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?=BQ =4F34;78
You can’t just say that you’re
the Centre and you know
what’s right. We have a strong
arm to come down on this,” the
Supreme Court told the Centre
on Monday, posing a series of
questions the vaccine pur-
chase policy, differences in
pricing of vaccines, and reach
of registration through
CoWIN App at rural areas.
The special bench of
Justices DY Chandrachud, L
Nageswara Rao and S
Ravindrabhat said that since
the Centre has made CoWIN
registration mandatory for
vaccination, how it is going to
address the issue of digital
divide facing the country.
“We are not framing pol-
icy. There’s an order of 30th
April that these are the prob-
lems. You will be flexible. You
can’t just say that you’re the
Centre and you know what’s
right. We have a strong arm to
come down on this,” Justice
Chandrachud told the Solicitor
General of India, Tushar
Mehta, when the latter said
that these are policy issues on
which the court has limited
judicial review power.
“You keep on saying the
situation is dynamic but pol-
icymakers must have their
ears on ground. You keep on
saying digital India, digital
India but the situation is actu-
ally different in rural areas.
How will an illiterate labour-
er from Jharkhand get regis-
tered in Rajasthan? Tell us how
you will address this digital
divide,” the bench sought to
know. Mehta replied that reg-
istration is mandatory as a per-
son needs to be traced for a
second dose and as far as
rural areas are concerned,
there are community centres
where a person can get regis-
tered for vaccination. The
bench asked the Centre to
place the policy document
before it on record.
“If we say there is a prob-
lem, we expect you to look into
it. Digital literacy in India is far
from perfect. I am the
Chairman of the (Supreme
Court) e-Committee. I have
seen the problems which afflict
this. You have to be flexible and
keep your ear to the ground,”
said Justice Chandrachud.
“You must smell the coffee
and see what is happening
across the country. You must
know the ground situation and
change the policy accordingly.
If we had to do it, we would
have done it 15-20 days back”
said the Bench, expressing dis-
pleasure on the affidavits filed
by the Centre.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Amid Covid pandemic,
Indian economy has
shrunk by minus 7.3 per cent
in the fiscal year 2020-21,
which is the worst ever per-
formance in over four
decades. The fourth quarter of
the fiscal showed a meager
rise of 1.6 per cent.
This is the first full-year
contraction in the last 40
years since 1979-80, when
Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) had shrunk by 5.2 per
cent. Indian economy had
recorded an 11-year-low GDP
growth rate of four per cent in
2019-20, down from the pre-
vious 6.5 per cent. The fiscal
deficit stood at 9.3 per cent of
the GDP in the last fiscal, bet-
ter than 9.5 per cent project-
ed in the revised estimates in
the Union Budget in February.
The National Statistical
Office (NSO) released the
GDP growth estimates for the
fourth quarter (January-
March) 2020-21, as well as the
provisional annual estimates
for the year 2020-21.
According to data released
by the NSO, India’s real GDP
contracted to C135 lakh crore
in FY21 (2020-21) from C145
lakh crore at the end of March
2020.
“The growth in GDP dur-
ing 2020-21 is estimated at -
7.3 per cent as compared to
4.0 per cent in 2019-20. The
GDP at current prices in the
year 2020-21 is estimated to
attain a level of C197.46 lakh
crore, as against the first
revised estimates of C203.51
lakh crore in 2019-20, show-
ing a change of -3.0 per cent
as compared to 7.8 per cent in
2019-20.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Observing that it was time to
define limits of sedition,
the Supreme Court on Monday
said it will examine the inter-
pretation of sedition law, par-
ticularly in the light of media
rights and free speech, as it gave
protection to Telugu news chan-
nels — TV5 and ABN
Andhrajyothi — from any coer-
cive action in a case lodged
against them under the colonial
era provision. The court also
said criticism of the
Government may not qualify as
a case of sedition.
The two channels were
booked by Andhra Pradesh
police for alleged sedition in
showing “offensive” speeches
of YSR Congress rebel MP K
Raghu Rama Krishna Raju.
A bench of Justices DY
Chandrachud, LN Rao and S
Ravindra Bhat said, “We are of
the view that provisions of
124A (sedition) and 153 (pro-
moting enmity between classes)
of the IPC require interpreta-
tion, particularly on the issue of
the rights of press and free
speech”. “It is time we define the
limits of sedition”, Justice
Chandrachud said.
The same Bench while con-
sidering the Covid-related mat-
ters took a dig on authorities for
taking strong note of critical
media reportage on Covid-19
related issues quipping whether
a sedition case has been lodged
against a news channel for
showing a body being thrown
into a river.
“We saw a picture of a
body being thrown in river. I do
not know whether a sedition
case has been filed against the
news channel for showing that,”
quipped Justice DY
Chandrachud when the issue of
dignified handling of bodies of
victims of the deadly virus was
raised before a bench headed by
him.
The court made the
remarks when senior advocate
and amicus curiae Meenakshi
Arora raised the issue of digni-
fied handling of bodies of vic-
tims of the deadly virus. “While
crematoriums and burials are
State subjects, we have seen that
there is no dignity in death. It
is unfortunate that we have
large number of crematoriums
which are not functioning,”
said Arora.
?=BQ =4F34;78
The Centre on Monday
informed the Supreme
Court that within next two days
it will take a final decision on
whether to conduct Class 12
board exams amid the Covid-
19 pandemic.
Attorney General KK
Venugopal told this to a bench
of Justices AM Khanwilkar
and Dinesh Maheshwari which
said if the Centre decides to
depart from the last year’s pol-
icy wherein the remaining
exams were cancelled due to
the pandemic, then it must give
“tangible reasons” for it.
“No issue. You take the
decision. You are entitled to it.
If you are departing from the
policy of last year, then you
must give tangible reasons for
it,” the bench told Venugopal.
Observing that the last year’s
decision was taken after delib-
erations, the Supreme Court
said, “If you are departing
from that policy, please give us
good reasons so that we can
examine it.”
The bench was hearing a
plea seeking directions to can-
cel the Class 12 exams of the
Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE) and Council
for the Indian School
Certificate Examination
(CISCE) amid the pandemic
situation.
The SC on June 26, 2020,
had approved the schemes of
the CBSE and CISCE for can-
cellations of remaining board
examinations scheduled from
July 1 to 15 last year due to the
Covid-19 pandemic and also
approved their formula for
assessment of examinees.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Delhi High Court on
Monday made scathing
observations against the Drugs
Controller of Delhi for not
properly probing the role of
politicians like BJP MP Gautam
Gambhir in procuring a huge
quantity of Covid-19 drug
Fabiflu. The court also pulled
up Gambhir for making irre-
sponsible statements when the
matter is under probe.
“You (Drugs Controller)
can’t take us for a ride. If you
think we are so gullible, so
naive, we are not,” a bench of
Justices Vipin Sanghi and
Jasmeet Singh said, adding
people’s tendency to appear as
saviours has to be denounced.
The court said its confi-
dence in the drug controller has
“shaken completely” and reject-
ed as “trash” its status report on
enquiry into procurement of
the medicine by the cricketer-
turned-politician Gambhir.
“There is a fundamental
error of approach. The manner
in which you have conducted
the investigation is question-
able,” it said. The Bench took
strong exception to the drug
controller’s report, which con-
cluded that the dealers had
ample stock to supply to oth-
ers, and said everyone knows
that the medicine was in short
supply and while Gambhir
bought thousands of strips of
the medicine, other people
who needed it could not get it
on that day.
“Please don’t tell us there is
no shortage. We know there
was a shortage. You don’t have
to swallow the report. You
have to question your officers.
You (drug controller) are
wrong to say it was not in short
supply. You want us to shut our
eyes. You think you would get
away with this.
?=BQ =4F34;78
US based micro-blogging
site Twitter on Monday
informed the Delhi High Court
that it had already appointed a
Resident Grievance Officer on
May 28 and that there was “no
question of not complying with
the law or Rules”.
Issuing notices to Twitter
and the Centre, Delhi High
Court Justice Rekha Palli
observed that petitioner had
sought directions to Twitter
Communications India Pvt.
Ltd and Twitter Inc, San
Francisco, US to comply with
the Rules, 2021.
The court issued notices to
Centre and Twitter and gave
three weeks time to the social
media giant to file an affidavit
to substantiate its assertions
with regard to complying with
the Information Technology
(Intermediary Guidelines and
Digital Media Ethics Code)
Rules, 2021. The case was list-
ed for hearing on July 6.
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0
In a rebuff to the Centre,
Bengal Chief Secretary
Alapan Bandopadhyay on
Monday retired from his ser-
vices and was promptly made
the Chief Adviser to Chief
Minister Mamata Banerjee,
hours after she wrote to the
Centre asking it to withdraw its
order transferring
Bandopadhyay to Delhi.
Speaking to the media, the
Chief Minister said she had
written to Prime Minister
Narendra Modi “as it was my
duty to respond to their earli-
er letter seeking release of the
Chief Secretary.”
In the five-page letter to the
Central Government, she wrote,
“The Government of Bengal
cannot release, and is not releas-
ing, its Chief Secretary at this
critical hour, on the basis of our
understanding that the earlier
order of extension, issued after
lawful consultation in accor-
dance with applicable laws,
remains operational and valid.”
=8:00;8:Q 270=3860A7
The high velocity winds of
dissidence blowing across
Punjab Congress on Monday
reached the national Capital as
25 of its partymen met the high
command-constituted three-
member panel to prevent the
current situation from turning
into a political storm just before
the 2022 elections.
The leaders, including State
party chief Sunil Jakhar, eight
Ministers, and over a dozen leg-
islators, openly aired their griev-
ances, bringing to the high
command’s notice factors that
could possibly damage the elec-
tion prospects, including the
handling of the sensitive issue of
sacrilege and related firing inci-
dents.
Capt Sandeep Sandhu,
adviser to the Chief Minister
and who is accused of threat-
ening MLA Pargat Singh over
phone, too reached Delhi to
meet the panel.
On the other hand, an anx-
ious Congress party issued a gag
order asking its leaders not to
talk about the “crisis within” in
the public.
Now, all eyes are on
Tuesday’s meetings as the panel,
headed by senior Congress
leader and the Leader of
Opposition in Rajya Sabha
Mallikarjun Kharge with State
party affairs in-charge Harish
Rawat and former MP JP
Agarwal as its members, has
invited party’s firebrand and
motor-mouth leader Navjot
Singh Sidhu and his close aide
and party MLA Pargat Singh for
the meeting.
The three-member panel,
constituted by the party’s inter-
im president Sonia Gandhi, to
resolve the prevailing crisis
within the Punjab Congress
unit, started the first round of
meetings from 11 am and met
as many as 25 leaders one by
one, and paid them a “patient
hearing”.
Even as the State Congress
unit has virtually divided into
two power centres — one head-
ed by Chief Minister Capt
Amarinder Singh and another
criticising Government’s per-
formance, most of the leaders
maintained a strategic silence
over the issues they had raised
boisterously in the recent past.
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New Delhi: The output of
eight core sectors jumped by
56.1 per cent in April mainly
due to a low base effect and
uptick in production of natur-
al gas, refinery products, steel,
cement and electricity, official
data released on Monday
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The State Government has
extended the Covid curfew
which was to end on June 1 by
seven days. Informing about
the decision, Cabinet Minister
and State Government
spokesman Subodh Uniyal said
that this time, the general pro-
visions stores will be allowed to
open from 8 AM to 1 PM on
two days- June 1 and 5 where-
as PDS ration shops will open
daily from 8 AM to 11 AM as
earlier.
According to the order
issued by the chief secretary
Om Prakash, another relax-
ation provided this time is that
stationery and book shops will
also be allowed to open from 8
AM to 1 PM on June 1 and 5.
The rest of the restrictions
and relaxations will be
observed as in the earlier phas-
es of the Covid curfew so far.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
Tourism and Culture minis-
ter Satpal Maharaaz has
directed officials to look for land
in Haridwar or Dehradun, for
an international airport. The
minister held a meeting with the
tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar
and Haridwar district magis-
trate C Ravishankar on Monday
and directed them to form a
committee for this purpose.
Discussions were held on vari-
ous aspects for building an
international airport wherever
land is available in Haridwar or
Dehradun. A committee will
soon be formed under the
Haridwar DM for identifying
land in Haridwar for this pur-
pose. The committee will look
for a five kilometres long and
half a kilometre wide strip of
land for the international airport
and inform Civil Aviation
department officials about it.
Speaking after the meeting, the
minister said that the purpose
is to build an international air-
port in the region so that trav-
elers from around the world can
reach Uttarakhand directly. This
will also generate more employ-
ment opportunities in the
future. The international airport
will increase the grandeur of
Haridwar district and attract
people from across the world to
Uttarakhand, said Maharaaz.
He further said that possi-
bilities will be looked into to
enable large aircrafts like Airbus
380 and Boeing 777 to land and
take off from this international
airport. It will be recalled here
that last year, Maharaaz had
stressed on the need to work on
the vision of building an inter-
national airport in Haridwar as
there are many who are inter-
ested in landing here directly
from different foreign countries.
Presently, both domestic and
foreign travellers can reach
Haridwar by road or train from
various cities across India or
arrive by flight to Dehradun air-
port and then travel by road to
Haridwar.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
The senior leader of Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP)
Ravindra Jugran has claimed
that the AAP Ka Doctor cam-
paign of the party is proving a
blessing for the people of
remote and mountainous areas
of the state.
Addressing media persons
here on Monday, Jugran said
that a large number of people
have got associated with the
campaign and taken benefit
from it. He said that the AAP
Ka Doctor campaign was start-
ed under the leadership of
senior leader of AAP, Colonel
(Retd) Ajay Kothiyal on the
day of opening of portals of
Kedarnath temple. He said
that a total of 37,895 people
have so far made a call on the
helpline number 8800026100
and received medical consul-
tation from the expert panel of
doctors. Jugran said that a
team of 30 doctors and 40 vol-
unteers are part of the cam-
paign.
