Ravi Shankar Prasad asks Apple, Samsung to help us become e-export hub

International News
IPhone maker Apple and South Korean electronics giant Samsung should work with Indian companies to ensure this country becomes a hub of export for electronics, said Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister for this sector and for information technology.
He suggested Apple expand its manufacturing base in India and use the country as an export hub.At a long meeting with top executives from the industry, Prasad heard them on various issues and said his ministry and NITI Aayog would in the next two to three months work with them on incentives for the sector.
"Apple has started manufacturing phones in India, including components and...have started making iPhones for export...But, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I want a robust presence of Apple in India, a super-robust presence of Samsung in India, and other global companies," he said.
According to Apple, eight of its global suppliers have set up units in India. These being Sunwoda Electronic, Winstron Corporation, CCL Design (Suzhou) Co, Flex, Foxconn, Salcomp and Shenzhen YUTO Packaging Technology. Currently, Apple manufactures iPhones 6S and 7 from India.

 Among companies represented at the meeting were Vivo, Oppo, Qualcomm, Xiaomi, Dell, HP, Bosch, Cisco, Flextronics, Foxconn, Nokia, LG, Panasonic, Intel, Wistron and Sterlite Technologies. The electronics industry body, Manufacturers Association of Information Technology was also present. It recommended production-linked export incentives, leveraging India’s geo-political influence and free trade agreement influence with countries to accept Indian standards as sufficient to access other markets. Also, identification of sub-sectors where India should lead the development of standards, such as 5G, medical electronics, cyber security and data communications...Read More

Parliament passes bill to increase number of SC judges from 30 to 33

International News

Parliament on Wednesday passed a Bill which seeks to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from the present 30 to 33 with a view to reducing pendency of cases.
Moving "The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019" for consideration and return, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "I would urge the House to consider the Bill"
Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "We have no objection to it...but members of Parliament want to discuss it as we normally do not discuss judiciary...We get chance once in a decade or six months...We would also want to know about the judiciary."
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said it is a Money Bill, to which the Law Minister said that he was willing to have a discussion on the judiciary in November.
Satish Chandra of the BSP urged the government to ensure representation of Schedule Castes in the Supreme Court.
Leader of the House Thaawarchand Gehlot urged the House to pass both the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2019 and The Jallianwala Bagh National Memorial (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

 However, the Chair took up the Supreme Court Bill alone, which was passed without discussion...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

Congress has shown its true colours: BJP hits back over Pulwama allegations

Politics News:

Slamming the Congress for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Pulwama attack, the BJP dubbed its allegations "shameful" and said they have exposed its "true colours" after it kept a "facade" of standing with security forces and the government following the terror strike.

At a party event in Andhra Pradesh, BJP president Amit Shah said it was condemnable that the Congress has "politicised" the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14, and asserted that people have full trust in Modi's commitment of ending terrorism.

Citing media reports, the Congress claimed that Modi continued shooting for a film in the Corbett National Park for his "propaganda and publicity" and stayed put in the area till the February 14 evening despite the Pulwama attack taking place in the afternoon that day.

Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala also claimed that the prime minister continued to "have tea, samosas, at seven o'clock in a PWD guest house" that evening.

Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad rejected the Congress' charge as "shameful" and said Modi was there as part of an official programme related to tiger conservation.

"Was the Congress aware of the Pulwama attack? We were not aware," the BJP leader said in a jibe at the opposition party.


 The Congress attack on the Modi government would have pleased Pakistan, he said, adding that styles of what Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and the opposition party have said may be different but their contents bore striking resemblance...Read More