PM Modi govt. will have 'positive impact'

       New Delhi, Oct.21 (ANI): Afghanistan Interior Minister Mohammad Omar Daudzai on Tuesday called India an 'all weather' and 'time tested' friend and said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government will have a positive impact on India and Afghanistan relations.
         India is our all weather friend and a time tested friend. The friendship between the two countries will continue and the new Indian government will have a positive impact on the relationship between the two countries,  Daudzai said during an interaction with the media.
         Daudzai also said that the relationship between the two countries extends to his country's security needs. On the security front, Afghanistan relies on India for training and equipments.
         Daudzai also said the US troops in Afghanistan have helped defend the democracy of his nation, adding that this year's presidential elections were testament to that fact.

         American forces have been in Afghanistan for the past 13 years and they have invested generously to rebuild the Afghan forces and to defend democracy. This year, for the first time in Afghanistan's history, we have witnessed a successful transition of political authority from one elected president to another in a most peaceful and dignified manner."
         The Afghan security forces this year proved their capacity by securing the two rounds of elections, proving sceptics wrong.  more >>

Make in India' selling well.

            Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' campaign is emerging as a fad among young consumers and several online and offline retailers have started promoting indigenous products and brands to cash in on the trend.
           People aged between 16 and 35 are all asking for Make in India themed merchandise," said Gautam Jatia, CEO at Emami Frank Ross that runs Starmark, a Kolkata-based large-format leisure retail chain. "We have asked our suppliers to work on the theme and come up new stocks on this line. The products shall hit the stores very soon." E- commerce company Shopclueshas already launched a 'Make in India' section on its
website promoting indigenous products and manufacturers, while another online retailer, Happily Unmarried, which specialises in unique funky apparels and accessories, plans to launch a 'Make in India' merchandise line of collection.

          Customised printing company Printvenue said it has received a lot of requests for Make in Indiacaptioned products and it has already made a couple of design templates for mobile screens and laptop sleeves.
          We are getting a lot of requests for Make in India-captioned products and so we have made 2-3 design templates,  said Saurabh Kochhar, co-founder and managing director at Printvenue.com. While some retailers are selling apparels, accessories, home ware and other products with the 'Make in India' official logo of a lion printed on them, the government wants individuals and merchants to take prior permission before using the logo.
          We want everyone to use the logo but there has to be a quality to it. The logo can't be distorted on the will and desire of companies or individuals. We are being strict about it so that the logo doesn't lose its character, said Atul Chaturvedi, joint secretary at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP). DIPP is yet to register the logo and get a copyright.
          A top official said DIPP also plans to launch its own line of retail products around the Make in India theme, which is at a nascent stage. Shopclues, which promotes Indian products and brands such as Bombay Dyeing, Nayasa, Micromax, Airtel, Lotus and Himalaya at the 'Make in India' section of its portal, will soon introduce merchandise with 'Make in India' tagline, said Radhika Ghai Aggarwal, co-founder and chief marketing officer at Shopclues.
         The 'Make in India' initiative aims to support local manufacturers, craftsmen, small and medium enterprises and sellers hailing from tier-II and -III towns in the country," she said. Rajat Tuli, co-founder of Happily Unmarried, said the site was flooded with queries for 'Make in India' merchandise within days of the campaign's announcement. more. >>

Modi's BJP makes big gains in state polls

                   DELHI  - Prime minister Narendra Modi Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) has made big gains in the Maharashtra and Haryana state elections, results showed

on Sunday, an endorsement likely to encourage him to step up the pace of economic

reforms.

                  The BJP was set to win 122 of 288 seats in Maharashtra. This more than doubles

 its seat count in the state, which is home to the financial hub of Mumbai, but falls short of

an outright majority.

                  The BJP won 47 of 90 seats in Haryana, which borders the capital, New Delhi -

enough to rule alone.

                  State elections determine seat shares in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of

parliament, where the BJP and its allies lack a majority.

                  The BJP hopes for gains in a clutch of state polls between now and 2017 to get

towards the majority it needs to pass most legislation without help from the opposition.

                  The 64-year-old Modi, a gifted stump orator, hit the campaign trail hard. He will be

able to reap capital from the victories even though the BJP did not achieve its ambition of

winning enough seats to rule Maharashtra alone.

                 "There is still a Modi wave that is like a tsunami" BJP president and Modi

campaign manager Amit Shah told reporters after most of the seats had been declared.

                  "Today’s results give a seal of approval to the Modi government over the past

four months, and prove that our countryfolk recognise Modi as an undisputed leader of

India."

                  Though the results represent major gains for the party since the last state

elections, the BJP's share of the vote in both Haryana and Maharashtra was just down from

the May 2014 general election, when it won the first outright majority in 30 years.

