Demonetisation will lead to bigger, cleaner GDP: BJP

January 7, 2017

New Delhi, Jan 7: BJP today termed the aftermath of demonetisation a "sacred movement" during which the masses accepted the temporary suffering with enthusiasm and asserted that black money has now been deposited in banks that will lead to high revenues and bigger and cleaner GDP.

demonetisation
The economic resolution passed at second and concluding day of the party's national executive also accused the opposition of trying to defame the government by destroying the country's positive environment and termed demonetisation a "brave move aimed at the poor's welfare".

"In this sacred movement across the country, the common people were taking upon themselves the temporary suffering of standing in queues with full enthusiasm and positive energy, but the opposition had become negative with destructive energy to defame the central government and trying to destroy the positive environment of the country," it said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley claimed that demonetisation has resulted in black money making its way to bank accounts and the additional money will boost developmental projects. "Black money has been deposited in the Banks. It has lost its anonymity. The informal Economy will now increasingly integrate with the formal economy. This will lead to higher revenues with the States and the Centre. It will lead to the bigger and the Cleaner GDP," the resolution said.

The resolution said demonetisation was necessary for decimating the parallel economy of black money and for the smooth functioning of the GST in near future. "There is today more money with the banks to lend. Interest rates have moved downwards," it said. With BJP leaders endorsing the exercise whole-heartedly, the party's 'Kisan Morcha' chief Virendra Singh Mast claimed at the meeting that it also resulted in lack of wasteful expenditure by farmers, a community which, opposition parties claimed, has suffered most due to cash crunch.

Briefing reporters on the resolution and Jaitley's speech in the closed-door meeting, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the "bold and historic decision" underlined a firm and visionary leadership which puts the country above party and individuals. "The Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes hidden in mattresses, something people would say symbolically, is now in bank accounts. It will help development," she said.

Jaitley also cited figures to assert that revenue of most states had not suffered and in case of some like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh it had even increased. West Bengal could be one state where it declined, he said and took a dig by adding that states can raise revenue by running efficient governments. Citing various surveys, BJP claimed popular support for the demonetisation decision.

"This is reflected in the fact that even after 50 days, there was not a single major incident in the country. There was no loss of public property and there was no loss of people's patience anywhere in the country," it said. Rebutting criticism that demonetisation was abrupt, not a well though-out call, the resolution said it was taken with full-fledged preparations.

Listing the government's efforts to curb black money leading to demonetisation, the resolution cited constitution of a SIT, introduction of Income Declaration Scheme, Jan Dhan Scheme, Black Money Act, Bankruptcy Insolvency Law, DRT Amendment Law and Benami Property Act. The Double Taxation Avoidance Treaties with Mauritius, Cyprus and Singapore which earlier enabled the round tripping of Black Money were re-written, it said.

BJP's national executive believes that the country's 107 crore mobile phone connections, 147 crore bank accounts including 117 crore savings bank accounts and 25 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 35 crore smart phones, more than 40 crore ADHAR linked accounts and more than 75 crore debit cards make it an "enabled" society for digital transactions. The central government has also promoted cashless transactions through UPI, USSD, AEPS and Rupay Card. All these steps are towards the corruption free India, it said.

"The BJP firmly believes that digital economy will stop the leakage of taxes. This Government has ended any role of middlemen from its beneficiary schemes like MNREGA, financial assistance to poor students, subsidies to marginal sections including SC/ST/OBC through digital transactions and Direct Benefit Transfers," the resolution said.

Referring to Modi's sops for the rural poor, women and senior citizens, it said Prime Minister ensured honour to the honest people on November 8 with demonetisation announcement and on December 31 he provided a new energy and faith to the youth, women, small businessmen, senior citizen and farmer of this country.

"Prime Minister's appeal to all political parties about election expenditures is a revolutionary step as the political parties' freedom from black money and corruption is essential for the making of the India of our future," BJP said. Asking party workers to push digital economy, it said the government's measures are in like with "integral humanism", a core philosophy of BJP's ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

"These decisions are paving the way towards making of a modern India where modern technique, transparent governance and equitable society will be fulfilling the aim of 'sabka saath sabka vikas'," the resolution said.

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News Network
December 5,2025

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New Delhi, Dec 5: IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers issued a public apology this evening after more than a thousand flights were cancelled today, making it the "most severely impacted day" in terms of cancellations. The biggest airline of the country cancelled "more than half" of its daily number of flights on Friday, said Elbers. He also said that even though the crisis will persist on Saturday, the airline anticipates fewer than 1,000 flight cancellations.

"Full normalisation is expected between December 10 and 15, though IndiGo cautions that recovery will take time due to the scale of operations," the IndiGo CEO said. 

IndiGo operates around 2,300 domestic and international flights daily.

Pieter Elbers, while apologising for the major inconvenience due to delays and cancellations, said the situation is a result of various causes.

The crisis at IndiGo stems from new regulations that boost pilots' weekly rest requirements by 12 hours to 48 and allow only two night-time landings per week, down from six. IndiGo has attributed the mass cancellations to "misjudgment and planning gaps".

Elbers also listed three lines of action that the airline will adopt to address the issue.

"Firstly, customer communication and addressing your needs, for this, messages have been sent on social media. And just now, a more detailed communication with information, refunds, cancellations and other customer support measures was sent," he said.

The airline has also stepped up its call centre capacity.

"Secondly, due to yesterday's situation, we had customers stranded mostly at the nation's largest airports. Our focus was for all of them to be able to travel today itself, which will be achieved. For this, we also ask customers whose flights are cancelled not to come to the airports as notifications are sent," the CEO said.

