India

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) Prime Minister Narednra Modi on Saturday paid tributes to India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his 59th death anniversary.

"On his death anniversary, I pay tributes to our former PM Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru," the Prime Minister said in a tweet.

Nehru played a prominent role in India's freedom struggle and went on to become India's first Prime Minister after independence in 1947.

In order to free India from British rule, Nehru fought against the British and was among the key leaders of the Indian National Congress (INC).

On May 27, 1964, he took his last breath. He was the Prime Minister for over 16 years from 1947 to 1964 till he died at the age of 74.

He had a great fondness for children, and children use to call him Chacha Nehru and his birthday is celebrated as Children's Day every year.

--IANS
aks/ksk/

New Delhi, May 27 (IANS) As many as 70.5 per cent of the respondents of a survey are satisfied with the BJP-led Central government, followed by 27.6 per cent who feel otherwise, while 2.36 per cent of the respondents said they cannot comment on the matter.

This was disclosed during an exclusive pan-India survey conducted by CVoter to mark nine years of the BJP-led government. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after he led the BJP to a historic majority of 282 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

According to the survey, as compared to 2023, in 2022, 68.85 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the Central government's works, while 28.25 per cent felt otherwise.

In 2021, 59.2 per cent of the respondents were satisfied with the Centre's works, marking a steep fall from 2020 when the numbers stood at 80.73 per cent. In 2019, 74.72 of the respondents were satisfied with the Modi regime's works.

--IANS
ssh/ar

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) With less than two days left for the inauguration of the new Parliament building, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday shared a video of the four-storey building, saying that the new Parliament House will make every Indian proud.

PM Modi gave a glimpse of the new Parliament House through a video, which he will inaugurate on May 28, with a "special request".

"The new Parliament building will make every Indian proud. This video offers a glimpse of this iconic building. I have a special request- share this video with your own voice-over, which conveys your thoughts. I will Tweet some of them. Don't forget to use #MyParliamentMyPride," Modi said in a tweet attaching the video of the new Parliament House.

He also urged the people to re-share the video with their own voice-over which conveys their thoughts about the new structure that will replace the iconic circular building. He also asked the citizens to use #MyParliamentMyPride while posting the videos.

--IANS
aks/pgh

Bhopal, May 26 (IANS) The sudden meeting of Union Ministers Prahlad Patel and Narendra Singh Tomar, accompanied by BJP's national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and then, between senior state leaders has given rise to speculation of some changes in Madhya Pradesh BJP unit.

A social media post by Patel, hours after meeting CM Chouhan on Wednesday night, has further fuelled the rumours.

"I express my heartfelt gratitude to my old friends and elders CM Chouhan, Narendra Singh Tomar and Kailash Vijayvargiya, who gave me strength by using an old experiment to overcome this state of mind and activism. In times of struggle there was a feeling of mutual love and trust," Patel posted on his official Twitter handle on Thursday, following which some social media users, including local media persons, started congratulating him for new role in the MP BJP.

If all that wasn't enough, a closed-door meetings between state unit chief V.D. Sharma and Home Minister Narottam Mishra and then another one to one meeting between Chouhan and Mishra added fuel to the fire.

Subsequently, Chouhan, Mishra, Sharma, along with senior party leaders, including state in-charge Murlidhar Rao, BJP's national Secretary, Organisation, Shiv Prakash and state Secretary, Organisation, Hitanand Sharma held a closed-door meeting at party headquarters that ended after one and a half hours.

The series of meetings assumed significance, particularly in the wake of rising discontent among party cadres, vented recently by veteran leaders, including former MLAs Satyanarayan Sattan, Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, Deepak Joshi (who joined the Congress later), Harenderjeet Singh Babbu and Dhruv Pratap Singh, besides first-time MP from Guna seat Dr KP Singh Yadav.

Since Thursday evening, the political circles were abuzz with speculation whether any of the three senior leaders - Union Ministers Tomar (who was state BJP President some years back), and Patel, or Vijayvargiya, could replace Sharma amid rising discontent among party elders against present state party leadership.

According to party sources, Vijayvargiya is likely to attend a key organisational meeting of the party in Bhopal late on Friday night, while Chouhan will fly on a two-day trip to Delhi.

While state party leaders, including state party media convener Ashish Agrawal termed the speculations of change of state BJP chief as baseless, opposition Congress's state spokesperson K.K. Mishra claimed that the BJP cannot buck the rising anti-incumbency of 18 years against it and its government, by changing the state party chief or even the face of the government.

