LIVE: PM Narendra Modi, Chinese President Xi Jinping sign key MoUs

Media Bureau/Kamna Arora

5:00 pm Modi will host a private dinner for Jinping at the Sabarmati Riverfront Park.

4:55 pm The Chinese premier will visit Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati ashram shortly. 

4:31 pm The two countries sign pact to set up an industrial park in Gujarat in the presence of the leaders of the two countries. 

4:27 pm India and China sign a sister city agreement between Ahmedabad and Guangzhou.

4:25 pm The agreements expected to be inked are likely to be on infrastructure, railways and a sister city agreement between Ahmedabad and China's Guangdong province.

4:20 pm Modi and Xi will shortly sign the several key agreements between the two countries.

4:02 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping begin talks.

3:45 pm: The two heads of state pose for cameras. 

3:44 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hands over bouquet of flowers to the Chinese President and the First Lady of China. 

3:40 pm: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in the hotel. Prime Minister Narendra Modi received him.

3:39 pm: The Prime Minister can be seen outside the hotel, waiting for the Chinese leader. 

3:13 pm: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has reached Hotel Hyatt in Ahmedabad.

3:12 pm: On the road from the airport to the hotel in Vastrapur area, welcome hoardings in Mandarin, English and Gujarati can be seen.

3:10 pm: The Prime Minister's cavalcade is, meanwhile, on its way to Hotel Hyatt, where he will receive Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

3:07 pm: A guard of honour is being presented to Xi. ​

3:05 pm: A troupe from the tribal belt of Gujarat presented a folk dance with traditional costumes and a Scottish Pipe Band from Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sansthan, Maninagar, Ahmedabad also performed.

3:04 pm: Traditional "chaniya choli" wearing Gujarati women put a kesar-kumkum tilak and offered rice and flowers to Xi.

3:03 pm: Airport sources told a news agency that Xi flew into Ahmedabad in a Boeing 747 aircraft of Air China. 

3:02 pm: Chinese President Xi Jinping, along with his wife Peng Liyuan, 51, a well accomplished folk-singer and a household name in China, are being received by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and state Governor OP Kohli. Due to the warm and sunny weather, attractive and decorated umbrellas were held over the first couple of China.

2:51 pm: After signing defence and maritime security cooperation deal with Colombo, Xi Jinping is expected to ink a number of agreements with the Indian PM during his three-day visit.

2:46 pm: Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat state, has decked up to receive the Chinese leader. 

2:45 pm: This is the first time a foreign dignitary is starting his visit from outside the national capital.

2:43 pm: A red carpet welcome and Gujarati culture and cuisine await the Chinese President during his six-hour visit to the state.

2:40 pm: The much-awaited three-day visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping begins as his plane has landed in Ahmedabad. His plane is delayed by 20 minutes. Breaking the protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would personally receive the Chinese President.

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Birthday boy Narendra Modi gets mother's blessings

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  Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks blessings from his mother Hiraba on his birthday at the latter's residence in Gandhinagar early on Wednesday.
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  Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks blessings from his mother Hiraba on his birthday at the latter's residence in Gandhinagar early on Wednesday.
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  Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks blessings from his mother Hiraba on his birthday at the latter's residence in Gandhinagar early on Wednesday.
• 
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks blessings from his mother Hiraba on his birthday at the latter's residence in Gandhinagar early on Wednesday.

AHMEDABAD, SEPT 17:  

Following a tradition he commenced in 1967, when he left home to join the society full-time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who turned 64 on Wednesday, met his nonagenarian mother, Hiraben, here to seek her blessings.

The affectionate mother, 94, blessed her illustrious son in an emotional reunion. Sitting on a plastic chair, she also fed “laddoo” to Modi and gifted Rs. 5,001 which would be donated towards the PM’s Relief Fund for the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir. Modi spent about 15 minutes with his mother and other family members.

When Modi took her blessings on September 17, 2013, she had gifted him Rs. 11 while on May 22, before he left for New Delhi to take oath as PM, she had gifted Rs. 501.

Although the Gujarat Government launched a series of welfare programmes to mark Modi’s birthday during his presence here, the PM had urged the people not to celebrate the occasion with pomp and donate liberally for providing relief to the flood victims of Jammu and Kashmir

Modi, who arrived on his home turf of Gujarat on Tuesday on a two-day visit, the first after he took oath as PM on May 26, and stayed at the Raj Bhavan here, drove down to his younger brother Pankaj’s residence in Sector 22 to meet Hiraben. The mother has been staying with her younger son, a Gujarat Government official, for long.

Every year, Modi visits his mother at least twice, the other occasion being Diwali. Also, he seeks her blessings at the time of elections and victories, or before taking oaths.

Birthday wishes

Modi’s 64th birthday is significant because he is going to host the visiting Chinese President, Xi Linping, in Ahmedabad. Jinping congratulated Modi whom he is scheduled to meet in the afternoon.

The PM also received congratulatory calls from President Pranab Mukherjee and Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, among others.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, a close confidante of Modi and his successor, tweeted early this morning to wish the PM and also “saluted” his mother. She visited the Raj Bhavan to personally greet the PM.

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Model Meghna Patel Goes Nude For Narendra Modi And Appeals For Votes

Model Meghna Patel goes nude for Narendra Modi and appeals the people to vote for BJP’s leader in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections of 2014. Is this what we Indians have come to be? 

We have heard of actors turning into politicians, we have heard about models claiming to shed their clothes for acricket victory by team India, but have we ever heard of a model going nude only to attract voters to vote for a particular politician? Yes! You heard that right!

