The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Narendra Modi

  • 2019 India Elections: Indians in Nigeria celebrate Narendra Modi’s victory

    Indians resident in Nigeria celebrate the incumbent Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s victory during the recently concluded elections in India.

    Mr Sanjay Srivastava, President, Overseas Friends of Bhartiya Janta Party (OFBJP), Nigeria chapter, said on Friday in Lagos that Modi’s re-election signalled that Indians would enjoy another five years of democratic and inclusive governance.

    The celebration was held on May 23, 2019 at Palmgrove Hall, Ilupeju, Lagos State.

    Srivastava said that Indians in Nigeria left their various jobs to celebrate Modi’s victory because the development meant that India’s problem of nepotism, corruption, religious bigotry would be further dealt with.

    He said India had experienced sporadic development since Modi’s assumption of office five years ago as remarkable development were recorded in the areas of banking, infrastructure development and industry expansion.

    “We are so excited because we know there would be continuity for those good jobs Modi had been doing in the past five years.

    “Since the announcement of the results, Indians have been congratulating one another through calls, text messages and other social media handles.

    “Modi’s victory means victory for all Indians and we are happy that all efforts channeled toward campaign for him were not wasted.

    “The celebration means that our love for Modi is so immense due to his selfless commitment to ensuring India is liberated from problems of corruption, nepotism, religious bigotry and more.

    Read Also: Lessons from Indian elections

    “I have never witnessed such happy euphoria among the Indian community over the results of general polls,” he said in a statement.

    Srivastava said the celebration was done in Indian traditional way while they engaged their indigenous conch, trumpets and other musical instruments to identify with their country.

    He gave the Indian community assurance that Modi would ensure that India regains it’s long lost glory and effect a bright and prosperous future for all Indians, while India becomes the envy of great nations.

    “Since Modi’s assumption of office five years ago, Indians have got greater recognition worldwide; he has taken India into the global map as a country which can play vital role in world economic growth.

    “We are quite confident that this will continue and we want to assure Modi that Indians worldwide are with him for him and by him.

    “OFBJP Nigeria appears to be at the forefront leading the Indian Diaspora to walk hand in hand with Mr Modi,” he said.

    According to him, the executives of OFBJP that were available during the celebration include Pravin Kumar, Kiran Gosavi,  Sabir Ali, Vikas Kane, Diwesh Mishra, Dheerendra Sign Chauhan, Anoop Droli, Sanjay Jha, Shanti Bhushan Singh, Robin Puri and  Nandkumar Chelloor.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that 2019 Indian general election was held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 2019; the counting of votes took place on May 23 and the results were announced the same day having incumbent Prime Minister, Narendra Modi as the winner.

    NAN

     

  • India prepares for second phase of general elections

    Authorities across India have made adequate arrangements for the second phase of the ongoing general elections, officials said on Wednesday.

    Voting for the second phase of country’s 17th general elections is scheduled to take place on Thursday.

    “Special measures are being taken by the election commission to check money power in the poll bound areas.

    “We have divided areas and extra measures are being taken in the sensitive areas to ensure free and fair polling.” an election commission official said.

    The Election Commission of India (ECI) officials have seized huge amount of money that was meant to be used to bribe voters during raids in several poll bound areas.

    Reports say that campaigning for the second phase of polls ended officially on Tuesday evening.

    According to officials, they have started sending electronic voting machines and election staff at the respective polling stations, and security arrangements were also in place.

    On Monday, ECI acted against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, President of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Mayawati, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Maneka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan, over inappropriate comments and barred them from campaigning for a certain period of time.

    The first phase of the seven-phase polling was held last week.

    Read Also: Nigerian breaks 100-year Indian academic record

    The polling was conducted peacefully except for a few incidents of violence.

    In the ongoing elections, the ruling BJP is seeking to regain power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    He is facing tough competition from Rahul Gandhi, the fourth generation scion of India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi family and regional parties that have forged coalition in several states.

    NAN

  • 16 dead, others feared trapped after bridge collapses in India

     At least 16 bodies have been recovered from the debris of a flyover that collapsed in the Indian temple town of Varanasi on Tuesday.

    Several people were feared trapped, and the death toll could rise, Varanasi District Magistrate, Y.N. Mishra, said.

    Four people had been rescued so far, Mishra added.

    The flyover was under construction and part of it collapsed during busy evening traffic, with big slabs of concrete crushing the vehicles travelling on the road below, an official at the Varanasi police control room said.

    Six teams belonging to the National Disaster Response Force were at the site helping with rescue operations, Local Police Officer, Dinesh Singh, said.

