-LOCATION Plants.

Ø Urjit Patel was Blind as Director of GSPC – almost Rs.25,000 Cr SCAM – not producing a drop of Oil or Gas.

Ø New Consortium Banks with EXPERTS in Engineering & Technologies located close to the Industrial Centers like NOIDA or JAMNAGAR to ensure regular monitoring of Companies NEEDS or BUNGLING.

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS

Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857

Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,

Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects

Dear Naresh, Ask Congress: Stop Jeff Session

ON JUNE 14, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Dear Naresh,

Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s calculated dismantling of the asylum system may well turn out to be one of the most lasting and damaging legacies of the Trump Administration. This week he made a sweeping ruling that aims to block women and children fleeing domestic violence from protection in the United States, sending them back to danger.

TELL CONGRESS: STOP JEFF SESSIONS

At a time when thousands of women and children are fleeing unspeakable violence at home, his effort to bar most survivors of domestic abuse and gang violence from protection may be a death sentence. Without refuge in the United States, these individuals will be left in the direst of circumstances.

Tell Congress to stand up to Jeff Sessions’s cruel attacks and disdain for the human rights of women. And make no mistake, seeking refuge is a human right.

CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

Fighting to protect the asylum system,

Eleanor Acer

Senior Director, Refugee Protection

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June 14, 2018, 4:01 am

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Task Force to examine feasibility of Steel Plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana

A Task Force constituted by Steel Ministry is examining the feasibility of setting up steel plants in Andhra Pradesh and Telengana by any interested parties at Bayyaram and Kadapa. The task force comprising of representatives from the Central Government, State Government and Central Public Sector Enterprises under the Ministry of Steel was set up on 19.10.2016 to consider the feasibility issues and prepare a roadmap for setting up of steel plants.

It has held series of meetings since then which were attended by the representatives of the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well. The last meeting of the Task Force, being sixth in the series of meetings, was held on 12.06.2018. The relevant data for preparation of the feasibility reports based on realistic assumptions is to be shared by the State Governments with MECON (CPSE under Ministry of Steel) entrusted with the task.

Ministry of Steel is making sincere and relentless efforts in working out a feasible solution to make the project financially viable so as to bring about positive and sustainable development of not only Andhra Pradesh and Telangana but also the nation as a whole.

As per the Thirteenth Schedule of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) examined the feasibility of establishing an Integrated Steel Plant in YSR District of Andhra Pradesh and Khammam District of Telangana and submitted its report examining the feasibility of installation of 3 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant in both the States on 02.12.2014. As per the feasibility report, setting up of steel plant was found prima facie not financially viable.

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June 14, 2018, 4:08 am

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( Baten Aman Ki)
Weaving Lives Together

Annie Raja (NFIW), Marium Dhavle (AIDWA), Leena Dabiru (India Inclusive) and Shabnam Hashmi (India Inclusive) addressed a press conference today at IWPC and announced Baatein Aman Ki campaign.

Annie Raja said,’ In the last four years the position of women in India has been deteriorating at an alarming rate. This is chiefly due to politicizing religion, and bringing religion into politics - where the Hindu right wing organisations are playing a leading role, in deciding moral values and ascribing the role of women in society. They have invoked religion with the implicit and often explicit consent of the ruling BJP. ‘She further added,’ this govt has betrayed women in the name of various incentives. The time has come to make our voices louder. Through Baatein Aman ki we will stand against all those forces which are trying to break the country in the name of religious or nationalist sentiments.’

Marium Dhavle said, ‘ All the stereotypes in the name of tradition imposed on women over the centuries that we have fought against, to demand equal participation in public affairs and in public spaces, and establish ourselves in the context of an empowered democratic India is at stake. ‘She further added ‘needs of the people are not fulfilled. 7000 people dying daily of hunger in India mainly women and children. One third of hungry people of the world are in India. In Jharkhand, if a person has died due to hunger the govt will conduct post mortem to assess whether they have died of hunger or not. In the name of culture and tradition, women are pushed further. The concept of RSS that women should be at home is being propagated.’

Shabnam Hashmi said, ‘ Women are deeply concerned by the growing violence in the country and all major women groups and people’s movements are joining hands together to spread love and peace. It is for the first time perhaps since the freedom struggle that women are coming together not for talking about women rights only but about the country as a whole and all problems faced by different sections of the people including farmers, students, unorganized sector, professionals , women, adivasis, Dalits and minorities and safeguard the Indian constitution. She said fascist forces are taking over and this campaign will be taking the forces of hatred on the ground as well as fighting the atmosphere of fear.”

Leena Dabiru talked about the need for women to rise and fearlessly fight against the onslaught on the constitutional values. She told media that a large number national networks, individuals and local organisations are joining the campaign. Leena Dabiru further and described all the five routs of the Baatein Aman Ki campaign to the media.

We believe that it is a targeted attack on the Constitutional rights of women in India. Not only is there a direct attack on the independence of women but a constant effort to psychologically undermine women through systematic propaganda - irrational, unscientific and anti-democratic. With the growth of the overall violence in society there is a deep impact on the lives of women. The mob lynching by the cow vigilantes, honor killings etc have become a daily affair. Attacks on Muslims, Dalits and Christians are creating an atmosphere of fear and insecurity.

Inspired by the Hitlerian policy of the superiority of colour and race, and in the footsteps of, various outfits of RSS: Garbh Vigyan Sanskar (Uterus Science Culture), Arogya Bharati and Vidya Bharati have been conducting live trials in various parts of the country to produce ‘fair’ and ‘tall’ ‘customised’ children. Like their predecessors they see the role of women as submissive wives and mothers who produce babies of ‘good race’. There is a strong agreement among the conservative clergy of all religions and fascist forces on women’s role in society

During the Modi regime there has been a frontal attack on the Constitution, on freedom of expression, which impact all women. This includes our right to dress, speak, write, eat and choose, rights we had fought so hard for, and gained through sustained feminist struggles. In addition, the neo-liberal economic policies have not only adversely impacted Indian women in general, but those of us who are Dalits, Adivasis and people already marginalised in this country. Their fragile economic base has been devastated. Women who are from the minority communities - Muslims, Christians and other religious minorities, Dalits, those following a different ideological bent; and all dissenting voices are being attacked on a regular basis with the active support of the ruling party, the BJP. The violence and atrocities by the Indian State against Kashmir's youth and women has exceeded all previous limits. Our women's peace initiative believes that dignity and rights for the Kashmiri people and withdrawal of the military footprint from civilian areas in Kashmir are essential for peace in Kashmir.

As women and as citizens we have all been horrified at the state’s response to the Kathua and Unnao rapes. They have been targeted for political revenge and vendetta. But these are also crimes under the law, regardless of any affiliation. We are witnessing a steady deterioration in the rule of law, and the basic constitutional commitment to equality. The political and religious discourse being created around these rapes are equally unacceptable. Rape is used to polarize people on communal lines.

After a long struggle by the women’s movement, many Laws were passed like Minimum Wages Act, PWDVA, Dowry prohibition Act, PCPNDT Act, MGNREGA, NFSA, RTI, but these advances made by long women’s struggles are being back tracked.

This is the first time in the history of India that large sections of women were forced into humiliating situations within their own homes due to demonetization. Thousands of women lost their job and livelihood.

Women constitute 50 per cent of our population - a force to be reckoned with. There is a crucial need to bring women across the country together to prevent the erosion of, and build on the huge political gains that women’s movements have achieved over the last century. There is also a need to emphasize that any talk on growth will have to include the larger concerns of equality - political, democratic and socio-economic concerns of India. Cutting through obscurantism, we need to reestablish and bring back on course the developmental agenda of this country on the grounds of Constitutional guarantees.

Women groups from across India are coming together in organising बातें अमन की (Baatein Aman Ki) campaign. बातें अमन की ( Baatein Aman Ki) campaign is conceived to address much broader democratic challenges also which are facing the country. The बातें अमन की campaign is planned between September 22 and October 15, 2018. We hope to galvanize women and men across India to rise against the violence and chaos that has engulfed our nation. Five routes have been chalked out, various women groups and people’s networks in various cities, towns, villages en route will be invited to form local coordination committees and hosts the groups of women who will travel on different routes. Hosting will include coordinating with all peace loving citizens, organizing public meetings, making arrangements for food and stay.

Each travelling group will have 20-25 women from diverse backgrounds. In each state local women will join the group and travel within the state before the बातें अमन की campaign group moves to the next state.

The whole 20-25 day program will be funded by personal donations from ordinary people, peoples’ movements and women groups.

The route map and list of individual women and groups who have endorsed the बातें अमन की campaign are attached.

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Shujaat Bukhari laid to rest

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Rising Kashmir editor Shujaat Bukhari was on Friday laid to rest , at his ancestral graveyard in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district. The veteran journalist, who had championed peace in times of conflict and may have been killed for it, the reports of thousands of people from cross section of society attended funeral prayers of Bukhari, held at Idd Gah Ground at Kreeri area of Baramulla.

Bukhari was killed yesterday by unidentified gunmen outside his office near Press Enclave in Srinagar. State government ministers, legislators, officials, leaders of political parties, media fraternity besides people from local and adjacent areas attended the funeral prayers and the last rites. National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, Congress leader Prof Saif ud Din Soz, top separatist leader Yasin Malik were among the prominent people who attended the funeral.

The killing of Bukhari and his personal security officers has been widely condemned. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, I & B Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Governor NN Vohra, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, Separatist Leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq & Yasin Malik, strongly condemned the killing and expressed shock and grief over the brutal assassination. So far, no terrorist outfit has taken responsibility for the attack.

