Shownotes Transcript
President Ram Nath Kovind while addressing a joint session of Parliament on January 31said that apart from the geographical distance of the Northeast with Delhi, it was the emotional disconnect that had disheartened the people of the region. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has changed this through intense work in the last five years, he said. Kovind also spoke about the agreement signed by Tripura, Mizoram, the Bru community and the Central government which has brought solution to the problem of displaced refugees in the area. He also said that he was happy that both Houses of Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to fulfill the dreams of those who built our country. The President said that the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A of the Constitution by two-thirds majority in both the Houses of Parliament is “historic” as it paves the way for equitable development of Jammu – Kashmir and Ladakh.
Bank employees throughout the country will go on a two-day-long strike starting today after management refused to agree to the demands of bank employees’ union who were asking for a 20% pay hike, a 5-day work week among others. Around 10 lakh bank employees were believed to join the 2-days protest. Due to the strike, private sector banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank will not be affected.
The Economic Survey 2019-20 presented in the Parliament on January 31, Friday was centered around a broad theme of wealth-creation. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman tabled the Economic Survey. After this, Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India (CEA) Dr Krishnamurthy V Subramanian spoke about some of the main points of this year’s survey. In a globalized economy, India too has felt the effect of a slowdown, the CEA said. He added that all groups of countries have slowed down, in a globalized economy and that India too has felt the effect. Peaks and troughs in business cycle phenomena show that we have hit a trough as regards economic growth, hopeful of achieving 6.0-6.5% GDP growth in 2020-21.
A two-day long Kalaguru Sangeet Mahotsav 2020 began this Friday at Tangla HS playground in Tangla town of Udalguri district. There will be an singing competition to tap budding singing talents. Zubeen Garg will also release music video of two songs during the occasion.
Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, in a statement about cases of novel coronavirus in England said that two patients in England, who are members of the same family, have tested positive for coronavirus. “The patients are receiving specialist NHS care, and we are using tried and tested infection control procedures to prevent further spread of the virus,” according to the Department of Health and Social Care. World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Coronavirus outbreak as a global health emergency. According to the latest Situation Report, death tolls have reached 170 in China. Globally 7818 cases have been confirmed so far. WHO will send international experts to visit China as soon as possible to work with Chinese counterparts on increasing understanding of the outbreak to guide global response efforts.
European Parliament has voted to approve the United Kingdoms’ departure from the European Union. MEPs held a debate on the Brexit withdrawal agreement in Brussels before voting 621 in favor, 49 against and 13 abstentions, Efe news reported. The vote was the final hurdle in the process of the UK leaving the EU, which will take place on January 31, after British MPs previously approved the withdrawal agreement.