Jaipur: The President of All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), Asaduddin Owaisi, was in Jodhpur, the home turf of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, on Saturday for a survey on the condition of Muslims in the state.
Talking to the media, Owaisi said that a survey is being conducted on the condition of Muslims in Rajasthan. The report will be out sometime this month which shall be made public by March 25-26.
“Muslims have been made porters of secularism. When elections come, they say keep secularism alive, while others keep drowning it. For this reason I am getting the survey done by experts here,” he said.
Owaisi also talked to the media about AIMIM’s strategy for the Assembly elections in Rajasthan scheduled this year.
Owaisi said, “AIMIM will contest the elections in Rajasthan for which I am the visiting major cities of the state. My aim is to help my party’s candidates win.”
On forging alliance with other parties ahead of the polls, Owaisi said, “Only time will tell that.”
On choosing the CM’s home turf for launching his campaign, Owaisi said, “Doing public relations is not a bad thing. I also visited the Prime Minister’s parliamentary constituency and contested elections in Gujarat also.”
Hyderabad: Telangana Government on Saturday announced that more than 70 lakh people underwent eye examinations in the state in 52 days since the inception of Phase 2 of the Kanti Velugu scheme.
On Friday alone, about 2,05,943 people availed of the eye test services across the Kanti Velugu camps in the state, and 26,000 free spectacles were distributed.
The second phase of the Kanti Velugu programme, which was started on January 18 in Khammam by chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, is on pace to check 1.5 crore people at 16,533 different locations in 100 working days.
Telangana’s government hopes to finish Kanti Velugu-II, the world’s largest free eye screening project, by June 15.
As of Saturday, 70,02,290 from across Telangana got their eyes examined. About 12,29,098 received the free spectacles distributed by the state government post the eye examination.
As all the facilities required for the camp have been arranged by District officials, no complaints have been registered from any camp, said a press release.
As a part of the scheme, 1500 medical teams with ophthalmologists visit all the districts for 100 days, conducting eye screening and vision tests as well as providing spectacles free of cost and providing medicines for common eye ailments.
The Kanti Velugu camps are organised at gram panchayat and municipal ward centres across the state. Medical camps conduct eye examinations every week from Monday to Friday starting at 9AM until 4PM.
Eye examinations are done with the help of special software in medical camps, post which reading glasses are given to the people that require them, on the spot.
Special eye camps are also organised for government employees at their respective offices, for press reporters at their respective press clubs and for police battalion personnel at their respective offices.
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While DeSantis has brushed off questions about his political ambitions, he’s checked many of the boxes that White House hopefuls seek to accomplish as they gear up for a national campaign.
As Florida’s legislative session begins this week, DeSantis will head to Iowa and is planning trips to Nevada and New Hampshire. Those visits come after DeSantis held a series of campaign-style events to hype his new book, “Courage to be Free.”
He’s has also come under increased attacks from Donald Trump as the former president focuses on the Florida governor as the biggest obstacle to getting the 2024 Republican nomination. DeSantis has noticeably lost weight, another common feature of politicians planning high profile future runs. Trump’s insults, at times, have centered on DeSantis’ physical appearance.
DeSantis couldn’t ask for a better runway for a national Republican primary than Florida. The Republican-dominated Legislature over the past two years has handed him almost anything he wanted as he has ascended through the national conservative ecosystem and appears poised to continue the trend.
Both Florida Republican House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo opened their speeches Tuesday by praising DeSantis, which has become common among the state’s Republican leaders.
“Our governor is truly America’s governor,” Passidomo said. “He has defended our conservative values, challenged the individuals and institutions who pose threats to others, and introduced innovative solutions to better our state. It is often said that states are laboratories for democracy. Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, Florida is more than a laboratory, we are the model.”
DeSantis used his speech to highlight his policy portfolio, which is largely defined by culture war-infused fights. That includes urging lawmakers to expand Florida’s “Parental Rights in Education bill,” known by opponents as “Don’t Say Gay,” which bans instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms up until third grade. Legislators want to broaden the ban until eighth grade.
