Archives for February 2020

Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he is “saving the big deal” with India for later and he “does not know” if it will be done before the presidential election in November, clearly indicating that a major bilateral trade deal during his visit to Delhi next week might not be on the cards.

“We can have a trade deal with India. But I’m really saving the big deal for later,” he told reporters at Joint Base Andrews Tuesday afternoon (local time).

Trump is scheduled to visit India on February 24 and 25.

The US and India could sign a “trade package” during the visit, according to media reports.

Asked whether he expects a trade deal with India before the visit, Trump said, “We’re doing a very big trade deal with India. We’ll have it. I don’t know if it’ll be done before the election, but we’ll have a very big deal with India.”

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the point-person for trade negotiations with India, is likely to not accompany Trump to India, sources said. However, officials have not ruled it out altogether.

In an apparent dissatisfaction over US-India trade ties, Trump said, “We’re not treated very well by India.” But he praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said he is looking forward to his visit to India.

“I happen to like Prime Minister Modi a lot,” Trump said.

“He told me we’ll have seven million people between the airport and the event. And the stadium, I understand, is sort of semi under construction, but it’s going to be the largest stadium in the world. So it’s going to be very exciting… I hope you all enjoy it,” he told reporters.

Meanwhile, the US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) in a report said the latest quarterly data depict continuation of overall positive bilateral trade trends. The third quarter data reflects some downslide in growth rates.

“It may be due to several reasons, including the unexpected economic slowdown in India’s economic growth, impact of US-China trade war, GSP withdrawal from the US side and retaliatory tariffs on specific US goods from the Indian side,” USISPF said.

According to the report, the data available for the first three quarters of 2019 (January-September) pulled the overall growth rate in cumulative bilateral trade down to 4.5 percent from 8.4 percent registered for the first two quarters.

Goods and services trade performance in third quarter was dismal at -2.3 percent, in contrast with the impressive 9.6 percent growth witnessed for the first two quarters of the year; while trade in services was up two percent goods trade dropped five percent, the report said.

The cumulative US-India trade in goods and services (USD 110.9 billion) for the first three quarters of 2019 increased 4.5 percent with US exports and imports growing at four percent and five percent respectively.

The US exported USD 45.3 billion worth of goods and services to India in the first three quarters 2019, up 4 percent from the corresponding period in the previous year; and the US imported USD 65.6 billion worth of goods and services from India, up five percent from the previous year’s USD 62.5 billion level for the same period, it said.

The USISPF has projected that the total bilateral trade can touch USD 238 billion by 2025 if the current 7.5 percent average annual rate of growth sustains; however, higher growth rates can result in bilateral trade in the range of USD 283 billion and USD 327 billion.

The US remains the top trading partner for India in terms of trade in goods and services, followed by China. While the bilateral trade between US and India is approximately 62 percent in goods and 38 percent in services, the bilateral trade between India and China is dominated by goods.

India’s trade with China grew 13 percent in 2018, while India’s goods trade with the US increased 18 percent.

China had a huge trade surplus of USD 58 billion with India, indicating Beijing’s strength in the Indian market, especially in sectors, such as electronics, machinery, organic chemicals, plastics and medical devices.

The US goods exports to India, in comparison, were mainly concentrated in mineral fuels, precious stones, and aircraft. The US faces tough competition with China in the Indian market in areas such as electronics, machinery, organic chemicals and medical devices.

Lahore: UN chief Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is a practical example of Pakistan’s desire for peace and inter-faith harmony, as he visited the revered Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev.

The Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbhandhik Committee and Evacuee Trust Property Board officials received the UN Secretary General at Kartarpur Sahib, some 125kms from Lahore. A Sikh boy presented him a bouquet.

Guterres was also briefed about the Kartarpur Corridor pact between Pakistan and India. He was told that Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan took this initiative to facilitate the Sikh community of India and elsewhere to visit the shrine.

The corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur – the final resting place of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev – to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district.

Wearing an orange scarf, Guterres visited different parts of the Gurdwara. He was served with traditional food in lunch along with Sikhs and Pakistani officials.

Strict security measures were taken during the visit.

Indian Sikhs in good number were also present at Kartarpur Sahib.

Talking to media persons, the UN Secretary General said the Kartarpur Corridor is a practical example of Pakistan’s desire for peace and inter-faith harmony, Radio Pakistan reported.

He said the opening of the corridor is a good step and it will promote tolerance and interfaith harmony.

The UN chief appreciated the facilities being provided to Sikh pilgrims at the complex.

