Archives for July 2022

“I don’t see a situation similar to Sri Lanka happening in India, as our economy isn’t dependent on just a few industries like Sri Lanka. The tourism industry on which the Sri Lankan economy was largely dependent, suffered a huge jolt due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the Sri Lankan tea market too was adversely hit. I don’t see similar things happening in India, as our economy isn’t just based on a few industries,” Sinha told journalists in Bhopal on Thursday.

He, however, added that what is concerning is the continuous decline in the Indian Rupee to the US Dollar.

“Never have I seen such steady depreciation in the value of the rupee as it’s happening presently. During the tenure of the present Prime Minister, the Indian Rupee has suffered the steepest fall against the US Dollar, from 58.44 in 2014 to 79.86 as I speak. This has badly hit the common people reflected through an unprecedented increase in prices of essentials, like the LPG gas cylinder, which was priced at Rs 410 in 2014, but has risen by around 300 per cent to Rs 1129 presently.”

“What is even more worrying is the fact that our robust foreign exchange reserves are fast depleting. “Till a few days ago, our country’s huge foreign exchange reserve was pegged at 641 Billion Dollars, but the RBI has had to spend 45 Billion Dollars out of that to save the sliding rupee. I’m only hoping that the global conditions don’t become such that there is a run on the rupee. As far as I know, you can never fight the market, if the market is determined to take Rupee’s value to 85 to one US Dollar, then you can’t fight it. We’re faced with a crisis situation, where our huge foreign exchange reserves are depleting very fast,” Sinha maintained.

While speaking about his opponent in the presidential election, the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu, the former union minister said, “There is nothing in the President’s post, why doesn’t PM Modi appoint her the country’s Prime Minister.”

He further said, “If the BJP leadership was so committed to tribal empowerment, why didn’t they choose a tribal leader for the presidential election from Madhya Pradesh, which has the largest tribal population in the country.”

erassa (Spain): Skipper Savita starred in front of the goal as India defeated Canada 3-2 in the shootout after both teams were tied 1-1 at the end of regulation time in their classification match of the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup here on Tuesday.

Madeline Secco (11th) handed Canada the lead before Salima Tete (58th) left it late to equalise for India. But it was Savita’s heroics in front of the goal that gave India their first win of the tournament.

The Indian captain led from the front and pulled off as many as six saves in the shootout, while Navneet Kaur, Sonika and Neha converted their chances in the ninth to 16th place classification match.

Smarting from their disappointing loss to Spain, India started the match on an attacking note.

After soaking up the initial pressure from the Indians, Canada managed to put the ball into the India net, but it was disallowed as the referee awarded a penalty corner and Natalie Sourisseau’s attempt was off target.

Canada went one better a few minutes later as they won another penalty corner. This time the variation created confusion in the India defence, and Kathleen Leahy passed it to Secco for the final touch to stun the Indians.

India once again came out stronger in the second quarter and penetrated the Canadian defence on numerous occasions.

Monika, in particular, used her array of 3D skills to get past the Canada defence as goalkeeper Rowan Harris urged her team to maintain focus.

As the game moved towards half-time, India upped the ante.

Navneet Kaur, Neha and Vandana Katariya moved with freedom as Canada looked very much on the back foot.

In the 25th minute, Navneet and Vandana combined to create a fine chance but the shot was kept out by Canadian goalie Harris, as India trailed by a goal at half-time.

After the change of ends, India continued to pile on the pressure, with Lalremsiami making some speedy forays into the Canada circle.

But Canada held firm, with Sara McManus and Hannah Haughn displaying stellar performance at the backline to break down the India attacks.

India had a glorious opportunity to level the score just minutes into the third quarter but Navjot Kaur’s shot from inside the circle went over the bar.

Minutes later, Savita was called to the action as she made a brilliant save from a penalty corner to deny a second goal to the Canadians.

As has been the case in the tournament so far, India yet again cut a sorry figure with penalty corners. They earned back-to-back penalty corners in the dying minutes of the third quarter but failed to utilise the chances.

In the final minute of the third quarter, Lalremsiami’s diving attempt off Salima Tete’s pass from the right flank missed the target by a whisker.

Barring the early goal, Canada did not have much to show for in the match as the Indians completely dominated the proceedings, mounting attacks after attacks.

The Canadian defence was made to toil as India continued their relentless raids in the fourth and final quarter in search of the equaliser.

The Indians created numerous chances in the form of penalty corners but Gurjit Kaur failed to convert a series of set pieces. The shots had the usual power but they flew either wide or were chased down by Canada’s number one runner Sourisseau.

India’s persistence finally paid off when Salima Tete punched home a rebound after Gurjit’s flick from a penalty corner was saved by the Candian goalie.

Karli Johansen had one more chance to regain lead for Canada but her penalty corner shot went wide and the game went to shoot-out.

India will play Japan in the ninth-12th place play-off match on Wednesday.