About a half-dozen bills lawmakers are proposing are inspired by DeSantis’ hard-right agenda, including mandating that teachers use pronouns that match those assigned to their students at birth, ban gender studies in the state’s higher education system and prohibit gender-affirming care for trans minors under 18.
“It’s sad that we have to say this, but our children are not guinea pigs for science experimentation and we cannot allow people to make money off mutilating them,” DeSantis said.
Attending the State of the State speech was Chloe Cole, an 18-year-old who has referred to herself as a “former trans kid,” and who has spoken to state legislature’s across the country in support of banning gender-affirming care.
Both state and national Democrats quickly released a slate of press releases and “fact checks” blasting DeSantis, a rapid response effort that’s ramping up as Democrats prepare to do battle with DeSantis heading into the 2024 presidential election cycle.
“Ron DeSantis is set to deliver his State of the State address today — where he will unveil his extreme wish list for the upcoming Florida legislative session as he continue his desperate chase for the MAGA base,” the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.
Unexpectedly, GOP lawmakers on Tuesday also proposed a six week abortion ban just minutes before DeSantis delivered his State of the State address even as the state’s previous 15 week abortion ban is mired in legal challenges and is awaiting a Florida Supreme Court hearing. The proposed six-week ban, which has the support of legislative leaders, includes language tying its effective date to a ruling by the conservative-leaning state high court. If the court upholds the law, the six-week ban could take effect if passed, but it would not if the 15-week ban is found to be unconstitutional.
The new proposal includes exemptions up to 15 weeks for rape and incest if the victim provides documentation that they were victimized. That can include things like police reports, court records, or restraining orders.
DeSantis told reporters after his State of the State speech that he thought the exemptions were “acceptable” but kept his comments brief.
“I have not seen what is filed, but I think that in the discussion that I had heard them [lawmakers] having, they were recognizing [the challenge to the 15 week abortion ban] was pending and that whatever they do this year would be basically only in effect if that case was resolved in a favorable way,” DeSantis said.
Pilloried by Dems
Democrats immediately railed against the proposal and cast DeSantis as extreme for supporting the measure. Democrats nationally used the same technique in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, and it was credited, in part, with helping Democrats enjoy a much more successful 2022 midterm than predicted.
“Each of us should be free to live our lives with dignity and to make the decisions that are best for our lives, families and communities,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat who previously worked for Planned Parenthood. “No one wants Ron DeSantis in the exam room with us; personal medical decisions should be between me, my family, my doctor, and my faith. Not politicians.”
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre on Tuesday also told reporters that elected officials like DeSantis “espouse quote, freedom for all, unquote, while directly attacking the freedom to make one’s own health care decisions. Their rhetoric doesn’t come without consequences here.”
But in the wake of midterm elections that saw Republicans dominate in Florida and build legislative super-majorities, Democrats have largely acknowledged there is little they can do to slow down DeSantis’ agenda.
And DeSantis does not appear poised to ease up.
“We will stand strong. We will hold the line. We won’t back down,” he said to conclude his speech, before borrowing a line made famous by former President Ronald Raegan. “And I can promise you this, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
The Virginian, who argues continuing the program in some form is essential but is open to changes, will have his work cut out for him. Influential and newly emboldened House Republicans have made it clear they won’t let Section 702 stay alive without significant changes — if they support reauthorization at all — amid an all-time-low relationship with the Justice Department and the FBI.
And the intelligence community can also count Section 702 critics among House Democrats and senators in both parties, many of whom believe this is their best chance to force more limits on the program.
Warner is trying to combat naysayers by discussing negotiations early, fighting against a congressional culture that often leads to delay until an imminent deadline forces action. And he’s ratcheting up public pressure on the intelligence community to give him more to work with as he tries to sell skeptical colleagues, who resoundingly rejected officials’ opening ask last week that Congress re-up the program largely as is.
“We’ve got to get 702,” Warner said. ”How we get there is a work in progress. I’m open to reforms.”
