New Delhi Dec 24 PTI With the Congress appearing a divided house in poll-bound Uttarakhand the BJP is confident of retaining power in the hill state as the partys central leaders feel that the appointment of a young Pushkar Singh Dhami as chief minister has helped it counter the negative publicity of changing CM twice within a few months Union minister and the BJPs poll incharge for the state Pralhad Joshi has already made it clear that the party will contest the elections under Dhamis leadership and that he will again take up the top job once the party comes to power again in 2022 The BJPs central leaders have been heaping praises on Dhami with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh comparing his performance with former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhonis relentless batting in T-20 matches and seeking a full five-year term for him Dhami is doing a relentless batting like Mahendra Singh Dhoni in a 20-20 match and deserves a full-length five-year test match chance Singh has recently said in one of his rallies in Uttarakhand When contacted BJP general secretary and incharge of the state Dushyant Gautam said It is very clear that the party will contest elections under the leadership of Dhami In a short span of time he has taken various measures for expediting the pace of development in the state Gautam further said the party has given a young chief minister to a young state whereas the Congress is a divided house and witnessing infighting over its face for the assembly elections due early next year Another senior leader of the party said Dhamis deft handling of the political situation especially after the changing of chief minister twice within a few months and his effective administration have brought the party in a strong position Dhamis diligent handling of politics and coordination with senior leaders have brought back the BJP in a strong contention to form the government again the leader said in Delhi The 45-year-old Dhami became the youngest chief minister of the state in July replacing Tirath Singh Rawat who resigned within four months of taking charge from Trivendra Singh Rawat There are broadly two centres of politics in Uttarakhand -- Kumaon and Garhwal -- and Dhami frequently visited both regions during his tenure of about six months to maintain a balance party leaders said Many party leaders have already made it clear that he will be the partys chief ministerial candidate and his views on selection of candidates would also be given due importance Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address a rally in Haldwani later this week PTI JTR SMN

New Delhi Nov 29 PTI Some members of a parliamentary panel looking into the issue of hate speech on Facebook on Monday expressed the view that whistle-blowers Sophie Zhang and Frances Haugen who have flagged bias and lack of proper regulation on the social media platform be called to depose before it sources said Top officials of Facebook India including its Public Policy Director Shivnath Thukral on Monday deposed before the panel on the subject of safeguarding citizens rights and prevention of misuse of socialonline news media platforms including special emphasis on women security In the meeting some members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology asked them questions about hate speech in reference to the dossiers shared by Zhang with the committee sources said adding that the parliamentarians did not get convincing response from the executives of the social media giant The members asked specific questions about the kind of mechanism and system the company has in place to identify and remove hate speech content from its various platforms they said During the meeting many members took the view that both whistle-blowers be called before the panel to brief it about their findings they said The panel is exploring the possibility of calling the whistle-blowers and is likely to seek the Lok Sabha Speakers permission they said Haugen a former Facebook data scientist-turned-whistle-blower has alleged that the social network giants products harm children and fuel polarisation in the United States She had testified before the US Senate Committee Zhang also a former Facebook data scientist has reportedly shared a dossier with the panel about the companys alleged unethical working She also reportedly had alleged that there was a politically sophisticated attempt to influence the February 2020 Delhi elections Responding to the charge that neither Parliament nor the government has called the Facebook whistle-blowers panel chairman Shashi Tharoor had said in a series of tweets last month that the committee would hold its first meeting after its constitution in November As video-conferencing not permitted under the procedures testimony in person by witnesses from abroad requires the Speakers consent and it is being sought he had said PTI JTR SMN

New Delhi Nov 26 PTI Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat and top military commanders on Friday briefed a parliamentary panel on the operational preparedness of the armed forces the panels chairman Jual Oram said Besides Rawat senior officials of the Defence Ministry and top commanders of the Army Navy and the Air Force deposed before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence at the Parliament Complex The agenda of the meeting was briefing by the representatives of the Ministry of Defence on review of strategic operational preparedness of defence forces in view of current security scenario including border security Oram said Rawat made a very good presentation on the subject before the panel Sources said commanders of all three armed forces made presentations on the operational preparedness of their respected forces They updated MPs about the recent procurement and additions in their arsenal CDS Rawat gave the overall presentation on the preparedness of all three forces and various initiatives taken for development of infrastructure in the border areas they said Around 11 members of the 31-member committee were present in the meeting on Friday Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was among the absentees PTI JTR SMN

New Delhi Sep 28 PTI Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers wherein presentations were made on the implementation and monitoring of various projects Sources aware of the development said two ministers made presentations on the implementation of various projects This was the fourth meeting of the Union Council of Ministers since its reshuffle and expansion on July 7 During the previous meeting on September 14 Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made presentations on efficiency and time management After the September 14 meeting sources had said it was kind of a chintan shivir brainstorming session and that more such sessions would be held for further improving governance PTI JTR SMN SMN