“Around 2000 phone calls
are being received daily on the
helpline number.
We are now planning to
increase the number of volun-
teers and doctors in the cam-
paign,’’ he said.
Jugran said that the state
government has failed in tack-
ling the pandemic as when
medicines, ICU, oxygen, ven-
tilators, ambulances and hos-
pitals were needed most the
government failed in making
arrangements.
He said that workers of the
AAP remained active during
the pandemic and served peo-
ple in remote and mountainous
areas. The AAP leader said that
the party focussed on service to
the mankind and public inter-
est more and kept the politics
aside during the pandemic.
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?=B Q 347A03D=
The Drinking Water minis-
ter Bishan Singh Chufal has
directed the officials of his
department to expedite the
works on all the projects under
the ambitious Jal Jeevan
Mission. He took a review
meeting of the department at
his Vidhan Sabha office on
Monday.
The minister lauded the
role of the Drinking water
department during the pan-
demic and said that the work-
ers of the department kept the
drinking water supplies unaf-
fected and they like the health
workers and employees of the
power department worked
appreciably during the pan-
demic of Covid 19. He told the
officers that they should ensure
that the work on all projects is
completed while keeping them-
selves safe from the contagion
of Covid-19. The minister said
that apart from prevention
from Covid 19 priority should
be accorded to the develop-
ment works so that people
don’t suffer and the employ-
ment is generated. He said
that priority should be accord-
ed to the completion of pump-
ing projects and drinking water
schemes should be completed
on war footing. On a terse note
the minister directed that the
Detailed Project Reports
(DPRs) of the projects should
be completed. He said that
online meetings should be
organised during the pandem-
ic and if the DPRs needed can
be completed on computers in
the homes also.
5h`UTYdUg_b[
_^:Q:UUfQ^
=YccY_^*=Y^YcdUb
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Tobacco use in India has
come a long way since it
was introduced to the country
some centuries ago. Various
health issues have risen corre-
spondingly with increase in
tobacco use. The government is
taking various measures to
decrease tobacco use but the
scenario resulting from tobac-
co use remains challenging.
Tobacco cultivation was
introduced in India during1605
by the Portuguese and was first
grown in Gujarat. After that it
reached the Calcutta Botanical
Garden in 1787, Pusa in Bihar
in 1875 and Guntur in Andhra
Pradesh in 1928. As tobacco
cultivation and use increased,
excise duty was imposed on it
around 1944. After World War
II, advertising projected ciga-
rette as also a means of slim-
ming and a symbol of status
and style.
Uttarakhand officer in-
charge of National Tobacco
Control Programme (NTCP)
Dr Archana Ojha informed
that according to Global Adult
Tobacco Survey (GATS) 26.5
per cent people use tobacco in
various forms with 18.1 per cent
smoking it and 12.4 per cent
consuming it in non-smoking
forms. Under the NTCP, train-
ing programmes for stake-
holders including the police and
schools are held at the district
and state level. Tobacco Free
Education Institute (TFEI) pro-
gramme is also being conduct-
ed to raise awareness among
students of all age groups
against tobacco consumption.
Pulmonary medicine spe-
cialist Dr Puneet Tyagi said that
many of the Chronic
Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
(COPD) patients that he sees
have been smoking for about
two decades.
The younger patients
exhibit initial symptoms of
COPD like wheezing, chronic
cough and shortness of breath
caused by doing heavy work
and climbing stairs. There are
various options for those want-
ing to give up smoking. They
can use nicotine chewing gum,
nicotine patches, nicotine ther-
apy and sometimes psychiatrist
is prescribed. Apart from lungs,
smoking can also affect liver,
intestines, stomach and also
lead to brain stroke among
other serious conditions like
cancer, he said.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Though it is common for
glaciers to have cracks and
debris, a survey has ascer-
tained that there are no cracks
in the glaciers in the upper
watershed area of Dhauliganga
river in Chamoli district.
Following the Chamoli district
magistrate’s report that locals
were apprehensive as cracks
had been seen in the said area,
Uttarakhand State Disaster
Management Authority
(USDMA) executive director
Piyoosh Rautela and
Uttarakhand Space Application
Research Centre (USAC) direc-
tor MPS Bisht undertook an
aerial survey of the area. The
survey report states that though
no cracks were seen in the
glaciers in the said area, signs of
a landslide were seen in one spot
though it is not possible to state
when the landslide occurred. In
the higher Himalaya, landslides
and avalanches due to natural
causes like daily temperature
fluctuations are common.
The landslide, of which the
scientists saw the signs does not
seem to pose any threat to the
public. Considering the obser-
vations made during the survey,
Rautela and Bisht have stated
that there doesn’t seem to be the
possibility of landslide or
avalanche in the said area in the
future.
It is pertinent to mention
here that flash flood in the
Dhauliganga on February 7
which caused considerable casu-
alties and damage is believed to
have been caused by cracks
which lead to breaking away of
a glacier in the area.
BdaeThPbRTacPX]b
]^V[PRXP[RaPRZb
PQ^eT3WPd[XVP]VP
?=BQ 270=3860A7
The Chandigarh adminis-
tration on Monday
extended the coronavirus-
induced restrictions till the
morning of June 9, but
allowed more relaxations such
as reopening of barbers and
salons. It also extended the
shop opening time by an hour.
All shops will now be
allowed to open from 9 am till
4 pm, from earlier till 3 pm.
After detailed discussions, it
was decided to continue the
existing restrictions until 6 am
on June 9,” according to an
official statement. The deci-
sion was taken in a Covid-19
review meeting chaired by
Chandigarh Administrator VP
Singh Badnore.
All sports facilities will be
opened for sportspersons who
can utilise the infrastructure
by strictly following Covid
protocol. However, swim-
ming pools and gyms will
continue to remain closed.
The administration also
allowed reopening of barbers
and salons in the city. Spa and
massage centres will continue
to remain closed.
The city has been wit-
nessing a decline in the num-
ber of fresh Covid-19 infec-
tions over the last 20 days. In
the review meeting, the
administrator expressed con-
cern over the plight of the
children who lost their parents
to Covid-19. Badnore direct-
ed that the school fees of all
such children be waived and
if any child needs accommo-
dation in the administration's
welfare home, it will be pro-
vided free of
cost.
He also directed the Social
Welfare Secretary to prepare a
comprehensive scheme in
consultation with the sub-
committee of the
Administrator's Advisory
Council so that the affected
could be fully rehabilitated.
Moreover, UT Administrator
allowed the Mini Covid Care
centres to operate till end
June.
PGIMER ASKED TO
CARRY OUT SERO-SUR-
VEY IN CHD
The UT Administrator
gave PGIMER the go-ahead to
carry out sero-survey in
Chandigarh. The sero survey
is aimed at identifying the sero
prevalence of Covid-19 at the
community level and moni-
toring the transmission
trends. The survey will reveal
antibodies developed against
the virus in the samples test-
ed amongst a sizable popula-
tion of the city, said Dr Jagat
Ram, adding that the survey
will find out how many peo-
ple from the general popula-
tion (those vaccinated or
infected) have developed anti-
bodies.
“The survey will be car-
ried out to find out how many
people from the general pop-
ulation (those vaccinated or
those infected with the virus
or those asymptomatic) have
developed antibodies. It will
also reveal whether herd
immunity has been achieved
or not,” he added.
AT 124, CHANDI-
GARH'S DAILY COVID
CASES DROP TO LOWEST
IN 10 WEEKS
Continuing its steep
decline in Covid-19 spread,
Chandigarh on Monday
recorded the lowest daily cases
in the past 10 weeks as 124
people tested positive. The
City had recorded an all-time
high of 895 on May 9.
However, there was no respite
in fatalities as the pandemic
claimed eight more lives on
Monday, pushing the city’s toll
to 753.
124 fresh Covid-19 cases
took the union territory's
infection tally to 60,046,
according to a medical bul-
letin. The number of active
cases dropped to 1767 on
Monday. The total number of
cured persons in Chandigarh
reached 57,526 as 483 more
coronavirus patients were dis-
charged after they recovered
from the infection, it said. So
far, 508,469 samples have been
taken for testing. In addition,
5745 more people were vacci-
nated on Monday, taking the
total count to 349, 045, the
bulletin stated.
BW^_bP[[^fTS
c^^_T]Ua^
(PcX[[#_
4`gZU*TfcSdZ_
4YR_UZXRcYeZ]];f_V*
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Former Haryana Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda on Monday said that it
is unfair to blame farmers' stir
for the spread of COVID-19
infection in the rural areas of
the state.
“The infection has spread
from the cities to the villages.
The government is blaming the
farmers to hide its own failure,”
Hooda said while addressing a
digital conference here.
Lashing out the Chief
Minister Manohar Lal Khattar,
Hooda said that the State
Government should accept its
failures in tackling the COVID-
19 crisis and stop blaming me
and farmers.
Over the issue of farmers'
protest against three central
farm laws, the senior Congress
leader said, “This is not a
political protest. The govern-
ment should take a step ahead
and talk to farmers who have
been sitting on protest at Delhi-
Haryana border for over six
months. They (government)
accused me of indulging in pol-
itics over farmers' issues. But
this government should make
efforts to resolve the issue, he
added.
When asked why the Chief
Minister has been saying that
Hooda is not appealing to
farmers to end the stir as pan-
demic is raging, he said, “I have
been repeatedly saying Covid
protocol should be maintained.
But it has to be the government
which has to find a solution to
this... They should hold talks
with the farmers.”
The Chief Minister himself
should also follow COVID-19
protocol, Hooda said while
pointing towards protocol vio-
lations during Hisar event,
where he had inaugurated a
COVID hospital around two
weeks back.
Hooda also rejected the
charge of indulging in politics
during the COVID-19 pan-
demic.He said this is not the
time to indulge in politics and
he had offered to extend full
cooperation to the govern-
ment in fighting the pandem-
ic. “But as the Leader of
Opposition, it is also my
responsibility to raise people's
problems and convey the same
to the government, which I did
in my letter written to the
Chief Minister,” Hooda said.
The senior Congress leader
again demanded that an all-
party meeting should be held
to discuss the issue of COVID-
19 crisis and to prepare for the
potential third COVID-19
wave.
E^VQYbd_RQ]U
VQb]UbcV_bc`bUQT
_V3_fYT!)*8__TQ
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar on
Monday met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and apprised
him about the current situa-
tion related to COVID-19
crisis and ongoing farmers'
agitation.
During the meeting, the
Chief Minister apprised PM
Modi about the shortage of
COVID-19 vaccination and
Amphotericin B drug, used in
the treatment of black fungus.
Khattar while talking to
the mediapersons after the
meeting in New Delhi said
that the Prime Minister has
expressed satisfaction over
the comprehensive arrange-
ments made by the Haryana
Government in the state for
the control of COVID-19.
Discussion related to
COVID-19 pandemic and
farmers' protest was held with
PM Modi, he said.
The Chief Minister said
that in view of the possibili-
ty of a third wave of COVID-
19, the Prime Minister has
asked to be alert in the com-
ing times as well and make
prior arrangements. He said
that the Prime Minister was
informed about the require-
ments for COVID-19 vac-
cine stocks and drugs for the
treatment of black fungus in
Haryana. I have been asked to
talk to Home Minister Amit
Shah over these issues, which
I will do today telephonical-
ly. We need more stock of
COVID-19 vaccine and stock
of drugs used in treatment of
black fungus, he added. The
Chief Minister said two weeks
back, I had also met the
Home Minister and BJP
national chief JP Nadda to
apprize them about the same
issues.
While responding to a
query regarding vaccination,
the Chief Minister maintained
that it is not appropriate to do
politics over it. He said that 12
crore vaccines are going to be
available in the country soon.
Distribution will be done
according to the norms, he
added.
Khattar also said no polit-
ical discussion was held with
PM Modi.
7PahP]P2TTcb?
^SXSXbRdbbTb2^eXS (
RaXbXbP]SUPaTabPVXcPcX^]
=8B7D07090=Q
270=3860A7
With several states red-
flagging the shortage
of COVID-19 vaccination in
the country, Haryana Chief
Minister Manohar Lal
Khattar's statement on vac-
cine rationing and adminis-
tering doses in small numbers
every day in the state has
stirred a political controver-
sy.
Aam Aadmi party led
Delhi Government and oppo-
sition Congress in Haryana
have hit out at Khattar on
Monday over the deliberate
delay in administration of
vaccines to the people by the
State Government.
Commenting on Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal's remarks over vac-
cine shortage, Khattar had on
Sunday said, “Like other
states, should we finish all
two lakh doses in a day? We
use 50,000-60,000 doses a
day. All this... Arvind
Kejriwal should understand.
But his intention is to indulge
in politics and he does that.
Nobody should play politics
during a pandemic.”
As Khattar's statement
suggested that Delhi is giving
out vaccines too fast, Kejriwal
in a sharp response took to
Twitter on Monday saying,
“Only vaccine will save peo-
ple's lives. The sooner the
vaccine is administered, the
more people will be safe. My
aim is not to save the vaccine,
but to save people's lives
(sic).” His Deputy Manish
Sisodia, on the other hand,
urged the BJP-ruled states to
focus on inoculating their
citizens.
While the war of words
between the two neighboring
Governments continued
throughout the day on
Monday, the former Haryana
Chief Minister and Leader of
opposition in the State
Assembly, Bhupinder Singh
Hooda asked the State
Government to intensify the
vaccination drive.
Hooda, while addressing
a digital press conference
said “I don't agree with the
current strategy of this gov-
ernment of vaccine rationing
and inoculating less number
of people every day. The gov-
ernment is not even admin-
istering 50000 doses per day
as claimed by the Chief
Minister.”
“Government records say
only around 20,000 doses
were administered on Sunday.
And in some districts like
Hisar, Nuh, Sirsa and Charkhi
Dadri, only a few doses were
given. At this pace, it will take
several months to cover all
eligible people in the state,”
Hooda said while slamming
Khattar over his remarks.