President Radev: “Bulgaria Backs NATO’s Efforts to Build Modern Defence Capabilities,”

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev taking part in a Bucharest Format (B9) Summit here on Friday. At the international forum, the leaders of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia are exchanging views and are coordinating their positions on matters on NATO agenda, ahead of the Alliance’s Summit due in Brussels in July, the President’s Press Secretariat said. “Bulgaria backs NATO’s efforts to build modern defence capacities, and the modernization of the Bulgarian Armed Forces is part of this process,” Radev said at the B9 Summit in Warsaw.

“Meeting the security challenges that we confront is beyond the limited capacities of the separate countries and requires a joint response,” the head of State stressed in his statement at the forum.

The heads of State and government confirmed the common commitment from Wales to a gradual increase of defence budget resources to 2 per cent of GDP for development of national and joint defence capabilities.

As the President put it, NATO should keep its “open door policy”, and Bulgaria will continue to support the aspirants to full membership in fulfilling the eligibility requirements. Radev singed out strengthening stability, continued reforms, building good-neighbourly relations and promoting the Western Balkans’ Euro-Atlantic perspective as key priorities for Bulgaria. “Without guaranteed security, we cannot possibly achieve sustained stability in the Balkans,” the speaker emphasized. He confirmed Bulgaria’s support, within the framework of NATO’s policy, to assist the countries engaged in the fight against international terrorism and countering the Islamic State in the Middle East in building their defence capacity.

“In its relations with Russia, the Alliance must be guided by realism and pragmatism, in line with NATO’s approach to strengthening defence capabilities while remaining open to dialogue,” the head of State said further on. At the discussion, the President stressed the need to assess the changed conditions, to seek opportunities for easing tensions and normalizing relations while avoiding an aggressive tone. In his words, this will help keep communication channels open and pursue important national economic interests, the way this is done by the leading NATO and EU Member States.

Later in the day, President Radev will attend observances in Warsaw of the 100th anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s regained independence.

Bulgaria’s parliament approved a plan to spend about $2 billion (1.6 billion euros) to purchase 150 combat vehicles and 16 new or used fighter jets to replace its aging Soviet-designed MiG-29s.

Bulgaria’s fleet of 15 Soviet aircraft have raised safety concerns among the country’s military pilots, who refused to fly in a training operation last October in a bid to speed up the new acquisitions. The air force has said just seven of the MiGs are in good flying order.

Bulgaria joined NATO in 2004, in order to get consensus on buy of warplanes to replace the MiGs has perplexed successive governments for more than a decade.

In matter of defense equipment, NATO has inspired its eastern members to develop or buy new equipment from Western alliance members that is compatible with their older Soviet-era systems.

European NATO members that were once Soviet satellites still rely on Russian-made military jets. Two-thirds of Poland’s military equipment dates from the pre-1991 Soviet era, for example.

Government ,under the plan approved by 151 to 7 in the 240-seat parliament, Sofia would acquire the jets in two stages to improve its compliance with NATO standards.

Billing, $1 billion to for the cost of the first eight aircraft, as well as team training and initial logistics support.

Bulgarian, Balkan country meditating to spend about $1 billion on armored vehicles for three infantry battalion groups, including equipment and training.

Sofia has said it will call for bids to replace its MiGs with aircraft from the United States, Portugal, Italy, France, Sweden, and Israel.

Armored vehicles, the Western outfits lists , French state-owned group Nexter Systems, Finland’s Patria, Germany’s Rheinmetall Defense AG , U.S.-based Textron, and the Swiss firm Mowag have expressed interest in supplying armored vehicles, Bulgarian officials said.

http://www.bta.bg – Media agencies

“Renew Britain” Dear Naresh Sagar Keep in touch!

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGAREDIT

“Renew Britain”

Dear Naresh Sagar

Keep in touch!

We have recently been updating our systems, and in accordance with the Data Comissioner’s rules regarding GDPR 2018 we have updated our privacy policy. There’s nothing you need to do, however please do take a few a moments to read through the policy at your convenience.The privacy policy can be found on our website under the privacy policy heading. Please also feel free to update your details here so that we have your up to data information. We value the protection of your data very seriously, and should you wish tounsubscribe and be removed from our database please follow the link here.

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Jordan’s king approves new govt

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Jordan’s King Abdullah issued a decree on Thursday forming a new government led by a former World Bank economist. The king appointed Omar al-Razzaz, a Harvard-educated economist outside the ranks of the traditional political elite, last week to replace Hani Mulki, who was dismissed to defuse public anger that led to some of the largest protests in years. Thousands took to the streets in Amman and in provincial towns against a series of IMF-driven tax rises since the start of the year. Razzaz’s 28-member cabinet is dominated by a mix of conservative politicians and Western-leaning techocrats who held sway in previous administrations, including seven women,

Abdel Fatah el-Sisi swore in a new cabinet

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi swore in a new cabinet on Thursday after replacing his defense and interior ministers. The high-level security shake-up comes as the country is struggling to combat an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) affiliate in the Sinai Peninsula. Lt. Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Zaki, the head of the Presidential Guard, was tipped to be the new defense minister, replacing Gen. Sedki Sobhi, who had served in the post since Sisi was first elected in 2014. Mahmoud Tawfik, the head of the National Security Department, was chosen to succeed Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar at the Interior Ministry, which supervises the police, AP reports. The new 33-member cabinet is led by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly, who also serves as housing minister. The government includes eight women and 12 new members.

Nawaz Sharif’s wife suffers cardiac arrest in UK

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the wife of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was shifted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of a London hospital late Thursday after her condition deteriorated further, her family said on social media. Begum Kulsoom collapsed in the ICU after a cardiac arrest and has not regained consciousness since then as per reports in Pakistan media suggests.

Maryam Nawaz, her daughter, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif, both confirmed the development on Twitter, with the former making an “earnest request for duas [prayers]”.

Former president Asif Ali Zardari, in a statement issued earlier today (Friday), expressed good wishes for Begum Kulsoom’s recovery. He said the Bhutto family and Pakistan Peoples Party is praying for Begum Kulsoom’s health.

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nazwaz Sharif’s ailing wife Kulsoom Nawaz’s health has further deteriorated following a cardiac arrest in the UK where she was undergoing treatment following throat cancer surgery.
Kulsoom, 68, was shifted to the intensive care unit of the London hospital late last night after her condition deteriorated further, Maryam Nawaz, her daughter said.
“Ami had a sudden cardiac arrest when we were on the flight and is in ICU and on the ventilator since,” Maryam tweeted.

Maryam, who flew to London along with her father, requested well-wishers to pray for her mother’s health. Kulsoom was readmitted to the hospital on Wednesday, where her health deteriorated and she was immediately taken to the emergency unit in the night and has not regained consciousness since, The Express Tribune reported.

She was rushed to the ICU as she collapsed after suffering a cardiac arrest yesterday and has ever since been kept under intensive care. Hussain Nawaz, son of Nawaz Sharif, also appealed to the nation to pray for his mother’s wellness. Shehbaz Sharif, Nawaz’s brother, requested the nation to join him in prayers for speedy recovery

Putin invites to Kim Jong Un,

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Russian President Putin has issued an invitation to Kim Jong Un, suggesting that they meet at an economic forum in the far eastern port of Vladivostok in September, Senior North Korean official Kim Yong-nam to meet Putin in Moscow.

Kim Yong Nam, meanwhile, handed the Russian leader a handwritten note from Kim Jong Un, the contents of which have not been made public.

At a meeting in the Kremlin before the World Cup opening ceremony on Thursday, the Russian leader said the recent US-North Korean summit had reduced the threat of conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday met with President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (legislature) of North Korea Kim Yong-nam. The parliament’s head gave Putin a personal written message from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could visit Russia to participate in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday. However, a separate visit could also be organized, the president said at a meeting with Kim Yong-nam, the head of the Presidium of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly in Moscow on Thursday. Russia intends to promote a resolution of the North Korea situation using peaceful means, Putin said. He added that Moscow welcomes the recent meeting of North Korean and US leaders.

Putin confirmed that he invited the North Korean leader to visit Russia. According to the president, it could be a separate meeting or a meeting timed to coincide with the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September. Moscow welcomed a recent meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump, Putin said.

Missing French tourist learning organic farm

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

A 20-year- old French woman who reportedly went missing was found safe in Saarkela village of Alwar district. The woman was missing since June 1.

Gaelle Chouteau was traced by the Rajasthan Police in Saarkela village where she was learning organic farming.

The French national had reached Pushkar on May 30 and stayed in a hotel there, before leaving for Jaipur on June 1.

She was not in touch with her family members and friends, as a result of which they started worrying and were trying to locate her by posting messages on social media.

Earlier on Wednesday, French Ambassador in India Alexandre Ziegler tweeted about the disappearance of Chouteau and asked for information on her whereabouts.

‏Verified account @FranceinIndia Jun 13

Ms Gaëlle CHOUTEAU, 20 years, 5’3”, has been missing since 1st June 2018. When last in touch, she was leaving Pushkar to go to Jaipur. If you have any information about her, please write to us at: admin-francais․new-delhi-amba@diplomatie.gouv.fr

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also took cognizance of the matter, following which the Rajasthan police started the investigation.

Chouteau said she went there on her own and intends to stay for a week more. — ANI

Cabinet apprised of health pact

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Union Cabinet was apprised about a pact signed between two health bodies of India and France, which aims at cooperation in medical, life sciences and health research sectors including diabetes and metabolic disorders.

