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The makers of the AmazonPrime Video series Tandavon Monday
apologised uncon-ditionally after complaints thatone of its
episodes had hurt“Hindu sentiments”.
The apology came after acase was registered against themakers of
the web series inLucknow and the Informationand Union
BroadcastingMinistry sought the view of theAmazon Prime on a flood
ofgrievances against the series.
The statement from thecast and crew of Tandav said,“We have been
closely moni-toring viewer reactions to theweb series Tandav and
todayduring a discussion, theMinistry of Information
andBroadcasting informed usregarding a large number of
grievances and petitionsreceived on various facets of theweb
series with serious con-cerns and apprehensionsregarding its
content hurtingthe sentiments of the people.
“Tandav is a work of fictionand any resemblance to actsand
persons and events is pure-
ly coincidental. The cast andcrew did not have any intentionto
offend the sentiments of anyindividual, caste, community,race,
religion or religious beliefsor insult or outrage any insti-tution,
political party or person,living or dead.
“The cast and crew ofTandav take cognisance of theconcerns
expressed by the peo-ple and unconditionally apol-
ogise if it has unintentionallyhurt anybody’s sentiments,”the
statement said.
A complaint filed by anUttar Pradesh policeman saidthat 17
minutes into the firstepisode, “people dressed up ina very bad
manner to representHindu gods and goddesses...shown to speak in a
veryuncalled for language... thathurts religious sentiments”.
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Amid the ongoing talks todefuse tension at the Lineof Actual
Control (LAC) inLadakh, China has added fuelto fire by building a
villageinside the disputed territory inArunachal Pradesh. India
saysit has taken note of the con-struction along the borderthere
and has ramped its infrastructure developmentprojects.
The latest development hasrung alarm bells in the securi-ty
establishment in India. It isapprehended that China wantsto
maintain the pressure onIndia by opening several frontsalong the
4,000-km LACstretching from Ladakh in thewest to Arunachal Pradesh
inthe east.
The fresh constructiondetected by satellite images byPlanet Labs
shows that Chinahas built a new village of about120 homes. The
village is aboutfive km inside the Indian ter-
ritory. China has all along dis-puted the claim, sources
saidhere on Monday.
Giving details about thenew construction, they said the
village is on the banks of TsariChu river in the UpperSubansiri
district. Incidentally,the Chinese troops in 1959 hadfired on an
Indian post there.
“We have seen recentreports of China undertakingconstruction
work along theborder area with India. Chinahas undertaken such
con-
struction activity in the pastseveral years,” the MEA
said,adding, “The Governmentremains committed to theobjective of
creating infra-structure along the borderareas for the improvement
oflivelihood of its citizens, includ-ing in Arunachal Pradesh.”
The latest satellite imagespertain to November last year.The
image dated a little morethan a year before that —August 26, 2019 —
does notshow any construction activi-ty. So, the village was set up
lastyear. This was the same areawhere the Chinese army lastyear
detained five locals.
The stand-offs now inLadakh are due to the Chinesealarmed over
rapid infrastruc-ture development all along theLAC by India on its
own side.However, sources said India hasnot built any roads or
infra-structure development closeto the new Chinese village.
They also said the maps ofthe Surveyor General of India
earmark that the new con-struction for the Chinese vil-lage is
in the Indian zone.
Reports said the new vil-lage is a Chinese military postand it
was first detected bysatellites, including GoogleEarth, about ten
years back.The new pictures of Novemberclearly indicate the post is
vast-ly upgraded, thereby posing achallenge to the Indian securi-ty
forces.
The Indian security estab-lishment maintains that thecoming up
of this village is aviolation of several agreementsbetween the two
countries.The pacts clearly say bothcountries to “safeguard
dueinterests of their settled popu-lations in the border areas’’
anddecree that pending an ultimatesettlement of the
boundaryquestion, the two sides shouldstrictly respect and
observethe Line of Actual Control andwork together to maintainpeace
and tranquility in theborder areas.
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The Supreme Court toldthe Centre on Mondaythat the proposed
tractor rallyon the Republic Day by farm-ers protesting against the
newfarm laws is a “law and order”matter and the Delhi Police isthe
first authority to decidewho should be allowed toenter the national
Capital.
A bench headed by ChiefJustice SA Bobde, while hear-ing the
Centre’s applicationseeking an injunction againstthe proposed
tractor or trol-ley march or any other kind ofprotest which seeks
to disruptthe gathering and celebra-tions on January 26, said
thatthe Delhi Police has all theauthority to deal with thematter.
“Does the SC say as towhat are the powers of policeand how they
will exercisethem? We are not going to tell
you what to do,” said thebench, also comprisingJustices LN Rao
and VineetSaran. The SC told AttorneyGeneral KK Venugopal that
itwill take up the matter forhearing on January 20.
“The question of enteringinto Delhi is a law and ordermatter and
will be determinedby the police,” the bench said,adding, “Mr
AttorneyGeneral, we are adjourningthe matter and you have all
theauthority to deal with thismatter.”
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West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee hasonce again looked
up toNandigram for a slice of polit-ical luck and as an
apparentstrategy to blunt the impact ofthe defection of her
erstwhilespearhead, Suvendu Adhikari,a powerful mass leader of
theregion.
Mamata on Monday told ahuge rally at the “ground zero”of what
they call Trinamool’s“farm revolution” that she wasmore than eager
to contestfrom the place as this was alucky ground for her.
“I will f ight from
Nandigram… Rather I willfight both from Nandigramand
Bhawanipore… My soulhas told me that this place islucky for me… it
is a holyplace… and that I should fightfrom Nandigram… I havealways
started my campaignfor the Assembly polls fromthis place,” Mamata
said onceagain attacking the “turncoats”
who quit the TMC before elec-tions and vowing once againnot to
let the BJP captureBengal.
“You may win many elec-tions, you may become allpowerful, you
may be thePrime Minister of India andyou may rule the world but
Ivow from this holy land ofNandigram that I will never
allow the BJP to enter Bengal,”Mamata said, adding howsome
people were quitting theparty as “all these years theyhave earned
huge black moneywhich they want to save.”
Mamata’s sharp attackreceived an equally high-deci-bel reply
from Adhikari, wholed a road-show down SPMukherjee Road,
pastBanerjee’s Kalighat residence.He at once took up the chal-lenge
welcoming the TMCsupremo at Nandigram andpre-declared the result:
a“hands down” defeat for theChief Minister.
“I welcome her toNandigram… which catapult-ed her to power and
which sheremembered after five years…Let her contest fromNandigram
and if I am field-ed by my party there I take avow today that if I
cannotdefeat her by a margin of half-a-lakh votes then I will
quitpolitics,” Adhikari said.
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After a 46-year-old healthworker died in UttarPradesh’s
Moradabad district aday after receiving the coron-avirus
vaccination, the familyblamed his death on vaccina-tion on
Monday.
However, the autopsyreport attributing the death
to“cardio-pulmonary disease”,officials said on Monday.
