Kathmandu , September 17 (ANI): Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Saturday extended greetings to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday.”On the occasion of your birthday, best wishes for good health and long life, Prime Minister @narendramodi. May Shri Pashupatinath always protect you,” tweeted Deuba. Recently in May, PM Modi made an official visit to Nepal where the two leaders held bilateral talks in Lumbini.Both the leaders participated in the foundation stone laying ceremony for the construction of a Centre of Buddhist Culture and Heritage in Lumbini. Prior to this, PM Modi visited the Maya Devi Temple. He was accompanied by PM Deuba and his spouse Arzu Rana Deuba.The PMs paid their respects at the Marker Stone inside the temple premises, which pinpoints the exact birth spot of Lord Buddha. They attended the pooja conducted as per Buddhist rituals. The two Prime Ministers also lit lamps near the Ashoka Pillar located adjacent to the temple. Thereafter, the two Prime Ministers watered the Bodhi tree sapling from Bodh Gaya which was gifted by PM Modi to Lumbini in 2014 and also signed the temple’s visitor’s book. As Prime Minister, this was his fifth visit to Nepal and first to Lumbini.Prior to this, in April PM Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sher Bahadur Deuba met in New Delhi to launch multiple initiatives as well as signing four crucial agreements in multiple domains. The two countries signed agreements on Nepal becoming the 105th member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA), technical cooperation in railways, supply of petroleum products and sharing of technical expertise in the petroleum sector between Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOCL) and Nepal Oil Corporation Ltd. (NOC).The two Prime Ministers also witnessed the launch of the first passenger train service between India’s Jayanagar and Nepal’s Kurtha, the hand-over of the Solu corridor transmission project by India to Nepal and the progress of the construction of 132 health facilities across 10 districts in Nepal under a Government of India (GoI) grant.The two countries announced the launch of the Indian RuPay card in Nepal, with the domestic variant of the RuPay card (roughly 83 per cent of all RuPay cards issued) to be functional on about 1400 Point of Sale (POS) machines in Nepal. The move makes Nepal the fourth country outside India where RuPay is functional after Bhutan, Singapore and UAE. The inaugurated Jaynagar-Kurtha railway section is part of the Jaynagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas rail link being constructed with grant assistance of INR 548 crore from the Government of India. It is a 35 km rail section, 3 km of which lies in the Indian state of Bihar and the rest in Nepal.The project is the first broad-gauge passenger rail link between the two countries, opening an entirely new dimension for cross-border connectivity. Till 2014, this was an existing rail service on a metre-gauge rail link between Jaynagar and Janakpur.The Solu Corridor 132 kV power transmission line and substation project is one of the major projects in Nepal undertaken under the Government of India’s Line of Credit (LoC). The 90 km 132 kV Double Circuit line connects the remote Solukhumbu, Khotang and Okhaldhunga districts of North Eastern Nepal with Nepal’s national electricity grid. After its operationalization, the transmission line will bring electricity from existing and upcoming hydro projects in the area into the national grid, and also supply power into the rural electrification networks of nearby districts. The project is expected to be crucial for the socio-economic development in the rural part of Nepal, in addition to contributing to Nepal’s overall economic and industrial development.Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba also held wide-ranging deliberations with PM Modi on various topics including cooperation in the power sector, railway projects, flood control programs, as well as the border dispute between the two countries
Russian envoy to India Denis Alipov wishes PM Modi on his 72th birthday
Likewise that Russian Ambassador to India Denis Alipov on Friday wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his 72nd birthday and noted the growing relationship between India and Russia. In a statement, the Russian envoy said that PM Modi is an example of a true friend of Moscow. “Kindly accept my warmest congratulations and best wishes on your 72nd birthday! You are an example of a true friend of Russia and an unshakable custodian of the strategic partnership between the two countries,” he said in a note in Hindi. “I am sure that under your visionary leadership, the bilateral relations between Russia and India will continue to strengthen in the interest of our two countries and for the global good,” the note further said. “I wish you a healthy and long life on this auspicious occasion and I wish you inexhaustible energy in your tireless work for the development of the people of India!” it added.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has planned a two-week long programme to mark PM Narendra Modi’s birthday. The party will embark on 21-day “Seva and Samarpan” campaign. BJP national president JP Nadda will inaugurate an exhibition on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s life and leadership at the party headquarters in New Delhi. Similar exhibitions will also be held in other states also.Meanwhile, on the occasion of his birthday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi released cheetahs in Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.Cheetahs brought from Namibia are being introduced in India under Project Cheetah, which is the world’s first inter-continental large wild carnivore translocation project. Out of the eight cheetahs, five are female and three are male.PM Modi was born on September 17, 1950, in Gujarat’s Vadnagar, a small and nondescript town in the Mehsana district of north Gujarat.
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama wishes PM Modi on his 72nd birthday
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Saturday wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of his 72nd birthday. “On the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seventy-second birthday I have written to him to offer my warmest good wishes and prayers for his continued good health,” tweeted the Dalai Lama. “It’s wonderful,” the Dalai Lama wrote, “that India has successfully met the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Although we have not seen its complete end, India today is better placed to address similar challenges in the future.””As the longest-staying guest in India, I have observed its development first hand. Now the country is also a rising economic power and a leader in science and technology,” added the Tibetan spiritual leader. He also lauded “India’s strong democratic foundation” and said that it was an example of peace and stability. Speaking on Indian demographic composition, he said, “Having one of the youngest populations is an asset that will enable further development and the fulfilment of positive aspirations. I am delighted that India is poised to assume its rightful place in the world.” Highlighting Mahatma Gandhi’s principles of “Ahimsa”, he said, “I have great admiration for the way Mahatma Gandhi made the age-old practice of ‘ahimsa’ appreciated across the world. May I reiterate that on my part, in addition to seeking to promote this principle wherever possible, I am deeply committed to creating greater awareness of the power of ‘karuna’ to help us all lead a happy and meaningful life. These values are treasures from the Indian tradition.”
The Tibetan spiritual leader also expressed deep gratitude to the Indian Government and its people for helping Tibetans who were forced into exile in 1959 by the illegal occupation of China.
“Once again, I would like to take this opportunity to express deep gratitude to the government and people of India for the warm and generous hospitality we Tibetans have enjoyed since we were forced into exile in 1959,” said the Dalai Lama
