New Delhi: Four senior Union ministers, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash Javadekar, Harsh Vardhan, Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank”, were among 12 ministers who resigned on Wednesday ahead of the cabinet reshuffle in the evening.

Besides these four, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre, Minister of State for Women and Child Development Debasree Chaudhuri, Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rattan Lal Kataria and Minister of State for Environment Babul Supriyo also resigned.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot had resigned after he was made Governor of Karnataka on Tuesday.

President Ram Nath Kovind has accepted the resignations of 12 Union ministers, a Rashtrapati Bhavan Spokesperson said.

In all, six Cabinet Ministers, one Minister of State (Independent Charge) and five Ministers of State have resigned.

Law and IT minister Prasad’s resignation comes amid a row between micro-blogging platform Twitter and the government over various issues, including compliance with the new IT rules.

The resignations come after Prasad and I&B minister Javadekar announced sweeping regulations for social media firms like Facebook and Twitter, OTT players as well as digital media.

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, whose handling of the COVID-19 crisis had drawn flak from the opposition parties, resigned from the Union Council of Ministers, official sources said.

Vardhan, a doctor himself, had been in charge of the health ministry as well as the science and technology ministry as the COVID pandemic broke and then India worked to develop vaccines.

However, his various comments in the middle of the crisis were slammed by many as insensitive and ignorant of the ground reality, even as he strongly defended the government’s handling of the situation.

Vardhan had also hit out at the Opposition for its criticism of the government on the handling of the pandemic, often accusing former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi of politicising the pandemic crisis.

He had also replied to former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused the Congress of spreading vaccine hesitancy.

Pokhriyal, who tested positive for COVID-19 on April 21, was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here in June again after developing post-COVID complications.

He has resigned from his post citing health reasons, sources said. The former Uttarakhand chief minister had taken charge as the HRD Minister in May 2019.

Dhotre, who represents the Akola Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra, was made the MoS for Education, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology in May 2019.

Chaudhuri submitted her resignation in the morning, one of her close aides said. She was elected to the Lok Sabha from West Bengal’s Raiganj constituency in the 2019 general elections.

Asked whether he has resigned from the post of Labour Minister, Gangwar answered in the affirmative. “Yes, I have resigned.

His resignation comes weeks after Gangwar had complained to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about the situation in his Bareilly constituency, saying officials don’t take calls and government health centres send back patients for ”referrals” from the district hospital.

This will be the first reshuffle in the Council of Ministers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.

Modi is expected to bring in young faces and give representation to various social groups and regions in the reshuffle, sources said after ministerial probables met the Prime Minister at his residence.

Those who met Modi included the BJP’s Narayan Rane, Sarbananda Sonowal, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ajay Bhatt, Bhupender Yadav, Shobha Karandlaje, Sunita Duggal, Meenakshi Lekhi, Bharati Pawar, Shantanu Thakur and Kapil Patil, the JD-U’s R C P Singh, the LJP’s Pashupati Paras and the Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel.

Some ministers of state, including G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur, were also there, and they may be elevated, the sources said.

New Delhi: Petrol price on Wednesday crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Delhi after fuel prices were hiked again on the back of firming international oil rates.

Petrol price was increased by 35 paise per litre, while diesel rates were increased by 17 paise a litre, according to a price notification from state-owned fuel retailers.

In Delhi, the price of petrol soared to Rs 100.21 per litre and diesel rates rose to Rs 89.53 a litre.

The national capital is the last of the metro cities to see petrol rising above the Rs 100-a-litre mark. Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Pune already have prices above that mark.

Kolkata also saw petrol prices climbing over Rs 100 per litre on Wednesday. The fuel now costs Rs 100.23 a litre in the city.

Brent crude oil had surged to USD 78 per barrel as OPEC+ proposal for a monthly output hike of 400,000 barrels per day from next month has been put on hold and lifting of US sanctions on Iran’s exports no longer appears imminent.

