Tag: thesamikhsya

Well known Kannada Film Producer Jayashridevi passed away following brief illness at Apollo hospital in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

She was 60. She was survived by her adopted son Vasu.

Ms Jayashtridevi had produced films like Bhavani, Nammura Mandara Hoove, Amruta Varshini, Sri Manjunatha, Nishabdha, Kona Eeedite and other popular films. She was also executive producer of recently released Mukunda Murari.

Actors, Producers, Directors including Mr Shivarajkumar belonging to Sandalwood have condoled the death of Ms Jayashridevi. The last rites will take at Yelahanka in the city tomorrow.

Over the past few days thousands of desperate civilians have been fleeing a fresh outbreak of violence in South Sudan’s Equatoria state, seeking safety in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), many “suffering from trauma.”
Some 5,000 people have settled in several villages along the border near the town of Ingbokolo in Ituri province in north-eastern DRC, the United Nations Refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.
“Most are women, children and the elderly” said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch, explaining that they have been arriving by foot “exhausted, hungry and thirsty”.
“Among them are people suffering malaria or other illnesses” he continued, noting that many of those traumatized have “witnessed violent incidents, including armed men reportedly murdering and raping civilians and looting villages”.
According to reports, the violence has displaced another 8,000 people inside South Sudan, near the town of Yei.
The clashes started on 19 January between the army and a rebel group known as the National Salvation Front, UNHCR says, blocking humanitarian access to affected areas. The conflict in South Sudan has created over 2.2 million refugees since 2013.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, reported that an armed group in South Sudan released 119 children on Tuesday in the south-west town of Yambio, who had been held captive by the militia group known as the South Sudan National Liberation Movement (SSLM), which signed a peace agreement with the Government in 2016.
Of the newly-released, 48 were girls, with the youngest child being 10-years-old. More than 3,100 children being held by armed groups have now been freed.
“Every child no longer with an armed group represents a childhood restored and a future regained,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
During the process, each child was registered and provided with a certificate stating they were no longer affiliated with the group. They then met social workers, health workers and education specialists, so their immediate needs could be assessed.
UNICEF said that for each released child given help, one vulnerable child and their family from the host community receiving them, is also being supported to foster acceptance and promote a boost the chances of successful reintegration.
“More and more children are being freed from armed groups and armed forces in South Sudan, and while this is an encouraging development, there is a long way to go before all of the more than 19,000 children still in their ranks are returned to their families,” asserted Ms Fore.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child which requires governments to meet the basic needs of children and to help them reach their full potential, according to the UNICEF chief.
“Five months after the signing of a peace agreement, UNICEF calls on all parties to South Sudan’s conflict to recommit themselves to upholding these rights and to ensuring that children are never soldiers,” concluded   Fore.(UNI)

The Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill which seeks to provide severe punishment and heavy pecuniary fines for chit fund operators and fraudsters, was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The legislation is aimed to help innocuous investors not to fall into the trappings of fraudsters and chit fund operators those played havoc with poor and middle class people in West Bengal and few other eastern states.

The Union cabinet last week had given its green signal to the fresh amendments those provide for severe punishment and heavy pecuniary fines for such operatives to act as deterrent.

The Bill would significantly also provide for ‘attachment’ of properties and assets by the Competent Authority, and subsequent realisation of assets for repayment to depositors, Finance Minister Piyush Goyal said.

He said enough safeguards have been made so that provisions of the law are not misused.

The minister said when rules are framed, the details of the same would be put in the public domain.

Earlier, in a pleasant surprise for the ruling side, the Congress and CPI-M supported the Bill and also sought to corner Trinamool Congress vis-a-vis chit fund scams in eastern states of West Bengal and Odisha.

The Bill also has adequate provisions for disgorgement or ‘repayment of deposits’ in cases where such schemes indulge in raising the deposits ‘illegally’.

Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Md Salim of CPI-M lashed out the Trinamool Congress for their alleged nexus with the chit fund operators.

‘Madam Speaker, there are always some corrupt people in all the parties but this Trinamool Congress is entirely a party of corrupt people,’ said Mr Salim.

‘Mamata Banerjee has come to power with this chit fund money,’ he said.

Mr Salim’s remarks were greeted by repeated thumping of desks and applause by the ruling party members including Mr Goyal.

He said ‘half-a-dozen’ Trinamoool members who are raising slogans in the House ‘should have been in Bhubaneswar jail’.

