Tag: Indian

US’s National Press Club asks Indian govt to cancel ban on BBC documentary

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Washington: The National Press Club (NPC), a leading media organisation in Washington, has strongly condemned the Indian government’s move pertaining to the censorship of the BBC Documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’.
The NPC statement, released here on Tuesday, identifies the Indian government’s suppression of the Modi-critical documentary as part of a larger threat Prime Minister Narendra Modi poses to Indian democracy.
The organisation said that the government of India should let people decide whether to watch or not.
“India should be proud that it is the largest democracy in the world, but it cannot hold on to that identity if it continues to erode press freedom, persecute journalists, and suppress news that holds a mirror up to its shortcomings,” said the NPC president Eileen O’Reilly.
“Since Modi came to power, we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his government time and time again has suppressed the right of its citizens to a free and independent news media,” she said in a press release.
“The BBC is one of the most respected news sources in the world and is known for its high editorial standards. We also demand in the strongest terms the government stop its persecution of journalists and suppression of press freedom in India,” said the NPC president.
After the BBC aired a two-part documentary, the Indian government in the past two weeks, used its emergency powers to ban it from being aired in the country.
The Modi-led government also forced Twitter and YouTube to block the documentary in India under the 2021 information technology law, which the National Press Club has previously criticized.

The BBC documentary examines PM Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was chief minister of the western Indian state, of Gujarat.
During the riots, thousands of predominantly Muslim Indians were killed, many were raped and Muslim establishments were set on fire.
The Indian Supreme Court exonerated Modi in 2012 of wrongdoing but the documentary notes the British Foreign Office produced an unpublished report claiming Modi was ‘directly responsible’ for enabling the impunity of violence that led to the killings.
“NPC’s stand against the Modi regime’s brutal censorship campaign joins a chorus of condemnations from the global press and democratic freedom organizations, signalling growing international recognition of the grave threat Modi poses to Muslims, religious minorities, a free press, and democracy itself”, read their press note.
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#USs #National #Press #Club #asks #Indian #govt #cancel #ban #BBC #documentary
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 1, 2023
Indian American Nikki Haley to launch bid for 2024 White House

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Washington: Prominent Indian-American Republican Party leader Nikki Haley is poised to launch her 2024 White House bid on February 15 positioning herself to be the first challenger to former US president Donald Trump.
Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.
When she enters the race, Haley will be the first contender to join the contest against her former boss, who is currently the sole Republican seeking his party’s 2024 nomination.
Trump, 76, launched his White House bid last year. Haley could release a video signaling her plans as soon as this week, according to the Washington Post.
According to an invitation soon going out to her backers, Haley’s advertised “special announcement” will come on February 15 at The Shed at the Charleston Visitor Center, a downtown gathering spot that could draw hundreds of supporters into the heart of the city’s tourism district, The Post and Courier reported.
“The confirmation that she is entering the race came on January 31 from a member of Haley’s inner circle,” the Charleston, South Carolina-based daily reported.
Haley famously said previously that she would not seek to challenge Trump if he ran again, but there has been a shift in her stance in recent times as she said the US needs to look toward a different path.
“It’s time for a new generation,” she tweeted recently.
“It’s time for new leadership. And it’s time to take our country back. America is worth the fight and we’re just getting started,” she said.

In an interview to Fox News last month, she said the US needs a “new leader” who can take the country in a new direction.
“But when you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things. You first look at, does the current situation push for new leadership. The second question is, am I that person that could be that new leader, that, yes, we need to go in a new direction? And can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader,” Haley said in that interview.
During the interview, Haley also emphasized that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, should not be given a second term.
Biden, 80, is the oldest sitting US President.
The next US presidential election is scheduled to be held on November 5, 2024.
Haley was born Nimrata Randhawa to Ajit Singh Randhawa and his mother Raj Kaur Randhawa, who had emigrated from Punjab to Canada and then to the US in the 1960s.
Her father was a professor at the Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother received a law degree from Delhi University.
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#Indian #American #Nikki #Haley #launch #bid #White #House
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 1, 2023
Playing tour games on Indian pitches is irrelevant: Steve Smith

