From The Newsroom: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slams Narendra Modi government

In your evening news brief, From The Newsroom, Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for a fourth straight year; Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slams the Narendra Modi government; The Supreme Court gives advocate Prashant Bhushan two-three days time to think over his statement and Harley-Davidson motorcycle may not be produced in India anymore.

Here are the top news of today, Thursday: August 20, 2020:

Indore was adjudged India's cleanest city for a fourth straight year while Surat and Navi Mumbai grabbed the second and third positions respectively, as the Centre announced the results of its latest annual cleanliness survey on Thursday.

Varanasi, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha, was adjudged the 'Best Ganga Town' in the country, followed by Kanpur, Munger, Prayagraj and Haridwar.

Chhattisgarh was given the 'Cleanest State' award in the category of states having more than 100 urban local bodies, followed by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The Swachh Survekshan awards 2020 -- the fifth annual cleanliness survey of the country -- were announced by Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at a ceremony where 129 awards were given in different categories.

The survey brochure describes the New Delhi Municipal Council as “India's Cleanest National Capital (National or State Capitals/UT)”. The NDMC comprises large part of Rajpath and the VIP zone of Lutyens’ Delhi.

A total of 4,242 cities, 62 Cantonment Boards and 97 Ganga towns were surveyed, and 1.87 crore citizens participated in the exercise, according to the government.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Narendra Modi government of decimating the unorganised economy, comprising farmers, labourers and small businesses, in the last six years of its rule, and said that the country will not be able to generate jobs in the coming period as a result of that.

Addressing via video conferencing the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the party's offices to be built in 22 districts headquarters of Chhattisgarh, he said that although the unorganised economy generates 90 per cent of the country's employment, the Modi government destroyed it through various moves like demonetisation and implementation of "wrong GST".

Gandhi stressed the need to restore the balance between the organised and unorganised economies for the welfare of the country.

The event was organised on the occasion of the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"India has two kinds of economies. One is an organised economy, wherein there are big companies, while the other one is unorganised economy, in which there are farmers, labourers, small shop owners and millions of poor people," he said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday gave advocate Prashant Bhushan two-three days time to think over his statement, even as he maintained that he stood by his tweets which were bona fide opinion expressed in discharge of his duty as a citizen.

Taking up the hearing on quantum of sentence for criminal contempt, a bench of Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari told the counsel, "If you do not balance (between freedom of speech and expression and dignity of the judiciary) your comments, you will destroy the institution."

"We do not punish for contempt so easily. Balancing has to be there, a restraint has to be there. There is a Lakshman rekha for everything. Why should you cross the rekha," the bench told the counsel.

The court asked Bhushan if he would like to think over his statement. "We would like to give you time. Later on there should not be a complaint that no time was given," the bench said.

To this, Bhushan, who was present during the virtual court hearing, said, "My tweets were out of a bona fide attempt to discharge my duty as a citizen. I would have been failing in my duty if I did not speak up at this juncture of history. I submit to any penalty which the court may inflict. It would be contemptuous on my part to offer an apology".

Maintaining that his statement were "well considered and well thought of", Bhushan said he would welcome the court's offer but it was very unlikely that he would change his statement.

"We will give you two-three days time. Think over it. We should not give verdict right now," the bench, as it allowed senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan to complete his arguments on quantum of sentence.

During the hearing, Attorney General K K Venugopal asked the court not to punish Bhushan. He said five sitting judges have said the democracy has filed and several former judges have spoken about corruption in judiciary.

With the advent of Apple iPhones and Android phones, popular mobile brand BlackBerry almost went out of business in the early 2010s. It made a comeback, a few years ago with Android-powered phones made by a China-based licensee TCL. But, it couldn't make any inroads in global markets.

Now, for the second time, BlackBerry has confirmed to take another shot at smartphone business in 2021, but this time with two new partners--OnwardMobility and FIH Mobile Limited, a subsidiary of Foxconn. The latter has famous clients including Apple and Xiaomi.

The joint-venture project envisions to bring the BlackBerry-branded 5G phone next year.

“Enterprise professionals are eager for secure 5G devices that enable productivity, without sacrificing the user experience,” said Peter Franklin, CEO of OnwardMobility. “BlackBerry smartphones are known for protecting communications, privacy, and data. This is an incredible opportunity for OnwardMobility to bring next-generation 5G devices to market with the backing of BlackBerry and FIH Mobile.”

OnwardMobility says it will be conducting product planning and market development for BlackBerry smartphones in North America, while FIH Mobile will take care of the design and manufacturing of the BlackBerry devices under strict guidelines to ensure component, device and supply chain integrity.

The iconic American Harley-Davidson motorcycle may not be produced in India anymore, going by indications of their sales performance and announcements from the global management.

The company, which began operations in India in 2009, has a plant in Bawal (Haryana).

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry was already going through a prolonged slowdown. The pandemic has only made things worse, particularly for the premium segments in the country that is the largest two-wheeler market.

Responding to a query about the reports, Harley-Davidson India said: "Harley-Davidson does not comment on speculation and rumours."

In a recent announcement about plans to 'rewire the company', Harley-Davidson had said: "Harley-Davidson plans to concentrate on approximately 50 markets primarily in North America, Europe and parts of Asia Pacific that represent the vast majority of the company's volume and growth potential. The company is evaluating plans to exit international markets where volumes and profitability do not support continued investment in line with the future strategy."

There were also reports that Sajeev Rajasekharan, Managing Director, Asia Emerging Markets and India, would be transferred to Singapore and their sales and marketing operations in India would be reduced.

Deccan Herald's podcasts are now available on your favourite podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and many more. Do subscribe to our Podcast there!

Catch our feature show, The Lead, Monday to Friday at 7 am, and our evening news catch-up show From the Newsroom every day at 6 pm.