                  Both states, which voted on Wednesday, were formerly bastions of the Congress

party that has long dominated Indian politics. As in the general election, Congress was

decimated, and risks sliding into oblivion under mother-son duo Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.

                 "Today is likely to be both a BJP win and a funeral of a 150-year-old party," said

investment manager and columnist Surjit Bhalla, referring to the organisation founded in

1885 and led by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty for four generations.

REFORM BOOST

                 Modi has already seized on exit polls giving the BJP a clear lead to shake up his

economic team, replacing the top civil servant at the finance ministry and hiring U.S.-based

  economic Arvind Subramanian as his chief economic adviser.

                 His government on Saturday scrapped diesel price controls and raised the cost of

 natural gas, giving market forces greater sway as it seeks to attract energy investment,

boost competition and cut subsidy costs.

                 Senior government officials say Modi may soon beef up the cabinet he formed at

 the end of May to ease pressure on heavyweights like Arun Jaitley, who holds both the

finance and defence portfolios.

                 Jaitley, recovering from a stomach operation, has his work cut out drafting an

annual budget to encourage business investment and revive Asia's third largest economy

from a prolonged slowdown by February.    more. >>

Modi's U.S. Visit

                        Washington/New Delhi, Sep 23   Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a packed

schedule during his Sep 26-30 visit to the US.

                     Sep 26:     Arrives in New York, stays at New York Palace Hotel; Mayor Bill de

Blasio calls on Modi. Meets Nobel Prize-winning scientist Harold Eliot Varmus, director of

the National Cancer Institute.

                     Sep 27:     Visits Ground Zero and 9/11 memorial; participates in the General

Debate of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly - on the theme "Delivering on and

implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda"; bilateral meetings with

Ban Ki-Moon, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sushil Koirala and Sheikh Hasina; to meet former New

York mayor Michael Bloomberg; addresses annual Global Citizen Festival at Central Park;

meets group of eminent Indian-Americans.

                    Modi would also meet the governors of three US states - New York's Andrew

Cuomo, South Carolina's Nikki Haley and Maryland's Martin O'Malley.

                    Sep 28:    Addresses Indian-American community reception at the Madison

Square Garden in midtown Manhattan; meet representatives of the Sikh community in the

US and Canada.

                     Modi would meet 10 distinguished Persons of Indian Origin. He will also meet

members of the US Jewish community and attend a dinner reception at The Pierre, a

luxurious heritage hotel owned by India's Taj hotels, hosted by Indian Ambassador to the

US, S.A. Jaishankar. The dinner reception would be attended by Indian Americans and

Persons of Indian Origin.

                     Sep 29:    Breakfast meeting with top CEOs of 11 US companies and later one-

on-one meetings with six CEOS. The companies include Boeing, Pepsico, General Electric,

Google, Goldman Sachs. Individual meetings with eminent people and with the

intelligentsia; meets the Clintons in the morning; addresses Council on Foreign Relations, a

leading think tank; leaves for Washington.

                    Arrives in Washington in the afternoon, checks into Blair House, the presidential

state guest house across the street from the White House; private dinner with President

Barack Obama at the White House.

                      Sep 30: Visits Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. memorial and Gandhi statue

in front of the Indian embassy in Washington; formal summit meeting with Obama at the

White House; lunch with Joe Biden and John Kerry.......     more >>

New York's Navratri revellers await PM Modi's arrival

             
                      New York, Sept. 26  This 'Navratri', the festive air at the Geeta Temple Ashram

in Elmhurst, New York, has taken on a new flavour, with devotees eagerly looking forward to

the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from India.

                      The nine day 'Navratri' festival, which includes fasting, praying and dancing to

please the mother goddess, has taken off splendidly at the 40-year-old temple in New York.

The joy of devotees has received a tremendous boost as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has

 already left for his five-day visit to USA.

                      Mahamandaleshwar Swami Shri Satyanandji Maharaj the President of Shree

Geeta Temple Ashram, said, "Prime Minister Modi and I know each other for around fifty

years. His memory power is very good. He can recall any person who had met him even

forty years back. I met him five years back when the president of Geeta Mandir expired in

India."

                     I cannot express how happy I was when he became the Prime Minister of India.

It is not about only belonging to Gujarat (Prime Minister Modi's home state), but when a

person like him becomes the Prime Minister, everyone would have been happy about it,

                     Prime Minister Modi's work and persona is such that people invite him on their

own. It is a matter of immense pride that he is adding to the pride of our country,  he

concluded.

                     The Geeta Temple Ashram in Elmhurst, Queens, serves the Hindu community in

New York with programmes, rituals, and festivals on a regular basis, and was established

by Swami Jagdishwarananda in 1979 with the help of devotees.