Meanwhile, nearly 3,600
healthcare workers receivedthe Covid-19 vaccine shots inDelhi on
Monday, a further dipin the figures compared tothat on opening day
of theimmunisation drive, withsources saying just eight med-ical
staff got the jabs at AIIMS.
The family of Mahipal,who was working as ward boyin State-run
Deen DayalUpadhaya Hospital inMoradabad, said he was notsuffering
from any ailmentother than fever and cough,and blamed his death on
vac-cination.
However, the UPGovernment said the man dieddue to septicemic
shock andcardiac arrest and the death wasnot related to the
Covid-19 vac-cination.
New Delhi: Protesting unionleaders on Monday said farm-ers have
a constitutional rightto take out their tractor rallypeacefully and
asserted thatthousands of people will par-ticipate in the proposed
eventon January 26. The reactioncame after the SC said theDelhi
Police is the first author-ity to decide the entry ofprotesting
farmers into Delhi.
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The parliamentary stand-ing committee onInformation Technology
(IT)has summoned officials ofTwitter and Facebook onJanuary 21 in
connectionwith the prevention of misuseof social media.
The panel would discussmeasures of safeguarding cit-izens’
rights and ways to pre-vent misuse of social mediain the light of
the evidencepresented to it by the com-mittee.
“Evidence of representa-tives of the Ministry ofElectronics and
InformationTechnology and to hear theviews of the representativesof
Facebook and Twitter onthe subject ‘safeguarding cit-izens’ rights
and preventionof misuse of social/onlinenews media
platforms,including special emphasison women security in thedigital
space,” according to
Lok Sabha Secretariat notice.This would be the agenda ofthe
committee’s next meeting.The sitting will be held from4 pm onwards
on January 21,it said.
The 31-member parlia-mentary standing committeeon IT is headed
by CongressMP Shashi Tharoor.
New Delhi: The Delhi HighCourt on Monday saidaccepting the new
privacypolicy of social messagingapp WhatsApp was a “vol-untary”
thing and one canchoose not to use or jointhat platform if one did
notagree with its terms andconditions. “It is a privateapp. Don’t
join it. It is a vol-untary thing, don’t accept it.Use some other
app,” JusticeSanjeev Sachdeva said.
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As the vaccination driveagainst Covid-19 resumedin the State on
Monday after aday’s gap, as many as 31,902persons were inoculated
on thesecond day.
A total of 380 sessionswere conducted to vaccinatethe 31,902
healthcare profes-sionals, said Health and FamilyWelfare Director
BijayPanigrahi.“We will completevaccination of the remaining1.78
lakh health workers byJanuary 25 starting from today.A total of
1,698 sessions will beconducted in the eight days,”Panigrahi
said.He said thenumber of sessions to be con-ducted per day has
been fixed.While 380 sessions were con-
ducted on the day, 192 sessionswould be held on Tuesday,
92sessions on January 20, 436 ses-sions on January 21, 141
ses-sions on January 22, 178 ses-sions on January 23 and
279sessions on the concludingday, January 25.
Earlier, 13,890 health work-ers were vaccinated in the Stateon
the first day of the much-awaited vaccination pro-gramme. The
recipients of vac-cine would be administered thesecond dose exactly
after agap of 28 days.
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The Keonjhar Town policeon Monday arrested SanjayMohanty, BJP
Yuva Morcha’sKeonjhar district secretary, inconnection with the
attack bidon Pradesh CongressCommittee (PCC) presidentNiranjan
Patnaik on Sundaynight. Four other accused werealso identified and
efforts wereon to apprehend them,informed Keonjhar SPMitrabhanu
Mahapatra.
An FIR, lodged on Sundaywith the Keonjhar Town
police mentioned the names ofthe alleged assailants,
includingSanjay Mohanty.NiranjanPatnaik said in a series oftweets,
“I was shocked to knowthat the miscreants were mem-bers of BJP’s
youth wing. This
is a clear case of politicalvendetta and desperation ofBJP.
Congress is raising relevantissues in the State and speak-ing out
against the policies ofBJP, which is desperately tryingto get a
foothold in Odisha.Congress is the biggest hurdlefor them.” “I am
shaken by thisincident! Not because it hap-pened to me or because
of thetrauma it has caused me.
I am shaken because if itcould happen to me, how safeare our
mothers and daughtersin Odisha?,” he added. Notably,Patnaik’s car
was attacked bythe miscreants near Kashipurlate on Sunday evening.
WhenPatnaik was returning from theKeonjhar District Congressoffice
after attending a pro-gramme, a Bolero interceptedhis car. As
Patnaik’s PSO RajeshSingh enquired the matter,
three youths got down fromtheir SUV. While one of themcaught
hold of the security offi-cer’s neck, the two others beathim up.The
attackers then wentto the driver of the vehicle.
In the meantime, an ambu-lance approached the spot.Some Congress
activists alsoreached there. Hearing theambulance siren, the
miscre-ants thought it to be a policevehicle and fled the spot,
saidSingh.
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State capital Bhubaneswaron Monday registered fivenew Covid-19
positive cases,with which the city’s total tallyincreased to
31,808, including209 active cases.
Of the new cases, threewere from quarantine and twowere local
contacts. However,seven persons recovered on theday, taking the
total recoveriesto 31,333.In Cuttack, two pos-itives were reported
on the day,increasing the city’s total tallyto 16,287.
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As many as 134 new Covid-19 positive cases were regis-tered on
Monday in 21 districtsand from State pool, pushingtotal tally to
3,33,444. Of newcases, 79 were reported fromquarantine and 55 were
localcontact cases. Sundargarh districtrecorded the day’s highest
25cases followed by Sambalpur19, Puri 16, Jharsuguda 12 andNuapada
11. Besides, one casewas reported from State pool.
Bhadrak, Dhenkanal,Deogarh, Kandhamal, Koraput,Malkangiri,
Nayagarh,Nabarangpur and Rayagada dis-tricts did not register any
casesince Sunday.
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Orissa High Court, whichhas a sanctioned 27 postsof judges, is
at present func-tioning with only 15, includingthe Chief Justice
while twomore judges will superannuatewithin six months.
In this backdrop, legalpractitioners and litigants arepressing
hard for filling up allthe vacant posts of judges atearliest.So far
as pendency ofcases is concerned, experts arestressing upon raising
sanc-tioned posts to 42.As per sta-tistics of National Judicial
DataGrid (NJDG) as on date, at least1,72,123 cases are
pendinginHigh Court out of which53,046 are criminal matters.
Among pending cases, 45,665are 5-10 years old while 27,841are
10-20 years old. There arealso 4,421 cases of 20-30 yearsold; and
that apart, 833 casesare awaiting adjudication formore than 30
years, saidsources. NJDG sources furtherstated that 27,097 cases
arepending in High Court for 3-5 years, 34,046 cases for 1-3years
and 32,220 cases arewaiting adjudication for lessthan one year
period.