Rail travelers in any part of the country can track trains by reaching +91 9538039911 on WhatsApp as well as check their PNR status

The feature from redRail offers simpler, faster and efficient means of tracking trains, for the relief of millions of travelers  

Post the successful launch of redRail, a standalone lite-app for rail ticketing, redBus, the world’s largest online bus ticketing platform, announces the launch of a one-of-a-kind free service on WhatsApp, which provides up-to-the-minute information on location and arrival of all intercity passenger trains in the country. Travelers can reach +91 9538039911 on WhatsApp and key in their train number to know the exact location, running status and time of arrival of their train before embarking on their journey, or even know the status of a previous day’s train, in addition to knowing the  ticket confirmation status by keying in the  PNR number. This facility enables a hassle-free experience, void of anxieties associated with waiting or scouting for updates on the train. In addition, travelers can also use the feature to track their live location on the go during the course of their journey and share it with their loved ones.  

The facility requires no additional installation/memory/application, apart from WhatsApp, further allowing travelers to save their mobile data and battery, while trying to know the coordinates of the train. This new feature and facility is live,withredBus being the first enterprise to launch LTS (Live Train Status) directly on WhatsApp. 

The Indian Railways is poised to become the third-largest in the world, in the next five years and has been transporting over 22 million passengers every day in the pre-pandemic period. The passenger traffic in the railway sector, which had witnessed a drop in the fiscal year 2021 owing to the pandemic, is fast picking up with a spurt in travel being witnessed in the recent months. redBus aims to make passenger experience stress-free, while also limiting contact points for people, in the wake of Covid, enhancing safety standards. 

Sharing his views on the launch of the new feature,  Parikshit Choudhury, Chief Business Officer, redRail by redBus, said, “The objective of launching this rail tracking and information service, is to provide a very easy and convenient way for people all across the country, especially in rural areas, to have a real-time information window on trains. WhatsApp is one of the most popular and reliable instant messaging platforms used by millions of people in the country and thus a platform of choice for us to facilitate a seamless discovery experience for our users. We believe this feature will go a long way in alleviating anxieties associated with pre-boarding and while traveling in a train, making a difference to the 22 million people traveling on intercity trains every day and would like to dedicate this to them.”    

redBus recently launched a standalone lite-app, ‘redRail’, with an aim to enrich the online train reservation experience of millions of travelers across the country. The redRail app is super fast and has been tested to operate smoothly even in low internet bandwidth areas, on phones with low memory configuration and those running older Android versions, for the benefit of users across Bharat or rural India. 

About redBus

redBus was founded in 2006 in India and today is the world’s largest online bus ticketing platform. After having solved complex problems of bus customers in India, redBus also launched operations in Singapore and Malaysia in 2015 and acquired a majority stake in Peru based bus ticketing platform Busportal (now redBus.Pe) in the subsequent year. With this acquisition, redBus successfully launched operations in Latin America markets, Peru & shortly thereafter, Colombia. 

redBus has globally sold more than 180 million bus tickets till date and has a customer base of around 20 million users. redBus is now part of the MakeMyTrip group (Nasdaq, MMYT) which is the largest travel aggregator in India with offerings across categories such as Flights, Hotels, Holiday Packages, etc.

The business owns three products – redBus™, redBus ProWin™ and redBus Partner™, which come together to serve and address the fragmented bus industry across geographies. 

·   redBus™ is the popular consumer-facing travel brand enabling customers to buy bus tickets online. Consumers, depending on where they live, can access redBus on the web (redbus.in, redbus.my, redbus.sg, redbus.id, redbus.pe and redbus.co).  They can also download the high rated redBus mobile app from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. We enable a customer to search for bus services on a route of his/her choice, reserve a seat and make a payment to confirm the booking, thus bringing the seller and buyer on a single platform to facilitate easy bus booking.

·   redProWin™ is a cloud-based solution built for bus operators. Approximately 3500+ bus operators in India, SEA and Latin America use this platform for their day to day operations. The revolutionary inventory management software ensures seat realization and resource utilization, thus improving revenue and profitability for bus operators. Over the years, through the use of engineering & data analytics, redBus has offered features such as LIVE bus tracking, dynamic pricing, customer relationship management, etc., which have helped bus operators improve operational efficiency as well as service quality.

·   redBus Partner™ is a GDS for bus inventory distribution and is used by more than 20,000 retail agents and 200+ OTAs to sell bus tickets to their customers.

China’s exports to India have gone up to USD 57.51 billion, up by 34.5 per cent last year while Indian exports to China fell to USD 9.57 billion, a decline of 35.3 per cent compared to last year, according to the trade data released by China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC).

The trade deficit at the half-year mark stood at USD 47.94 billion.

Last year, the India-China bilateral trade hit a record high of over USD 125 billion crossing the USD 100 billion mark in a year when the relations touched a new low due to standoff by the militaries in Eastern Ladakh.

