Microsoft founder Bill Gates meets Rajnath Singh, discusses welfare initiatives in India

Agencies
November 17, 2017

New Delhi, Nov 17: Microsoft founder Bill Gates on Thursday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and discussed with him various welfare initiatives of the American philanthropies in India.

The meeting assumes significance as registration of one of the Indian NGOs, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), which has been working in the field of public health, was cancelled by the home ministry in April.

The Gates Foundation was one of the donors to this NGO.

The home minister met Gates, co-chair and trustee of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, here, an official statement said.

Singh appreciated the various welfare works being undertaken by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in India and he requested Gates to initiate health awareness programmes in India.

The home minister also suggested that the foundation should concentrate on developing villages and make them "model villages" so that the local people get inspired, the statement said.

Assuring constructive support to India, Gates also explained about the various technologies being adopted by them in the field of agriculture and sanitation, it said.

Asked whether the issue related to cancellation of licence to the PHFI came up during the discussion, a spokesperson of the Gates Foundation said in reply to a text message that "nothing of that sort was discussed".

In an email statement, the spokesperson said Gates' meeting with the home minister focused on the progress made in the partnership with the government across the foundation's priority focus areas – health, urban sanitation, digital financial inclusion and agricultural development.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is committed to working collaboratively with the government of India in providing global and local technical expertise to advance the country's ambitious development goals, the statement said.

After the cancellation of the FCRA registration in April, the NGO was barred from receiving foreign funds.

As per the government rules, an organisation that intends to receive foreign funds must have registration under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.

The action against the PHFI was taken after the home ministry found that the NGO was allegedly violating provisions of the FCRA by "diverting" foreign funds for purposes other than intended for, another official said.

The PHFI claims it is a non-profit, public-private initiative working in the field of public health in India.

According to the PHFI website, the NGO was launched by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2006.

The NGO claimed that the governments of Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha, Meghalaya, Karnataka and Delhi are its supporters, besides Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other such bodies.

According to the PHFI website, they include Infosys Foundation, HT Parekh Foundation, HCL Corporation, Rohini Nilekani, Reliance Industries, GMR Projects Pvt Ltd.

The PHFI claimed that the chairman of the executive committee of its governing body is Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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New Delhi, Mar 13: The Supreme Court on Friday took exception to the State Bank of India (SBI) for not disclosing complete details of Electoral Bonds, including unique alfa numeric numbers, furnished to the Election Commission for uploading on the website.

A five-judge Constitution bench led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud issued notice to the SBI seeking its response on Monday after the court was informed that the issuing bank for the Electoral Bonds has not disclosed unique alfa numeric number of each bond.

"They have not disclosed the bond numbers. It has to be disclosed by the State Bank of India. All details have to be provided by the SBI," the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, noted.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal said as per the Constitution bench judgment of February 15, 2024, all details were to be disclosed.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted since the SBI was a party to the judgment, notice may be issued to it.

The court said the counsel for SBI should have been here.

"If you see the judgment, we have specified that bond numbers have to be provided," the bench said.

Advocate Prashant Bhushan appeared for the main petitioner Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

On an application by the EC, the bench said the details of Electoral Bonds furnished by the poll panel before the top court should be scanned and returned to it for the purpose of uploading on the website.

The Election Commission through advocate Amit Sharma filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to release data on electoral bonds furnished to the top court in terms of previous orders of April 12, 2019 and November 2, 2023.

As per March 11, 2024 order, the Election Commission on Thursday uploaded the data on electoral bonds furnished to it by the SBI.

However, in an application, the poll panel said it had furnished to the Supreme Court a number of sealed envelopes, containing details on EBs encashed by the political parties, during the course of hearing in the matter.

It sought a direction for the return of those sealed envelopes to comply with the directions to upload it on the website as per order of March 11.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had told the SBI to furnish details of purchasers of Electoral Bonds and names of political parties redeemed those instruments by March 12 to the Election Commission, rejecting its plea for extension of time until June 30 for the purpose.

It had then directed the Election Commission to publish the information provided by the SBI on its website on March 15.

In its February 15, 2024 judgment, the SC had declared the Electoral Bonds scheme, introduced in 2018 for donation to political parties, as "unconstitutional" for being violative of the right to information.

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News Network
March 7,2024

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Thiruvananthapuram: Padmaja Venugopal, daughter of late Congress leader and former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunakaran, is joining the BJP.

Amidst rumours in this regard, Padmaja told a news channel that neglect from Congress leadership and attraction towards Narendra Modi's leadership led her to take the decision to join the BJP.

She is scheduled to formally join the party today itself.

Congress is already facing much embarrassment over many leaders and workers joining the BJP. Senior leader A K Antony's son Anil Antony, who joined the BJP last year, is now contesting as the BJP candidate at Pathanamthitta in Kerala.

Padmaja's elder brother K Muraleedharan, who is Congress MP from Vadakara in Kozhikode, told reporters that his sister ditched the Congress despite the hardships faced by their father in building up the party in Kerala.

Karunakaran, who died in 2010, is still popularly known as 'leader' in Kerala. He served as Chief Minister for four terms and also as a union minister.

Padmaja, who is a member of Congress Political Affairs Committee in Kerala, contested twice in assembly polls and once in Lok Sabha polls, but got defeated in all.

Padmaja alleged that a section in the Congress itself worked for her defeat in 2021 assembly polls in Thrissur. Even as she complained to party leadership in this regard there was no action taken, she said.

Sources said that Padmaja was expecting a Rajya Sabha seat, which was not considered by the Congress. She was also unhappy that the work on the Karunakaran Foundation building in Thiruvananthapuram was getting delayed

CPM has been campaigning that Congress and BJP are two sides of the same coin as many Congress leaders are joining the BJP.

CPM state secretary M V Govindan said that many Congress leaders in Kerala would be joining the BJP in due course and that could be the reason why Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently expressed hopes that BJP will win double digit number of seats in Kerala this time.

Padmaja is based in Thrissur and hence her decision to join the BJP could be a boost to BJP's hopes of winning the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat where actor-turned politician Suresh Gopi is in the fray.

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News Network
March 14,2024

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The high-level committee on simultaneous elections, chaired by Ram Nath Kovind, on Thursday met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted its report on 'One Nation, One Election'. The report comprises 18,626 pages.

Home Minister Amit Shah was also present at Rashtrapati Bhawan when Kovind led panel submitted the report.

"Simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be held in first step, followed by local body polls within 100 days in second step," reported PTI quoting the panel.

"Synchronised polls for all three tiers of government to improve governance architecture, in line with quest of aspirational India," it added.

The report has been submitted 191 days after the constitution of the panel on September 2, 2023.

It's further reported that the proposal also puts focus on having a singular electoral roll for holding Lok Sabha, state assembly and local body polls.

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