Talking to the state television after his visit, Guterres said: “This is a very emotional moment… and I cannot be here without having a very strong feeling. It is wonderful to see interfaith dialogue. It is wonderful to see in the same shrine today Sikhs, Muslims, Christians, maybe Hindus — all worshipping in harmony and in peace”.

He further said this is the best symbol that “we can give for a world in peace and for a world in which there is a mutual respect and there is the acceptance of what is different recognising that diversity is a blessing, is a richness, not a threat.

“When we see so many parts of the world fighting in the name of religion, it’s necessary to say that religions unite us for peace and the best symbol is this shrine”.

Later in the day, he visited Badshahi Masjid and had dinner at Hazuri Bagh area outside the Lahore Fort.

“I’ve been to Amritsar, today I’m here, to pay tribute to the contribution of the Sikh community all over the world for our planet. I’m a Christian but I feel very much at home when I am in a Sikh shrine and where I can pray to God here together with the Sikh community,” he said.

Khan inaugurated the Kartarpur Corridor on November 9, 2019 in connection with the 550 birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the corridor from the Indian side on the same day by flagging off the first batch of over 500 Indian pilgrims, including former premier Manmohan Singh and Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

Kartarpur Sahib in Pakistan is located across the river Ravi, about four kilometres from the Dera Baba Nanak shrine. It was established by the Sikh Guru in 1522. The first Gurdwara, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, was built here, where Guru Nanak Dev is said to have died.

Earlier in the day, Guterres addressed students at the Lahore University of Management Sciences and urged them to focus on new technologies. He termed climate change as the major issue the world is facing today. He also inaugurated a polio campaign.

Pakistan is one of the three countries where polio is still endemic.

New Delhi:The Jamia Millia Islamia Alumni Association on Tuesday filed a police complaint against policemen who barged inside the university’s library on December 15 last year, demanding that they be charged for offences like attempt to murder and insulting religion.

In its complaint filed with the deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) and the SHO of Jamia Nagar police station, the association alleged that the policemen rained batons on students inside the library and used religious slurs.

“In order to hide and destroy evidences of their barbarity and unlawful conduct, the officials/personnel of the police force deliberately tried to destroy the CCTV cameras installed in the campus premises, including the ones installed in the Old Library,” the complaint said.

It also stated that the “personnel of the police force vandalised the premises of the Old Reading Hall of the library and broke the gate which was locked from inside by the students and started abusing the students…and lathi charging them from head to toe”.

According to the complaint, the students who were present inside the library ran to other floors of the building and tried to lock rooms (MPhil and PhD sections) by putting benches and chairs at the entrance “in order to protect themselves from indiscriminate and unlawful brutality and violence unleashed by the personnel of Delhi Police”.

The association demanded that the policemen be charged with criminal trespass with the intent to cause grievous hurt, criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion.

It also said the videos that have emerged online over the last couple of days are proof of police action on campus.

Three videos of alleged police brutality in Jamia surfaced online on Sunday. While one video purportedly showed paramilitary and police personnel thrashing students in the library, the other two showed some youths with covered faces entering the library.

A fourth video surfaced on Monday.

In the video, the police personnel can be seen raining batons on students who are trying to escape. Women students can be seen moving out while pleading with the police personnel and one of the policemen can be seen breaking a camera.

The police have maintained that they are trying to establish the exact sequence of events by analysing all the clips circulating on social media.

On December 15 last year, a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act near Jamia turned violent, with demonstrators pelting stones at police and setting public buses and private vehicles on fire.

Police later entered the university, firing teargas shells and baton-charging students. They said they entered the campus as rioters had taken shelter there.

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday accused the government of hiding data, including that of “lowest” consumption levels in 40 years, and asked it to make it public in order to find solutions to problems plaguing the economy.

The opposition party took a jibe at the ‘Gujarat model’ development, accusing the BJP government in the state of trying to “hide poverty” by constructing a wall in Ahmedabad ahead of US President Donald Trump’s visit there later this month.

“We live in times where: GDP is measured in tons, Citizen rights in volts, Nationalism in decibels, Poverty in height and length of the wall. This is BJP’s ‘New India’!,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said playing ‘hide and seek’ has become the favourite game of the BJP government as it is concealing data pertaining to GDP numbers, inflation, unemployment and “now lowest ever consumption”.

“We demand that the government should take true care of economy. Data should not be hidden, but made public so it can be discussed as India is capable of battling all odds,” he said.