7ah2baTPaZb
^]ePRRX]TaPcX^]X]V
caXVVTab_^[XcXRP[a^f
?=BQ B78;0
Himachal on Monday
reported 19 fatalities and
865 fresh COVID-19 cases
pushing the death toll to 3127
and the cumulative case tally to
190330. 2167 people also recov-
ered from the virus and the total
recoveries now stands at 173560
in the hill state, according to the
health bulletin.
In the last 24 hours, a max-
imum of eight deaths were
reported in Kangra district,
which also recorded the highest
number of 213 fresh cases. Till
now, Kangra has reported a
maximum of 933 fatalities due
to COVID-19 followed by 558
fatalities in Shimla in the state.
Therewere13621activecasesin
Himachal.
A spokesperson of Health
Department said that an analy-
sis of the last five weeks show
that the cases steadily increased
from May 10 to 16.
He said that districts name-
ly Bilaspur, Kinnaur, Shimla,
Sirmaur, Solan saw their peaks
one week before the state
achieved its peak i.e. May 3 to 9.
District Lahaul and Spiti had its
peak from April 26 to May 2
while districts namely Chamba,
Hamirpur, Kangra, Kullu,
Mandi and Una registered their
peaks on May 10 to 16.
He added that there has
been a decrease in the number
of cases in the last two weeks
across all the districts of the
state.
7XPRWP[aT_^acb (UPcP[XcXTb
'$%UaTbW2^eXSRPbTb
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8]SXPSdaX]V %$Qh
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- 1. 20?BD;4 2>A>=0BCA08=58ABC 5D=38=8=380=043 ³34;C0E0A80=C´)F7 =Tf3T[WX)CWT2^eXS ( ePaXP]cUXabcU^d]SX]8]SXPfX[[ WT]RTU^acWQTaTUTaaTSc^Pb cWT°3T[cPePaXP]c±cWTF^a[S 7TP[cWaVP]XiPcX^]F7 P]]^d]RTS^]^]SPhCWT 1 % WPb]^fQTT]^UUXRXP[[h aTR^aSTSX]$cTaaXc^aXTbcWT Q^ShWPSbPXSTPa[XTacWXb ^]cWCWT8]SXP]6^eTa]T]c WPS^]Ph !^QYTRcTSc^Xcb [PQT[[X]VPbcWT°8]SXP] ePaXP]c± 0706EC4GC4=3B4FB @DC0C0A0C70B dQPX)CWTPWPaPbWcaP 6^eTa]T]c^]^]SPh TgcT]STSQT]TUXcbd]STacWT TR^]^XRP[[hfTPZTabTRcX^] 4FB`d^cPc^cWTPaPcWP R^d]XchSPhbPUcTacWT Bd_aTT2^dacbRaP__TSP bT_PaPcTaTbTaePcX^]X]Y^QbP]S TSdRPcX^]U^acWTS^X]P]c b^RXP[Va^d_ ?=BQ =4F34;78 You can’t just say that you’re the Centre and you know what’s right. We have a strong arm to come down on this,” the Supreme Court told the Centre on Monday, posing a series of questions the vaccine pur- chase policy, differences in pricing of vaccines, and reach of registration through CoWIN App at rural areas. The special bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, L Nageswara Rao and S Ravindrabhat said that since the Centre has made CoWIN registration mandatory for vaccination, how it is going to address the issue of digital divide facing the country. “We are not framing pol- icy. There’s an order of 30th April that these are the prob- lems. You will be flexible. You can’t just say that you’re the Centre and you know what’s right. We have a strong arm to come down on this,” Justice Chandrachud told the Solicitor General of India, Tushar Mehta, when the latter said that these are policy issues on which the court has limited judicial review power. “You keep on saying the situation is dynamic but pol- icymakers must have their ears on ground. You keep on saying digital India, digital India but the situation is actu- ally different in rural areas. How will an illiterate labour- er from Jharkhand get regis- tered in Rajasthan? Tell us how you will address this digital divide,” the bench sought to know. Mehta replied that reg- istration is mandatory as a per- son needs to be traced for a second dose and as far as rural areas are concerned, there are community centres where a person can get regis- tered for vaccination. The bench asked the Centre to place the policy document before it on record. “If we say there is a prob- lem, we expect you to look into it. Digital literacy in India is far from perfect. I am the Chairman of the (Supreme Court) e-Committee. I have seen the problems which afflict this. You have to be flexible and keep your ear to the ground,” said Justice Chandrachud. “You must smell the coffee and see what is happening across the country. You must know the ground situation and change the policy accordingly. If we had to do it, we would have done it 15-20 days back” said the Bench, expressing dis- pleasure on the affidavits filed by the Centre. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Amid Covid pandemic, Indian economy has shrunk by minus 7.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2020-21, which is the worst ever per- formance in over four decades. The fourth quarter of the fiscal showed a meager rise of 1.6 per cent. This is the first full-year contraction in the last 40 years since 1979-80, when Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had shrunk by 5.2 per cent. Indian economy had recorded an 11-year-low GDP growth rate of four per cent in 2019-20, down from the pre- vious 6.5 per cent. The fiscal deficit stood at 9.3 per cent of the GDP in the last fiscal, bet- ter than 9.5 per cent project- ed in the revised estimates in the Union Budget in February. The National Statistical Office (NSO) released the GDP growth estimates for the fourth quarter (January- March) 2020-21, as well as the provisional annual estimates for the year 2020-21. According to data released by the NSO, India’s real GDP contracted to C135 lakh crore in FY21 (2020-21) from C145 lakh crore at the end of March 2020. “The growth in GDP dur- ing 2020-21 is estimated at - 7.3 per cent as compared to 4.0 per cent in 2019-20. The GDP at current prices in the year 2020-21 is estimated to attain a level of C197.46 lakh crore, as against the first revised estimates of C203.51 lakh crore in 2019-20, show- ing a change of -3.0 per cent as compared to 7.8 per cent in 2019-20. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Observing that it was time to define limits of sedition, the Supreme Court on Monday said it will examine the inter- pretation of sedition law, par- ticularly in the light of media rights and free speech, as it gave protection to Telugu news chan- nels — TV5 and ABN Andhrajyothi — from any coer- cive action in a case lodged against them under the colonial era provision. The court also said criticism of the Government may not qualify as a case of sedition. The two channels were booked by Andhra Pradesh police for alleged sedition in showing “offensive” speeches of YSR Congress rebel MP K Raghu Rama Krishna Raju. A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, LN Rao and S Ravindra Bhat said, “We are of the view that provisions of 124A (sedition) and 153 (pro- moting enmity between classes) of the IPC require interpreta- tion, particularly on the issue of the rights of press and free speech”. “It is time we define the limits of sedition”, Justice Chandrachud said. The same Bench while con- sidering the Covid-related mat- ters took a dig on authorities for taking strong note of critical media reportage on Covid-19 related issues quipping whether a sedition case has been lodged against a news channel for showing a body being thrown into a river. “We saw a picture of a body being thrown in river. I do not know whether a sedition case has been filed against the news channel for showing that,” quipped Justice DY Chandrachud when the issue of dignified handling of bodies of victims of the deadly virus was raised before a bench headed by him. The court made the remarks when senior advocate and amicus curiae Meenakshi Arora raised the issue of digni- fied handling of bodies of vic- tims of the deadly virus. “While crematoriums and burials are State subjects, we have seen that there is no dignity in death. It is unfortunate that we have large number of crematoriums which are not functioning,” said Arora. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The Centre on Monday informed the Supreme Court that within next two days it will take a final decision on whether to conduct Class 12 board exams amid the Covid- 19 pandemic. Attorney General KK Venugopal told this to a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari which said if the Centre decides to depart from the last year’s pol- icy wherein the remaining exams were cancelled due to the pandemic, then it must give “tangible reasons” for it. “No issue. You take the decision. You are entitled to it. If you are departing from the policy of last year, then you must give tangible reasons for it,” the bench told Venugopal. Observing that the last year’s decision was taken after delib- erations, the Supreme Court said, “If you are departing from that policy, please give us good reasons so that we can examine it.” The bench was hearing a plea seeking directions to can- cel the Class 12 exams of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) amid the pandemic situation. The SC on June 26, 2020, had approved the schemes of the CBSE and CISCE for can- cellations of remaining board examinations scheduled from July 1 to 15 last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and also approved their formula for assessment of examinees. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Delhi High Court on Monday made scathing observations against the Drugs Controller of Delhi for not properly probing the role of politicians like BJP MP Gautam Gambhir in procuring a huge quantity of Covid-19 drug Fabiflu. The court also pulled up Gambhir for making irre- sponsible statements when the matter is under probe. “You (Drugs Controller) can’t take us for a ride. If you think we are so gullible, so naive, we are not,” a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said, adding people’s tendency to appear as saviours has to be denounced. The court said its confi- dence in the drug controller has “shaken completely” and reject- ed as “trash” its status report on enquiry into procurement of the medicine by the cricketer- turned-politician Gambhir. “There is a fundamental error of approach. The manner in which you have conducted the investigation is question- able,” it said. The Bench took strong exception to the drug controller’s report, which con- cluded that the dealers had ample stock to supply to oth- ers, and said everyone knows that the medicine was in short supply and while Gambhir bought thousands of strips of the medicine, other people who needed it could not get it on that day. “Please don’t tell us there is no shortage. We know there was a shortage. You don’t have to swallow the report. You have to question your officers. You (drug controller) are wrong to say it was not in short supply. You want us to shut our eyes. You think you would get away with this. ?=BQ =4F34;78 US based micro-blogging site Twitter on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that it had already appointed a Resident Grievance Officer on May 28 and that there was “no question of not complying with the law or Rules”. Issuing notices to Twitter and the Centre, Delhi High Court Justice Rekha Palli observed that petitioner had sought directions to Twitter Communications India Pvt. Ltd and Twitter Inc, San Francisco, US to comply with the Rules, 2021. The court issued notices to Centre and Twitter and gave three weeks time to the social media giant to file an affidavit to substantiate its assertions with regard to complying with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The case was list- ed for hearing on July 6. B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0 In a rebuff to the Centre, Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay on Monday retired from his ser- vices and was promptly made the Chief Adviser to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, hours after she wrote to the Centre asking it to withdraw its order transferring Bandopadhyay to Delhi. Speaking to the media, the Chief Minister said she had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi “as it was my duty to respond to their earli- er letter seeking release of the Chief Secretary.” In the five-page letter to the Central Government, she wrote, “The Government of Bengal cannot release, and is not releas- ing, its Chief Secretary at this critical hour, on the basis of our understanding that the earlier order of extension, issued after lawful consultation in accor- dance with applicable laws, remains operational and valid.” =8:00;8:Q 270=3860A7 The high velocity winds of dissidence blowing across Punjab Congress on Monday reached the national Capital as 25 of its partymen met the high command-constituted three- member panel to prevent the current situation from turning into a political storm just before the 2022 elections. The leaders, including State party chief Sunil Jakhar, eight Ministers, and over a dozen leg- islators, openly aired their griev- ances, bringing to the high command’s notice factors that could possibly damage the elec- tion prospects, including the handling of the sensitive issue of sacrilege and related firing inci- dents. Capt Sandeep Sandhu, adviser to the Chief Minister and who is accused of threat- ening MLA Pargat Singh over phone, too reached Delhi to meet the panel. On the other hand, an anx- ious Congress party issued a gag order asking its leaders not to talk about the “crisis within” in the public. Now, all eyes are on Tuesday’s meetings as the panel, headed by senior Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge with State party affairs in-charge Harish Rawat and former MP JP Agarwal as its members, has invited party’s firebrand and motor-mouth leader Navjot Singh Sidhu and his close aide and party MLA Pargat Singh for the meeting. The three-member panel, constituted by the party’s inter- im president Sonia Gandhi, to resolve the prevailing crisis within the Punjab Congress unit, started the first round of meetings from 11 am and met as many as 25 leaders one by one, and paid them a “patient hearing”. Even as the State Congress unit has virtually divided into two power centres — one head- ed by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and another criticising Government’s per- formance, most of the leaders maintained a strategic silence over the issues they had raised boisterously in the recent past. 6T`_`^jhVZXYVU U`h_Sj4`gZU* _ReZ`_R]]`TU`h_ HQWUHWROGWRUHSO RQMDESXUFKDVH SULFLQJGLVSDULW LQGLJLWDOUHDFKIRU R:,1UHJLVWUDWLRQ 3RcdT`VcTZgV RTeZ`_RXRZ_de# _VhdTYR__V]d S``VUSj2A 4`fceµXR^SYZc¶`_5cfX 4`_ec`]]Vc¶dWRZ]fcVe` ac`SV7RSZW]fafcTYRdV CXTc^STUX]T[XXcb^UbTSXcX^] bPhbB2UdTb^][PfXbdbT DOORQKROGLQJRU VFUDSSLQJODVV;,, H[DPVLQGDV 7ZLWWHUIDOOVLQWROLQH VDVQRTXHVWLRQRIQRW FRPSOLQJZLWKUXOHV R^ReRS`h]d`UZRX``X]j Raa`Z_ed4DYVcTYZVWRUgZdVc 'LGLXUJHVHQWUH WRZLWKGUDZRUGHU WRUHFDOOKLHI6HF 3XQMDERQJIHXGLQWHQVLILHV 0/$VEULHIWRSSDUWSDQHO New Delhi: The output of eight core sectors jumped by 56.1 per cent in April mainly due to a low base effect and uptick in production of natur- al gas, refinery products, steel, cement and electricity, official data released on Monday showed. See P9 )T`cVdVTe`cd¶ `feafedjc`TVed Sj'Z_2acZ] CVdZUV_e8cZVgR_TV @WWZTVcRaa`Z_eVU ^ZTc`S]`XXZ_XdZeV Z_W`c^d5V]YZ94 0f^P]VTcbX]^Rd[PcTSPVPX]bc2^eXS (Pb^cWTabfPXccWTXacda]PcP ePRRX]PcX^]RT]caTX]dQPX^]^]SPh 0? RYLGGUDJVJURZWK UDWHWRHDUVORZ FTPc1T]VP[2PPcP1P]TaYTTfXcWWTa]Tf[hP___^X]cTSPSeXbTa0[P_P] 1P]Sh^_PSWhPhSdaX]VPTTcX]VX]:^[ZPcP ?C8 GRia`]ZTjW]RhVU D4W]RXd]``aY`]Vd 4`gZU* :?:?5:2 CC0;20B4B) !' % %%' #%%! 340C7B) %!#( A42E4A43) !$( $! !!'(% 02C8E4) ( ! 070)$#%'(! $ :´C0:0)!%## %%# :4A0;0)!$!%$' ! D?) %( #'' #! 34;78) #!%!#%#' PNS Q Dehradun The State Government has extended the Covid curfew which was to end on June 1 by seven days. Informing about the decision, Cabinet Minister and State Government spokesman Subodh Uniyal said that this time, the general pro- visions stores will be allowed to open from 8 AM to 1 PM on two days- June 1 and 5 where- as PDS ration shops will open daily from 8 AM to 11 AM as earlier. According to the order issued by the chief secretary Om Prakash, another relax- ation provided this time is that stationery and book shops will also be allowed to open from 8 AM to 1 PM on June 1 and 5. The rest of the restrictions and relaxations will be observed as in the earlier phas- es of the Covid curfew so far. RYLGFXUIHZ H[WHQGHGE DZHHNLQ 8WWDUDNKDQG 3URYLVLRQVWRUHVWR RSHQIURPDPWR SPRQ-XQHDQG /CWT3PX[h?X^]TTa UPRTQ^^ZR^SPX[h_X^]TTa 7`]]`hfd`_+ fffSPX[h_X^]TTaR^ X]bcPVaPR^SPX[h_X^]TTa ;PcT2Xch E^[ $8bbdT #( 0XaBdaRWPaVT4gcaPXU0__[XRPQ[T ?dQ[XbWTS5a^ 34;78;D2:=F 17?0;17D10=4BF0A A0=278A08?DA 270=3860A7 347A03D= 7H34A0103E890HF030 4bcPQ[XbWTS '%# 51,1R5HJQ877(1*5(*'1R8$'2''1 347A03D=CD4B30H9D=4 !! *?064B !C! @A:?:@?' 8=38020=BD22443 0608=BC278=0 DA@CE# 10A24;=0B86= B4A6806D4A m m H@C=5) 8BA04;B=4C0=H07D 2D;3;B455824 3?F942B?;5 =5@8IC931I* =119;1 ! F9F139DI
