RIVANCH

New Delhi: On the recent appointment of Eric Garcetti as the US Ambassador to India and speculation on his stance on various internal issues of the country, including the Citizenship Amendment Act, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said “unko 100 per cent pyaar se samjha denge (We will make him understand, 100%, with love).” Garcetti, the former Mayor of Los Angeles, was officially sworn in as the US Ambassador to India recently by Vice President Kamala Harris during a ceremonial event. Earlier this month, the US Senate had confirmed Garcetti’s nomination, ending a protracted hiatus of over two years to fill the key diplomatic position. Garcetti has said in the past that he would bring up human rights and discrimination such as via the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as a “core” piece of his engagement rather than as an obligation, once appointed. Replying to Garcetti’s statements that ‘human rights would be a major part of his conversation’ with India, Jaishankar had ear...

New Delhi: It is to India’s credit that it has managed to get the influential G20 grouping back on track to pursue its real business, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday. The minister was speaking at Network18’s Rising India Summit 2023. Jaishankar lauded India’s efforts to become the “voice of the Global South” and emphasised that the “hard work behind achieving the G20 presidency” had paid off. The country had also succeeded in contributing something new to the organisation, he added. “I think our real contribution was to get the G20 back to the G20’s real business. The G20 is not the UN Security Council. It’s not the primary forum to debate international peace and security,” he said at the session India’s G20 Moment. “I’m not saying international peace and security doesn’t matter or doesn’t have economic consequences. They do. But if you look today at the world, there are serious issues for the world to worry about: food and energy security, green financing...

New Delhi: “Veer Savarkar sacrificed a lot and people should study him before commenting him,” Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said at News18’s Rising India conclave on Wednesday. The remarks came amid a controversy over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s comments on the Hindu ideologue. In a conversation with News18 India’s Managing Editor Kishore Ajwani, Gadkari also spoke about new initiatives by his ministry. He said, “hydrogen buses will be ready in India very soon and planes will also use clean fuel soon.” #News18RisingIndia : “Hydrogen buses will be ready very soon in India,” says Union Minister @nitin_gadkari . Watch #News18RisingIndia #LIVE | @KishoreAjwani pic.twitter.com/0uLpDkzcc0 — News18 (@CNNnews18) March 29, 2023 Speaking on how new expressways have reduced travel time, Gadkari said that the expansion of road routes will not affect the airline business. “From this year onwards, the journey from Delhi to Dehradun will take two hou...

New Delhi : “Market is a market… it is the need of the time,” said India’s Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar speaking about the country purchasing oil from Russia. The supply of Russian crude to India in January rose 6.2 per cent month-on-month, making it the highest-ever supply of Russian oil to India in a single month. The minister said Russia will turn more eastward as its relationship with the western world changed after the Russia-Ukraine war that began on 24 February, 2022. Speaking at the News18 Rising India Summit, Jaishankar said Russia will turn towards the east more than it had done previously. “Russia’s relationship with the West has changed. That has other consequences, Russia’s relationship with Asia will consequently change. It will turn more eastward than it has done in its history for a long time,” the foreign minister said. The minister India-Russia relationship currently has been ‘most steady’. There has been volatility in ties between Russia-China, Russ...

New Delhi : “Prime Minister Narendra Modi stands out as Hero No. 1 for me,” said Union Minister Piyush Goyal at the third edition of News18 Rising India Conclave as he spoke about the importance of leadership. “Everyone has several heroes in his life. Following only one person’s ideology is not good. Today, I am working under PM Modi’s leadership. We learn a lot from him. PM Modi has been an inspiration for me. If I have to recognise one hero, then PM Modi stands out as Hero No 1 for me,” Goyal said. The minister also said Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former PM of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have also inspired him. Modi surname controversy Speaking on the 2019 ‘Modi surname’ defamation case in which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been convicted by a Surat Court, Goyal said: “Rahul Gandhi did not apologise and also insulted the whole OBC community.” The court has sentenced the Congress scion to two years in jail. He is currently on bail....

New Delhi: Payments using digital wallets via Unified Payments Interface (UPI), — including Paytm, Gpay, PhonePay — will from 1 April attract 1.1 per cent fee if the amount of the transaction is Rs 2000 or more. In a notification, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which is the governing body of UPI, has advised that Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI) fees should be applied to merchant transactions on UPI from next month. NPCI said the interchange fee is levied to cover the costs of accepting, processing, and authorising transactions. This in-turn will make transaction costlier. “NPCI has now permitted the PPI wallets to be part of interoperable UPI ecosystem. The interchange charges introduced are only applicable for the PPI merchant transactions and there is no charge to customers and it is further clarified that there are no charges for the bank account to bank account based UPI payments,” the circular read. NPCI said it will review pricing on or before 30 Septemb...

One of the aides of absconding Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh has links to Pakistan, intelligence agencies have claimed. Sources told NDTV that the pro-Khalistan preacher’s financier Daljit Singh Kalsi is “close” to Saad Bajwa, the son of former Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. As per the report, Kalsi had links to Saad’s Dubai-based company and had also visited the United Arab Emirates city for two months. Let’s take a closer look at Amritpal Singh ’s aides that have hit the headlines recently. Daljit Singh Kalsi Kalsi, who has been detained under Section 3 (2) of the National Security Act, is a close associate and adviser of Amritpal Singh, as per Hindustan Times (HT) report. Kalsi often accompanied the Waris Punjab De chief during his public appearances since the Khalistan sympathiser arrived in India last August. A resident of Delhi’s West Punjabi Bagh, Kalsi set up an office in Delhi some time back and worked as an agent for modelling and movie contracts in Pu...