FRIDAY APRIL 12, 2024 INDIA THIS WEEK 1 A W e e k l y N e w s p a p e r Fe a t u r i n g N e w s & Tr e n d s f r o m t h e I n d i a n S u b - C o n t i n e n t P u b l i s h e d f r o m t h e U S C a p i t a l Website: www.indiathisweek.online Vol 33 No: 15 WASHINGTON DC • Phone: 301-445-0200 /301-445-3543/301-917-4800 • email: indiathisweekads@gmail.com • Friday April 12, 2024 “My son Anil Antony should lose in upcoming Lok Sabha polls...”: AK Antony T h i r u v a n a nthapuram (Kerala) [India], April 9 (ANI): Stating that the Congress party is a religion for him, senior Congress leader AK Antony on Tuesday said that his son Anil Antony, a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Pathanamthitta, should be defeated in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. “My religion is Congress. Anil Antony should lose. Anto Antony should win in Pathanamthitta,” AK Antony said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram. Antony further attacked the BJP and said that it is trying to destroy the idea of India, adding that the upcoming Lok Sabha poll is a ‘do or die’ election to regain and protect the idea of India. “The Narendra Modi government and BJP are trying to destroy the idea of India. After this election, the rule of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government has to be ended. If Narendra Modi’s government Remember: comes into power again, the Constitution formed by Dr Ambedkar will be sabotaged. Avoid that danger,” he said. AK Antony also slammed the Communist Party of India and said that the ruling Kerala party had no role in the formation of the Constitution. “Only Congress and Dr Ambedkar can claim credit for the formation of the Indian Constitution. CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s party did not have any role in the formation of the Indian constitution. Article 5 of the Constitution says religion is not a matter of citizenship. That was added by Congress,” he said. Kerala, one of the few states where the Congress still has a strong presence. Voting for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the southern state across all 20 seats is scheduled for April 26, while the counting of votes will take place on June 4. (ANI) “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” –Proverbs Chhattisgarh: 12 killed, 14 injured after bus overturns and falls into ditch in Durg Durg (Chhattisgarh) [India], April 10 (ANI): At least 12 passengers were killed and 14 injured after a bus overturned and rolled over into a ditch in the Kumhari area of the Durg district, an official said. The incident took place at 8.30 pm on Tuesday, the official informed Sharing details of the incident, Durg Collector Richa Prakash Choudhary said 12 passengers were killed and 14 grievously hurt after the bus, packed with workers, fell into a ditch in Durg. “The bus carrying labourers fell into a ditch near Kumhari around 8.30 pm, resulting in the deaths of approximately 12 individuals while 14 others were injured and admitted to a hospital,” Choudhary said. “Twelve of the injured were referred and shifted to AIIMS (Raipur), while the remaining two are receiving treatment at a private hospital. All of them are currently in stable condition and we are providing them with the best possible care,” the Collector added. The process of evacuating passengers still trapped inside the bus was underway, she said, adding that the cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained. Meanwhile, expressing grief over the incident, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai took to his official X handle to post, “I was saddened by the news of a bus, packed with employees of a private firm, meeting with an accident near Kumhari in Durg.” “I also received news that 11 of the employees sadly perished in the accident,” the tweet added. “I pray to the Almighty to bring peace to the departed souls and strength to the bereaved families. Adequate arrangements have been made for the treatment of the injured employees. I wish them a speedy recovery.” “Extremely sad”: Prime Minister Modi, President Murmu condole loss of lives in Durg bus accident Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief and condoled the loss of lives in an accident involving a bus, which overturned and fell into a BUS ACCIDENT SEE PAGE 6 “If you want to see the future, come to India”: US envoy Eric Garcetti hails India’s developmental journey New Delhi [India], April 10 (ANI): Praising India‘s developmental journey, US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, said that anyone who wants to “see the future” should come to India. He called it a “great privilege” to head the US mission in India. In his address at the ‘Impact & Innovation: 25 Years of IPE Global Making Development a Ground Reality’ event in Delhi, Garcetti said that if anyone wants to work on the future, they should come to India. Eric Garcetti said, “We have the most beautiful view, I think, of this ballroom of the passion, of the belief, of the purpose of the peace that you live in, the work that is done by IPE and the collaboration between so many of us that are lucky to call India our home for a period of our lives. I often say, if you want to see the future, come to India. If you want to feel the future, come to India. And if you want to work on the future, come to India. And I have the great privilege of being able to do that every single day as a leader of the United States mission.” US envoy recalled that he had learned a saying, ‘Alag Desh Alag Rivaaj’ which means another nation, another custom as each GARCETTI SEE PAGE 6
