Rumi

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Iran pays homage to 13th-century Persian poet Mowlavi

13th-century Persian poet Mowlana Jaleleddin Mohammad Balkhi

 

 

Presstv.com 

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Iran is commemorating National Mowlavi Day to pay tribute to the renowned 13th century Persian poet on his birthday anniversary.
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Mowlana (Mowlavi) Jaleleddin Mohammad Balkhi, aka Rumi in certain countries, was a poet, Islamic scholar, theologian and mystic.
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He was born in Balkh (now part of Afghanistan) and passed away in Konya, Turkey, where he was laid to rest.
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Every year, Iranians hold ceremonies in different cities across the country, including the capital, Tehran, to pay homage to the world-famous literary figure.
Similar ceremonies are also held in other countries, including Turkey and Tajikistan.
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Mowlavi is better known for his magnum opus, Masnavi, which contains a great number of stories and anecdotes of diverse styles and is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of Persian literature.
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His second best known work is Diwan-i Shams-i Tabriz which is named in honor of his master Shams. The major work is a collection of poems, including couplets, quatrains and ghazals, a form of poetry.
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Mowlavi’s poems have been widely translated from Persian into many of the world's languages.
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In 2007, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) named 2007 as the year of Mowlavi in honor of the Persian poet's outstanding achievements.

Hajj tragedy

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Indonesia joins Iran in slamming Saudi Arabia over haj tragedy

AP and Times of India

Indonesia criticized Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for its slow response to the haj pilgrimage disaster in Mina, saying its diplomats only received full access to the dead and injured days after the crush.

The criticism from Indonesia, the Muslim world's most populous country, comes as its officials, as well as those in India and Pakistan, say that Saudi officials gave foreign diplomats some 1,100 pictures of those killed in last week's disaster.

The Saudi health ministry's latest figures, released Saturday, put the toll at 769 people killed and 934 injured in the stampede.

Saudi officials are yet to comment on the discrepancy in the toll as countries around the world struggle to identify their dead.

READ ALSO: 'Death to House of Saud' rings out as Iran demands haj apology

Authorities in the kingdom only granted Indonesian diplomats full access to the dead last night, including forensic records like fingerprints, said Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, an official in Indonesia's foreign ministry.

He said 46 Indonesian pilgrims died in the Mina crush, while 10 were injured and 90 remain missing.

Lukman Hakim Saifudin, Indonesia's religious affairs minister, said in a statement Monday that Indonesians did not have free access to hospitals to search for injured Indonesians.

"The Saudi Arabian government has its own regulation, tradition, culture and procedures in dealing with such cases," Saifuddin said from Mecca. "This has not allowed us enough freedom in our effort to identify" the victims.

READ ALSO: Iran vows legal action against Saudi Arabia over pilgrims' deaths

Saudi authorities have said that the disaster began when two large waves of pilgrims converged on a narrow road last Thursday during the final days of the annual haj in Mina near the holy city of Mecca.

Survivors say the crowding caused people to suffocate and eventually trample one another in the worst disaster to befall the annual pilgrimage in a quarter-century.

Iran, Saudi Arabia's regional Shiite archrival, has criticized the Sunni kingdom over the haj disaster and daily protests have taken place near the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Iranian state media also have suggested that the death toll in the disaster was far higher, without providing any corroboration.
READ ALSO: Saudi Arabia under pressure for answers on haj disaster

FDI in India

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India pips US, China as No. 1 foreign direct investment destination

TNN and the Times of India

India has emerged on top of the foreign direct investment league table, overtaking China and the United States, according to the FT data service.

A ranking of the top destinations for greenfield investment (measured by estimated capital expenditure) in the first half of 2015 shows India at number one, having attracted roughly $3 billion more than China and $4 billion more than the US, according to the Financial Times newspaper.

"With midyear data on greenfield FDI now in, 2015 looks to be a milestone year for India following its impressive performance in 2014," the article in FT said quoting fDi Markets, a data service of the FT.

READ ALSO: Tension with govt to ease as RBI cuts rates

The news comes as a shot in the arm for the Narendra Modi government which has taken several steps to attract foreign investment and has helped revive mood of investors since it came to power in May 2014.