- 2. ]PcX^]! 347A03D=kCD4B30H k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·VZLOOQRWEHKHOGUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIFODLPPDGHEWKHDGYHUWLVHUVRIWKHSURGXFWV VHUYLFHVDQGVKDOOQRWEHPDGHUHVSRQVLEOHIRUDQNLQGRIORVVFRQVHTXHQFHVDQGIXUWKHUSURGXFWUHODWHGGDPDJHVRQVXFKDGYHUWLVHPHQWV ?=BQ 347A03D= Tourism and Culture minis- ter Satpal Maharaaz has directed officials to look for land in Haridwar or Dehradun, for an international airport. The minister held a meeting with the tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar and Haridwar district magis- trate C Ravishankar on Monday and directed them to form a committee for this purpose. Discussions were held on vari- ous aspects for building an international airport wherever land is available in Haridwar or Dehradun. A committee will soon be formed under the Haridwar DM for identifying land in Haridwar for this pur- pose. The committee will look for a five kilometres long and half a kilometre wide strip of land for the international airport and inform Civil Aviation department officials about it. Speaking after the meeting, the minister said that the purpose is to build an international air- port in the region so that trav- elers from around the world can reach Uttarakhand directly. This will also generate more employ- ment opportunities in the future. The international airport will increase the grandeur of Haridwar district and attract people from across the world to Uttarakhand, said Maharaaz. He further said that possi- bilities will be looked into to enable large aircrafts like Airbus 380 and Boeing 777 to land and take off from this international airport. It will be recalled here that last year, Maharaaz had stressed on the need to work on the vision of building an inter- national airport in Haridwar as there are many who are inter- ested in landing here directly from different foreign countries. Presently, both domestic and foreign travellers can reach Haridwar by road or train from various cities across India or arrive by flight to Dehradun air- port and then travel by road to Haridwar. RYRcRRkUZcVTed `WWZTZR]de`^Rc]R_U W`cZ_eVc_ReZ`_R]RZca`ce ?=BQ 347A03D= The senior leader of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Ravindra Jugran has claimed that the AAP Ka Doctor cam- paign of the party is proving a blessing for the people of remote and mountainous areas of the state. Addressing media persons here on Monday, Jugran said that a large number of people have got associated with the campaign and taken benefit from it. He said that the AAP Ka Doctor campaign was start- ed under the leadership of senior leader of AAP, Colonel (Retd) Ajay Kothiyal on the day of opening of portals of Kedarnath temple. He said that a total of 37,895 people have so far made a call on the helpline number 8800026100 and received medical consul- tation from the expert panel of doctors. Jugran said that a team of 30 doctors and 40 vol- unteers are part of the cam- paign. “Around 2000 phone calls are being received daily on the helpline number. We are now planning to increase the number of volun- teers and doctors in the cam- paign,’’ he said. Jugran said that the state government has failed in tack- ling the pandemic as when medicines, ICU, oxygen, ven- tilators, ambulances and hos- pitals were needed most the government failed in making arrangements. He said that workers of the AAP remained active during the pandemic and served peo- ple in remote and mountainous areas. The AAP leader said that the party focussed on service to the mankind and public inter- est more and kept the politics aside during the pandemic. µ$$3ND'RFWRU¶DKLWLQUHPRWH PRXQWDLQRXVDUHDV-XJUDQ '($_T^_[T WPeTb^UPaPST PRP[[^]cWT WT[_[X]T]dQTa ^UcWT_Pach ?=B Q 347A03D= The Drinking Water minis- ter Bishan Singh Chufal has directed the officials of his department to expedite the works on all the projects under the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission. He took a review meeting of the department at his Vidhan Sabha office on Monday. The minister lauded the role of the Drinking water department during the pan- demic and said that the work- ers of the department kept the drinking water supplies unaf- fected and they like the health workers and employees of the power department worked appreciably during the pan- demic of Covid 19. He told the officers that they should ensure that the work on all projects is completed while keeping them- selves safe from the contagion of Covid-19. The minister said that apart from prevention from Covid 19 priority should be accorded to the develop- ment works so that people don’t suffer and the employ- ment is generated. He said that priority should be accord- ed to the completion of pump- ing projects and drinking water schemes should be completed on war footing. On a terse note the minister directed that the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of the projects should be completed. He said that online meetings should be organised during the pandem- ic and if the DPRs needed can be completed on computers in the homes also. 5h`UTYdUg_b[ _^:Q:UUfQ^ =YccY_^*=Y^YcdUb ?=B Q AA:44 Tobacco use in India has come a long way since it was introduced to the country some centuries ago. Various health issues have risen corre- spondingly with increase in tobacco use. The government is taking various measures to decrease tobacco use but the scenario resulting from tobac- co use remains challenging. Tobacco cultivation was introduced in India during1605 by the Portuguese and was first grown in Gujarat. After that it reached the Calcutta Botanical Garden in 1787, Pusa in Bihar in 1875 and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh in 1928. As tobacco cultivation and use increased, excise duty was imposed on it around 1944. After World War II, advertising projected ciga- rette as also a means of slim- ming and a symbol of status and style. Uttarakhand officer in- charge of National Tobacco Control Programme (NTCP) Dr Archana Ojha informed that according to Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 26.5 per cent people use tobacco in various forms with 18.1 per cent smoking it and 12.4 per cent consuming it in non-smoking forms. Under the NTCP, train- ing programmes for stake- holders including the police and schools are held at the district and state level. Tobacco Free Education Institute (TFEI) pro- gramme is also being conduct- ed to raise awareness among students of all age groups against tobacco consumption. Pulmonary medicine spe- cialist Dr Puneet Tyagi said that many of the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients that he sees have been smoking for about two decades. The younger patients exhibit initial symptoms of COPD like wheezing, chronic cough and shortness of breath caused by doing heavy work and climbing stairs. There are various options for those want- ing to give up smoking. They can use nicotine chewing gum, nicotine patches, nicotine ther- apy and sometimes psychiatrist is prescribed. Apart from lungs, smoking can also affect liver, intestines, stomach and also lead to brain stroke among other serious conditions like cancer, he said. ?=BQ 347A03D= Though it is common for glaciers to have cracks and debris, a survey has ascer- tained that there are no cracks in the glaciers in the upper watershed area of Dhauliganga river in Chamoli district. Following the Chamoli district magistrate’s report that locals were apprehensive as cracks had been seen in the said area, Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) executive director Piyoosh Rautela and Uttarakhand Space Application Research Centre (USAC) direc- tor MPS Bisht undertook an aerial survey of the area. The survey report states that though no cracks were seen in the glaciers in the said area, signs of a landslide were seen in one spot though it is not possible to state when the landslide occurred. In the higher Himalaya, landslides and avalanches due to natural causes like daily temperature fluctuations are common. The landslide, of which the scientists saw the signs does not seem to pose any threat to the public. Considering the obser- vations made during the survey, Rautela and Bisht have stated that there doesn’t seem to be the possibility of landslide or avalanche in the said area in the future. It is pertinent to mention here that flash flood in the Dhauliganga on February 7 which caused considerable casu- alties and damage is believed to have been caused by cracks which lead to breaking away of a glacier in the area. BdaeThPbRTacPX]b ]^V[PRXP[RaPRZb PQ^eT3WPd[XVP]VP ?=BQ 270=3860A7 The Chandigarh adminis- tration on Monday extended the coronavirus- induced restrictions till the morning of June 9, but allowed more relaxations such as reopening of barbers and salons. It also extended the shop opening time by an hour. All shops will now be allowed to open from 9 am till 4 pm, from earlier till 3 pm. After detailed discussions, it was decided to continue the existing restrictions until 6 am on June 9,” according to an official statement. The deci- sion was taken in a Covid-19 review meeting chaired by Chandigarh Administrator VP Singh Badnore. All sports facilities will be opened for sportspersons who can utilise the infrastructure by strictly following Covid protocol. However, swim- ming pools and gyms will continue to remain closed. The administration also allowed reopening of barbers and salons in the city. Spa and massage centres will continue to remain closed. The city has been wit- nessing a decline in the num- ber of fresh Covid-19 infec- tions over the last 20 days. In the review meeting, the administrator expressed con- cern over the plight of the children who lost their parents to Covid-19. Badnore direct- ed that the school fees of all such children be waived and if any child needs accommo- dation in the administration's welfare home, it will be pro- vided free of cost. He also directed the Social Welfare Secretary to prepare a comprehensive scheme in consultation with the sub- committee of the Administrator's Advisory Council so that the affected could be fully rehabilitated. Moreover, UT Administrator allowed the Mini Covid Care centres to operate till end June. PGIMER ASKED TO CARRY OUT SERO-SUR- VEY IN CHD The UT Administrator gave PGIMER the go-ahead to carry out sero-survey in Chandigarh. The sero survey is aimed at identifying the sero prevalence of Covid-19 at the community level and moni- toring the transmission trends. The survey will reveal antibodies developed against the virus in the samples test- ed amongst a sizable popula- tion of the city, said Dr Jagat Ram, adding that the survey will find out how many peo- ple from the general popula- tion (those vaccinated or infected) have developed anti- bodies. “The survey will be car- ried out to find out how many people from the general pop- ulation (those vaccinated or those infected with the virus or those asymptomatic) have developed antibodies. It will also reveal whether herd immunity has been achieved or not,” he added. AT 124, CHANDI- GARH'S DAILY COVID CASES DROP TO LOWEST IN 10 WEEKS Continuing its steep decline in Covid-19 spread, Chandigarh on Monday recorded the lowest daily cases in the past 10 weeks as 124 people tested positive. The City had recorded an all-time high of 895 on May 9. However, there was no respite in fatalities as the pandemic claimed eight more lives on Monday, pushing the city’s toll to 753. 124 fresh Covid-19 cases took the union territory's infection tally to 60,046, according to a medical bul- letin. The number of active cases dropped to 1767 on Monday. The total number of cured persons in Chandigarh reached 57,526 as 483 more coronavirus patients were dis- charged after they recovered from the infection, it said. So far, 508,469 samples have been taken for testing. In addition, 5745 more people were vacci- nated on Monday, taking the total count to 349, 045, the bulletin stated. BW^_bP[[^fTS c^^_T]Ua^ (PcX[[#_ 4`gZU*TfcSdZ_ 4YR_UZXRcYeZ]];f_V* ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Monday said that it is unfair to blame farmers' stir for the spread of COVID-19 infection in the rural areas of the state. “The infection has spread from the cities to the villages. The government is blaming the farmers to hide its own failure,” Hooda said while addressing a digital conference here. Lashing out the Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Hooda said that the State Government should accept its failures in tackling the COVID- 19 crisis and stop blaming me and farmers. Over the issue of farmers' protest against three central farm laws, the senior Congress leader said, “This is not a political protest. The govern- ment should take a step ahead and talk to farmers who have been sitting on protest at Delhi- Haryana border for over six months. They (government) accused me of indulging in pol- itics over farmers' issues. But this government should make efforts to resolve the issue, he added. When asked why the Chief Minister has been saying that Hooda is not appealing to farmers to end the stir as pan- demic is raging, he said, “I have been repeatedly saying Covid protocol should be maintained. But it has to be the government which has to find a solution to this... They should hold talks with the farmers.” The Chief Minister himself should also follow COVID-19 protocol, Hooda said while pointing towards protocol vio- lations during Hisar event, where he had inaugurated a COVID hospital around two weeks back. Hooda also rejected the charge of indulging in politics during the COVID-19 pan- demic.He said this is not the time to indulge in politics and he had offered to extend full cooperation to the govern- ment in fighting the pandem- ic. “But as the Leader of Opposition, it is also my responsibility to raise people's problems and convey the same to the government, which I did in my letter written to the Chief Minister,” Hooda said. The senior Congress leader again demanded that an all- party meeting should be held to discuss the issue of COVID- 19 crisis and to prepare for the potential third COVID-19 wave. E^VQYbd_RQ]U VQb]UbcV_bc`bUQT _V3_fYT!)