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Sydney: Former Australia skipper Steve Smith says his team is better off training on its own rather than playing tour games on “irrelevant” Indian pitches ahead of the four-Test Border-Gavaskar series.
Australia has decided not to play a single tour game in India during the month-long Test series, primarily due to the hosts serving up green tops for practice matches and spinning tracks for the actual games.
Smith, who won the country’s best men’s player award for the fourth time in his career on Monday, said nets sessions would benefit his side more than the tour games.
The 18-member squad, led by Pat Cummins, had a pre-series camp on spin-friendly tracks in Sydney and will have a week-long stint in Bengaluru before the first Test in Nagpur on February 9.
“We normally have two tour games over in England. This time we don’t have a tour game in India,” Smith was quoted as saying by news.com.au on Monday ahead of the team’s departure to India.
“The last time we went (to India) I’m pretty sure we got served up a green top (to practice on) and it was sort of irrelevant. Hopefully, we get really good training facilities where the ball is likely to do what it’s likely to do out in the middle, and we can get our practice in,” said Smith, who beat Travis Head and David Warner to win the Allan Border medal on Monday.
Australia has been criticized for not including tour games, which are an integral part of a long series, in their itinerary. But Smith said rigorous nets sessions will help spinners train better.
“We’re better off having our own nets and getting spinners in and bowling as much as they can.”

Smith, whose side had lost the series 1-2 when it toured India in 2017, indicated a lot of thinking had into the decision.
“We’ll wait and see when we hit the ground. I think we’ve made the right decision to not play a tour match. As I said, last time they dished up a green top for us (in a tour game) and we barely faced any spin, so it’s kind of irrelevant.”
The Australians had a training session in Sydney last week on pitches that had significant cracks to replicate Indian conditions.
“It’s (the Test series in India) certainly huge. I don’t know if it’s (winning in India) the final frontier. I’ve never won there, I’ve been there twice (for Tests), and it’s always difficult playing there. We’ve got some challenges in front of us, but the guys are ready for it,” added Smith.
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#Playing #tour #games #Indian #pitches #irrelevant #Steve #Smith
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023
Indian economy remains a ‘bright spot’: IMF

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Washington: India’s economy has retained the crown of “a bright spot” in the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook report released on Monday and it is slated to account for half of the global growth in 2023, compared to just a tenth coming from the combined might of the US, the world’s largest economy, and Europe, which comprises some of the largest economies.
The Indian economy is expected to grow by 6.1 per cent in 2023, which is 0.7 percentage points lower than 6.8 per cent in 2022, which was earlier projected by the fund in its October forecast. The growth rate will be back at the 2022 level of 6.8 per cent in 2024, the fund has further projected, based on “resilient domestic demand despite external headwinds”.
“India remains a bright spot,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, an IMF official, wrote in a blog accompanying the World Economic Outlook update, a quarterly report.
“Together with China, it will account for half of global growth this year, versus just a tenth for the US and euro area combined.”
The phrase “a bright spot” has been used for India’s economic growth for years now by the IMF, the World Bank and other similar bodies, in a nod to its inner resilience against external headwinds and bucking the trend either on the global stage or in the shrunken confine of Asia and South Asia.
India’s projected growth rate of 6.1 per cent for 2023 is 0.8 percentage points better than the IMF expectation of 5.3 per cent for a category of countries the fund describes as Emerging and Developing Asia. The 2024 match-up is even better, with India expected to got to 6.8 per cent while the Asian entity will see a decline to 5.2 per cent.
The global economy, however, is in a much better shape than how the fund saw it in October. It is projected to fall from an estimated 3.4 per cent in 2022 to 2.9 per cent in 2023, then rise to 3.1 per cent in 2024.
In October, the IMF projected global growth is forecast to slow from 6 per cent in 2021 to 3.2 per cent in 2022 and 2.7 per cent in 2023, and had called it the “weakest growth profile since 2001 except for the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic and reflects significant slowdowns for the largest economies: a US GDP contraction in the first half of 2022, a euro area contraction in the second half of 2022, and prolonged Covid-19 outbreaks and lockdowns in China with a growing property sector crisis”.