While there has been a demand for accelerating the reforms drive, the government has unveiled several initiatives such as 'Make in India' and 'Digital India' to lure investors. It has moved to ensure that the country moves up the ranking on the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business and states have started their clean-up act on this parameter.

But experts say there are several areas where the government needs to step up reforms. The areas where investors want more reforms include tax policy, labour laws, cutting red tape and issues linked to land acquisition.

Investors have started taking interest in the India growth story and the recent visit of Modi to Silicon Valley triggered enormous interest from software and technology czars. Growth is expected to be one of the fastest in the world and several multilateral agencies have said that India remains the bright spot among emerging economies.

READ ALSO: Higher FPI quota may soften rates

Experts say India is expected to benefit from the slowdown in China and the overall sluggishness in global commodity prices including crude oil is expected to provide a cushion to the growth fortunes of Asia's third largest economy. The government is confident of achieving close to 8% growth in the current fiscal year.

India has also moved up on Global Competitiveness Index by 16 places to 55th position.

The FT said that for the past several years, China and the US have vied for FDI supremacy and fought each other nearly to a draw last year, with the US ranking as the number one greenfield destination by number of projects and China coming in first by capital expenditure.

It said India ranked fifth last year for capital investment, after China, the US, the UK and Mexico. In a year when many other major FDI destinations posted declines, India experienced one of 2014's best FDI growth rates, increasing its number of projects by 47%, the article said.

"India is tracking well ahead of where it was at this time last year: it has more than doubled its midyear investment levels, attracting $30 billion by the end of June 2015 compared with $12 billion in the first half of last year," the newspaper said, adding that the news comes at a time at a time when FDI into emerging markets as a group is falling off a cliff.

"Research from fDi Markets found 97 of 154 countries typically classed as emerging markets experiencing declines in capital expenditure on greenfield investment projects in the first six months of this year compared with the same time period last year," it said.

The Hajj massacre....possibly 5000 dead

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Deadly stampede at Hajj pilgrimage suspicious: Leader aide

Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei

Presstv.com
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A senior Iranian official says the recent deadly crush in Mina, near the holy Saudi city of Mecca, during the Hajj pilgrimage rituals is “suspicious.”
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“This incident and its circumstances are suspicious because some of our senior officials have been killed or gone missing in this incident,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday.
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He added that the Saudi government is dodging its responsibility in dealing with the consequences of this incident.
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Asked if the disappearance of some Iranian diplomats in the stampede could be part of a plot, Velayati said, “Cooperation between the Saudi regime and the Zionist regime [Israel] in different arenas is not something that could be covered up.”
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He added that Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Iyad Ameen Madani, should call on Muslim states to investigate the catastrophic Mina incident and work out strategies to guarantee the safety of pilgrims during the Hajj rituals.

“If Saudi Arabia is unable to fulfill its duties with regard to protecting the Hajj pilgrims, Muslim countries should move to carry out their duties in this regard,” Velayati said.

The fatal crush in Mina, near the Saudi city of Mecca, occurred on September 24 after two large crowds of pilgrims, who were on their way to participate in the symbolic stoning of Satan, a Hajj ritual, collided. 

In this picture taken on September 24, 2015, bodies of people, who were crushed in Mina, Saudi Arabia, during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, are seen among belongings and empty water bottles. ©AP

Saudi Arabia has so far confirmed the death of nearly 770 pilgrims in the incident.
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The head of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, Saeed Ohadi, said on Tuesday that 239 Iranian pilgrims have so far been confirmed dead in the Mina tragedy.
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He added that 14 Iranian pilgrims have been wounded while 241 others are still missing.
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Ohadi has estimated that the total death toll from the crush could stand at around 4,700 due to the huge scale of the incident.

Rumour about the Hajj catastrophe of 4100 dead

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'MOSSAD ORGANISED HAJJ STAMPEDE' - REPORTS by aangirfan

After the 24 September 2015 stampede in Mecca, 1,090 bodies were taken to mortuaries - higher than the official toll of 769.