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April 12, 2024 Friday INDIA THIS WEEK “If you want to see the future, come to India”: US envoy Eric Garcetti hails India’s developmental journey GARCETTI 1 place has different customs. However, he said that they are now working together towards one vision. Garcetti said, “When I was studying Hindi as an 18 year old, I learned a saying, ‘Alag Desh Alag Rivaaj’, it was kind of another country, another custom. And the saying we have this in many languages is, you know, do in Rome, as the Romans do. In other words, every place is different. And those customs are unique. And while that is true, certainly the customs of America are different than those of India.” “Even within our countries, the custom from one town or city to the next is different, one state to the next is different. I think increasingly the work that we are doing here, that we are privileged to do is the American mission. We now feel more that it is do desh and there is ek Dil, one heart, that when we come together, it is no longer two different systems, but one vision,” he added. Praising IPE for having gender equality at the panel discussion, he said, “We want to make sure that whenever we sponsor something and participate in something, we don’t just give lip service to the idea of gender equity, but we try to embody that. And IPE has done that so beautifully here today and stirred my heart in looking at the stories of the women that we are privileged to work with alongside you and the government of India, to further health equality, to further the idea that economic opportunity shouldn’t be defined by your gender or your gender geography or the wealth of your parents, but by the dreams in your heart.” FROM PAGE “Last thing I’ll say, because instead of going through all the programs that we have together, and we often talk about the four p’s, that peace, prosperity, our planet and our people define the work of the United States mission here, together with our partners across the globe, with fellow diplomats and missions that are here, and of course, led by the Indian government. We don’t come here to teach and preach. We come here to listen and to learn. And when asked to have the privilege to work alongside you, whether it’s in the digital domain, whether it’s in the climate action that we take, we know that the work we have is urgent and the success of it has to run through every girl and woman in this country and around the world, in every marginalized community.” Former Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant praised IPE Global for its work, calling it “top class” as it works with a tremendous amount of passion, energy and dynamism across various sectors. He mentioned that he has worked with IPE on learning outcomes, improving health outcomes and nutrition. In his speech at the same event, Kant said, “In my long evenings in government, I’ve had the pleasure of working with all the top consulting agencies across the world. And I must say that IPE global is really top class. It’s top class because it works with a tremendous amount of passion, it works with a tremendous amount of energy and dynamism and it works across a range of sectors where you make a difference to human lives.” “It’s worked with me on learning outcomes, on improving health outcomes, on nutrition. They worked with me on improving, doing the holistic development of islands in India. And every time I can tell you that they surpass any other consulting agency because they actually believe in delivering on ground. So all credit to Ashwajit and his team. His team is really, really, truly brilliant and outstanding,” he added. Kant expressed happiness that IPE Global is focused on the SouthSouth, recalling that India faced several challenges during its G20 Presidency. He stated that there was a challenge of slowdown of global growth. Highlighting the challenges faced by India during its G20 Presidency, he said, “I’m truly delighted that your focus is on South-South because when India did the G20 presidency, we faced several challenges. There was a challenge of the slowdown of global growth. There was a challenge of the sustainable development goals instead of progressing having regressed, there was a