“Favourite game of the BJP government is hide and seek. Hide farmer suicide statistics. Hide unemployment figures. Hide the truth of demonetisation. Hide real GDP figures. Hide poverty behind the ‘wall’. And now hide the lowest consumption in 40 years,” he said, adding the government has “launched a war” against all sections of society including women, students and farmers.

Vallabh claimed that 16 of 23 sectors in manufacturing are in poor condition, but the government continues to be in a denial mode.

“The problem is that your mental culture is not balanced and you are not accepting the data which is on the ground, the truth which is on the ground,” he said.

The prices of essential products, he said, will further increase as growth projections are coming down and inflation is going up. If topline and bottomline go down, the revenue targets of government will have a big deficit (Even RBI Contingency Reserves can’t fill the same) this will also lead to reduction in social sector schemes, he said.

The Congress leader said the National Statistical Commission (NSC) official survey report showing a dip in consumer spending for the first time in over four decades will not be made public and the government had decided against releasing the report.

The drop in consumer spending for the first time in last 40 years clearly implies that poverty has gone up for the first time in many decades, he said, adding that in contrast to this, 27.1 crore people moved out of poverty between 2005 and 2016.

“This is the first time that the government has officially decided to not release a survey report after its completion,” he said.

“Those talking about the Gujarat model are now building walls to hide the poverty there. If a disease is to be treated, you have to accept that it is there in the first place. But BJP does not accept its failures,” he said while taking a dig at the BJP government over reports of construction of a wall in Ahmedabad to allegedly hide a slum.

Vallabh said only the government can answer on why the wall is being constructed, but as a citizen of a proud nation and as a worker of Congress Party he is disappointed as people of Gujarat are known for their entrepreneurship, their courage and “you are trying to demolish their entrepreneurship spirit. You are not sending a right message by putting up the wall”.

This, he said, is not the right way of addressing the problem. “If you have a problem, accept it that this is the problem. If you are not going to accept the problem, you can’t give a proper treatment to that problem and again that problem is always going to exist that you are not going to accept the problem…This is not the right way of going forward in life of the country.”

The Congress leader said the country has had the lowest growth in last nine years and this will definitely reduce savings as well, because inflation is 7.95 per cent.

“BJP’s favourite rating agency Moody’s has projected India’s growth estimate for 2020 to be 5.4 per cent, against the government’s claim of showing 6 to 6.5 per cent growth in the year,” he said.

Vallabh said poverty increases when consumption is low and claimed that UNDP data for 2005-2015 shows that during this period the highest eradication of poverty (271 million people) has taken place in the country and the credit for this goes to MNREGA.

The trust was formed in adherence to the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute in November last year.

NEW DELHI: The first meeting of the Ram Mandir Trust to oversee construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya will be held here on Wednesday at the Delhi residence of K Parasaran, the head of the Trust.

The Trust has been constituted by the Narendra Modi government.

The trust meeting is likely to finalise the date to start construction of the Ram Temple.

Modi had announced the formation of the 15-member trust in Parliament on February 5.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust has seven members, five nominated members and three trustees.

The trust was formed in adherence to the Supreme Court verdict on the Ayodhya dispute in November last year.

Senior lawyer Parasaran has been named the head of the Trust and its other members include Jagadguru Shankaracharya, Jyothish Peethadheeshwar Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Ji Maharaj from Allahabad, Jagadguru Madhvacharya Swami Vishwa Prasannatheerth Ji Maharaj, Pejawar Math in Udupi, Yugpurush Parmanand Ji Maharaj from Haridwar, Swami Govind Dev Giri Ji Maharaj from Pune and Bimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra from Ayodhya.

Shah will launch the Arunachal Pradesh Industrial and Investment Policy, 2020 and inaugurate the Joram Koloriang Road being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), an official said. 

NEW DELHI:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah will visit Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday to attend the 34th Statehood Day function at Itanagar on February 20 and launch projects related to industry and roads, government officials said on Tuesday. This will be the home minister’s first visit to a Northeastern state following the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act which has led to countrywide protests.  
Shah will also lay the foundation stone of the new headquarters of the Arunachal Pradesh Police, home ministry officials said. 

Shah will launch the Arunachal Pradesh Industrial and Investment Policy, 2020 and inaugurate the Joram Koloriang Road being constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), an official said. Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, is also expected to attend the Statehood Day function.   Arunachal Pradesh became a full-fledged state on February 20, 1987. Till 1972, it was known as the North East Frontier Agency.  It gained the Union Territory status on January 20, 1972 and was renamed as Arunachal Pradesh. Shah had cancelled his visit to Meghalaya and Arunachal on December 15 in the wake of the violent anti-CAA protests in N-E.