Archives for February 2022

New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India on Sunday said it stands strong on its ethos of respecting nationalism following a backlash in social media after a dealer of Hyundai in Pakistan posted a message supporting separatists in Kashmir.

A Twitter account of a Hyundai dealer in Pakistan with handle @hyundaiPakistanOfficial had posted a message supporting Kashmir Solidarity day, supporting what it called as”struggle for freedom”.

Following it,#BoycottHyundai trended on Twitter in India with many people asking to stopbuying the company’s products in the country.

Reacting to the developments, Hyundai Motors India put out a message on social media reiterating its commitment to the Indian market.

“Hyundai MotorIndia has been committed to the Indian market for more than 25 years now and we stand firmly for our strong ethos of respecting nationalism,” it said.

The company further said, “The unsolicited social media post linking Hyundai Motor India is offending our unparalleled commitment and service to this great country.”

Reiterating that India is second home to the Hyundai brand, the company said, “We have a zero-tolerance policy towards insensitive communication and we strongly condemn any such view.”

Hyundai Motor India further said, “As part of our commitment to India, we will continue our efforts towards the betterment of the country as well as its citizens.”

Hyundai Motor India is the second-largest carmaker in the country after Maruti Suzuki India. It currently sells 12 models including Creta and Venue in the domestic market.

In December last year, the automaker announced plans to invest around Rs 4,000 crore to drive in around six electric vehicles in India by 2028.

The company is planning to roll out a mix of models based on its existing range as well as completely new vehicles based on its global platform ‘E-GMP’ over the next few years.

Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Company is present in over 200 countries with more than 120,000 employees.

Nagpur: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said some of the statements made at a recent event titled ‘Dharam Sansad’, which kicked up a row, were not “Hindu words” and those following Hindutva would never agree with them.

He was speaking on the topic ‘Hindutva and National Integration’ at a lecture series organised by Lokmat Media group to mark the golden jubilee of its Lokmat Nagpur edition.

“The statements, which came out of the Dharam Sansad are not Hindu words, work or heart. If I sometimes say something in anger, then it is not Hindutva. The RSS or those following Hindutva do not believe in this,” he said.

The RSS chief was apparently referring to the Dharam Sansad held in Chhattisgarh recently, where Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj allegedly made derogatory statements against Mahatma Gandhi while eulogising his assassin Nathuram Godse.

Another ‘Dharam Sansad’ was held in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar in December, during which provocative speeches inciting violence against Muslims were allegedly made by participants. An FIR had been lodged under section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language).

The Sangh chief said, “Even Veer Savarkar had said if the Hindu community gets united and organised, it will speak about the Bhagwad Gita and not about finishing or harming anyone.”

Speaking about whether the nation was on its way to become a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, Bhagwat said, “It is not about creating Hindu Rashtra. (Whether) You accept it or not it is (Hindu Rashtra) there.”

Bhagwat said the ethos that represents our Constitution was Hindutva, which was the same as national integration.

He said the concept of national integration didn’t need uniformity because “to be different is not being separate”.

The Sangh doesn’t divide people, but patches up differences, he said, adding, “We go by this Hindutva.”

Vijay Darda, chairman of the Editorial Board of Lokmat Media and former Rajya Sabha member, said the foundation of Lokmat’s Nagpur edition was laid by freedom fighter Jawaharlal Darda in 1971, which now had become a huge banyan tree.

The group will be organising several programmes till 2023 to mark the golden jubilee of the Nagpur edition, he said.

“We had organised an inter-religion conference, a rangoli contest and many other programmes as a part of the celebrations. Dr Bhagwat’s talk is also a part of it,” said Darda.

He said the RSS as an organisation was working not only in villages, but also at the international level, and comprised swayamsevaks (volunteers) who selflessly toiled in the shakhas firm in their nationalistic beliefs.

They believe whatever they do is in national interest, Darda said.

Mangaluru: An appeal was made on Sunday to not politicise the ‘hijab’ (scarf) issue in pre-university colleges in Karnataka.

In a statement here, the president of the Muslim Central Committee and former MLC Haji K S Masood criticised the MLAs in the twin districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi for trying to derive political gains from the row.

He said the principal of a college does not have the right to disallow students into class for wearing hijab.

The principal should prove under whose orders he had told the students to not wear hijab.

The committee has written to the Karnataka Chief Minister Bommai, State Ministers and the Education Department seeking permission for girl students to wear hijab. An issue involving students should not be communalised, he said.

He also criticised Dakshina Kannada district-in-charge Minister V Sunil Kumar for his remarks on the issue.