massive challenge of climate action and climate finance. You know, we’re facing huge challenge of earth having surviving, but all of us not surviving at all because of fire, floods, famines and the temperatures rising. And we faced huge challenge of inequity in the world.” Amitabh Kant noted that India‘s G20 Presidency was very focused on the Global South as 70 per cent of the growth today, as per the International Monetary Fund (IMF), comes from the Global South. He said, “India‘s presidency was very focused on the Global South. It was focused on the Global South because, according to IMF, 70 per cent of the growth today is coming from the Global South. And the next two decades, almost two thirds of the global growth is going to come from Global South. And that’s for one simple reason, is, the demographics are in favour of the Global South. The countries of the Global South are going to see a very young population with very low dependency burden, whereas the rest of the world is going to be aging.” He said India was focused on being the voice of the Global South. He noted that PM Narendra Modi had the first interaction with Global South nations and India shaped its G20 priorities as per the Global South. Amitabh Kant said, “And therefore, we focused on being the voice of the Global South. And the Prime Minister, as the leader of the G20, actually had the first interaction with all the Global South countries. We shaped our priorities according to the Global South. And we worked around to achieve consensus on the Global South.” “And we made our presidency very ambitious, inclusive, very decisive and action oriented. And we worked towards making African Union a very integral part of G 20. And India actually made the G20 as G21. And by doing so, it demonstrated that G20 will actually cover almost 85 per cent of the global population. It will cover almost close to about 80 per cent of the global GDP and almost about 75 per cent of the global trade. And therefore, it made G 20 very inclusive, but it made GDP the most prominent multilateral body in the world,” he added. Amitabh Kant noted that multilateralism works with consensus and the challenge for India was to reach consensus on issues of accelerating the pace of SDGs, reforming multilateral institutions that were designed in the post Bretton wood period for another world and are not designed for the Global South. He stated that the challenge for India was also to bring in green development at the centre stage and how the use of technology and digital public infrastructure could be used to accelerate the pace of growth in the Global South. He said, “The challenge for us was that 4 billion people do not have a digital identity in the Global South. Two billion people do not even have a bank account and 133 countries of the world today do not have a digital public infrastructure. But we were able to bring consensus on all these issues. But the most critical of which was to bring consensus on women led development. And we had huge challenges on all these because our belief was that if half the world comprises of women, you can’t make the world grow without women and putting them into leadership position.” Praising US for its continuous support for India during its G20 Presidency, Kant said, “We had several challenges during G20. But one country which stood with us was the United States of Amer- ica. All through our G20, United States of America always said that India must succeed in bringing consensus on a range of challenges that we were confronted with not merely these challenges but the challenge of geopolitical crisis of Russia, Ukraine and we were able to bring leadership and bring consensus on many of these issues thanks to the United States of America.” In September of this year, India successfully hosted the G20 summit in the national capital, hosting over 40 global leaders and their delegations. The inclusion of the African Union as a permanent G20 member was a major and historic takeaway from India‘s presidency. At the Leader’s Summit, the New Delhi Declaration was adopted unanimously with full consensus. A major standout of the declaration was bringing all global powers on the same page and forging consensus on an issue as divisive as the Russia-Ukraine war. Throughout India‘s presidency, raising the voice of Global South and developing nations was at the forefront of New Delhi’s agenda. India‘s theme for the G20 Presidency was also ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’, whose Sanskrit translation goes as ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. (ANI) In a swift operation, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) rescued 27 Bangladeshi fishermen on 04 April 24, stranded on their fishing boat at sea. At about 1130 hrs on April 4, 2024, Indian Coast Guard Ship Amogh during patrol at Indo-Bangladesh International Maritime Border Line (IMBL), sighted a Bangladeshi fishing