Telangana Assembly pays homage to Manmohan Singh, urges Centre to confer Bharat Ratna
Hyderabad, Dec 30: The Telangana Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution unanimously urging the central government to confer the Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Soon after Speaker G Prasad Kumar convened the Assembly at 10 am, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy moved a motion to condole the death of Manmohan Singh and express gratitude for the role played by the late leader in the formation of Telangana state in 2014.
After the discussion, cutting across party lines, the House unanimously passed the resolution requesting the Centre to confer the highest civilian award on Singh.
The Assembly also observed a two-minute silence in respect of the late leader.
Leader of Opposition K Chandrasekhar Rao did not attend the session.
Manmohan Singh (92), the architect of India's economic reforms, died at AIIMS, New Delhi, on December 26.
Earlier, while moving the resolution, Revanth Reddy said the demise of the former PM is an "irreparable loss for the country".
Reddy mentioned several landmark legislations, such as the Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), the Right to Information Act, and the Land Acquisition Act, which were introduced by the UPA government headed by Manmohan Singh.
Asserting that the former PM was a great leader who fulfilled the aspirations of the people of Telangana under his leadership, Reddy said the state government has decided to install a statue of Manmohan Singh in the financial district in Hyderabad.
Deputy CM Bhatti also participated in the discussion, saying he supports the motion moved by the CM.
On behalf of BRS, its working president and MLA K T Rama Rao, supporting the resolution, said Singh was "the silent architect of modern India".
He requested the CM that the Assembly should also pass a resolution urging the Centre to set up a memorial for former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao in the national capital.
BJP floor leader Maheshwar Reddy said his party also supported the condolence motion.
Reddy made certain comments about Rahul Gandhi, which Legislative Minister Sridhar Babu objected to.
The minister requested the Speaker to expunge the BJP leader’s comments.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