The pact also aims at cooperation in bio-ethics with focus on ethics and regulatory issues of gene editing techniques and rare diseases.

“The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been apprised of an MoU which was signed in March, 2018 between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Institut National de la Santeet de la RechercheMedicale (INSERM), France,” an official statement said.

The MoU will further strengthen relations between ICMR and INSERM within the framework of international scientific and technological cooperation in fields of mutual interest, it said.

“The MoU aims at cooperation in areas of common interest within the medical, life sciences and health research fields. Based on scientific excellence on both sides, the parties have agreed to have a specific focus upon: Diabetes and metabolic disorders, bio-ethics with focus on ethics and regulatory issues of gene editing techniques, rare diseases and any other areas of mutual interest can be considered after discussions between the two sides,” it said.

The scientific excellence on two sides will help to successfully work on health research in specified areas, it added.

Abe to meet Kim Jong Un

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Abe is considering meeting with Kim Jong Un this fall, responding to the North Korean leader’s openness to dialogue expressed during a summit with President Donald Trump this week.

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“We see the U.S.-North Korea summit as an opening,” Abe said Thursday in a meeting with family members of Japanese nationals abducted by the rogue state decades ago. “Japan should squarely face North Korea to resolve the issue,” he added. Trump has said he raised the issue with Kim.

Japanese government sources confirm the two sides are discussing times and places for a meeting. The first opportunity seems to be Russia’s Eastern Economic Forum, held in Vladivostok in mid-September, that Abe is expected to attend. President Vladimir Putin repeated his invitation for Kim Jong Un to visit Russia in a meeting Thursday with Kim Yong Nam, leader of North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature. Mediating a Tokyo-Pyongyang summit would let Putin tout influence over North Korea.

U.N. General Assembly, which convenes in late September in New York, provides another option.

Though Pyongyang has also been suggested as a possible venue, Abe and his aides are leery of having the prime minister visit North Korea before progress is made on the abduction issue. Abe’s political standing would suffer if he returned from the rogue state without concrete results, making a third country a more acceptable choice.

Fumio Shimizu, deputy director general at the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, met Thursday with the head of a research institute affiliated with North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, the Japanese side said. The meeting came during a conference in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar.

Tokyo is prepared to pay the initial costs for restarting International Atomic Energy Agency inspections in North Korea, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. Japan, which contributed $500,000 when the IAEA sent inspectors to North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear facility in 2007, considers such inspections crucial to the ultimate goal of complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization.

Japan also could provide rice and medicine via international organizations. During bilateral consultations in Stockholm four years ago, Tokyo promised to consider such humanitarian aid at an “appropriate time.” North Korea agreed to look into the fates of Japanese abductees, but later disbanded the investigative committee. Suga said Japan “will continue asking North Korea to abide by the Stockholm agreement.”

Economic aid for developing North Korean infrastructure is on the table as well. The bilateral Pyongyang Declaration of 2002 named grant aid and low interest loans as examples of Japanese help after normalizing diplomatic relations in the future. When Japan and South Korea established ties in 1965, Tokyo handed over $500 million in economic aid — equivalent to $10 billion in today’s dollars.

Yet Abe cannot commit so much without public support back home.

Journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in Rangoon

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Dear friend

Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were arrested in Rangoon in December last year after investigating the killing of 10 Rohingya men buried in a mass grave. They have now spent six months in prison while their trial continues. This travesty of justice must end. Please email the President of Burma and call for their immediate release.

They were arrested after being invited to meet police officials over dinner on 12th December 2017. The Ministry of Information said that they were “arrested for possessing important and secret government documents related to Rakhine State and security forces”.

Burma’s ambassador to the UN, Hau Do Suan, said that the journalists were not arrested for reporting a story, but were accused of “illegally possessing confidential government documents”.

The journalists were working on a report which describes how security forces and local Rakhine Buddhists were involved in the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men buried in a mass grave in Rakhine state. After their arrest, they were detained for two weeks at an undisclosed location and were not allowed to meet relatives or lawyers. They were charged under the Official Secrets Act and are currently on trial while they remain in detention.

Please write to President Win Myint urging him to immediately and unconditionally release Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and repeal all repressive laws.

The Official Secrets Act was introduced in 1923, during the colonial era, and carries a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. In the past, the government used the law against journalists for reporting on current affairs.

Please take action and call for the immediate release of Wa Lone, Kyaw Soe Oo and the repeal of all repressive laws.

Thank you.

Anna Roberts
Burma Campaign UK

Help support the campaign – donate today!

Macedonia’s name changed to the Republic of North Macedonia

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Greece and Macedonia managed to achieve a breakthrough on Tuesday, after both the country’s agreed to rename the Balkan country “North Macedonia.”

The decision, which could end a bitter 27-year-old dispute between both the nations, was also made after Greece vowed to lift its veto on its northern neighbour joining the European Union and and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

On Tuesday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev reportedly held a telephonic conversation, after which the decision was made.

The decision puts an end to a bitter dispute that both the countries have been locked in for 27 years now, that has led to years of protests and endless diplomacy.

As part of the agreement, Macedonia’s name would be changed to the Republic of North Macedonia, or Severna Makedonija in Macedonian and the English name could be used as well as the Slavic term.

The name was chosen to reflect the existence of the Greek region of Macedonia on the other side of the border and the cultural claim by Greeks.

The countries announced that the new name would be used both internally by the government and externally when conducting foreign affairs and in return, Greece would lift its vetoes on the country joining the EU and NATO.

Announcing the agreement in a television press conference after giving details of the deal to the Greek president, Tsipras said, “The name change will be implemented not only in the country’s international relations but also domestically.”

Tsipras added that the 140 countries which had recognized the Balkan state simply as Macedonia would now recognize it as Republic of Northern Macedonia.

He said, “This achieves a clear distinction between Greek Macedonia and our northern neighbors and puts an end to the irredentism which their current constitutional name implies,” adding that Macedonia “cannot and will not be able in the future to claim any connection with the ancient Greek civilization of Macedonia.”

Meanwhile, describing the deal as a “historic agreement of the century,” the Macedonian Prime Minister called on the opposition to back the name change.

He said, “We have been solving a two-and-a-half decade dispute … that has been drowning the country,” adding that the deal “will strengthen the Macedonian identity.” He urged for support by pointing out that the agreement would guarantee access to the EU and NATO.

Balkan state would be able to call itself the “Republic of Northern Macedonia” (formerly “Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”). This title would allow for Skopje’s eventual entry into NATO and the European Union, previously blocked by Greece because it says the use of the name “Macedonia” implies a territorial claim on a northern Greek province of the same name. Greece agreed to recognise its northern neighbour as ‘Republic of North Macedonia’ on Tuesday, ending a decades-long dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic.

However, the deal struck on Tuesday still has a few hurdles to cross as nationalists in both countries are opposed to compromise, which could still derail the accord.

The agreement would now have to be ratified by the parliaments in both the countries.

Macedonia however, insisted that the statue is of a “warrior on a horse” rather than the ancient Greek hero.

Over the years, a number of alternatives have been suggested by both sides, which have included Gorna Makedonija (Upper Macedonia), Nova Makedonija (New Macedonia) and Ilinden Macedonia.

CM of Punjab announces Rs.209 crore debt relief for 38000 farmers

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Chief Minister of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announced the disbursement of Rs. 209 crore to 38,000 marginal farmers, who are members of the Cooperative Societies, within the next ten days to complete the first phase of his government’s debt relief scheme.

The Chief Minister pointed out that so far 2,77,633 marginal farmers had been provided relief to the tune of Rs. 1525.61 crores in the first phase and this amount has been transferred directly into their accounts. He further said that out of 3.43 lacs marginal farmers, who are members of the Cooperative Societies, 27,179 were found ineligible as they were either serving as Government/Semi Government employees or did not meet the eligibility criteria of the scheme.
The remaining 38,000 will be provided debt relief within the next 10 days. In the second phase, the small farmers linked with cooperative societies would be taken up for disbursement of relief. The commercial banks had already started uploading the data of their loanee farmers on the specially designed portal for this purpose. The Agriculture and Finance departments have been directed to follow up with the commercial banks in the State to ensure expeditious uploading of the data so that the process of verification and disbursing the relief amount to eligible beneficiaries could be completed at the earliest in a transparent manner.
Subsequently, the marginal farmers belonging to the cooperative societies who had not yet received the full eligible amount upto Rs. 2 lacs, and are otherwise eligible to receive relief amount due to them for the loans secured from the commercial banks would also be covered.

Decisions taken by the Union Cabinet

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

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Cabinet approves the extension of tenure of the Commission constituted to examine the issue of Sub-categorization within Other Backward Classes in the Central List

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the final extension of the term of the Other Backward Classes in the Central List currently mandated up to 20th June 2018, till 31st July, 2018. The Commission held extensive meetings with the stake holders including the State Governments, the State Backward Classes Commissions, various community associations and general public belonging to various Backward Classes and Communities. The Commission also obtained records, caste-wise of OBCs admitted in higher educational institution as well as similar caste-wise data of recruits in Central Departments, Central Public Sector Undertakings, Public Sector Banks & Financial Institutions.