boat (BFB) Sagar II, adrift inside Indian waters. ICG ship launched boarding team to investigate. During investigation it was revealed that the boat had a steering gear breakdown for the last two days and had been adrift since then, which led to the boat drifting inside Indian waters. The BFB had 27 crew/fishermen onboard. The Indian Coast Guard technical team tried to identify and rectify the defect, but it was observed that the rudder of the boat was completely damaged and could not be repaired at sea. As the sea state and weather conditions were conducive, it was decided that the distressed boat will be towed to the Indo- Bangladesh IMBL and handed over to another Bangladeshi fishing boat operating across IMBL or to Bangladesh Coast Guard Ship, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Indian Coast Guard and Bangladesh Coast Guard. In the Meantime Indian Coast Guard Regional Headquarters at Kolkata established communication with Bangladesh Coast Guard and informed them about the incident and plan of action. Bangladesh Coast Guard Ship (BCGS) Kamaruzzaman was deployed by BCG for towing of BFB. BCG Ship Kamaruzzaman arrived near the IMBL at about 1845 hrs on 4th April 24. ICGS Amogh handed over the 27 Bangladeshi fishermen along with their boat to BCG ship Kamaruzzaman. The operation reflects the commitment of Indian Coast Guard towards safeguarding precious lives at sea against all odds. Such successful Search and Rescue operations will not only strengthen the regional SAR structure but also enhances the international cooperation with neighbouring countries. This is in keeping with the motto of the Indian Coast Guard “VAYAM RAKSHAMAH” which means “WE PROTECT”. Indian Coast Guard rescues 27 Bangladeshi fishermen; hands over them to Bangladesh
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April 12, 2024 Friday INDIA THIS WEEK Chhattisgarh: 12 killed, 14 injured after India’s nominee bus overturns and falls into ditch in Durg Jagjit Pavadia reelected to International Narcotics Control Board BUS ACCIDENT FROM PAGE 1 ditch in the Durg district on Tuesday. The bus, which was ferrying employees of a firm, overturned and rolled over into a ditch, leaving 12 passengers dead and 14 injured. Taking to his official X handle, PM Modi posted, “The bus accident in Durg, Chhattisgarh, is extremely sad. My condolences to those who lost their loved ones in this. Along with this, I wish for the speedy recovery of the injured. Under the supervision of the state government, the local administration is engaged in helping the victims in every possible way.” President Droupadi Murmu also took to X to mourn the victims, posting, “The news of many people getting killed in a bus accident in Durg district of Chhattisgarh is very sad. My deepest condolences to all the bereaved families! I wish for the speedy recovery of the injured.” Sharing details of the incident that took place at 8.30 pm on Tuesday, Durg Collector Richa Prakash Choudhary said 12 passengers were killed on the spot while another 14 grievously hurt after the bus, packed with workers, fell into a ditch in Durg. “The bus carrying labourers of the Kedia Distillery fell into a ditch near Kumhari around 8.30 pm, resulting in the deaths of approximately 12 individuals while 14 others were injured and admitted to a hospital,” Choudhary said. Twelve of the injured were referred and shifted to AIIMS (Raipur), while the remaining two are receiving treatment at a private hospital. All of them are currently in stable condition and we are providing them with the best possible care,” the collector added Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Deputy CM Vijay Sharma visited the injured at AIIMS Raipur in the wake of the accident. After meeting the injured, Deputy CM Sharma said, “It was an unfortunate incident. The workers From The Poet’s Pen INDIA THIS WEEK- APRIL 5, 2024 The Road Not Taken By Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I marked the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. were on their way to Kedia Distillery on a bus when the accident took place. There are ditches, 20-feet deep, on both sides of the road. They had been taking the same route for about 20 years, but it so happened that the bus, today, lost control, overturned and fell into a ditch.” “One of the injured passengers informed that the headlights of the bus weren’t switched on, which may have also contributed to the accident,” he added. Earlier, expressing grief over the incident, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai took to his official X handle to post, “I was saddened by the news of a bus, packed with employees of a private firm, meeting with an accident near Kumhari in Durg.” “I also received news that 11 of the employees sadly perished in the accident,” the tweet added.”I pray to the Almighty to bring peace to the departed souls and strength to the bereaved families. Adequate arrangements