If cases of already-abol-ished Odisha AdministrativeTribunal
(OAT) are transferred,litigation burden of High Courtis likely to
cross 2.5-lakh markby end of 2021, sources said.
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Police on Monday arrested aman and his mother-in-law for
allegedly murdering aGaon Sathi at Bhawanipur vil-lage under the
SundargarhTown police station. Theaccused were identified asBhaja
Oram and MadhabilataSingh. According to reports,the woman was
having an illic-
it affair with the deceasedRamesh Singh and her son-in-law was
opposing it. In order toeliminate Ramesh, the accusedduo hatched a
plan and invit-ed him to a feast that wasarranged at the woman’s
house.While Ramesh was havingliquor at the feast, the womanattacked
him with a sharpweapon and slit his throat,killing him on the
spot.
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Unidentified miscreantslooted Rs 4 lakh from abusinessman
nearChakalapadar village underthe Jharigaon police limits
inNabarangpur district onMonday.
According to reports, vic-tim Rajendra Yadav was trav-elling by
a motorcycle carryinga bag containing the cash. Inthe meantime,
three motor-bike-borne miscreants attackedhim with a sword and
snatchedaway the bag from his posses-sion. The looters fled the
spotsoon after committing the
crime. Locals rescued the busi-nessman and took him to
theDistrict Headquarters Hospitalfor treatment as he
sustainedinjuries on his right hand.Police started investigation
intothe incident and efforts were onto trace and nab the
criminals.
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Although the StateGovernment has made itmandatory to display the
man-ufacturing and expiry dates forthe sweets sold in the shops,
yetin Baleswar district the guide-lines are hardly followed.
Hundreds of shops sellingsweets in their counters areflouting
the rules with impuni-ty. One can find hardly anyshop which has
displayed thedates either of manufacture orexpiry. Since October
theGovernment has made itmandatory to display the datesfor each
sweet prominently asper the guidelines of FSSAI.While some shops
have dis-
played, most of the shops havefound an easy and simple wayto
display “Manufactured todayand expired tomorrow”. Thesetags are
permanently fixed oneach type of sweet.
The sweets which are madeout of milk have two daysexpiry period
after manufac-ture while other productshave a life of 5 days ,
saidreports. In the district theenforcement agencies are silenton
these acts of violations andfor name's sake carrying outchecks in
certain shops.
Inspector of food safetyAnnushree Khatua , however,said that the
department hadbeen spreading awarenessamong the shopkeepers andalso
carrying out raids. In theraids so far they besides seizingsweets
also recovered a penal-ty of over Rs 12,000, she said.In the
meanwhile, it is allegedthat none of the shops are fol-lowing the
guidelines and arampant violations were seenwhen people were
observingMakara Utsav when sweets aremandatory components.
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Dangaria Kandha, aParticularly VulnerableTribal Group (PVTG)
ofRayagada district, is gifted withtie and dye skill. Their
shawlknown as “Kapda Gunda”,which is hand woven withyarn having
natural colours, isvery famous.
During a recent awarenessworkshop organised by theoffice of
DevelopmentCommissioner(handicrafts)under the aegis of the
UnionMinistry of Textiles, outgoingCollector Pramod KumarBehera as
chief guest deliber-ated the need to conserve thetie and dye skill
of the Dangariatribe.He emphasised on con-ducting researches on
theirproducts. Deputy DirectorShailaja from the UnionMinistry
complemented the
Collector by saying that R&Dfor these kind of creative
prod-ucts is necessary to sustain theiraesthetic value. “My
Ministry iscommitted to take this processforward," she said.
Scribe Badal Kumar Tahsuggested to hire the services
ofprofessional designers fromIndustrial Design Centre, IIT,Mumbai
and NID-Ahmedabadand requested the districtadministration to
provide logis-tics.Participating as a guests ofhonour, General
Manager,Regional Industries Centre,Rayagada, Bikash ChandraBaina
clarified some bottle-necks faced by the entrepre-neurs in
e-marketing and theirsimple solutions.
He assured to synthesisethe efforts of the TextileMinistry with
availableschemes. Project Manager ofOdisha PVTG Empowerment
and Livelihoods ImprovementProgramme (OPELIP) atDangaria
KandhaDevelopment Agency (DKDA),Chatikana, Bissam Cuttack,Sudarshan
Padhi explained thesteps taken for improvement ofthe handicrafts of
DangariaKandhas, especially the tech-nical training of women
fromthe community. He stressed
upon the training of trainers forproducing more weavers
andcraftspersons. As a token ofrecognition to the
traditionalcraftspersons, 66 ID cards fromMinistry of Textiles were
dis-tributed amongDangaria trib-als from Khambesu village andDhokra
artisans from Gotigudavillage. Sewing machines werealso
distributed.
����� ���������
Beating the chilly winter anddense fog on the wee hoursof
Saturday, some reportersand youth activists have takenthe task of
cleaning all the stat-ues of freedom fighters andsons of the soil
which lieneglected at the township area.
About a dozen of reportersand youth activists led bysenior
journalist –cum- Odiapoet, Matrudutta Mohanty , byforming ‘Nation
BuildCampaign (Rasthra NirmanAbhijan)' started the
statuecleaning.
Taking broomsticks andwater jugs along with detergentpowder,
they carried out thecleaning works of statues ofSubaha Bose,
MahatmaGandhi, Dr BR Ambedkar,
Gopabandhu Dash,Dinabandhu Sahu andSarojkanta Kanungo
amongothers. The motto of theRasthra Nirman Abhijan is topay
respect and tribute to thefreedom fighters and the sonsof the soil
,whose statues lieneglected in the district.
“We started the work lastweek. This is the second timewe have
carried out the statuecleaning work in the township.We have decided
to clean thestatues by giving three to fourhours per week,” said
scribeBiren Das.
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Aperson was killed andmore than 15 others wereinjured when a
picnic busoverturned near the Dumbalaarea under the Adaba
policestation in Gajapati district onMonday.
The deceased was identi-fied as Sunil Sahu, a native
ofBhubaneswar. The injured wereshifted to a hospital in Mohanain
Gajapati distrcit. Accordingto sources, the mishap occurred
when the bus named MaaDakhinakali with 20 passengerswas heading
to Bhubaneswarfrom Gupteswar in Koraput.Most of the passengers
werefrom Bhubaneswar.
On being informed,Mohana Fire Services person-nel rushed to the
spot and shift-ed the injured to MohanaCommunity Health Centre.The
health condition of sixamong them was stated to becritical. They
were later shift-ed to the MKCG Medical
College Hospital in Brahmapur.“We had come to Gupteswarfor a
picnic and were returningto Bhubaneswar. The bus over-turned from
the ghat road dueto over-speeding by the driver,”said a passenger
who sufferedminor injuries.
����� �����������
JSPL Foundation chairper-son Shallu Jindal has beenhonoured as
one of the 'Top 10Impact Leaders of India' dur-ing the 'India CSR
LeadershipSummit - 2021', organised byIndia CSR Network onJanuary
16.