Meanwhile, at least two senior BJP insiders told IANS that the central leadership knows it well that any change in state party leadership or even remotest possibility of change in government's face might prove suicidal for party's already sagging prospects five months ahead of polls.

They, however, added that any of the three senior party leaders, may well be given an additional responsibility of poll management through constitution of some body in the state.

--IANS
pd/vd

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) About 56 per cent of the respondents of a survey will elect Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister if they are given a choice to elect directly between him and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

However, Rahul Gandhi has also made improvement in his image, as almost 35 per cent of the respondents want to elect him directly for the post.

This was disclosed in an exclusive pan-India survey conducted by CVoter to mark nine years of the BJP-led government. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after he led the BJP to a historic majority of 282 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

The survey said that 56.06 per cent respondents will elect Modi as the next PM if they have to choose directly between him and Rahul Gandhi, while 35.37 per cent people voted in favour of the former Congress chief.

However, Modi's popularity fell from 65.36 per cent in 2020 to 56.06 per cent in 2023. Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi was only wanted by 23.11 per cent respondents to be elected directly as the Prime Minister in 2020. He improved his image and reached 35.37 per cent in 2023, thus closing the gap between him and Modi, who still remains one of the most popular leaders across the globe.

--IANS
aks/arm

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) A total of 48.5 per cent of the respondents of a survey are of the opinion that the Narendra Modi regime has introduced a new language and method to communicate with the people over the last nine years.

However, 34 per cent respondents feel the opposite, while 17.5 per cent say they cannot comment on the issue.

This was disclosed during an exclusive pan-India survey conducted by CVoter to mark nine years of the BJP-led government. Narendra Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister of India on May 26, 2014 after he led the BJP to a historic majority of 282 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

According to the survey, 48.4 per cent respondents from the rural areas, and 48.9 per cent from the urban areas feel that the Modi regime has brought a new language and method of communication with the people over the last nine years.

The survey also claimed that 50.1 per cent female and 47 per cent male feel the same, whereas 36.7 per cent male and 31.1 per cent women feel otherwise.

Also, 58.2 per cent respondents in the higher income group, 48.1 per cent in the middle income group, and 47.3 per cent in the lower income group feel that the Modi regime has brought a new language and method of communication with the people over the last nine years.

The survey also said that 53 per cent respondents in the Muslim community, and 44.6 per cent in the Schedule Caste/Dalit category feel that the Modi regime did not bring a new language and method of communication with the people over the last nine year.

--IANS
spr/arm

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Three out of every five Indians are of the opinion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been successful in projecting India as a global power over the last nine years.

This was revealed during an exclusive pan-India survey conducted by CVoter to mark nine years of the NDA regime headed by Modi.

Modi was sworn in as the Prime Minister on May 26, 2014 after leading the BJP to a historic majority of its own in the Lok Sabha elections.

Since then, Prime Minister Modi has continuously and aggressively promoted the interests of India in scores of bilateral and multilateral meetings with leaders of other countries.

The impact of this outreach has been so significant that 50 per cent of Indians who vote for the opposition also agree with the contention.

This is rare because supporters of opposition parties have usually given a thumb down to the Modi regime on various issues not just in this survey, but many others conducted by CVoter over the years.

The only category of Indians who think Modi has failed to project India as a global power in the last one years is Muslims; close to 56 per cent of them are of the opinion he has failed.

Apart from that, a big majority of Indians across demographics and ethnic identities are of the opinion that Modi has been successful in projecting India as a global power.

One of the more interesting findings of the survey is that more rural Indians (61.4 per cent) agree with the contention than their urban counterparts (58.3 per cent).

From his first visit as Prime Minister to the US in August 2014, Modi has maintained an extremely hectic schedule of diplomatic engagements.

--IANS
san/pgh

Mainpuri (Uttar Pradesh), May 24 (IANS) Emerging victorious in the civil services examinations was a bigger deal for Suraj Tiwari, 27, than crossing seven seas.

A resident of Kaswa Kuravli in Mainpuri district, Tiwari, who secured 917th rank in the civil service examinations, has disability in both his legs and one hand. His success is a great moment of happiness for his family and town.

While returning from his college in New Delhi, Suraj met with an accident at a railway station on January 29, 2017 and lost both his legs from above the knee and his right hand near just below the elbow, leaving him bed-ridden and completely dependent on his family members.