He’s already in conversations with other members of the Intelligence Committee, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who has previously backed changes to the program and said in an interview that there’s “broad bipartisan support” for adjustments.
“I do not believe in its current form [that] it does enough to protect privacy,” Wyden said. “One of the things that is good about this, is people aren’t waiting until the last minute.”
The intelligence community is trying to help supporters like Warner build their case. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines sent a letter to congressional leaders last week that detailed specific examples where the warrantless surveillance program helped counter cyber threats, as well as actions posed by China, Russia and North Korea.
And the administration plans to continue what it sees as a larger education effort, though it will have to balance Congress’ call for declassified information about the program with protecting classified sources.
Warner’s influence over the surveillance reauthorization debate will soon be tested in all corners: House Republicans, his own fellow Democrats and in particular the Senate Judiciary Committee, which also has jurisdiction over the program and isn’t planning to wait for the Intelligence panel to come up with legislation. A Democratic aide noted that the Judiciary panel will hold hearings and try to come up with a bipartisan deal.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the Intelligence Committee’s top Republican, said that Warner’s colleagues “respect him” and “his knowledge,” but still hinted at the challenge ahead: ”It’s the Senate, and people can respect you and still reach conclusions that are very different than your own.”
Though Warner reiterated that he was open to changing Section 702, as well codifying internal adjustments that the intelligence community has made, privacy advocates are skeptical that the Virginia Democrat represents Congress’ true ideological center on the upcoming surveillance fight.
In 2018, Warner was one of only 18 Democrats, plus Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine), who helped cut off debate on a warrantless surveillance bill even as their colleagues pushed for more restrictions. Since then, five of those Democrats have left the Senate, and the chamber’s surveillance-skeptic caucus has grown.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — a Judiciary Committee member who succeeded former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a supporter of the 2018 reauthorization — said he wanted to give it more thought but warned he has “a lot of concerns.”
“I’m increasingly skeptical about the set up of the FISA court and its purpose,” Hawley said, questioning if enough guardrails were in place on the secretive court that approves and denies surveillance requests under the broader Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that gives that entity its name.
And Warner is one of only nine still-serving Democrats who opposed a proposal from Wyden and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) in 2020 that would have protected Americans’ internet browsing and search history from federal surveillance.
Warner and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) were also the only two Democrats to oppose a separate 2020 measure from Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would have increased protections for federal surveillance targets. (Warner said at the time he had concerns it would disrupt a deal with the House.)
Both plans he opposed were offered as amendments to a bill re-upping three surveillance programs unrelated to Section 702. While the Lee-Leahy proposal was ultimately folded into the legislation, the entire bill subsequently collapsed amid a stalemate between Congress, then-President Donald Trump and his then-Attorney General Bill Barr.
Lee said he planned to bring back some variation of that past legislation and plans to push for “major reforms” to the program.
That’s not the only specific change under discussion, and some already have bipartisan support. Another idea gaining steam is requiring a warrant to search surveillance databases for Americans. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Wyden and others support that measure — Warner, when asked if he would vote for such a requirement, sidestepped the question.
Underpinning the discussions is a new political reality: Post-Trump-era fault lines are now rippling through the surveillance debate, thanks to the conclusion among some Republicans that the intelligence community inordinately targeted the former president.
To add further fuel to the problem, a recently declassified report on Section 702’s use between December 2019 and May 2020 sparked bipartisan outrage when it disclosed that an FBI intelligence analyst queried surveillance databases using only the name of an unidentified U.S. House member.
There’s also lingering heartburn from a series of reports from DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz that found “widespread” non-compliance by the department when it came to an FBI procedure that was designed to ensure accuracy in surveillance applications.
Still, the Biden administration is asking Congress to stay narrowly focused on 702, rather than address the broader foreign intelligence surveillance law, and to keep the program’s function largely intact. Though Garland and Haines said in their letter that they are open to improvements, they still argued lawmakers need to “fully preserve its efficacy.”