· Cabinet approves Agreement between India and Peru

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved an Agreement between India and Peru which was signed in May, 2018 at Lima, Peru. The agreement aims to establish the basis for a cooperative institutional relationship to encourage and promote technical bilateral cooperation on new and renewable issues on the basis of mutual benefit equality and reciprocity. The Agreement envisages establishing a Joint Committee to develop Work Plans in order to implement the Agreement. The Agreement will help in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

· Cabinet approves MoU between India and Viet Nam on Joint issue of postage stamp

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the joint issue of a postage stamp between Department of Posts and Viet Nam Post. Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and Viet Nara Post mutually agreed to jointly issue Postage Stamps on India-Viet Nam: Joint Issue on the theme “Ancient Architecture”. The joint stamps were released on 25-01-2018. The Commemorative Postage Stamps on India-Viet Nam: Joint Issue depicts Sanchi Stupa of India and Pho Minh Pagoda of Viet Nam. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between postal administrations of India and Viet Nam for this joint issue on 18-12-2017.

· Cabinet approves Repositioning of North Eastern Council

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for the nomination of the Union Home Minister as ex-officio Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC) – a statutory body with Governors and Chief Ministers of all the eight North Eastern States as its Member. The Cabinet also approved that Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of DoNER would serve as Vice Chairman of the Council.

Impact:

NEC implements various projects through the State and Central agencies. Under the new arrangement with Home Minister as Chairman and Minister of DoNER as Vice Chairman, NEC and all the Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States asMember would provide a forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future. NEC can now also perform the tasks undertaken by the various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-State issues as drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, boundary disputes etc. This repositioning of NEC will help it to become a more effective body for the North Eastern Region. The Council shall, from time to time, review the implementation of the projects/schemes included in the project; recommend effective measures for coordination among the state Governments for these projects etc. The Council shall have such powers as may be delegated to it by the Central Government.

· Cabinet approves proposal for enactment of Dam Safety Bill, 2018

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for introduction of Dam Safety Bill, 2018 in the Parliament.

Benefits:

It will help all the States and Union Territories of India to adopt uniform dam safety procedures which shall ensure safety of dams and safeguard benefits from such dams. This shall also help in safeguarding human life, livestock and property. The draft Bill has been finalised after wide consultation with leading Indian experts and international experts.

Details:

· The Bill provides for proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in the country to ensure their safe functioning.

· The Bill provides for constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety which shall evolve dam safety policies and recommend necessary regulations as may be required for the purpose.

· The Bill provides for establishment of National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body which shall discharge functions to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.

· The Bill provides for constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by State Government.

National Dam Safety Authority

· It shall maintain liaison with the State Dam Safety Organisations and the owners of dams for standardisation of dam safety related data and practices;

· It shall provide the technical and managerial assistance to the States and State Dam Safety Organisations;

· It shall maintain a national level data-base of all dams in the country and the records of major dam failures;

· It shall examine the cause of any major dam failure;

· It shall publish and update the standard guidelines and check-lists for the routine inspection and detailed investigations of dams and appurtenances;

· It shall accord recognition or accreditations to the organisations that can be entrusted with the works of investigation, design or construction of new dams;

· It will also look into unresolved points of issue between the State Dam Safety Organisation of two states, or between the State Dam Safety Organisation of a State and the owner of a dam in that State, for proper solution;

· Further, in certain cases, such as dams of one State falling under the territory of another State, the National Authority shall also perform the role of State Dam Safety Organization thereby eliminating potential causes for inter-state conflicts.

State Committee on Dam Safety

It will ensure proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in that State and ensure their safe functioning. It further provides that every State shall establish a “State Dam Safety Organisation”, which will be manned by officers from the field dam safety preferably from the areas of dam-designs, hydro-mechanical engineering, hydrology, geo-technical investigation, instrumentation and dam-rehabilitation.

· Cabinet approves MoU between the ICMR and INSERM, France

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed in March, 2018 between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Institut National de la Santeet de la RechercheMedicale (INSERM), France.

Salient Features:

The MoU aims at cooperation in areas of common interest within the medical, life sciences and health research fields. Based on scientific excellence on both sides, the parties have agreed to have a specific focus upon:

1. Diabetes and Metabolic disorders;

2. Bio-ethics with focus on Ethics and regulatory issues of Gene editing techniques;

3. Rare diseases; and

4. Any other areas of mutual interest can be considered after discussions between the two sides.

The MoU will further strengthen relations between ICMR and INSERM within the framework of international scientific and technological cooperation in fields of mutual interest. The scientific excellence on two sides will help to successfully work on health research in specified areas.

· Cabinet approves monetization of 3.70 acres of land at Pragati Maidan for construction and running of a Hotel by a third party including private sector, waiver of charges levied by L&DO and waiver of land charges raised by the Ministry of Railways

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the monetization of 3.70 acres of land at Pragati Maidan by India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITJPO) on long-term leasehold basis for 99 years for construction and running of a Hotel by a third party including private sector through a transparent competitive bidding process. This measure is part of the Phase – I of redevelopment project of Pragati Maidan i.e. Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre (IECC) Project. It was was approved by the CCEA in January 2017 at an estimated cost of Rs. 2254 crore. IECC project envisages construction of a world class state-of-the-art Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre with a seating capacity for 7,000 pax, exhibition, space of over 1,00,000sq.mtr. and a basement parking for 4,800 vehicles. Traffic decongestion measures in and around the Pragati Maidan will also lead to decongestion of the area.

Funds raised through monetization of land will be one of the means of financing the IECC project which is essential for Central Government and State Governments to hold Summit Level Meetings and Exhibitions/Events for trade promotion. The work for IECC project as well as the traffic decongestion solutions is in full swing. ITPO has stated that the entire project is expected to be completed by September 2019. IECC project will benefit Indian trade and industry, and help increase India’s foreign trade.

· Cabinet approves proposal for withdrawal of Nalanda University (Amendment) Bill, 2013 pending in Rajya Sabha

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for withdrawal of Nalanda University (Amendment) Bill, 2013 pending in the Rajya Sabha. The Nalanda University was established on the basis of a Joint Press Statement at the 4th East Asia Summit held in Thailand in October, 2009, which supported its establishment as a non-state, non-profit, secular and self-governing international institution. Subsequently, the Nalanda University Act, 2010 was passed by the Parliament and came into effect from 25thNovember 2010. The present proposal is for moving a motion in Rajya Sabha withdrawing the Nalanda University (Amendment) Bill, 2013 introduced in Rajya Sabha on August 26, 2013 to amend certain existing provisions of the Nalanda University Act, 2010 and add some new provisions.

The Governing Board of Nalanda University has since been constituted as per section 7 of Nalanda University Act, 2010 with effect from 21.11.2016 with, the approval of Hon’ble President of India. The Amendment Bill will need to be discussed with the current Governing Board of Nalanda University before a final decision could be taken on going ahead with the proposed amendments. Further, the current Governing Board may also look into the entire Nalanda University Act, 2010 afresh and suggest amendments/additions wherever necessary. Teaching in the University was inaugurated by Smt.SushmaSwaraj, External Affairs Minister in September 2014. Hon’ble President of India is the Visitor of the University, Dr. Vijay Bhatkar, the Chancellor and Professor Sunaina Singh, is the Vice Chancellor. At present, the University has 116 students in three schools of studies namely School of Historical Studies, School of Ecology and Environment Studies and School of Buddhist Studies. This includes 35 international students from 21 foreign countries.

· Cabinet approves ‘Three Year Action Plan of Agricultural Education Division & ICAR Institutes

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of the Three Year Action Plan (2017-2020) of the scheme for Agricultural Education Division and ICAR Institutes with an outlay of Rs.2225.46 crore[Rs. 2197.51 crore + Rs. 27.95 crore (State share) as salary component for AICRP-HS]for strengthening and developing higher agricultural education in India. It comprises of:

1. “Strengthening and Development of Higher Agricultural Education in India – Rs. Rs.2050.00 crore;

2. ICAR-National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM) – Rs. 24.25 crore and

3. ICAR – Central Institute of Women in Agriculture (CIWA) including All India Coordinated Research Project on Home Science (AICRP-HS) – Rs.151.21 crore.

The scheme is aimed to generate quality human resources from the institutions of higher agricultural education.It encompasses several new initiatives including, steps to attract talented students, reducing academic inbreeding and addressing faculty shortage. It will also take care ofgreen initiatives, mitigating faculty shortage, international ranking, alumni involvement, promoting innovations, inspired teacher network, reducing inbreeding, academia interface, technology enabled learning, Post-doctoral Fellowships, Agriculture Education Portal, Scientific Social responsibility etc. for quality assurance ranking of the agricultural universities has been linked to the financial support under the scheme along with accreditation. Support for strengthening and modernization of infrastructure related to student and faculty amenities and capacity building of both faculty and students in cutting edge areas through Niche Area of Excellence programme will improve teaching and encouraging holistic development of the students.

This will lead to generation of competitive and confident human resource. In addition, research on gender issues in agriculture and allied fields, formulating gender-equitable agricultural, policies/programmes and gender-sensitive agricultural-sector responses will be undertaken by ICAR-CIWA and capacity building needs of the human resources and stakeholders of the entire National Agricultural Research & Education System (NARES) will be catered leading to enhancing of competencies and capacities of the stakeholders including farmers, young scientists, students and agri-industry in NARES by ICAR-NAARM.

· Cabinet approves raising of additional share capital of M/s. HDFC Bankup to a maximum of Rs. 24,000 crore

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the proposal for grant of permission to M/s. HDFC Bank Ltd. to raise additional share capital of up to a maximum of Rs. 24,000 crore, including premium, over and above the previous approved limit of Rs. 10,000 crore, such that the composite foreign shareholding in the Bank shall not exceed 74% of the enhanced paid-up equity share capital of the bank.