‘People who are sitting here, should have been in jail,’ he said, adding the notorious fraudsters have looted thousands of poor people in the state.

Speaking before him, Congress member Mr Chowdhury supported the Bill moved by Finance Minister Mr Goyal, and said ‘Those who looted Bengal, are ruling in the state and come here.’

BJD leader Bhartruhari Mahtab and TRS leader A P Jithender Reddy cautioned the government that certain provisions of the Bill could be misused.

Mr Mahtab suggested there should be a formal regulatory body and states and the Centre should work together to deal with the menace.

The CBI has lodged about 166 cases in the last four years in chit funds and multi-crore scams, with the maximum in West Bengal and Odisha, sources said.

The earlier version of the Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on July 18, 2018.

The push for a new law to deal with ponzi operators in seen as a political significant step as the BJP has intensified its political tussle against Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress, specially after a big fracas on February 3 when Kolkata police personnel had stopped CBI from meeting and questioning Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar.(UNI)

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday took up the bill that seeks to tighten noose on fraudsters and chit fund operators and in a rather surprise move, the government initiatives were strongly supported by Congress and CPI-M members amid thumping of desks by the treasury benches.

Speaking on the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, Congress member Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Md Salim of CPI-M lashed out the Trinamool Congress for their alleged nexus with the chit fund operators.

‘Madam Speaker, there are always some corrupt people in all the parties but this Trinamool Congress is entirely a party of corrupt people,’ said Mr Salim, whose party was ousted in West Bengal by the Mamata Banerjee led party in 2011.

‘Mamata Banerjee has come to power with this chit fund money,’ he said.

Mr Salim’s remarks were greeted by repeated thumping of desks and applause by the ruling party members including Finance Minister Piyush Goyal.

He said ‘half-a-dozen’ Trinamoool members who are raising slogans in the House ‘should have been in Bhubaneswar jail’.

‘People who are sitting here, should have been in jail,’ he said, adding the notorious fraudsters have looted thousands of poor people in the state.

Speaking before him, Congress member Mr Chowdhury supported the Bill moved by Finance Minister Mr Goyal, and said ‘Those who looted Bengal, are ruling in the state and come here.’

‘Chor machaye shor (wrongdoers are making noise)’, he said in reference to Trinamool Congress members sloganeering and raising placards and maintained ‘loot ka chhoot nahi hone denge ‘.

Piloting the Bill, Mr Goyal said the kind of opposition and ruckus being created here showed that some parties are against enactment of the law which will deal with chit fund fraudsters.(UNI)

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) and Junnar Tehsil farmers will be jointly organising ‘Grape Festival’ in Golegaon (Lenyadri) in Pune district between February 16 and 19.

The festival is being organised with the help of grape farmers of Junnar tehsil and MTDC Resort Malshej Ghat, a release said.
Tourists can participate at any day in this festival, which is organised on the border of Thane and Pune districts.
To participate in the event, the tourists will have to reach MTDC Resort at Malshej Ghat at 1000 hrs. Tourists can visit the grape orchard of Golegaon. The tourists will be given information about plucking of grapes, its packing and its selling methods. Tourists can go straight away to the orchard and taste grapes.
The tourists will be allowed to walk in farm lands and they can sit in the farm lands and enjoy the food too.

They will also visit the vineyard, where they can get information about the process of preparing wine. After this, at 1630 hrs, the tourists can visit Mushroom garden along with the Gramin Bachat Samuh (Rural Savings Group). The tourist can get information about mushroom crop and its sale.
In order to reach all these places, admission fee for each person is Rs 50. Vehicles, which are arranged by MTDC, will go to these places. (UNI)

NATO is not planning to deploy new ground-based nuclear weapons in Europe even after the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) becomes invalid following US withdrawal, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said Wednesday.
“We will now discuss how to respond to new Russian missiles. But we have no plans to deploy new ground-based systems with nuclear weapons in Europe,” the official told Sueddeutsche Zeitung ahead of the meeting during which the alliance would discuss possible steps to take after the INF suspension.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera expressed the belief on Wednesday that his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, would be ousted within days.
“Within days, Maduro’s dictatorship will cease to exist. The people of Venezuela have opened door to freedom and democracy, with courage and happiness. Now they should move toward a free and prosperous country that lives in peace. All the democrats across the world share this happiness,” Pinera posted on Twitter.
Earlier in February, Colombian President Ivan Duque equally voiced the belief that Maduro, with whom he has long been at loggerheads, would soon lose his post.
Tensions in Venezuela escalated when Juan Guaido, the head of the opposition-led parliament, declared himself interim president on January 23, disputing Maduro’s re-election, which took place last year. Guaido’s declaration was almost immediately recognized by the United States and some of its allies. EU states were expected to issue a joint statement recognizing Guaido, but Italy vetoed the motion, according to a Sputnik source.
Russia, China, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and several other states have said that they supported Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. 

