The Supreme Court has issued notices to the West Bengal government, central government and Election Commission over a plea seeking an SIT probe into post-election violence in West Bengal. The plea alleges thousands of BJP supporters have been targeted and seeks compensation for victims. It also demands President's Rule be imposed, citing deteriorating law and order situation. The court sought responses within four weeks.

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?=BQ =4F34;78
In a major diplomatic victo-
ry for India, nine countries -
Austria, Germany, Slovenia,
Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Spain,
Estonia, and Switzerland - have
cleared Serum Institute of
India’s Covishield jab for Green
Pass.
This means those inocu-
lated with the Covishield vac-
cine will be exempted from
travel curbs in these coun-
tries. However, fate of Bharat
Biotech’s Covaxin is yet to be
decided.
The Green Pass is an
immunity document meant to
ease travel within and to the
European Union (EU) from
July 1.
However, this did not come
easy for India. After EU coun-
tries put condition of making
it mandatory for a quarantine
period for Indians arriving in
their regions despite being vac-
cinated with Covishield, India
too decided on adopting a rec-
iprocal policy.
On Wednesday, India had
said it would recognise EU’s
digital Covid certificate on a
reciprocal basis and would not
accept it until the EU does the
same for Indian vaccines -
Covishield and Covaxin.
India, which had raised the
issue with the European
Medicines Agency (EMA) and
France, had also asked EU
member states to individually
consider extending a similar
exemption to those who have
had Covishield and Covaxin
jabs.
Currently, the EMA, the
EU’s top medical body had
approved only four vaccines so
far — Pfizer-BioNTech’s
Comirnaty, US pharma giant
Moderna’s Covid vaccine, the
AstraZeneca shot manufac-
tured and sold in Europe as
Vaxzervria, and Johnson
Johnson’s Janssen. Only those
who have been given these
shots were granted vaccination
passports and allowed to trav-
el hassle-free amid the pan-
demic.
Besides Covishield, Bharat
Biotech’s Covaxin was also not
on the EMA list. The EU does,
however, also said that “mem-
ber states may decide to extend
this (the certificate) also to EU
travellers that received anoth-
er vaccine”.
Under these rules, Indians
— vaccinated with Covishield
or Covaxin — were to be sub-
jected to a mandatory quaran-
tine if they travel to the EU
nations, unless these vaccines
are cleared by the respective
countries.
Foreign Minister S
Jaishankar on Tuesday had
also brought the issue when he
met Josep Borrell Fontelles, a
top EU official.
?=BQ =4F34;78
As north and northwest part
of the country reels under
a heatwave and dry humid
weather conditions due to
monsoon’s delay, the India
Meteorological Department
(IMD) on Thursday said mon-
soon rain in July is likely to be
“normal” between 94 and 106
per cent of long-period aver-
age. It added that rains in the
north, northwest India will
revive only during the second
week.
Dry and strong westerly
winds blowing from Pakistan
and West Asia have brought
the heatwaves and dry humid
conditions across northern
and central India which is
likely to continue till the sec-
ond week.
Temperatures in several
places in central and western
India crossed 45 degrees Celsius
on Thursday. In normal weath-
er conditions, this region sees
heatwave conditions in late
April, May or early June.
IMD director general
Mrutunjay Mohapatra in its
forecast for July said rainfall is
not expected to be good in the
first week, but it is likely to pick
up in the second half of the sec-
ond week of July. According to
Mohapatra, the advancement of
the monsoon is unlikely to
happen before July 7.
Farmers are worried as the
delay in the arrival of the wind
system is likely to impact agri-
cultural operations such as
sowing and transplantation of
crops, irrigation scheduling
and power requirements in the
northwest region. According to
IMD data, despite 10 per cent
excess rainfall in June, at least
202 districts are faced large defi-
cient monsoon and 183 defi-
cient rainfall so far. On the
southwest monsoon, Dr
Mohapatra said “below normal”
to “normal” rainfall is likely
over many areas of northwest
India; parts of the south penin-
sula, central, east and northeast
India while “normal” to “above
normal” rainfall is likely over
parts of central India and adja-
cent areas of peninsular India
and Gangetic plains in July.
Mohapatra said monsoon
covered most parts of the coun-
try except northwest India, by
June 19. He said southwest
monsoon does take a break
and it is normal. But it is not
usual for the break to stretch so
much.
?=B064=284BQ =4F34;78
The Supreme Court on
Thursday issued notices to
the West Bengal Government,
the Centre and the Election
Commission over a plea seek-
ing an SIT probe into the post-
poll violence in the State.
The court was hearing a
plea seeking direction to the
Centre to impose President’s
Rule in West Bengal in view of
deteriorating law and order
situation due to the post-poll
violence which started on May
2, the day of Assembly election
results.
The plea also sought direc-
tion to the Centre to deploy
armed/paramilitary forces in
the aid of the administrative
authorities to bring normalcy
in the State and to save it from
internal disturbances.
A bench of Justices Vineet
Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari
issued notice to the Centre,
West Bengal and the EC on the
plea, which also sought Central
and State Governments to
award compensation to the
victims and their family mem-
bers after ascertaining the
nature of loss sustained by
them in post-poll violence in
the State.
Advocate Hari Shankar
Jain — appearing for petition-
ers Ranjana Agnihotri, a Uttar
Pradesh-based practicing
lawyer and social worker
Jitender Singh — said that the
plea is against post-poll vio-
lence in West Bengal.
The bench said, “We are
issuing notice to respondent
number 1, (Union of India),
respondent number-2 (West
Bengal Government) and
respondent number 3 (Election
Commission of India).”
The bench, however, did
not issue notice to respondent
number 4 — Mamata Banerjee
as the president of Trinamool
Congress Party (TMC).
The plea filed through
advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain
said that the PIL has been filed
in extraordinary circumstances
as thousands of residents of
West Bengal are being ter-
rorised, penalised and tortured
by the workers of TMC for sup-
porting the Opposition
Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) dur-
ing the Assembly polls.
The petitioners are espous-
ing the cause of thousands of
people, mostly Hindus, who are
being targeted by Muslims to
take revenge for supporting the
BJP as they want to crush
Hindus so that for years to
come the power may remain
with the party of their choice,
the plea said.
?C8Q 14898=6
Adefiant President Xi
Jinping on Thursday
asserted that the Chinese peo-
ple will not allow any “foreign
force” to “bully, oppress or
subjugate” China and spoke of
its military might to defend its
sovereignty, as the ruling
Communist Party celebrated its
centenary with a massive
colourful show at the historic
Tiananmen Square here.
Addressing a highly-chore-
ographed ceremony from the
balcony of Tiananmen Gate,
which also adorns a giant size
photo of ‘Chairman’ Mao
Zedong, the founding father of
the People’s Republic of China,
Xi also said integrating Taiwan
with the Chinese mainland is
a historic mission of the party.
Xi warned that any “foreign
force” will be allowed to bully
China, an apparent reference to
the US.
Both former US President
Donald Trump and his suc-
cessor Joe Biden have pursued
a hardline policy towards
China, targeting it on several
fronts including trade, human
rights and the origins of the
Covid-19, which first emerged
in the central Chinese city of
Wuhan before becoming a
pandemic.
“Chinese people will never
allow any foreign force to bully,
oppress, or subjugate us,” state-
run Xinhua news agency quot-
ed 68-year-old Xi as saying.
Detailed report on P8
?=BQ =4F34;78
Aspecial National
Investigation Agency
(NIA) court in Guwahati on
Thursday discharged Akhil
Gogoi, Raijor Dal president and
MLA from Sibsagar, Assam in
a case related to anti-
Citizenship Amendment Act
(CAA) protests, and ruled that
blockades unaccompanied by
incitement to violence would
not constitute terrorist act.
“Ordinary bandhs, block-
ades, shutdowns as part of
some protests, unaccompanied
by incitement to violence
would not come under the
ambit of the expression ‘threat-
ening the economic security of
India’ under section 15(1) of
Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act,” the court
ruled.
“Protests in a democracy
are sometimes seen to take the
form of blockades also, even
causing inconvenience to citi-
zens.
However, it is doubtful
whether such blockades for
temporary periods, if unac-
companied by any incitement
to violence, would constitute a
terrorist act within the mean-
ing of section 15 of UA(P) Act,”
it further elaborated.
Gogoi was arrested in
December 2019 on terror
charges under the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act.
Last year, he was admitted to
Guwahati Medical College
Hospital (GMCH) for treat-
ment of various ailments.
Following the court order
on Thursday, Gogoi walked out
of hospital. Last week, he was
discharged in the other case
filed against him by the NIA.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Twitter suffered an outage
on Thursday as thousands
of threads and profiles failed to
load up, even though timelines
remained accessible. Although
Twitter was not completely
down, some users also report-
ed that while their home page
showed tweets, the error was
faced upon clicking them, or
the profiles. Several users took
to their personal handles to
complain of Twitter being
down.
According to users, the
microblogging site remained
inaccessible for many on their
personal computers while
some users said the social
media platform was “mostly
functional” on mobile devices.