have been made for the treatment of the injured employees. I wish them a speedy recovery.” (ANI INDIA THIS WEEK Address: P.O. Box 352, Bryans Road, MD 20616 Phone: 301-445-0200; 301-917-4800 www.indiathisweek.online India This Week is published every Friday by ADV Solutions Inc, Views expressed in this paper are those of the individual writers and not necessarily of India This Week. India This Week accepts no liability for the errors in advertisements or in any of its reports. For remedial actions any errors should be brought to the attention of the editor by the information provided below. Publisher: Chief Editor: Contributing Editors: Dr. Babu Stephen Rajan George Saju Mathew Isaac George Asst. Editors: Manu Jacob Sherena Panjikkaran Special Business Correspondent Elisha B. Pulivarti Business Coordinators Rajan C. George Jithu Johny Panjikkaran Dr. Renuka Misra, Special Correspondent: Geeta Goindi Community Coordinator: Prof. Vinod Goel India Office Manesh Krishna Columnists: Anadi Naik World Religions Dr. Sam Prasad Jillella Photo Journalist: Mathew Karmel, System Admn. & Maintenance: Rajan C. George Layout & Graphics: Prinston Samuel, Business Affairs: Mrs. Molly George CALL US • 301-445-0200 • 301-917-4800 e-Mails: Advertisements: indiathisweekads@gmail.com Press Releases: indiathisweekpress@yahoo.com Web: www.indiathisweek.online N e w York [US], April 10 (ANI): India‘s nominee Jagjit Pavadia has been re-elected to International Narcotics Control Board at elections held in New York, for the term 2025-2030, after receiving the highest number of votes in the elections conducted by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Lauding the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations and the team at the Ministry of External Affairs, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said “good work.” In a post on X, Jaishankar stated, “Today, India‘s nominee Ms Jagjit Pavadia has been re-elected to the International Narcotics Control Board at elections held in New York, for the term 2025-2030. India secured the highest number of votes amongst all elected members states to the Board.” In a press release, the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations thanked all the member state for their support and trust they have placed in India‘s nominee. “India‘s nominee Ms. Jagjit Pavadia was today elected by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) as a member of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) for the third term from 20252030. In the process, Ms. Pavadia received the highest number of votes among all the candidates for this position. The Permanent Mission of India thanks all the member states for their valuable support and the trust they have placed on India‘s nominee,” Permanent Mission of India to the UN said. Taking to X, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN stated, “Today, a significant triumph for India at the UN, clinching a prestigious re-election to the International Narcotics Control Board for 20252030 and earning seats across several key UN bodies.” According to the press release, India was also elected by acclamation to the Commission on the Status of Women for the term 2025-2029, the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund for the term 2025-2027, the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund/ United Nations Office for Project Services for the term 2025-2027, the Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women for the term 2025-2027, and the Executive Board of the World Food Programme for the term 2025-2027. In the press release, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN said, “India will continue, as always, to actively contribute towards deliberations in these bodies in keeping with our overall philosophy of ‘Vasudaiva Kutumbakam’.” (ANI) Remember: “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. ” JESUS CHRIST
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April 12, 2024 Friday INDIA THIS WEEK Kejriwal arrest not in contravention of Law, remand can’t be termed ‘illegal’: Delhi HC New Delhi [India], April 9 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s plea challenging his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Excise policy case and said that Kejriwal’s arrest is not in contravention of Law and remand can’t be termed “illegal”. The bench of Justice Swarna Kanta Sharma said, ED was in possession of enough material which had led them to arrest Kejriwal. Non-joining of the investigation by Kejriwal, delay caused by him was also impacting those in judicial custody. The material collected by the Enforcement Directorate reveals that Arvind Kejriwal conspired and was actively involved in the use and concealment of proceeds of crime. The ED case also reveals that he was involved in his personal capacity as well as the convenor of Aam Aadmi Party. The court further stated that this court is