*8__TQ ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him about the current situa- tion related to COVID-19 crisis and ongoing farmers' agitation. During the meeting, the Chief Minister apprised PM Modi about the shortage of COVID-19 vaccination and Amphotericin B drug, used in the treatment of black fungus. Khattar while talking to the mediapersons after the meeting in New Delhi said that the Prime Minister has expressed satisfaction over the comprehensive arrange- ments made by the Haryana Government in the state for the control of COVID-19. Discussion related to COVID-19 pandemic and farmers' protest was held with PM Modi, he said. The Chief Minister said that in view of the possibili- ty of a third wave of COVID- 19, the Prime Minister has asked to be alert in the com- ing times as well and make prior arrangements. He said that the Prime Minister was informed about the require- ments for COVID-19 vac- cine stocks and drugs for the treatment of black fungus in Haryana. I have been asked to talk to Home Minister Amit Shah over these issues, which I will do today telephonical- ly. We need more stock of COVID-19 vaccine and stock of drugs used in treatment of black fungus, he added. The Chief Minister said two weeks back, I had also met the Home Minister and BJP national chief JP Nadda to apprize them about the same issues. While responding to a query regarding vaccination, the Chief Minister maintained that it is not appropriate to do politics over it. He said that 12 crore vaccines are going to be available in the country soon. Distribution will be done according to the norms, he added. Khattar also said no polit- ical discussion was held with PM Modi. 7PahP]P2TTcb? ^SXSXbRdbbTb2^eXS ( RaXbXbP]SUPaTabPVXcPcX^] =8B7D07090=Q 270=3860A7 With several states red- flagging the shortage of COVID-19 vaccination in the country, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's statement on vac- cine rationing and adminis- tering doses in small numbers every day in the state has stirred a political controver- sy. Aam Aadmi party led Delhi Government and oppo- sition Congress in Haryana have hit out at Khattar on Monday over the deliberate delay in administration of vaccines to the people by the State Government. Commenting on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's remarks over vac- cine shortage, Khattar had on Sunday said, “Like other states, should we finish all two lakh doses in a day? We use 50,000-60,000 doses a day. All this... Arvind Kejriwal should understand. But his intention is to indulge in politics and he does that. Nobody should play politics during a pandemic.” As Khattar's statement suggested that Delhi is giving out vaccines too fast, Kejriwal in a sharp response took to Twitter on Monday saying, “Only vaccine will save peo- ple's lives. The sooner the vaccine is administered, the more people will be safe. My aim is not to save the vaccine, but to save people's lives (sic).” His Deputy Manish Sisodia, on the other hand, urged the BJP-ruled states to focus on inoculating their citizens. While the war of words between the two neighboring Governments continued throughout the day on Monday, the former Haryana Chief Minister and Leader of opposition in the State Assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked the State Government to intensify the vaccination drive. Hooda, while addressing a digital press conference said “I don't agree with the current strategy of this gov- ernment of vaccine rationing and inoculating less number of people every day. The gov- ernment is not even admin- istering 50000 doses per day as claimed by the Chief Minister.” “Government records say only around 20,000 doses were administered on Sunday. And in some districts like Hisar, Nuh, Sirsa and Charkhi Dadri, only a few doses were given. At this pace, it will take several months to cover all eligible people in the state,” Hooda said while slamming Khattar over his remarks. 7ah2baTPaZb ^]ePRRX]TaPcX^]X]V caXVVTab_^[XcXRP[a^f ?=BQ B78;0 Himachal on Monday reported 19 fatalities and 865 fresh COVID-19 cases pushing the death toll to 3127 and the cumulative case tally to 190330. 2167 people also recov- ered from the virus and the total recoveries now stands at 173560 in the hill state, according to the health bulletin. In the last 24 hours, a max- imum of eight deaths were reported in Kangra district, which also recorded the highest number of 213 fresh cases. Till now, Kangra has reported a maximum of 933 fatalities due to COVID-19 followed by 558 fatalities in Shimla in the state. Therewere13621activecasesin Himachal. A spokesperson of Health Department said that an analy- sis of the last five weeks show that the cases steadily increased from May 10 to 16. He said that districts name- ly Bilaspur, Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan saw their peaks one week before the state achieved its peak i.e. May 3 to 9. District Lahaul and Spiti had its peak from April 26 to May 2 while districts namely Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi and Una registered their peaks on May 10 to 16. He added that there has been a decrease in the number of cases in the last two weeks across all the districts of the state. 7XPRWP[aT_^acb (UPcP[XcXTb '$%UaTbW2^eXSRPbTb 5HVROYHWRJLYH XSWREDFFRVD H[SHUWV C^QPRR^Rd[cXePcX^] fPbX]ca^SdRTSX] 8]SXPSdaX]V %$Qh cWT?^acdVdTbT
- 3. dccPaPZWP]S 347A03D=kCD4B30H k9D=4 !! ?=BQ 347A03D= Amid indications that the second wave of pandemic of Covid-19 is on ebb, the state health department reported only 1,156 new cases of the dis- ease on Monday. This is the least number of cases of the disease in the last one month. The department also reported recoveries of 3,039 patients of the disease on the day. The cumulative count of the patients of Covid-19 in the state is at 3,29,494 while a total of 2,88,928 patients have recovered from the disease so far. The state health depart- ment reported the death of 44 patients from the disease on Monday which increased the death toll to 6452 in the state. A total of 29,223 samples were sent for testing on Monday and the sample positivity rate is at 6.87 percent. Out of the 44 deaths reported on Monday, six occurred at Sushila Tiwari Government hospital, five at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh and four each at Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) hospital Dehradun and Mahant Indiresh hospital Dehradun. The authorities also added seven such deaths in the toll on Monday which had occurred in the past but were not reported earlier. The provisional state cap- ital Dehradun reported 205, Udham Singh Nagar 173, Nainital 161, Haridwar 105, Pauri 84, Almora 82, Pithoragarh 74, Chamoli 64, Uttarkashi 50, Bageshwar 47, Tehri 42, Rudraprayag 37 and Champawat 32 new cases of the disease on Monday. The state now has 28,371 active patients of the disease. Haridwar is the top position in the list of active cases with 7,350 cases. Dehradun is on second position with 3251 cases, Pauri 3,116, Chamoli 2,069, Udham Singh Nagar 2,022, Pithoragarh 1,967, Tehri 1,650, Nainital 1,689, R u d r a p r a y a g 1,321, Almora 1,317, Bageshwar 996, Uttarkashi 885 and Champawat has 738 active cases of the disease. The state now has 221 patients of Mucormycosis ( Black Fungus) and out of them 17 have died while 13 have recovered from the disease. Two patients of the dis- ease succumbed to death on Monday. To contain the contagion of Covid-19, the state administra- tion has set up 345 containment zones in different parts of the state. In the ongoing vaccination drive 15,203 people were vac- cinated in 353 sessions in dif- ferent parts of the state on Monday. A total of 6,83,881 people have been fully vacci- nated while 22,31,575 have received the first dose of the vaccine in the state. DVT`_UhRgV`WaR_UV^ZT `_VSSZ_FeeRcRYR_U $%]TfRPbTb (aTR^eTaXTb aT_^acTS^] ^]SPh ?=BQ 347A03D= Coming out in support of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in the ongoing slugfest with Baba Ramdev on the issue of efficacy of allopathy, the Provincial Medical Health Services Association (PMHSA) , the association of government doctors of Uttarakhand, has decided to boycott all products of Patanjali. The association has also given a call to all its mem- bers to wear black arm bands while working on Tuesday as a mark of its protest against the utterance of Baba Ramdev. In a letter to all its mem- bers the general secretary of the PMHSA, Dr Manoj Verma said that everyone is offended by the unwarranted utterances of Ramdev. He said that the statements like how will they save others when they could not save themselves is an insult to the doctors who lost their lives while treating patients. He said that the PMHSA strongly condemns these statements which are morale breaking. Dr Verma said that Ramdev is giving the entire episode a colour of allopathy versus Ayurveda. “A person who is an eighth class pass is accusing us of being antagonistic to Ayurveda and Yoga. All this is being deliber- ately done by him to increase the sale of his medicines. In support of the demand to arrest Ramdev under the Epidemic Disease Act, I request all the members to work wearing black bands on May 1,’’ the letter read. Ramdev raked up a con- troversy recently by stating that the all medicines used against the Covid-19 have failed and the doctors don’t have any treatment for the disease. Later he shot an open letter to the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and posed 25 questions related to allopathy to them. The IMA on its part has threat- ened to file a defamation suit of Rs 1,000 crore on Ramdev. It also registered a complaint against him and challenged him for an open debate. 8¶NKDQG*RYWGRFWRUV IDPLOLHVWRERFRWW 5DPGHY¶V3DWDQMDOL ?=BQ =4FC47A8 Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat inspected the dis- trict hospital, Bauradi emer- gency service, ICU and other facilities in Tehri district on Monday. Donning a PPE kit, the CM also took feedback from the admitted Covid patients about the treatment and other facilities at the 450 bed Covid care centre in Bhagirathipuram. Following that he directed the officials to complete work on the 500 LPM oxygen gen- eration plant at the district hos- pital in a week. On completion of construction of this plant, oxygen supply for 80 beds will be available from here. During the inspection, the chief minister said that the dis- trict hospital should not remain a referral centre. He gave clear instructions to the health department officials to ensure treatment of all types of patients coming to the district hospital. Rawat then laid the foun- dation stone/inaugurated a total of 42 schemes costing Rs 95.73 crore. These include 21 schemes worth Rs 59.18 crore which were inaugurated and 21 schemes worth Rs 36.55 crore for which the foundation stones were unveiled. The chief min- ister then virtually inaugurat- ed a 70-bed Covid care centre at the Devprayag guest house of Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam. The Agriculture min- ister Subodh Uniyal, minister in-charge of Tehri, Yatishwaranand, district mag- istrate Eva Ashish Srivastava, MLAs Dhan Singh Negi, Shakti Lal Shah, district Panchayat chairperson Sona Sajwan, senior superintendent of police, Tripti Bhatt and others were present on the occasion. Later the chief minister also held a meeting with the district level officials to review the preparations for the mon- soon.He directed them to ensure that all preparations are done on time to mitigate and manage any disaster sce- nario during the rains. 2RWTRZb2^eXSUPRX[XcXTbX]CTWaX X]PdVdaPcTbePaX^dbSTeT[^_T]cf^aZb E8=3270;8Q =4FC47A8 The tampering with the ancient worship traditions at the world famous Badrinath shrine resulted in a major out- rage among Teerth Purohits and devotees after which the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board was forced to retract its decision and con- firm to old practices at Badrinath. The priests had objected to the change in the timings of the ritual worship performed at dawn (Bhramh Muhurt). After objections were raised, the timings of the worship were restored from Monday follow- ing the direction of the Devasthanam Board. It is pertinent to mention here that the state government has suspended the Char Dham Yatra considering the recent Covid-19 surge. The Devasthanam Board had also issued standard operating pro- cedures (SOPs) for the shrines. As per the SOPs, the Badrinath was to be opened from 7 AM to 7 PM. This schedule was fol- lowed since the shrine was reopened for the summer this year on May 18. However, the traditional ritual prayers were beginning after 7 AM whereas earlier these used to start at about 4:30 AM. The priests objected to this. Brahmakapal Teerth Purohit Sangh president Umesh Sati questioned the change in the timing of the worship conducted during the Bhramh Muhurt. He said that the government's Covid guidelines need to be fol- lowed, but one's faith should not be hurt. Sati also pointed out that even during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic the rit- ual worship in Badrinath had been performed as per the tradi- tions. Even at that time, devotees were barred from entering the tem- ple during the pandemic but the ritual traditions of the shrine were continued. Meanwhile, as the objections to the recent changes escalated, the D e vast hanam Board changed its decision to enable resumption of prayers as per the original schedule. T h e Dharmadhikari of B a d r i n a t h , Bhuvan Chandra Uniyal said that the Puja at Bhramh Muhurt has started in the temple from Monday as per ancient tradition. aXVX]P[aXcdP[bRWTSd[T aTbc^aTSX]1PSaX]PcWU^[[^fX]V ^QYTRcX^]bc^RWP]VTScXX]Vb
- 4. ]PcX^]# 347A03D=kCD4B30H k9D=4 !! ?=BQ =4F34;78 Aiming for a faster self- reliance in production of weapons in the country, the Centre on Monday barred the import of 108 military weapons and systems such as next-gen- eration corvettes, airborne early warning systems, tank engines and radars. These items will now be manufactured indige- nously. The Centre approved the second list including these 108 items. It is the second such list with the first one termed “neg- ative” in August last year. It had banned the import of 100 items and directing the armed forces to buy local. The fresh list also restricts import of notified items but is now called ‘’Second Positive Indigenization List”. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday gave the nod for the proposal mooted by the Department of Military Affairs of the defence ministry to have such a list. The restrictions on import will progressively come into effect in the period from December 2021 to December 2025, officials said here. The second list lays special focus on weapons and systems which are currently under development or trials and are likely to translate into firm orders in the future. The first negative list of items included towed artillery guns, short-range surface-to-air missiles, cruise missiles, off- shore patrol vessels, electronic warfare systems, next-genera- tion missile vessels, floating dock and anti-submarine rock- et launchers. The ‘Second Positive Indigenisation List’ comprises complex systems, sensors, sim- ulator, weapons and ammuni- tions like Helicopters, Next Generation Corvettes, Air Borne Early Warning and Control (AEWC) systems, Tank Engines, Medium Power Radar for Mountains, Medium range surface to air mis- siles(MRSAM)and many more such items. This will give further boost to indigenisation with active participation of public and pri- vate sector for fulfilling the twin objectives of achieving self-reliance and promoting defence exports. All the 108 items will now be procured from indigenous sources as per provisions given in Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020. Like the first list, import substitution of ammunition which is a recurring require- ment has been given special focus. Not only does the list recognise the potential of local defence industry, it will also invigorate impetus to domes- tic Research and Development by attracting fresh investment into technology and manufac- turing capabilities. Officials said the second list was prepared by the min- istry after several rounds of consultations with government and private manufacturing industry confederations to assess future capabilities of Indian Industry which will be able to meet requirements of the Armed Forces. The Defence industry can gainfully utilise this golden opportunity to build robust Research and Development facilities, capacities and capa- bilities to meet the futuristic requirements of the Armed Forces. This list also provides an excellent opportunity for ‘start-ups’ as also medium and small scale units(MSMEs), officials said. In order to ensure speedy development, the defence min- istry and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) besides the Service Head Quarters will take all necessary