New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a veiled dig at Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi in his reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address in Lok Sabha and said some speeches made on Tuesday were lauded by the their ecosystem and “maybe they slept well and couldn’t wake up (on time)”.
Rahul Gandhi, who participated in the debate on Tuesday and largely targeted the government on Adani issue in his speech, was not present in the House when Prime Minister made his initial remarks. He later reached Lok Sabha.
“I was watching yesterday. After the speeches of a few people, some people were happily saying, “Ye hui na baat.” Maybe they slept well & couldn’t wake up (on time). For them it has been said, “Ye keh keh ke hum dil ko behla rahe hain,wo ab chal chuke hain, wo ab aa rahe hain”,” PM Modi said.
“When President’s Address was going on, some people avoided it. A tall leader even insulted the President. They displayed hatred against ST. When such things were said on TV, the sense of hatred deep within came out. Attempt was made to save oneself after writing a letter later” he added.
PM Modi said India became the fifth-largest economy amid difficult times.
“Several countries are suffering from instability due to war. Several others are facing inflation, unemployment, and lack of food security including our neighbours. Amid difficult times, India became the fifth-largest economy,” he said.
Prime Minister said that President Droupadi Murmu’s presence as Head of the Republic is historic as well as inspiring for the daughters and sisters of the country.
“I extend my thanks to the President’s Address. I got the opportunity earlier also. But this time, along with thanks, I also want to greet her. In her visionary address, the President guided us and crores of Indians. Her presence as the Head of the Republic is historic as well as inspiring for the daughters and sisters of the country,” PM Modi said.
“The President has enhanced the pride of the tribal community. Today, after several years of independence, there is a sense of pride in the tribal community and an increase in their self-confidence. This nation and House are grateful to her for this,” he added.
New Delhi: Video communication app Zoom is laying off about 1,300 people, or 15 per cent of its workforce, its CEO Eric Yuan has announced.
Yuan also said that he is reducing his salary for the coming fiscal year by 98 per cent and foregoing his FY23 corporate bonus.
“Members of my executive leadership team will reduce their base salaries by 20 per cent for the coming fiscal year while also forfeiting their FY23 corporate bonuses,” he announced.
During the pandemic, Zoom usage surged significantly as millions stayed home.
Yuan said the company is still seeing that people and businesses continue to rely on Zoom.
“But the uncertainty of the global economy, and its effect on our customers, means we need to take a hard – yet important – look inward to reset ourselves so we can weather the economic environment, deliver for our customers and achieve Zoom’s long-term vision,” he said in a blog post.
“We have made the tough but necessary decision to reduce our team by approximately 15 per cent and say goodbye to around 1,300 hardworking, talented colleagues,” Yuan informed.
Departing full-time employees in the US will be offered up to 16 weeks’ salary and healthcare coverage, payment of their earned FY23 annual bonus based on company performance, and stock option vesting for six months for US employees and through August 9, 2023 for non-US employees.
“I know this is a difficult message to hear, and certainly not one I ever wanted to deliver,” said Yuan.
Zoom will announce its earnings for 2022 on February 27.
It was a speech that underscored the stark dividing lines that have come to define this presidency, in which pleas for partisan differences to be set aside often clash against the realities of modern politics.
“That’s always been my vision for our country: to restore the soul of the nation, to rebuild the backbone of America, the middle class, to unite the country,” Biden said. “We’ve been sent here to finish the job.”
As he spoke, a symbol of the new fault lines in Washington appeared just over Biden’s left shoulder. He delivered last year’s State of the Union, and 2021’s address to Congress, with Nancy Pelosi seated behind him in her role as House speaker. On Tuesday, Republican Kevin McCarthy was in that perch, with his party having vowed to investigate Biden and his family and block much of his agenda.
Despite the looming gridlock, Biden struck an optimistic tone and pointed to his robust slate of accomplishments from his first two years in office. He cited the nation’s “progress and resilience” on its path or recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6 insurrection, declaring that while the nation “was bruised, our democracy remains unbowed and unbroken.”