Rubio acknowledged the challenges ahead and suggested that by early to mid-April, lawmakers would need a better understanding of whether the House or the Senate would act first. If the House starts, it will need to reconcile differences between Intelligence Committee Republicans, who are likely to propose some reforms, and Judiciary Committee Republicans, who are prepared to push much more sweeping changes.
“From what I hear, the idea that the House is just going to do a simple reauthorization — just a straight reauthorization without any changes — does not appear likely,” Rubio said.
Warner acknowledged that, despite his efforts at early discussions, he hadn’t yet crossed the Capitol to begin talks with the House GOP.
“If I was going to be glib, I would say I want to talk about something serious,” he said, in a not-so-subtle knock on Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. “But I’m not going to say that.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Hyderabad: IIIT Hyderabad organized its semi-annual Demo Day this week to mark the opening of the year. 12 startups from various programs pitched to over 50+ investors that were invited to the demo day.
All 12 startups have interest from investors and conversations are on.
The startups originated across various solution realms, such as IOT-AI for Industrial automation, CV-based game data analysis, AR-VR-based virtual meeting platforms, and surveying, a press note informed.
All 12 startups are reportedly in conversations with the investors to take things forward.
“Research Translation and research-backed startups are one of the core focuses of CIE’s accelerators given IIITH’s rich experience in deep technology research innovations. It’s good to see more than 50 investors joining our demo day and are interested in such deep tech innovation,” said Prof Ramesh Loganathan, chief operating officer of CIE-IIITH
CIE is a 14-year-old incubator that has supported over 400 startups and has seed funded 25 startups. CIE-IIITH is focusing on turning a new leaf in terms of infrastructure facilities, programmes and startup engagements aiming to build a deep tech startup ecosystem.
Accelerator programs in CIE-IIITH offer up to 40L seed funding, and technology help through research labs of IIITH, along with strategy and GTM advisory leading up to initial customer traction.
CIE supported about 27 cohorts of Accelerators programs. Demo day is an event where the start-ups from Accelerator Programs are showcased.
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K Chandrashekar Rao during the ‘Kanti velugu’ scheme launch
Hyderabad: Telangana Government on Saturday announced that it has completed testing over 43 lakh individuals in the state through the Kanti Velugu scheme, since its inception.
About 8.42 lakh people have received free prescription glasses as the scheme’s second phase touches the one-month mark on February 18.
As a part of the scheme, 1500 medical teams with ophthalmologists visit all the districts for 100 days, conducting eye screening and vision tests as well as providing spectacles free of cost and providing medicines for common eye ailments.
Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao launched phase 2 of ‘Kanti Velugu’ scheme on January 19 intended to deal with ‘avoidable blindness in the state’.
According to the data reported by the ‘Kanti Velugu’ officials, the majority of people in the state are suffering from Nearsightedness.
Nearsightedness is a common ailment where objects that are farther away, appear blurry.
People aged 40 and above have more commonly complained of nearsightedness and were given prescription glasses. Besides these vitamin A, D, and B complex tablets were also distributed in the camps.
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Standing at a rough wooden podium with the words “Stine corn” carved into the front, next to a still-up Christmas tree and an enormous stone fireplace, he spoke without any notes and hit on his favorite themes about how woke capitalism is destroying the country.
“We were taught that you satisfy a moral hunger by going to Ben and Jerry’s and ordering a cup of ice cream with some social justice sprinkles on top,” he told the crowd, a line he repeated multiple times during his trip to Iowa. “But we’ve learned in the last couple of years that you cannot satisfy that moral hunger with fast food. And the good news is I think we’re getting hungry again. And I think there’s an opportunity to fill that hunger with something deeper.”
Ramaswamy was there to do what people with ambition, a thirst for the spotlight and an overflowing sense of self-confidence occasionally go to Iowa to do. He is exploring a run for president, testing, among other things, whether his warnings about the dangers of “wokeism” and socially-responsible investing — in business vernacular what’s called environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing — has political currency with Republican politicians, business leaders and, yes, farmers.