steps, includ- ing hand holding of the Industry. It will assist in ‘Make in India’ vision and develop the capabilities for defence export in the near future. In the last couple of years, the government has taken a series of measures to boost the domestic defence industry. The new defence procurement policy projected a turnover of Rs 1.75 lakh crore (USD 25 bil- lion) in defence manufacturing by 2025. According to estimates, the Indian armed forces are projected to spend around USD 130 billion in capital procurement in the next five years. :_afdYW`cdV]WcV]ZR_TV 8`geSRcdhVRa`_dZ^a`ce 344?0::D0A970Q =4F34;78 The inordinate delay in the appointment of Vice- Chancellors in around 20 of the 40 Central Universities including the prestigious JNU, BHU, Delhi University and Hyderabad University has led to ‘indecisiveness’ in the administrative as well as aca- demic preparedness of the institutions for more than a year now, especially amidst the pandemic and when the Centre has embarked on to its ambitious New Education Policy (NEP). Sources in the Ministry of Education said that the delay in appointments even after the recommendation of names by selection and search panels has even resulted in the can- cellation of the Vice Chancellors virtual confer- ence with Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank twice last month. It was scheduled following the meet- ings with State Education Ministers on the matter of Board examinations. Sources in the Ministry confirmed that selection of the VCs of 18 Central Universities is complete and technically pending at the “highest offices”. “There is no role of ACC or PMO in the appoint- ments of VCs as this is done by the Rashtrapati Bhawan who is the Visitor of all the Central Universities. In between, after the clearances from the selection panel the MoE has sent all the files pertaining to the appoint- ments unofficially to the PMO. Though this is not a rule, this has been a practice even in the past,” said a top MoE official. Former Visitor’s (President of India) Nominee to several Central universities Prof J P Sharma said such a circumstance has never been heard earlier. “In the present state of affairs we come across people in ad hoc positions, officiating postings, OSDs running not only the central universities but various uni- versities and institutions across the country. Perhaps, this is for the first time that such a situation has come in the last few years. The present regime has also forgone the convention in appointing members of councils. Earlier, not less than a Professor used to be a member to maintain the decorum as well as sanc- tity of objective academics but now even a new recruit has been heard to hold such positions in education coun- cils,” said Sharma, who retired as Dean of the Business Faculty at Delhi School of Economics. As of now, 20 of the 40 central universities have no full-time VCs which is affect- ing the day to day challenges involved in offline education and administration of the uni- versities and in turn, colleges affiliated and recognized by these universities. Some of the other Central universities without its top man for more than a year are Central Universities of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu, Manipur, Hari Singh Gour University Madhya Pradesh, Central University Manipur, Central University of Hyderabad, South Bihar University, the North East Hill University, Rajasthan Central University, Kashmir Central University, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad and the Guru Ghasidas central university. As per procedure, at least six months before a Vice Chancellor’s term ends, the education ministry sets up a search cum-selection com- mittee to find a new VC. The committee then submits a ‘panel’ of names – mostly a list of three names – to the edu- cation ministry for informal ‘vetting’ and ‘due diligence’. These are then sent to the Visitor to all central universi- ties for approval, after which the final appointments are announced. Former Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh regretted the delay in the appointments which is ulti- mately hampering the higher education in the country. “The delay is affecting the appoint- ments and recruitment strength of the other teaching and non-teaching manpower of the universities and most of the colleges and institutions affiliated to the Central University. It seems education is not this government’s pri- ority,” Singh told The Pioneer when sought for his com- ments on the matter. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Former Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali, whose induction in the BJP had created contro- versy in 2014 with stiff oppo- sition by many senior BJP functionaries, particularly Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, was on Monday appointed the party’s Minority Morcha General Secretary. The BJP announced six Vice Presidents, three General Secretaries, seven secretaries and one treasurer, media prab- hari and social media prabhari each from different States. Ali from Bihar is one of the three General Secretaries of Minority Morcha- the other being Sufi MK Chisti (Goa) and JP D ‘Souza (Karnataka) Ali’s membership was can- celled within 24 hours in 2014 after a massive uproar against his induction but was brought back in the party the very next year. Naqvi had gone on record opposing Ali’s induction ques- tioning his credentials as a political leader. 2^]ca^eTabXP[ BPQXa0[XP__^X]cTS 19?X]^aXch ^aRWP6T]BTRh ?=BQ =4F34;78 Mystery shrouds the unknown woman seen with fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi when he was nabbed in Dominica after he went missing from Antigua on May 23. While Antiguan Prime Minister Gaston Browne has dubbed the mystery woman to be Choksi’s girlfriend, some reports quoted sources report- edly close to Choksi as refuting the claims of the premier of the island nation. The woman seen with Choksi was reportedly part of the team involved in his alleged “abduction, torture and arrest”. The reports further quoted the sources as asserting that the said woman was staying in Antigua and she started meet- ing Choksi during morning and evening walks. After befriending Choksi, she called him to an apartment to meet her on May 23, the day the Indian businessman went miss- ing from Antigua. When Choksi reached there, a group of people alleged- ly abducted him and took him to Dominica where he was arrested, the reports claimed. Browne has yet again on Sunday asserted that Choksi can directly be deported from Dominica to India as his citi- zenship in Antigua is contested. Choksi is wanted in the C13,500 crore PNB credit fraud scam and is also contesting an extra- dition plea by India in Antigua. Late on Sunday (India time), Browne told Antigua News Room, “The information that we are getting is that Mehul Choksi may have taken his girl- friend to Dominica probably to have dinner or have a good time and so on and got caught. That would have been a monumen- tal error because in Antigua he is a citizen, we could not deport him....” “The problem is if he is sent back to Antigua because he is an Antiguan citizen, even though his citizenship is unset- tled, he still enjoys constitu- tional and legal protections. We have no doubt that his citizen- ship will ultimately be revoked because he did not disclose material information,” Browne said. FW^fPbhbcTah f^P]fXcW2W^ZbX. A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78 The CRPF has directed all its formations across the country to offer a befitting funeral to the Covid warriors in its ranks who died in the line of duty while fighting coron- avirus infection. The directive comes as the last rites of some deceased personnel were not done prop- erly or as per protocol of the Force. The paramilitary expressed concern over it. “While making a random check of funeral process being observed in the case of Covid warriors, it was noticed that in some cases, the last rites of the deceased have not been done properly and the appropriate respect as per protocol of the Force has not been offered to them, which is a cause of con- cern,” reads an internal docu- ment. It further said, “The com- petent authority has desired that a befitting funeral be arranged for all Covid warriors who lose their lives in the line of duty while fighting Covid.” Local circumstances, State protocol and norms of Covid appropriate behaviour may be followed for disposing off the mortal remains of the deceased, says the letter sent to all the formations. The CRPF left it to the discretion of the Head of Offices (HOOs) as to how the funeral will be organized broadly keeping the concerns in mind. However, it must be ensured that in no case, fam- ilies of the deceased be left unattended. The families of the Covid victims should be facilitated in all cases and not left to fend for themselves. All the establishments under their respective opera- tional jurisdictions have instructed for strict compli- ance of funeral protocols. As on Friday, as many as 23,588 CRPF personnel con- tracted the viral disease of which 21,649 patients recov- ered from the disease and 121 personnel lost their lives. A total of 1,818 patients con- tinue to suffer from the coro- navirus infection. From May 17 to May 28, the CRPF recorded a surge in the tally of infected personnel from 22,216 to 23,588 and the spike in the death toll from 114 to 121 during the period in which the number of active cases has recorded a down- ward spiral from 2,867 to just 1,818, a decline of over 1,000 cases in the 12-day period. @WWVc`fc4`gZUhRccZ`cdSVWZeeZ_XWf_VcR]+4CA7 ?=BQ =4F34;78 Bringing attention to Covid- 19 work across the States, BJP president JP Nadda on Monday virtually laid founda- tion stone for nine Oxygen plants in Gujarat and two oth- ers in Himachal Pradesh. Under its programme ‘seva hi Sanghthan’, BJP has stepped up its efforts to reach-out one lakh villages and is also orga- nizing supply of essentials required in the treatment of Coronavirus. Nadda laid foundation stones of 9 Oxygen plants vir- tually and dedicated them to Gujarat which would augment supply of O2 for virus infected patients in the respective hos- pitals, according to a BJP state- ment. The O2 plants, among oth- ers, will be set-up in Surat, Navasari, Bhavnagar , Jamnagar and Junagadh by Ballabhbhusan Brajkumar, BJP said. A total of 29 such plants are planned in the State by him. Earlier during the day, Nadda flagged off COVID relief material for Himachal Pradesh in presence of State MP and Union Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur. Nadda said O2 for 1010 beds has been organised in the satate adding Unna in the State too will have an oxygen plant. The Covid19 related mate- rial sent to Himachal Pradesh also included 8 O2 concentrators, 105 Oxygen Cylinders, 200 oxygen regula- tors and 400 O2 masks 1DGGDODVIRXQGDWLRQVWRQH IRUR[JHQSODQWVLQ*XMDUDW ?=BQ =4F 34;78 Un i o n H e a l t h Minister Dr H a r s h Vardhan on Monday took note of the alleged wastage of vaccine in Rajasthan as pointed out by those like BJP leader and MoS Finance Anurag Thakur. “Taking note of Covid vaccine wastage reports in some districts of Rajasthan, I wrote to State Health Minister to investigate the matter. I have also asked for information over planning at the local level to prevent vaccine wastage,” he tweeted. FQbTXQ^dQ[Uccd_S[_V ZQRgQcdQWUY^BQZQcdXQ^ ?=BQ =4F34;78 Scientists have identified a new drug which is highly effective in preventing severe Covid-19 in mice infected with SARS-CoV-2, and could also treat other respiratory coron- aviruses. The findings, published in the journal Science Immunology, suggest that the drug diABZI activates the body’s innate immune response, the first line of defence against invading pathogens “This paper is the first to show that activating an early immune response therapeuti- cally with a single dose is a promising strategy for con- trolling the virus, including the South African variant B.1.351, which has led to worldwide concern,” said Sara Cherry, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the US. They found that the virus is able to hide, delaying the immune system’s early recog- nition and response. The team predicted that it may be able to identify drugs that could set off this immune response in the respiratory cells earlier and prevent severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. To identify drugs that would block SARS-CoV-2 infection, the researchers screened 75 drugs that target sensing pathways in lung cells. They identified nine candi- dates that significantly sup- pressed infection by activating STING — the simulation of interferon genes which plays an important role in innate immu- nity. The team tested a newly- developed drug molecule called diABZI, which is currently being tested in clinical trials to treat some cancers. The researchers found that diABZI potently inhibits SARS-CoV-2 infection of diverse strains, including variant of concern B.1.351, by stimulating inter- feron signalling. Because the drug needed to reach the lungs, diABZI was administered through a nasal delivery. Mice treated with diABZI showed much less weight loss than the control mice, and had significantly-reduced viral loads in their lungs and nos- trils, and had increased cytokine production. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Covid-19 infected kids with co-morbid conditions like heart disease, malnutrition, malignancy, diabetes and chronic kidney disorder among others have less chances of sur- vival, according to a study pub- lished in the recent journal of Indian Pediatric. Of the 969 children admit- ted during the study period between March 19, 2020 to August 7, 2020, it was found that 123 i.e. 12.8 per cent test- ed positive for Covid-19 includ- ing 16 (13%) extramural neonates. Five (4.1 per cent) had a history of travel. SARS-CoV-2 positive chil- dren were classified into Group I comprising previously healthy children while Group II had children having comorbidities like heart disease, diabetes, malignancy, malnutrition, renal, hepatobiliary, neurolog- ical, surgical/ orthopedic con- ditions, etc, as per the study ‘Outcome of Children Admitted With SARS-CoV-2 Infection: Experiences From a Pediatric Public Hospital.’ A team of doctors led by Dr Sudha Rao from Department of Pediatrics, Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Mumbai, Maharashtra said that at least 123 (71 boys) kids with median age of 3 were admitted, of which 47 (38 per cent) had comorbidities. Eighty four (68.3 per cent) children did not require respi- ratory support while more number of children in Group I ie 13 out of 19 kids required ventilator care. Similarly Vasoactive drugs were required in 15 percent of the total cases while 139 (32 per cent) chil- dren required intensive care and 14 (11.4 per cent) died, said the study. While Covid-19 generally causes mild disease in children, severe respiratory illness and MIS-C occur, in some cases with fatal outcomes. Children with underlying diseases might be at special risk for severe dis- ease. In fact, an analysis of at least forty-two studies con- taining 275,661 children with- out comorbidities and 9,353 children with comorbidities was done by a team of scientists last year too. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday alleged that the Central Governmenthasa“zerovaccine policy”whichisactingasa“dag- ger in Mother India’s heart”. He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over media reportswhichclaimedthatpost- Covid the unemployment rate was in double digits in May this year. “The zero vaccine policy of the Modi government is acting like a dagger in Mother India’s heart. Sad truth,” Rahul Gandhi saidinatweet.