Jindal led JSPLFoundation, the CSR arm ofJindal Steel &
Power Limited(JSPL) which provided abouthalf a million meals
(cookedfood and dry food kits) tomigrant workers, daily
wageearners, street dwellers, desti-
tutes, truckers, shelter homesand other socially vulnerable
populace. Besides, theFoundation provided sanitiz-ers, hand
wash, disinfectants,masks which were manufac-tured as a part of the
IncomeGeneration Activities by morethan a thousand women inSelf
Help Groups.
This assured everydayincome to the underprivi-leged families
during the cashcrunch period. Thousands ofdairy, vegetable and
mush-room farmers associated withthe Foundation were keptimmune to
distress selling byfacilitating sale of their farmproduce in plant
townships.
����� ���������
Apublic hearing was organ-ised in presence of theADM Sambalpur
UmakantRaj, officers of the StatePollution Control Board,SDPO Tapan
KumarMohanty, Bamaloi SarapanchSeshadev Pradhan amongothers for
expansion of theAryan Ispat near Rengaliunder Sambalpur
district.
The people presentexpressed consent for theexpansion of the
plant.Butthey emphasized on local
employment and businessopportunities to the localyouths as there
are ample ofopportunities. They furtherdemanded for supply
ofdrinking water to the peoplestaying near the plant, health-care,
road construction,periphery development andmany other
developmentalproposals that the companyauthorities agreed to
carryout. Consultant for pollutioncontrol for Aryan Ispat Ltd
DrArundhati Tej assured directand indirect employment tothe local
youths. It needs a
mention that amidst Covidrestrictions, as many as 63people of
the locality tookpart in the public hearing. 45persons pledged
their fullsupport. But six people sup-ported it conditionally
andseven people opposed theexpansion. But only five peo-ple
preferred to keep silent.
However, BamaloiSarapanch Seshadev Pradhansuggested for
rehabilitatingthe villagers of Phulchanger toanother suitable place
becausethey were feeling suffocatedfor staying close to the
plant.
����� ���������
Co m m i s s i o n e r - c u m -Secretary of Public
WorksDepartment Krishan Kumar,along with Chief Engineer andother
senior officials of thedepartment on Sunday visitedKendrapada
district to reviewthe progress of ongoing con-struction work of a
mother andchildcare hospital atShyamagudi that has beenstarted with
an estimated costof Rs 110 crore.
Besides, they accessed theongoing construction work ofthe
District HeadquartersHospital (DHH) building andInfection unit
building work.Krishan Kumar showed hisdispleasure at the slow
progressof the construction works anddirected to complete the
projectwithin the existing deadline, set
by the State Government ear-lier. Later , Krishan Kumar paida
visit to a bridge constructionsite at Govari river and also
vis-ited the Baladevjew temple tosee the progress work.
District Collector AmritRituraj, DRDA PD DillipParida, Sub
CollectorJyotishankar Mohapatra,besides all the senior officialsof
the line department accom-panied Krishan Kumar duringhis visit.
Notably, 5T Secretary VKarthikeya Pandian on lastOctober 15 2019
, had visitedthe Mother and child care hos-pital to review the
ongoing con-struction works and had direct-ed to the district
administrationto complete at least the firstcomponent of the
hospitalbefore the end of February2020.
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PCC president NiranjanPatnaik visited KanpurIrrigation project
near Jodaunder the Champua Assemblyconstituency of Keonjhar andheld
a meeting with the pro-ject-affected people. It is allegedthat land
oustees were threat-ened by the district admin-istation to part
with theirancestral home land.
On his way from Keonjharto the project site, Patnaik wasaccorded
warm welcome at
Basudevpur from where thou-sands of people led him to
theaffected area.
In his address to the affect-ed people, the PCC chief saidthe
present Governments standfor 3Ps (Prachar,Pratisruti,Pratarana) and
workonly for rich people and cor-porate houses like Adani
andAmbani. He lamented thatyouths were roaming joblessand farmers
were agitating onthe street.
Due to the wrong policy ofthe both the Central and
StateGovernments, the Kanpur
Irrigation project which hadbeen started by the
CongressGovernment is now incom-
plete, told Patnaik, adding thathe was with the common peo-ple
in their struggle against the
injustice. He further told thathe would meet the
Collector,Keonjhar to discuss the prob-lem of the people.
He further told that theGovernment was collectinghighest revenue
from Keonjharand its people couldn't beallowed to live in
miserablecondition. He assured to urgeupon the Collector to
spendfrom the DMF fund if therewas scarcity of funds to takeforward
the project work.
Later, he proceeded to Jodato see how people were livingin a
very miserable condition
due to want of doctors andother paramedical staff andequipment
in the CentralHospital, Joda.
He briefed the mediaper-sons that the health conditionsin the
mining rich area is in avery miserable conditions andappealed to
local youths to fightagainst the apathetic attitude ofthe
Government.
District Congress presi-dent Biplab Mishra, JadumanaiBarik, PC
Naik, AshokThakkar, Gurubox SinghAlluwalia and AC Das amongothers
were present.
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An old woman was crushedunder the wheels of goodstrain near the
Jadupur Roadjunction in Kenrapada district.The deceased was
identified asSita Swain (75) of Oatar villagein the district Police
sourcessaid the woman was mentallysick and she had earlier tried
tocommit suicide by jumping
into a pond but she was res-cued by fellow villagers. Herfamily
members said she wasmissing from home from earlymorning. Following
a franticsearch, they found her body onthe railway track.
The Cuttack GRP sent thedead body for postmortemand are
investigating into inci-dent, said Marshaghai policestation IIC
Kalahandi Behera.
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Union Minister of RoadTransport and Highways,Nitin Gadkari, on
Monday,inaugurated Road SafetyMonth where he highlightedthe central
Government's com-mitment towards safety.
"Till now, we have beenobserving National Road SafetyWeek. But
from today, we willobserve National Road SafetyMonth. 70% of deaths
are in theage group of 18-45 years,"Nitin Gadkari said.
Gadkari also said that thereis a need to save lives in
thecountry where 415 people aredying every day due to
roadaccidents.
"If we wait till 2030, 6-7lakhs more people will die. So,we've
made a commitmentthat before 2025, road accidentsand deaths due to
it will bebrought down by 50% withhelp of people's
participation,"Gadkari added.
In 2020, the CentralGovernment had participatedin a conference
in Sweden,where a vision was conceptu-
alised - to have zero road fatal-ities in India by 2030, he
said.
"We had promised toreduce such fatalities by 50%.Tamil Nadu has
done it, with asuccess rate of 53%.," Gadkaristated.
Providing details of hisministry about an increasedtarget of per
day roads con-struction, Gadkari said, "Wehave achieved the target
of con-structing 30 kilometres of road,I believe that by the end
ofMarch, perhaps we will achievethe target of constructing
40kilometres of road per day."
