Maybe he'll say exports haven't fallen but world is importing less: Cong's swipe at Minister Goyal
New Delhi, Nov 17: The Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal over a decline in the country's exports, saying maybe now he will take a leaf out of the finance minister's book and state that exports haven't fallen but the world is importing less.
The Congress has been taking jibes at the government over Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's remarks last month that the rupee has not weakened but the American dollar has strengthened.
India's exports entered negative territory after a gap of about two years, declining sharply by 16.65 per cent to USD 29.78 billion in October, mainly due to global demand slowdown, even as trade deficit widened to USD 26.91 billion, according to data released by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
Key export sectors, including gems and jewellery, engineering, petroleum products, ready-made garments of all textiles, chemicals, pharma, marine products and leather, recorded negative growth in October.
Taking to Twitter to attack the government over the decline in exports, Congress general secretary in-charge, communications, Jairam Ramesh said, "Commerce Min famed for thinking Einstein was Newton should be a worried man. Since Jun '22, exports have fallen in both value and volume."
"Maybe he'll now take a leaf out of Finance Minister's book & say exports haven't fallen but the world's importing less," Ramesh said.
The Congress leader also shared an old video of Goyal in which he made an apparent gaffe by naming Albert Einstein instead of Isaac Newton as the discoverer of gravity.
Last month, the Congress had hit out at Sitharaman over her remarks that the rupee has not weakened but the American dollar has strengthened, and asked till when will people pay the price for the government's "incompetence and wrong policies".
Commerce Min famed for thinking Einstein was Newton should be a worried man. Since Jun ‘22, exports have fallen in both value & volume. Maybe he’ll now take a leaf out of Finance Minister’s book & say exports haven’t fallen but the world’s importing less
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 17, 2022
pic.twitter.com/Zcpj2k6t3g
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Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates
New York, May 13: Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and built into one of the world's largest philanthropic organisations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates posted on the X platform on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She praised the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation's board of trustees, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in her statement. She organises some of her investments and philanthropic gifts through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, which is not a nonprofit.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying, “I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her agreement with Gates, which she said would commit to future work focused on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment about whether those assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said that Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the US and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said he knew many had joined the foundation in part because of their admiration for her advocacy, especially around gender equity.
“I know how beloved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023, and announced in January, it planned to spend $8.6 billion through the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce from Pivotal Ventures.