Hajj stampede

There are reports that Mossad got a Saudi prince to organise the stampede so that certain top Iranians could be kidnapped.

شبكة نهرين نت الاخبارية تقرير لمخابرات دولة اوروبية يشير ...

"Nahrin Net network news has learned from employees working in the European Union that there are whispers in diplomatic circles in Brussels that the (Mecca stampede)... was the result of a "deliberate process" and was pre-prepared by Israeli and Saudi intelligence services targeting the officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian officials in the State, including diplomats...."

شبكة نهرين نت الاخبارية تقرير لمخابرات دولة اوروبية يشير ...

"According to al-Nahrain-net News Agency, a report from a European intelligence agency which has been corroborated by further testimony from European diplomatic sources in Brussels, indicates that the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, used the cover of the stampede to abduct a large number of high ranking officials in Iran’s government.

"The Al-Nahrain-net expose’ on the stampede in Mecca, which is based on preliminary intelligence reports, indicates that Saudi and Israeli intelligence agencies have collaborated to abduct IRGC commanders, diplomats and staff who were working in the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The former Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, is also believed to have been kidnapped in the deadly stampede.

"Mr. Roknabadi is a prominent member of the Supreme Leader’s office staff and a figure who is well informed regarding the secrets of the Hizbullah missile armament by Tehran.
 

 

"Ali Asghar Fouladgar, the head of institute for IRGC strategic studies is also identified as missing. Hussein Danesh , Fo’ad Mashghali , Ammar Miransari and Seyyed Hasan Hasani are additional members of the Iranian Supreme Leader’s office who are also declared missing.

"At this time, many EU diplomats have rejected the authenticity of this report, and there is rising speculation that Russians leaked this information to western intelligence agencies.

"Al-Nahrain-net added that Iranian officials neither confirmed nor rejected the allegations regarding the abduction of Ghazanfar Roknabadi and other IRGC commanders during the hajj rituals. Israelis have been very eager to discover the secrets of Iranian missile industry.

"An unnamed European intelligence agency has released this information, which has been corroborated by diplomats in Brussels. If this report turns out to be accurate, it will signify a high level of intelligence coordination between Riyadh and Tel Aviv for it would be almost impossible to carry out the abduction of the Iranian targets by the Mossad or western agencies without the Saudi’s blessing and acquiescence."

Mossad - AWD News .

Haj catastrophe in Saudi Arabia

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From India about 45...stats for Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Afghans unknown...thus far.

Pakistani and Bangladeshi troops are in the holy sites working with the Saudi security authorities, but the sheer VOLUME of pilgrims coming into the place each year seems to have overwhelmed the organizational capabilities of the corrupt Saudi Israeli loving guardians of the two holy sites.

This is not the first such incident. 
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Iranian pilgrims death toll from Mina crush rises to 226

The photo shows the bodies of a number of pilgrims killed in a crush during Hajj rituals in Mina, Saudi Arabia.

 

Presstv.com 

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The number of Iranian pilgrims killed in the recent tragedy in Saudi Arabia’s Mina has increased to 226.
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That was announced late Monday by head of the Iranian Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Saeid Ouhadi who also put the number of wounded Iranian pilgrims at 27, with 248 Iranians still unaccounted for.
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The Saudi Health Ministry says around 770 people lost their lives in the crush in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, on September 24. However, Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization puts the total number of pilgrims killed in the incident at more than 2,000.
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The wounded are under treatment in hospitals in Mecca, Ouhadi noted.
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He said a number of those who had gone missing have been identified and are in good health.

Iran Russia cooperation

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Iran to buy Russian aerospace equipment and planes worth $21bln - report 

By RT.com

Sorena Sattari, Vice President of Iran, at the opening of MAKS-2015 airshow. © Sergey Mamontov / RIA Novosti

Tehran will pay $21 billion for satellite equipment and Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) passenger aircraft from Russia, an Iranian official told Sputnik news agency.

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TrendsIran tension

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The twin-engine regional passenger aircraft Sukhoi Superjet 100 became commercially available in 2011. More than 100 aircrafts already produced are being successfully operated by air carrier in Indonesia, Laos, Mexico, Russia, with dozens of airlines expecting delivery.

