Investigating blocking of former LS speaker Meira Kumar's page: Facebook

 

Facebook on Friday said it is researching the impeding of previous Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar's page on the online media stage.

The improvement comes a day after Kumar's authentic page on Facebook was obstructed and later unblocked.

"We've reestablished Ms Meira Kumar's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MeiraKumarOfficial/that was unpublished. We lament the bother caused and are researching the issue," a Facebook representative said.

In a tweet on Thursday, Kumar said the hindering of the page was an 'physical issue to vote based system'.

Tweeting in Hindi, she stated, "Facebook page block kiya gaya! Aakhir kyu? Loktantra standard aaghaat! Ye mahaz sanyog nahi ho sakta ki Bihar Vidhan Sabha chunaav se pehle Facebook simple page ko block karta hai!" (Facebook page has been hindered! However, why? Injury to popular government! This can't be simple happenstance that Facebook hindered my page in front of Bihar Assembly decisions).

In another tweet, she said after much dissent, her Facebook page had been unblocked.

Over the past numerous months, Facebook in India has been confronting heat over its choices purportedly being affected by political leanings of people in the organization and its treatment of supposed scorn talks.

Facebook, in any case, had dismissed those charges saying its foundation stays nonpartisan and non-hardliner, and that the cycle followed is intended to guarantee nobody individual can impact results, not to mention take any one-sided choices.

Facebook has more than 300 million clients in India, while its gathering organization WhatsApp has in excess of 400 million clients in the nation.

Overambitious leaders quitting Cong as they feel party won't win: Adhir

Pioneer of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury feels a segment of youthful "overambitious" pioneers is getting progressively eager and abandoning the gathering because of the developing discernment that it won't come back to control at the Center at any point in the near future.
Yielding that their exit may antagonistically affect the gathering "briefly", the veteran Congress MP, be that as it may, said party "control and philosophy can't be undermined to fulfill the individual yearnings of pioneers who need ideological responsibility.
The Congress chief alluded to the chance of some increasingly youthful pioneers stopping the gathering after the prominent departure of Jyotiraditya Scindia and defiance by Sachin Pilot.
"There is a sure area of overambitious youthful leaders…..they are getting eager and feeling they are not getting their due in the gathering and are searching for different choices to fulfill their individual aspirations.
"This is going on because of a developing recognition that as the Congress wont come back to control (at the Center) without further ado, so the gathering wont have the option to fulfill every one of their requests. So they are either hopping the boat or are wanting to do as such, Chowdhury told PTI in a meeting.
Discussing Scindia and Pilot, he said they were never ignored or given quick work by the gathering.

He said there have been pioneers with extraordinary potential in a few ideological groups who didn't get their due. "In any case, did they leave their gathering to appreciate the products of intensity? The appropriate response is no. The issue is the absence of duty," he said.

Lok Sabha adjourned till noon amid uproar over Hegde's Gandhi remarks

Current Affairs
Lok Sabha procedures were suspended till early afternoon on Tuesday following mayhem by Opposition individuals over BJP pioneer Anant Hegde's dubious comments on Mahatma Gandhi.
Generally individuals from the Congress, DMK and NCP tried to raise the issue of Hegde's comments yet Speaker Om Birla didn't permit them.
The House likewise watched quietness as a characteristic of regard for the left spirits, including Sultan of Oman Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al Said.
Not long after the House mourned the passing of previous individuals, fights started. Some Congress individuals showed bulletins saying 'BJP Party Godse Party' and 'Mahatma Gandhi, Amar Rahe'.
In the midst of the hullabaloo, the Speaker deferred procedures till early afternoon.
At an occasion in Bengaluru as of late, Hegdge had said that political dissidents, who didn't forfeit anything, caused the nation to accept that it accomplished Independence through 'Upavas Satyagrah', Gandhi's favored method of disturbance, and became Mahapurush (incredible individual).

