Modi inaugurates Make in India Week

February 13, 2016

Mumbai, Feb 13: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched the largest-ever manufacturing summit Make in India (MII) Week here in the presence of heads of state, a battery of business leaders and foreign delegates.

The event is aimed at attracting investments into the manufacturing sector and showcasing success stories at a specially-created venue at the BKC business district in Central Mumbai.

Prime Ministers of Finland and Sweden and the deputy premier of Poland are also among the attendees. After inaugurating the mega event, the Prime Minister took a tour of the pavilions, with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts and visiting ministers in tow.

The inaugural ceremony was off-limits for the media despite pre-issued passes and confusion prevailed all throughout over co-ordination. Modi was scheduled to deliver a speech at an award event later in the evening.

"I can't speculate on the number of memoranda of understanding that will be signed, but this is a brilliant start. All our partners are very enthusiastic," Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters later outside the main venue.

Over 2,500 international and 8,000 domestic companies are participating in the multi-sectoral industrial event, which is being attended by foreign government delegations from 68 countries and business teams from 72 nations.

The participants at the event include foreign heads of government and states, Prime Ministers of Sweden, Finland and deputy premier of Poland, besides other Cabinet ministers.

"India never had this kind of participation from across the world. FDI has grown by 48 per cent in recent months and it will continue to grow in future," Amitabh Kant, Secretary of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, which is organising the jamboree, told PTI outside the MMRDA Grounds.

Bhaskar Bhatt of Titan, the country's largest watch maker, said the visit of the Prime Minister to their stall was "very encouraging" and added that "this is a great country to invest as we have plenty of skilled manpower, technology and a large consuming class".

The Prime Minister also visited the stalls of Tata Steel, ABB, Siemens and Sonalika, among others.

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Over 58 lakh names dropped from draft voter list in Bengal ahead of polls

News Network

December 16,2025

The deletion of over 58 lakh names from West Bengal’s draft electoral rolls following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) has sparked widespread concern and is likely to deepen political tensions in the poll-bound state.

According to the Election Commission, the revision exercise has identified 24 lakh voters as deceased, 19 lakh as relocated, 12 lakh as missing, and 1.3 lakh as duplicate entries. The draft list, published after the completion of the first phase of SIR, aims to remove errors and duplication from the electoral rolls.

However, the scale of deletions has raised fears that a large number of eligible voters may have been wrongly excluded. The Election Commission has said that individuals whose names are missing can file objections and seek corrections. The final voter list is scheduled to be published in February next year, after which the Assembly election announcement is expected. Notably, the last Special Intensive Revision in Bengal was conducted in 2002.

The development has intensified the political row over the SIR process. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have strongly opposed the exercise, accusing the Centre and the Election Commission of attempting to disenfranchise lakhs of voters ahead of the elections.

Addressing a rally in Krishnanagar earlier this month, Banerjee urged people to protest if their names were removed from the voter list, alleging intimidation during elections and warning of serious consequences if voting rights were taken away.

The BJP, meanwhile, has defended the revision and accused the Trinamool Congress of politicising the issue to protect what it claims is an illegal voter base. Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that the ruling party fears losing power due to the removal of deceased, fake, and illegal voters.

The controversy comes amid earlier allegations by the Trinamool Congress that excessive work pressure during the SIR led to the deaths by suicide of some Booth Level Officers (BLOs), for which the party blamed the Election Commission. With the draft list now out, another round of political confrontation appears imminent.

As objections begin to be filed, the focus will be on whether the correction mechanism is accessible, transparent, and timely—critical factors in ensuring that no eligible voter is denied their democratic right ahead of a crucial election.

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