PhonePe, India’s fastest growing payments platform, has entered into a partnership with Dream11, India’s biggest sports game.
As part of the association, PhonePe is live and first to offer direct UPI payments solution on the Dream11 platform.
The users will also be able to avail a 30 per cent cashback on three transactions up-to Rs 75 on using PhonePe as a payment option on the Dream11 app.
Commenting on the partnership, Ankit Gaur, Director – Online Business, PhonePe said, ”We are very excited to partner with Dream 11, the country’s biggest sports game. Over the last few years, Dream11 has seen phenomenal growth with a constantly growing user base.”
”The next few months will see some of the biggest cricket tournaments including the much-awaited World Cup 2019 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) among others. There will be huge interest in fantasy cricket on Dream11 during this period and with this association, we are hoping to create a more seamless and hassle-free experience for the users allowing them to pay using their preferred payment solution, PhonePe,” he added.
Commenting on the partnership, Bhavit Sheth, Co-Founder and COO of Dream11, said, ”We are happy to partner with PhonePe as it is a rapidly growing payment platform with over 150 million users. This partnership is in line with our commitment to provide trustworthy, hassle-free and multiple payment options, like UPI, for our users along with cashback benefits.”

Moments after CAG report on contentious Rafale combat aircraft deal
with France was tabled in Rajya Sabha, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Arun Jaitley
welcomed the same tweeting ‘Satyameva Jayate” – the truth shall prevail”.
“The CAG Report on Rafale reaffirms the dictum,” he said.
Mr Jaitley is also the Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha.
The much awaited CAG report on Rafale aircraft deal – which has been marred
by controversy and repeated charge of nepoitism – with France was tabled in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

The Minister of State for Finance P Radhakrishan tabled the report titled ‘Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India – Air Force, Performance Audit on Capital Acquisition in Indian Air Force – Indian Government ( Defence Services)- Report No 3 of 2019’.
In another missive, Mr Jaitley – “The lies of ‘Mahajhootbandhan’ stand exposed by the CAG Report”.

A fire broke out in the National Capital’s Paschim Puri area in the small hours on Wednesday, reducing 250 shanties to ashes. Acting on an information received at 0115 hrs, 28 fire tenders were pressed into service to put out the inferno, a Fire department official told UNI.
A woman, who suffered burn injuries in the incident, was rushed to a nearby local hospital.

The fire was brought under control by 0315 hrs, the official added.
Prima facie, the cause of the fire was suspected to be short circuit.
The incident took place in Shaheed Bhagat Singh camp in Paschim Puri, a locality in Paschim Vihar area.

Nearly 50 per cent of people aged 12-35 years – or 1.1 billion young people – are at risk of hearing loss due to prolonged and excessive exposure to loud sounds, including music they listen to through personal audio devices.

Ahead of World Hearing Day on March 3, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have issued a new international standard for the manufacture and use of these devices, which include smartphones and audio players, to make them safer for listening.

“Given that we have the technological know-how to prevent hearing loss, it should not be the case that so many young people continue to damage their hearing while listening to music,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

“They must understand that once they lose their hearing, it won’t come back. This new WHO-ITU standard will do much to better safeguard these young consumers as they go about doing something they enjoy,” he said.

Over 5 per cent of the world’s population – or 466 million people – has disabling hearing loss (432 million adults and 34 million children); impacting on their quality of life. The majority live in low- and middle-income countries.

It is estimated that by 2050 over 900 million people – or 1 in every 10 people – will have disabling hearing loss. Hearing loss which is not addressed poses an annual global cost of US$ 750 billion. Overall, it is suggested that half of all cases of hearing loss can be prevented through public health measures.

The Safe listening devices and systems: a WHO-ITU standard recommends that personal audio devices include: “Sound allowance” function: software that tracks the level and duration of the user’s exposure to sound as a percentage used of a reference exposure.(UNI)

Hundreds of people came out in the streets defying curfew and clashed with security personnel as protests against the Citizenship Bill were getting violent.
To control the situation the government has banned internet services from Feb 12 to 16 and prohibitory orders were issued in Imphal for the second-day today ordering all to remain indoors. Broadcast of news which may disturb peace and tranquillity was also banned by the District Magistrate.

