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PM Modi Leaves For US To Participate In Quad Summit

September 20, 2024

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday departed for a three-day visit to the United States, during which he will attend the Quad Leaders' Summit, address the 'Summit of the Future' at the United Nations General Assembly, and also interact with the Indian diaspora.

In a post on X, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated, "PM @narendramodi emplanes for USA to participate in the 6th Quad Leaders' Summit and to address the UN 'Summit of the Future'."

PM @narendramodi emplanes for USA to participate in the 6th Quad Leaders' Summit and to address the UN 'Summit of the Future'. pic.twitter.com/nOajjGowWm

— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) September 20, 2024

PM @narendramodi emplanes for USA, where he will be attending various programmes, including the Quad Summit, a community programme, addressing the Summit of the Future and other bilateral meetings.
https://t.co/LO1Pqaf13T pic.twitter.com/aqNmlegmG0
— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 20, 2024

PM Modi will take part in the sixth Quad Leaders' Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, which is being hosted by US President Joe Biden in his hometown on September 21.

Quad brings together four countries--India, Australia, Japan, and the United States, with a commitment to work as a force for global good and to support an open, free, and inclusive Indo-Pacific that is prosperous and resilient. India will be hosting the Quad Leaders' Summit in 2025.

At the Quad Summit, the leaders will review the progress achieved by the Quad over the past year and set the agenda for the year ahead to assist the countries of the Indo-Pacific region in meeting their development goals and aspirations, the Ministry of External Affairs stated.

The first Quad Leaders Summit was held in virtual format in 2021. The second Quad Leaders' Summit (first in-person) was held in Washington, DC, on September 24, 2021. The third Quad Leaders' Summit was held virtually on March 3, 2022.

The fourth Quad Leaders' Summit (second in-person) was hosted by Japan on May 24, 2022. The fifth Quad Leaders' Summit (third in-person) was held in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 20, 2023.

During his visit to the US, PM Modi will address 'Summit of the Future' at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23. The theme of the summit is 'Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow'.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called the Summit a 'once in a generation UN Summit'. 'Summit of the Future' is an important milestone in the history of the UN as it enters the 80th year of its establishment in 2025.

A large number of global leaders are expected to participate in the summit. Prime Minister Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders and discuss issues of mutual interest, on the sidelines of the summit.

The Prime Minister will address a gathering of the Indian community on September 22 in New York.

PM Modi would also be interacting with CEOs of leading US-based companies to foster greater collaborations between the two countries in the cutting-edge areas of AI, quantum computing, semiconductors, and biotechnology, according to MEA.

He is also expected to interact with thought leaders and other stakeholders active in the India-US bilateral landscape. The Prime Minister has addressed the UNGA for the High Level Week (HLW) four times in the past--in 2014, 2019, 2020 (virtually) and 2021.

India and United States enjoy a comprehensive global strategic partnership covering almost all areas of human endeavour, driven by shared democratic values, convergence of interests on a range of issues, and vibrant people-to-people contacts.

India has the largest number of military exercises with the US, which are growing in scale and complexity.

Important bilateral exercises include Yudh Abhyas (Army), Vajra Prahar (Special Forces), Malabar (Navy), Cope India (Air Force), and Tiger Triumph (tri-services). Red Flag, RIMPAC, CUTLASS Express, Sea Dragon, and Milan are some of the multilateral exercises in which the two countries participate.

The US is the also largest trading partner of India, with overall bilateral trade in goods and services of USD 190.1 billion for 2023, according to US Census data.

Foreign Secretary Misri said on Thursday that the Quad event will provide PM Modi with the opportunity to thank both US President Biden, and Japanese PM Kishida for their leadership.

The remarks by Mr Misri came during a briefing by the Ministry of External Affairs on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States for the upcoming Quad summit.

In a press briefing on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, "We are looking at a Quad joint statement, a Quad fact sheet, and the Cancer Moonshot event will have a separate fact sheet of its own. As you probably would have gathered by now, this is also going to be a kind of a farewell event in so far as the Quad is concerned for President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida of Japan. And therefore, the Quad event provides the Prime Minister with an opportunity to thank both leaders for their leadership in giving momentum and salience to the Quad partnership."

Mr Misri said that this will be an opportunity to have substantive engagement between PM Modi and Biden, where they will have the opportunity to review the comprehensive global strategic partnership between New Delhi and Washington. PM Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Japan and Australia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Rape Accused, Out On Bail, Shoots Dead 17-Year-Old Victim: Police

September 20, 2024

A rape accused, out on bail, shot dead his victim here, police said on Friday, adding that the man along with another person have been detained.