"World Bank and ADB(Asian Development Bank)approved two projects
worth?7,000 crore each. We'll receiveapproval from finance
ministry
soon. So, we'll spend ?14,000crore to improve black spots -death
traps - on roads," theUnion Minister of RoadTransport and
Highwaysadded.
The event at VigyanBhavan was also attended byDefence Minister
RajnathSingh, Union minister VKSingh and chief executive offi-cer
(CEO) of Niti AayogAmitabh Kant.
Globally India is one of theworst-hit nations when itcomes to
road accidents. Indiaaccounts for about 5 lakh roadaccidents
annually, one of thehighest in the world, in whichabout 1.5 lakh
people die andanother 3 lakh become crip-pled.
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North India will continue toreel under the grip of anintense
cold wave for a fewmore days. The IndianMeteorological
Department(IMD) on Monday extendedthe cold wave warning in
northIndia till January 22.
According to the IMD,change in wind direction fromeasterly to
westerly/north west-erly is likely to bring downminimum temperature
by 2 to4 degree Celsius during thenext three days and after
thatrise by 2-4 degree Celsius overthe northwest India.
RK Jenamani, the seniorscientist, IMD, said that thewarning for
the cold wave inNorth India has been extend-ed till January 22.
Earlier, theIMD had issued a cold wavewarning for January 13-15
andthen extended it till January 18.A few days back, the
weatherbureau had issued a cold wavewarning for 13-15 January
andthen extended it till 18 January.A cold day is when the mini-mum
temperature is less than10 degrees Celsius and themaximum is at
least 4.5 degreesCelsius below normal.
However, Jenamani saidthat the dense fog spreadacross northern
plains inPunjab, Haryana, Rajasthan,Uttar Pradesh andUttarakhand
will begin lifting
from Tuesday. Dense fog willbegin lifting from Tuesdayover
northern plains in Punjab,Haryana, Rajasthan, UttarPradesh and
Uttarakhand. Thiswill lead to hotter days andcolder nights.
“A fresh WesternDisturbance is likely to affectWestern Himalayan
Regionfrom 22nd January. Under theinfluence of its interaction
withlow level easterlies from 23rdJanuary; scattered to wide-spread
rain/snow likely overWestern Himalayan Regionduring 22nd-24th
January,” theIMD said in a tweet.
“Under the influence oflower level wind reversal fromeasterly to
westerly/northwest-erly, Cold Wave conditionslikely in isolated
pockets overEast Uttar Pradesh, Punjaband Haryana, Chandigarh
&Delhi during 18th-20th andWest Uttar Pradesh and
northRajasthan during 19th-21st
January, 2021,” the IMD said.In Rajasthan, the night
temperatures dipped to near-zero, and Pilani recorded
atemperature of 0.4 degreesCelsius, followed by Churu,which
witnessed a temperatureof 1.9 degrees Celsius.Meanwhile, dense fog
could bewitnessed in parts of UttarPradesh as major cities such
asAgra, Kanpur and Jhansirecorded below six degreesCelsius
temperatures, signifi-cantly below season's normal.Moderate fog is
expected overisolated places in the state overTuesday and
Wednesday. InPunjab and Haryana too, thetemperatures remained
belownormal levels. Bathinda record-ed 3.4 degrees Celsius,
whileGurdaspur and Faridkot wit-nessed 7 and 5.5 degreesCelsius
respectively.Chandigarh recorded a lowtemperature of 8.3
degreesCelsius.
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COVID-19 pandemic hasrevealed the need to investin health, and
the call for sus-tainable funding to the WorldHealth Organisation
(WHO)so that the global body can fullyrespond to public health
needs,Union Health Minister DrHarsh Vardhan said onMonday.
He pointed out that anyproposed increase in budgetneeds to also
consider theglobal economic impact of thedisease.
The Minister, who chairedthe 148th session of WHOExecutive Board
through videoconference, said the poorestand most vulnerable are
thehardest hit by COVID-19 as theimpact of the crisis will
reversehard-won development gainsand hamper progress
towardsachieving SustainableDevelopment Goals,
Stressing the need toensure fair and equitable dis-tribution of
coronavirus vac-cines, Dr Harshvardhan saidthe pandemic has
presented anopportunity whereby “health”has been placed on the
globalagenda of Governments, part-ners and donors.
He thanked the medicalprofessionals, scientists andresearchers
as well as other
essential workers around theworld who continue workingunder
difficult and challengingcircumstances to deal with thepandemic. He
also offered hiscondolences to the familieswhose dear ones died due
tothe disease, according to astatement by the health min-istry.
"We all know how difficultthe year 2020 has been for thewhole
world… how humanityhas battled this crisis with all itsmight, but
it has also been ayear in which the wisdom andevidence of science
was judi-ciously adopted. I call the year2020 as the ‘year of
science' anda ‘year of incredible scientificachievement.
“In less than 12 months,researchers have characteriseda novel
illness, sequenced a newvirus' genome, developed diag-nostics,
produced treatmentprotocols, and established theefficacy of drugs
and vaccinesin randomised controlled tri-als," Vardhan was quoted
assaying by the ministry.
The Union minister alsoexpressed optimism that inthe current
year, the unprece-dented crisis caused by thepandemic shall be
mitigatedand successfully reversedthrough committed
politicalleadership and sustained glob-al cooperation and
solidarity.
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Union Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar,on Monday said
that the pre-vious Governments could notintroduce these
reformsbecause of pressure tactics.
“These reforms will go along way in elevating the livingstandard
of farmers. Wheneverany reform is introduced,impediments are bound
tocome in the way,” Tomar said.
The tenth round of talksbetween the Centre and 41protesting
farmers' unions isscheduled for Wednesday at 12noon at Vigyan
Bhawan in theheart of the national Capital.Separately, a Supreme
Court-appointed panel to resolve thecrisis is also scheduled to
holdits first meeting on Tuesday.The previous rounds of
talksbetween the Government andfarmers have failed to reach
anyconcrete results, as protestingunions have stuck to theirmain
demand for repealingthe new laws, but theGovernment has refused to
doso.
“Misinformation is beingspread across the country thatMSP
(minimum supportprice) is being discontinued
but the government has madeit clear that the MSP will con-tinue.
Procurement on MSPhas also been increased.Pulses-oilseeds have also
beenincluded in the MSP. Theselaws were expected earlier butthe
previous governmentcould not implement becauseof pressure. It was
the Modigovernment that took a boldstep and brought these
lawspassed in Parliament.. .Whenever a good thing hap-pens, there
are obstacles,"Tomar said while addressing anational conference on
recentagriculture reforms, Myths vsFacts organized byConfederation
of NGOs ofrural India.
The statement is beingseen as a reiteration of the gov-ernment's
stand that it was onlywilling to discuss the laws
clause by clause and amendthem suitably – something thathas been
rejected by farmers,who called the last round oftalks “120 per cent
failure”. Theminister added that the lawswere made after extensive
dis-cussions between experts, sci-entists and farmer unionsbased on
recommendations ofa panel led by Professor MSSwaminathan, the
father of India's Green Revolution.