of the opinion that the accused has been arrested and his arrest and remand have to be examined as per law and not as per the timing of elections. Kejriwal’s challenge to the timing of arrest before General elections in the absence of any mala fide on part of ED not sustainable, said the court. Arvind Kejriwal through the plea alleged Lok Sabha elections: Women and Divyang employees to operate polling booths in Uttarakhand D e hradun (Uttarakhand) [India], April 10 (ANI): Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Uttarakhand‘s Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande, provided information about the booths being prepared for the polls. Speaking to ANI, Jogdande informed that 85 booths are being prepared in the state, which will be operated by women personnel. Out of these, women personnel will operate 12 booths in Bageshwar and nine booths in Tehri district. The officer also said that 70 PWD booths are being prepared as model booths in the state, which will be operated by Divyang personnel. Forty-four model booths are being prepared in the state, which will be operated by young personnel; 12 such booths are being operated in the Pauri district. Jogdande said that it is mandatory to arrange GPS tracking for all vehicles during the election process. The officer said that 10,091 vehicles are be- ing used in the state, and the process of installing GPS on all these vehicles is in progress. Till now, GPS devices have been installed in 2,500 vehicles. This process will be completed three days before the polling day, he added. The state has also started door-to-door voting in these elections. Jogdande said that the process of the first phase of voting through postal ballots by going door to door is in progress. So far, out of 9993 voters above 85 years of age, 6861 have cast their votes. Out of 2899 voters in the disabled category, 2218 disabled voters have cast their votes so far. The people of Uttarakhand will cast their votes on April 19, and the state consists of five Lok Sabha constituencies. that the ED has at the time of arrest “failed to establish” that the petitioner is guilty of committing activities stipulated under Section 3, i.e., be it one of concealment, possession, acquisition, use of proceeds of crime as much as projecting it as untainted property or claiming it to be so. Kejriwal was arrested on March 21 by the Enforcement Directorate in relation to the excise policy case. The trial court on April 1, sent Arvind Kejriwal to judicial custody till April 15, 2024. ED alleged that the Aam Adami Party (AAP) is the major beneficiary of the proceeds of crime generated in the alleged liquor scam. The agency also claimed that Kejriwal was directly involved in the formation of the excise policy. The case pertains to alleged irregularities and money laundering in framing and implementing the Delhi Excise Policy 2022, which was later scrapped. While Kejriwal was not named in the FIRs registered by the ED or the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Delhi excise policy case, his name first found a mention in the ED’s chargesheet, wherein the agency claimed that he allegedly spoke to one of the main accused, Sameer Mahendru, in a video call and asked him to continue working with co-accused and AAP communicationsin-charge Vijay Nair. Nair was among the first people to be arrested by the CBI in the case, in 2022. Subsequently, former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh were arrested in connection with the case. The latter, however, was granted bail by the Supreme Court last week.(ANI) Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 10 (ANI): As many as 19 fishermen who were released from the custody of Sri Lanka reached Chennai Airport on Wedneday morning. The Sri Lankan Navy arrested a total of 21 fishermen who hailed from Ramanathapuram and surrounding areas for fishing in Sri Lankan waters. The 19 fishermen were released by Sri Lanka on Tuesday after intervention by the central and state governments and reached the Chennai Airport Wednesday morning. Earlier on Tuesday, the Indian embassy in Sri Lanka took to X, and said, “19 Indian fishermen have been repatriated from Sri Lanka and are currently on their way to Chennai.” Earlier last week, a total of 19 fishermen from Tamil Nadu were sent to Chennai in an Air India passenger flight from Sri Lanka’s Colombo following their arrest, by the Sri Lankan Navy on March 6 for crossing the border. The 19 fishermen included nine from Mayiladuthurai, four from Pudukottai, and six from Karaikal in Puducherry state. All of them went fishing in the sea in two boats on March 6. The families of the fishermen had requested that the central and state govern- ments take action to release the fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy. Following this, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin immediately wrote a letter to the