The decision would ensure that the composite foreign shareholding in the bank inclusive of all types of foreign investments, both direct and indirect, will not exceed 74% of the enhanced paid-up equity share capital of the bank. It will be subject to Foreign Direct Investment Policy conditionalities and other sectoral regulations / guidelines. The proposed investment is expected to strengthen the capital adequacy ratio of the bank.

CAIT HAILS DECISION OF SUPREME COURT ON SEALING ISSUE

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has expressed satisfaction over the decision of the Supreme Court Bench for not interfering in sealing matter of certain areas despite strong pleas of the Monitoring Committee to direct MCD to conduct sealing in Rajouri Garden and other areas

CAIT Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal while welcoming the decision said that since the matter of notifying 351 Roads as commercial or mix land use street is pending before the Supreme Court and matter being sub-juice, insistence of the Monitoring Committee for repeatedly directing the MCD to conduct sealing operations on these roads is a case of exceeding the jurisdiction of the Monitoring Committee.

He further said that it has been seen that Monitoring Committee is more interested in sealing comfortably running business establishments established since decades on one pretext or the other without serving any notice or giving opportunity of hearing which is against the principle of natural justice. We are sure that Supreme Court has never intended like this.

Mr. Khandelwal hoped that Monitoring Committee will now be justified in its action and instead of adopting a coercive approach, it will seek cooperation from the trading community in larger interest of Delhi and its economy

Sitaram Yechury on Banks write of details

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

‏Verified account @SitaramYechury

The record wrote-off of bank loans is linked not just to Modis and Choksis who escaped India easily and roam freely but also to opaque means of election funding introduced by Modi govt, big spending on his PR campaigns.

he further tweets, Modi govt writes off bank loans worth ₹ 1.44 lakh crore, yes ₹ 1.44 lakh crore, in just one year. None of those will be for the farmers or the salaried workers, they would all be for friendly corporates

Israel medical startup chains

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

LR Group is investing NIS 50 million in building and operating three shared workspaces for biotechnology and medical startups near three hospitals in Israel – Hadassah Medical Centre Ein Kerem in Jerusalem, Rabin Medical Centre (Beilinson Hospital) in Petah Tikva and Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa. The new chain will be called LR Biohouse and offers a unique combination of technological incubator, shared workspace and synergy with the hospital.

LR Group operates worldwide in developing, financing, building, and managing medium and large scale projects in high growth economies including agriculture, water, energy and power, telecom, health, and construction.

The first of the three shared workspaces has been built in cooperation with Hadassah Medical Centre Ein Kerem and the Jerusalem Development Authority’s BioJerusalem venture and will be launched next week on June 19.

The Jerusalem LR Biohouse will have space for 40-50 early stage and more mature biotech and medical startups as well as a startup accelerator, which will be operated by Hadassah.

The startups in LR Biohouse will enjoy shared equipment and facilities and data processing systems and most importantly access to the hospital’s infrastructure including laboratories, and amenities for animal and clinical trials including access to patients for the trials. LR Biohouse will also help in introducing potential investors, partners and customers.

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Dy CM Manish Sisodia hospitalised

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, on hunger strike at LG’s office since June 13, taken to hospital, tweets CM Arvind Kejriwal.

Sisodia is being taken to the LNGP hospital after his ketone level reached 7.4. He has been on an indefinite hunger strike for the past seven days at the LG’s residence against the alleged strike by the IAS officers of Delhi government.

A day earlier, Health Minister Satyendar Jain was admitted after his sugar levels dipped. Both the ministers along side Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal have been holding a sit-in at the LG office demanding that Baijal direct IAS officers to end their “strike”. They also demand that the Lt Governor approve the proposal for doorstep delivery of ration.

Further about the AAP style of sit on dharna in office of LG of Delhi, Delhi High Court today asked the AAP government, who authorised the sit-in by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and some of his cabinet colleagues at the lieutenant governor’s office, and observed that strikes are usually held outside an establishment or office and not inside.

The observation by a bench of Justices A K Chawla and Navin Chawla came during the hearing of two petitions, one against the sit-in by Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal and the other against the alleged strike by the IAS officers of Delhi government.

“Who authorised the strike/dharna (sit-in by Kejriwal)? You are sitting inside the LG’s office. If it’s a strike, it has to be outside the office,” the court told lawyers appearing for the Delhi government in the two matters. Apart from the two petitions, a separate plea was moved by Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly Vijender Gupta against the sit-in by Kejriwal at Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s office.

The AAP says Delhi CM Kejriwal will continue his strike till IAS officers end their strike.

The matters are likely to be heard on June 22. The court said the association representing the IAS officers should also be made a party in the matter. — PTI

UK’s Ebola Task Force joins IFAD as Associate Vice-President

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Development veteran and former head of UK’s Ebola Task Force joins IFAD as Associate Vice-President

Rome, 18 June 2018 – Donal Brown of the United Kingdom has joined the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as Associate Vice-President of the Programme Management Department.

In his role at IFAD, Brown is responsible for developing and managing the operations that the Fund supports through its loans and grants. In addition, he oversees the programme of work of the department, which is undertaken by five regional divisions and the Operational Policy and Results Division.

Brown previously worked at the UK’s Department for International Development in a number of senior positions both at headquarters and in a range of countries. Most recently Brown was the Africa Director, managing 550 staff across the continent. In 2014-2015, he led UK’s Ebola Task Force in Sierra Leone and was awarded Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his efforts to control the crisis.

Until the outbreak of Ebola in May 2014, Sierra Leone, a country of 7 million people on the West African seaboard, had one of the highest economic growth rates in the world. IFAD, a specialized agency of the United Nations, supported the government in its fight against the Ebola outbreak and during the aftermath. As the largest and most active donor in the country’s agricultural sector, IFAD continues to contribute to Sierra Leone’s recovery, in particular to establish food security which is vital to health.

Brown brings to IFAD more than 25 years of international experience from across Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. He holds a Master’s degree in Tropical Animal Health and Production from the University of Edinburgh, a Postgraduate Diploma in Public Leadership and Management from the University of Warwick and a Bachelor’s degree in Veterinary Science from the University of Bristol, as well as an Honorary Doctorate in Social Justice from the University of Winchester.

5th National Standard Conclave

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Sagar Media Inc: 5th National Standard Conclave begins at Taj Mahal Hotel New Delhi

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Crimes Terror & War Cost India Rs.15,00,000 Cr Annually

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

June17, 2018 (C) Ravinder Singh progressindia2015@gmail.com

Shri Rajiv Gauba,

Home Secretary,

Government of India.

Police Stations – Dens of Hard Core Criminals, Mastermind Crimes

Dear Sir, A study carried in TOI of June13, 2018 on page reports India suffer 9% GDP Loss due to Crimes, Wars and Terrors which is Rs.15,00,000 Cr Loss annually,Rs.60,00,000 Cr or $1 Trillion in last 4 years.

These Loss Realistic – 25m Court Cases are Pending means 20% Households are IMPACTED by Court Cases – Many times more cases are not reported. Even 50% to 90% RAPE Cases are either Not Reported to Police or Compromised.

80% of Crimes are Partnered by SHOs of Police Stations and in 95% of cases Police Write DEFECTIVE FIRs or DON’T PROTECT VICTIMS OF CRIME & BREED CRIMINALS.

Even matters of Crimes against State and Serial Crimes like Rape, Murder, Cheating, Kidnapping, Extortions, HAFTA cases, Honey Trap, Bootlegging, Smuggling, Drug Peddling, Matrimonial Fraud, Electronic Frauds, Thefts of All Kinds, Forgeries, Ponzy Schemes, Chit Funds, Gambling, Illegal Occupation & Sale of Public Property, Land Grabs, Prostitution, Human Trafficking, Kidnappings, Contract Killers.

SHOs are Expected to CHECK THEM ALL but take Share of Illegal Activities write DEFECTIVE FIRs in case matters go beyond their control. In Delhi street DP is not seen at all – CCTV Cameras installed by Police are Disabled.

SLP 28441 of 2008 in the Supreme Court: – a Poor Farmer entered in to Agreement or Exchange Deal with a Businessman involving Exchange of 2.5 Acres of Farm Land in Gurdaspur Punjab for 5 Acres in Uttarkhand in 1998. While Businessman Took Over Farmers land but Farmer couldn’t get 5 Acres because the property documents were FAKE. SHO didn’t registered CHEATING Case and CIVIL case lingered on even as there were Seasonal Fights every year between the Parties – say 50 times in 12 years.

PALDI GUJARAT Case: – For a Loan of Rs.9 Lakh – a Person over 2-3 years was SERIALLY TORTURED BY MONEYLENDER – who took away Rs.58 Lakh to perhaps over Rs.1 Cr.

Smart SHO in above cases, 95% cases would have PROVIDED 100% Protection to the Victim within 10 minutes of Receiving Complaint – Write an FIR without delay.

‘VIGILANCE POLICE 10% OF FORCE’ BE INTRODUCED TO INDEPENDANTLY MONITOR SHOs, MEET COMPLAINANTS 9-11AM DAILY, PUNISH CORRUPT SHOs, WRITE FIRs ON Investigation Officers reporting in CONSULTATION WITH VICTIMS. SHOs should be WORKING in STREETS PREVENTING CRIMES.

Ravinder Singh, Inventor & Consultant, INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES AND PROJECTS

Y-77, Hauz Khas, ND -110016, India. Ph: 091- 8826415770, 9871056471, 9650421857

Ravinder Singh* is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation,

Smart Cities, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects

Obama Foundation

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Obama Foundation

Hi everyone —

I guess you could say it started with Iron Man.