The previous MP had stated, "There were two sorts of political dissidents, one which had faith in Shastra (arms) and another in Shaastra (scholarly sparks).....READ MORE

From Lok Sabha Phase-2 voting to RIL Q4 numbers, top events today

Current Affairs
Before you start your day, take a look at the major events in the country that are likely to make headlines:
Lok Sabha Phase-2 voting
Union ministers Jitendra Singh, Jual Oram, Sadananda Gowda and Pon Radhakrishnan, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and DMK's Dayanidhi Maran, A Raja and Kanimozhi are among the 1,600-odd contestants in the second phase of Lok Sabha polls to be held in 95 seats Thursday across 11 states and the union territory of Puducherry.

Thirty eight of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu will go to polls besides 18 assembly constituencies. Besides Tamil Nadu, polling will also be held in 14 seats in Karnataka, 10 in Maharashtra, eight in Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam, Bihar and Odisha, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, two in Jammu and Kashmir and one seat each in Manipur and Puducherry. Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.

RIL FY19Q4 numbers

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries will report its March quarter earnings today. is expected to report weak refining earnings though its retail and petrochemical businesses are expected to partially offset the weakness in its March quarter results.

RBL Bank and ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company will also announce their FY19Q4 results on Thursday.

RBI Minutes of the Meeting


 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will release minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting held earlier this month which led to a policy rate cut.

BJP manifesto highlights: Rs 25-trn agri push, pension for small traders

Election News

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its poll manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections 2019. BJP president Amit Shah highlighted the government's achievements while Home Minister Rajnath Singh read out the key promises in the manifesto. He also headed the committee that drafted it.
Here are the key takeaways of the BJP's manifesto for Lok Sabha elections 2019:

•   Agri loans available on credit cards up to Rs 1 lakh at zero per cent rate of interest
• Collateral-free credit up to Rs 50 lakh for entrepreneurs
• Promotion of Startups through creation of a ‘Seed Startup Fund’ of Rs 20,000 crore.
• 10 per cent material procurement for the government by MSMEs having at least 50 per cent women in their workforce
• Micro, small and medium enterprises to given Rs 1 trillion worth of credit by 2024.
• A pucca house to every family who are either living in a kuchha house or have no access to housing by 2022.
• Expand Ayushman Bharat to include all Anganwadi workers and ASHA workers
• ‘Jal Jivan Mission’ to be launched to ensure piped water supply to every household in India by 2024...Read More

'Made in Amethi' AK-203 rifles to help troops fight terror, says PM Modi

Current Affairs

Laying the foundation stone of a Kalashnikov manufacturing unit in Amethi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the guns produced in the new facility would be used to fight terrorists and the Naxals , and that the project was the best example of his government’s ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas (together with all, development for all)’ motto.

The prime minister — who landed in Amethi after addressing the pre-poll Sankalp rally in Patna where he slammed the Opposition for doubting the IAF’s strike on a terror camp in Pakistan — accused the Congress-led UPA government of not only delaying the AK-203 rifles’ manufacturing project but also sabotaging the Rafale deal.

Thanking Russian President Vladimir Putin for expediting the project, Modi said it would give a new identity to Amethi. The assault rifles would be manufactured at Korwa Ordinance Factory.
“The assault rifles manufactured here would help our forces against terrorists and Naxal. In due course, these would also be exported, while generating a large number of jobs for local youth and paving the way for economic development,” he said. “Those who voted for us and those who did not, all are ours...This is the mantra of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas." This was Modi’s first visit to Amethi as PM.


 In Patna, he criticised opposition leaders for their scepticism over the surgical strike by the Army post the Uri terror attack, and the air strikes in Balakot after the Pulwama suicide bombing. “Is it appropriate for these parties to speak in a language that suits Pakistan? Leaders of the neighbouring country are using it as a shield to protect themselves against the charge of promoting terrorism. They are clapping gleefully,” the prime minister said...Read More

Why Congress cannot afford speculation of Robert Vadra's political debut

Election News:

Just months ahead of the general elections, the Gandhi family faces a nagging dilemma: pressure from Robert Vadra to enter active politics.

