'Freedom 251 is ponzi bogus company scam'

 

"This is a huge scam, that is why I went through all the papers of the company. The government has informed the Uttar Pradesh government to check the bonafide of the promoter. This is a Ponzi bogus company scam," Somaiya told ANI.

The BJP MP has approached the Telecom Ministry, telecom regulator TRAI, Consumer Ministry, SEBI, Corporate Ministry, Finance Ministry, RBI and state governments to check various concerns that he has on company offering mobile phone for Rs 251-- which is proving the world`s cheapest smartphone.

Noida-based company Ringing Bells on Thursday started booking for the phone for Rs 251 and has said that delivery of all handsets will be completed by June 30.

The 3G handset, Freedom 251, features a 4-inch display, Qualcomm 1.3-GHz quad-core processor and 1 GB RAM, according to details shared by the company.

The BJP MP had earlier written a letter to IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad questioning the abnormalities in the company.

Somaiya in his letter asked whether the objective and aim behind the offer had been studied.

Has it been investigated if it is a collective investment scheme or a ponzi scheme, he enquired.

He also questioned the background, the financial status, the owners of Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd, saying that he was "far from convinced" with the response given by Ashok Chadha, President of Ringing Bells.

Chadha, in the defence of his company and product, had said that cost was brought down due to local assembling and online marketing. 

RSS worker hacked to death in Kerala; BJP calls for hartal, CPI(M) sympathisers taken into custody

 

Sujit, who suffered serious injuries in the attack, succumbed to injuries before reaching hospital last night.

His aged parents and a brother tried to stop the assailants, who stormed into the house at around 11.30 pm last night, and suffered injuries in the process.

Police said some Communist Party of India (Marxist)​ sympathisers have been taken into custody for questioning.

The BJP has called for a 'hartal' in Kannur, Pappinessery and Azhikode areas to protest against the killing.

One year of Arvind Kejriwal govt: BJP, Congress give duck to AAP, call it a 'failed' tenure

"The last one year has proved to be a black year in the history of Delhi. Delhiites last year gave a historic mandate to the Aam Aadmi Party seeking a change in polity but it turned out to be a year of betrayal," Delhi BJP chief Satish Upadhyay told reporters.

He said that by raising a new constitutional crisis every day, the Delhi government blocked development and administration work.

Leader of Opposition in the Delhi assembly Vijender Gupta presented a report on how the Kejriwal government`s "habit" of creating constitutional crisis and conflicts brought development and administrative work to a standstill.

"The year turned out to be a year of deceit. The government has brought development and administration to a standstill by creating constitutional conflicts," Gupta said.

Ramesh Bidhuri, the BJP Lok Sabha member from South Delhi, raised the issue of the Kejriwal government`s "betrayal" in the name of regularising unauthorised colonies and villages in the city.

Upadhyay said the Delhi BJP will observe a `Protest Day` on Sunday.

"Tomorrow (Sunday), we will hold a protest at Jantar Mantar against the completion of one year of the AAP government which has failed to fulfil its promises made during the assembly elections," Upadhyay said.

Meanwhile, the Congress party also termed the first year of the Arvind Kejriwal government a "complete failure" and said the ruling party in Delhi has been "finding excuses not to work," betraying those who elected it to office.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had scored "zero out of hundred" in its performance in the first year of its term, Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken told reporters here.

"It is a complete failure. They could not fulfil their promises. The list is very long," he said.

Maken, who was accompanied by other senior Congress leaders of Delhi, also released a booklet entitled `Kejriwal ek saal, Delhi behaal` (One year of Kejriwal: Delhi in a bad shape) and said the party will go to the people to tell them about the "failures" of the government.

Kejriwal government will complete one year on Sunday, which the Congress is observing as "chhalawa divas" (the day of deception).

To mark the day, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet will answer questions from the people during a live phone-in programme at the NDMC Convention Centre on Sunday.

At present India has a Government where PM has the last word

At present India has a Government where PM has the last word: Jaitley to Manmohan Singh

 

Jaitley's reaction comes after Dr Singh in an interview to a news channel said, there is a crisis of confidence in the government and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi must give "every Indian" the confidence that he cares for people's well-being.

Here's the full text of Jaitley's article posted on his Facebook account:

Former Presidents and Prime Ministers rarely speak, but when they do, the nation should listen to them with rapt attention. They represent the wisdom of the nation. They are expected to be non-partisan, render constructive advice and at times send a powerful message even to their own political party to act in broader national interest. Having consistently held Dr. Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister in high respect, I expect the same from him.

I have read his interview in the latest edition of “India Today”, particularly his concern that the Prime Minister and the Government are not reaching out to the opposition. He feels that the Government is not doing enough to move up the country’s economy.

I am sure if Dr. Singh would dispassionately analyse the present Government, he would really realize the India has a Government where the Prime Minister has the last word, where natural resources are allocated without corruption through transparent process, where industrialists no longer visit North Block to push files/decisions, where environmental clearances are dealt with in routine and not stalled on sadistic or corrupt considerations. Has there been any change in the work culture of the Government? During the UPA Government, the public sector banks were hardly run by their own Boards or even by North Block. They were run from 24, Akbar Road. In Power and Infrastructure areas, sectoral challenges were not addressed during the UPA. It is the present Government which is clearing up these accumulated challenges.

Many stalled infrastructure projects have now started moving. India’s journey is from ‘policy-paralysis’ to a global ‘bright-spot’, as the fastest growing economy moves on notwithstanding major challenges.

On consultations with the opposition, almost all political parties except the Congress, support the GST. The Congress has done a volte face. Both the Parliamentary Affairs Minister and myself have discussed the GST with every senior Congress leader in Parliament. Is the Congress position on “Constitutional cap” not motivated by real politics? The economist in Dr. Singh should advice his party that tariff are not provided for in the Constitution. This is what nation expects from the senior leaders and statesmen like former Prime Ministers.

 

For us it's Bombay, not Hindu nationalists' Mumbai: British newspaper The Independent

Amol Rajan said the move was a stand against what he said was the closed-minded view of Hindu nationalists.

The city was officially renamed Mumbai in 1995, a change forced through by the far-right Shiv Sena party. However, within the city, the old colonial name and the Marathi-language name are often used interchangeably.

"The whole point of Bombay is of an open, cosmopolitan port city, the gateway of India that's open to the world," said Rajan, who was born in Kolkata -- formerly known as Calcutta -- and raised in London.

"If you call it what Hindu nationalists want you to call it, you essentially do their work for them," the 32-year-old told BBC radio.

"As journalists, as someone who edits The Independent, it's incredibly important to be specific about our terminology.

"I'd rather side with the tradition of India that's been open to the world, rather than the one that's been closed, which is in ascendance right now," he said, referring to the rulingHindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

Their coalition partner Shiv Sena is strongly pro-Marathi, the dominant language and ethnic group in the state of Maharashtra, of which Mumbai is the capital.

Rajan said post-colonial India had the "open, secular, pluralist and tolerant" tradition of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

It also had a "slightly nastier strain of Hindu nationalism" and it was important to "venerate the tradition of India which shows the best of India -- an open metropolis".

Shiv Sena renamed the western Indian city after the goddess Mumbadevi, the protector of fisherman who were the area's original inhabitants.

Marathi speakers had always called the city "Mumbai", and the move was popular among that community, whereas "Bombay" was an anglicised take on the Portuguese colonial name "Bom Bahia", or "good bay".