Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Palace Grounds in Bengaluru on Sunday said that the Congress countdown has begun in Karnataka and that they are standing at the exit door. While the entire country is progressing Karnataka is going in the opposite direction he said at the culmination of the Parivartan Yatra. In a speech that was largely focussed on rural development the prime minister listed out schemes for farmers healthcare and SMEs some of the big ticket announcements from the Union Budget emphasising that these will help raise the standard of living in rural India and stem migration into cities. We have youngsters https://www.allanalytics.com/profile.asp?piddl_userid=806205 from across the country who come here (Bengaluru) and start their own businesses. Today s youngsters are not job-seekers but job generators. To ease their woes we have made the loan-sanctioning process easier he said. Modi didn t forget to make a special mention of the allocation of Rs 17 000 crore for the development of Bengaluru s 160-kilometre suburban rail network in the Budget. Narendra Modi addressing the rally in Bengaluru on Sunday. Reuters Pakoda row The pakoda controversy found its way outside the venue where a group of students dressed in graduation robes set up a stall to sell the snack. They were detained soon by the police. The prime minister had in an interview recently asked If a person selling pakodas earns Rs 200 at the end of the day will it be considered employment or not? The street vendors of Bengaluru under the AICCTU-affiliated Bengaluru Jilla Beedhi Vyaapaari Sanghatanegala Okkuta too came out in the open with an open letter to Modi on Sunday. Starting off with a mention of the pakoda remark they criticised the approval of 100 percent FDI in single-brand retail GST Smart Cities Mission and demonetisation. Sir we do not want a Smart City we do not want a Digital India we do not want Make in India or your Swachch Bharat if it doesn t allow municipal workers construction workers slum dwellers and street vendors to live with dignity. We want public education public health system and public housing! You are shirking your responsibility to provide us all of this and are instead privatising our entitlements they wrote. Cong vs BJP on Twitter Meanwhile a Twitter war erupted between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and BJP state chief BS Yeddyurappa over the former s comment on the development in the state veiled as an invitation to the Prime Minister. I welcome PM @narendramodi to Namma Karnataka - the no. 1 state in investments innovation & progressive policies the chief minister tweeted. To this Yeddyurappa replied Thanks for the welcome CM @siddaramaiah! Yes. Karnataka indeed has scripted several firsts - No.1 Corrupt State 3 500 farmer suicides collapse of law & order mysterious deaths of officers transfers of honest officials crumbling infra of Bengaluru. #KarnatakaTrustsModi Siddaramaiah over tweets had also appealed to the PM to find a solution to the Mahadayi river water row to which BJP-ruled Goa is a party. However the issue did not find a mention in Modi s speech. Vatal Nagaraj the pro-Kannada activist who had called for a Bengaluru bandh on Sunday to seek justice for North Karnataka farmers on Mahadayi was detained by cops later in the evening. The Karnataka high court had on Friday termed the call for bandh illegal. Farmers mince no words on Congress Endorsing Yeddyurappa as the chief ministerial candidate Modi said the kisan ka beta will work for farmers if he is elected. Many farmers had come to the venue from Chitradurga Bidar and Belgaum districts hoping that Modi would refer to the water issues they faced. We have lost hope from the Congress. We do not have any water for our crops and that means we can t feed our children as we have no money. How can we still hope that Congress will do anything? said Samarappa L from Belgaum. A similar view was held by the farmers around who said they were living in drought-stricken districts without any government help. We have to keep trying. If the Congress failed maybe the BJP will help us Kiran Patil from Belgaum said. Gurudas Ram from Chitradurga said They (Congress) come to our homes and ask us what is our problem. We ask them to bring water to the district but do they really do so? No. If we have no water how will farmers survive? I cannot bring Congress to power again. Cong-mukt Karnataka not possible Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president G Parameshwara reiterated that the Mahadayi issue was ignored by Modi in his speech. He said Modi was misguiding people and they (BJP) are only dreaming that they would come be to power . Karnataka will not be Congress-mukt we will come to power again he declared. (Nivedita Niranjankumar and Ayswarya Murthy are Bengaluru-based reporters. Both are members of 101Reporters.com a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.) GUWAHATI: NITI Aayog would act as a facilitator and catalyst for the north eastern states in implementing the Centre s Act East Policy a top official of the government think-tank said today. We will provide full support in providing advocacy to the north eastern states in the implementation of the policy and the Aayog s role will be primarily to act as a facillitator and catalyst NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said. He was speaking said at the plenary session on North East Indian Economic ties with ASEAN and BBN (Bhutan Bangladesh and Nepal) countries on the second day of the Global Investors Summit here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has categorically said that the north east would be at the centre of the Act East Policy whose three key features are connectivity culture and commerce Kant said. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal is driving the PM s Act East Policy and if the region progresses we will be able to lead a vast section of the population towards prosperity the CEO said. The Assam government was the first in the country to set up an Act East Department and the policy is key to the growth progress and upliftment of people from poverty to prosperity the official said. The north east is not just a gateway to South East Asia but is an extended corridor for growth progress and prosperity he said. Integration of the North East with East and South East Asia... will help in energising the region. Connectivity is critical not only by road but also by air railways and river transport which we are actively trying to augment and ensure speedy completion he added. NEW DELHI: Rahul Gandhi is the only alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said today as he emphasised that unity of opposition would bring forth a wave of change in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Surjewala said there were two models today -- one represented by Modi and the other by the Congress president. Today there are two models...There is a Modi model wherein he changes his clothes six times giving more credence to his clothing than state affairs. The other is the Rahul model where the focus is on simplicity and clarity the party s media head told PTI/Bhasha in an interview. Rahul Gandhi is the only alternative to Modi. The country wants to see him as the next prime minister he said. Asked about opposition unity efforts Surjewala said with NDA-constituents such as the Shiv Sena and TDP showing discontent with the BJP and the Congress forging the unity of opposition forces the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will bring forth a wave of change . The Shiv Sena has said it will go it alone in the next Lok Sabha polls while the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has sharply criticised the Union Budget 2018-19. Talking about the assembly elections slated to be held in eight states this year the Congress spokesperson said We are confident of coming back to power in Karnataka one of the most developed states. The party victory in the recently held bypolls in Rajasthan is just a trailer. The party will win with huge margins in Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh and other poll-bound states . Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Nagaland Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Naga Accord signed by the Centre in 2015 saying that the accord is nowhere to be found. Rahul called Modi the first ever Indian prime minister whose words don t mean anything in a tweet. August 2015 Mr Modi claims to create history by signing the NAGA accord. Feb 2018 Naga Accord is still nowhere to be found. Modi ji is the first ever Indian PM whose words don t mean anything. #CantFindTheAccord Office of RG (@OfficeOfRG) February 4 2018 Meanwhile Congress also tweeted asking if there even is an accord. In 2015 PM Modi took credit for the so called historic Naga accord. We haven t heard anything of it three years on the party said in a tweet. In 2015 PM Modi took credit for the so called historic Naga accord. We haven t heard anything of it 3 years on. Is there even an accord? The people of India have a right to know what has been agreed to. #CantFindTheAccord pic.twitter.com/C40hbAWoWL Congress (@INCIndia) February 4 2018 The Nagaland Peace Accord was signed in August 2015 by Modi and National Socialist Council of Nagaland Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) faction to end the insurgency in the region. The deal was signed in the presence of the prime minister home minister Rajnath Singh and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval by the outfit s leader T Muivah and government s interlocutor RN Ravi. File image of Congress president Rahul Gandhi. PTI It was hailed as historic by Modi who said Today we mark not merely the end of a problem but the beginning of a new future. This agreement will end the oldest insurgency in the country. It will restore peace and pave the way for prosperity in the North East. It will advance a life of dignity opportunity and equity for the Naga people based on their genius and consistent with the uniqueness of the Naga people and their culture and traditions he had said. With little progress in the accord since then NSCN-IM and six Naga political groups issued a joint declaration last month announcing their decision to boycott the 27 February Assembly polls demanding solution not election for Nagas in Kohima. Following this Rahul accused Modi of not taking into confidence various stakeholders when the Naga Framework Agreement was signed in 2015. Nobody has understood what the prime minister had signed (or) whether he had signed. This is his style. This (Naga Accord) is similar to demonetisation and implementation of Goods and Services Tax at midnight Rahul was quoted as saying by PTI. With inputs from agencies GUWAHATI: Highlighting path breaking economic reforms undertaken by his government Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said India s growth story will further pick up speed when there is an all-round development of the Northeast. Inaugurating the two-day Global Investors Summit hosted by Assam he stressed on the importance of Act East Policy in the Centre s aim of achieving balanced and fast-paced growth of the Northeastern region. We have created the Act East Policy and the Northeast is at the heart