“Onemanandhis arrogance + One virus and its mutants,” he said in another tweet,citingareportthatclaimed that “97 percent of Indians are poorer post-Covid”. RahulGandhihasbeencrit- ical of the Modi government’s handling of the COVID pan- demicanditsvaccinepolicy.The BJPhasaccusedtheCongressof spreading misinformation and fear on vaccination as part of a campaign against the Modi Government. It said Rahul shouldratherbeconcernedabout theCongress-ruledstatesasthey have not been able lift their quota from vaccine producers. =TfP]cX2^eXSSadV^] cWTP]eX[cTbcb^]XRT bW^f_^bXcXeTaTbd[cb 2T]caTWPb ³iTa^ePRRX]T´ _^[XRh)APWd[ 7TPS[TbbePabXcXTbSTaPX[X]bcXcdcX^]P[Ud]RcX^]X]V 2^eXS (X]UTRcTSZXSb fXcWR^^aQXSXcXTb [Tbb[XZT[hc^bdaeXeT ?=BQ =4F34;78 India on Monday reported the lowest daily new cases in the last 50 days with the tally at 1.52 Lakh cases. It is for the fourth consecutive day that the daily cases have been less than two lakh. With a decrease by 88,416 in the last 24 hours, active case- load has further declined to 20,26,092, Union Health Ministry said adding that at the same time daily recoveries con- tinue to outnumber the daily new cases for the 18th consec- utive day. The recovery rate has further climbed to 91.60 per cent while daily positivity rate at 9.07 per cent continues the streak of less than 10 per cent positivity for seven continuous days, said the Ministry. 85,288 more recoveries were reported during the last 24 hours as compared to the daily new cases. Out of the people infected since the beginning of the pan- demic 2,56,92,342 people have already recovered from Covid- 19 while2,38,022 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. A total of 16,83,135 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours in the country and cumulatively India has conducted 34.48 crore tests so far. So far more than 21.31 crore vaccine doses have been administered under nation- wide vaccination drive. Of this, the total consumption, includ- ing wastages, is 21,22,38,652 doses (as per data available at 8 AM on Monday). ?=BQ =4F34;78 In a move to enhance farmers’ income through horticulture, the National Horticulture Board (NHB) on Monday launched the pilot phase of the Cluster Development Programme covering 11 States and UTs, including Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The 12 clusters include Shopian (JK) and Kinnaur (HP) for apple, Lucknow (UP), Kutch (Gujarat) and Mahbubnagar (Telangana) for mango, Anantpur (AP), and Theni (TN) for banana, Nasik (Maharashtra) for grapes, Siphahijala (Tripura) for pineapple, Solapur (Maharashtra) and Chitradurga (Karnataka) for pomegranate and West Jaintia Hills (Meghalaya) for turmeric. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday virtually launched the Horticulture Cluster Development Programme (CDP) in the presence of min- isters of state Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Chaudhary. Senior officials of the ministry, including Abhilaksh Likhi, Additional Secretary, and Rajbir Singh, NHB Managing Director. The Ministry has identified 53 horticulture clusters, of which 12 have been selected for the pilot project. Based on the learnings from the pilot project, the programme will be scaled up to cover all the identified clusters. These clusters will be implemented through Cluster Development Agencies (CDAs) which are appointed on the rec- ommendations of the respective State/UT Government. Regarding its reach and impact, Tomar said, “doubling farmers’ income is one of the biggest priorities of our gov- ernment. The CDP will bene- fit about 10 lakh farmers and related stakeholders of the value chain. With this programme, we aim to improve exports of the targeted crops by approx. 20% and create cluster-specif- ic brands to enhance the com- petitiveness of cluster crops.” 7^acXRd[cdaT1^PaS [Pd]RWTbR[dbcTa_[P]c^ aPXbTUPaTab´X]R^T 8]SXPaT_^acb [^fTbcSPX[h2^eXS RPbTbX]$SPhb
- 5. ]PcX^]$ 347A03D=kCD4B30H k9D=4 !! ?=BQ C7A8BBDA The fortune of Kerala BJP has reached the nadir and the outfit finds itself in a quag- mire of corruption, black money, nepotism and hawala operations. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers were having a subdued second anniversary function to mark the victory of the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha election and swearing in of the govern- ment, Kerala saw group clash by the party’s State level lead- ers and cadres over sharing of Rs three crore, a part of the ille- gal money meant for funding the recently held assembly elec- tion. Vadanappalli in Thrissur district watched with shock on Saturday as two groups of the Hindutwa outfit clashed among themselves with deadly weapons resulting in Kiran (27) getting grievously injured. He has been admitted to hos- pital. Kerala Police is investigat- ing the source of Rs three crore which was waylaid and robbed by a group of persons that included many district level leaders of the BJP in Thrissur. The money was reportedly meant for the elec- tion expenses of a party can- didate in the district. A part of the money was seized by the Police from the houses of BJP’s Thrissur district leaders. M Ganesh, Kerala organizational secretary of the party and G Gireesh, office sec- retary of the party were sum- moned by the investigating officer and questioned for almost five hours. They were let off with a notice that they would be summoned again for questioning. “We do not have anything to do with this heist and black money. Our dealings were through electronic money transfer and all transactions have been accounted for,” said K Surendran, party’s Kerala chief. An audio clip of the party’s top woman leader in the State asking a businessman to part with Rs 25 lakh so that she could get a national level post- ing has gone viral in the social media. The leader has dragged the name of a prominent union cabinet minister to convince the businessman about her influence in New Delhi. The vernacular media, including satellite news chan- nels and newspapers, have been charging that Rs 400 crore has been pumped into the State to fight the assembly elections following the assur- ance by Kerala BJP leaders that the party is sure to win 35 seats in the election. “If the BJP wants to survive in Kerala as a political entity, the central leadership should oust the present State leaders and bring in new persons with capabilities to lead the cadre. There are personalities like Dr Jacob Thomas, T P Senkumar, former directors general of police, actors Suresh Gopi and Krishnakumar who have proven track records in public service,” said Shajan Skariah, political commentator and chief editor of political portal Marunadan Malayali. :D0A274;;0??0=Q :278 Praful Patel, the administra- tor of Lakshadweep Islands was saffronising even the coconut trees in the archipel- ago, according to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He demanded the immediate recall of the administrator and quash- ing of all orders issued by him in the name of development of the group of islands while introducing a resolution in the Legislative Assembly on Monday. In a show of unity and sol- idarity, all political parties sup- ported the resolution intro- duced by the chief minister which was adopted unani- mously. Leaders of all political parties belonging to the ruling LDF and the Opposition were seen vying with one another in lambasting the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre and its representative in the islands Praful Patel. “The unique way of life of the people of Lakshadweep is being tampered with and attempts are being made to impose a saffron agenda and corporate interests in the islands. It started with painting saffron colour on the coconut trees and it has grown to an extent that would destroy their habitat, life and natural rela- tionships… Steps have been taken to bring in the Goonda Act in Lakshadweep, where crime is rare. A dictatorial sys- tem of governance is being developed through these mea- sures,” said Vijayan while intro- ducing the resolution. The chief minister also blamed the Adminisrator for his efforts to ban cow slaugh- ter in the islands. “This is an important part of the staple food of the people in Lakshadweep. The adminis- trator is taking the lead in grad- ually destroying the life and culture of the people of Lakshadweep,” charged Vijayan. He said that bizarre orders related to elections were being implemented. The stance that those with more than two chil- dren were not eligible to con- test panchayat elections was unheard of in India, said Vijayan. The Kerala House had adopted unanimous resolu- tions in the past demanding the immediate release of leader of PDP Abdul Nazar Madani, who was arrested and impris- oned by the Karnataka Police in connection with the Bangalore serial blast cases and Tamil Nadu Police for the burning of a State Transport Bus, pointed out K Surendran, Kerala BJP president. Early this year, the House had adopt- ed unanimous resolutions against the Citizen Amendment Act and Farm Bills. Chief Minister Vijayan has declared that the CAA and Farm Bills do not have legal sanctity in the State. T G Mohan Das, political commentator, said he was shocked that the resolution remained silent over the oppo- sition of the residents of the island towards installing the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, in the islands. “A statue of the Mahatma designed and built in 2010 is still awaiting clearance for installation from the local residents. It is getting dusted in the administrator’s office for more than a decade,” said Das. :D0A274;;0??0=Q :278 The efforts of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to contain COVID-19 trans- mission has started yielding results as the number of new persons tested positive for the pandemic came down to 12,300 on Monday. Though the fatality rate was on the higher side as the pandemic claimed 174 lives, the Test Positivity Rate dipped to 13.77 per cent on Monday, according to a release issued by the department of health. On Monday, 89, 345 samples were test- ed for the pandemic . While 56 health workers were afflicted with the disease, the number of patients in the State undergo- ing treatment too came down to 2,06, 982. The flattening of the COVID-19 curve in the State made Pinarayi Vijayan to write chief ministers of 11 non-BJP ruled States suggesting a joint action against the Centre demanding immediate procurement of vaccines and financial packages. The Kerala strongman, with his eyes set on the 2024 Lok Sabha election reminded the 11 chief ministers that the Centre should provide vaccines to all States free of cost. He said vaccine man- ufacturers were not interested in respond- ing to the global tenders floated by the States for direct supply of vaccine. 80=BQ ?0C=0 Four children died in the span of 24 hours in Bihar's Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), includ- ing, a two and half month old infant, who tested positive for the coronavirus. The principal of DMCH confirmed the deaths. He said that the deceased had experi- enced breathing problems. The doctors of DMCH are suspecting that the other three children might have died due to multi system inflammatory syndrome in children. The incident came to light after Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav tweeted the deaths of children in DMCH. Yadav is undergoing treatment in DMCH after he was arrested in a 32-year-old kidnapping case in Madhepura. Addressing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Yadav tweeted: I am requesting CM Sahab to please save the children from the third wave of Corona. The children of Bihar can- not afford to face the deterio- rating health infra in your state and ill equipped hospitals. Please intervene immediately. If mothers of Bihar would lose their children due to Corona infection, you will also lose the chair of chief minister. *URXSFODVKE%-3OHDGHUVLQ 7KULVVXURYHUVKDULQJRIERRW %ZUdUZVZ_ 5RcSYR_XRY`da Z_#%Y`fcd RYLGFDVHV FRPHGRZQ FRQVLGHUDEO LQ.HUDOD ?A0344?B0G4=0Q 0;860A7 In the village of Noorpur in Tappal police station area, about a hundred and twenty Hindu families, angered by other community for stopping the marriage procession, wrote “Makan Bikau Hai (House for sale)” on their doors. Police was also alerted when these photos went viral on social media. On Sunday evening, a report was lodged against 11 people. Although a complain was also given in the police station from the other side, but it could not be lodged. The case has been report- ed to prevent the marriage of two daughters of Omprakash of Scheduled Caste, resident of the village, on the afternoon of 26 May. According to Omprakash, marriage procession was com- ing to his door. Some people from a particular community gathered near the mosque on the main road and started opposing it. This mob attacked the guests and the Hindus of the village with sticks and rods. Meanwhile the glass of the DJ car broke. Two people, includ- ing the driver of the car, were injured. He gave information against the accused in the police station the next morn- ing, but the police did not take any action. In the name of giv- ing security, two policemen were installed in the village. The villagers alleged that Baaraat was attacked in a planned manner by a particu- lar community mob. Annoyed by the police's action, the aggrieved family and the peo- ple in support of them protest- ed outside their doors, shout- ing slogans against the police and the administration. Seeing the matter escalat- ing on Sunday evening, the Tappal police have filed a report on the complaint of Omprakash, son of Tejpal. According to Rajveer, son of Mihilal of the village, the population of Nurpur village is around 3,500. Of this 80 per cent of the people are Muslim and 20 per cent are of Hindu society living. Rajveer said: “ From time to time, people of particular community pres- surise us to convert and also give temptation.” Rajveer says that this is not the first case of people protesting against the girl's marriage. Earlier three such incidents have taken place. According to Omprakash, ear- lier on April 25 and May 9, marriage processions were opposed in the same way. ?=BQ 0;860A7 An FIR has been registered against in-charge medical officer, Dr Arfin Zehra and contractual ANM Niha Khan in Jamalpur Urban Primary Health Center for throwing 29 vaccine-filled syringes in garbage. They have been accused of causing damage to public property, violation of epidemic act, conspiracy and misinformation. The depart- ment has already taken action to stop increment of medical officer and transfer to Harduaganj CHC and also ter- mination of the ANM. The case has been regis- tered on behalf of the District Immunization Officer Dr. Durgesh Kumar and Deputy District Immunization Officer Sharad Aggarwal. In state- ment given to the Civil Line Police Station, Vaccine and Cold Chain Manager Ravindra Sharma had inspected the Jamalpur Urban PHC on 22 May. According to the Covid portal, 200 people between the ages of 18 and 44 were vacci- nated (Covaxin) on the said date. In this session, 29 such syringes were found in which the vaccine was loaded and the hub was cut. Which showed that many beneficiaries were updated on the portal without vaccine. Even after filling the syringe with the vaccine, the beneficiaries were deprived of the vaccine. This seems to have been done intentionally. The medical officer in charge and the pharmacist held vac- cination staff responsible. The Inquiry Committee reported that the contract ANM gave a statement of imposition of 15 vaccines, whereas 60-70 vac- cines were given that day. This was in the knowledge of the medical officer in charge, but he did not give any infor- mation to the CMO. Therefore they are guilty of concealing the facts. Niha Khan is held guilty of not throwing 29 doses of vaccine loaded syringes into the garbage. Niha Khan has damaged the nation- al program by this act. She has played with the sentiments of the public in violation of the epidemic act. The police have filed a lawsuit against the medical officer in charge and the fired ANM under the Disaster Act, for damaging public property, concealing facts, giving false informa- tion, intentionally commit- ting malicious acts and con- spiracy. The CMO formed a joint investigation committee under the direction of ACMO Dr. Durgesh Kumar and Dr. MK Mathur. On May 25, the Health Department team reached the PHC and con- ducted an investigation. The statements of both ANM Niha Khan and Annu, staff nurse Sonam Rajauria and medical officer in-charge Dr. Arifin Zehra were recorded in this. The ANM reported the syringe to be defective. No one admitted of throwing a syringe filled with vaccine. No one had an answer to why the use of a bad syringe was not stopped. The pharmacist said in his statement that the vaccine should be carried out by the team of ANM. The medical officer in charge also made the same statement. The officials were neither satisfied with the ANM nor the statement of the medical officer in-charge. Because, no one reported a syringe malfunction. Jamalpur Urban PHC is being vaccinated from May 10. Reports of good vaccination were being received daily from here, but in inspection on 22 May, 29 vaccine-filled syringes were found in the garbage. 