Twitter had faced a similar
“brief” outage in April this
year.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Fugitive diamantaire Nirav
Modi’s sister Purvi Modi,
alias Purvi Mehta, who had
earlier been allowed to turn
approver in the money laun-
dering case relating to the
PNB credit fraud case, has
remitted an amount of USD
23,16,889.03 from her UK
Bank account to the bank
account of the Enforcement
Directorate.
“With the cooperation of
Purvi Modi, the ED was able
to recover approximately
C17.25 crore (USD
2316889.03) from the ‘pro-
ceeds of crime’,” the agency said
on Thursday. Earlier, Purvi
Modi and her husband Maiank
Mehta were cited as accused in
two cases.
?C8Q =4F34;78
If an abducted person is not
assaulted or threatened to be
killed and treated well, then
the kidnapper cannot be sen-
tenced to life imprisonment
under Section 364A of Indian
Penal Code, the Supreme
Court has said.
A bench of Justices Ashok
Bhushan and R Subhash
Reddy made the observation
while setting aside the con-
viction of an auto driver in
Telangana who had kidnapped
a minor and demanded a ran-
som of Rs 2 lakh from his
father.
The top court said that
there are three essential ingre-
dients to convict an accused
under Section 364A (kidnap-
ping for ransom) which need
to be proved by prosecution.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
In a setback for the Serum
Institute of India (SII), a
panel of experts of the country’s
top drug regulator has recom-
mended against granting per-
mission to the Pune-based vac-
cine major to conduct the
phase 2/3 trial of Covid vaccine
Covovax on children aged two
to 17 years. Instead, it has
asked SII to conduct the trial
on the adults first.
Sources said that the SII
had applied to the Drugs
Controller General of India
(DCGI) on June 28 seeking
permission for conducting a
full trial of Covovax on 920
children, 460 of them being in
the 12-17 and 2-11 age groups,
at 10 sites.
“The Subject Expert
Committee (SEC) on COVID-
19 of the Central Drugs
Standard Control Organisation
(CDSCO), which deliberated
on the application, noted that
the vaccine has not been
approved in any country,” said
sources in the Union Health
Ministry.
“It also recommended that
the Pune-based company
should submit the safety and
immunogenicity data (of
Covovax) from the ongoing
clinical trial in adults for con-
sidering the conduct of a clin-
ical trial in children,” the source
said.
The recommendations are
learnt to have been approved by
the DCGI.
In August 2020, US-based
vaccine maker Novavax Inc.
had announced a licence agree-
ment with the SII for the devel-
opment and commercialisa-
tion of NVX-CoV2373, its
Covid-19 vaccine candidate, in
low and middle-income coun-
tries and India.
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The Congress is working out
a strategy to suitably
accommodate its firebrand
leader Navjot Singh Sidhu in
the party. His induction as the
“one of the two party presi-
dents” is one of the proposals
under consideration of the
party high command.
Sources said the party
high command is ready with
the “formula” to end the stale-
mate between the state’s senior
leader and the issue could be
resolved within week.
While Sidhu may be
appointed as one of the two
PPCC chiefs, Chief Minister
Amrinder Singh is likely to
propose the name of his loyal-
ist and state Education Minister
Vijay Inder Singla or Sri
Anandpur Sahib MP Manish
Tewari for the second post.
The names of Singla and
Tewari were discussed in the
meeting between the Chief
Minister and senior party lead-
ers from urban areas of the
state over lunch at his official
residence in Chandigarh’s
Sector 2.
Notably, with the Chief
Minister being a Jat Sikh,
appointing another Jat Sikh,
Sidhu, as Punjab party presi-
dent did not suit the Congress
party.
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BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Alarge number of people
seeking jobs have regis-
tered themselves on the Rojgar
Bazaar, a portal launched by
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal last year to connect
job-seekers and employers
impacted by the Covid-19 pan-
demic.
According to data shared
by the Government, around
1,000 new job seekers have reg-
istered and 300 new jobs were
posted on Rojgar Bazaar every
day in June.
“A total of 34,212 job seek-
ers were registered and 9,522
new vacancies were posted
between June 1 and 30 this year.
Moreover, 2500 connections
are made every day between
job seekers and employers –
through WhatsApp, phone calls
and direct application to the
employers. In total, 75,000
connections were made
between job-seekers and
employers in June, the Deputy
Chief Minister’s office said in
a statement issued on
Thursday.
Whereas during the lock-
down, the Rojgar Bazaar por-
tal helped businesses hire for
delivery and customer sup-
port, the unlocking process
has displayed a surge in sales
and office jobs again, it said.
“The Rojgar Bazaar has
proved to be a one-stop portal
for all segments - employers
ranging from micro enterpris-
es, street vendors looking for
cooks, tailors, technicians,
Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises looking for accoun-
tants/web designers/sales and
marketing personals to hospi-
tals looking for staff, the job
portal is trusted by all,” it said.
According to the state-
ment, the top three sectors hav-
ing maximum available vacan-
cies currently are customer
support, delivery executives
and sales and business devel-
opment.
“Starting from full time,
part time and work from home,
many different job options are
also available on Rojgar Bazaar.
Roughly about half the vacan-
cies (45 per cent) are available
for freshers. In terms of the
gender distribution, nearly
41per cent jobs are available for
all, 36 per cent for men only
and 23 per cent for women
only,” it added.
Deputy Chief Minister
Manish Sisodia said that the
Kejriwal Government is most
concerned about the econom-
ic impact of the pandemic and
had, therefore, launched the
Rojgar Bazaar portal last year
to provide job opportunities to
unemployed youth.
“Lakhs of youth had regis-
tered and found jobs last year.
It is a matter of their faith and
trust in CM Arvind Kejriwal
that even now, thousands of
job-seekers and employers are
registering every day in Rojgar
Bazaar. We will do everything
possible to help youth find jobs
at this time of crisis,” he added..
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
In view of a possible third
wave of Covid-19, all three
Municipal Corporations of
Delhi have decided to set up
dedicated Covid-care facilities
for children.
The North Corporation
has decided to convert its
Girdhari Lal Maternity
Hospital into a dedicated child
Covid-care facility while the
South Corporation is exploring
the possibilities of setting up
special child care wards at its
Tilak Nagar Hospital.
The East Corporation will
create two dedicated child care
wards at its Swami Dayanand
Hospital in Dilshad Garden.
A senior NMC official said
that these facilities will be set
up as part of preparations to
deal with a possible third wave.
“It is being anticipated that the
third wave of the coronavirus
pandemic will majorly affect
children, so arrangements are
being made to avoid any crisis-
like situation and provide bet-
ter care to kids,” he said.
“We have decided to con-
vert Girdhari Lal Maternity
Hospital into a dedicated
Covid-19 facility for children.
Initially we will dedicate 70
beds to Covid care of children.
All these beds will be equipped
with oxygen support. Out of
these 70 beds, 10 will be
reserved as NICU beds for
infants and another 10 will
have ICU facilities,” an official
of the NMC said.
The Girdhari Lal Maternity
Hospital is a 200-bed facility
located near Ajmeri Gate in
Old Delhi. It is likely to take a
month to make the hospital a
dedicated child Covid care
facility and regular meetings
are being held for the purpose,
the official said.
“We will also set up an
oxygen plant there which will
cater to the needs of the hos-
pital. Other maternity services
which are currently being
offered at the hospital will be
shifted to the Kasturba Hospital
near Jama Masjid,” he said.
A senior official of the
East Delhi Municipal
Corporation (EDMC) said the
civic body would allot two
wards at the Swami Dayanand
Hospital for child Covid care.
“We are planning to dedi-
cate two wards with a capaci-
ty of 30-40 beds for child care.
All these beds will have piped
oxygen supply. These two
wards will come up in the
recently-renovated building of
the hospital,” the official said.
A senior SDMC official
said that though it is antici-
pated that the third wave will
hit the city after September,
preparations have been started
in advance to avoid any crisis-
like situation.
“To bolster our health
infrastructure, we are plan-
ning to create dedicate child
Covid care facility at our Tilak
Nagar Hospital. It will have
oxygen-supported beds and
NICU beds.... We are yet to
decide on the number of beds
to be kept for children,” he said.
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
ADelhi court on Thursday
remanded Boota Singh to
five day police custody for
interrogation in connection
with his alleged involvement in
the Red Fort violence and van-
dalism case during the ‘Tractor
Rally’ by farmers on January 26.
The 26 yer-old protestor,
Singh, allegedly played an
active role in the farmers’ agi-
tation, was arrested from
Punjab’s Tarn Taran region on
Wednesday. He had a reward of
C50,000 on his head and was
absconding for over five
months.
Delhi Police told
Metropolitan Magistrate Shivli
Talwar that the accused will be
taken to Tarn Taran, about 500
km from Delhi, for investiga-
tion during the remand peri-
od.
The police said it will also
ascertain the source of funding
of the alleged conspiracy,
money flow to his bank
accounts, probe social media
accounts, recover mobile, and
seize clothes he was wearing at
the time of the incident.
Besides, it said it will con-
front him with video clips and
CCTV footage in order to
identify co-accused who
accompanied him from Singhu
Border to the Red Fort to cre-
ate mayhem and ransack the
monument.
