Friday, April 19, 2019

Modispeak





2014 was a mandate for hope and aspiration, 2019 is about confidence and acceleration: Narendra Modi
The first phase of polling and the people’s response have reinforced my confidence ....... I’m confident that we will be blessed by the people yet again with a massive mandate, with more seats than before. ........ In all the states that I’ve visited, I’m seeing unprecedented support. ....... Corruption weakens our country from within, I am challenging it. Dynasty politics weakens our democracy, I am challenging it. Terror threatens our nation’s very existence, I am challenging it. ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude held our nation’s progress hostage for a long time, I am challenging it. Forces of negativity try to obstruct an aspirational India from rising, I am challenging them. .......... There is such a mood against the Congress that, by their own admission, they are fighting on the lowest number of seats in a Lok Sabha election ever! ....... 2014 was a mandate for hope and aspiration, 2019 is about confidence and acceleration. 2014 was about some immediate needs the country had, 2019 is about what India wants! ......... UP is witnessing the double-engine growth phenomenon. Both the Centre and state governments have worked in tandem to transform lives. From investment to law and order to our work on Ganga, people have witnessed how a transformation is occurring in UP. ........ SP has repeatedly accused BSP of loot and corruption. BSP has repeatedly accused SP of goondaism and bad governance. I say that both are right about each other. ........ UP will vote for vision and not division. UP will vote for opportunities and not opportunism. UP will vote for development and not dynasty. UP will vote for those who put India First, not those who put Family First. ...... You can check any speech of mine. A large portion of it is dedicated to issues of development. However, it never makes headlines. ......... Deshbhakti is not a disease. Just as hyper-secularism was invented to strike at the root of India’s culture and ethos, similarly the terminology of hyper nationalism has been invented to portray deshbhakti in poor light. ...... because their sole focus is on attacking me, Modi has become a big issue. So, in a way, credit (for that) goes to the opposition. ...... India’s ranking on ease of doing business has risen dramatically, from 142 in 2014 to 77 now. And landmark reforms such as Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and GST have improved tax compliance. ........ Our motto, as I have said earlier, is to remove red tape and replace it with red carpet. The dramatic rise in Ease of Doing Business Rankings is evidence of our vision being translated to action. ......... Direct benefit transfers have taken middlemen and leakages out of the equation and put benefits directly in the hands of the people. Over Rs 1 lakh crore of the nation’s money has been saved from falling into the wrong hands. Government e-marketplace has ensured a level playing field for all kinds of traders in servicing the government’s requirements. Procurement within the government is now transparent, it benefits MSMEs and saves money. The previous financial year saw a four-fold increase in total value of transactions on the portal and doubling of number of sellers in the marketplace. ...... Abolition of interviews for certain government jobs has ensured that avenues for corruption and nepotism are cut down while merit is respected. ..... Allocation of coal and spectrum both witnessed massive scams under the previous government. We auctioned those in a transparent manner and ensured immense gains for the nation. ....... Getting passports, which used to take months earlier, is done within a couple of days. IT refunds arrive within days. Self-attestation is the norm now. ....... I can say with confidence that we have succeeded in removing Congress culture from our system. When I talk about Congress culture I refer to policy paralysis, corruption, nepotism, presence of middlemen, departments working in silos, projects being delayed, etc........ For MSME sector, loans up to a crore are now given in 59 minutes to the common man. Congress culture was telephone banking where their friends only got loans. Environmental clearances were cash clearance tools for Congress. They took 600 days and even then things were not proper. The period for environmental clearance have now come down to 150-180 days. ......... Earlier this year, we witnessed the first-ever diesel-to-electric converted locomotive made in Varanasi. This is something that the whole world recognised with awe. Coaches for some of the world’s metro projects are being made in India. India’s first semi-high-speed train, ‘Vande Bharat Express’, is a result of Make In India. ....... India’s defence manufacturing sector has got a new lease of life with greater impetus on Make In India. Our armed forces, who were made to wait for years for bullet-proof jackets, finally procured the jackets. It was not from a foreign manufacturer, but from our own facility. Of the total contracts signed, more than half have been signed with Indian manufacturers for procurement of defence equipment for the armed forces. It includes helicopters, radar, ballistic helmets, artillery guns, ammunition. The assault rifles that the world uses will now be made in a factory set up in Amethi. Now, the Naamdar can actually read ‘Made in Amethi’ on AK-47s. Do you think it was possible if Make In India was not working? ......... Japanese companies, famous for their engineering capabilities, are now making cars in India and then exporting to their own country. ...... When we came to office in 2014, India was attracting around $35 billion FDI. That number has almost doubled in the last five years. ....... Do you know that after the 1991 reforms, when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister, GDP growth rate came down to around 2%? ..... our target is to make India a $5 trillion economy ...... Our target is to bring India within the top 50 in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings. We have a plan to invest Rs 100 lakh crore in infrastructure in the next five years. We will create new opportunities of employment by providing support to 22 major champion sectors identified as main drivers of the Indian economy. We will also harness entrepreneurship to act as a force multiplier for job creation. We will give a boost to MSMEs and traders through special measures. ........ There have been 26 Pragati sessions so far and about 230 projects to the tune of Rs 10 lakh crore have been attended to. Projects pending for 34 years have been cleared. ........ GST has been evolving towards lower taxes. Already, 99% of items for the common people are now taxed on an average at half the pre-GST tax rate. Tax rates came down on over 80 household goods and many daily-use items attract no tax at all. Burden of taxes will keep reducing with GST. This is because GST has brought in ease of compliance for all, given that it is an online platform-based system with greater transparency. This has boosted ease of doing business. ........ Exemptions from GST for small businesses have been doubled from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 40 lakh. Small businesses with a turnover up to Rs 1.5 crore have a composition scheme where they pay a flat rate and file only one annual return. ...... To ensure that farmers’ income growth does not suffer, we declared MSP hikes that fixed the MSP at a minimum of 1.5 times the cost. ....... During the five years from 2009-10 to 2013-14, under UPA, only around 7 lakh MT of pulses and oilseeds worth Rs 3,117 crore were procured at MSP. During 2014-15 to 2018-19, under NDA, 94 lakh MT of pulses and oilseeds worth Rs 44,142 crore were procured at MSP by the government. This is more than a ten-fold increase. ....... For agriculture and rural development, we have promised to spend Rs 25 lakh crore in the next five years.

Thursday, April 18, 2019

AOC Should Write A Book



AOC should write a book that would be a page-turner (as in, a fast-paced account) account of when she decided to run to winning her primary. Well, the actual election was a foregone conclusion after she won the primary, so that part need not be covered.

It would be exciting. It would also be a handbook for people who might want to replicate that success elsewhere in the country which, I believe, would much please AOC.

The book would sell well and bring about financial freedom for AOC. That would be a good thing. That would free her to be more risk-taking. She is already plenty of a risk-taker. The book would free her from her congressional salary.

She is neck and neck to Donald Trump in terms of media attention, which is mind-blowing. But that would fool you into thinking people already know. Not the case. People don't know all the details. They do want to know.

I can see her playing a key role for Bernie in the fall of 2020 to get the young vote out. It is best there is a book out there before that so she maintains control of her narrative.

Her book might have a one-word title: Running.


Notre Dame Digital



The Digital Scan Of Notre Dame Offers Hope For Its Restoration