After the news of Poonam Pandey claiming to go nude after team India’sWorld Cup victory, it’s the ‘Kahaani Chandrakanta Ki’ model Meghna Patel, who is making headlines along the same line.

Meghna Patel has bared it all (err… almost) for the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Mr. Narendra Modi.

Shedding all her awkwardness (well, she looks confident in the photograph), Meghna was seen posing for the photograph and covering her modesty with a placard saying ‘Vote For Modi’. While some reports now suggest that the model was clothed during the photo shoot, the photos and the intentions give different ideas to us.

The photographs have gone viral and have received a lot of ‘hush-hush’ negative criticism – especially from the members of the party. Apparently the incident has embarrassed the BJP, especially the Maharashtra state BJP.

Is this a publicity stunt on the part of the model, or the party? Well, the answer for this question is undetermined, but both could either of the entities could be behind this.

Meghna Patel was last seen in ‘Kahaani Chandrakanta Ki’ – a television series that aired on Sahara One TV channel and ended on March 23, 2012 (that is almost two years ago). This act can be a possible reason by the model to get an opportunity in the glamour industry, or perhaps be, in her thoughts, a shortcut to fame. The glamour industry is dynamic and follows a simple rule: ‘any publicity is good publicity’?

However, ‘any publicity is good publicity’ can now apply to politics as well, right? Of course, people wouldn’t want to see their leaders in such light, so we can also put the opposition party behind such acts.

It is very common for one party to bad-mouth the other, or see the Members of Parliament throwing chairs, stationery or pushing each other in an on-going assembly and what not! It’s not hidden that the BJP has many rival parties, with Congress being the primary one.

At the end of the day, it is evident that this was a publicity stunt, irrespective of the motive or the person/the party behind it.

Having said that, is this what we have come to be? If Meghna did this at her own discretion, why would someone shed all their clothes to appeal for vote bank or gain 5 minutes of fame? If BJP did this, then WHY? And if an opposition or a rival party did this, WHY IN THE WORLD, again?

Should we really fall to such levels of indecency? The modern era and everything aside… India is known for something significant – its culture. The culture that stresses on being nice, on being polite, on being humble, on being grounded, on being decent. We are not against people wearing short clothes and the likes, and being expressive, but public nudity is downright offensive and atrocious.

Should we be so indecent or offensive? Should we do things like this for 5 minutes of fame?

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Gujarat intel has new action plan to protect Narendra Modi

Gujarat on high alert to prevent terror attacks during polls.

• Pic for representation purpose

State intelligence bureau (SIB) has come out with a new action plan for Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the BJP, after receiving an alert from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) at the Centre.

Over the past two days, IB had informed the state IB that a few terrorist groups like SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) and IM (Indian Mujahideen) have been planning a terror strike during the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

According to information available with IB, several places where terror attacks may be carried out include Vadodara, Gandhinagar, Somnath and Ambaji. A public meeting that generally draws huge crowds can also be targeted.

“We have received around 10 threat alerts in the last two months. Out of them, five were related to Modi only. So, more than 150 intelligence officers have been asked by the SIB to tighten vigil at all possible targets,” said sources.

Simi and IM have been involved in many terrorist activities in the country like the 2008 Ahmadabad serial blasts, Jaipur blast and IM played a key role in the Delhi blast also. IB even received a major alert about a major attack on the Gujarat chief minister from the terrorists arrested in Hyderabad last year.

An IB alert to state IB further stated: “Simi wants Yasin Bhatkal released from the custody of NIA (National Investigation Agency).” He was arrested from Uttar Pradesh last year.

“We have taken sufficient action to protect VVIPs as well as common people with the help of the state IB. So, we hope this election will have no law and order issues,” said an IB official.

“IM wants to expand terrorist activities in north and some communally sensitive parts of India. But if Narendra Modi becomes Prime Minister, its activities will not run for long. So, they don’t want Modi as prime minister,” said a source.

The state IB has also taken the help of NIA and IB to ensure security in the state for the election.

150 intelligence officers have been asked by the state IB to tighten vigil at all possible targets

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Free wi-fi for Amdavadis on city’s 603rd birthday, 4G

Taking a step closer towards smart city, citizens to get free wi-fi.

• Pic for representational purpose

There might be no free lunch in life but Amdavadis are all set to enjoy free wi-fi service, albeit at selected places. Taking a step towards making Ahmedabad a smart city, free wi-fi services were launched at a few public places in the city on Wednesday.

Amdavadis can now access free wi-fi internet at a bandwidth of 30-40 Mbps bandwidth within 80-100 meters by Reliance Jio. The inauguration of the service was done on the Kankaria lakefront by chief minister Narendra Modi through video conferencing on Wednesday on the occasion of Ahmedabad’s 603rd birthday.

Under the e-nagar project, seven locations in the city have been made wi-fi enabled. The bandwidth of the internet, though much higher than 3G speed, is not 4G, said sources in the industry. Officials in the AMC, however, insisted that it is 4G. For the first three months, the service will be free for citizens, after which it will be chargeable.

Speaking to dna, an AMC official said: “Apart from Kankaria, public places like Sabarmati Ashram, Science City, ISCON Ganthia, BJ Medical College and other public places will be included.” The plan is to include 122 public places of the city, including railway station, bus stands and gardens within a year.

But what about security? State government, AMC and Reliance officials were unmoved. “One can access internet at the state locations. All one needs to do is select the wi-fi network, register their mobile number for a One Time Password (OTP) and after entering the password, one can access the internet,” said an AMC official. The project will be carried out on public-private-partnership (PPP) model and the revenue would be shared by AMC and Reliance.

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