Sukhoi Superjet-100 © Mikhail Voskresenskiy / RIA Novosti 

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"There is a large share of contracts for the purchase of this type of aircraft," Sputnik cited Iran's Secretary of Technology Development and Knowledge-based Aviation and Aeronautical Industries Headquarters, Manouchehr Manteghi. The Iranian official did not elaborate on the exact number of passenger jets to be delivered.
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Iran and Russia have also agreed on joint aircraft engine production. The deals were struck at the MAKS-2015 airshow which took place near Moscow on August 25-30.
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During the air show, Iranian Vice President Sorena Sattari revealed to Kommersant daily that Tehran is in active talks with Moscow, negotiating purchase of at least two types of military aircraft.
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Tehran was also interested in using Russian rocket carriers to launch satellites into orbit, according to Sattari.
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READ MORE: Russia to help Iran build own satellite observation systems
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During the MAKS-2015 festival information emerged about Iran being among the first potential foreign buyers of the Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A (Il-476) turboprop military transport aircraft, exports of which is expected to begin in 2017.
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READ MORE: Sealing off skies: Iran finalizes 360 degree early warning air defense radar
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In early September it was reported that Iranian delegation in Moscow discussed, among other issues, joint design of helicopters.
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“During the current visit, we will discuss with Russia the issue of joint design of helicopters, as well as the issue of using the ready infrastructure for helicopters overhaul on the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Manteghi said at the time, adding that Iran has extensive experience in helicopter maintenance and modernization.

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Bloomberg reported Friday that in January Iran is going to retrieve $29 billion frozen on its accounts abroad because of the international sanctions. Now that the sanctions are going to be eased thanks to July’s six-party deal on Iranian nuclear program, Iran’s senior central bank official told Bloomberg that the funds are going to be unfrozen early next year.
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“It’ll be around that time," Gholamali Kamyab, central bank vice governor for foreign exchange affairs, said in an interview, adding that in fact the final unfrozen sums could as well be larger.

Iraq and its neighbors

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Iraq Sharing Intel With Iran, Syria, and Russia on Fighting ISIS

Military Cites 'Increased Russian Concern' on Move

by Jason Ditz,at antiwar.com

Iraq has been coordinating with Iran and sharing intelligence with them on fighting ISIS for some time, but as they’ve never been on great terms with the Assad government in Syria, the information sharing back and forth has mostly had to go through Iran as an intermediary.
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That seems to be changing, as the Iraqi military announced plans to increase cooperation with both Syria and Russia, along with Iran, in an attempt to better coordinate the regional war against ISIS. The military cited “increased Russian concerns” about ISIS as part of the reason for the move.
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Though ISIS is the primary rebel antagonist in both Iraq and Syria, and holds its territory contiguously across both nations, in many ways the ISIS war has been treated as two different wars in two different countries. This has led to a lot of focus shifting, particularly with the US picking and choosing whether Iraq or Syria is the “focus” at any given time.
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The Iraqi coordination may rub the US the wrong way, as they are having only limited coordination with Russia and refusing to do much of anything with either Syria or Iran. Though Russia is unlikely to do anything inside Iraq to fight ISIS, the fact that they’re sharing intelligence back and forth may also give Iraq some leverage it didn’t have with the US-led coalition. US officials are expressing surprise at the move.
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As the two fronts become a more coherent single warzone, the US policy is going to become increasingly murky, with officials backing the Iraqi government against ISIS rebels, opposing ISIS rebels in Syria but also opposing the Syrian government in favor of some largely imaginary “pro-US” faction.