Additional Superintendent of Police Shrish Chandra said, "A 17-year-old girl was shot dead in the Kaila Devi police station area on the night of September 18. A case has been registered against two men." The main accused, Rinku 20, had raped the girl and a case was registered against him in Ghaziabad police station in February. He came out of the jail on bail earlier this month, he said.

According to a complaint filed by the victim's family, the minor girl was shot dead while she was returning home on a motorcycle with her brother and mother.

The family alleges that Rinku along with another person intercepted them and opened fire, the police said.

"We are looking into all aspects of the shooting incidents. CCTV footage of the area are also being gathered," the officer said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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After EY Employee Death, Deloitte Forms Panel To Review People Practices

September 20, 2024

Amid a social media storm over the death of a young employee at tax consultancy major EY allegedly due to work pressure, Deloitte has formed a three-member external committee, which includes former revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj, to look into practices, policies and processes concerning employees, its South Asia CEO Romal Shetty said on Friday.

Shetty said to manage the work pressure within the organisation and have an open work culture, Deloitte has a chief happiness officer and takes strictest action for any bad behaviour within the organisation.

Deloitte is one of the four major global tax consultancy firms. Besides Deloitte and EY, the other major firms are PwC and KPMG.

"... Very unfortunate, very tragic, young child losing her life. We are in the client service business and in the client service business there will always be deadlines... having all of those pressures," Shetty told PTI in an interview.

Anna Sebastian Perayil, who passed her CA exam in 2023 and worked at EY Pune office for four months, died in July. According to a letter her mother wrote to EY India chairman Rajiv Memani, she was overworked with a "backbreaking" load as a new employee that affected her "physically, emotionally, and mentally".

Shetty dismissed any bullying culture within organizations that have been built over 100-150 years, but did not rule out any individual transgressions.

"... Bullying culture is not normally the way professional organizations are. But are there individuals who do certain things? Yes, absolutely... So first, I think, as an organization, you need to have an open culture that nobody should be scared to bring up those issues." Shetty said Deloitte on Friday has instituted a panel of three eminent and independent people after the tragic loss of life of 26-year old Anna Sebastian Perayil at EY.

"We have instituted a panel post this.. Tarun Bajaj who used to be the Revenue Secretary, Manoj Kohli who used to be the CEO of Airtel, Subodh Jaiswal who used to be the CBI Director to relook at all our people practices, our policies, processes. How are ethics cases... We have an ethics helpline. How do they get actually managed? What are our mechanisms in place to do it?," Shetty said.

He said in today's world where the workforce is diverse, there is a need to relook at the work environment and make it suitable to manage stress. Mental health is a serious problem and dealing with it is a challenge, he said.

Shetty said, the youngsters joining the workforce today are coming from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities leaving their families and might be going through some stress in their personal lives, besides the work pressure that they encounter in a client servicing business which has a strict deadline.

"The younger generation is far smarter than I ever was, far more intelligent, far more smarter. Sometimes, I think a little bit more resilience will be useful," Shetty said.

As a CEO, Shetty said he goes to every office and conducts an open forum wherein people can ask any question.

"The concept is, if you can ask your CEO any question, including, little bit embarrassing one as well, then you can actually walk up to a senior person and say, I don't enjoy this... Can we also have an environment to ensure that people are comfortable with what they do, because sometimes you spend 14 hours in the workplace," Shetty said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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BharatPe Fraud Case: Ashneer Grover's Family Member Arrested

September 20, 2024

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi Police has arrested Deepak Gupta, a family member of BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover in connection with the misappropriation of company's funds.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, EOW, Raja Banthia, said in a statement on Friday that accused Deepak Gupta was questioned and arrested in the case as per law.

Deepak Gupta has been named in the FIR filed against Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri Jain and their family member in May 2023.

Deepak Gupta, who was arrested on the night of September 19, is the husband of Madhuri Grover's sister.

"During investigation, it was revealed that accused Deepak Gupta was the Procurement Head at the relevant time in the complainant company and he used to acknowledge the bogus deliveries of standees etc., on the basis of which the payments were made to the non-existent firms," a statement by the EOW said.

Earlier, another accused in this case, Amit Bansal was also arrested by the EOW.

"Gupta's involvement in the case is also corroborated from interrogation of accused Amit Bansal who was arrested earlier and presently in judicial custody," the statement said further.

It has been alleged that Ashneer Grover (Founder & Ex-Director of BharatPe), his wife Madhuri Jain Grover and other officials were involved in criminal misappropriation of the company's funds, on the basis of various fabricated documents. Accordingly, payments were made to non-existent vendors and HR consultancy firms causing a wrongful loss of Rs 81 crore (approximately) to the complainant company.

