Manipur Congress delegation meets Rajnath to protest citizenship law amendment
New Delhi, June 27: A delegation from Congress' Manipur unit on Wednesday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and submitted a memorandum demanding scrapping of Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2016 and making public the framework agreement signed between the government and NSCN-IM.
The 25-member delegation led by former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh also sought appointment from President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi but did not get it. They marched from Vijay Chowk to Rashtrapati Bhawan but could not meet the President.
"We came here (Delhi) to submit a memorandum to the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister regarding three issues. One is about framework agreement signed between government of India and NSCN-IM. Another is citizenship amendment bill 2016
"The third issue is about the Vice-Chancellor of Manipur University," Ibobi Singh told reporters.
"If the citizenship bill is amended, there will be huge impact, particularly in northest because it will become dumping ground of all those citizens who are coming from Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan," he said.
Ibobi Singh said the bill should be withdrawn straight away. "We cannot accept it. We will fight it tooth and nail. This bill cannot be passed by the Parliament," he said.
He also demanded that the framework agreement signed between the Central government and the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah must be made public. "What are contents of that framework agreement, no one knows. Till today it has not been disclosed. Why has it been kept as a confidential document by the government," he asked.
"This is a huge problem for Manipur. Interlocutor R. N. Ravi said the framework agreement is in its final stage. So, one bill could be passed in the Parliament during the monsoon session....
"So we want to know what are the contents of the framework agreement. Without consulting the state concerned and the people of Manipur, we cannot accept it. It should be scrapped otherwise," he added.
On the third issue, he said: "For the last nearly one month, there is an unrest in Manipur University. The students are not attending classes, they have totally stopped the functioning of the university."
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Man lynched over revenge killing in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi; 18 arrested
Mumbai (PTI): Reserve Bank on Wednesday cut India's growth forecast to 6.5 per cent from 6.7 per cent estimated earlier for the current financial year on account of impact of global trade and policy uncertainties.
Prospects of agriculture sector remain bright on the back of healthy reservoir levels and robust crop production in 2025-26, RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra said while unveiling the outcome of the first bi-monthly Monetary Policy Committee meeting for the current financial year.
Manufacturing activity is showing signs of revival with business expectations remaining robust, while services sector activity continues to be resilient, he said.
Investment activity has gained traction and it is expected to improve further on the back of sustained higher capacity utilisation, government's continued thrust on infrastructure spending, healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, along with the easing of financial conditions, he said.
"Merchandise exports will be weighed down by global uncertainties, while services exports are expected to remain resilient. Headwinds from global trade disruptions continue to pose downward risks," he said.
Taking all these factors into consideration, he said, real GDP growth for 2025-26 is now projected at 6.5 per cent, with Q1 at 6.5 per cent; Q2 at 6.7 per cent; Q3 at 6.6 per cent; and Q4 at 6.3 per cent.
"While the risks are evenly balanced around these baseline projections, uncertainties remain high in the wake of the recent spike in global volatility. It may be noted that the growth projection for the current year has been marked down by 20 basis points relative to our earlier assessment of 6.7 per cent in the February policy," he said.
This downward revision essentially reflects the impact of global trade and policy uncertainties, he said.