The headwinds for 2023 global economic growth were, as projected by the IMF, “central bank rates to fight inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine”.
Additionally, the rapid spread of Covid-19 in China dampened growth in 2022, but the recent reopening has paved the way for a faster-than-expected recovery. Global inflation is expected to fall from 8.8 per cent in 2022 to 6.6 per cent in 2023 and 4.3 per cent in 2024, still above pre-pandemic (2017-19).
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#Indian #economy #remains #bright #spot #IMF
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 31, 2023
Hyderabad: HLF panel sheds light on sexism in Indian scientific research

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Hyderabad: The second day of the Hyderabad Literary Festival (HLF) conducted a panel on Women in Science moderated by veterinary scientist Dr Sagari Ramdas which invoked the sexism present in the scientific community in the country.
The panel hosted two scientists: Nasreen Ehtesham from the National Institute of Pathology and Immunologist Dr Vineeta Bal. Kickstarting the panel discussion, Dr Ramdas shed light on how only 14% of women are present in STEM research in India and the Indian Institute of Sciences (IISs) and Indian Institute of Technologies (IITs) have only 12.72% of women. She further pointed out that the presence of Dalit, Bahujan and Adivasi women in scientific research is negligible owing to a wide range of divisive factors.
Dr Bal invoked the sexism present at the 108th Indian Science Congress (ISC) which was hostel by Nagpur University in the first week if January 2023. She mentioned kukum-haldi being offered to the delegates and stated that “the presence of patriarchal symbols was just another example of sexism wherein women scientists weren’t treated on par with men.”
The conference had hosted the presence of Prime Minister Narender Modi and saw controversial speeches made by Women’s Science Congress convenor Kalpana Pande and Union minister Nithin Gadkari’s wife Kanchan Gadkari.
Last year, Delhi High Court judge Pratiba M Singh had stated that Manusmrithi grants “very respectable position” to women at a panel titled “Facing the unseen barriers: Addressing challenges faced by Women in Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Mathematics (STEM).”
Dr Bal and Dr Ehtesham spoke about how lack of access to bathrooms, improper maternity leave and other institutional hindrances added to the lack of women in scientific research.
When asked about the current challenges younger women of science face, Dr Bal remarked that with the decline in a joint family system, women are compelled to stay at home to take of children as there isn’t enough familial or institutional assistance.
Further, when asked about the impact of #Metoo, the panelists mentioned that while we have come a long way, scientific community is still plagued with several cases of sexual harassment and aside from the setting up of an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), most scientific institutions are unable to do much.

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#Hyderabad #HLF #panel #sheds #light #sexism #Indian #scientific #research
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 30, 2023
70-plus Indian startups show exit door to 21K techies, more expected

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New Delhi: As global layoffs deepen, Indian startups are not far behind and have sacked thousands of employees in the past 3-4 months, with many more to be given pink slips in the coming months amid deepening funding winter.
In India, more than 21,000 employees have been laid off by more than 70 startups to day, including from unicorns like BYJU’S, Ola, MPL, Innovaccer, Unacademy, Vedantu, Cars24, OYO, Meesho, Udaan and many more.
The edtech sector has laid off the most employees, with 16 edtech startups laying off more than 8,000 employees to date.
With the onset of January, more and more Indian companies are slashing jobs across the spectrum. The new year has already seen more than 16 homegrown startups sack employees in the country.
Social media company ShareChat (Mohalla Tech Pvt Ltd) has laid off 20 per cent of its workforce due to uncertain market conditions.
Backed by Twitter, Google, Snap and Tiger Global, ShareChat has about 2,300 employees, and the layoff impacted about 500 people at the company,
Healthtech unicorn Innovaccer has sacked nearly 245 employees, or about 15 per cent of its workforce, across teams in India and the US.
Innovaccer cofounder and CEO Abhinav Shashank cited an “uncertain macroeconomic environment” as the reason behind the job cuts, according to an internal mail sent to employees and accessed by leading startup news portal Inc42.

This was the second layoff at the company in around 4-5 months’ time amid the deepening funding winter and recession fears.
In September last year, Innovaccer laid off nearly 120 employees, or less than 8 per cent of its workforce.
Online food delivery platform Swiggy confirmed that the company is laying off 380 employees as food delivery growth slows.
MediBuddy, an end-to-end digital healthcare platform in India, has laid off 8 per cent of its workforce, around 200 people, across all departments as a restructuring exercise.
Homegrown online vehicle repair platform GoMechanic, backed by Sequoia India, has laid off 70 per cent of its workforce as the startup struggles to raise funds amid serious concerns of accounting troubles.
The company has asked the remaining staff to work without pay for three months, according to reports.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) voice automation startup Skit.ai has asked more than 115 employees to go, mostly from its India team, as part of the “restructuring process” amid the deepening funding winter.
Even IT giant Wipro has laid off more than 400 fresher employees for poor performance in internal assessment tests.
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#70plus #Indian #startups #show #exit #door #21K #techies #expected
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 29, 2023
UAE: Indian expats can now avail visa, passport services even on Sunday