                     Some of the regular temple visitors marvel at the fact that Prime Minister

Narendra Modi will be fasting during his entire visit, which boasts of a packed schedule.

                     Vibha, who has been with the Shree Geeta Temple in Elmhurst since the last 24

 years, told ANI, "It is a matter of great pride that PM Modi is keeping his fast even after

keeping such a packed schedule. It reflects the discipline and values that have been

imbibed in him."

                     A number of Gujaratis present at the event said that they have been to Gujarat

and seen the transformation. Their American friends are also curious to know more about

Prime minister Modi.

                     Jayesh Bhat, a reserved priest of the temple, said, "It is a big proud moment for

all of us who are living in the U.S. and since he won with majority, broke all the records in

the world, so everyone is giving him the respect."

                     Being a Gujarati myself, everybody out here is asking us about him. What he will

be doing, and we tell them that he has developed Gujarat already and is now concentrating

on the whole country. So in the future you will see the difference in next few months,  he

added.

                    Every Navratri, ten nights of 'garba ' are held at the Geeta Temple in Elmhurst,

New York. Young men and women come here every evening to participate in the 'garba'

dance.

PM Modi inaugurates food park in Karnataka

                     NEW DELHI: Inaugurating an 'Intergrated Food Park' at Tumkur in Karnataka,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that Indian farmers should be given

access to global markets. "For farmers to develop economically they need to be given

facilities for better growth," Modi said.

                   "Farmers work to provide for us, but if they are not developed then where will

they go? Therefore there needs to be value addition," Modi said. "Mangoes if made into

pickles get more revenue for the farmers. Farmers need to be taken to the global market,"

 Modi said by way of example.

                   Modi stressed on the need for preventing wastage of food products. "Preventing

wastage of food and agricultural commodities can help save up to Rs 40,000-crore per

annum," Modi said. "We will encourage public-private partnership in food processing. I

asked softdrink makers if 5 per cent fruit juice can be mixed in aerated drinks," he added.

                   Talkig about the need for better state-centre coordination, Modi said, "Centre and 

states should work together for nation's development. PM and CM may belong to any party,

the nation is one. We all have to walk shoulder to shoulder." "When the states become

stronger the nation will become stronger, when states progress the nation will progress," he

emphasised.

                      On Monday, Food processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal had said that the

government will approve 17 food parks across the country over the next few months,

attracting investments of about Rs 2,100 crore.

                      Sharing the initiatives taken by the ministry since the new government took

charge in May, Badal said the government has sanctioned 20 new cold chain projects.

It is also exploring the new scheme for infrastructure and cluster development, she added.

                      Under the scheme (2008-09) of mega food parks, government has sanctioned

42 projects throughout the country, Of this, 25 projects are presently under implementation

in various states. For the remaining 17, the ministry has received 72 eligible expressions of

interest" Badal said.

Narendra Modi congratulates Isro scientists

                      BANGALORE: "Aaj MOM ka Mangal se milan ho gaya, aur Mangal ko MOM mil

gayi," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said congratulating scientists from the Indian Space

Research Organisation (Isro) for putting India on the world map of space exploration and

becoming the first to have a successful Mars mission on debut.

                     Stating that he had complete confidence that "MOM would never disappoint," he

said he knew it as soon as the short name for the Mars Orbiter Mission became 'MOM'.

In a speech riddled with metaphors, Modi urged Indians to take pride in Isro's achievement.

                     When our cricket team wins a tournament and returns, the entire country

rejoices, this is an achievement greater by a 1,000 times," he said, and added that every

school and college must dedicate 5 minutes celebrating this.

                     "History has been created  We've dared to reach out into the unknown and

achieved the near impossible," he said in English soon after.

                      Alternating between Hindi and English, his efforts were deliberate and struck

an immediate chord with the scientists, many of who interrupted his speech with

applauses.

                     The sheer distance covered, the effort to communicate with the spacecraft and

the "agony-strichen wait," Modi said, deserved recognition.

                      Sometimes we flip when we order a parata and get a roti on our plate. Imagine t

the wait, without knowing how the spacecraft has received it and how it's going to react," he asked.

                      That India might be the first nation to tell the world about the presence of

methane on Mars despite all odds having been against us, he said is proof that our s

scientists can challenge anybody in the world.

                      And this, we must remember has come from our ancestors who'd given the

world Zero, predicted eclipses accurately, discover planetary positions. Today we've

honoured our ancestors and inspired our next generation," he said.

                      Complementing Isro for cultivating a culture of progressively nurturing young

talent in line with our ancient "guru shishya parampara," he said we must push our

boundaries further.