Sounds of firing, shouting of slogans were heard in most places and security personnel were finding it difficult to control the situation as large numbers of people were coming out. Large numbers of people including senior citizens were coming out and sleeping in market areas even though police dispersed them using tear gas shells and seized all clothes used to sleep on the roads. Many women are undergoing treatment at hospitals.

Chief Minister N Biren Singh who is camping in New Delhi said he will not come out until it has been confirmed that the Bill will not be introduced. He said he has been meeting central leaders and briefing them about the dangers Manipur and other north eastern states will be facing if the Bill is passed. He said most of the north eastern states were having protective laws however, Manipur has no protective laws like Inner Line Permit.
He said he has informed Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh that the situation in Manipur is extremely tense. As the central leaders were aware of the consequences the Bill may not be presented he said.
MANPAC the apex body of those against Citizenship Bill had decided to impose a 36-hour day shut down on Feb 11 and 12 and to control the situation curfew was imposed indefinitely. Movement of marriage ceremony, people going to airport were even stopped.
Suspension of internet services affected most services. The streets were littered with burning tyres, effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in various areas.

All the Congress leaders including former Chief Minister O Ibobi, President Gaikhangam, MLAs were in New Delhi and staged a protest on Tuesday. Congress leaders informed that the Congress party will oppose the Bill if it is introduced in Rajya Sabha.

Security was tightened at the residences of all legislators specially BJP, CM Secretariat, Raj Bhawan and BJP offices were barricaded by security personnel. Residences of BJP MLAs had been attacked by people since yesterday as a sign of protests.

MANPAC which is spearheading the protests said the relations between the region and New Delhi has been strained and New Delhi was least concerned about the wiping out of indigenous populace by the illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday participated in a protest by Trinamool Congress MPs in Parliament against alleged ”misuse” of the CBI by the Central government.
Congress leaders Anand Sharma also took part in the protest by Trinamool Congress MPs outside the Gandhi statue .
The TMC MPs were wearing black clothes.
The protesters also demanded resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over alleged corruption in the Rafale deal.

Information and Broadcasting Ministry will organise the First Annual Conference of Media Units under the Ministry on February 13.

The opening session of the Conference, to be held at Vigyan Bhawan, will be chaired by Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore

The Conference aims to give a unique platform to the officers of the Indian Information Service working under different Media Units to converge at an All-India level where they can discuss and deliberate upon the emerging areas of the evolving communication paradigm.

Through the Conference, the Ministry aims to strengthen synergy between the Media Units in order to ensure last mile delivery, while simultaneously brainstorm the use of new technology in communication.

The participants will also discuss the ways of using Social Media to reach target audience groups and push the boundaries of communication outreach in terms of geographical and cultural barriers.

NATO is planning for a potential rupture of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, but it does not want a new arms race and does not plan to deploy new ground-based missiles in Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday ahead of the NATO defense ministers’ meetings in Brussels.
“We urge Russia to take this opportunity [to fix alleged compliance breaches]. At the same time, we are planning for a world without the INF treaty. At this meeting of defense ministers we will discuss what steps NATO should take to adapt to a world with more Russian missiles and maintain effective deterrence and defense. I will not speculate on what those steps will be … Any steps we take will be coordinated, measured and defensive. And we do not intend to deploy new ground-based nuclear missile in Europe … NATO does not want a new arms race,” Stoltenberg told reporters.
The NATO chief added that the alliance would continue talking to Russia about the treaty.
“We have and we will meet to [talk with] the Russians to address the INF issue,” Stoltenberg said.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Tuesday said that his government was not in favour of abruptly banning liquor as it may put life of people at risk , reiterating commitment to fulfill election promise for blanket ban on liquor in entire Chhattisgarh except tribal dominated areas,
Replying to a supplementary question of former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, over liquor ban, during question hour in Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly, the CM said that his government was committed towards complete ban on liquor in Chhattisgarh except areas that are included in fifth schedule but it cannot be done abruptly.
According to Mr Baghel, the promises in election manifesto were made for the period of five years and banning liquor was one of the important commitments of his government therefore, it would be implemented soon.
A study team would visit all the states where liquor is prohibited and also the states where liquor was banned earlier but later the it was withdrawn, Baghel stated.
A meeting of all political parties would be convened on the issue during the ongoing session, Mr Baghel further said.
The decision on prohibiting liquor would be taken on consultation with social organisations, the CM further stated.
He remarked that nobody could ever imagine what his government had shown by procuring paddy at support price of Rs 2500 per quintal.
Earlier   Jogi said that Congress in its manifesto had promised of banning liquor in the areas except tribal areas of state.
He said that before including this promise in manifesto the party might have discussed this at length with all the sides and considered its pros and cons. Now, after the government has been formed what is the logic behind forming study team?
According to him, the liquor is ruining Chhattisgarh because children, aged persons and even women are consuming it.
Liquor should be banned to check ruining of state, he emphasised.
Earlier in reply to main question of BJP MLA Ajay Chandrakar on this issue, it was informed that report of study team that was formed for liquor ban during previous government was received on December 10, 2018.
The Chief Minister said that new study team would be formed on consultation with ruling and opposition sides and social organisations.
Chandrakar alleged that old study team’s recommendation to increase number of liquor shops was being politicised even as the committee made some positive suggestions.(UNI)

