Union Minister Puri shrugs off pro-Khalistan protests in Canada ahead of G7 summit
Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday dismissed the recent pro-Khalistani protests in Canada ahead of the G7 Summit, calling the demonstrators hired stooges who should not be taken seriously.
'One more video is going viral in which these people are protesting against the neighbouring country after they did not get funding from them,' Mr Puri said.
'These are hired stooges. Don't take them seriously,' he said.
The Minister made the remarks while inaugurating an exhibition marking 11 years of PM Narendra Modi's Government and 100 days of the Delhi Government at the Delhi BJP headquarters.
Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to arrive in Canada to attend the G-7 summit from Cyprus on the second leg of his visit, at the invitation of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Addressing concerns around rising fuel prices amid the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, Mr Puri assured that India's energy reserves remain robust.
'Today we have an energy situation where we have enough stocks, our own production is going up. Our bio-fuel blending was 1.4 per cent in 2014, now it has reached 20 per cent now,' he said.
The Minister also noted recent advancements in India's green energy sector.
'Green hydrogen, which was thought to be the fuel of the future, is now becoming a reality. Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) has issued a tender for its Panipat refinery, and hydrogen-fuelled buses will run in the coming times,' Mr Puri added.
Meanwhile, the Iran-Israel tensions have rattled global markets, pushing oil and gold prices higher.
On Monday (June 16, 2025), U.S. benchmark crude oil rose by 20 cents to $73.18 per barrel, while Brent crude gained 95 cents to $75.18 per barrel. Asian markets responded cautiously, with mixed performance amid fears of a broader regional conflict and disruptions to global oil supply chains.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
13 minutes ago
- India Today
Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran: Trump issues warning
US President Donald Trump on Monday urged everyone to immediately evacuate Tehran, and reiterated that Iran should have signed a nuclear deal with the United the ongoing G7 summit in Canada, Trump posted on Truth Social: "Iran should have signed the "deal" I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"advertisementSpeaking to reporters at the start of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Trump said that Iran wants to talk about de-escalating hostilities with Israel, and should do so immediately "before it's too late." "I'd say Iran is not winning this war, and they should talk, and they should talk immediately before it's too late," he TO OFFER IRAN 'LAST-CHANCE' PROPOSALPresident Donald Trump is reportedly planning to present Iran with a "last chance" offer, American and European officials told The Jerusalem said that Tehran reached out to his office in an attempt to stop the barrage of Israeli strikes that have decimated Iran's nuclear facilities and military a US official said on Monday that President Donald Trump would not sign a draft statement from Group of Seven leaders calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran to news agency Reuters, the draft statement also commits to safeguarding market stability, including energy markets, says Iran must never have a nuclear weapon, and that Israel has the right to defend and European diplomats said G7 attendees are continuing discussions on the conflict at the summit in Canada, which ends on STRIKES A 'BLOW TO DIPLOMACY,' SAYS IRANIAN MINISTERIran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that Israeli attacks on Iran are damaging diplomatic efforts. During a phone call with officials from France, the UK, Germany, and the European Union, Araghchi claimed the attacks came at a sensitive moment during negotiations with the United States."The Israeli aggression against Iran in the midst of nuclear negotiations with the United States is a blow to diplomacy," said Araghchi, according to a statement released by Iran's Foreign call included French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Germany's Johann Wadephul, and Kaja Kallas, the EU's top foreign affairs InMust Watch
Time of India
15 minutes ago
- Time of India
SP to contest UP polls as part of INDIA bloc: Akhilesh
1 2 Lucknow: Former CM and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said his party would contest the 2027 assembly polls in UP as a part of the INDIA bloc, the party's combination with the Congress and other regional parties that had given the SP its highest-ever tally of seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "SP chief has reiterated that our party will contest the UP assembly polls as a part of the INDIA bloc and this has been the stance of the party chief since the Lok Sabha polls," party's national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary told TOI on Monday. Akhilesh's statement, made while presiding over a meeting of the office-bearers and cadres of party's minority cell held at the party headquarters, was being seen as an attempt to reaffirm that the assembly elections would see SP joining hands with the Cong. SP insiders said the party leadership was open to joining hands with other some regional parties as well and the list included some "who were presently close to the BJP as well". In April, while responding to media queries in Prayagraj, Akhilesh had said that SP would contest the assembly polls in UP under the INDIA bloc dropping clear hints that party's alliance with Congs was very much alive for the assembly polls in UP as well. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Поза во сне может многое рассказать о вашем характере! Удивительные Новости Undo In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls the SP-Cong alliance bagged 43 out of the total of 80 seats in the state, confining the BJP-led NDA to 36 seats. The SP won 37 seats while the Congress bagged 6 seats. While addressing the office-bearers of the party's minority wing, Akhilesh called upon the cadres to keep a close watch on voters list and caste census stating that the BJP was capable of hatching conspiracies to tamper both. "We will have to be extra cautious at the booth level and keep an eye on the caste census process as well. The BJP is capable of manipulating anything," Akhilesh said. The national president of SP minority wing Maulana Iqbal Qadri and regional head Shakeel Nadvi also addressed the gathering. Party's national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary, state president Shyam Lal Pal and a host of party MPs and MLAs also attended the meeting.