Assad should be allowed to preside over a fractured post war Syria

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Multinational Deal May Allow Assad to Stay

Flurry of New Reports Hint at Changing Western Views

by Jason Ditz,at antiwar.com

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The “official” positions of myriad Western nations on the Syrian Civil War have been demands for the unconditional surrender of the Assad government. This has been the US position as recently as a few days ago, when the State Department reported US and British officials met and agreed Assad has to go.
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But they seem to be getting flexible on that matter suddenly, with British Premier David Cameron now reportedly in favor of keeping Assad in power for the sake of forming a “unity government,” which is the exact same Russian plan that the US and Britain have been repudiating for months.
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US officials, after spending the past couple of weeks railing at Russia for still being on board with this plan, today report that Secretary of State John Kerry met with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov to discuss a “political transition” which US officials were insisting just days prior was totally impossible.
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It’s unclear where this sudden momentum is coming from, but the UN has been working at getting some local ceasefires in place, and a deal whereby secular rebels would get on board with a power-sharing deal and President Assad would remain in some form seem to have found respectability anew as officials head to the UN General Assembly.
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It may reflect the worsening of the war prospects of the secular rebels, or the virtual lack of “pro-US” rebels who didn’t turn out to be in that program simply to loot the weapons and give them to al-Qaeda, but as ISIS continues to grow, this sudden shift suggests a deal could finally be possible.
 

FB and India

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I suppose this is an expression of the level confidence in the current Indian government if it starts applauding the social media....shabash!

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PM Modi at Facebook townhall: Social media stops governments from committing errors

TNN and the Times of India. Speaking at the global Facebook townhall meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke about social media's role in governance, citizen engagement and diplomacy.

Answering Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's question, PM Modi said that he joined social media websites out of curiousity for technology, and it has brought about a change in his thought process. Social media also helped him make up for the lack of access to great education, PM Modi added.

In democracy, social media can act as a pointer to where the government is going wrong, and is a new strength of democracy, the Prime Minister said. He added that social media stops governments from committing errors.

Diplomacy has also become easier with social media, PM Modi said. Sharing an anecdote, he said that he wished Israel prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a festival in Hebrew, who then replied to him in Hindi.

"This is the power of social media," PM Modi said.

As many as 40,000 questions for PM Modi were posted on Facebook, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

Talking about the government's strategy on technology, PM Modi said "We have to focus on two things equally: one is physical infrastrucute and other is digital infrastructure."

He added, "We have about 250 panchayats in India, and what I hope is that in next 5 years we will be able to link these villages through optical fibre."

India soon a $20 trillion economy

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Going from a $7.5 trillion PPP GDP economy to $20 trillion is not such a big leap and certainly doable in 10 years if the rate of reform is seriously accelerated, and the government focuses on INFRASTRUCTURE AND INDUSTRY......and they manage to re-elect themselves in power in 2019, so that there is continuity and stability at the center.

India certainly can reach a $50 trillion PPP GDP economy by 2050.....25 years there after.

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India a heaven for investors; aim to make it $20 trillion economy: PM Modi

TNN and Times of India. 

PM Narendra Modi at the Facebook townhall meeting said that he aims to making doing business in India easier and increase the country's economic output from $8 billion to $20 billion.

Projecting India as a "heaven" for investors, the Prime Minister said he is working on deregulation to achieve these goals.

PM Modi in the townhall Q&A with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke about efforts to revive faith among foreign investors, saying reforms are taking place speedily and the government had managed to "restore the lost confidence" during the last 15 months as he appeared to take a dig at the previous UPA dispensation.

Noting that India is a "heaven" for investors, he said, "I do not believe that there is dearth of money. Countries have money but do not know where to invest. I am giving them the address. Here is the place (India).
 

Technical Vocational Training in India

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None can stop India emerging as world's skill capital: Rudy

PTI and the Times of India
India has the potential to emerge as the human resources skill capital of the world although only 4.5 per cent of its total workforce is skilled now.

This was stated by union minister of skill development and entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy while addressing the 50th convention of Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) here today.

"Though China has moved forward in manufacturing, India's strength lies in its diversity, talented human resources and English language base. The country has the potential to emerge as the world's human resource skill capital. And nobody can stop us," Rudy said.

Noting that Korea's 96 per cent workforce is skilled, the minister said only 4.5 per cent of India's work force has been considered as skilled. China has 46 per cent skilled man power, USA 58 per cent, Germany 70 per cent, UK 68 per cent and Japan 80 per cent, the union minister said.