"Thirdly, cancellations were made for today to align our crew and planes to be where they need to start tomorrow morning afresh. Earlier measures of the last few days, regrettable, have proven not to be enough, but we have decided today to reboot all our systems and schedules, resulting in the highest numbers of cancellations so far, but imperative for progressive improvements starting from tomorrow," he added.

As airports witnessed chaotic scenes, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) stepped in to grant IndiGo a temporary exemption from stricter night duty rules for pilots. It also allowed substitution of leaves with a weekly rest period. 

Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said a high-level inquiry will be ordered and accountability will be fixed.

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News Network
December 16,2025

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday held talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Amman, during which the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral relations, with the Prime Minister outlining an eight-point vision covering key areas of cooperation.

Describing the meeting as “productive”, PM Modi said he shared a roadmap focused on trade and economy, fertilisers and agriculture, information technology, healthcare, infrastructure, critical and strategic minerals, civil nuclear cooperation, and people-to-people ties.

In a post on social media platform X, the Prime Minister praised King Abdullah II’s personal commitment to advancing India–Jordan relations, particularly as both countries mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties this year.

“Held productive discussions with His Majesty King Abdullah II in Amman. His personal commitment towards vibrant India-Jordan relations is noteworthy. This year, we are celebrating the 75th anniversary of our bilateral diplomatic relations,” PM Modi said.

The meeting took place at the Al Husseiniya Palace, where the two leaders also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), both sides agreed to further deepen cooperation in areas including trade and investment, defence and security, counter-terrorism and de-radicalisation, fertilisers and agriculture, infrastructure, renewable energy, tourism, and heritage.

The MEA said both leaders reaffirmed their united stand against terrorism.

PM Modi arrived in Amman earlier on Monday and was received by Jordanian Prime Minister Jafar Hassan, who accorded him a formal welcome. Following the talks, King Abdullah II hosted a banquet dinner in honour of the Prime Minister, reflecting the warmth of bilateral ties.

Jordan is the first leg of PM Modi’s three-nation tour. From Amman, the Prime Minister will travel to Ethiopia at the invitation of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, marking his first official visit to the African nation. The tour will conclude with a visit to Oman.

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News Network
December 20,2025

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At least seven elephants were killed and one calf injured after a herd collided with the Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Assam's Hojai on Saturday morning, leading to disruption of rail services. 

The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express struck a herd of elephants, resulting in the derailment of the locomotive and five coaches. No passenger casualties or injuries were reported, officials said.

The New Delhi-bound train met with the accident around 2.17 am, PTI reported. The Sairang-New Delhi Rajdhani Express connects Mizoram's Sairang (near Aizawl) to Anand Vihar Terminal (Delhi). 

Railway has issued helpline numbers at the Guwahati Railway Station:-

•    0361-2731621
•    0361-2731622
•    0361-2731623

The accident site is located about 126 km from Guwahati. Following the incident, accident relief trains and railway officials rushed to the spot to initiate rescue operations.

Train Services Disrupted

Sources said that due to the derailment and elephant body parts scattered on the tracks, train services to Upper Assam and other parts of the Northeast were affected.

Passengers from the affected coaches were temporarily accommodated in vacant berths available in other coaches of the train. Once the train reaches Guwahati, additional coaches will be attached to accommodate all passengers, after which the train will resume its onward journey.

The incident occurred at a location that is not a designated elephant corridor. The loco pilot, upon spotting the herd on the tracks, applied emergency brakes. Despite this, the elephants dashed into the train, leading to the collision and derailment.

Last month, an elephant was killed after being hit by a train in Dhupguri in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district. The incident took place on November 30. 

The adult elephant was killed on the spot, and a calf was discovered lying injured beside the tracks. 

Over 70 Elephants Killed In Train Collisions Over Last 5 Years

At least 79 elephants have died in train collisions across the country in the last five years, the Environment Ministry had informed Parliament in August.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Environment Kirti Vardhan Singh had said the figure is based on reports from state governments and Union Territory administrations for the period 2020-21 to 2024-25.

He said that the ministry does not maintain consolidated data on the deaths of other wild animals on railway tracks, including in designated elephant corridors.

Singh confirmed that three elephants, including a mother and her calf, were killed on July 18 this year after being hit by a speeding express train on the Kharagpur-Tatanagar section in West Bengal's Paschim Midnapore district. The incident took place near Banstala between Jhargram and Banstala stations.

The minister said several measures have been taken jointly by the Environment Ministry and the Railways to prevent such accidents.

These include imposing speed restrictions in elephant habitats, pilot projects such as seismic sensor-based detection of elephants near tracks and construction of underpasses, ramps and fencing at vulnerable points.

The Wildlife Institute of India, in consultation with the ministry and other stakeholders, has also issued guidelines titled 'Eco-friendly Measures to Mitigate Impacts of Linear Infrastructure' to help agencies design railways and other projects in ways that reduce human-animal conflicts.

Singh added that capacity-building workshops were conducted for railway officials at the Wildlife Institute of India in 2023 and 2024 to raise awareness on elephant conservation and protection.

A detailed report titled 'Suggested Measures to Mitigate Elephant & Other Wildlife Train Collisions on Vulnerable Railway Stretches in India' had also been prepared after surveys across 127 railway stretches covering 3,452 km.

Of these, 77 stretches spanning 1,965 km in 14 states were prioritised for mitigation, with site-specific interventions suggested. 

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