Ramaswamy has a theory for how this will all go. He wants to pull off what Donald Trump did in 2016: enter the race with an entrepreneurial spirit, unorthodox ideas, and few expectations, and end up developing a major following that will carry him to the presidency — even if it seems like a long shot at the moment.
But making a fortune in biotech investing is different than glad-handing with Iowa small business owners or withstanding a barrage of attacks from Trump.
And at the farmers dinner, Ramaswamy showed both the promise he’d bring to the field and the difficulties he’d encounter in trying to stand out among a crowd of former cabinet officials and sitting governors. As much as the GOP likes outsiders and businessmen, there’s still a natural skepticism of people who have no political or government experience whatsoever, especially when so much of the prospective field will likely have a track record of conservative governing, like Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
While Ramaswamy received a warm response, he also copped to me soon after his speech that he couldn’t recall the name of one of the top GOP bigwigs in attendance. It was Terry Branstad, the legendary former governor of Iowa and a political kingmaker in the state, who is friends with the dinner’s host. (Ramaswamy has since become good friends with Branstad, getting meals with him in multiple cities and frequently texting with him and his son.)
Branstad, for his part, said he was willing to give Ramaswamy, who is framing his bid as an effort to revive national identity, a chance. “Iowans are very open minded, and they’re very willing to listen and make up their own mind.” But he also noted that most Iowans “don’t know about” what ESG is.
The son of Indian immigrants — his father a General Electric engineer and his mother a geriatric psychiatrist — Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati. He attended Harvard for undergrad and then Yale Law. He made his name first by becoming a successful biotech entrepreneur and developing medicines, including five drugs that became FDA-approved. More recently, after writing two books and traveling the country, he started Strive, a new asset management firm that competes against the likes of BlackRock but differentiates itself by telling companies to stay out of politics.
Ramaswamy doesn’t necessarily want to run on his businessman track record. Instead he is planning to launch an ideas-based campaign focused on revitalizing the American spirit and bringing back a culture of merit into society.
“I believe that I’ve developed a vision for American national identity that I have deep conviction for and is the product of my own journey of having lived the gifts that this country has afforded me,” Ramaswamy said as he munched on veggie enchiladas at a Mexican restaurant in an Iowa strip mall. “And the combination of both doing it intellectually and having personally experienced that vision of our nation makes me well suited to articulate that and deliver on it.”
His metamorphosis into culture warrior came, he said, because his elite-educated business peers would often say one thing in private, like they were fed up with virtue signaling and social activism, yet still towed the progressive party line in public. Faced with what he saw as a combination of duplicity and cowardice, he felt compelled to defect from his peers and speak out.
And speak out he has. He’s made hundreds of appearances on cable news and become regarded as one of the intellectual godfathers of the anti-woke movement. In turn, the prospects of entering politics became more and more alluring.
He first considered pursuing elected office in 2021, when he weighed making a bid for Senate in his home state of Ohio. He eventually chose not to.
“One of your main jobs as a senator is to make laws, and I came to understand that many senators were not interested in engaging in that job,” he said. “Their goal was to get on cable television, and I was already on cable television.”
Ramaswamy insisted this trip to Iowa and other prep work he’s doing for a potential run are serious; this isn’t a play for attention, he said. He has already fashioned a policy platform: defeating China economically, firing the “managerial class” of the federal government, drastically changing or shutting down large numbers of federal agencies, reforming the national security apparatus and shunning affirmative action. He says he is plotting out his potential cabinet too, impressed with the intellect of former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the likes of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. (Pompeo, however, seems to have a different White House position in mind.)
What may be his most vital political asset is the resources he would bring to the race. Ramaswamy’s net worth is reportedly in excess of $500 million, enough to seed his campaign through the key early states.