“Considering the ground
and fact that accused has to be
taken to Tarn Taran for the
purpose of investigation,
accused be remanded to PC for
five days,” the judge said in an
order passed on June 30.
Investigating officer
Inspector Pankaj Arora
apprised the court that Singh
was part of the riotous mob
which “attacked the police per-
sonnel, ransacked, sabotaged,
and robbed the government
and public property and also
the Red Fort.”
He stated that in one of the
videos, the accused was seen
with co accused - Gurjot Singh
and Gurjant Singh in which the
duo was giving interview to the
media after they hoisted
Nishan Sahib at the Flag Guard
area.
“During further investiga-
tion, it has also come on record
that he, along with his other
associate, was in touch with co-
accused Iqbal Singh who is stat-
ed to be one of the main con-
spirators and instigators,”
Inspector Arora submitted.
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Chief Minister of Delhi,
Arvind Kejriwal and
Health Minister, Satyendar Jain
thanked doctors, nurses and
paramedic staff on the ocassion
of National Doctors Day, for
their exceptional service during
the 2nd wave of Covid-19.
“There is a need to work
together to combat
Coronavirus,” Kejriwal said,
“On behalf of the Delhi
Government and the people of
Delhi, I thank every doctor,
nurse and paramedic staff for
working selflessly during this
pandemic.” “We are dealing
with the Coronavirus pandem-
ic for more than one year now.
We have faced two waves of it.
The second wave was more bru-
tal. Every family was affected by
the second wave. A lot of peo-
ple also lost their lives during
this time. Delhi government
with doctors, nurses and para-
medic staff tried their best to
combat the virus,” CM Kejriwal
added. “Coronavirus is such a
larger problem and no govern-
ment or institution can deal
with it individually. We need to
work together to combat the
Coronavirus. We would not
havesucceededifwehadnotgot
cooperation from society.
Thankful to the charitable
trusts, non-profit organisations,
and corporate sector that
stepped up during this tough
time and lent a helping hand.”
“On behalf of the Delhi gov-
ernment, I thank them for their
support. Delhi Government is
trying to ensure that the prob-
lems we faced during the second
wave, especially with regard to
oxygen, don’t occur during the
third wave,” he added. Jain who
also thanked doctors and nurs-
es for their selfless services
said, “Delhi Government is
ready for third wave as Indira
Gandhi Hospital’s 1,243 beds are
ready for patients in all respects.”
He also inaugurated a new
dialysis and paediatric ICU
ward at the Indira Gandhi
Hospital.
Jain also thanked the
Indian Society of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
and said, “Despite the huge
shortage of medical supplies in
the market, the trust provided
us with 1200 high-quality para-
meter patient monitors. This
was the time when we were fac-
ing a shortage of monitors and
the Indian Society of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints provided us great relief.
Not only this, they generously
donated 500 high-quality oxy-
gen concentrators each of 10
litres.”
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
The Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC) is
building its first-ever under-
ground integrated parking
facility at an upcoming metro
station on the Grey Line, which
will allow commuters to park
their vehicles and then proceed
to the concourse of the station
directly using lifts and escala-
tors.
The Dhansa Bus Stand
metro station, being built on
the extension of the Grey Line,
is expected to open in July, a
senior DMRC official said.
“The station has been
designed as a four-level under-
ground structure where there
will be the platform at the bot-
tom followed by the concourse
and then an entire floor for
parking above it,” he said.
The official further said
that the parking lot is equipped
with facilities such as the entry
and exit ramps, lifts, staircases,
escalators etc.
“The facility will have a
parking space for about 110
cars and 185 two-wheelers.
There will be two staircases and
two escalators each which will
connect the facility directly
with the unpaid area of the
concourse below,” the DMRC
said in a statement.
“The parking facility will
be of great benefit to the local
residents as the adjoining areas
are extremely congested with
very limited space for parking
of vehicles. The parking space
will have ramps on two sides
for entry and exit of vehicles.
The Delhi Metro currently
operates parking lots in about
100 Metro stations across the
network,” it said.
The work on the 1.8 kilo-
metre-long Najafgarh–Dhansa
Bus Stand section is now
almost complete. With the
completion of this section, the
Dwarka-Dhansa Bus Stand
Grey Line corridor will become
6.1 kilometres-long with four
stations.
This extension of the Grey
Line will immensely benefit the
residents of the interior areas
around Najafgarh. All efforts
are being made to open the
Najafgarh-Dhansa Bus Stand
section sometime later this
month after complying with all
statutory requirements, the
officials said.
The DMRC has 10 lines
spanning 242 stations, and 264
stations including the Rapid
Metro in Gurugram.
'05EXLOGLQJLWVILUVWHYHU
XQGHUJURXQGLQWHJUDWHGSDUNLQJ
BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal reviewed the
progress of the ambitious
Health Information
Management System (HIMS)
on Thursday and directed the
officials to ensure the imple-
mentation of the project with-
in the stipulated deadline.
The Chief Minister said
that there have been some sig-
nificant delays due to the pan-
demic and the project is expect-
ed to be fully implemented by
March 2022.
Along with the project, a
special survey will be con-
ducted for issuing e-health
cards, he said. The Nodal
Minister for Corona manage-
ment Manish Sisodia and
Health Minister Satyendar Jain
were also present in the meet-
ing.
Kejriwal tweeted,
“Reviewed the progress of
Health Information
Management System (HIMS).
We are creating the most mod-
ern health information sys-
tem in Delhi. Due to Corona,
there are some delays.
Hopefully, it should start by
March.”
The health cards will be
issued in the names of all the
residents of Delhi under the
projects for which special sur-
veys will be conducted by the
Government.
This will ensure availabil-
ity of the benefits of the
Government healthcare ser-
vices to all. “The e-health card
will be integrated with the
Health Information
Management System. The sys-
tem seeks to target the health-
care delivery process. All the
patient care services, hospital
administration, budgeting and
planning, supply chain man-
agement, and backend services
and processes will be brought
under the system,” the
Government said in a state-
ment.
“As far as the deployment
model is concerned, the entire
system will be on the cloud and
digitised. This will enable the
citizens to avail themselves of
information on a single plat-
form, which will help them in
emergency cases,” it added.
The hospitals will be able to
access all of the patients’ health-
related information and past
registry with the help of their
registered card number entered
in the system.
The system is also sup-
posed to include a 24x7 call
centre to help patients with
health-related information,
seeking consultation, and other
assistance. The centralised call
centre will provide two levels of
help — first where an operator
will receive people’s calls and
messages and provide them
with requisite information and
second where doctors and
experts will provide appoint-
ments based on the problem or
immediately provide solutions
for emergency cases.
With this, Delhi will
become the only State to have
a cloud-based health manage-
ment system. This facility will
also be extended to private hos-
pitals in the future.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
The Bharatiya Janata Party is
likely to announce on
Saturday the constituency from
which Chief Minister Tirath
Singh Rawat will contest the
Assembly by election.
Meanwhile, speculations con-
tinued on Thursday as the
chief minister who was to
return to Dehradun from New
Delhi was reportedly asked to
stay there for another day.
Sources state that two ministers
have also been called to Delhi
for discussions by the party’s
central leadership.
When contacted by The
Pioneer, the BJP State presi-
dent Madan Kaushik said,
“We will inform on Saturday.”
He had been asked to com-
ment on the AAP declaring
Ajay Kothiyal its candidate to
contest against the chief min-
ister in the bypoll for
Gangotri Assembly con-
stituency even though the
BJP had not made any official
announcement.
It will be recalled that
Rawat had gone to Delhi on
Wednesday to meet the BJP
national president JP Nadda.
The chief minister had told
journalists before leaving
Dehradun that he was going to
inform the party’s central lead-
ership about the discussions
held during the party’s three-
day Chintan Shivir which had
concluded in Ramnagar on
Tuesday. If sources are to be
believed, the main topic of dis-
cussion with the central lead-
ership is the constituency from
which Rawat will contest the
Assembly bypoll.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Going by speculation about
the possibility of chief
minister Tirath Singh Rawat
planning to contest the bypoll
from Gangotri Assembly con-
stituency, Aam Aadmi Party
has declared that its leader
colonel (retd) Ajay Kothiyal
will contest the bypoll against
the chief minister from
Gangotri.
Announcing this on
Thursday, the state in-charge of
the party, Dinesh Mohaniya
said that Kothiyal will fight
against the CM in Gangotri
bypoll which would mark the
end of Bharatiya Janata Party's
“misgovernance” in
Uttarakhand. Accusing BJP of
ruining Uttarakhand in the
last four years, the party said
that the public would not
choose BJP anymore whether
it is Gangotri bypoll or the
assembly election in the year
2022. According to them, this
bypoll will completely change
the political scenario in
Uttarakhand.
Kothiyal who played a cru-
cial role in the reconstruction
of Kedarnath after the 2013 dis-
aster stated that he had visited
various villages of the Gangotri
constituency and observed that
people are quite upset and dis-
appointed with the current
government. BJP has
destroyed the state in the last
four years. We have been vis-
iting different areas in Gangotri
and the locals have lot of hope
from us as they are disap-
pointed with the present gov-
ernment.