OPEC+ led by Saudi Arabia linking output hike to extending OPEC+ deal up to December 2022, without any revision in production baselines demanded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has led to a stalemate.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates global oil demand to recover to a pre-COVID level of 100.6 million barrels per day only in the fourth quarter of the 2022 calendar year, while OPEC+ proposal is to unwind production cuts fully by September 2022.

The rally in international oil prices has reflected in rising retail prices in India, which is 85 per cent dependent on imports to meet its oil needs.

Fuel prices differ from state to state depending on the incidence of local taxes such as value-added tax (VAT) and freight charges.

In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 106.25 a litre and it costs Rs 101.06 in Chennai.

As much as 55 per cent of the retail selling price of petrol in Delhi is made up of taxes (Rs 32.90 a litre excise duty collected by the central government and Rs 22.80 VAT levied by the state government).

Half of the diesel price is made up of taxes (Rs 31.80 central excise and Rs 13.04 state VAT).

Petrol has crossed the Rs 100-a-litre mark in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bihar, Punjab, Ladakh, Sikkim and Pondicherry.

Diesel, the most used fuel in the country, is above that level in some places in Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

The hike on Wednesday is the 36th increase in the price of petrol since May 4, when state-owned oil firms ended an 18-day hiatus in rate revision they observed during assembly elections in states like West Bengal.

In 36 hikes, the price of petrol has risen by Rs 9.81 per litre. During this period, diesel rates have soared by Rs 8.80 a litre in 34 instances of price increase.

SHIMLA: Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister and senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh died here in the wee hours of Thursday due to post COVID-19 complications. He was 87.

The veteran, popularly called ‘Raja Sahib’ belonged to the erstwhile Bushair royal family and was the sitting MLA from Arki in Solan district of the hill state. After three months of fighting with COVID-19, he passed away at 3.40 AM at Shimla’s Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC) hospital.

After testing positive for the virus on April 12, he was shifted from Shimla to Max Hospital at Mohali
in Punjab. He recovered after a few days, and was discharged but had to be hospitalized again on April 30 after his oxygen saturation levels fell. In July, his condition deteriorated and was put on ventilator support. He had earlier twice recovered from Covid successfully.

Confirming his death, Senior Medical Superintendent, IGMC Dr Janak Raj said that doctors made all efforts to revive him.

On June 23 he celebrated his 87th birthday in a low key affair as he was in the hospital.

Singh first became a Lok Sabha MP he was 28 years. The nine-time MLA and five-time MP, Singh served as Himachal Pradesh’s chief minister for six times.

The veteran Congress leader remained chief minister of the state for six times- from April 8, 1983 to March 5, 1990, December 3, 1993 to March 23, 1998 and from March 6, 2003 to December 29, 2007 and for the sixth time from December 25, 2012 to December 26, 2017.

Singh also remained the leader of Opposition from March 1998 to March 2003.

The veteran Congress leader also served as union deputy minister, Tourism and Civil Aviation, minister of state for industries, union minister of steel and Union Minister of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSME).

He was re-elected to the 13th Vidhan Sabha in December 2017 from Arki Assembly Constituency in Solan district.

Earlier, he was elected to the state legislative assembly in October 1983 (by-election); re-elected in 1985 from Jubbal-Kotkhai assembly constituency, in 1990, 1993, 1998, 2003 & 2007 from Rohru assembly constituency and in 2012 from Shimla rural assembly constituency.

He was also elected to third Lok Sabha in 1962; re-elected to 4th Lok Sabha in 1967 from Mahasu Constituency, 5th Lok Sabha in 1971, 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 and 15th Lok Sabha (5th term) in May 2009 from Mandi Lok- Sabha Constituency.

Virbhadra was born on June 23, 1934, in the royal family of the erstwhile princely state of Rampur to late Raja Sir Padam Singh. The veteran leader was BA (Hons.), MA; educated at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla and St.Stephen’s College, Delhi.