Vadra’s desire to enter politics is hardly a secret. The Gandhi family’s palpable resistance to it is also evident. Vadra is a soft target and his political entry will only delight the BJP.

After Vadra hinted that he could contest in the election, posters have cropped up in his hometown of Moradabad, welcoming him as a Lok Sabha candidate. Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, reacting to his speculated entry, said “Vadra could be important for the Congress but, we would not like to glorify him by reacting to it.”

After Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was appointed as the Congress party’s general secretary, it was only a matter of time before Robert Vadra followed. I asked Vadra if he planned to contest the general elections from Moradabad. Vadra said, “All in time. I will start working on it. But no hurry, as I have to earn it and people need to feel I can make a change.”

This means two things: clearly Vadra is extremely keen to enter politics but he is still hedging his bets by not saying that he will be the Congress’s Lok Sabha candidate from Moradabad.

Even the fevered speculation set off by Vadra’s hints is music to the BJP’s ears. Narendra Modi’s 2014 campaign hinged around the promise to jail the “damaadji” (son-in-law) for various cases of alleged corruption in land deals.


 Vadra, a controversial businessman, is facing several probes by the Enforcement Directorate for money laundering. Soon after Priyanka Gandhi’s entry into active politics, Vadra was summoned, along with his septuagenarian mother, by the ED...Read More

Lok Sabha passes quota Bill for economically weak in general category

Politics News:

A landmark Bill seeking to provide 10 per cent reservation in jobs and education for the general category poor was passed by the Lok Sabha , with most parties backing the measure, described by the government as "historic" and in the country's interest. As many as 323 members voted in support of the Bill and only three voted against it, underlining the cross-party support the politically crucial Bill elicited.

Replying to an over four and half hour debate, Social Justice Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot sought to allay doubts raised by several Opposition members about the legislation's fate if challenged in the Supreme Court, saying he can say with confidence that the apex court will accept it. The Modi government's policy and intention is good and that is why it has enabled the reservation for the poor in the general category with constitutional amendment, he said, seeking support of all parties for the passage of The Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill 2019.

"Your doubts are unfounded. Put them to rest," he told Opposition members, many of whom dubbed the Bill as "jumla" and "gimmick", questioned its legal standing and accused the government of bringing it in haste with an eye on the Lok Sabha polls. Gehlot claimed that the Bill is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion when he assumed power in 2014 that his government would be devoted to the cause of the poor and work for "sabka saath sabka vikas (With all, development for all)".

"This is an historic decision and in the interest of the country," he said.


 Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi were present in the House when the Bill was passed. The government will table the Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

No tax liability if your income is up to Rs 9.5 lakh, but conditions apply

Personal Finance News:

Stressing that tax concessions have been provided with a view to help poor and middle-class people living on a tight budget, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said that now individuals earning up to Rs 9.5 lakh can escape liability by taking advantage of saving schemes.

Replying to the debate on the Finance Bill in Lok Sabha, the Minister said he did not propose any change in the tax rate but only provided few rebates which will boost spending and help the economy.
The Finance Bill, which contains tax proposals, was passed by the Lok Sabha with a voice vote, completing the budgetary process in the lower house.

In a swipe at the Congress, the Minister said that unlike the previous UPA dispensation, the present Modi government in the interim budget did not reduce levies of SUVs which are used by rich persons.

In the Finance Bill 2019, the Minister proposed to raise tax rebate for people having annual income up to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2,500 to Rs 12,500, which will effectively ensure that they don't have to pay any tax.

In the Bill, standard deduction has also been raised from Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000, besides a host of tax benefits to home buyers.

The concessions proposed in the Finance Bill, Goyal said, are aimed at helping "poor and middle-class people living on a tight budget...This is interim budget. We have not brought any tax proposal...we will bring them in July," he said.


 The next government, which will be formed after the upcoming general elections, will come out with a full budget in July. The next government will also come up with a Finance Bill containing the tax proposals for 2019-20.