The Aam Aadmi Party has
taken a pledge to reform
Uttarakhand and the party will
religiously work towards it,
stated Kothiyal. Meanwhile,
the Delhi chief minister Arvind
Kejriwal also congratulated
Kothiyal on this announce-
ment while stating it to be nec-
essary to clean the corrupt
politics in Uttarakhand too.
It is pertinent to mention
here that the BJP has not yet
announced the constituency
from which the chief minister
will contest the Assembly
bypoll.
Currently the Haldwani
and Gangotri constituencies
are vacant due to the demise of
their MLAs this year. Rawat is
unlikely to contest from
Haldwani, considering which
many are speculating that he is
likely to contest the bypoll
from Gangotri constituency.
Ramesh Pokhriyal
‘Nishank’
The world is fighting and
undergoing a crisis for
more than a year now.
Globally, the count of sick and
departed souls mounts high-
er everyday. We are all physi-
cally living in isolation and
passing our days in the hope
of ending these trying times.
It is often said, to find god
in all things, yet in such
moments of crisis, one might
wonder the presence of god.
However, today I want to
remind us all of the old saying,
“Doctors are second to god on
this earth.” Our doctors along
with our healthcare workers
have been continuously serv-
ing us and fighting to curtail
the virus.The Covid 19 pan-
demic has unleashed one of
the biggest catastrophes upon
humanity and has led to a sub-
stantial loss of human life and
thrown unending challenges
on our unsung healthcare war-
riors. I convey my sincere
appreciation and gratitude to
all these Covid warriors who
have been serving us while
risking their own lives.
Our Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, during his
address in the Lok Sabha this
year said, “Our doctors and
nurses came as incarnations of
god, during the time of crisis.”
On several occasions he has
not only expressed his grati-
tude towards their efforts but
has personally interacted with
them and took cognisance of
their personal experiences
while serving during this
health crisis.
The National Doctors Day
celebrated to recognise the
contributions of doctors to
communities and individual
lives and for providing their
dedicated services to the
patients was also an opportu-
nity to remember the Bharat
Ratna awardee Dr Bidhan
Chandra Roy who is also
known as the national doctor
of our country. His inspira-
tional story is a mix of expe-
riences and achievements,
ranging from facing racial dis-
crimination in America to
earning the title of first med-
ical consultant in the subcon-
tinent given by the British
Medical Journal in its obituary.
After gaining the medical
degrees he participated in the
independence movement and
later served as West Bengal’s
Chief Minister for 14 years.
But all the while he continued
his medical practices and
served the country by seeing
patients on a regular basis.
The unmatched dedica-
tion and the love for his moth-
erland made Dr Bidhan
Chandra Roy a role model for
several serving doctors of our
country. Today, doctors are
coming out of their retirement
to serve people despite know-
ing the risks but they have
accepted these as a part of
their duty. Today, I want to
remind every citizen of my
country that these frontline
workers are those who are
supporting us the most when
we need them. They are the
ones who prioritised our fam-
ilies over theirs. It is they who
did not give up and were
behind the recoveries of many
affected people. While I
express my gratitude for their
selfless service to mankind, I
urge every individual to value
and support our frontline
workers. This is the time when
our medical staff requires
appreciation and encourage-
ment to lift their spirits and
express our respect to those
who are selflessly serving us.
Currently, the global
Covid-19 death toll is more
than 38 lakh. Among the lives
lost, there have also been
deaths of doctors and health-
care workers who have played
crucial roles in our fight
against the unseen virus.
Doctors are battling hard
against this virus both profes-
sionally and personally.
Several doctors and medical
staff have been continuously
working without any
breaks.The hardships and
struggles faced by them are
only to make sure that their
patients are stable and recov-
er soon.
Currently, I am undergo-
ing the post covid treatment
and I personally want to
express my gratitude to the
doctors and the entire medical
staff who are continuously
working upon my wellbeing
and recovery. Apart from serv-
ing the patients physically, I
have also seen several viral
videos on social media, where
our doctors and healthcare
workers are putting best efforts
to motivate and encourage
the patients admitted in the
Covid wards.
Amidst the treatment, the
wards can be gloomy and
depressing, however our med-
ical staff are seen celebrating
birthdays of the patients and
enjoying the moments with
dance and music. Such efforts
to deal with this health crisis
with a smile on their faces,
makes me a proud citizen of
this country. Today, I want to
share my feelings with every
doctor and medical staff, that
all of you have inspired me
with courage, passion and
dedication one should devel-
op in professional space.
Being a doctor is one of
the noblest professions. Surely,
medicines cure diseases but
only our doctors can cure
patients. You are the ones
who heal the unwell and are
entrusted with life saving deci-
sions. This small piece of writ-
ing is a tribute to all the doc-
tors and medical staff who
have helped save millions of
lives. We are all indebted to the
dedication and selfless service
you have provided to all of us.
A big salute to all the doctors,
nurses and paramedical staff
who have served the people at
large and emerged as true
heroes. Jai Hind!
(The writer is the Union
Education Minister,
Government of India)
?=BQ 347A03D=
The state health department
reported 124 new cases
and 244 recoveries from the
novel Coronavirus (Covid-19)
on Thursday. With it the cumu-
lative count of Covid-19
patients in the state increased to
3,40,379 while a total of
3,25,253 patients have so far
recovered from the disease.
Death of one patient from
Covid-19 was reported by the
health department on the day
which increased the death toll
from the disease to 7324 in the
state. The recovery percentage
from the disease is now at
95.56 and the sample positivi-
ty rate is at 6.13 percent in the
state. The authorities collected
23,456 samples in different
parts of the state on Thursday.
Death of only one patient
was reported in the state on the
day and it occurred at
Government Doon Medical
College (GDMC) hospital. The
department also reported seven
backlog deaths on the day.
These deaths had occurred in
the past but were unreported
earlier.
The department reported
31 patients from Dehradun, 23
from Pithoragarh, 12 from
Nainital, 11 from Haridwar,
seven each from Chamoli,
Champawat and Uttarkashi on
Thursday. All other districts
reported six and fewer cases on
the day.
The state now has 1,966
active patients of the disease.
Dehradun district is at top of
the table in the list of active
cases with 753 cases while
Pithoragarh is in the second
position with 266 active cases.
Bageshwar has 186, Nainital
127, Chamoli 109, Pauri 106,
Champawat 81, Haridwar 80,
Tehri and Rudraprayag 58 each,
Almora 52, Uttarkashi 46, and
Udham Singh Nagar 44 active
cases of the disease.
The state reported four
new cases of Mucormycosis
(Black fungus) on Thursday. A
total of 499 patients of the dis-
ease have so far been reported
in the state out of which 95 have
died. In the ongoing vaccina-
tion drive, the health depart-
ment vaccinated 44,959 people
in 507 sessions held on the day.
A total of 8,36,177 people have
been fully vaccinated so far in
the state while 36,07,401 have
received the first dose of the
vaccine in the state.
?=BQ 347A03D=
Major General Alok Joshi
took over as the new
deputy commandant and chief
instructor of Indian Military
Academy (IMA) Dehradun on
Thursday. He took the charge
from Major General Jagjit
Singh Mangat who was trans-
ferred to the Army
Headquarters.
During a simple ceremony
held at IMA the General
Officer handed over the Baton
of Deputy Commandant and
Chief Instructor of the presti-
gious training establishment to
Major General Joshi.
Major General Joshi is an
alumnus of IMA and was com-
missioned into The Rajput
Regiment in December 1987.
He has commanded a forma-
tion in Counter Insurgency
Operations in Jammu and
Kashmir. He has successful
command tenure and carries
varied operational experience
having served in different ter-
rains and sectors.
A communiqué from IMA
says that the outgoing Deputy
Commandant had a challeng-
ing tenure of 16 months. “The
Academy pursued a dynamic
training regime with strict
COVID protocols during this
period. A number of transfor-
mational efforts have been
actualized and the Academy
received appreciation from
Army Training Command for
its stellar standards showcased
during the Passing Out Parades
conducted amidst the prevail-
ing conditions’’, it said.
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After days of hot weather,
people in the state may
experience some relief today as
light to moderate rain/thun-
dershowers are very likely to
occur at most places on Friday.
However, the state meteoro-
logical centre has also issued an
alert regarding the possibility of
heavy to very heavy rainfall
occurring at isolated places in
Dehradun, Pauri and Nainital
districts today. Heavy rainfall is
also likely to occur at isolated
places in Tehri, Champawat
and Pithoragarh districts.
Thunderstorm accompanied
with lightning and intense
shower likely to occur at iso-
lated places in the above men-
tioned districts whereas squalls
(50-60 kmph) are likely to
occur at isolated places in the
plains of the state.
The provisional state cap-
ital Dehradun is forecast to
experience partly to generally
cloudy sky with possibility of
heavy rain accompanied with
squall (50- 60 kmph). The
maximum and minimum tem-
peratures here are likely to be
about 35 degrees Celsius and 23
degrees Celsius respectively on
Friday.