China’s exports to India last year went up by 46.2 per cent to USD 97.52 billion while India’s exports to China grew by 34.2 per cent to USD 28.14 billion.

The trade deficit for India grew by USD 69.38 billion in 2021.

In May, China insisted that it is still India’s biggest trade partner in 2021-22 as per its figures, referring to reports that the US has unseated it to take the top slot and attributed the “disparity” to different methods of calculating the trade volume by New Delhi and Beijing.

“According to the statistics of Chinese competent authorities, bilateral trade volume between China and India stood at USD 125.

66 billion in 2021,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a media briefing when asked about reports of the US overtaking China to become the largest trade partner of India in 2021-22.

“China remains the largest trade partner of India and for the first time the bilateral trade exceeded USD 100 billion in 2021,” Zhao said.

“The disparity in trade figures published by China and India is a result of different statistical measurement scales,” he said.

Overall, China’s foreign trade of goods jumped 9.4 per cent year-on-year to 19.8 trillion yuan (about USD 2.94 trillion) during the first half of the year, according to GAC data.

BENGALURU: Differences within Karnataka Congress over ‘Siddaramotsava’ came to the fore on Wednesday with party leaders holding two simultaneous meetings at different venues in Bengaluru. While Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and several party leaders were at the Palace Grounds attending the preparatory meeting of ‘Siddaramotsava’, KPCC chief DK Shivakumar was busy holding a meeting with other leaders at the party office to discuss the party’s Freedom March. Only a few leaders, like Eshwar Khandre and KJ George, managed to attend both the meetings.

Siddaramaiah’s supporters have planned a public meeting in Davanagere on August 3 to celebrate his 75th birthday. While Shivakumar maintained that he does not want any celebrations in his name and instead wants a Congress celebration, his brother and Bengaluru Rural MP DK Suresh expressed concerns over ‘Siddaramotsava’. At the Palace Grounds meeting, he said, “It (Siddaramotsava) should not send a wrong message to workers. We are in an election year.

We must ensure that the event does not damage the party.” Congress worker GC Raju wrote a letter to the Siddaramotsava committee urging them to celebrate Shivakumarotsava-23 as the KPCC chief turned 60 recently. He exhorted the committee to organise the event as lakhs of party workers wanted it to happen. But Shivakumar had said he preferred to celebrate his birthday with his family at Kedarnath.When media persons asked him if he was attending the

Siddaramotsava committee meeting, Shivakumar replied in the negative. “I have been invited (for the event in Davanagere) and I will attend it along with Rahul Gandhi as the guest. For me, the party is above all and I want our party to come back to power in 2023,” he added.Meanwhile, after the Palace Grounds meeting, Siddaramaiah met gram panchayat members from Kolar Assembly constituency at his residence. 

BENGALURU:  It is a straight fight between the NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu and the Opposition’s nominee Yashwant Sinha. As the NDABJP is preparing for the presidential polls scheduled for Monday, the idea is simple, not a single vote should be wasted. 

They held a meeting of all chief whips of all 30 states in the party office in Delhi on Wednesday afternoon where the National BJP General Secretary organising B L Santosh, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat, General Secretaries Vinod Tawde, C T Ravi, Bhupendra Yadav, Om Pathak and others have briefed the chief whips and election agents about ensuring that the BJP’s electoral resources are efficiently utilised and that not even one vote is wasted due to absence or due to cross-voting since it is a secret ballot.

Remember during the previous election 17 MP’s votes of all parties were disqualified because of technical errors. This is part of the party’s series of drills before the presidential polls to ensure that the NDA nominee is elected as president on 18 July.

The chief whips of the BJP party where they are in power and where they are in the opposition had gathered for this meeting. In turn, the Chief Whips will hold meetings with their elected representatives in their respective states and instruct them about the rules of voting and instruct their party representatives to ensure 100 per cent attendance.

Sources said since this election is by secret ballot and there is no showing of the ballot slips to the party chief whips, the challenge of ensuring there is no cross-voting is much larger. To ensure perfection all the elected representatives will be called to participate in a mock drill on Saturday where they will be tutored in the fine art of “voting”.

A total of 20,139 new COVID-19 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, pushing the total tally of cases to 4,36,89,989.

The death toll climbed to 5,25,557 with 38 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.31 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.49 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 3,619 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 5.10 per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 4.37 per cent, according to the ministry The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,30,28,356, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.

According to the ministry, 199.27 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year.

The 38 new fatalities include 16 from Kerala, 10 from Maharashtra, four from West Bengal, three from Delhi and one each from Assam, Bihar, Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 5,25,557 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,48,001 from Maharashtra, 70,186 from Kerala, 40,125 from Karnataka, 38,028 from Tamil Nadu, 26,288 from Delhi, 23,549 from Uttar Pradesh and 21,255 from West Bengal.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities. “Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.