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Abu Dhabi: Indian expatriates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can now submit their applications for passport and visa services on all days including Sundays, local media reported.
Indian outsourcing services provider for government and diplomatic missions, BLS International Service Ltd, will be open seven days a week, effective from January 22, 2023.
Three centers located in Dubai and Sharjah will be open for submitting applications for passport and visa services on all days.
Except for local government holidays, the center will be open for consular services throughout the year.
“I reiterate our commitment to work for your well-being and well-being. To this end, since last week, the overseas service provider for passport and visa services has been operating on all days of the week.”
Dr Aman Puri, Consul General of India, was quoted as saying by Khaleej Times.
On Sundays, applicants may submit their filled application online with the required supporting documents on an appointment only basis from 9 am to 3 pm except for cases of Tatkal, Emergencies (medical treatment, death); senior citizens; who can apply on a walk in basis.
Applicants are requested to book an appointment with BLS on the given link.
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#UAE #Indian #expats #avail #visa #passport #services #Sunday
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 28, 2023
Veteran South Indian actress Jamuna passes away in Hyderabad

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Hyderabad: Veteran actress Jamuna passed away here on Friday after a brief illness. She was 86.
She breathed her last at her residence, family sources said.
Jamuna, who acted in about 200 movies in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, is survived by a son and a daughter.
She was born at Hampi in Karnataka on August 30, 1936, but her parents Nippani Srinivasa Rao and Kowsalya Devi moved to Andhra Pradesh. She received her primary education at Duggirala in Guntur district and was a stage artist in her school days.
Jamuna, whose real name was Jana Bai, made her acting debut at the age of 16 with Puttillu (1953) directed by Garikapari Rajarao.
It was L. V. Prasad’s Missamma (1955) which gave her recognition. She had played a supporting character in the film with the lead roles played by N. T. Rama Rao, Savitri and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. In a career spanning four decades, she portrayed a variety of roles and acted with these legendary actors of her time other top actors of her times.
Jamuna also acted in 11 Hindi films. She won FilmFare award for best supporting actress for Milan (1967) starring Sunil Dutt and Nutan. It was a remake of Telugu movie Mooga Manasulu (1964) which featured Jamuna along with Nageswara Rao and Savitri.
Impressed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, she joined the Congress party in 1980 and was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rajahmundry in 1989, but quit politics after the defeat in 1991. She later joined BJP and campaigned for the party in late 1990s.

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#Veteran #South #Indian #actress #Jamuna #passes #Hyderabad
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 27, 2023
Egypt considering allocating land to Indian industries in Suez Canal Economic Zone

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New Delhi: India and Egypt have reaffirmed their commitment to the founding values of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), international law and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states.
It was mentioned in a joint statement released on Thursday, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi held wide-ranging talks covering bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.
On economic ties, the statement mentioned that the Egyptian side is considering the possibility of allocating a special area of land for the Indian industries in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ), adding that “the Indian side can arrange for the master plan”.
The Suez Canal, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, is one of the world’s busiest trade routes. About 12 per cent of the global trade passes through the canal each day.
The statement said India would encourage its companies, which have the potential to establish overseas investments, to make use of the available investment opportunities in Egypt.
“In this context, the Egyptian side considers the possibility of allocating a special area of land for the Indian industries in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ), and the Indian side can arrange for the master plan,” it said.
The Egyptian president, who arrived here on a three-day visit on Tuesday, attended the Republic Day celebrations as the chief guest.
The joint statement noted that Modi and Sisi reviewed the status of the bilateral relationship based on the pillars of closer political and security cooperation, deeper economic engagement, stronger scientific and academic collaboration as well as wider cultural and people-to-people contacts.

