News18 Daybreak | Prime Minister Modi Hits Out at Leaked NSSO Report and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For
What to Watch Out For
Prime Minister Narendra Modi heaped ridicule and sharp criticism on the Opposition on Thursday, saying their idea of Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) is a Maha Milavat (Grand Adulteration) and the people are aware of it. The Prime Minister also retorted to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's favourite slogan with a tweak of a well-known Hindi proverb. "The thief is scolding the chowkidar (watchman)," he said.
Speaking from the floor of the Lok Sabha in his reply to the Motion of Thanks, PM Modi said, "In 2014, for the first time in 30 years, the people gave India its first full majority government. Now the Maha-Milawat (Grand Adulteration) is about to come".
In what could be his last speech from the floor of the house before the national elections are declared, PM Modi put Congress through the shredder -- claiming Indira Gandhi dismissed elected governments "over 50 times", defence deals with "Chachas and Mamas", and "benami properties" abroad, an indirect reference to Robert Vadra.
Facing allegations of a rising rate of unemployment, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha session on Thursday hit out at the opposition claiming that the government had created crores of jobs in the formal and informal sectors.
The PM’s defence came days after a leaked National Sample Survey Office
(NSSO) report showed that the rate of unemployment is at a 45-year high. Two members of the National Statistics Commission had even resigned over the it, alleging that the government had suppressed it.
Report Highlights: The leaked NSSO report which appeared in The Business Standard on January 31, ahead of the Budget 2019 announcement, pegged the rate of unemployment at 6.1 percent in 2017-2018.
The defence: The Prime Minister rejected the report’s findings in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and said that the informal sector contributes to 85-90 percent of jobs while the formal sector only provides 10-15 percent employments.
Opposition strikes: Opposition parties including the Congress have made the issue of unemployment the linchpin in their campaigns. In several rallies in the past week and over social media, the Congress chief accused the Modi government of not fulfilling his promise- before coming to power-of providing two crore jobs.
Other leaders in rival parties like Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav had also slammed the ruling party for presenting “fake data” employment saying that they had “ruined the country”
While they argue, we march: Meanwhile, on Thursday thousands of students across the country took to the streets to demand better employment and educational opportunities.
The 4000-odd students from several universities including Delhi University, Allahabad University and Hyderabad University organized under the ‘Young India Adhikar March’ putting across several demands including the immediate filling up of vacancies in government jobs and the allocation of at least 10% of the GDP towards education.
Vadra-Karti
The Enforcement Directorate will continue their interrogation of Robert Vadra and Karti Chidambaram today. On the second round of questioning on Thursday, the ED grilled Vadra for over nine hours over his alleged involvement in a money laundering case. The ED case against Vadra relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property located at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million GBP (British pounds), which is allegedly owned by him. Son of the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram, was also questioned about his involvement in the INX Media case on Thursday and will be appearing before the agency again today.
Karnataka-budget-BJP
After staging protests in the past two days of the Karnataka Assembly’s Budget session, the BJP is now looking to get the Budget defeated today in protest against the JD(S)-Congress coalition government. The Assembly was adjourned on Wednesday and Thursday amid ruckus with the BJP shouting slogans against the HD Kumaraswamy-led government. Meanwhile, seven MLAs including the four ‘rebel’ Congress MLAs remained absent at yesterday’s session as well. The Congress party in the state had issued 3 show cause notices and party whips mandating the attendance of their MLAs. A Congress Legislature Party will now take place on Friday morning in which all the MLAs have been summoned. The party has also given a warning that those who don’t attend the meeting will face action under the Anti-Defection law.
CBI-Kolkata-chitfund
The Central Bureau of Investigation has constituted a 10-member team to expedite chit fund investigation in Bengal. The team will be reaching Kolkata today and is expected to stay on till March. The investigations would be led by CBI joint director for Eastern Region, Pankaj Srivastava. The past few days saw a major showdown between the Mamata Banerjee-led government and the Centre after CBI officials attempted to search the residence of the Kolkata Commissioner Rajeev Kumar over his alleged role in the scam. What followed was a row between the CBI and the Kolkata police personnel who refused the officials entry, even detaining 15 officials. The West Bengal CM then began a three-day sit-in protest to ‘Save The Constitution’ condemning the Centre’s actions as undemocratic.
What You May Have Missed
RBI-policy
The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday cut benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent on expectation of inflation staying within its target range, a move that may translate into lower monthly installments for home and other loans if the banks pass it on to consumers. A fall in repo rate is most likely to have an impact on both the existing and future borrowers with a decrease in the interest to be paid on a loan irrespective of whether it is a car loan, personal loan or home loan. In other policy changes the RBI brought out following a three-day meet, the limit of collateral-free agricultural loans was raised to Rs 1.6 lakh from the current Rs 1 lakh with a view to help small and marginal farmers.
Devaswom-Sabarimala
A row broke out in the Travancore Devaswom Board on Thursday as its chief sought an explanation from the Devaswom Commissioner for reversing its stand on the Supreme Court's verdict allowing women of all ages into the Sabarimala shrine. The Commissioner, N Vasu, however denied that the Board has changed its position in front of an SC bench, who were hearing several petitions including review petitions on the September verdict on Wednesday. Reports following Wednesday’s hearing had said that the Board had taken a U-turn in its stand on its stand on the verdict, telling the court that it was high time that a particular class not be discriminated on the grounds of "biological attributes".
UP-Budget
The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday announced the allocation of 247 crore for maintenance and construction of gaushalas in rural areas, and Rs 200 crore for Kanha Gaushala and Destitute Cattle Shelter Scheme in urban areas in its Rs 4.79 lakh crore budget for 2019-20. The Yogi Adityanath-led government also allocated Rs 6240 for the Pradhan Mantri Avas Yojna, the government’s affordable housing program and Rs 3194 for the Purvanchal, Gorakhpur and Bundelkhand Expressways. Opposition party leader, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, described the budget as a “deception” and slammed the Yogi Adityanath government for a “lack of vision, development and social security”. Yadav also criticised the government for what he called was a “meagre” allocation for the ‘gau mata’ project.