The tragedy not only took away his ability to walk and write, it also pushed him to depression. His family members said it was the darkest phase for them. But Suraj knew that hard work is the only silver lining for him to shine again.

Suraj did his graduation and is now pursuing MA in Russian from Jawaharlal Nehru University. This renewed the flicker of hope in him but Suraj decided he would shine brighter.

Suraj began preparing for one of the toughest exams amidst the chaos of Covid-19 pandemic. He cleared the written exam of UPSC in his first attempt but fell short by a few marks for interview. In his second attempt, he cracked the exam.

His family and friends have not stopped celebrating his success ever since the results were announced.

--IANS
amita/dpb

Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh), May 24 (IANS) Trouble is now unfolding for Vijay Mishra, the lawyer of slain gangster politician Atiq Ahmad.

Vijay Mishra has been booked by the Prayagraj police on charges of seeking Rs 3 crore extortion from a trader dealing in plywood and mica in the city.

Atiq's another lawyer, Khan Saulat Hanif, is already in jail after being awarded life imprisonment along with the don in the Umesh Pal abduction case.

Police said that one Mohd Syed, a resident of Dariyabad who runs a plywood and mica shop in the Mutthiganj area of the city, has lodged an FIR with the Attarsuiya police against Vijay Mishra under sections 386 (committing extortion by putting any person in fear of death or of grievous hurt to that person or to any other), 504 (insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 507 (criminal intimidation by anonymous communication) for seeking Rs 3 crore extortion and threatening him with dire consequences.

In the FIR, Syed stated that Mishra had purchased plywood and mica worth Rs 1. 20 lakhs from his shop on January 5 with the assurance that he would pay the dues from time to time. He also claimed that Mishra paid some dues and on April 17, when one of his employees Shekhar called him (advocate) and asked to clear the pending dues, Mishra started threatening the employee of dire consequences on phone.

Shekhar then informed his employer and other workers about the matter.

Syed further claimed that Mishra, on April 20, called him up and sought Rs 3 crore extortion in the name of Atiq and his henchmen, and threatened him with dire consequences. Syed told the police that he had recorded the call on his mobile.

Interestingly, Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf were shot dead on April 15 in Prayagraj and Mishra has been accused of making the extortion call five days after their death.

--IANS
amita/dpb

By Yashwant Raj
Washington, May 24 (IANS) The bipartisan leadership of an India-focused group of US lawmakers of the House of Representatives on Tuesday called for extending an invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint session of Congress during his upcoming state visit in June at the invitation of President Joe Biden.


"On June 22, 2023, President Biden is hosting Prime Minister Modi for an Official State Visit and a State Dinner. As State Dinners have come to signify the President's utmost respect for visiting heads of state, granting a joint address to Congress is a commensurate honour for the leader of the world's largest democracy and perhaps the most critical partner to countering China in the 21st century," Representatives Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and James Waltz, a Republican, wrote in a joint letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy.

"We firmly believe that inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliver a joint address to Congress would further strengthen the deep and enduring friendship between the US and India," they added in the letter.

There were no indications if Speaker McCarthy, a Republican, will agree. If he does and Modi accepts the invitation, the latter will become the first Indian Prime Minister to address a joint session of US Congress twice. The first was in June 2016, in which he sought to project a new energy for the bilateral relationship with the two sides overcoming "the hesitations of history".

Biden has invited Modi for a state visit in June, the two sides announced earlier this month, with a state dinner at the White House as well.

The last Indian Prime Minister who was given a state dinner was Manmohan Singh; he was hosted by President Barack Obama. Singh was also the first foreign leader given a state dinner in Obama's presidency.

A state dinner is a rare gesture and signals a special relationship, which India and the US have to come to share over the last decade or so, going back several administrations and governments on both sides.

Khanna and Waltz, who are co-chairs of the India Caucus in the House of Representatives, invoke this special relationship to request the US Speaker to invite Modi.

"The foundation of our partnership lies in our shared commitment to democracy and the upholding of a rules-based international system," they write in the letter, adding, "With mutual interests in promoting global security, stability and economic prosperity through trade, investment, and connectivity, the US and India have forged a deep bond. The recent in-person bilateral meetings between President Biden and Prime Minister Modi have reaffirmed our dedication to a resilient international order that safeguards sovereignty, upholds democratic values, and promotes peace and prosperity for all."

--IANS
yrj/khz/