He also cited agriculturebudget figures for this fiscalagainst
those in 2013-14 whenthe PM Modi-led governmentfirst came to power
to showcasethe government's commitmenttowards farmers'
welfare.“There will be a five-foldincrease in the agriculture
bud-get,” he added.
On eve of the tenth roundof meeting, a delegation offarmers
representing over 270farmer producer organizationsfrom Madhya
Pradesh, UttarPradesh, Assam, Karnataka,Chhattisgarh and Odisha
metMinister of State forAgriculture Parshottam Rupalaand appealed
not to repeal thelaws. Minister of State forAgriculture
KailashChoudhury was also present inthe meeting.''
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The Centre on Monday saidthat avian influenza hasbeen confirmed
in 14 Statesacross the country so far. Ofthem, avian influenza has
beenconfirmed in five states inpoultry birds while in nineStates it
is confirmed incrow/migratory and wild birds.
“Further, avian influenzahas been confirmed in samplesof the
dead heron from TisHazari, and in crow from RedFort, Delhi and
advisory in thisregard has been issued to Delhifor taking necessary
action,” itsaid.
According to the ministryof animal husbandry, cullingand
sanitization operationshave been completed in theepicenters of
Latur district inVillage Kendrewadi,Ahmedpur, Village Sukani,and
Village Tondar(Vajrawadi) in Udgir talukand village Kurdwadi in
Ausataluk.
Further, in MadhyaPradesh (Districts of Harda andMandsaur) and
Chhattisgarh(District Balod), rapid responseteams have been
deployed forthe culling of poultry birdsaround one km radius of
epi-
centers of the outbreak in poul-try. Culling operation of
poul-try is continuing in the epi-centers of Haryana
(DistrictPanchkula).
“In Maharashtra, rapidresponse teams has beendeployed and
culling of poul-try birds is underway in all theaffected
epicenters,” it said.
According to the CRISIL’sanalysis that rated 87 poultrycompanies
comprising nearly30 percent of the industry’s rev-enue, the bird
flu has choppedaround 30 percent off broilerchicken volume,
bringing downdaily chicken demand in thecountry from 100 lakh kg
inDecember 2020 to an estimat-ed 70 lakh kg in January 2021.
Apart from this, the ratingagency added that wholesaleprices of
broiler chicken havecrashed 20-30 percent from Rs105-110 per kg in
December toRs 80 per kg. Following this,the overall revenue
coulddecline 30-40 percent inJanuary 2021 due to a fall
inrealizations and volume.
It noted that as wholesaleprices usually correct
sharplyfollowing such outbreaks, thefall in prices tends to be
tem-porary.
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Doctors have warned thatpeople should avoid drink-ing alcohol or
taking immuno-suppressant drugs in the daysbefore and after
receiving theCovid-19 vaccine to ensurethat it works properly.
“People will have toobserve extra precautions dur-ing the 28
days gap between thetwo doses for the vaccine tobecome effective.
The benefi-ciaries should also refrain fromvisiting crowded places,
wearface masks, use sanitizers, min-imise contacts and refrain
fromconsuming alcohol orimmunosuppressant drugs,"said Dr Jugal
Kishore DirectorProfessor and Head,Department of CommunityMedicine,
VMMC andSafdarjung Hospital in thenational Capital.
"It's a strain on the body. Ifwe want to stay healthy andhave a
strong immuneresponse, don't drink alcohol,"he said.
Dr Ramesh Keshav, HeadCardiac AnesthesiaDepartment at the
RMLHospital in the national Capital,who took the first shot on
thefirst day of the roll out of thevaccine drive agreed sayingthat
heavy drinking and drugabuse should in other timesotherwise also
has to be avoid-ed as they compromise with thebody immunity.
He cited the Union HealthMinistry’s guideline that saidthat
protective levels of anti-bodies are generally developedtwo weeks
after receiving thesecond dose of vaccines.
Dr Kishore explained thatalcohol consumption, intake ofsteroids
and tobacco may leadto impaired liver function in aperson who has
been vacci-nated and the person’s immuneresponse may be
compromised.
“In such a case, the personmay not develop
adequateimmunogenicity and the pur-pose of vaccination is
defeated,”he said.
In fact, existing scientificliterature on alcohol and theimmune
system shows thatexcess alcohol is an immuno-suppressant so people
whodrink a lot are more suscepti-ble to infections, a view
sup-ported by the doctors worldover.
“Heavy drinkers havemany problems and poorimmune function is one
ofthem,” immunologist EleanorRiley at the University of
Edinburgh, UK said.Heavy alcohol use is also
associated with a number ofother health problems, includ-ing an
increased risk of heartdisease, cancer, and liver dis-ease.
While alcohol should beavoided, a team of researchersin their
study has suggestedthat health behaviours anddepression, stress, or
lonelinessalso have been known to alterthe body’s ability to
develop animmune response to vaccinesincluding the new
Covid-19vaccines.
The international organi-sation Association forPsychological
Science (APS)said that simple interventions,however, may maximise
thevaccine’s initial effectiveness. Itquoted the study which
rec-ommends exercising and get-ting a good night’s sleep in the24
hours before vaccination.The report has been acceptedfor
publication in the journalPerspectives on PsychologicalScience.
Health experts say thatwhile vaccination programmesare being
rolled out in variouscountries, not everyone willgain the full
benefit immedi-ately. “Environmental factors,as well as an
individual’s genet-ics and physical and mentalhealth, can weaken
the body’simmune system, slowing theresponse to a vaccine,” as
perthe APS.
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Out of total of 3,81,305 ben-eficiaries, who have so farbeen
vaccinated for coron-avirus since the rollout of theanti-Covid jab
drive on Sunday,at least 580 adverse events fol-lowing immunization
(AEFI)have been reported in thecountry. The Union HealthMinistry
said that seven werehospitalised but none of themwas serious.
It also said that the death oftwo persons soon after
takingCovid-19 vaccine in UttarPradesh and Karnataka was notrelated
to the jab.
Manohar Agnani,Additional Secretary in theUnion Health Ministry,
whileaddressing a Press briefing
here on Monday said that theydied due to heart related
ail-ments. Agnani said “a cumu-lative 580 adverse events fol-lowing
immunization (AEFIs)and seven hospitalizations have
so far been reported in thecountry since the nationwideCOVID
inoculation drivewhich began on January 16.Majority complained
fever,headache and nausea, accord-ing to the provisional data
ofongoing vaccination drive.
He said that of the twodeaths reported, death of the 52year male
from Moradabad,UP (who was vaccinated onSunday and died next day is
notrelated to vaccination as per thepost mortem report. Deathwas
caused due to cardiopul-monary disease.