“The story of America is a story of progress and resilience,” Biden said. “We are the only country that has emerged from every crisis stronger than when we entered it. That is what we are doing again.”
He repeatedly urged the GOP lawmakers to help him “finish the job” – he used the phrase 12 times in total – in passing a series of bills popular with the American people.
“To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress,” Biden said.
Even before speaking, Biden nodded across the aisle, singling out Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and needling McCarthy. “I don’t want to ruin your reputation but I look forward to working with you,” he said to the speaker.
Biden painted himself as the adult in the room, a no-drama president who tried to reach across the aisle and restored a sense of normalcy to a Washington left reeling from four tumultuous years of Donald Trump. He made a renewed push on pieces of legislation — including an assault weapons ban, police reform and protections for abortion rights — that polling suggestions are broadly popular with the American people, including the independent and swing voters who usually decide elections.
And while those are items Republicans are likely to oppose in the months ahead, aides felt confident in the approach. It was, they noted, a “unity agenda” similar to the approach that Biden took during his 2020 campaign, where he tried to avoid the daily political firestorms engulfing Trump, pledged to make politics less omnipresent in everyday life, all while allowing his Republican opponent to self-immolate.
The updated version of that strategy — until the Republicans pick their 2024 standard bearer — is predicated on the ascendance of newly prominent faces in the Republican party, including Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Another headline-grabbing Republican, Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who faces a House Ethics probe and has been accused of lying about his entire resume, was seen milling about near the aisle.
A year ago, Taylor Greene and Boebert heckled Biden during his speech, and photographs of their angry shouting went viral. Ahead of the speech, McCarthy urged his caucus to avoid repeating such a spectacle. But after Biden suggested that some Republicans wanted to gut Social Security and Medicare, GOP lawmakers erupted in protest. Taylor Greene was spotted standing and shouting at the president again. Later, other Republicans interrupted Biden to shout about the southern border.
Biden has not yet declared his candidacy for re-election, but the State of the Union doubled as a soft launch for it. McCarthy also looms as a political foil. Though some of his criticisms of the GOP were implicit, Biden made direct calls in his speech for partisan politics to be set aside for two important priorities: lifting the federal debt ceiling and continuing to fund Ukraine in its defense against Russia. The new Speaker has already delivered his objections on both, setting up standoffs on issues that Biden has declared essential to the future of democracy at home and abroad.
Biden spoke quickly and forcefully, though stumbling on occasion, as he delivered the 73-minute speech. He touted the bipartisan $1 trillion infrastructure bill and saluted the Republicans who supported it. For those in the GOP who didn’t, he zinged: “We’ll still fund your projects. And I’ll see you at the ground-breaking.”
There are challenges on the horizon for Biden, including the war in Europe and a special counsel appointed to investigate his handling of classified documents. And Republicans have spent recent days savaging the Biden administration’s response to the Chinese spy balloon that floated in U.S. airspace and gearing up for a year of partisan investigations.
Biden talked tough on China but made only a passing mention of the spy balloon that has dominated the national political discourse for a week, declaring, “As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country. And we did.”
Any State of the Union is of the moment, reflecting a nation’s internal strife. A year ago, in the wake of a surge of violent crime, Biden emphatically declared, “We should all agree the answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them.”
But on Tuesday, in the midst of a homeless crisis and the killing of a Black man at the hands of Memphis police, Biden’s tone shifted, calling for “more resources to reduce violent crime and gun crime; more community intervention programs; more investments in housing, education, and job training.”
Biden vowed to veto any efforts to raise the price of prescription drugs, which his Inflation Reduction Act lowered for Medicare beneficiaries. He presented evidence of progress that’s been made in the last year on combating the opioid epidemic, lowering inflation, prioritizing mental health, aiding veterans and reviving his cancer “moonshot.” He pointed to the overwhelming bipartisan support last year for the PACT Act, which directs more healthcare resources to veterans exposed to toxic burn pits in combat.
He also pledged to utilize new technology to better track fentanyl smuggling at the southern border, singling out a New Hampshire father in the audience who lost his high school daughter to drug addiction. But that brought another uproar from Republicans, including a shout at Biden of “it’s your fault” about the fentanyl death.