Impossible job: India's pollsters face the uphill battle to call election

Economy & Policy:

Thousands of candidates, hundreds of parties, endless combinations of possible coalitions – spare a thought for India’s pollsters, tasked with making sense of the country’s fiendishly complicated politics ahead of a general election due by May.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a surprise majority in 2014. Until last year, many predicted a similar result. But amid rising anger over unemployment and a fall in rural incomes, the BJP lost key state elections in December, making this contest more closely fought than first expected.

That means surveys conducted on behalf of newspapers and TV channels will be closely scrutinized. Some of India’s top pollsters however, told Reuters current surveys could be wide of the mark until the parties finalize alliances, which could be as late as April – and even then, there are challenges.
“In India there are certain relationships between caste, religion and allegiance,” said VK Bajaj, chief executive of Today’s Chanakya, the only polling firm to predict the BJP would win an outright majority in 2014. “We have to do checks and counter-checks when collecting our samples.”

CHECKERED PAST


 Opinion polls grew in popularity in India in the 1990s, after economic liberalization saw a boom in privately-owned newspapers and TV channels, all demanding their own surveys.

Most unemployment surveys are skewed, PM Narendra Modi tells House

Economy & Policy:

In what is likely to be his last speech in the Lok Sabha’s current term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday responded to the recent criticism his government has faced for its purported failure to create jobs.

In his reply to the motion of thanks to the President’s address, Modi contrasted 55 years of “self-serving” Congress rule at the Centre versus the achievements of his government’s 55 months in the “service of the people”. Alluding to the grand alliance of the Opposition parties,
Modi said the people of the country did not want a mahamilawat (greatly adulterated) government.
The PM, referring to Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge’s speech, said for many BC stood for ‘before Congress’ and AD for ‘after dynasty’. He said his efforts at a ‘Congress-mukt Bharat’ were an offering to Mahatma Gandhi in his 150th birth anniversary year — a reference to Gandhi’s wish that the Congress should be disbanded since it had achieved its goal of attaining independence from the British.

Modi said his government had provided a clean government and expressed confidence that the people of the country would again repose their faith in his leadership.


 Earlier, Kharge cited reports of a National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) survey (which the government later termed a draft report) that said the unemployment rate was 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, the highest in 45 years, to attack the government. Modi termed most surveys that try to capture unemployment rate as skewed since these did not cover the unorganised sector, which accounts for 85-90 per cent of jobs.

BUDGET SESSION 2019 LIVE: PREZ KOVIND LISTS OUT ACHIEVEMENTS OF NDA GOVT

Interim Budget 2019:

The Budget session of Parliament has begun, a day before the Interim Budget 2019 will be presented by Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.
With the Lok Sabha elections around the corner, this year's Budget session is expected to be a stormy one. While the Opposition will seek to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on a range of issues, including Rafale, the problem of farmers and unemployment, the government is expected to push its legislative agenda that includes the Triple Talaq Bill and the citizenship (amendment) Bill.
The session will begin with President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of the two Houses. Apart from a vote of thanks to the President's address, the government's legislative agenda for the day includes replacing three ordinances with Bills. These include the triple talaq Bill, companies (Amendment) Bill and Medical Council (Amendment) Bill.

 Ahead of the Budget session, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged all the political parties to ensure Parliament runs smoothly.

Will be unconstitutional for govt to present full Budget: Yashwant Sinha

Interim Budget 2019:

Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha it would be "entirely improper and unconstitutional" if the Modi government presents a full budget ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, as he asked it to stick to the convention of outgoing dispensations presenting an interim budget.

A strong critic of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, Sinha also accused it of "dressing up" economic figures despite the country facing an "unprecedented" agrarian distress, employment not picking up and the huge non-performing asset (NPA) problem being not tackled the way it should have been.

Interacting with reporters at an event in Indian Women's Press Corps, he said Priyanka Gandhi's entry into active politics will have a positive impact and strengthen the Congress.
Taking a swipe at the government over present economic conditions, he said it would now claim by "tweaking" figures ahead of the general election that "river of milk" is flowing in the country and people were never happier.