Similarly, he said that thesecond death which was of amale (43),
a resident of Bellary,Karnataka was vaccinated onSaturday and died
Monday.“The cause of death is anteri-
or wall infarction withCardiopulmonary failure. Thepost mortem
is being con-ducted,” he said.
The Government howeverhasn’t given any details aboutthe adverse
reactions happenedfor which particular vaccine.
On Monday, till 5 pm,1,48,266 beneficiaries were vac-cinated
across 25 states andUnion territories, taking thetotal tall of the
vaccinated peo-ple to 3,81,305. On the first dayie Saturday around
2 lakh peo-ple were inoculated, saidAgnani.
Of the 1,48,266 beneficia-ries who were administered thevaccine
on Monday, 8,656 werefrom Bihar, 1,822 from Assam,36,888 from
Karnataka, 7,070from Kerala, 6,665 from
Madhya Pradesh, 7,628 fromTamil Nadu, 10,352 fromTelangana,
11,588 from WestBengal and 311 were fromDelhi.
In Delhi, three hospitali-sations were reported, out ofwhich,
two have been dis-charged, and one with faintingis under
observation at MaxHospital, Patparganj.
In Uttarakhand, one of thebeneficiaries is stable andunder
observation at AIIMSRishikesh, the official stated. InChhattisgarh,
one beneficiaryis under observation, while inKarnataka, two cases
of hospi-talizations were reported, hesaid. "No case of
serious/severeAEFI attributable to vaccina-tion till date," the
additionalsecretary added.
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The CBI has arrested a ChiefAdministrative Officer ofNorth East
Frontier Railway(NFR), Maligaon (Assam), aDeputy Chief Engineer,
anAssistant Executive Engineer ofNFR, an employee of privatecompany
based at Guwahati(Assam) and a private person(relative of the
arrested CAO)in a case related to allegedbribery of � 1 crore.
The agency recovered�2.39 crore in cash duringsearches at 26
locations, includ-ing Delhi. Uttarakhand, Assam,Tripura and West
Bengal,linked to the five accused per-sons.
The arrested accused arethe CAO Mahendra SinghChauhan, Deputy
ChiefEngineer Hem Chand Borah,Assistant Executive Engineer(AEN)
Lamxi Kant Verma, anemployee of ABCIInfrastructures Pvt.
Ltd.Bhupendra Rawat and privateperson Indra Singh.
“The total amount of �2.39crore was recovered. Thesearches
includes an allegedbribe of �1 crore, whichexchanged hands on
Sunday.During searches, a sum of�18.5 lakh and �6.5 lakh havebeen
recovered from thepremises of Deputy ChiefEngineer and
AssistantExecutive Engineer (AEN)respectively. In addition, �60lakh
was recovered fromDehradun and �54 lakh fromGuwahati premises of
CAO, on
Sunday. Besides this, there hasbeen recovery of jewellery
anddocuments related to propertyfrom these locations,” the CBIsaid
in a statement.
Earlier, the CBI had regis-tered a case against the
accusedpersons and unknown othersunder relevant sections of
theIndian Penal Code andPrevention of Corruption Act.
It was alleged that theaccused were abusing their
official position for obtainingillegal gratification. It was
fur-ther alleged that the arresteddirector of the private compa-ny
was in contact with theCAO in various on-going pro-jects in the NFR
region. It wasalso alleged that on hisdemand, the said
Director,through his employee, deliv-ered a bribe of Rs.1 crore to
therelative of said CAO at his res-idence in Dehradun. “Theaccused
allegedly exchangingbribe money were caught yes-terday. The alleged
bribe of RsOne crore was recovered,” itsaid. .
The agency had on Sundaybusted a major corruptionracket. It was
alleged that somesenior public functionaries ofNFR were involved in
corruptpractices with private contrac-tors for the on-going
projectsunder the division. The con-tractors were allegedly
beingfacilitated in awarding the con-tracts, processing of
subse-quent bills and release of pay-ments by the public
func-tionaries in lieu of bribe, it fur-ther said adding
investigationand searches are continuing.
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Etawah (Uttar Pradesh): Eightcows were killed and six
wereinjured after speeding RajdhaniExpress mowed them downnear
Tamera Ki Madaiya villageon Delhi-Howrah route inJaswantnagar area
of Etawahdistrict.
The incident took place onSunday, between Jaswantnagarand Balrai
railway stations.
According to the villagers,a herd of cattle was grazingnear the
tracks when 14 ofthem were mowed down by theRajdhani Express.
Eight cows died on thespot, while six suffered critical
injuries.The gateman and villagers
alerted the district officialsincluding SDM JaswantnagarJyotsana
Bandhu, who rushedto the spot. The SDM super-vised the rescue
operation andshifted the six injured animalsto a nearby gaushala
for treat-ment, said the police.
“We have shifted theinjured cows to a nearby'gaushala' for
treatment. Itappears that the incidentoccurred due to heavy fog
inthe area. Further investiga-tions are underway in thisregard,”
said the SDM. PTI
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It’s time for Republic Day andcelebrities in Kerala are agogto
know who are all those whohave made it to the list of thisyear’s
list of civilian awards vizPadma Sri, Padma Bhushan etc.
People in Kerala areobsessed with the titles ofPadma Sree and
other Padmaawards. The year 2010 sawfilm director Ranjith
making“Pranchiyettan the Saint”, amovie that set the box office
onfire. The film is about a busi-nessman in Thrissur who wasduped
Rs 1.5 crore by a con-man promising the former aPadma Sree
award.
The craze for these awardsis visible only in Kerala thoughthe
titles come with a lot of doand don’ts issued by theMinistry of
Home Affairs. Thewinner is accorded State hon-ors during his/her
final riteswith police band playing theLast Post and gun salute.
Thewinner is not expected to dis-play the honorifics
anywhereincluding his/her visiting card.
There are no cash incentivestoo. But there were reportsabout a
celebrity in the Statespending Rs four crore for thistitle.
Perumbavoor, a small townin Ernakulam district city hasa Padma
Sree awardee whodoes not have a house to stay.Acharya Kunhol, a
Sanskritscholar who works round-the-clock for the upliftment of
theHarijans in the State wasawarded Padma Sree last year.But he
stays in a thatched shedeven one year after the title wasconferred
on him by thePresident of India.
Though it is customary on
the part of the State adminis-tration to congratulate
theawardee, nobody from theKerala Government hadextended that
courtesy to himtill date. “Chief MinisterPinarayi Vijayan issued a
state-ment condemning the Centrefor not awarding the titles to
atleast one person in the list ofnearly 50 persons that
wassubmitted by KeralaGovernment. No need to spec-ify that all the
names in the listwere strong critics of NarendraModi. But Vijayan
failed tocongratulate Acharya Kunhol,”said K K Sudhakaran,
secretary,Tapasya and a close associate ofthe Acharya.