Nearly ten years ago, my son Izaac’s preschool class was going on a field trip and my wife and I were packing him a lunch. She asked me if I wanted to write his name on his lunch bag.

It occurred to me that even though I was an artist, my kids never got to see their dad draw. If I wanted to encourage my kids to be proud of their own gifts and use them in their own lives, I needed to start setting an example for them. So, I sat down and put Izaac’s name on his bag — along with a quick sketch of Iron Man.

When he saw the bag, the beaming smile on his face alone affirmed the decision. But I knew I had more to give my kids than just a five-minute sketch.

I began to put a little more time into their lunch bags. The night before, I’d sit down with my color pencils for an hour or so — and I’d just draw:

The Parliamentary Tradition in Poland and Hungary

ON JUNE 17, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, New Delhi

We are pleased to invite you to the inauguration of an exhibition titled “The Parliamentary Tradition in Poland and Hungary and Celebrating the End of the First World War” presented jointly by Polish Institute in New Delhi and Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre, New Delhi on Tuesday, 19th June, 2018 at 6:30 pm at the Art Gallery, IIC Annexe.

Naresh Kumar Sagar

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Alexis & Zoran sign agreement on N Macedonia

ON JUNE 17, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Greece and Macedonia on Sunday signed a historic preliminary agreement to rename the country the Republic of North Macedonia, ending a row that has poisoned relations between the two neighbours since 1991.

“This is a brave, historic and necessary step for our peoples,” said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“We are here to heal the wounds of time, to open a path for peace, fraternisation and growth for our countries, the Balkans, and Europe,” he said.

“Our two countries should step out of the past and look to the future,” said Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

“Our peoples want peace… we will be partners and allies,” he said.

The accord begins to unravel one of the world´s longest — and arguably most arcane — diplomatic disputes, which began 27 years ago with Macedonia´s declaration of independence but whose roots date back centuries.

“The time has come again to sing happy songs in the Balkans,” Tsipras said, moments before the document was signed by the two countries´ foreign ministers.

Zaev and several of his ministers arrived by speedboat at the picturesque fishing village of Psarades under a sunny sky, on the southern bank of Lake Prespa that is one of the natural boundaries between the two countries.

Tsipras and Zaev embraced on the village dock and entered the large tent where the deal was signed to a standing ovation from gathered dignataries and officials.

UN under-secretary-general for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo, longterm UN negotiator Matthew Nimetz, EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini and EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn were at hand.

Nimetz, who turned 79 on Sunday and also signed Sunday´s agreement, had been trying to broker a solution since 1994, first as a US envoy and subsequently on behalf of the United Nations.

But it was the election of Zaev in 2017, replacing nationalist PM Nikola Gruevski, that proved crucial.

An economist and former mayor of Strumica, Zaev made rapprochement with Greece a priority to secure his country´s membership of the European Union and NATO, blocked by Athens for years.

After the signature, Tsipras will cross over to the Macedonian side of Lake Prespa for lunch, becoming the first Greek prime minister to visit the neighbouring state.

Since 1991, Athens has objected to its neighbour being called Macedonia because it has its own northern province of the same name, which in ancient times was the cradle of Alexander the Great´s empire — a source of intense pride for modern-day Greeks.

The two premiers, born just months apart in 1974, have bucked strong hostile reactions at home to push ahead with the agreement.

Apps to look at to stay connected with your favourite team during FIFA World Cup!

ON JUNE 16, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Apps to look at to stay connected with your favourite team during FIFA World Cup!

With the commencement of much awaited FIFA world cup 2018, fans all over the world are excited to stay connected with their favourite sport. There are various companies and start-ups that are bringing innovative apps to enhance the experience of the FIFA enthusiasts. Companies are offering unique services like live streaming of the match, live match prediction, social feed, chat forums, etc in order to engage fans during the live matches.

The following apps help fans to stay tuned with their favourite team during the series and in turn bringing fans and sports closer.

Official FIFA App – This is the official app of FIFA which provides fans with all the information and updates of the live match. The app is available on both Android and iOS to allow users to share the complete schedule of the match with the details of participating teams, live scores, and minute to minute description of the match, etc.

Rooter – Rooter is the world’s first sports social gaming platform that connects sports fans and engages them during live sports matches. Rooter offers unique Live match prediction game, Live Fantasy Game and Sports Social Feed across 8 sports and enables a live chat forum where fans interact during live matches with fastest live scores and commentary. The company has geared up for FIFA world cup as well in order to provide a seamless mix of gaming, conversations, and Live scores during the series.

One Football – One football app keeps the fans updated with all the latest happenings around the world cup. It provides all the information to their fans to remain top of the game like live score, news, highlights, stats, etc. The app also helps users to make the personalised content based on their favourite team and player.

Jio TV App – Jio TV by Reliance will live stream all FIFA World Cup 2018 matches starting from June 14 for free. You need to be on the Jio network, to be able to live stream FIFA World Cup 2018 matches as the JioTV app is exclusive to Jio users.

Airtel TV App – Bharti Airtel has rolled out an updated Airtel TV app, to enable users to watch live broadcasts of the upcoming football tournament. The app will help users to stay tuned in regional languages in addition to Hindi and English. The app will also provide fans to with exclusive behind the scenes snippets and match reviews and previews, etc.

Young female footballers of AP’s Anantapur Football League train with Real Betis captain Irene Guerrero at a three-day camp

ON JUNE 16, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Young female footballers of AP’s Anantapur Football League train with Real Betis captain Irene Guerrero at a three-day camp

The LaLiga Foundation andRural Development Trust-Vicente Ferrer Foundation in India work for the upliftment of children in rural regions

Mumbai, Thursday, June 15, 2018: As part of LaLiga’s commitment to promote grassroot football in India, the LaLiga Foundation invited Real Betis women team captain Irene Guerrero to conduct a three-day interactive clinic for young female players and coaches of the region’s Rural Football League in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district. The sessions were attended by close to 500 footballers and coaches from 20 mandals. This is the first time an international woman footballer has visited Anantapur.

On her three-day tour, Guerrero played with the female footballers at various grassroots centres and interacted with them in a fun, relaxed environment. Guerrero, along with officials from LaLiga also distributed training equipment to footballers from the 20 mandals in Anantapur.

Earlier this year through a series of videos, coaches from different football clubs in Spain took the girls throughvarious training methods and shared invaluable tips, while promoting the virtues of playing sport, as well as empowering women to achieve and succeed.

The LaLiga Foundation and LaLiga’s women’s football department have signed an agreement with the Rural Development Trust in India, known in Spain as Vicente Ferrer Foundation, with the aim of developing football in the most deprived communities of Anantapur. This will be achieved by establishing conditions in which both individual and collective talent will flourish in India. Through this joint initiative, nearly 2,000 girls and boys between the ages of 9 and 19 will get an opportunity to play sport. Apart from sport, the joint initiative will help instil discipline, self-belief and team spirit in the youngsters, qualities that will help them outside a football field as well.

Commenting on the occasion Mr. Jose Antonio Cachaza, Country Manager India, LaLiga said, “Our support to Rural Development Trust’s women’s football programme is about helping shape the lives of thousands of girls from 20 mandals in Anantapur through football. LaLiga is the best league in the world with some of the greatest players and teams, but we also take our responsibilities at grassroots level seriously, LaLiga is committed to the children of Anantapur. We have seen Jorge Lorenzo and Rafael Nadal extend their support to the Foundation in the past and we are extremely pleased to carry forward the legacy.”

“As professional player, I believe it is our responsibility to support the development of young talent,” said the Real Betis captain Irene Guerrero. “The initiative by LaLiga Foundation will fuel the passion of young players in Anantapur and build skills that will help them become the stars of tomorrow. Having fun is the most important factor in their development, but meeting a professional reminds kids that we are just ordinary people and that with hard work and dedication they too can forge a career in the game.”

The Anantapur Football League (AFL) is a rural grassroots competition that was founded in 2014/15 season conducted by the Anantapur Sports Academy. The academy is a sport for development initiative by the Rural Development Trust. Since its formation, the AFL has grown in size, expanding both its number of divisions and youth teams.

“Through this partnership, we will be able to bring football closer to girls and boys, in the rural regions of Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Every child has the ‘Right to Play’ and we are committed to providing children with the opportunity to participate and enjoy the benefits of playing sports,” said Moncho Ferrer, Program Director of the Rural Development Trust.

About LaLiga

Founded in 1984, LaLiga (Liga de Fútbol Profesional) is a sports association comprising the 42 teams that make up the first and second divisions of professional football in Spain. LaLiga, based in Madrid, is responsible for the LaLiga Santander and LaLiga 123 leagues and the television production, which in the 2016/2017 season reached more than 2.5 billion people globally. The association also has an active foundation and is the only world’s only professional football league with a league for intellectually challenged footballers: LaLiga Genuine.

DMA ask Delhi Gov helpline Elder cell

ON JUNE 16, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

DMA asks Delhi Govt to START HELPLINE TO REPORT ELDER ABUSE AND SET UP ELDER ABUSE CELL in Min of Welfare with a Nodal Officer

15-June is observed as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, this year the theme is “ MOVING FROM AWARENESS TO ACTION-Through a Human Rights Approach”.

According to the report published by HelpAge India Delhi figures amongst the top five cities in prevalence of elder abuse, though the incidence is as high as 32% of this 77% did not report the matter to anyone and only .5% took the support of the Mainatainence and Welfare of Parents and Sr. Citizens Act. All these figures are alarming and reflect lack of awareness of their rights by the elders and an absence of a supportive reporting mechanism.

