Ahmedabad: Hindu-Muslims mobs clash on the eve of Modi's swearing-in.

BS Post: 108, Dated : 26th May 2014

Read more here –  http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ahmedabad-hindumuslims-mobs-clash-on-the-eve-of-modis-swearingin/474480-3-238.html

Ahmedabad: Police fired tear gas to break up clashes between Hindu and Muslim mobs in Narendra Modi's heartland of Gujarat on the eve of his swearing in as Prime Minister, officials said on Monday.

Angry crowds set fire to several shops and vehicles and pelted stones at each other during the clashes in western Gujarat state's main city of Ahmedabad on Sunday night, police and fire officials said.

Ahmedabad joint police commissioner Manoj Shashidhar said officers fired tear gas to halt the violence which left four people injured.

Shashidhar said an investigation was under way into the clashes which appear to have started when two cars from the different communities crashed in an accident during a marriage procession.

"The incident flared up following a petty argument between people of two communities on Sunday night in Gomtipur area of the city. The situation was immediately brought under control," Shashidhar told AFP.

Indian police secure the site of clashes between two groups during which shops and vechiles were set alight in the Gomptipur area of Ahmedabad on late May 25, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP - 

Indian police secure the site of clashes between two groups during which shops and vechiles were set alight in the Gomptipur area of Ahmedabad on late May 25, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP -

Indian police secure the site of clashes between two groups during which shops and vechiles were set alight in the Gomptipur area of Ahmedabad on late May 25, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP - 

Indian police secure the site of clashes between two groups during which shops and vechiles were set alight in the Gomptipur area of Ahmedabad on late May 25, 2014. -- PHOTO: AFP - 

The incident escalated when mobs set property on fire, Ahmedabad chief fire officer M.S Dastur told AFP.

"Some three shops, one mini-bus and a couple of two wheelers were burnt during the incident," Dastur said.

The clashes came as Hindu nationalist Modi, chief minister of Gujarat for 13 years, was set to be sworn as premier on Monday after a landslide victory at elections as head of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Modi has pledged national unity as he attempts to revive the faltering economy, but he remains tainted by anti-Muslim riots on his watch in Gujarat in 2002 that left at least 1,000 people, mainly Muslims, dead.

Modi has denied wrongdoing and a court investigation found he has no case to answer.

But some members of religious minorities fear a rise in communal tensions under a Modi government and warn they will be sidelined at the expense of the Hindu majority.

PRESIDENT APPOINTS CABINET MINISTERS, MINISTERS OF STATE(INDEPENDENT CHARGE) AND MINISTERS OF STATE

BS Post: 107, Dated : 26th May 2014

PRESS COMMUNIQUE : Rashtrapati Bhavan : 26-05-2014

PRESIDENT APPOINTS CABINET MINISTERS, MINISTERS OF STATE(INDEPENDENT CHARGE) AND MINISTERS OF STATE

The President of India has appointed Shri Narendra Damodardas Modi as the Prime Minister of India. Further, as advised by the Prime Minister, the President has appointed the following as members of the Council of Ministers:-

CABINET MINISTERS

1. Shri Raj Nath Singh

2. Smt. Sushma Swaraj

3. Shri Arun Jaitley

4. Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu

5. Shri Nitin Jairam Gadkari

6. Shri D.V. Sadananda Gowda

7. Sushri Uma Bharati

8. Dr. Najma A. Heptulla

9. Shri Gopinathrao Munde

10. Shri Ramvilas Paswan

11. Shri Kalraj Mishra

12. Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi

13. Shri Ananthkumar

14. Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad

15. Shri Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati

16. Shri Anant Geete

17. Smt. Harsimrat Kaur Badal

18. Shri Narendra Singh Tomar

19. Shri Jual Oram

20. Shri Radha Mohan Singh

21. Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot

22. Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani

23. Dr. Harsh Vardhan

MINISTERS OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)

1. General V.K. Singh

2. Shri Inderjit Singh Rao

3. Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar

4. Shri Shripad Yesso Naik

5. Shri Dharmendra Pradhan

6. Shri Sarbananda Sonowal

7. Shri Prakash Javadekar

8. Shri Piyush Goyal

9. Dr. Jitendra Singh

10. Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

MINISTERS OF STATE

1. Shri G.M. Siddeshwara

2. Shri Manoj Sinha

3. Shri Nihalchand

4. Shri Upendra Kushwaha

5. Shri Radhakrishnan P

6. Shri Kiren Rijiju

7. Shri Krishan Pal

8. Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Balyan

9. Shri Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava

10. Shri Raosaheb Dadarao Danve

11. Shri Vishnu Deo Sai

12. Shri Sudarshan Bhagat

The President administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the above members of the Council of Ministers at a ceremony held in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, today.

President of India dedicates ‘RUPAY’ to the nation.

BS Post: 106, Dated : 8th May 2014, Place : Mumbai.

08-May-2014, Press Information Bureau ,Government of India, President's Secretariat 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee dedicated ‘RuPay’ India’s own card payment network to the nation today (May 8, 2014) at function at Rashtrapati Bhavan. 

Speaking on the occasion, the President congratulated the Reserve Bank of India for having envisioned the need for such an indigenously managed service in 2005 and for entrusting this task to the National Payments Corporation soon after its operationalization in 2010. He said that it usually takes five to seven years to build a fully functional card payment network. He was happy to note that the NPCI could make the RuPay service operational by April 2013. 

The President said creativity lies in developing products meeting the special needs of the customers by the issuing banks. For a large country like India with a rapidly growing economy, the volume of payment transactions, specially those settled through cards, will be significant in the years ahead. Transactions which are mostly settled today either by way of cash or cheque will progressively make way for card based payment transactions as the economy matures and internet penetration increases. An indigenous system like RuPay will not only reduce the dependence on cash and cheque modes of settlement but will also make it easier to offer products based on specific requirements of diverse user sets within the country. 

The President said that seven million cards issued so far is only a fraction of the potential. Launch of milk procurement pre-paid card by milk procurement agencies or grain procurement agencies in Punjab are other such variants of the card payment mechanism which only a card payment system developed within the country can appreciate and implement faster. Dedication of RuPay to the nation is thus symbolic of the maturity of the payment system development in India and contribution of the National Payments Corporation of India to nation building. 

The President felicitated Shri A. P. Hota, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NPCI. He also presented appreciation plaques to 17 banks for their contribution in connection with RuPay card. 

Among the dignitaries present on the occasion were Shri G. S. Sandhu, Secretary, Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Shri K.R. Kamath, Chairman, Indian Bank Association and Shri Balachandran M., Chairman, National Payments Corporation of India.