Monday, 23 December 2024
Monday, 23 December 2024
Under intense attack from the BJP over his alleged anti-Sanatan Dharma remarks, DMK leader and Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin mounted an offensive on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as he accused the saffron party leaders of 'twisting' his statements made at a writers' conference. His sharp criticism of Modi, saying he was 'globe-trotting', afraid of facing questions over the Manipur violence, came a day after the PM discussed the row over the TN leader's alleged anti-Sanatan Dharma remarks with his cabinet colleagues in New Delhi.
As leaders gather for G20 Summit in New Delhi, experts said securing consensus on multilateral development bank (MDB) reforms and adopting rigorous language regarding the phasing down of unabated fossil fuels could enhance India's leadership role. India hopes to get the governments to agree on a fossil phase down.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented a 12-point proposal to expand cooperation between India and 10-nation ASEAN in a range of areas such as connectivity, trade and digital transformation even as he called for building a rules-based post-COVID world order. The 12-point proposals also included the prime minister's call for a collective fight against terrorism, terror financing and cyber-disinformation as well as to raise issues being faced by Global South in multilateral fora.
The West Bengal assembly passed a resolution to observe Polia Baisakh, Bengali New Year Day, as the state day as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asserted that the day will be observed regardless of the approval of the state's governor with whom the CM has been engaged in a war of words. A resolution under Rule 169 was tabled in the assembly, proposing to observe Poila Baisakh, as 'Bangla Diwas' and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's 'Banglar Mat, Banglar Jol' (Bengal's soil, Bengal's Water) as the state song.
ISRO released a 'selfie' and images of the Earth and the Moon, the first of the images taken by the camera on-board Aditya-L1 solar mission spacecraft, which on reaching its intended orbit would begin sending as many as 1,440 images a day to the ground station for analysis. ISRO on Thursday congratulated the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on the successful launch of Japan's lander mission to the Moon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a decision to open an Indian embassy in Timor-Leste. At the ASEAN-India summit, the prime minister announced the decision to establish an Indian Embassy in Dili, Timor-Leste, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) launched Bharat Jodo leadership programme, an initiative to invite the youth who wish to actively participate in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The IYC will also organise various programmes to celebrate Bharat Jodo Yatra in the next three months which will include padayatra, cultural programmes, photo exhibition, sports events and blood donation camps.
On the first anniversary of the launch of Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the yatra will continue till hatred is eradicated and India is united. Describing the Bharat Jodo Yatra as a people's movement, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the foot march was not just a physical endeavour but a sincere effort to 'rebuild our broken collective conscience'.
Alleging that the Election Commission did not take steps to prevent large-scale rigging in the Tripura by-elections, the CPI(M)-led Left Front announced that it will boycott the counting of votes. The by-election to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque and Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik's resignation as the MLA of Dhanpur necessitated the by-election in that seat.
A committee will be set up as part of efforts to frame a journalists' protection law in Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said. Chouhan also said the honorarium being paid to senior journalists above 60 years of age will be enhanced from the current Rs 10,000 per month to Rs 20,000, while in the event of a journalist's death, the spouse will get Rs 8 lakh as assistance.