Meanwhile, the maximum
and minimum temperatures
recorded at various places in
the state on Thursday were 36.4
degrees Celsius and 25 degrees
Celsius respectively in
Dehradun, 37.6 degrees Celsius
and 28.6 degrees Celsius in
Pantnagar, 27.4 degrees Celsius
and 16.7 degrees Celsius in
Mukteshwar and 27.8 degrees
Celsius and 19.8 degrees
Celsius respectively in New
Tehri.
?=BQ 347A03D=
The Municipal Corporation
of Rishikesh (MCR) has
started the treatment of 2.71
lakh cubic metres of legacy
waste at the trenching ground
in the Govindnagar area of the
city. The Rishikesh mayor
Anita Mamgain inaugurated
the legacy waste treatment
plant on Thursday. This plant
will process and treat the
garbage piled up at the site for
the last 40 years with biomin-
ing technique. According to the
officials, Rishikesh is the first
city to use biomining for the
legacy waste treatment in
Uttarakhand.
The officials informed that
this technique will take at least
six to eight months to treat the
garbage of about 2.71 lakh
cubic metres which is spread
across the four-hectare land in
the Govindnagar area. Since
the garbage mainly consists of
glass, rubber, fibre, plastic and
leachate which are harder to
process than biodegradable
garbage, biomining is the best
method to process and dispose
of such garbage effectively
without damaging the envi-
ronment, informed the MCR
officials.
The biomining of the accu-
mulated garbage is being done
by a private company hired by
the corporation under the pub-
lic-private partnership (PPP)
mode. The company recently
did a trial after machine instal-
lation at the Govindnagar site
to check the efficiency of the
waste treatment process
through the installed machines
and after the successful trial,
the mayor inaugurated the
work of legacy waste treatment
on Thursday.
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Asewage treatment plant
(STP) with seven million
litres per day (MLD) capacity
was inaugurated at BHEL
Haridwar to treat the sewage of
township premises and sur-
rounding suburban areas.
The STP was inaugurated
by BHEL’s director (HR
Power) Anil Kapoor and
Uttarakhand Environment
Protection and Pollution
Control Board (UEPPCB)
member secretary SP Subudhi
in the presence of BHEL
Haridwar executive director
Sanjay Gulati.Kapoor said that
it is necessary to treat the
sewage water properly before
mixing it in any natural water
source to avoid any adverse
effect on the environment. He
said this STP will help in the
success of Namami Gange pro-
gramme of National Mission
for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
Subudhi said that this step will
be helpful in maintaining the
serene and spiritual atmos-
phere of Haridwar.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Thursday heaped
praise on the doctors’ commu-
nity and acknowledged their
big contribution in the ongoing
battle against Covid-19.
Describing doctors as being
like “God”, Modi paid tributes to
all who lost their lives while
treating coronavirus patients.
“Despite the limitations of
long-neglected medical infra-
structure and pressure of pop-
ulation, India’s per lakh popu-
lation rate of infection and
death rate is still manageable
compared to even developed
countries.
“Loss of lives is always
painful but many lives have
been saved too. Credit goes to
hard-working doctors, health-
care workers, frontline workers
for saving many lives,” the prime
minister said on the ‘ National
Doctors’ Day’.
Drawing attention to
renewed focus on the health
sector, Modi said that his gov-
ernment has allocated more
than two lakh crore for the
health sector in the ongoing
financial year. “We have come
up with a Credit Guarantee
Scheme of Rs 50,000 crores to
strengthen the health infra-
structure in such areas, where
there is a lack of health facilities,”
said the Prime Minister.
“After decades since inde-
pendence, we all know how
medical infrastructure was
neglected... and what state it was
in. During the first wave, the
government had allocated
15,000 crores as a special fund
to increase the health infra-
structure in the nation,” said
Modi. Pointing to incidents of
attacks on doctors on Covid19
duty by the relatives of patients,
Prime Minister said the gov-
ernment is committed for the
safety of doctors.
He mentioned stringent
laws that have been brought in
for preventing violence against
doctors. Along with this, a free
insurance cover scheme has
been brought for the Covid war-
riors, according to a statement
from the Prime Minister’s Office
The PM praised the med-
ical fraternity for raising aware-
ness about the COVID-19 vac-
cination drive. He also com-
mended the medical fraternity
for spreading awareness about
Yoga.
“Work for propagating
Yoga, that should have been
done in the last century after
Independence, is being done
now, said the Prime Minister.
He praised the doctors for giv-
ing their time to the evidence-
based studies on the benefits of
yoga for dealing with post-
Covid complications,” said the
statement.
A0:4B7:B8=67Q =4F34;78
In a rare order for award of
dismissal from service and
rigorous imprisonment to a
serving officer, the General
Force Court of the Sashastra
Seema Bal (SSB) has dis-
missed a Deputy Inspector
General (DIG) from service
and ordered him to undergo
a rigorous imprisonment of
18 months on charges of cor-
ruption in a dozen cases.
The order against DIG
UP Balodi was passed by
Judge Attorney, GFC, Camp
at 25th Battalion of SSB,
GHitorni, Sudhanshu Kumar
on Wednesday.
The order titled “GFC
Trial of UP Balodi, DIG”
read, “The court re-assembled
on 30.06.2021 pursuant to
adjournment of 29th June,
2021. The Court finds the
accused guilty to all the 12
charges and awarded sen-
tence ‘To Suffer Rigourous
Imprisonment for 18 months
along with dismissal from
service’.”
“The sentence is
announced as being subject to
confirmation,” added the
order, a copy of which has
been circulated to the
Inspectors General
Administration and Personnel
of the Forces headquarters
here.
The order has also been
sent to IG Training, frontier
headquarters sector head-
quarters across the country as
also Recruit Training Centre
at Alwar.
Officials said it is one of
the rare cases when such
punishment has been award-
ed by the General Force Court
(GFC) of any Central para-
military force or Central
Armed Police Force (CAPF).
All the Central paramili-
tary forces have their respec-
tive Act and Rules to deal with
disciplinary proceedings
within their respective organ-
isations.
These Acts, passed by the
Parliament, are mostly copies
of the Armed Forces Acts.
However, the Acts and
corresponding rules vary
from organisation to organi-
zation in keeping with their
respective requirements.
The GFC consists of offi-
cers within the organisations
who preside over the disci-
plinary proceedings.
The SSB is the designated
Central paramilitary force to
secure friendly borders with
Nepal and Bhutan and is also
the Lead Intelligence Agency
on these two frontiers.
Officials confirmed the
development and recalled
that the last such instance was
reported two-three years back
when a Commandant was
dismissed from service
but he was spared rigorous
imprisonment.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Even as stand-offs continue at
some friction points in
Ladakh for the last one year, sus-
tained dialogue between India
and China on the issues per-
taining to the Line of Actual
Control(LAC) have helped
“build trust,” Army Chief
General M M
Naravane said
here on
Thursday.
Making this observation, he
also said the situation in the
region is normal since the first
round of disengagement from
the southern and northern
banks of the Pangong
Tso(lake)in later February this
year.
Incidentally, the face-offs
started with the confrontation at
the Pangong in May last year
when the Chinese stopped an
Indian army patrol.
It led to a scuffle between
the soldiers of the two armies
and several personnel from
both the sides sustained injuries.
Soon, trouble erupted at
several other places including
the Hot Springs, Gogra and the
Depsang valley.
At present, eyeball toeyeball
situation persists at these three
friction points despite several
rounds of talks at the military
and diplomatic levels.
In a virtual interactive ses-
sion at a think-tank, the Army
chief said the militaries of the
two countries have been
engaged in dialogue at various
levels.
“The situation along the
Line of Actual Control (LAC) is
normal ever since the
disengagement took place in
February this year from the
northern and southern banks of
Pangong lake
as well as the
K a i l a s h
ranges,” he
said.
“ S i n c e
then both
sides have
s t r i c t l y
adhered to in
the letter and
sprit of the
disengage-
ment that was
agreed upon.
We are engag-
ing the
Chinese at
various levels
at the political
level, at the
diplomatic
l e v e l
and of course
at the military
l e v e l , ”
N a r a v a n e
added.
?=BQ =4F34;78
When it comes to health,
nobody knows better
than doctors about what is
right or wrong. However, a
survey has found that the
gatekeepers of our health
are at high risk themselves.
The survey on health
and wellness of 1,000 doctors
by digital therapeutics com-
pany, Fitterfly, has found
that over 60 per cent had a
BMI in the overweight and
obese category, 6 per cent
had diabetes, 10 per cent had
hypertension, and 5 per cent
had diabetes and hyperten-
sion. Other common health
conditions as observed
included dyslipidemia, GI
dysfunction, asthma, PCOS
(Polycystic Ovary
Syndrome), arthritis,
migraine and hypothy-
roidism.
The survey conducted
with doctors in the age
groups of 25- 60, of 868 male
and 132 female doctors using
anthropometry (human
body measurements), med-
ical history, BMI category,
levels of physical activities,
took into account their calo-
ries, carbohydrate, fat,
micronutrients and protein
consumption.
All these doctors entered
their meals and activity data
in the Fitterfly Wellness App.
Fitterfly wellness app has
India’s largest database of
recipes and micronutrient
calculations for various age
groups and health condi-
tions.