Dr. Ashwani Goyal President, Delhi Medical Association, called a special meeting on this issue and said that DMA has taken up this issue very seriously amongst it membership, sensitizing them as possible ‘first responders’ against abuse by their patients. Presently the only possible platform for reporting of abuse is to friends/ neighbours or distant relatives. This fortnight edition of the news bulletin carries full information on this issue, compiled by Dr.G.S.Grewal, Hon State Secretary.

DMA calls upon the Govt of Delhi to

1. Call for a meeting of the possible ‘FIRST RESPONDERS’-which may include representatives of the Medical Associations, Community leaders, Office bearers of RWA, MWA, Elder Organisations, this to create awareness, announce the seriousness and commitment of the Govt to address the issue of Elder Abuse

2. Start a HELPLINE for reporting elder abuse

3. Constitute assembly wise community and police teams under Chairmanship of the MLA to create awareness and encourage reporting of abuse

4. Create a CELL in Min. of Welfare with a Nodal Officer for ELDER ABUSE CELL For Reporting & Prevention

Shripriya Lavish bash, “Altars Of Yearning: How India Prays”

ON JUNE 16, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Sagar Media Inc: EXHIBITION “Altars Of Yearning: How India Prays” photography show based on India’s incredible secular fabric, 11am-8pm on 15th to 19th June 2018 at Bikaner house New Delhi.

Art Exhibition begins on prayers at Bikaner house New Delhi.

A Curtain Raiser for their two celebrated ships cruising restaurant floating on sea at Mumbai coastline in the Maritime Continental Shelf and International seas with scenic beauty to begin Oct 18 2018.

The city’s largest restaurants and cruise ships are new experiential dinning initiated with two ships once the favourite of Europe’s top aristocracy have now arrived in Mumbai to take new roll, converted into Mumbai largest floating restaurant.

The two newly christened restaurant are,

Queensline Neverland,

Queensline Sea Yea will open for customers in October at two iconic points of Mumbai –

the Gateway of India

Girgaum Chowpatty.

First time people be able to cruise

along Mumbai’s coastline with natural stunning views.

Naresh Kumar Sagar

@Nksagar

Queensline Neverland, and the Queenline Sea Yah, cruise floating and moving Restaurant from prestigious industrial family Shripriya Dalmia Thirani cruiser restaurant experience fornextgen multiple celebrations, Wedding, birthday, success, corporate bash. Curtain raiser, opened in style with Lavish bash at Bikaner house, in New Delhi. Cruisers, Culinary, Celebration rocked with presences of models, artists, actors, authors, intellectuals, professors, writers, industrialist, socialites, media, politicians and Ambassadors of Bhutan, Czech, Hungary, France, Israel and officials of UN office in India marked their presence with Chief Guest Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad Minister of Law and Justice and electronics IT along with Guest of Honour,Usha Uthup, pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer made live appearance.

A Curtain Raiser for their two celebrated ships Cruising Restaurant floating on sea at Mumbai coastline in the Maritime Continental Shelf and International seas with scenic beauty.

@Nksagar

Sagar Media Inc Wishes Eid Mubarak to all tweeters intellectual May this Eid bring peace prosperity celebration and love for all.

Naresh Kumar Sagar

WPI inflation surge ahead

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

WPI inflation spikes to 14-month high of 4.43% in May on costlier fuel

Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to a 14-month high of 4 points 43 per cent in May on increasing prices of petrol and diesel, prompting industry to demand action from policymakers to keep fuel prices under check.

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 3.18 per cent in April and 2.26 per cent in May last year. According to government data released today, inflation in food articles was at 1.60 per cent in May 2018, as against 0.87 per cent in the preceding month.

Inflation in ‘fuel and power’ basket rose sharply to 11.22 per cent in May from 7.85 per cent in April as prices of domestic fuel increased in line with rising global crude oil rates.

Inflation in vegetables climbed to 2.51 per cent in May, with potato inflation at a peak of 81.93 per cent. Price rise in fruits was in double digits at 15.40 per cent, while pulses saw a deflation of 21.13 per cent.
May inflation at 4.43 per cent was a 14-month peak.

The previous high was in March 2017, when the WPI inflation stood at 5.11 per cent. The WPI inflation for March has been revised upwards to 2.74 per cent from the provisional estimate of 2.47 per cent.

The Strategy Trap: India and Pakistan under the Nuclear Shadow_

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

NMML Invitation_Book Launch_The Strategy Trap: India and Pakistan under the Nuclear Shadow_16 June, 2018_6:00pm

India,US agree to trade talks

ON JUNE 15, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

India and the US have agreed to hold comprehensive talks to address trade and economic issues. The decision in this regard was taken during a series of meetings, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu had with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

At the conclusion of his two-day trip to the US, Mr. Prabhu told a group of Indian reporters in Washington, that New Delhi and Washington will now work together to expand bilateral trade.

The Minister said, India will send an official team within next few days to work out the details and initiate a comprehensive negotiation on all issues concerning trade and economic relationship between the two countries.

Acknowledging that both sides have trade and tariff issues with each other, Mr. Prabhu said officials will hold talks on all of them.

President Trump, in a press conference in Canada’s Quebec City during the G7 summit, took a swipe at India along with the world’s other top economies and accused New Delhi of charging 100 per cent tariff on some of the US’ goods.

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Rail Contact 2018

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Bullets trains has been long hawkish by various government but the work done in last four years are taken on special rail corridors and Mumbai -Ahmedabad is on priority and more train to taken on other A-B-C rail corridors. The average speed of passenger train is awfully low at 45 Km per hour and those of freight rails dismal low at 18 km per hr the government has geared by to transform railway with best available technology comapnies like Alstom India, BHEL, Siemens Ltd, Tata Projects KEC International Ltd, Titagarh Wagons Ltd, Toyota Kirloskar were making joint efforts and intervention with members Rail Board.”Fast speed #trainsand tracks are just around the corner. Speeds of 200kmph easily achievable”

Govt of India has already decided to move into a real high speed between Mumbai & Ahmedabad. Our aim is to upgrade the speed of trains up to 160 kmph & target to put more trains into this bracket~Mr. Ravindra Gupta, Member (Rolling Stock), Railway Board at #RailContact 2018.

Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of railways,Coal,finance and corporate affairs address the inaugural address by the Chief guest, at Rail Contact 2018 – Driving Industry -Railway Partnerships, in New Delhi. Piyush Goyal said Great things in business are never done by one person. As Steve Jobs says- It is always a team working in partnership, with a collective effort working towards a common goal.

Minster Railways thanked, Mr Ghanshyam Singh, Member Traction, Railway board to have rope in CII in Rail Contact, where joint efforts can yield new ideas ,issue can help us to run the railway best in the world. Indian Railways, which used to struggle with lack of investments & capacity constraints, has witnessed a massive growth in investments in the last 4 years, with speedy race of projects and transformation work in progress.

This Govt. has had the decisive leadership to not only do away with the populist measure like Railway budget but also not announce populist projects, but focus on what is truly essential & what can give you the fastest payback for every rupee that you spend. Minister added at the Rail contact conference, It’s reassuring to know that the present govt. is thoroughly supporting private enterprise in the development India.

Mr Alain Spohr MD India & SAsia Alstom India, said, he is in India from last 15 years and there are three key takeaways in today’s development, Ease of business, Make in India and New Strategies for business. Further added “Talking about the importance of sustainability, Alstom has set clear sustainability targets for all our services for 2020.” Alstom India MD Mr. Alain Spohr reiterates our global promise of sustainable development at the ‘RailContact – Driving Industry-Railway Partnership 2018.

Discussion on Protecting the Rights of Domestic Workers.

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

22nd JUNE 2018: Discussion on Protecting the Rights of Domestic Workers.

Protecting and Promoting Rights of Domestic Workers in India
on 22 June 2018
from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
at Oxford Bookstore, N-81 Connaught Place,
New Delhi

As part of its ongoing campaign #DignityOfMyLabour, PRIA in collaboration with Apne Aap Women Worldwide is organising a discussion to build consensus on the rights of domestic workers.
For all those interested and want to commit to ensuring domestic workers are treated with respect and dignity, come to Oxford Bookstore on 22nd June between 4.30 p.m. and 6.00 p.m.

Listen to the experiences of domestic workers who are trying to raise awareness among their employers to respect the work being done by them. Our panelists will also share current policies and regulations available for the protection of domestic workers and the stand of the Indian government at an international level on the ILO conventions.

Panelists:

Ms. Khadija, a domestic worker and group leader of Ekta Collective, Harijan Basti, Gurgaon. She has been part of PRIA’s project for the past 18 months and is at the frontline from her community trying to get dignity and recognition for their work.

Mr. Subhash Bhatnagar, Chief Functionary, Nirmana and Convener, National Domestic Workers Platform. For over 30 years, Mr. Bhatnagar has promoted and supported the rights of construction workers and domestic workers.

Mr. Alok Kumar, Trade Union Activist, Independent Research scholar, Executive Committee Member, Ghaarelu Kaamgar Union, Gurgaon.

Mirra Upadaya’s book “You are in Q” launched

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Mirra Upadaya’s book “You are in Q” launched by Shri Shri Ravi Shankar ji !!!

Swaraaj_Kapoor_Mirra_Upadaya__Shri_Ravi_Shankar_ji_pic_2.jpg

Mirra Upadaya, Swaraaj Kapoor Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Social Activist with his family seeked blessings of Shri Shri Ravi Shankar ji during the book launch ceremony in his own Shri Shri Ravi Shankar Ashram.