The State of the Union has been home to many lines intertwined with the identity of their speakers: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s defense of “four freedoms” ahead of World War II, Bill Clinton declaring “the era of big government is over” and George W. Bush condemning “the axis of evil” after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. It is unclear if Biden will reach those rhetorical heights, as hovering over the address will be something he won’t discuss at all: his possible 2024 re-election bid.
The 80-year-old president has said he intends to stand for another term, though his official decision may still be more than a month away. He’ll hit the road this week for a post-speech barnstorming tour — with stops in Wisconsin and Florida — and will consider his political future by making more rounds of calls to his longtime allies, talking through themes and timing, pushed by a belief that he remains the one Democrat who could defeat Trump.
Most close to Biden believe that, soon enough, an official campaign will begin in earnest.
Eli Stokols contributed to this report.
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( With inputs from : www.politico.com )
Hyderabad: The Telangana Forest Department took up a program to translocate wild herbivores from zoos and parks where there is excess population of herbivores to tiger bearing areas and other natural habitat for improving the prey base.
Recently the Department has taken up translocation of the following animals from Kakatiya Zoo Park to Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary and from Nehru Zoo Park (NZP) to Amrabad Tiger Reserve.
The department released 39 spotted dear, 13 sambar deer, and six peafowls in Eturnagaram sanctuary and Amrabad Tiger Reserve.
The department in the next two months i.e., by end of March proposed to translocate over 400 spotted Deer from Nehru Zoological Park and Mahavir Harina Vanasthali National park to all the tiger bearing areas, officials informed.
Telangana State has three Zoological Parks at Hyderabad, Hanumakonda and Mahboobnagar and three Deer Parks at Shamirpet, Kinnerasani and LMD Karimnagar where the wild herbivore population is increasing at a fast rate and managing the population is becoming difficult.
At the same time there are areas like Amrabad and Kawal Tiger Reserves, Kinnerasani Wildlife Sanctuary, Eturnagaram Wildlife Sanctuary, Pakhal Wildlife Sanctuary where movement of Tiger, Panther and other wild predators is regularly noticed.
These areas have a comparatively low prey base and need strengthening.
Keeping in view the above situation, the Telangana Forest Department has taken up on a big scale, the capture and translocation of wild herbivores like Spotted Deer, Sambar, Neelgai, Black Buck etc. from Zoos and Parks for release in the Tiger bearing areas, officials stated.
Forest officials informed that due care is taken while capturing and translocating wild herbivores following the protocol laid down for translocation like – all herbivores identified for translocation are checked for communicable diseases and worms in stomach. The infected animals are administered.
Vaccines and de-worming medicines are administered a week before translocation. Further, the capture is done through the kraal method where there is no physical contact with the animal while capturing and transferring them to transport crates. Also, the transportation is taken up during the night hours in cool conditions. The vehicle carrying herbivores travels nonstop to the destination.
Delhi: A Delhi court on Tuesday took cognisance of the charge sheet filed by Delhi Police against Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of murdering his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and then chopping her body into several pieces.
On January 24, the police had filed the charge sheet in the case which contains over 6,000 pages and the court had extended Poonawala’s custody for 14 days.
After taking cognisance of the charge sheet, the court posted the matter for its scrutiny on February 21.
According to sources, the charge sheet was prepared on the basis of forensic and electronic evidence, and has around 100 witnesses.
Poonawala has been accused of killing Walkar and then chopping her body into several pieces and storing them in a refrigerator before disposing of them in the Chhatarpur forest area over a period of three months.
During the last hearing when Poonawala was produced before the court through video conferencing before Metropolitan Magistrate Aviral Shukla, he had contended that he wanted to change his lawyer.
Poonawala had demanded law books to study. The court had also directed the prison authorities to provide him with warm clothes.
On January 6, Poonawala had moved an application in the court seeking release of his debit and credit cards, citing the need for funds to purchase day-to-day items, as well as warm clothes.
Poonawala’s application was moved through his advocate seeking to release funds from his bank account citing that he did not have enough warm clothes to counter the winter chill inside the prison.
