Bengaluru, April 30: The non-resident Indians (NRIs) hailing from Karnataka want the Congress to retain power as the party's manifesto promises to make investing in the state "easy" for the diaspora, said Congress leader Sam Pitroda on Monday.

"The NRIs from the state are coming together to ensure that the Congress wins the state elections because they believe in the party's ideology. The Congress government in the state has promised in its manifesto to ease the process of NRIs' investments in the state," he told reporters here.

Pitroda, 75, a telecom expert, is the Chairman of the party's Overseas Congress Department based in Chicago in the US. He was also the Advisor to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

State capital Bengaluru, which is the country's tech hub, will thrive in the policies that will be brought in by the Congress, he said.

"As the world looks to India for innovative solutions, India looks to Karnataka and in turn Bengaluru."

Through its poll manifesto released on Friday by Congress President Rahul Gandhi ahead of the May 12 state elections, the party said it will make Information Technology (IT) an important driver of the state economy.

The ruling party said it will work towards increasing the IT industry's contribution from the current $60 billion to $300 billion.

Calling Karnataka an "investment hub" in the country, the Congress also said that it will work towards drawing new investments in order to create job opportunities for the people of the state.

The party has vowed to create a total of one crore jobs across the state in five years.

 

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.

The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.

Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.