Amid speculation that the government may present a full budget on February 1, Sinha said there is no precedence of an outgoing government doing so.


 "It would be entirely improper and unconstitutional on the part of this government to present a full budget," he said, adding that it should neither table the economy survey, which is generally presented a day before the budget is tabled, not present the Finance Bill.

Priyanka takes up Congress role in UP after over a decade behind the scenes

Election News:

With the general elections less than 90 days away, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday appointed his sister, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh, which constitutes roughly 40 Lok Sabha seats, including their family bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi constituency.

Priyanka, who turned 47 earlier this month, has been an important, behind-the-scenes figure in the party’s decision-making processes for over a decade, but Wednesday’s announcement marks her official political debut. With UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi having already indicated her desire to retire from electoral politics, the move could pave the way for Priyanka’s entry into the electoral arena and she could contest from Rae Bareli, the seat currently represented by her mother, party sources said.

Her appointment, however, opened the Congress to renewed attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over “dynastic politics” and "lack of inner-democracy". BJP Spokesperson Sambit Patra said the Congress had admitted to Rahul Gandhi having “failed” in providing leadership.


 The Congress's allies, including Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, welcomed the news, though. Congress strategists believe Priyanka's charisma would help the party perform better in key states of UP and Bihar in the Lok Sabha polls. The appointment has ramifications, at least in UP, not just for the principal rival BJP, but also the frenemies Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP)...Read More

Piyush Goyal back as interim Finance Minister, to present interim Budget

Intrim Budget 2019:

With eight days to go before the Narendra Modi government presents its interim Budget on February 1, the Prime Minister on Wednesday entrusted Railway Minister Piyush Goyal with ministerial portfolios of finance and corporate affairs till Arun Jaitley comes back from the US.

Jaitley underwent a surgery in the US on Tuesday. With doctors having advised him two weeks’ rest, Goyal is set to present the interim Budget — the final Budget of the Modi-led government’s current tenure, which comes less than 90 days before the Lok Sabha polls and could contain key announcements.

According to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique, issued at 8.55 pm, the President, as advised by the PM, directed that during the period of Jaitley's indisposition, the finance and corporate affairs portfolios, held by him, be temporarily assigned to Goyal. It said Goyal would continue to hold his existing portfolios: Railways and coal.


 The communique stated that Jaitley “be designated as minister without portfolio during the period of his indisposition or till such time he is able to resume his work as minister of finance and minister of corporate affairs.”...Read More

With jobs at stake, Jet Airways is casting a shadow on 2019 Lok Sabha polls

Companies News:

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi rode to power five years ago on his business friendly credentials and the promise of generating millions of jobs. Now an airline is on the verge of collapse, bringing Modi’s image under attack just months before national elections.

Struggling in a competitive market where basic air fares can get as low as 2 cents, Jet Airways India Ltd., the country’s second-biggest airline, has piled on $1.1 billion in debt and failed to pay loans and salaries. With about 23,000 jobs at stake, pressure is building on Modi for a rescue package as a collapse would mean bad optics in his re-election bid in a poll due by May.


 While Modi is not to blame for the unraveling of Jet Airways -- the airline was brought to its knees because of high fuel prices and intense competition -- his policies to make air travel affordable to more and more Indians didn’t help it either. The fate of the teetering carrier is now part of the opposition’s narrative that businesses are ailing, with the $2.6 trillion economy losing jobs on Modi’s watch...Read More

Modi in panic mode, criticising EVM committee as elections near: Congress

Current Affairs:

The Congress said that because Lok Sabha elections are on the horizon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started panicking and therefore is criticising the formation of the four-member committee for EVMs.

Speaking to the media, Congress leader P L Punia said: "As elections are approaching, Prime Minister Modi is panicking and is in anxiety and doesn't know what to say. We have objections with EVMs and we have informed the election commission about the same."

"We want that vote should be done on ballot papers. Ballot paper should be used for voting instead of EVMs," Punia added.


 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said that a four-member committee had been formed to clarify opposition parties' stand on EVMs in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections..Read More