BharatPe in December 2022 had filed a criminal complaint against Ashneer Grover, Madhuri Grover, Shwetank Jain (brother of Madhuri), Suresh Jain (father-in-law of Ashneer) and Deepak Gupta (brother-in-law of Ashneer and Madhuri).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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NPR fact checked the Harris-Trump presidential debate. Here's what we found

September 20, 2024

From the economy to immigration and abortion, NPR looks at what the candidates said and adds context.

(Image credit: Saul Loeb)

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CBI Interrogates Trinamool Congress Youth Leader In RG Kar Hospital Case

September 19, 2024

The CBI on Thursday interrogated TMC youth leader Ashish Pandey, who is also a house staff at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, in connection with the rape and murder of the doctor, an officer said.

Mr Pandey was questioned for hours at the CBI's CGO Complex office before he left late in the night, he said.

"Pandey's phone number was found in the call lists of several persons. He had checked in at a hotel in Salt Lake with a woman friend on the day the trainee doctor's body was found. We are trying to ascertain his activities on that day," the CBI officer said.

The CBI also summoned the hotel authorities for details of Mr Pandey's bookings and payments made.

"The hotel room was booked via an app. He checked in on August 9 afternoon and left the next morning. We are trying to find out what was the purpose of his stay there," the officer said.

The body of the trainee doctor was found at the hospital on August 9, triggering a nationwide outrage.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Four Members Of Family Found Dead In Maharashtra: Cops

September 19, 2024

Four members of a family, including two children, were found dead in their house in the Pramod Nagar area of Dhule on Thursday, police said.

The deceased were identified as agricultural fertilizer seller Praveen Mansingh Girase, his wife Geeta Praveen Girase, who worked as a teacher, and their two children, Mitesh Praveen Girase and Soham Praveen Girase.

Their bodies were found in their house in the Pramod Nagar area of the Samarth Colony under the Deopur police station area in the Dhule district, police said.

Police said that they must have died about three to four days ago, as a very foul smell was coming from the house.

It is suspected that Praveen Girase died by hanging himself while his wife and two children died after consuming a poisonous substance. The reason why the family took this extreme step is not yet clear, police said.

Despite being a prosperous family, this horrific incident has shocked the people of Dhule. A thorough investigation is on to find out whether it is a mass suicide or something else, police said.

Girase's house was closed for the last four days.

Police said that the woman who used to come for household work also went back twice, thinking that the family must have gone to their native village.

When the people around did not hear any sound from the house even after four days, some people informed Praveen Girase's sister Sangeeta.

Sangeeta reached Praveen's house on Thursday morning and opened the door with the help of people, Praveen's body was found hanging in a room of the house and the bodies of his wife and children were found lying on the ground.

As soon as the information was received, the police administration also reached the spot immediately. The citizens of the surrounding area also rushed to the spot.

All four bodies were sent to the mortuary of the district hospital in an ambulance, they said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Bhopal School Sealed After Teacher Sexually Harasses Minor: Police

September 19, 2024

Bhopal district administration authorities sealed a private school on Thursday after a minor girl was allegedly sexually harassed by her teacher on the school premises, police said.

According to officials, authorities were also going to cancel the school's affiliation in connection with the incident.

"We have sealed the school building, and the process to cancel its affiliation has been initiated. The order will be issued in the next few hours. A committee has also been constituted to investigate the matter, and we will complete the probe within two days," said Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Archana Sharma.

Meanwhile, a group of people, including parents of students attending the school and members of various social organisations, staged a protest outside the school over the alleged sexual harassment incident.

Some protestors vandalised the school's signboard and burnt an effigy of the accused outside the campus. The protestors were heard demanding capital punishment for the accused.

Earlier on Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav condemned the incident and ordered strict action against the accused.

CM Yadav posted a video on X, writing, "A case of rape of a three-year-old girl by a school teacher in Bhopal has come to my notice. I have instructed that strict action be taken. Additionally, I will ensure justice is served in this case through a special court. This act is extremely disgusting, shameful, and condemnable."

The accused school teacher was arrested following a complaint lodged by the girl's parents.

According to police, a complaint was filed at Kamla Nagar police station regarding sexual harassment of a three-and-a-half-year-old girl. Acting on the complaint, the police registered a case against the accused under sections 74 and 75 of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) and the POCSO Act.

"The accused is a teacher in the same school where the girl studies. He has been identified and arrested," Bhopal Commissioner of Police Harinarayanchari Mishra told ANI.