Hyderabad: The Ministry of Home Affairs directed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the terror attack conspiracy case which was being handled by the CCS.
CCS arrested the accused trio including Abdul Zahed, Sameeduddin and Maaz Hasson Farooq from Moosarambagh, in October 2022, for allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks in the city before Dasara.
The accused Abdul Zahed, a resident of Moosarambagh was booked under Sections 18, 18(B) and 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for being a part of several terror-related cases in Hyderabad.
He had recruited several youths, including Maaz Hasson Farooq and Sameeduddin based on the directions of Pakistan-based handlers who belong to LeT/ISI.
He reportedly conspired with his gang members to carry out terror acts, including blasts and lone-wolf attacks in Hyderabad.
Zahed had also received hand grenades from his handlers from across the border and was planning to hurl those at public gatherings or during processions in order to create communal tension in the city, according to a police FIR.
The police seized two hand grenades, two mobile phones and Rs 3.91 lakh cash from Zahed during the probe.
However, the NIA is of the opinion that a scheduled offence under National Investigation Agency Act, 2008 has been committed as it has inter-state and international links, and it is required to be investigated by the central agency.
The CCS Hyderabad police have handed over the case files to NIA officials.
New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh claimed on Friday that a senior government official has described the recent developments involving the Adani Group as a “storm in a tea cup” and said the cup belongs to none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“A responsible senior official has dismissed the Adani affair as a storm in a tea cup. Well, he accepts it as a storm. As for the tea cup, it is of none other than the PM himself. No ordinary tea cup!” the former Union minister wrote on Twitter.
His remarks came after the opposition stepped up its attack on the BJP-led government over the Adani issue and slammed it for not taking action against the business conglomerate.
US-based short seller Hindenburg Research has accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The conglomerate, led by industrialist Gautam Adani, has denied any wrongdoing and threatened to sue Hindenburg.
The opposition stalled the proceedings in both houses of Parliament for the second straight day on Friday, demanding a discussion on the issue and a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe or a Supreme Court-monitored investigation.
Srinagar: Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chairman, Democratic Azad Party (DAP) met Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi to take up the land eviction issue, said the party on Thursday.
During the meeting, which took place on Wednesday, Azad apprised Shah of the situation of serious ‘unrest and uncertainty’ prevailing among the public following the circular of eviction issued by the UT administration, a statement by the DAP mentioned.
The circular directs all Deputy Commissioners to remove encroachments on state land, including Roshni and Kacharai.
“Ghulam Nabi Azad requested the Home Minister that the majority of occupants holding small lands and have constructed houses for the last few decades are migrants and are mostly victims of militancy, as well as victims of abnormal situations arising from time to time, being a border state.
“The origin of these shelters/residential houses on state-kacharai and Roshni lands appears to have taken place first in 1947 and then in the 1962 and 1971 war period, and subsequently during the post-militancy period. This is also a fact that the governments provided road connectivity, supply of water and electricity, schools, anganwadi centres and other welfare schemes, including health related facilities to these houses from time to time which implicitly indicates that successive state governments in a way have recognised these constructions.”
The statement said Azad requested the home minister that at least poor people having small holdings of land and houses should be spared from the eviction drive.
“The Home Minister assured Azad that small land holders will not be harassed. It is worthwhile to mention here that two weeks earlier Azad had taken up the same issue with Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha also, who too had assured to do the needful with cogent land policy to small land holders sympathetically,” the statement added.
Mumbai: The controversial celebrities of the entertainment industry, Kangana Ranaut and Uorfi Javed had an interesting exchange on Twitter on Monday. Kangana advocated for the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country while she was replying to a tweet from Uorfi Javed. On Tuesday, Uorfi again replied to the Queen actress and it seems that the duo are not going to stop exchanging opinions on the microblogging site.