Further, it was recorded
that only 22 per cent of the
doctors were physically
active; A majority of the
doctors also had an imbal-
ance of macronutrients -
protein, carbs and fats con-
sumed. At least 67% of the
doctors were consuming
really low protein as evi-
denced by less than 10% of
their daily calories from pro-
tein; An alarmingly high
percentage of doctors ie 77%
were consuming more than
the recommended amounts
of fat;
The micronutrient
analysis findings showed less
than 10% of the doctors sur-
veyed met 75% of the rec-
ommended value of
various vitamins and min-
erals like zinc, omega 3 and
iron.
The survey also indicat-
ed that one of the most
important factors contribut-
ing to their health index has
been faulty dietary habits
and exercise regime.
Erratic working hours
and long daily schedules
have resulted in the medical
professionals not focusing on
their health.
Dr Arbinder Singal, co-
founder and CEO of Fitterfly
said “Doctors are the torch-
bearers of a nations’ health,
playing a vital role in keep-
ing the population free of
diseases. But, their hectic
work schedules do not allow
them to practice what they
preach to their patients.
On National Doctors
Day we wanted to draw
attention to the health quo-
tient of our medical frater-
nity and urge them to care
for themselves while
addressing the health of their
patients.”
Ringing alarm bell,
Dr.Kishore Kumar, Founder
Chairman Neonatologist,
Cloudnine Group of
Hospitals, Bangalore called
for a national study on the
mental state of
healthcare workers especial-
ly during the present pan-
demic which, he said, “will
be a proof that our health-
care workers are overworked
and those who took Covid
duty also found themselves
without enough sleep.”
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The Supreme Court on
Thursday issued notice
on a petition filed by 13 con-
victs who were declared juve-
niles at the time of commis-
sion of the offences, and are
currently lodged in Agra
Central Jail. The petitioners
said they are lodged in the jail
for past 13 to 22 years and
sought an immediate release
as they had been lodged in
“hardcore jails with hardcore
criminals.” The Bench of
Justices Indira Banerjee and V
Ramasubramanian issued
notice and listed the matter
for July 8, 2021.
The plea filed through
Advocate Rishi Malhotra stat-
ed that after a public interest
litigation was filed in the
Allahabad High Court in
2012, directions were issued
to the Juvenile Justice Board
to dispose of
applications regarding juve-
nility of prisoners.
Pursuant to that, all 13
petitioners were declared
juveniles at the time of com-
mission of their respective
offences.
Despite clear and unchal-
lenged rulings from the
Juvenile Justice Board declar-
ing the petitioners as juve-
niles, no steps have been
taken to release them, the plea
said.
BdbcPX]TSSXP[^VdTWT[_TSQdX[Scadbc)0ahRWXTU
?=BQ =4F34;78
Gujarat based Zydus
Cadila has applied for
emergency use authoriza-
tion of ZyCoV-D, plasmid
DNA-based vaccine which it
said is “world’s first Plasmid
DNA vaccine,” “needle-free”
and “safe for children ‘’. The
company plans to manufac-
ture up to 120 million doses
of the shot annually.
However, it has no human
safety and immunogenicity
data in public, sources said.
If approved, the ZyCoV-
D would make it the fifth
vaccine cleared for use in
India after Serum Institute of
India’s Covishield, Bharat
Biotech’s Covaxin, Russia’s
Sputnik V and the US-made
Moderna.
Zydus has claimed that
its vaccine is 66.6 per cent
effective against sympto-
matic Covid cases and 100
per cent for moderate dis-
ease. It also said that the vac-
cine is safe for children
between 12 and 18 years. But
its trial data is not peer-
reviewed yet.
ZyCoV-D showed safety
and efficacy in a late-stage
trial with more than 28,000
volunteers across the coun-
try, including about 1,000
subjects in the 12-18 year age
group, Zydus said in a state-
ment here.
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Amid complaints of shortage
of Covid-19 vaccines,
Union Health Minister Harsh
Vardhan on Thursday alleged
that various leaders were mak-
ing “irresponsible statements”
about the Covid-19 vaccination
drive and requested them to
desist from the “shameless urge
to play politics” in the midst of
a pandemic.
He said more than 1.24
crore balance and unutilised
Covid-19 vaccine doses are
still available with the states and
UTs and over 94,66,420 doses
are in the pipeline and will be
received by them within the
next three days.
Union Health Minister
Harsh Vardhan took to
Twitter, urging “these leaders to
spend more energy in planning
and not in creating panic”.
“I’m seeing irresponsible
statements from
various leaders regarding the
largest vaccination drive.
Stating facts so that people
can judge the intentions of
these leaders.
“After GoI (Government
of India) provided 75 per cent
of vaccines available for free,
vaccination speed picked up
and 11.50 crore doses were
given in June,” Vardhan said in
a tweet.
He said if there are issues
in States, it shows that they
need to plan their vaccination
drives better. “Intra-state plan-
ning and logistics are the
responsibility of the states.”
“If these leaders are aware
of these facts and are still mak-
ing such statements, I consid-
er it most unfortunate. If they
don’t know, they need to focus
on governance. Will again
request state leaders to spend
more energy in planning and
not in creating panic,” he said
in another tweet.
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The Supreme Court has dis-
missed the Centre’s plea
seeking review of the May 5
majority verdict which held
that 102nd Constitution
amendment took away States’
power to declare Socially and
Educationally Backward
Classes (SEBC) for grant of
quota in jobs and admissions.
The 102nd Constitution
amendment Act of 2018 insert-
ed Articles 338B, which deals
with the structure, duties and
powers of the NCBC, while
342A deals with power of the
President to notify a particular
caste as SEBC and power of
Parliament to change the list.
A five-judge bench headed
by Justice Ashok Bhushan said,
“We have gone through the
review petition filed against the
judgment dated May 5, in Writ
Petition... The grounds taken in
the review petition do not fall
within the limited ground on
which review petition can be
considered”.
The bench, also compris-
ing Justices L Nageswara Rao,
S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta
and S Ravindra Bhat, said that
the various grounds taken in
the review petition have already
been dealt with in the main
judgment.
“We do not find any suf-
ficient grounds to entertain
this review petition.
The review petition is
dismissed,” the bench said in
its order uploaded on
Thursday.
The top court also reject-
ed the Centre’s application for
open court hearing in the
matter.
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The Supreme Court on
Thursday rejected the
appeal of the Delhi Police
against the Delhi High Court
order directing it to provide
witness statement copy to
accused Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal and Deputy CM
Manish Sisodia in the case of
assault on then Chief Secretary
Anshu Prakash.
“It is the basic principle of
natural justice. It is common
sense that the accused must
have the copy. It might be a
political hot potato, but legal-
ly, it is nothing. It is not worth
lingering on this matter,” said
the apex Court ratifying the
High Court order.
“Once a statement is
recorded, what is about not
giving copy of the statement,”
asked Justice DY
Chandrachud, rejecting Delhi’s
Police appeal, noting that the
statement was not oral but
recorded in the case diary.
Justice Chandrachud reit-
erated to ASG Aman Lekhi
that the accused have all the
right to get the statement of
witness. “The purpose of crim-
inal justice administration is
not to convict the people but
to allow criminal justice to run
a fair course. Leave it there,
there is nothing in the matter,”
Justice Chandchud observed
while rejecting the Delhi Police
appeal not to grant witnesses
statement to the Delhi Chief
Minister and Deputy Chief
Minister, who are charged as
accused for assaulting the then
Chief Secretary at the Chief
Minister’s residence in the
night of February 19,2018.
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Close on the heels of the
announcement by the
State’s leading business house
that it was pulling out of
the Memorandum of
Understanding signed with the
Government of Kerala to set up
industrial units which would
have created more than 35,000
jobs, a more shocking disclo-
sure has been made by the
department in charge of expa-
triates.
More than 1.5 million
Keralaites have returned to
their home state from West
Asian countries following
Covid-19 and large scale
retrenchment and localization
since March 2020, according to
Salin Mankuzhi, spokesman
of Non Resident Keralites
Association, a joint venture
service by Government of
Kerala and major entrepre-
neurs from the State who have
made it in West Asia. The
NORKA is also into manpow-
er placement services in vari-
ous countries abroad.
The army of unemployed
people in the State has shot past
the 6 million mark with the
influx of people from Gulf
countries who lost their liveli-
hoods. “Kerala is in for major
crisis and the State and Central
Governments should initiate
moves to address this burning
issue,” said Attakkoya
Pallikkandi, one of the early
Keralites who settled in Dubai
and returned to his roots after
nearly five decades.
He said the budget pro-
posals by the State Government
for the year 2021 to 2022 is
silent about any moves to reha-
bilitate and resettle the Gulf
returnees whose remittances
had sustained the develop-
ment process of Kerala.
Attakkoya had reached
Dubai in early 1970 and
worked there for more than
four decades as a journalist.
“When I reached Dubai for the
first time, a four storied build-
ing was the tallest structure in
that Kingdom. There were no
state-of-the-art roads in the oil
kingdom. Though Dubai and
other emirates made giant
strides in the succeeding years,
all has come to a stop and job
opportunities have dried up,”
he told The Pioneer.