of it. The Act East Policy requires increased people to people contact trade ties and other relations with countries on India s east particularly ASEAN countries he said. The prime minister said due to economic reforms India is today the most preferred investment destination in the world with the highest FDI in last fiscal at USD 60 billion and highlighted the country s improved credit rating low inflation rate and opening of various sectors to foreign direct investment. The world sees India today as an emerging power house for economic growth he said. Modi said his government has changed the work culture of the official machinery giving it greater speed and we want all projects to be completed before target . Pointing to initiatives announced in the Budget on health insurance and free cooking gas connection for the poor and transparency in tax regime he said all the schemes of the Union government are oriented towards bringing about a qualitative change in https://kkmobikwik.shutterfly.com/ the lives of the people. The aim is to improve ease of living the prime minister said. The Union government has taken up many path breaking economic reforms in last three years which have simplified procedures for doing business he said. It is a result of these reforms that India today ranks 100 among 190 countries in the Doing Business Report of the World Bank after climbing up 42 ranks Modi said. India s position has improved in many other ratings like Global Competitiveness Index of World Economic Forum and Moody s rating upgrade from stable to positive in November 2017. Our policies have ensured that inflation remains below 5 per cent mark. Now we have foreign exchange reserves of USD 418 billion. Many new sectors have been opened for 100 per cent FDI through automatic route like automobiles textiles tourism ports and highways. Today India is one of the most preferred destinations for FDI. India has received highest ever annual FDI of USD 60 billion in 2016-17 he said. Talking about the recent announcements in the budget he said 45-50 crore people will benefit from the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat and it has enhanced the possibilities of setting up hospitals in tier II and III cities by hospital chains. Modi said the government s current focus is on infrastructure investment and next year it will be investing about Rs 6 lakh crore in this sector. This year we aim to complete more than 9 000 kilometres length of National Highways. We will be developing 35 000 kilometers of roads with investment of Rs 5.35 lakh crore under Bharatmala project he said adding the Railways will make an investment of Rs 1.48 lakh crore in 2018-19. Assam is hosting its first global investors summit to showcase its manufacturing opportunities and geostrategic advantages to foreign and domestic investors. The summit aims at highlighting Assam s core competencies in different sectors along with the policy initiatives taken by the state government. The prime minister said the tagline of the summit Advantage Assam: India s Express way to ASEAN is not just a statement but is a comprehensive vision. NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that the progress of northeastern India is at the heart of the Act East Policy of the government. The Act East Policy requires increased people to people contact trade ties and other relations with countries on India s east particularly ASEAN countries said the PM in an address at the inaugural session of Advantage Assam-Global Investors Summit 18 in Guwahati. The prosperity of people living in Northeast is key to India s growth story gathering speed he said. The PM said that the name of the summit is in essence its comprehensive vision and elaborated on how cooperation between the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - will be of benefit to people of all these countries. Whether it s the ASEAN countries Bangladesh Bhutan or Nepal we are all in one way or another dominantly agrarian economies - so the unity of our farmers in these regions can propel us to new heights said the PM. He added that the recently announced Union Budget 2018 has provisions extremely beneficial for the northeast especially its farmers. Now with about Rs 1 300 crores allocated in the budget for the restructuring of the National Bamboo Mission the people of the northeast especially its farmers will gain immensely said PM Modi. He also praised Assam for being ranked first among the northeastern States in the Ease of Doing Business report. With present leadership of the state government Assam is going to further improve its current position to emerge as one of the most sought after states for investment the PM forecast. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday defended the Union budget and said that the schemes including the healthcare affordable housing and electricity projects are aimed at benefiting the poor lower middle class and middle class. The Opposition has criticised the budget stating that there is nothing for middle class. Modi while addressing the inaugural session of Advantage Assam Global Investors Summit 2018 in Guwahati said that the Ayushman Bharat scheme announced in the budget is the largest scheme of its kind in the world. He said this healthcare scheme would benefit about 45 to 50 crore people. This will fuel coming up of hospital chains in tier two and three cities. This will open employment opportunities for all. We are working towards the target of doubling farmers incomes by lowering input costs and enabling appropriate price for their produce. Insurance scheme announced in the budget 2018-19 will benefit the middle