“The two countries reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism, the principles of the United Nations Charter, international law, the founding values of the Non-Aligned Movement, and respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states,” the statement said.
Though it did not mention any context or country, the reference to sovereignty and territorial integrity of states came amid growing global concerns over China’s aggressive military muscle flexing and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The two sides take into consideration the cultural and social sensitivities of all states and, in this regard, they agreed to work together to promote and safeguard these basic principles through regular consultations and coordination at bilateral and multilateral levels,” the statement mentioned.
It said Modi and Sisi expressed concern over the spread of terrorism across the world and agreed that it poses one of the most serious security threats to humanity.
“Both leaders condemned the use of terrorism as a foreign policy tool. They called for ‘zero tolerance’ for terrorism and for all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism or provide sanctuaries to terrorists and terror groups — whatever their motivation may be,” the statement said.
It said the two leaders emphasised the need for concerted and coordinated action by the international community, with the objective of eradicating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism.
“They reiterated their condemnation of efforts, including by States, to use religion to justify, support and sponsor terrorism against other countries,” it said.
“They also called upon all countries to work towards rooting out terrorist networks and their safe havens, infrastructure, their financing channels and preventing cross-border movements of terrorists,” the statement added.
Both leaders reiterated their common resolve in promoting the values of peace, tolerance and inclusiveness and making concerted efforts to fight terrorism and violent extremist ideologies.
“They emphasised the need for a holistic approach to counter terrorism and violent extremism, which includes inter alia disrupting the use of the internet and social media and preventing the use of religious centres to radicalise youth and recruit terrorist cadres,” the statement said.
It said Modi and Sisi also agreed on the need to hold the joint working group meeting on counter-terrorism on a regular basis to exchange information and best practices.
The two sides agreed on enhancing the interaction between their respective national security councils.
The joint statement said the two leaders look forward to deepening cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied services, while noting the importance of strengthening the supply chain of food articles.
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#Egypt #allocating #land #Indian #industries #Suez #Canal #Economic #Zone
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 26, 2023
Chicago shooting: Father of injured Indian student seeks government help

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Hyderabad: A student from Telangana studying in Chicago was critically injured by some armed miscreants during a robbery on Sunday night in Princeton Park.
After the incident, the father of the victim Sai Charan, on Tuesday, said that he got the information Monday night regarding the attack.
The father of the victim, Srinivas said, “The incident happened when Charan and another person along with him were coming back home from Walmart. They were stopped at the parking lot. After they were stopped at gunpoint, Charan and the other man gave all the money to them. After going a little far, the armed man fired at two people.”
Charan was injured and the other person with him died in the shooting incident.
“At present, Charan is in ICU but in what condition we don’t know. So we urge the government to do the needful with the reports and visa process to see our son. We are in shock, the whole family is in shock, and everything has changed in a day,” Srinivas said.
“We request the government to help us seek reports of the incident,” he added.
Earlier, Sunday night, one of the two people, was shot during an armed robbery in Princeton Park on the South Side has died, Chicago police said Tuesday morning.
Devsish Nandepu Hyderabad, 23, of Chicago died just after 4 am on Monday morning at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. He had been shot in the armpit and taken to the hospital in critical condition during the incident.
According to the abc7, Devsish Nandepu and a 22-year-old man were near a parking lot about 6:55 pm Sunday in the 8400-block of South Holland Road when a dark-coloured vehicle approached and two occupants exited before demanding the pair’s property at gunpoint, Chicago police said.
Another incident was witnessed on Friday, where an Indian-origin man from Gujarat named Pinalkumar Patel was shot and killed in his driveway on Thoroughbred Lane, American web portal AOL reported.

According to the officials, a group of masked gunmen assaulted Patel’s family including his wife, Rupalben, and his daughter, Bhakti. They were also shot, as per Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said was an assault by a group of masked gunmen.
Bibb County sheriff officials said deputies responded to reports of a shooting on Thoroughbred Lane at 11:01 pm Friday.
When deputies arrived, they found 52-year-old Pimalkumar Patel, his wife and their child all with gunshot wounds in the driveway of their home, according to AOL.
Deputies were told that Patel began shouting at the assailants before they shot him and his family and rode away in a car that was waiting across the street.
Patel was shot multiple times. His wife and daughter were shot in their legs and as of Friday were said to be in stable condition.
It was unclear in the report whether the masked group intended to rob the family, though the assailants were not said to have taken anything from the victims.
The investigation is ongoing. Deputies asked for help identifying a car seen on a surveillance camera across the street from the shooting, as per the report in AOL.
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#Chicago #shooting #Father #injured #Indian #student #seeks #government
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

January 26, 2023