The post-retirement days
of Attakkoya are busy helping
hundreds of Gulf returnees
from Kozhikode, Kannur and
Kasaragod districts to relaunch
a new life in Kerala. “These
returnees sent all their income
to their houses and now they
are left in the lurch without any
source of income,” said
Attakoya.
KOCHI: Kerala continues to be
in a grave state as there has
been no let up in the enormi-
ty of the transmission of Covid-
19. The State diagnosed 12,868
new cases of Covid-19 on
Thursday while the average
Test Positivity Rate was 10.3 per
cent. But there were nearly 100
regions in the State which are
under triple lock down because
of high TPR.
Kerala leads the table of the
States that diagnose high daily
positive cases. A release issued
by the health department said
the State recorded 124 deaths
on Thursday due to Covid.
The day began with a con-
troversy over the exclusion of
thousands from the list of ben-
eficiaries who are eligible for
compensation declared by the
Centre for Covid-19 patients
who succumbed to the pan-
demic. Leader of Opposition V
D Satheesan alleged that the
Kerala Government was open-
ly violating the norms pre-
scribed by the Indian Council
of Medical Research for con-
sidering the Covid-19 victims
for cash compensation to be
awarded by the Centre.
The State’s death toll, as per
Government figures, was 13,
359. “But this is a fake figure as
thousands of patients have suc-
cumbed to the pandemic. The
LDF Government is trying to
cover up and suppress the
number of casualties to deceive
the people about the poor
medical facilities in the State,”
said Satheeshan while speaking
to reporters. PNS
B0D60AB4=6D?C0Q :;:0C0
Days after Chief Minister
Mamata Banerjee accused
Bengal Governor Jagdeep
Dhankhar to Jain Hawala scan-
dal the Trinamool Congress on
Thursday brought additional
charges against him saying his
name had also figured in
Punjab land scam which made
it mandatory for the Centre to
remove him from the top con-
stitutional post that he was in
at present.
Continuing its all-out
offensive against Dhankhar the
TMC leadership said that the
party would soon prepare a list
of charges against him and
move the presidential office
seeking his removal from
Bengal.
“The name of the
Governor is now not only lim-
ited to Jain Hawala diary in
which there is the mention of
one Dhankhar … but also
there are reports of the same
name being involved in the
Punjab land scam,” TMC MP
Sukhendu Shekhar Roy said
asking “why the Governor who
has been so vocal about con-
cocted stories is currently
silently on these issues.”
The TMC MP said that the
party would soon take the
issue up with the President of
India. “We will approach the
President of India with the case
and seek his removal … Bengal
does not want a tainted
Governor,” Roy said adding
that the party would also
explore other parliamentary
options to seek his removal if
bringing up the matter to the
notice of the President did not
yield results.
“If a representation to the
President fails then we will take
up appropriate procedural
measures in Lok Sabha and
Rajya Sabha to get his removal,”
the TMC leader said alleging
the Governor had always tried
to harass the State Government
and refused to cooperate with
it saying “he tries to stall all the
decisions taken by the Cabinet
… he always tries to block the
Bills passed by a democratically
elected House … He does so
because he has no regards for
democracy.”
Roy also referred to
Dhanklhar’s family pho-
tographs featuring one of the
security personnel of Debanjan
Deb the arrested fake vaccine
kingpin asking “what is this
man doing in the Governor’s
family circles … has this man
been the mediator between
vaccine scamster and the Raj
Bhavan?”
Deb was arrested a few
days ago for running a fake vac-
cine racket through which he
had managed to “vaccinate”
about 2,000 people at various
fake camps. In most of the cases
he used antibiotics in the name
of corona vaccine.
The BJP promptly hit back
saying the same fake vaccine
kingpin had been pho-
tographed with a number of
TMC top bosses including
ministers and Kolkata
Corporation administrators.
?8=44A=4FBB4AE824Q
:;:0C0
Agirl from Andal in West
Burdwan district of Bengal
who was working at Dehradun
was allegedly pushed to death
from the mountains by her live-
in partner, her family members
complained.
Seeking justice for the girl
Nandita Mukherjee (name
changed) her sister Antara said
that her sister was living in with
a man called A Chowdhury
who belonged to Sahranpur in
Uttar Pradesh.
Chowdhury who was sub-
sequently arrested by the
Uttarakhand Police allegedly
pushed his partner from the
hills and then burnt her body
before faking a story for her
sudden disappearance. He told
her mother at Andal that she
had left him in a huff and was
not traceable.
The family was kept in a
mist of concocted stories for
more than month before final-
ly he conceded over telephone
that the victim had leapt to her
death from the roof of her
building. The man had been
arrested, the family members
said.
“We have no wherewithal
to regularly go to Uttarakhand
to fight the case … but we want
justice for our sister … we want
this man to be hanged,” the vic-
tim’s sister said.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Union Home Minister Amit
Shah on Thursday urged
the new batch of IPS officers to
bevigilandalwaysbeactionori-
ented rather than inaction or
extreme action. Addressing
young IPS officers of 72nd
batch, the Home Minister said
dialogue and sensitivity are nec-
essary to improve the image of
police and every police person-
al has to sensitized and there
should be increased communi-
cation and public contact.
He advised that young SPs
should go to Tehsils and villages
to meet people and stay
overnight to understand the
problems of common man in
general. He also advised the
young officers to stay away
from publicity and make up
mind to overcome fear of trans-
fers.
Interacting with the young
police officers, Shah said that a
system is very important for any
organization. He said that any
organization runs successfully
only when those who run it
become a part of the system and
work to strengthen it. By
improving the system of the
organization, the organization
automatically improves and
gives better results.
The Home Minister also
said that making the organiza-
tion system-centred is the key to
success. Shah said that the seed
should be planted in training
itselftoremove theproblems,so
that a person can be made more
and more responsible and duti-
ful. He said that training works
to mold the personality, way of
working and the whole person-
alityandiftrainingisdoneprop-
erly, then it brings good results
throughout life.
Union Minister of State for
Home Nityanand Rai, Union
Home Secretary AK Bhalla,
were also present on the virtu-
al interaction with young IPS
officers. Shah said there are
allegations of no action and
extreme action against the
police. He said the police should
avoid these and move towards
just action. He said just action
means natural action and police
should understand the law and
do the right thing.
On improving the image of
thepolice,Shahsaidonlypolice-
men will have to work for
improving their image. The
Home Minister said commu-
nication and sensitivity is nec-
essary to improve the image of
the police that is why there is a
need to sensitize all policeper-
sons as well as increase com-
munication and public
contact.
C=A067D=0C70Q D108
The Bombay High Court on
Thursday upheld the life
imprisonment awarded to
Abdul Rauf Merchant, an aide
of gangster Dawood Ibrahim,
by a lower court for the sensa-
tional murder of music baron
and T-Series owner Gulshan
Kumar, while it dismissed an
appeal challenging the acquit-
tal of TIPS company co-
founder Ramesh Taurani in
the same case.
Allowing partly the appeal
challenging Rauf Merchant’s
appeal, a HC division bench
comprising Justices Sadhana
Jadhav and N. R. Borkar said
that Merchant was convicted for
offences committed under sec-
tion 302 (murder) read with
section 34 and 120 B (conspir-
acy) of the IPC and section 27
of the Indian Arms Act, while
he was acquitted of the offences
punishable under 307 (attempt
to murder), 397 and 398 (rob-
bery or dacoity with attempt to
cause death or grievous hurt).
Holding that he was enti-
tled to the set off for the peri-
od already undergone during
the pendency of the trial, the
HC bench ordered the can-
celled Rauf Merchant’s bail
bonds.
The judges ordered Rauf
Merchant to surrender forth-
with before the Sessions Court
or before D.N. Nagar Police
Station and also surrender his
passport to the police. They said
that if he did not surrender
within a week, the sessions
court would issue a non-bail-
able warrant against him and
take him into custody.
Apart from confirming the
conviction of Rauf Merchant for
Gulhshan Kumar's murder, the
HC confirmed punishment for
offence under section 120 B
(conspiracy) of the IPC. “The
assailants had no personal ani-
mosity or grudge against the
deceased Gulshan Kumar. They
had committed the ghastly act
as they were hired by Nadeem
Saifee and Abu Salem who
wanted to satisfy their person-
al vendetta against the deceased.
Unwarranted acquittals would
not only give wrong signals to
the society but would pose a
threat to law and order.
Therefore, the Accused no
16/ Respondent No. 2 (Rauf
Merchant) also deserves to be
convicted for the offence pun-
ishable under section 120B of
the IPC,” the HC bench
observed in its ruling.
In the case of Ramesh
Turani, the HC bench ruled:
“The Appeal challenging the
acquittal of the Respondent
No.1 Ramesh Sadhuram
Taurani vide Judgment and
Order dated April 29, 2002 by
the Additional Sessions Judge,
Gr. Mumbai in Sessions is here-
by dismissed”.