He is survived by his wife Pratibha Singh a two-time MP from Mandi, son Vikramaditya Singh an MLA from Shimla (Rural) and two daughters.

MUMBAI: Wipro founder-chairman Azim Premji believes the Indian IT industry revenues will grow in double digits in the current financial year.

As per Nasscom, the IT industry revenues stood at USD 194 billion in FY21. The lobby group has ceased giving estimates of the topline growth a few years ago.

Companies will start reporting financial results for the first quarter from Thursday. “This financial year (FY22), I’d not be surprised if the industry grows in very decent double digits,” Premji said, noting that despite the pandemic, the industry grew 2-3 per cent and added 1.58 lakh new jobs on a net basis in FY21.

He said within weeks of the onset of the pandemic, the IT industry shifted to working from home and over 90 per cent of the staff continues to deliver on projects remotely even now.

The ‘hybrid model’, where people work partially from home or from offices, presents a huge competitive advantage, Premji said, speaking about the model which is being spoken of as the future of work.

He said the hybrid model is very inclusive, with advantages like ensuring better participation from all parts of the country and also giving women the flexibility to continue with their careers.

“We will have to work together to figure out the optimal balance and optimal approach so that we strengthen India as the skill hub of the world,” he said.

Premji said the IT industry is well-positioned to drive the next phase of India’s growth and will contribute significantly in achieving the ambition of a USD 5 trillion economy.

Manna, the TMC MLA from Singur who rose to prominence with the agitation against the Tata Nano factory in late 2000s, was accompanied by a few party workers.

KOLKATA: West Bengal’s Labour Minister Becharam Manna cycled a distance of 38 km from his home in the Hooghly district to reach the state assembly in protest as the petrol price crossed the Rs 100-mark in Kolkata.

“Steep rise in fuel prices is the latest failure of the Narendra Modi government. Petrol price crossed the century-mark in Kolkata and we are protesting against this,” he told reporters.

The BJP-led government at the Centre is squeezing the common man in every possible way, while the Trinamool Congress government in the state is trying to give succour to the masses by its social welfare projects, he claimed.

NEW DELHI: India is coming out of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and it will witness a strong economic recovery and contribute to being an engine of growth for the global economy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday.

In a virtual address at the inaugural session of the Indo-Pacific business summit, he said India will be a more dynamic and friendlier business destination and it will be part of more reliable and resilient supply chains that the post-Covid world requires.

He also said that the Indo-Pacific will be an arena of particular “activity and energy”, noting that the evolving situation in the region reflected the reality of globalisation, the emergence of multipolarity and the benefits of rebalancing.

“India is coming out of the second wave and will witness a strong economic recovery. It will be a more dynamic and friendlier business destination. We will contribute to being an engine of growth for the global economy,” Jaishankar said.

“And we will be very much a part of more reliable and resilient supply chains that the post-Covid world requires. International cooperation, especially among businesses, will be very much a key to the better world that we all seek,” he said.

“And all of this is encapsulated by a framework that envisages an India of deeper strengths, greater capacities and more responsibility. And not least, in making it much easier to do business,” he said.

Referring to the Indo-Pacific, Jaishankar said the region represents a “return of history”.

“A seamless and integrated space was disconnected decades ago by the strategy of the day. Today, as many Indian Ocean economies trade further east and as Pacific ones too have displayed a presence south and westwards, we are quite sensibly seeing the landscape for what it really is,” he said.

“Indo-Pacific reflects the reality of globalization, the emergence of multi-polarity and the benefits of rebalancing. It means the overcoming of the Cold War and a rejection of bipolarity and dominance. Most of all, it is an expression of our collective interest in promoting global prosperity and securing the global commons,” he added.

He said the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) advanced by India clearly validates “this assertion”.

“As we speak of common good and common efforts, it is natural that this is addressed, amongst other means, through a business summit. So once again, I am so glad to welcome you all to it,” he said.

At the East Asia summit in Bangkok in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed setting up the IPOI to conserve and sustainably use the maritime domain and to make meaningful efforts to create a safe and secure maritime domain.