Inspirational writer Mirra Upadaya launched her book by the most revered & loved Shri Shri Ravi Shankar ji in front of 20 thousand people in his satsang on 7th June also which was telecasted live in 100 countries.

On this auspicious occasion the well renowned entrepreneur, philanthropist, social activist Swaraaj Kapoor said “It was the most ecstatic moment of our life with the book talking about varied people from political ,social & varied fields the journey & experiences of meeting them & their influences in most candid way , it’s simple to read & heart touching You Are In Que & couldn’t have had a better person in this world to have launched it by Shri Shri Ravi Shankar himself”

The opening book introduction was given by Shyam Sharma followed by Swaraaj Kapoor himself carrying further by emotional Mirra Upadaya. The book consist of various aspects and experiences of Mirra Upadaya when she encountered, people from all walks of life such as Indira gandhi , Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee to a commoner Visha the house keeper and their influence on her.

“You are in Q” will have its book reading in Delhi & Mumbai by some esteemed political people & artists. Mirra Upadaya’s book “You are in Q” launched by Shri Shri Ravi Shankar ji

Mirra Upadaya, Swaraaj Kapoor well known Entrepreneur, Philanthropist and Social Activist with his family seeked blessings of Shri Shri Ravi Shankar ji during the book launch ceremony in his own Shri Shri Ravi Shankar Ashram.

Trump plans 10% tariffs on $ 200 bn of Chinese goods

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

US President Donald Trump has unveiled plans to impose 10 per cent tariffs on 200 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods on top of previous punitive measures over Beijing’s unacceptable move to raise its own tariffs.

Trump said in a statement that further action must be taken to encourage China to change its unfair practices, open its market to United States goods and accept a more balanced trade relationship with the United States.

The US leader warned that after the new measures are in place – on top of existing tariffs on 50 billion dollars in Chinese imports – punitive measures on another 200 billion dollars of Chinese goods would go forward, if China increases its tariffs yet again.

Mercedes-Benz too in emission cheating scandal

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Mercedes-Benz dragged in to emission cheating scandal
German government forces recall of 700,000 diesel vehicle
Tripolone.

Mercedes-Benz and the German Transport Ministry has not revealed which model years are affected, but UK publication, Autocar, cites officials who believe that the latest Euro6 compliant vehicles are affected.

New tests have detected unauthorised software in several Mercedes-Benz models.

The German Transport Ministry has ordered the recall of 774,000 vehicles across Europe in response to the allegations.
Unauthorised software, also known as a cheat device, could be used to alter diesel emissions under test conditions.

The software was found in several popular Mercedes-Benz vehicles including the C220d, GLC220d SUV and Vito 111CDI van.
According to reports in the German media the software acts in a way that it reduces the amount of AdBlue – an additive for diesel engines to help reduce nitrogen oxides also known as NOx – over time which leads to higher emissions in real world conditions.

BREAKING: German transport minister Andreas Scheuer has ordered @MercedesBenz to recall Vito, GLC220d and C220d in Germany due to illegal emission exhaust measures. Total of 238,000 vehicles said to be involved. Some 774,000 vehicles affected Europe wide.
#Dieselgate pic.twitter.com/3tFZ9IIOXD

— Greg Kable (@GregKable) June 11, 2018

Mercedes-Benz sells the C220d and the affected Vito van locally but no longer offers the diesel-powered GLC in question. It is not yet known whether Australian sold vehicles are affected and it would be unlikely that the vehicles would surpass Australia’s much more lax emissions standards.

News of Mercedes-Benz featuring software that could alter the vehicles emissions results follows on from the scandal that engulfed Volkswagen and Audi which had knowingly added defeat devices in diesel-powered vehicles, including popular cars like like the VW Golf sold in Australia, with the aim of circumventing strict emissions standards in the USA and Europe.

German car brands including Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz’s parent company Daimler where also found to have commissioned a study that forced monkeys to breath diesel fumes of old and new cars in 2014 in an attempt to prove new diesel vehicles were less harmful for the environment.

VW officially apologised for the US study undertaken on its behalf while Daimler issued a statement calling the methods “unnecessary and repulsive”.

Naresh — What’s happening to families

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Naresh —

What’s happening to families at the border right now is horrific: Nursing infants ripped away from their mothers. Parents told their toddlers are being taken to bathe or play, only to realize hours later that they aren’t coming back. Children incarcerated in warehouses and, according to more than one account, kept in cages. This is a moral and humanitarian crisis. Everyone of us who has ever held a child in their arms, and every human being with a sense of compassion and decency should be outraged.

Even as I warned this could happen on the campaign trail — that Trump’s immigration policies would result in families being separated, parents being sent away from their children, people rounded up on trains and buses — I hoped it would never come to be. But now, as we watch with broken hearts, that’s exactly what’s happening.

We can be heartbroken, but we shouldn’t be hopeless. There’s something you can do to help.

Today, I’m asking you to take a stand on behalf of immigrant families by making a direct donation to the groups working to protect kids separated from their families by ICE.

The test of any nation is how we treat the most vulnerable among us. First Lady Laura Bush made that case eloquently in the Washington Post this weekend, writing: “This zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.” She’s absolutely right. We should be a better country than one that tears families apart, turns a blind eye to women fleeing domestic violence, and treats frightened children as a means to a political end.

Meanwhile, Jeff Sessions is trying to use the Bible to justify this cruelty. Let me say this: I went to a lot of years of Sunday school and even taught it from time to time, and what is being done using the name of religion is contrary to everything I was ever taught.

I still believe in the vision we share for our country, and I won’t let scared children become victims of partisan politics. Alongside the organizations that Onward Together partners with, we can and will elect politicians and enact legislation to protect the most vulnerable among us — but first, we have to address the urgent needs of families at the center of this crisis.

Make a contribution today, and your donation will go directly to the groups doing this work right now:

NMML : MANDALA DIALOGUE

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

MANDALA DIALOGUE

Date: 20th June 2018

Time: 10:00 am-1:00 pm

Venue: Seminar Room, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi

India-Indonesia Partnership @70

In the emerging geo-politics of the Indo-pacific and the presumed rivalry in the region amongst the Big Powers, it becomes significant to analyse the India-Indonesia relations @70 as it is one of the largest member state of ASEAN and one of the most significant in Asia to maintain the balance of power in the region. Recent visit of the Prime Minister Modi to Jakarta was long overdue and eagerly awaited and marks a major shift in the diplomatic history of the two countries. In the backdrop of the visit, ‘The Mandala Dialogue’ aims to focus on the age-old ties between the two countries, their diplomatic relations, strategic and comprehensive partnership along with the major highlights of the recent visit of the Prime Minister Modi and the way forward.

Mandala Dialogue is an initiative of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library to initiate a dialogue with experts and young scholars to actively engage on the emerging geo-political issues of contemporary relevance, particularly relating to India’s Neighbourhood Policy on different aspects of our relationships—trade, investment, security, culture, geo-strategy etc.

(Limited seats are available on first come first served basis only. RSVP to confirm your participation)

FM Piyush Goyal’s meeting CMD 13 Public sector banks

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and heads of 13 public sectors banks meet is underway in New Delhi. The meeting is being held to resolve various issues concerning public sector banks.

This is the first meeting with the heads of the Public sector banks after their annual financial result for 2017-18. Most of the banks posted loss in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal. These banks are headquartered in the east, south and northern regions.

Sources said, almost all banks have reported increase in non-performing assets as per the February 12 RBI, guidelines. The new guidelines have specified framework for early identification and reporting of stressed assets.

In addition, the issues concerning banks which are under the Prompt Corrective Action framework of the Reserve Bank would also be discussed.

Mehbooba Mufti resigns, BJP withdraws alliance

ON JUNE 19, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) : BJP decides to withdraw from the PDP-BJP alliance government Jammu and Kashmir. Watch press conference. Ram Madhav, Dr Jitendra Singh address the press confernce.

Mehbooba Mufti resigns as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, media reports, as in press conference, BJP decides to withdraw from the PDP-BJP alliance government Jammu and Kashmir. Chief minister Mehbooba Mufti has resigned, her party’s spokesperson confirmed this to media.

India-Indonesia Partnership @70

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library – NMML

Nehru Memorial Museum & Library
cordially invites you to
Mandala Dialogue
on
India-Indonesia Partnership @70

Date: 20th June 2018
Time: 10:00 am-1:00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi

(Limited seats are available on first come first served basis only. RSVP to confirm your participation)

RSVP:
Email: ccs2nmml@gmail.com
Phone No. 011-23010666

WED, 20 JUNE AT 10:00

India-Indonesia Partnership

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library – NMML · New Delhi

You like Nehru Memorial Museum and Library – NMML

The Growth Net Summit 2018

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Dear Member,

CII is organising the Growth Net Summit tomorrow, 19th June 2018 at Taj Diplomatic Enclave, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi. Detailed information is appended below for your reference.

I am writing to invite you to join us for this Summit.

Regards,

Anuj Khanna

Chairman – CII Western U.P Zonal Council

Confederation of Indian Industry

Western UP Zonal Office

CMA Tower

A-2E, Mezzanine Floor, Sector – 24

Noida 201 301

Uttar Pradesh

Tel : +91-120- 4345972-74

Rail Contact 2018

ON JUNE 18, 2018 BY NARESH SAGARLEAVE A COMMENTEDIT

Rail Contact 2018

Driving Industry-Railway Partnerships

19 June 2018| Kamal Mahal, Hotel ITC Maurya, Sardar Patel Marg, New Delhi

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