class. We will invest close to Rs 14 lakh crore in agriculture and farm sector. Modi said that the government is coming up with 22 000 rural haats. All these years bamboo sector has suffered as it was classified as forest produce. Bamboo-growing Northeast India has suffered a lot. We are restructuring the national bamboo mission with an outlay of Rs 1 300 crore. He informed that government has changed the working style and now it is in a position where projects can be completed before time. The Prime Minister said that steps are taken for providing collateral free loans to entrepreneurs under the Mudra Yojana. The budget has provided tax relief to MSMEs. Catch them young. This has always been the credo of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh of which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was once a pracharak or fulltime worker. The RSS admits children to its morning shakhas and drills its belief system into them. So it is not surprising that Modi has written a book for high school children particularly those nervous about taking their Class 10 and Class 12 examinations.Modi s Exam Warriors has high production qualities boasts fetching illustrations and is priced at just Rs 100. It is a handbook that lists 25 mantras to help students overcome their fear of examinations to score good grades. It has tips on how they should allocate time for work sleep and play; cultivate a warrior s attitude to tests; understand the value of revising lessons; and lists some techniques of memorising key points among which is Modi s suggestion that they should coin acronyms a talent he most certainly has.He encourages them to do yoga to calm their mind and enhance their powers of concentration. For this he has chosen specific asanas illustrated with instructions. He wants students to have fun while taking their school-leaving examinations perhaps as much as he has while campaigning for elections. Modi has written separate letters to parents and teachers filled with the sort of advice that is dished out by newspaper supplements every Feb-March exam season.Little newIt is very unlikely that students will find anything new in any of Modi s 25 mantras except perhaps for the one on yoga. The other 24 mantras are routine tips that they have already received ad nauseam from their parents and teachers.Many will wonder why Modi chose to write Exam Warriors. It is after all nowhere as sophisticated as Letters from a Father to His Daughter the collection of 30 letters Jawaharlal Nehru wrote from prison in 1928 to Indira Gandhi when she was 10 years old. Nehru s letters to Indira covered a variety of profound themes such as the importance of dialogue and ideas of race and colour. By contrast Exam Warriors has one defining goal how to crack India s notorious examination system.Modi s motive is revealed in A Note from the Author. Being a firm believer in the power of technology I have integrated this book with the Narendra Modi Mobile App he writes. The book has my Mantra pages on which students can spin their own mantras and share them on the Modi App. Children will also have an Exam Warrior Community Page on the internet where they can share their achievements with others.Effectively then a community of exam warriors will be built around Modi as a totem pole so to speak. A substantial percentage of these warriors will vote for the first time in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. If they believe that Modi is in direct touch with them there s a fair chance they will vote for him.Given that most of them were 13 or 14 years old in 2014 it is unlikely they would be aware of Modi s agenda for which people voted for him overwhelmingly. This absence of memory means that they will not have any grievances about unfulfilled promises or feel disappointed at his performance. Their voting decisions will be anchored in their illusion of having a personal bond with the Prime Minister. Exam Warriors is a technique to implement the RSS mantra of catching them young.Yet the book should leave us perturbed. It is after all a manual to mastering the examination system. It is not about pursuing knowledge for the joy of it for discovering the physical and social world in which we live. There are allusions to it no doubt. For instance there is a chapter asking students Knowledge is Permanent Pursue it. The journey of acquiring knowledge is itself a rewarding experience he writes. It leads you to joy and does not burden you with pressure. But as the book makes it clear the quest for knowledge is to be valued only because it will help students pass their examination with great grades.Inexorable https://www.givology.org/~kkfood/ declineThis is the operating principle for most coaching institutes. Kota in Rajasthan abounds with teaching shops that have excellent reputations for being able to help students master the techniques of taking competitive examinations for engineering and medical institutes. Modi has made a significant contribution to the culture that is obsessed with cracking examinations. This approach explains why India s centres of educational excellence are in decline. The Prime Minister s attitude to education does not offer us hope that such centres can be rejuvenated. Exam Warriors claims to delve into the reasons why students fear the examination system but Modi has either not understood their fears or he has chosen not to tell them the truth: India has so few good colleges gaining admission into them requires a student to score above 95% in Class 12. If that isn t enough to make an 18-year-old shiver with fright what else can?
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