India, Uganda agree to boost economic, defence cooperation
Kampala, July 24 : India and Uganda on Tuesday agreed to boost bilateral cooperation in the areas of economy and defence following delegation-level talks co-chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni here.
"India will always support Uganda's economic development and nation-building efforts," Modi said in a joint address to the media with Museveni following the talks.
Stating that bilateral trade and investment is growing stronger, he said that both he and Museveni will meet CEOs of both countries here on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister also announced two lines of credit worth nearly $200 million for energy infrastructure, agriculture and dairy sectors.
Modi said that it is a matter of great satisfaction that defence cooperation between the two countries is progressing well.
"We are ready to further strengthen our defence ties," he said.
On his part, Museveni said that the two sides emphasised on trade, investment and tourism during Tuesday's talks.
Inviting Indians to visit Uganda, he said that promoting tourism would go a long way in boosting bilateral trade.
In this connection, he sought permission for Ugandan Airlines to fly to Mumbai.
According to Museveni, one of Modi's suggestions during the talks was for Indian companies to invest in Uganda's healthcare sector.
Modi arrived here earlier on Tuesday from Rwanda on the second leg of his five-day, three-nation tour of Africa that will also take him to South Africa.
This is the first Prime Ministerial visit from India to Uganda in over 20 years.
For Modi, this is his second visit to this East African nation after his visit in 2007 as Gujarat Chief Minister.
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LPG crisis: Karnataka temples gear up to stock wooden logs for ‘Prasada’
Bengaluru (PTI): Temples in Karnataka have started preparations to stock wooden logs fearing that the LPG shortage could hamper the ‘Prasada’ preparation and distributions to the devotees.
The looming LPG crisis in the state in the wake of Iran-Israel conflict has made the temple managements jittery.
According to the Akhila Karnataka Hindu Temple Archakas Federation (AKHTAF) president M S Venkatachalaiah, there is no immediate crisis in the temples.
“We have LPG cylinder stock that can last for a week but if this scarcity continues then there will be a problem in serving Prasada (offerings to the deity) to the devotees,” AKHTAF president said.
He added that many temples in the state have started stocking wooden logs to overcome the LPG crisis.
“Our temples have started preparing to store wooden logs to prepare Prasada though currently we don’t have a problem, at least for a week,” Venkatachalaiah told PTI.
Another priest working in a temple belonging to the state Endowment Department said the temples may have to go back to the traditional way of cooking as done in the ancient time using wood.
The LPG crisis has not affected the mid-day meal programme for government school students yet, though there was a meeting in the Education Department to find ways to tackle if crisis deepens, sources associated with the Mid-day Meal programme said.
Meanwhile, the largest partner of the Mid-day Meal programme in the country is Akshaya Patra.
The NGO said they do not depend much on LPG gas cylinder.
“The LPG crisis has not affected us. Our kitchens are steam-based, and we generate steam through boilers which run on electricity. That’s point number one. Point number two—gas is used only for very minor things, mainly for seasoning. That is the tadka,” an Akshaya Patra executive told PTI.
According to him, the NGO has has a gas reserves for about nearly one month across India, though gas is used in very small quantities every day.
He pointed out that the Mid-day meal programme will not be affected because in one or one-and-a-half weeks, schools will close owing to summer vacation.
Akshaya Patra feeds 23.5 lakh children across more than 24,000 schools across India, in 16 states and three Union Territories, he said.
