Hotline between India, China would save time: Sitharaman
Chennai, June 8: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said a hotline between the decision makers of India and China would enable sorting out of the problems at the ground level faster.
Referring to the China-India border stand-off that went on for about 72 days last year over the Chinese construction of a road in Doklam, she called for forums that ensure greater interaction, while noting the hotline will cut time in reaching the empowered decision makers during a crisis.
The minister was speaking at a seminar on Trends and Transformations in China's Geo-Politics, Strategy, Society and Business here organised by the Chennai Centre for China Studies and National Maritime Foundations.
Emphasizing that there was increased engagement with China, Sitharaman said India's participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gives both nations an opportunity to engage further.
She said engagement between the leaders of the two nations would benefit the countries in the long run and vigorous engagement is possible even at informal meetings.
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.
PM Modi, RSS strengthening wall in path of SCs, STs, OBCs: Rahul Gandhi
New Delhi (PTI): Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the RSS were strengthening the wall standing in the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs, even as he acknowledged that the UPA took steps to weaken that wall but not to the extent it should have.
Addressing the 'Samvidhan Rakshak Abhiyaan', Gandhi also referred to the function held on Constitution Day in Parliament and said that it is his guarantee, that "Modi has not read" the Constitution.
"If PM Modi would have read this book then what he does daily, he would not do it," Gandhi said, displaying a copy of the Constitution of India.
Gandhi said the country's whole system is pitted against Dalits, Adivasis and backward class people.
He said a wall obstructs the path of Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs and Modi and the RSS are strengthening that wall by "adding cement to it".
"Slowly the wall (obstructing the path of SCs, STs, OBCs) is getting strengthened. Earlier, the UPA government gave MGNREGA, the land acquisition act, the right to food...those were ways to weaken that wall. Today, when I look back, I can say the UPA government did not weaken the wall to the extent it should have, it did not do it as strongly as it should have," Gandhi said.
"However, we used to make efforts to weaken that wall but they (the BJP) are strengthening that wall by adding concrete," the former Congress president said.
Gandhi said a caste survey being carried out in Telangana is a historic step and the Congress will do the same wherever it comes to power.