    “Extremely saddened by the loss of lives due to the collapse of an under-construction flyover in Varanasi. I pray that the injured recover soon,” Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, posted on Twitter.

    Modi represents Varanasi parliamentary constituency.

    Collapses of under construction structures are not uncommon in India.

    Twenty-seven people died in a similar collapse of a flyover being built in Kolkata in April 2016.

    Across the country, 1,885 people died in building, bridge and other structural collapses in 2016, according to the latest-available government data.

    NAN

  • Indian PM kicks off election campaign in home state

    Indian PM kicks off election campaign in home state

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially kicked off the election campaign in his home state of Gujarat on Monday, with a stinging attack on the country’s main opposition Congress party.

    Gujarat, governed by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will go to polls on Dec. 9 in two phases.

    The results of the elections will be announced on Dec. 18.

    “The Gujarat election is a contest between trust on development and dynastic politics,” the prime minister said while addressing hundreds of supporters of his party in the western Indian state’s Kutch district.

    He was referring to Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi, who is expected to take over the reins of the decades-old Congress party from his mother Sonia Gandhi next month.

    Slamming leaders of the Congress party for levelling baseless allegations against him, Modi said: “This son of Gujarat has no stains in his public life.”

    “I am grateful for all the kichad (muck) being thrown at me. After all, a lotus blooms only in kichad.

    “Those slinging mud on us will help the lotus bloom even more,” he said, referring to BJP’s party symbol.

    Senior leaders of the Congress party, mainly Rahul Gandhi, have also been campaigning in Gujarat with a hope to clinch a win in the polls, banking on incumbency.

    Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 till 2014 when he became prime minister after BJP won the general elections.

     

  • Floods in India’s northeast kill 83 people

    Floods in India’s northeast kill 83 people

    Floods in India’s northeast have killed at least 83 people and led to the death of three rare one-horned rhinoceros at a national park that has the world’s largest concentration of the species.

    The floods caused by torrential rains across the hilly states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Manipur over the past two weeks, have also triggered landslides.

    Authorities say in  all,  no fewer than two million people have been displaced.

    “Assam is the worst hit with 53 lives lost so far in floods and landslides with some two million people displaced,” Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told Reuters.

    “Relief and rescue operations are going on a war footing.”

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sent a team of federal government officials, led by junior home minister Kiren Rijiju, to assess the damage.

    The overflowing Brahmaputra River has also completely marooned the Kaziranga wildlife sanctuary in Assam, forcing animals to flee to safer areas.

    A one-horned rhinoceros drowned on Friday, taking the toll of the endangered animals in the flooding to three, Assam’s forest minister, Pramila Rani Brahma, told Reuters.

    The Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO world heritage site, is home to an estimated 2,500 rhinos out of a world population of some 3,000.

    She said nearly 60 other animals, mostly deer and wild boars, have been killed in the floods.

  • India: Supreme court suspends ban on trade of cattle for slaughter

    India: Supreme court suspends ban on trade of cattle for slaughter

    India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended a government ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in May decreed that markets could only trade cattle for agricultural purposes, such as plowing and dairy production, on the grounds of stopping cruelty to animals.

    The slaughter of cows, considered holy in Hinduism, were banned in most parts of India, but Hindu hardliners and cow vigilante groups have since increasingly declaring themselves since Modi’s government came to power in 2014.

    Muslims, who make up 14 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion people, said that the May government decree against the beef and leather industry employing millions of workers was aimed at marginalising them.

    The Supreme Court, in issuing its decision, stressed the hardship that the ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter had imposed.

    “The livelihood of people should not be affected by this,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Jagdish Khehar said in his ruling.

    India’s meat and leather industries are worth more than 16 billion dollars in annual sales.

    “After the decision, the government told the court it would modify and reissue its May order,’’ Additional Solicitor-General P.S. Narasimha said.

    The issue has become highly emotive with a wave of attacks on Muslims suspected of either storing meat or transporting cattle for slaughter.

    An estimated 28 people have been killed in cow-related violence since 2010.

    At the ending of June, after months of silence on the violence, Modi condemned lynchings.

    Media has reported that at least two cases of attacks on Muslims since Modi spoke out.

    Abdul Qureshi, Head of the Muslim All India Jamiatul Quresh Action Committee which supports the meat sellers, welcomed the court decision.

    “We have to restore the confidence of cattle traders that they can resume their business.

    “It’ a victory for us,” Qureshi, who had lodged a petition with the Supreme Court against the government ban said.