The evolving situation in the Indo-Pacific region in the wake of China’s increasing military muscle-flexing has become a major talking point among leading global powers.

Several countries and blocs have come out with their vision for the Indo-Pacific considering its growing strategic interests.

“The transformation of the last decade is today over-shadowed, unfortunately, by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jaishankar said.

He said has disrupted our supply chains, negatively impacted manufacturing, made international trade unpredictable and ruined many services sectors.

“Globalised production networks remain vulnerable and fragile, with global merchandise trade falling by 5.6 per cent in 2020, compared to 2019 and the predicted trade in services declining by as much as 15.4 per cent in the same duration,” he said.

“This decline in merchandise trade is the sharpest since 2009, whereas the decline in services trade is the biggest since 1990. The hit taken by travel, transport and tourism activities is alarming and really moves us into unchartered territory,” he added.

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the expected Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday evening, a number of leaders, many of whom are likely to be inducted as ministers, arrived at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence to meet him.

BJP president J P Nadda is also expected to be there.

Some state ministers, including Parshottam Rupala and Anurag Thakur, may be elevated, the sources said.

This will be the first reshuffle in his Council of Ministers by Modi since he assumed charge for a second term in May 2019.

The prime minister is expected to bring in young faces and give representation to various social groups and regions in the reshuffle.

Nasheman News

Mira-Bhayander (Thane/Mumbai):  A guidance camp for journalists was successfully organised by the Journalists Union of Maharashtra (JUM) at Ambar Plaza Hall, Mira Road(Thane district) on Friday, July 02, 2021.The camp was inaugurated by lighting a traditional lamp by the Mira Bhayander

Mayor Jyotsna Hansale, who was the chief guest on the occasion. In the program, a health card, a raincoat, an umbrella and a copy of the Constitution of India was distributed to the journalists.

 Mayor Jyotsna Hansale, Mira Bhayander Municipal Commissioner Dilip Dhole, Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) DCP Amit Kale, JUM President Narayan Panchal, JUM Vice President K Ravi, Treasurer Dilip N Patel, Mira Bhayander Unit President Vijay More, Secretary Nilesh Phapale, Organiser Pramod Dethe, Vice Presidents Seema Gupta and Prem Yadav, legal consultants Advocates Laxman Asle and Namdev Kashid, Mahboob Qureshi, Vishwanath, all office bearers of JUM, local journalists, editors and representatives of News TV channels were present in the program. 

Besides Dr Anant Pande of Thane’s Shivner Super speciality Hospital was also present. On the occasion the health cards, under which 50 per cent discount in medical bills will be given, were given to the journalists by Dr. Pande. Journalists Rajesh Jadhav and Satish Satam compered the program in an inimitable style. Prof Hemant Samant in his address guided the journalists and also gave certain tips to them.

In her address Mayor Jyotsna Hansale said that the journalists are real social workers who always work for the society. During corona pandemic, they worked relentlessly to give the society a positive news, even without bothering about their families. This is commendable.

JUM President Narayan Panchal, who presided over the function, threw light on different issues confronting the journalists working in the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) area and about the facilities they expect from the administration. The issues such as that the journalists in Thane have received houses from the administration, a plot of land has been reserved for a press club in Navi Mumbai and several advertisements are being released for the local cable TV channels and local newspapers by the Thane Municipal Corporation were discussed.  

MBMC Unit President Vijay More demanded houses for journalists. He also suggested that the MBMC should release advertisements in local publications. Besides free health facility and free travel in MBMC Transport bus services be made available for journalists. Also the children of journalists be given free education and scholarship. He also pointed that many lockers in the press room in MBMC had remained unutilised. They such they be allotted to the respective press representatives. When the MBMC administration will look after this? He asked.In response, the Mayor Jyotsna Hasnale assured the gathering that she would fulfil all demands of journalists in her tenure after discussion with MBMC Commissioner Dilip Dhole.