For the time being, he’s embarking on test runs and fact-finding missions. On the first day of his Iowa trip, Ramaswamy spoke to a group of Iowa Republicans. Iowa State Senate President Amy Sinclair introduced him, calling herself a “Twitter groupie” and plugging his books. The next day, he made an appearance at the Land Investment Expo in Des Moines, where he spoke to a crowd of 2,000 farmers and other people working in agriculture. Several people approached him after to urge him to run for president. One couple from Kansas, Renae and Peter Hughes — wheat farmers who also work as a CPA and banker, respectively — told him “you have our vote.” Renae told him he was “a breath of fresh air.” Ramaswamy responded by telling the couple, “Hopefully we can translate that into action.”
Ramaswamy said he has had similar receptions on his 20-stop tour for his book “Woke Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.” He said all of the compliments had been “humbling” and led him to believe he should give the presidential campaign a shot. That he’s even found himself on this path is a testament to how central fighting culture wars and the perceived malevolence of wokeness has become in the Republican Party’s id.
“I think the GOP has a historic opportunity to answer the question of what it means to be an American at the moment where we lack a national identity,” he said. “I’m grateful that many Republican governors and other leaders have borrowed my message and woven it into their policy agendas. But when it comes to who leads our country next, I believe that it’s going to take a leader who shares his own vision, not someone else’s, and that’s what calls me to do this.”
Ramaswamy’s self-confidence barometer is off the charts. When talking to his Iowa host Bruere, Ramaswamy speculated that if he were to jump in the race and start polling well, DeSantis might reconsider running. (To be clear, we’ll sooner see snow in Miami.)
But all the self-confidence in the world doesn’t change the fact that, for now, Ramaswamy is an interloper on the political scene. When he was in the Iowa State Capitol, he received a friendly reception on the House floor from Iowa House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl. But Iowa Republican State Rep. Anne Osmundson told me she didn’t know who he was. When I told her he was in town to talk about ESG, she asked me whether he was for or against it.
At an evening reception with Iowa politicos of both parties that night, Ramaswamy eagerly worked the room but was met with some surprise from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who asked him why he was in the Midwest.
“I’m from the Midwest, I’m from Ohio,” he gently replied, before getting into a substantive conversation about ESG, what “Scope 3” emissions are and how it’s hard for farmers to calculate their contributions to climate change.
In a brief interview afterward, Grassley was complimentary about Ramaswamy but told me that the average Iowan won’t care about ESG “for 10 years until it starts affecting them.”
“Knowing the problems that this ESG thing is causing for agriculture, I consider him a breath of fresh air and a real person needed to bring common sense to this whole discussion,” he said. But does Ramaswamy have a future in politics? “I don’t think he wants a future in politics,” Grassley said. “I think he wants to make the free market work, and ESG is counter to the free market.”
Since his Iowa trip, Ramaswamy has continued to take steps that someone prepping for a long-shot presidential bid might take.
Ramaswamy’s growing team now consists of nearly 20 people, including former Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Kathy Barnette to lead his potential grassroots efforts and Tricia McLaughlin, who led communications for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s 2022 reelection campaign, as his press secretary. He’s hired Republican operative Rex Elsass’ political consultancy, based near Ramaswamy’s home in central Ohio, to run his potential operation, and Elsass’ top deputy Ben Yoho is expected to serve as “CEO” of any future campaign.
At a gathering of Hillsdale College donors in late January, there was applause when the college president, Larry Arnn, asked attendees if they thought Ramaswamy should run for president. He delivered a speech at a Judicial Watch annual gala where Donald Trump spoke the next night. He also gave a keynote at the Council for National Policy conference at the Trump Doral resort last week, where DeSantis spoke on another evening. Last week, he spoke to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics in Manchester and is slated to appear again in New Hampshire on the 22nd and Iowa the following day.
Despite his daunting chances of success, Ramaswamy does seem likely to take the plunge. His wife, Apoorva, who he said would be an “excellent” first lady, has told him that “her gut instinct” is that if he joins the race, “there’s a very good chance that you’ll win so make sure you’re ready for that.” He’s only slightly less optimistic.
“You know, maybe all of this is ill-advised and I’ll fall flat on my face,” he said. “I don’t think that’s gonna happen.”
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