Union Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar and requested to take action to release the fishermen. The Indian embassy officials in Sri Lanka subsequently held talks with the Sri Lankan government officials. (ANI) New Delhi [India], April 10 (ANI): The Central government has provided ‘Y+ escort’ category Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) security cover to former Indian Ambassador to the US and recently inducted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Taranjeet Singh Sandhu, sources said on Wednesday. Sandhu has been granted the security cover for across India following an order issued earlier this week by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The MHA took the decision to extend the security cover to Sandhu based on a recent threat analysis report received from Intelligence Bureau. Joining an exclusive club of ex-diplomats who made the switch to politics under the Narendra Modi government, Sandhu joined the BJP last month. Like him, Union Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and S Jaishankar are also former diplomats. Sandhu is a 1988batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and the grandson of former Congress leader and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) founder member Teja Singh Samundri. Having retired on February 1, Sandhu began interacting with people from all walks of life in Amritsar from February 23 onwards, his grandfather’s birth anniversary which sparked speculation then about his entry into politics. 19 Indian fishermen repatriated from Sri Lanka, reach Chennai Former envoy turned BJP leader Sandhu granted CRPF’s ‘Y+ escort’ security cover across India
FRIDAY APRIL 12, 2024 9 Overseas Friends of BJP’ in US march in support of PM Modi’s re-election bid Washington, DC [US], April 8 (ANI): The ‘Overseas Friends of BJP’ in the US organised a “Modi ka Parivar March” on Sunday at iconic places in over 16 cities, supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-election and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) winning over 400 seats in the upcoming general elections in India. ‘Overseas Friends of BJP’ in the USA is a key organisation that seeks to promote the policies and leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) among the Indian diaspora in the United States. In the capital city of Washington, DC, men, women, and children assembled at the reflection pond of Capitol Hill wearing “Modi ka Parivar March” T-shirts, holding flags of the BJP, the US, and India. Supporters of PM Modi convened at the Washington Monument, showcasing placards with slogans like “Ab ki baar 400 parrrr”, “Modi 3.0”, and “Sikh Americans for Modi”. The signs also featured messages like “Modi guarantee, India’s 3rd largest economy”, reflecting the demonstrators’ aspirations tied to Modi’s leadership, the organisation said in a press release. “In a show of unity and support, a good number of people from across the San Francisco Bay Area convened at the iconic Golden Gate Bridge for the ‘Modi Ka Parivar March‘ on April 7 at 11:00 AM (Pacific Daylight Time),” it added. The “Modi ka Parivar March” showcased the deep-rooted respect and solidarity for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and the collective aspiration of “Abki Baar 400 Paar” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Participants spanning all age groups, from young children to the elderly, gathered to express their unwavering support for Prime Minister Modi and his vision for India. The marchers, adorned in saffron and carrying flags, banners, and placards, formed a sea of support as they made their way across the Golden Gate, symbolizing the bridge of solidarity and unity that PM Modi’s leadership has built among Indians worldwide. Furthermore, Overseas Friends of BJPUSA’ extend their heartfelt thanks to all the participants for making the march a resounding success and for demonstrating the power of unity and shared aspirations for India’s triumphant return in the forthcoming elections with “Abki Baar 400 Paar.” The enthusiastic participation of such a diverse age group underscored the wide-reaching appeal and impact of PM Modi’s governance and his vision for an inclusive, developed, and prosperous India. The “Modi Ka Parivar March” not only provided a platform for the Indian community in the Bay Area to voice their support for PM Modi’s re-election but also highlighted the strength and vibrancy of the Indian diaspora’s engagement with the democratic process and their homeland’s future. The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases beginning April 19. Nearly 96.8 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in the upcoming polls at over 12 lakh polling stations. The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 303 seats, while the Indian National Congress (INC) managed to secure only 52 seats. (ANI)
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