Both celebrities are attracting a lot of comments from Twitter users and even people are sharing memes in reply to their tweets. Kangana Ranaut who seems to be jealous of the success of SRK’s Pathaan tweeted against Muslim actors and actresses recently and Uorfi Javed reacted to her tweet. Uorfi replied to Kangana that art is not divided by religion and there are only actors and no Hindu or Muslim. After reading Javed’s tweet , the Himachali actress tweeted her opinion. She said the country must introduce a Uniform Civil Code and till the time the constitution is divided the nation will remain divided.
Now, on Tuesday morning Uorfi reacted to Kangana’s UCC idea. She quoted Kangana’s tweet and wrote ”Uniform wound be a bad idea for me maam ! I’m popular only because of my clothes.”
After Uorfi’s said that she is being recognised because of her dressing sense, Kangana reacted in an unexpected turn. The ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ actress gave an example of Mahadevi Akka who was a devotee of Lord Shiva. She said that Mahadevi Akka dropped her clothes and started living in the forest without covering her body. She wrote, ”In India there was Queen called Mahadevi Akka,who loved Shiva her husband before the court said if she loved Shiva n not him then she shouldn’t take anything from him,she dropped all her clothes left the palace and never covered her body again. Clothes and a lack of them (cont ).”
In India there was Queen called Mahadevi Akka,who loved Shiva her husband before the court said if she loved Shiva n not him then she shouldn’t take anything from him,she dropped all her clothes left the palace and never covered her body again. Clothes and a lack of them (cont ) https://t.co/g9mtjYE5oz
She further wrote, ”Both are self expression, Mahadevi Akka is a shinning star In the world of Kannada literature she is the greatest, she lived in forests and never wore clothes. Don’t let anyone shame you about your body, you are pure and divine, my love to you.”
Both are self expression, Mahadevi Akka is a shinning star In the world of Kannada literature she is the greatest, she lived in forests and never wore clothes. Don’t let anyone shame you about your body, you are pure and divine, my love to you 🤗
It seems that Kangana advised Uorfi Javed that she should not let anyone shame her body and that Uorfi is divine and pure.
Well, the exchange between the two on Twitter did not remain between them only as netizens have flooded the micro blogging site with their own opinions. Some users are targeting directly both Uorfi and Kangana while others are sharing memes. Check out below
New Delhi: Taking a jibe at Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi’s picture playing with snowballs, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said that Rahul Gandhi should remember the time when the Bharatiya Janata Party hoisted the flag at the Lal Chowk amid fear of bombs and guns.
“We saw Rahul and Priyanka playing with snowballs, saw them enjoying a picnic, but maybe they forgot to thank PM Modi, who after coming to power abrogated Article 370 and 35-A,” he said.
“And who was it who sowed this seed (Article 370), it was Congress,” he added.
He further said that Jammu Kashmir was given special status after independence. More than 45,000 people have been killed there. He asked Rahul Gandhi who is responsible for it.
Bharatiya Jansangh Chief Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee sacrificed his life to keep Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India. He had started a yatra to integrate India. He died under suspicious circumstances. There is no answer to that to date, “Union Minister Anurag Thakur added.
“In 1992, BJP chief Murli Manohar Joshi and the then party worker Narendra Modi hoisted the tricolor at the Lal Chowk between bombs and guns. That time was a time of bombs, not snowballs,” he said.
“In 2011, as the Yuva Morcha Chief, I started tiranga yatra from Kolkata to Kashmir. The whole of Jammu was surrounded by police, we were arrested and put in jail. Our workers were beaten when the tricolor was hoisted and they were jailed,” he recalled.
“The then Prime minister Manmohan Singh said that Anurag Thakur should refrain from hoisting the tricolor, it deteriorates the situation,” he said while recalling the former PM’s statement.
“Peace and tourism have increased in Kashmir. More than 2 crore tourists visited after the abrogation of 370 and 35-A. This happened after the Modi government took the steps that were necessary,” he added.
He blamed Rahul Gandhi for allowing those people in the yatra that have always wanted to break India. “In your yatra, more people who want to break India were visible. At every place, people who have tried to break India were present,” he said probably pointing out at Mufti and Abdullah.
He further said that Rahul forgot to thank Prime minister Narendra Modi who abrogated 370 and 35A, because of which, hoisting the tricolor at the Lal Chowk was possible.
