No country more essential than India: US ambassador-designate Sergio Gor
New Delhi (PTI): No country is as essential as India for Washington and both sides are actively engaged in firming up a trade deal, US ambassador-designate Sergio Gor said on Monday.
Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end, he said in his arrival speech while referring to the friendship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump.
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"India is the world's largest nation. So it's not an easy task to get this across the finish line, but we are determined to get there," he said at a ceremony attended by US embassy employees here.
"And while trade is very important for our relationship, we will continue to work closely together on other very important areas such as security, counter-terrorism, energy, technology, education, and health," he said.
"I have travelled all over the world with President Trump, and I can attest that his friendship with Prime Minister Modi is real," he added.
Gor also announced that India will be a member of the Pax Silica alliance.
"I am pleased to announce that India will be invited to join this group of nations as a full member next month," he said.
The Pax Silica alliance is a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure, resilient and innovation driven silicon supply chain.
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Stalin accuses Centre of trying to use women's quota as 'weapon,' slams EPS over delimitation
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has strongly criticised the Centre over the women's reservation and accused it of trying to use it as a "weapon" to tackle the opposition before taking up the delimitation exercise based on population.
"The Union government is not concerned about implementing reservations for women. If their concerns were genuine, they could have done it right away. Rather than doing that, the BJP-led Centre is thinking of using it as a weapon to tackle opposition and take up the delimitation exercise based on population," he told PTI in an interview.
"Hence, the women's reservation must be implemented immediately without showing delimitation as a reason," the DMK president added.
Expressing apprehensions on the proposed delimitation exercise, the CM said it was the DMK that raised the first voice asserting the rights of the state after realising that Tamil Nadu would be affected by the proposed exercise. He also attacked his rival and AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami over the delimitation issue.
Recalling efforts made by the DMK to raise the issue of population-based delimitation, he said an all-party meeting and a meeting of CMs under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee seeking fair delimitation were convened. It sought to freeze delimitation for 25 years and stick to it based on the 1971 Census population.
"We urged the union government that states which successfully implemented population control programmes must not be punished," he added.
The party came up with "Tamil Nadu poradum, Tamil Nadu vellum" (Tamil Nadu will struggle, Tamil Nadu will win) and this is DMK's stand, he said.
"However, Palaniswami, who is seeking votes for the entry of the BJP through the backdoor, has till date been mute over delimitation, and this is a betrayal of the people of Tamil Nadu."