"Since the victim is very young, it took some time to uncover the incident, but once we received the complaint, we immediately took action and arrested the accused. The accused has been identified as Kasim Rehan," he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Andhra Government Cites Lab Report In Row Over Animal Fat In Tirupati Laddoos

September 19, 2024

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has slammed rivals YSR Congress and his predecessor, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, over a lab report about animal fats in ghee used to make laddoos offered as prasadam, or devotional offerings, at the temple town of Tirupati.

A July 17 report from the Centre of Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food, or CALF, lab at the centre-run National Dairy Development Board in Gujarat, released Wednesday, said it found animal fat in ghee used to make the famous Tirupati laddoos when the YSRCP was in power.

The report indicated the ghee contained traces of fish oil, beef tallow, and lard; the last is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.

"Even Tirupati laddoo was made with substandard ingredients... they used animal fat instead of ghee," the Chief Minister raged at a legislature party meeting in Amravati the day before.

He declared his government has ensured a higher quality of ingredients, including ghee, is being used now, and that that all food offerings at the iconic temple were now of improved quality.

Mr Naidu's son and Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh also joined the attack.

The lord venkateswara swamy temple at Tirumala is our most sacred temple. I am shocked to learn that the @ysjagan administration used animal fat instead of ghee in the tirupati Prasadam. Shame on @ysjagan and the @ysrcparty government that couldn't respect the religious… pic.twitter.com/UDFC2WsoLP
— Lokesh Nara (@naralokesh) September 18, 2024

"The Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala is our most sacred temple. I am shocked to learn that the Jagan Mohan Reddy administration used animal fat instead of ghee... shame on them... (their) government could not respect the religious sentiments of crores of devotees."

Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, who is from the TDP, told NDTV "we always knew YSRCP was involved in corruption... but didn't think they would do this with Tirupati".

"The deity is sacred and special to all in the state... and now NDDB itself has confirmed presence of animal fat. This is beyond shocking and disgusting. The government will get to the bottom of this," he said, vowing action against those responsible. "We know this is the beginning. More will come out."

The YSRCP, however, has slammed the "malicious" claims and accused the TDP of lying for political gain. The party also said it was Mr Naidu, in fact, who had damaged the sanctity of the temple, and of the crores of devotees, by making such outrageous comments.

రాజకీయం లబ్ధికోసం ఎంతటి నీచానికైనా చంద్రబాబు వెనుకాడడని మరోమారు నిరూపితం అయ్యింది. భక్తుల విశ్వాసాన్ని బలపరిచేందుకు తిరుమల ప్రసాదం విషయంలో నేను, నా కుటుంబం ఆ దేవ దేవుని సాక్షిగా ప్రమాణానికి సిద్ధంగా ఉన్నాం. చంద్రబాబుకూడా తన కుటుంబంతో ప్రమాణానికి సిద్ధమా?2/2
— Y V Subba Reddy (@yvsubbareddymp) September 18, 2024

YSRCP's YV Subba Reddy wrote in Telugu on X that "it has been proved once again that Chandrababu (Naidu) will not hesitate to do anything bad for the benefit of politics". The YSRCP leader also declared himself ready "to take an oath as witnesses... in (this) case" and asked, "Is he also ready to take oath?"

The Congress, meanwhile, has also taken shots at the YSR Congress, with the former Chief Minister's sister, now the boss of the Congress' state unit, demanding a high-level CBI inquiry. The claim, she said in Telugu on X, is "damaging to the sanctity of the deity worshipped by millions of Hindus".

"If there are no political angles to your allegations... if you have no intention of playing politics on this issue... form a high-level committee or call for a CBI inquiry. Find out who is responsible," she said.

"The Congress demands you find out the truth," she declared.

An estimated three lakh laddoos are made in Tirupati every day. To make these the temple trust buys massive quantities of ghee via e-tenders issued every six months.

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Recent Short Reads

PM Modi Leaves For US To Participate In Quad Summit

Rape Accused, Out On Bail, Shoots Dead 17-Year-Old Victim: Police

After EY Employee Death, Deloitte Forms Panel To Review People Practices

BharatPe Fraud Case: Ashneer Grover's Family Member Arrested

NPR fact checked the Harris-Trump presidential debate. Here's what we found

CBI Interrogates Trinamool Congress Youth Leader In RG Kar Hospital Case

Four Members Of Family Found Dead In Maharashtra: Cops

Bhopal School Sealed After Teacher Sexually Harasses Minor: Police

Andhra Government Cites Lab Report In Row Over Animal Fat In Tirupati Laddoos

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