"This figure rattles us," Rudy said, adding that even the youths having engineering and management degrees, face problem in finding jobs. As many as 16 lakh engineering seats remained vacant due to lack of demand of engineers in the country, he said.

Stating that only basic degrees are not sufficient to get employment, Rudy said, "Twelve years in schools and colleges may not provide employment, but the skill training of 12 months ensures that." He said India required a huge investment in the skill development sector in order to provide employment to the youths.
While 250 million people working in different sectors immediately require skill training, every year 12 million join them. Therefore, the country required to train at least 310 million people in next five years which involved a huge investment.

As 70 per cent of the workforce is not in a position to finance their skill development training, the government would take care of it, he said.

"If we spend Rs 20,000 per head, country would require Rs 5 lakh crore to train 310 million people in five years," he said urging the hotel owners to impart training to youths in hospitality sector which is considered as the second biggest employment provider in the country.

"The Skill Development Mission under the chairmanship of Prime Minister will change the landscape of India," the union minister said adding that all will get employment if trained in proper manner.

India and beautiful Sunny California

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PM Modi ditches rich Indian political history in California in favour of Silicon Valley and tech tour

Chidanand Rajghatta, and The Times of India

Long before the term Silicon Valley gained currency (in the early 1970s) and techies of Indian-origin won the respect of their peers, the Bay Area was a lively crucible of Indian nationalism, with a movement for Indian freedom that even predated Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. Founded in 1913 as the Pacific Coast Hindustan Association, the Ghadar (Rebellion) Party, as it subsequently came to be known, was Punjabi-led but was representative of India's pluralism, with members of all communities a testament to the country's diversity.

While that pluralism will certainly show up at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public reception at the SAP Center in San Jose on Sunday night, plans for him to drop in at the original Ghadar Party headquarters in San Francisco did not materialise because, officials say, for logistical reasons. He will be in the Bay Area for a bare 30 hours, and getting to the place would have involved choppering and driving, with disruptions.

So all his engagements, save for three trips to Tesla, Facebook, and Google, will be centered around Hotel Fairmont, with a public meeting at the SAP center before he returns to New York for his bilateral meeting with President Obama on Monday.

  In effect, the Prime Minister has had to sidestep a rich tradition of overseas Indian politics for a tech- and business-heavy visit to the Bay Area. California has also led the way in first and second generation Indian involvement in US politics. The first US Congressman of Asian-origin, Dalip Singh Saund, was elected from the state, and more recently the state has returned the third federal lawmaker of Indian-origin, Congressman Ami Bera from the Sacramento area (Bobby Jindal was the second).


READ ALSO: Silicon Valley to give PM Narendra Modi 'rock-star' treatment

PM Narendra Modi set to woo technology companies in Silicon Valley

The state is also poised to send the first Senator of with part-Indian ancestry to Washington - Attorney General Kamala Harris, whose mother is South Indian and father is Jamaican. There are others who have fought electoral battles and will eventually make the cut - like Ro Khanna, who lost his bid to oust a long serving Japanese-American Congressman from the heart of Silicon Valley, and Neil Kashkari, who ran for governor but came up empty against incumbent Jerry Brown.

Some of them, including governor Brown himself, will call on the Prime Minister at the Fairmont Hotel, and others will be present at SAP Center in what is expected to be a rousing event (with entertainment from singer Kailash Khar), but the engagements will not invoke the romance of early Indian revolutionaries in California, that included a certain Jayaprakash Narayan, who was at UC Berkeley before transferring to Iowa state.

An even older and more charming story: A young man named Manabendra Nath Roy spent time at Stanford, before going down south to found the Communist Party of Mexico. He would eventually return to India to co-found the undivided Communist Party of India.

While some of the hoary legends may not be ideologically compatible with the BJP regime, the Prime Minister has been expansive in his meetings with the Indian community abroad. His engagements list at San Jose includes a meeting with educator Salman Khan, who is of Indian and Bangladeshi parentage - his mother is from Kolkata and his father is from Bangladesh. He will also meet a group of Sikhs, a community that is massively engaged in agriculture in California.