Hindustan Times
32 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Census 2027: Assessing pros and cons of self-enumeration exercise
It's a much delayed Census, and changes are afoot. On Monday, the government notified the 2027 Indian Census, which will be the first census exercise in India in 16 years. India has seen significant economic, political, and technological transformation in this time period. There is also a lot riding politically on the Census. Also Read: Centre issues notification for caste census, says 2-phase exercise to begin in 2027 It will likely be the basis for the controversial National Register of Citizens (NRC), which can be used to determine citizenship in India, should the government decided to extend the National Population Registry to a NRC; the next round of delimitation (drawing constituency boundaries); and caste reservations. This iteration of the Census will also include a 'caste census' — enumerating Indians by caste for the first time since 1931, which will certainly impact the allotment of reservations for other backward classes (OBCs). With so much riding on the Census, a curious little addition to the census procedure, with no details, was included in the notification. For the first time ever, India will allow 'self-enumeration' which will allow citizens to fill out Census data without a visit from a census enumerator. Also Read: BJP will have to give people their due 'bhagidari': UP Cong in charge Let us take a closer look at the challenges and implications of self-enumeration. Many developed countries, such as the US, essentially use self-enumeration in the Census — as door-to-door canvassing is not operationally or fiscally feasible. Given India's advancement in biometric identification, greater mobile phone connectivity, and the difficulty of interviewing populations on the move such as commuters and migrants, it makes sense for the government to experiment with this idea. Also Read: UP Congress pushes caste census, begins statewide outreach Beyond operational ease, self-enumeration can offer many advantages for procuring high quality data. It is no secret that demographics in many parts of India are highly sensitive matters. To take one example, speaking Bengali as a first language in the state of Assam has become politicized. Imagine how a Bengali speaker may respond to the language questions in the census if directly speaking to an Assamese-speaking enumerator. The interaction may cause the speaker to lie about their first language, or the enumerator may intimidate the respondent to generate incorrect data. Similar claims can be made about declaring oneself as Muslim where there is a threat of religious intimidation or being a Hindi-speaker in Karnataka. In principle, if privacy protocols are sufficiently strong, respondents may more honestly report their demographics and this could yield some surprising (but more correct) results. In this manner, the push to self-enumeration may help reduce 'surveyor bias.' At the same time, there can be genuine concerns about data quality with self-enumeration, from a greater likelihood of data entry error to purposeful misrepresentation. The Census data is complicated, and enumerators are given strict guidelines about how to code various definition (the definition of the household). How will these guidelines genuinely be communicated to the citizen, and will people be able to apply them systematically? Are we certain that each person that desires to enter data through self-enumeration will have the functional literacy to do so? But beyond entry error, there are genuine concerns of wilful misrepresentation. If we are concerned that the Census can only be filled by persons with a certain level of functional literacy, then it is equally true that those that do not reach that level will be obliged to look to others, such as 'agents,' to fill out the information. Given that this data will now be tied to a caste census and to a national register, will there be a secondary market that develops to fill out the information in the 'right way'? For instance, will better organized caste groups get 'better enumeration' through self-enumeration? Data fidelity is a major concern, even in the US. After the information is collected, the US runs a Post-Enumeration Survey to characterize the bias and error in self-enumeration. Is this something to which the government is committed? Will there be sufficient coordination in the system to know who has engaged self-enumeration and who needs a visit from a Census enumerator? In other words, when there are multiple ways of entering in the system, there are genuine concerns of redundancy but also miscoordination that misses out on Indians. Perhaps this initial run a self-enumeration will see a low adoption rate. But if the government is committed to moving to a system of self-enumeration for a significant share of the population, these are all issues that will have to be addressed. We all expect some growing pains. The biggest challenges will occur if self-enumeration throws up some surprising results, like higher than expected number of Bengali speakers in Assam. Will the data be seen as more accurate or the subject of manipulation? How will the validity of such surprising data be adjudicated? Given the operational costs of the Census, it was only a matter of time before the government looked to self-enumeration. As the government builds out the guidelines on self-enumeration in future notifications, it will need to think through these concerns to guarantee that the data remain high quality. Neelanjan Sircar is Associate Professor, Division of Social Sciences, Ahmedabad University