The students have approached the court seeking safeguarding the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, Masood said in the statement.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia

Kolkata: Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Sunday said that the Centre has elaborate infrastructure development plans for West Bengal including a second airport for Kolkata, but the Mamata Banerjee government has not yet provided land for it.

Scindia claimed that he has been asking for a dialogue with the chief minister for six months for the purpose of setting up a second airport since the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport has reached its capacity, but there has been no response from the other side so far.

“We want a new airport to be built in Kolkata, the existing one is at present running at maximum capacity and for several years, letters and views are being exchanged for a new site, but no concrete step has come from the state government,” he told reporters at a press conference here.

Maintaining that his ministry has elaborate plans for the development of civil aviation in West Bengal, Scindia asked how work for the proposed new airport would commence “until land is made available” to the Airports Authority of India.

“We are investing Rs 700 crore for the present (NSCBI) airport. A new technical block cum control tower will be made operational at a cost of Rs 300 crore,” he said, adding that a new taxiway is being built for Rs 265 crore.

The minister said that Rs 110 crore is being invested for connecting the Metro Railway with the airport terminal building.

A two-lakh square metre new airport needs to come up to cater to the rising number of passengers to and from this eastern metropolis, he said.

Scindia said that while the present airport has a throughput of 2.5 crore people, the new airport’s terminal building should have a throughput of 3.5 crore.

“At present, the airport has 8,600 passenger capacity per day, we want that a new terminal building is built with capacity for 10,000 to 11,000 passengers per day,” he said, maintaining that these plans can only be fructified if the state government cooperates and works together.

The West Bengal government has decided to construct a second airport in the vicinity of Kolkata, with an aim to decongest the NSCBI Airport, and Bhangar in neighbouring South 24 Parganas district is among the possible locations, an official had said last month.

The situation is similar for Bagdogra airport near Siliguri in north Bengal where the state government was dilly-dallying on handing over land for its augmentation, Scindia claimed.

“The central government has written to the state several times for early handing over of land, but there is no reply…. The (state) government is stuck in files,” he said.

He urged the chief minister to work in tandem with the Centre for development of the state.

“For the last six months I have been trying to hold discussion with the chief minister so that we can move forward on these important issues,” he said.

Claiming that there is lack of will in the Mamata Banerjee government, he said how the Centre alone can carry out these projects if the state does not come forward.

Asserting that Banerjee’s claim that the common man got zero in the Union Budget for 2022-2023 was far from the truth, Scindia said that the central government will infuse Rs 1.5 lakh crore in West Bengal alone in the next three years for infrastructure development.

Scindia claimed that the Trinamool Congress-ruled state’s rate of inflation was 8.7 per cent in 2020-21, while the national average was 6.2 per cent for the same period.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh

New Delhi; Union minister Jitendra Singh has said full office attendance will be resumed for all central government employees from Monday.

The decision was taken in view of a decline in the number of coronavirus cases, he said on Sunday.

“A review of the pandemic situation was done today and in view of a decline in the number of Covid cases as well as a decline in the positivity rate, it has been decided that full office attendance shall be resumed from tomorrow and employees at all levels, without any exemption, shall attend office on a regular basis with effect from February 7, 2022,” the minister of state for personnel said.

He said the heads of the departments shall, however, ensure that the employees wear face masks at all times and continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The Centre had, on January 31, extended the work-from-home arrangement for 50 per cent of its employees below the level of under secretary till February 15.

“But after obtaining inputs from the relevant quarters and a review of the situation, a fresh office memorandum has been issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), informing that all the employees at all levels, without any exemption, will report to office from tomorrow, that is, February 7,” Singh said.

There will be no “work-from-home” option for any employee anymore, he added.

The personnel ministry had, on January 3, issued an order allowing work from home for 50 per cent of the employees below the level of under secretary till January 31 in view of a spike in the number of coronavirus cases.

Mumbai: Singing legend Lata Mangeshkar, who enthralled millions with her divine voice for eight decades, was cremated with full state honours in Mumbai on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the luminaries from politics and entertainment industry present at her funeral at Shivaji Park in Dadar area in the evening.

Modi left the venue after offering her floral tributes. Floral tributes were also paid to her at Shivaji Park on behalf of President Ram Nath Kovind.

Lata’s brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar lit the funeral pyre of the singing legend, who died at 92 in a hospital here on Sunday morning after multi-organ failure.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and MNS chief Raj Thackeray were among those present at the funeral.

The mortal remains of Lata Mangeshkar, draped in the national flag, were taken in a truck from her residence in south Mumbai to Shivaji Park for the last rites.

A large number of people thronged the roads from where the cortege passed as the melody queen embarked on her final journey.