Journalist Sankarshan Thakur will feature in ‘Patrakar: A forum for journalists’ a new, programme series being launched by the International Centre Goa (ICG) on Saturday.
Thakur, Roving Editor, The Telegraph, and author of The Brothers Bihari will be in conversation with Dr Pushkar, Director, ICG.
Addressing media persons in the city on Tuesday, Dr Pushkar said the programme, aimed to bring accomplished journalists to ICG, will engage both with their body of work and with current issues.
“The informal exchange between the moderator and the journalist will be in Q&A format. At the end of the programme, the audience will be invited to participate in the discussion. It is expected that the programme will be of interest to journalists, students and the larger public,” Dr Pushkar said.
Mr Thakur has covered some of the major events in South Asia such as Indira Gandhi’s assassination and consequent violence; Rajiv Gandhi’s 1984 election (and every general election since then); the return of democracy to Pakistan, with Benazir Bhutto’s accession as prime minister (and the two elections that followed); the fall of Kabul to the Mujahedin; militancy and politics in Kashmir since 1989; and the 1999 Kargil war.
Thakur’s latest book, The Brothers Bihari (HarperCollins, 2015), a political reckoning of Bihar and its politics under former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will be discussed during the course of the programme.

Following the death of three more people in this district of Uttar Pradesh, the toll in the Hooch tragedy increased to 90, while over three dozen people continue to undergo treatment in various hospitals, police sources said on Tuesday.
Sources said here that Dharm Pal (50), resident of Shivpur village in the Deoband police station area died in the hospital, whereas Jonny, resident of Kolki Kalan village in the Gagalhedi police station area and Kamal in Nangla Ahir village died on Monday night. Their families took the bodies without completing the postmortem facilities, sources added.
Meanwhile, an Special Investigation Team formed under ADG (Railway) Sanjay Singhal has started a probe into the deaths.
Mr Singhal is expected to personally meet the families of the deceased and issue a statement on Tuesday evening.
Commissioner CP Tripathi said that the investigation of the SIT will be completed in 10 days.
As of now, the dependents of 36 deceased people have been provided an ex gratia amount of Rs 2 lakh each.
Notably, dozens of people died after consuming spurious liquor in Saharanpur, Kushinagar and Uttarakhand between February 6 and 12.
The maximum deceased were from 16 villages of Saharanpur district’s Gagalheri, Nangal and Deoband police station area.
Saharanpur’s Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dinesh Kumar informed that the district police and the Haridwar police is carrying out joint action to crackdown on the centers selling illicit liquor.
The SSP claimed that all the liquor mafia had been identified, adding that 10 people were primarily involved in the spurious liquor case.
Mr Kumar said that Sardar Hardev Singh, resident of Punden village in the Gagalhedi police station area of Saharanpur, Sukhwinder Singh aka Sukha from the Chunheti Shekh village, their aide residing in neighbouring Ladi village Guru Sahab aka Ladi, Punden resident Tinku and Chunheti Shekh resident Sarvesh Gupta aka Pinky have been arrested.
The SSP said that the police was currently in search of Punden resident Lakhwinder aka Baba, Bhartu, a resident of Gram Punden, Rishipal, a resident of Gram Bhalsawa in Nangal police station area and Arjun, a resident of Gram Dadli Tejpur district in Haridwar, who were the members of the gang selling spurious liquor.
The SSP said that Ladi was earlier arrested and subsequently sent to jail in relation to selling illicit liquor in December.(UNI)

Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited (Kotak Life) today announced the launch of #SelfieWorthTaking, a pioneering initiative in the Indian insurance space.
Based on facial analysis algorithm, this platform uses a selfie to determine the premium payable to buy a term plan.
Anyone with a smartphone with a camera can log on to the site insurance.kotak.com/selfie, click a selfie and access a term insurance quote based on the facial recognition algorithm. The launch was made in Mumbai, according to a release issued here.
Jasneet Bachal, Head – Marketing, Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance Company Limited, said, “Innovative experiences like #SelfieWorthTaking play a powerful role in helping us expand the insurance narrative to the young and digitally savvy consumers. It allows us to debunk the misconception that getting an insurance cover is a complicated and time consuming process, and expensive too. Now generating a term insurance quote will be as easy as clicking a selfie.”
In November 2013, ‘Selfie’ was announced as the ‘word of the year’ by Oxford Dictionary, but has been long associated with self-expression ever since the invention of the camera. Easy availability of smartphones accelerated this trend. Also, rapid growth of social media platforms further fuelled the momentum. Millennials dedicate roughly an hour each week to clicking selfies i.e., 7min/per selfie. People around the globe click pictures, and most of them are selfies.
With its campaign #SelfieWorthTaking, Kotak Life aims to make the selfie clicking experience a meaningful and a memorable one.(UNI)

Countering the Congress charge of ‘conflict of interest’ vis-a-vis Rafale deal against CAG Rajiv Mehrishi, senior BJP leader and Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said despite thousands of crores of public money was saved, a new falsehood is being manufactured by the opposition party on a daily basis.

Lashing out at senior Congress leaders for what he said – displaying ‘slave mentality’, the Union Minister said, “Many of its (Congress) senior leaders lack the courage and moral authority to advise the dynasts to change course”.

“The ‘slave’ mentality of senior leaders convinces them that they must only sing the song scripted by the dynast. A contrarian opinion will cost them their political career. When the dynast speaks lies, they all join the chorus,” he wrote wrote in his Facebook blog.

Seeking to clear the air over the CAG and conflict of interest row, Mr Jaitley said Mr Mehrishi – the present CAG – was the Economy Affairs Secretary in 2014-15 and being the senior most at that point of time, he was also designated as the Finance Secretary.

“I say this without fear of contradiction that no file or paper relating to the Rafale transaction ever reached him nor was he in any way, directly or indirectly, associated with the decision making on defence purchases. Expenditure to be incurred on purchases by various departments of the Government needs the approval of Secretary (Expenditure),” Mr Jaitey wrote.

“How many lies need to be peddled to sustain a sinking dynasty,” he said in reference to Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his family.

“How many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty? The contagion effect of falsehood is fairly large. It appears to have spread to other colleagues in the ‘Mahajhootbandhan’,” he wrote adding – “In relation to the Rafale deal where thousands of crores of public money has been saved, a new falsehood is manufactured on a daily basis”.

The Minister said : “The dynast knows that his Rs 500 crore vs Rs 1600 crore kindergarten argument was a fictional story and no one would ever buy it because facts don’t support it” – in reference to Mr Gandhi’s initial allegation against Rafale.

“Even before the contents of CAG report are known, a ‘Peshbandi’ attack on the institution of the CAG is launched. The dynast and his friends have in the past even attacked the Supreme Court when it rejected the writ petition on Rafale,” Mr Jaitley pointed.

He further wrote: “The entire pricing argument is factually wrong. The procedure argument that there was no Defence Acquisition Council, no CCS, no Contract Negotiation Committee is a blatant lie. The Rs 30,000 crore favour to a private company is non-existent”.

Referring to a recent media report which had ‘omitted’ the noting of the then Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, he said: “The use of sliced document by a newspaper is unprecedented in the history. The use of an incomplete document is certainly not in consonance with the spirit of free speech”.

“The ‘no integrity pact’ argument is belied by the fact that even in earlier purchases through inter-governmental agreement with Russia and the United States, such pacts were not there. Now without a shred of evidence, a fictional conflict of interest of the CAG is invented,” he said.

Expressing sorrow, the Minister asked how many lies are necessary to be peddled to save a sinking dynasty. Its contagion effects have spread to other colleagues in the ‘Mahajhootbandhan’.

He said India, certainly deserves better.