  • 22 passengers burnt to death in India auto crash

    22 passengers burnt to death in India auto crash

    At least 22 people were burnt to death when their bus collided with a truck in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh early Monday.

    Senior police officer Rohit Sajwar said that fifteen others were injured, six of them seriously, in the accident that took place near the Bareilly city.

    Sajwar said: “the diesel tank of the bus burst after the collision which led to the fire. Bodies of the victims were charred beyond recognition.

    “Initial investigations indicate that all victims died of burn injuries. We are carrying out autopsies to determine the exact cause of their death.”

    The bus was travelling from Indian capital New Delhi to Gonda, a district in the north-eastern region of Uttar Pradesh.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi and state agencies send condolences for the loss of life and announced compensation for the families of the victims.

    According to government data, 146,000 people died in road accidents in India in 2015, or around 400 deaths a day.

    India’s high rate of fatal traffic accidents is mostly blamed on poorly maintained roads and vehicles or negligent driving.

     

  • Wall collapses during wedding celebration in India, 23 killed

    Police on Thursday said 23 people were killed and 30 injured  when a wall collapsed on a crowd during wedding in India.

    Police official Bharat Meena said that the 12-foot high wall collapsed late on Wednesday because of heavy rain, crashing down on the wedding party during dinner in a marriage hall in the western state of Rajasthan.

    Meena added that five children were among the dead.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a Twitter post he was pained by the accident.

    Weddings are elaborate affairs in India with even people of modest income inviting large numbers of guests to receptions, often in purpose-built halls.

     

  • Iconic Indian classical singer Kishori Amonkar dies at 84

    Iconic India’s finest classical vocalists, Kishori Amonkar, has died in Mumbai. She was 84.

    Amonkar, who mesmerided audiences with her skilful singing for decades, died on Monday night at her home in central Mumbai.

    Domestic media, quoting her student, Gandhar Bedekar, reported Amonkar had died in her sleep.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi described her passing away as an “irreparable loss” to Indian classical music.

    Amonkar was recognized as one of the foremost singers in the Hindustani traditional school of singing, and also won acclaim for creating her own distinctive style.

    Amonkar received India’s top civilian honour, Padma Bhushan, in 1987, and Padma Vibhushan in 2002.

    Tributes have poured in from musicians as well as India’s entertainment industry in Mumbai following news of her death.

    “She was a unique and extraordinary classical singer.

    Her demise spells a huge loss for the world of music,” legendary Bollywood singer Lata Mangeshkar said.

    Her funeral was due to be held in Mumbai on Tuesday evening.

  • India offers N2.25tr concessional credit to Nigeria, 53 others

    India offers N2.25tr concessional credit to Nigeria, 53 others

    The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, on Thursday said it would give N2.25trillion ($10billion) concessional lines of credit to Nigeria and 53 other African nations in the next five years to boost their economy.

    He also said additional grant assistance of N135billion ($600m) will be made available to African countries by India.

    Modi, who made the disclosures in an address at the opening of the Plenary Session of the Third India-Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi, said the credit lines are necessary because Africa is now joining the global mainstream of innovation.

    He said it was time for India and Africa to take their destinies in their hands and stop living in the shadows of colonialism.

    He said: “From connecting lives to collaborating for our prosperity, from keeping our people safe to advancing our global interests, the agenda of our partnership stretches across the vast territory of our linked aspirations.

    “To add strength to our partnership, India will offer concessional credit of US $10billion over the next five years. This will be in addition to our ongoing credit programme.

    “We will also offer a grant assistance of US$600million. This will include an India-Africa Development Fund of $100million and an India-Africa Health Fund of $10million.

    “It will also include 50,000 scholarships in India over the next five years. And it will support the expansion of Pan-Africa E-Network and institutions of skilling, training and learning across Africa.”

    Explaining why the interventions are necessary, Modi said economic indices have indicated that this century was for India and Africa to build to shape the world.

    He said apart from abundant natural resources, India and Africa harbour productive youths who are under 35 years.

    He said: “We have lived in the long shadow of colonialism. And we have fought for our liberty and dignity. We have struggled for opportunity and also for Justice, which the African wisdom describes, is the prime condition of humanity.

    “We have spoken in one voice in the world and we have formed a partnership for prosperity among ourselves. We have stood together under blue helmets to keep peace. And we have fought together against hunger and disease.

    And, as we look to the future, there is something precious that unites us: it is our youth. Two-thirds of India and two-thirds of Africa is under the age of 35 years. And if the future belongs to the youth, then this century is ours to shape and build.”