Holding that the acquittal
of Taurani in the lower court
called for no interference, the
HC bench observed: “In the
present case, there are serious
lapses in the investigation and
there is no cogent and con-
vincing evidence to hold that
Respondent No. 1 (Taurani)
had spoken to Abu Salem in
Dubai. There is no investigation
to verify as to whether that
phone number was used by
Abu Salem at that time. Abu
Salem was an absconding
Accused since 1993 serial bomb
blast. The HC bench noted that
“The only witness who has
deposed about the involvement
of Taurani was prosecution
witness Arif Lakadawala. The
evidence of Ladkdawala would
show that he was also present
when Respondent No. 1 had
contacted Abu Salem when
they met at Juhu. The applica-
tion seeking arraignment of
Lakdawala as an accused had
been rejected with the aid of
section 132 of the Indian
Evidence Act. The said order of
rejection was not challenged
and has attained finality.
In view of this, the acquit-
tal of the Taurani calls for no
interference”.
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Lucknow: Lashing out at the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party,
Bahujan Samaj Party chief
Mayawati blamed the Yogi
Adityanath Government for
rising unemployment among
the youths and for forcing
them to opt for manual labour
like “frying and selling pakora”.
Holding the BJP-ruled
Centre and previous Congress
governments responsible for
the current State of unem-
ployment in UP, Mayawati
tweeted that apart from con-
structing party offices, both
parties did nothing for the
state.
She warned that if the BJP
progressed just like the
Congress, India would never be
“atma nirbhar” (self-reliant)
and the ruling party would also
meet the same fate which the
Congress met by pushing the
youths to unemployment. PNS
?=BQ ;D2:=F
Acting on a tip-off about children being traf-
ficked from West Bengal on a Punjab-bound
train, officers and personnel of the Government
Railway Police (GRP) raided a compartment of
Karmabhoomi Express train and rescued 40 chil-
dren in Moradabad railway station on Thursday
morning.
All children were below 15 years of age and
were deboarded from the train which originates
from Jalpaiguri in West Bengal.
While it was suspected that the children were
being trafficked, GRP Inspector
Sudheer Kumar said that the children were trav-
elling with relatives but investigations were
underway to establish the human trafficking angle
with complicity of the relatives for to any
reason.
The GRP officers also contacted their coun-
terparts in West Bengal to verify the antecedent
of the relatives as well as of the children and con-
firm whether they were being taken to far off
Punjab, as claimed by the kin, to work in hotels,
restaurants, shops, dhabas etc or for some other
illegal work.
6D;B70=:D0ADA34A20B4
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C=A067D=0C70 Q D108
The number of daily Covid-
19 deaths climbed to 252
and the infections dipped mar-
ginally to 9,195 in Maharashtra
on Thursday, even as 8.694
patients were discharged after
fully recovery from various
hospitals in the State.
A day after the state logged
141 deaths and 9,771 infec-
tions, the daily deaths went up
by 111, while the infections
dropped by 576.
Significantly enough, for
the first time in two months, no
“old and unaccounted” deaths
are not being reported for the
past three days. As a result,
there was no reconciliation of
the death figures.
With 141 deaths, the
Covid-19 toll in the State
jumped from 1,21,804 to
1,21,945. Similarly, with 9,771
fresh infections, the total infec-
tions in the state climbed from
60,51,633 to 60,61,404.
As 8634 patients were dis-
charged from the hospitals
across the state after full recov-
ery, the total number of people
discharged from the hospitals
since the second week of March
last year increased from
58,19901 to 58,28,535. The
recovery rate in the state
dropped from 96.02 per cent to
96.01 per cent.
The total “active cases” in
the state rose 1,16,364 to
1,16,667. The fatality rate in the
State stood static at 2.01 per
cent.
Mumbai recorded 21`
deaths and 656 infections. As
a result, the Covid-19 toll in the
metropolis increased from
15,451 to 15,472, while the
infected cases in Mumbai
went up from 7,22,222 to
7,22,878.
Pune with 17,086 active
cases emerged as the first in the
state in terms of maximum
number of “active cases” in the
state, while Thane with 16,105
stood second, followed by
Mumbai (12,605), Kolhapur
(12,495), Sangli (10,382),
Satara (7,650), Ratnagiri
(5,478), Raigad (5,191) and
Sindhudurg (4,457).
Of the 4,18,75,217 samples
sent to various laboratories
across the state so far, 60,70,599
have tested positive (14.5 per
cent) for Covid-19 until
Thursday.
Currently, 6,15,285 peo-
ple are in home quarantine
while 4,339 people are in insti-
tutional quarantine.
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?=BQ =4F34;78
In a major farmer outreach,
the Government on Thursday
launched a special drive to
enrol more cultivators under the
Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Yojana (PMFBY). A week-long
drive, starting July 1, will cover
all notified areas under the
kharif 2021 season with special
focus on 75 aspirational districts
where crop insurance penetra-
tion is low.
PMFBY, launched on
January 13, 2016, aims to pro-
vide a comprehensive risk solu-
tion to farmers at the lowest uni-
form premium across the coun-
try. Launching the special
drive, Agriculture Minister
Narendra Singh Tomar said so
far 29.16 crore farmers have
insured their crops under the
PMFBY.
More than C95,000 crore
worth of claims have been pro-
vided to farmers since the
launch of the scheme, against
the total premium of C17,000
crore paid by them, he said.
However, there is a need to
expand the scheme in the coun-
try so that the crop insurance
coverage can be increased and
more farmers get benefits, an
official statement quoted the
minister as saying.
Tomar also urged state gov-
ernments and other stakehold-
ers such as banks and insurance
companies to work together
and reach out to the farmers in
these identified 75 aspirational
districts. He also urged the
farmers to come forward and
enjoy the benefits of crop insur-
ance and become self-sufficient
in times of crisis. The minister
flagged off Information
Education Communication
(IEC) mobile vans to engage
with farmers on PMFBY during
the week-long drive.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Koo has proactively moder-
ated 54,235 content pieces
even as 5,502 posts were
reported by its users during
June.
In its monthly compliance
report, Koo said its report for
June 2021 shows that of the
5,502 Koos (posts) reported by
its user community, 22.7 per
cent (1,253) were removed,
while 'other action' was taken
against the rest (4,249 Koos).
Similarly, Koo took steps to
proactively moderate 54,235
Koos, of which 2.2 per cent
(1,996) were removed, while
'other action' was taken against
the rest (52,239). 'Other action'
includes overlay, blur, ignore,
warning etc on Koos that do
not comply with the
guidelines.
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With Congress general secretary
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra set to
camp in the State from this month
to activate and guide the party to the
2022 Assembly elections, the UP
Congress launched a mega training
camp for its block level party lead-
ers and workers on Thursday.
The training is being held from
July 1 to 8 and sessions will include
‘do’s and don’ts’ of social media and
how to make people aware of the
wrongdoings of other parties.
Before starting for Prayagraj to
inaugurate one such training camp,
UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar
Lallu told media persons on
Thursday that the state committee
was holding these special camps to
train its leaders and workers in seven
of the eight zones of UP.
In these camps, UP Congress
vice-president of each zone, state
general secretary, state secretary, dis-
trict presidents, city presidents and
block presidents of all districts asso-
ciated with that zone will be
trained.
Lallu said these training camps
were being organised first in
Allahabad zone on July 1 and 2, fol-
lowed by Sultanpur on July 2 and 3,
Lucknow on July 3 and 4, Mathura
on July 4 and 5, Jhansi on July 5 and
6, Ghaziabad on July 6 and 7 and
finally Bareilly on July 7 and 8.
Lallu said, “On the first day,
leaders will be imparted training
related to social media and its
importance in disseminating infor-
mation and methods will be taught
to convey the matter of oneself and
the party to the public. On the sec-
ond day, leaders will be introduced
to the reality of Bharatiya Janata
Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh, Samajwadi Party and
Bahujan Samaj Party and informa-
tion about the failures of the Yogi-
Modi governments in UP and
Centre will also be provided.”
Meanwhile, expelled
Congressman Konark Dixit and a
few others reached the Mall Avenue
party headquarters in Lucknow and
raised slogans against UP Congress
Committee chief Ajay Kumar Lallu
and party leader Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra's personal secretary Sandeep
Singh.
Later, Konark Dixit claimed
that some Congress workers arrived
and pelted stones at them while they
were protesting.
We were attacked, after which
I dialled 112 for registering a com-
plaint. I had no other option but to
protest as these two are dismantling
the party, which we can't bear at any
cost. The Congress headquarters has
transformed into the office of
'Vaampanthi' (left wing), he
said.
Lucknow:On his 48th birthday,
Samajwadi Party president
Akhilesh Yadav said that the
people of Uttar Pradesh want-
ed a change and the 2022
Assembly polls would be a
great opportunity for the voters
to get rid of the failed Bharatiya
Janata Party Government.
“People of UP want a
change. People will vote for
change. Since the day BJP
formed the government in Uttar
Pradesh, it forgot its Sankalp
Patra and threw it in the garbage
bin. The BJP does not want to
engage in a debate on real mat-
ters like unemployment and
inflation. The SP will come up
with an alliance with small
political parties in the 2022
polls,” Akhilesh told reporters at
the SP State headquarters in
Lucknow on Thursday. PNS
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