58A[^SVTSPVPX]bcTSXRP[^UUXRTaX] RWPaVT0=U^aUPZTePRRX]PcX^]X]0[XVPaW +LQGXIDPLO KDUDVVHGLQYLOODJH SHRSOHERRNHG ?=BQ 908?DA The Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has approved the proposal to upgrade the Nagarfort sub-tehsil of Tonk district to the new tehsil and upgradation of Mitrapura Sub-Tehsil of Sawai Madhopur District into Tehsil. The newly upgraded Tehsil Nagarfort will comprise 4 land records inspector circles, 17 patwar divisions and 87 revenue villages. With this decision of the Chief Minister, people will be able to ease the execution of revenue works at the local level itself. Tehsil Mitrapura will include 3 Land Records Inspector increments, 11 Patwar divisions and 43 revenue villages. With this decision of the Chief Minister, people will be able to ease the execution of revenue works at the local level itself. During the budget session of 2021- 22, Gehlot had announced the opening of various new tehsil and sub-tehsil offices in the state and to upgrade the sub-tehsil. In view of these announce- ments, the Chief Minister has given this approval for Tonk district. 78C:0=370A8Q 90D The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is in recovery mode now. For the first time in the last over one month the positivity rate dropped below 5 per cent. On Monday a total number of 1525 persons tested positive for coronavirus while 4070 patients were discharged from the different hospitals. 37 patients, 20 in Jammu division and 17 in Kashmir succumbed to the virus. Meanwhile, the UT administration has already intensified an ongoing vac- cinationdrivetocoverthemajoritypop- ulationover45yearsofage. Sofar 32.09 lakh persons have been vaccinated across Jk which included 26.49 lakh people in the 45 years plus age group. According to the media bulletin, with the constant decline in fresh cases the total active positive cases in JK have also come down to 35095. The active positive cases in Jammu dis- trict stood at 5617 and in Srinagar at 4348 on Monday. Out of 20 districts in Jk only two districts of Jammu and Srinagar record- ed over 200 plus cases on Monday while eightdistrictsofJammudivisionrecord- ed less than fifty positive cases and six districtsofKashmirdivisionrecordedless than 100 new cases and three districts recordedmorethan100casesonMonday. A`dZeZgZejcReV Uc`adSV]`h Z_;]`hVde Z_]Rde^`_eY ?=BQ ;D2:=F Striving to figure out the prevalence of Covid-19 in urban and remote areas of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered a ‘sero survey’ across the state from June 4. The survey will help find the volume of immunity among the people of state against the deadly coronavirus. The survey involves testing blood serum of a group of individuals to determine the presence of antibodies against corona infection and its find- ingswereexpectedtobereleasedbythe end of June. Stating that it was neces- sary to conduct the survey, the chief minister, while addressing a high level meeting on Monday, said that the sam- pleswouldbecollectedfromJune4and would enable an assessment of the sta- tus of infection at different scales including gender and age.There are people who did not undergo RT-PCR tests and could be asymptomatic. In cases like these, the sero sur- vey could be a significant step at this time of the pandemic as medical pro- fessionals look for IGG against COVID-19 which helps in finding who has developed immunity against the virus. Many microbiologists explained that when virus attacks, the body combats with a protective immune response producing an anti- body, a kind of protein, called immunoglobulin (IG). But in the case of coronavirus infection, scientists look for IG-M and IG-G from the host of IGs present in the body. 4J`XZ`cUVcddVc` dfcgVjWc`^;f_V% ?=BQ ;D2:=F The Uttar Pradesh Government has increased the ex-gratia payment to the dependents of teachers and Government employees who died of Covid-19 during pan- chayat elections, to C30 lakh. The Government has also decided that the dependents of State employees and teachers who tested coronavirus nega- tive after treatment but died of post-Covid-19 complications will also be entitled to the ex gratia payment. These deci- sions were taken in a cabinet meeting held through circula- tion here on Monday. Sources in the government said that as per the cabinet decision, the person who died within 30 days of his/her first day of election duty would be entitled for the ex gratia pay- ment. “The State Election Commission guideline has not taken care of the time taken between a person getting infected of COVID-19 and the death, thus needing a validation from the cabinet,” the official said. “We believe that the time frame of 30 days will include all the teachers and the govern- ment employees who have died of COVID-19 during pan- chayat elections,” he said. The cabinet specified that for con- firmation of COVID-19, a per- son should have an RT PCR positive report, blood test report or CT scan report. “In case a person who has tested COVID-19 negative but has died of post-COVID-19 complications should also be treated as COVID-19 positive case,” the official said. The Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shikshak Sangh has however criticised the gov- ernment for giving Rs 30 lakh as compensation. “Our demand is that the government should pay Rs 1 crore as compensation. If a small state like Delhi can give a compensation of Rs 1 crore why not UP?” he asked. In other decisions, children who have lost both of their par- ents or earning parents will be given financial assistance of Rs 4,000 per month. Besides, a financial assistance of Rs 1,0,1,000 will be given for the marriage of orphaned girls under the Chief Minister Bal Seva Yojana. The cabinet has also approved a proposal to give tablets/laptops to children above class 9 or up to 18 years of age who are getting voca- tional education. :X]^UcTPRWTabbcPUUfW^ SXTS^U2^eXSX]_P]RWPhPc _^[[bc^VTcC;TgVaPcXP PWP2ZXRZb^UUcaXP[ ad]bU^a!]TfTca^ [X]TbU^adQPX C=A067D=0C70Q D108) In a precursor to the intro- duction of two more north- south metros in Mumbai’s north-western suburbs, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Monday, kicked off the trial runs for the city’s 2A Yellow Line and 7 Red Line, both-elevated metro lines. While the Line 2A -- built at a cost of around Rs. 6,400 crore -- runs from Dahisar to DN Nagar, fully elevated for 18.60 kms with 17 stations, the Line 7 -- constructed at a cost of around Rs.6,200 crore runs from Dahisar East to Andheri, fully elevated for 16.50 kms with 13 stations. Over the next few days, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will test the two lines with 6-car rakes at vari- ous speeds. Both these lines are expected to be commissioned in two phases – the first in September 2021 and the second in January 2022. When trains begin to oper- ate on these two metro corri- dors, it will mark completion of a crucial phase of the metro system in the city, currently served by a single east-west 11.40 kms Mumbai Metro One line from Versova-Andheri- Ghatkopar which was inaugu- rated in June 2014. The first phase would cover nine stations each for both the lines covering a distance of 10.50 kms (Line 2A) and 9.20 kms (Line 7), while the remaining sections will become operational in the second phase. The two lines, when they become operational, will not only cut down the travel time from the current 75 to 90 min- utes to barely 25 minutes, but they will also cater to 6 l;akh commuters daily over a period of decade, thus helping decon- gest the city road traffic. More than 93 percent of all the civil works on both the Metro lines have been com- pleted and now other system and station works are current- ly in full swing to make them ready for the first commuters by September 2021. At the inaugural function, chief minister Udhhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Mayor Kishori Pednekar, other min- isters of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress alliance flagged off a train that was operated on a trial run. ?=BQ ;D2:=F Samajwadi Party, which has remained dormant for the last over four years, after being defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2017 UP Assembly polls, faces an uphill task of having a credible political nar- rative to take on the ruling party in the 2022 UP Assembly elections. Though the SP was upbeat after its good performance in the panchayat polls held in April, the wisdom is dawning on the party leadership that panchayat elections have little bearing on the Assembly polls. The SP has lost three con- secutive elections on its prin- cipal turf -- 2014 Lok Sabha polls, 2017 UP assembly polls and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. For the last four years, the SP was hardly seen or heard except during an odd by-poll and made no impact in the legisla- tive assembly and the legislative council polls. Political observers say that theSPhassofarofferednocred- ible explanation as to why it has remained dormant for the last fouryearsdespitebeingtheprin- cipaloppositionpartyandgiving a walkover to the ruling BJP. “During the Bahujan Samaj Partyrulefrom2007to2012,the SP made effective efforts to come back to power in the state and launched sustained state- wide agitations against the Mayawati regime. Its efforts and hard work paid rich dividends and the party for the first time was voted to power in 2012 with a clear majority in the assembly. We have not witnessed such effort by the SP to come back to powerinthelastfouryearssince 2017,” said political analyst Prof Abhay Dube. Moreover, Dube said, “the politics of social justice has been tried and tested during the last three decades and these leaders have enjoyed the com- forts of power and made for- tunes and they have lost the grit and vigour to again move on the path of social justice”. “The erstwhile protagonist of politics of social justice like the SP and BSP are living in self-created castles in air that the BJP is very unpopular and the people will vote for them and they will come back to power,” said a political analyst, adding that it amounted to political hara-kiri. A political analyst pointed out that the BJP was restless after the setbacks in the recent panchayat elections and they were holding marathon meet- ings to find out where they erred and were anxious to set their house in order ahead of 2022 UP assembly elections but no such activity was visible in the opposition camps. Abhay Dube argued, “Elections are round the corner, but you do not see any politi- cal movement by the Samajwadi Party to build up a political atmosphere to attract people as they are confident that they will be the natural choice of the people in 2022 assembly elections’.” He added that the SP was confident that it would easily capitalise on the failures of the BJP without hitting the street and this was going in favour of the ruling party. The SP leaders are busy cre- ating the perception that the non-Jatav and non-Yadav OBCs were disillusioned with the BJP and they would vote against the ruling party in 2022. “No such sentiments are visible on the ground. The OBCs remain deprived and have got nothing from the pol- itics of social justice and it is not possible that their political pref- erence will change overnight and they will vote for the Samajwadi party or the Bahujan Samaj Party,” Dube argued. DAWRTVdR_faYZ]]eRdZ_ #!##FA2ddV^S]ja`]]d :TaP[P7^dbTPS^_cbd]P]X^dbaTb^[dcX^] PVPX]bc;PZbWPSfTT_PSX]XbcaPc^a 6TW[^cP__a^eTb_a^_^bP[c^ d_VaPST=PVPaU^acbdQcTWbX[ X]c^]TfcTWbX[XcaP_daP BdQCTWbX[X]c^cTWbX[
- 6. of trepidation when it came to dealing with China. I still rememberthe1962invasionas it appeared to me when I was a resident in Kolkata. The Peking (now Beijing) Radio twiceadayinNovemberofthe year announced that the troops of Peoples Liberation Army,asChina’sarmyiscalled, were looking forward to “cel- ebrating Christmas in Calcutta”. The possibility did seemrealatthetime.Whenon the 21st of November, we heard on the radio news at 8 am that the Chinese had declared a unilateral with- drawal, it is difficult to imag- ine the relief all knowing Indians then felt. Reading through the records of the meetings with Chinese Premier Chou En-lai until 1960, it seems clear that the Chinese wanted us to con- cedewhat they hadgrabbedin Aksai Chin. They wanted Tibet to be connected with Sinkiang by a road which they had already built. In return, they would concede what we claimed in the eastern and middlesectors.Inotherwords, theymusteventodaybeinsist- ing on similar terms; India should give up wanting back the 30,000 sq km of Aksai Chin they had occupied in the 1950s, of which Nehru had said in Parliament: “Not a blade of grass grows there.” The reality is that no GovernmentinDelhicandare sign off this territory and still hope to remain in power. This may be possible if and when China gets into a corner, we cangetasignificantconcession as compensation. With the most successful ofleaders,thewheeloffortune turns and the needle stops and points to misfortune. Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany could do no wrong between 1933 and most of 1942, a span ofnearly10years.Aman,who after four years of World War One could not rise above the rank of corporal, commanded the finest of German Field Marshals with implicit obedi- ence. The saga of Napoleon Bonaparte is well known. President Xi Jinping’s ambi- tions are not qualitatively dif- ferent. ThatiswhentheQuadcan come into real play. The US can provoke Beijing on Taiwan. Japan, with its navy, as well as Australia’s, can block the appropriate channels of SouthChinaSea.Thatiswhen India can play its Himalayan card. India’s Foreign Ministry can and should convince the Russianleadershipthatthereal threat to it will be from China. Russia has vast empty spaces of land in Asia and, sooner or later, China is likely to grab someofit.Thetwoneighbours sharealongborder;Russiahas space without people and China has people without space. The two countries fought a war across the Ussuri River in 1969 and there is no reason why they cannot clash again. In 1962, India had the misfortune to be headed by a leader who told General Lockart, the interim British Commander-in-Chief of the India Army in 1947, that India was a “peace-loving country and it did not need an Army”. The police was sufficient to protect us. Moreover, Nehru’s Defence Minister was the Communist Krishna Menon, whowasabsolutelycertainthat China was a “fraternal” coun- try and could never attack us. This is the second of the two-part series. Concluded. (Thewriterisawell-known columnist and an author. The views expressed are personal.) 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