Last year, The Pioneer hadreported about the patheticsituation
of the hut in whichthe Acharya stays. He hadexpressed his
helplessness inoffering a cup of black coffeewhen a group of media
personshad called on him. “I have nocomplaints against anybodyand
am content with whatev-er the God has given me,” saidthe Acharya
who keeps himself
busy by teaching Sanskrit to thepoor children around. Thoughhe
has contacts with all theleading politicians in the State,the
Acharya has notapproached any one of themwith requests for
help.
His children are all namedafter persons who revolution-ized the
world through selflessservices. Ambedkar, GoldaMeir, Martin Luther
King, SaiLakshmi , Devadas andAmritanandamayi!
Bobby Chemmannur, abusiness baron from Kerala’sThrissur has said
that he wasapproached by people in thegovernment with the offer of
aPadma Sree. “But when theydemanded Rs 50 lakh to meetthe initial
expenses, I backedout. Later I heard a Keralaentrepreneur who paid
Rs 4.5crore was honored with aPadma Sree,” saidChemmannur who is
knownfor his friendship with lateDiego Maradonna. He refusedto
divulge details about the per-sons and the year of the
inci-dent.
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Ahead of the Republic Daycelebrations in Jammu &Kashmir,
Director General ofPolice Dilbagh Singh onMonday claimed there
areinputs that the terrorists arekeen to carry out some mis-chief
as they are desperate todisturb communal harmony,peace and order in
theregion.
Chairing a high level secu-
rity review meeting of thesenior officers of Police, Army,BSF,
CRPF and Intelligenceagencies here in the policeheadquarters the
DGP saidthat the year 2021 will have itsown challenges as new
strate-gies have been adopted byPakistan with new terror
oper-atives emerging on groundwhich need to be countered.
Last week, a tunnel wasdetected along theInternational border in
the
Samba sector by the BSFjawans.
The security agencies arestill investigating whether thesame was
recently used to pusharmed infiltrators inside theIndian territory
or not. On theoccasion DGP also directedthat the deployments for
repub-lic day may be beefed up andthe QRTs, escorts, guards
willhave to be alert.
He directed that allarrangements be made so that26th January
celebrations areheld peacefully. He said thatthere are inputs that
the ter-rorists are keen to carry outsome mischief as they are
des-
perate to disturb communalharmony, peace and order. Hedirected
the officers to take careof vulnerable persons andplaces to thwart
the nefariousdesigns of enemies.He saidthat well coordinated
surveil-lance systems must be ensuredto undo nefarious plans of
theenemies.
The high level securityreview meeting was attendedby COS 16
Corps MajorGeneral Sharad Kapoor, IGPJammu Zone Mukesh Singh,IGP
CRPF Jammu P. S.Ranpise, DIG Udhampur ReasiRange Sujit Kumar, DIG
DodaKistwar Ramban Range Abdul
Jabbar, DIG BSF Jammu S. K.Singh, SSP Jammu ShreedharPatil, SSP
CIV PHQ RajeshBali, SSP CID CI Jammu TahirSajad Bhat, SSP CID SB
JammuRohit Baskotra and othersenior officers.
Meanwhile, in SrinagarInspector General of Police(IGP) Kashmir
range, VijayKumar said that the threeyouth killed in Lawaypora
gun-fight were involved in militan-cy and that the police willsoon
present ‘concrete evi-dence’ to their parents.
He said that the bodies ofslain militants aren’t beinghanded
over to families in
view of the Covid-19 pandem-ic as people would assemble
infunerals and break the Covidprotocol.
Talking to reporters on thesidelines of a road safety
weekfunction in Srinagar, the IGPsaid: “We have collected 60
per-cent evidence and in next days,we will collect more
evidenceincluding the technical oneand will first convince the
par-ents of slain trio that their sonswere involved in militancy
andwere providing logistic supportto militants.”
IGP Kumar while replyingto a query that the father of oneof the
slain youth has demand-
ed the body of his son, said thatbecause of the Covid-19
pan-demic, bodies of slain militantsaren’t being handed over
totheir families.”If we hand overthe bodies, people will assem-ble
for funerals and break thecovid protocol, which wouldendanger the
lives of people.The bodies of slain militants arebeing buried in
the presence oftheir family members.”
The families of the slainyouth have demanded a probeinto their
killings, saying theywere innocent and were killedin a staged
gunfight. Severalpolitical parties have alsodemanded a fair probe
into the
gunfight.Earlier this month, the
families of the trio staged aprotest at the Press Enclave
inSrinagar, demanding a probeand return of the bodies.
The IGP said that, of late,youth are being lured into mil-itancy
as OGWs as they arebeing provided with pistolsand grenades.
“Yesterday, we arrested ayouth from Anantnag, alongwith a pistol
and grenade whowas tasked to kill someone. Weare at it and will
counter thetrend through human trackingand this is our top
priority,” hesaid.
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Kolkata: In a grim reminder forthe Election Commission of
Indiathat comingAssembly elections inthe State could be splattered
inblood, supporters of TrinamoolCongress and the BJP clashed
atthree places with rods and brick-bats during a three-km
saffronrally led by Suvendu Adhikari andBengal BJP president Dilip
Ghoshin South Kolkata.
The incident tended to mimicthe December 10 attack on
NJPpresident JP Nadda’s convoy atDiamond Harbour with a groupof
Trinamool supporters cap-tured on camera throwing brick-bats at the
BJP rally passing downthe SP Mukherjee Road some twokm away from
Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee’s Kalighat res-
idence.The initial attack by the TMC
men sparked the clash when theBJP men counter attacked,sources
said. “The BJP workersthen chased them right insidetheir mohalla
(locality) and beatthem up,” sources said adding theclashes took
place near CharuMarket, a few hundred yardsaway from the Tipu
SultanMosque. The police rushed to thespot and controlled the
crowd,sources said.
Subsequently the TMC mentoo gathered at different placesand
attacked the BJP men whowere returning from the rally. Anumber of
people were injured inthe skirmish, sources said addingmotorbikes
and some shops were
also vandalized.Reacting to Monday’s inci-
dent Adhikari a former BengalMinister said “we had obtainedthe
necessary police permissionfor this rally but still they made
ascanty police bandobast makingroom for some TMC men tomount the
attack… it was a pre-planned attack as a few men wereseen pelting
stones before disap-pearing inside the lanes…Butthese tactics will
not work becausepeople of Bengal are with us andthey want a
change.”
Bengal Minister Arup Biswashowever blamed the BJP workers“who
came from outside andattacked our men who were justfixing party
flags for future polit-ical programmes.” PNS
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ANigerian drug peddler’s effort to befoolthe Narcotics Control
Bureau (NCB)sleuths fell flat on his flat, as the NCB –though the
doctors’ intervention --had adozen of Cocaine pellets extracted
fromabdominal cavity where they had reachedafter he had gulped
seeing the agency offi-cials come to arrest him.
The NCB said here on Monday that theincident took place on
January 14 when itsofficials zeroed in on the accused
NigerianIfeamyichukwu Pius moving around a five-star hotel at Juhu
to deliver pellets contain-ing Cocaine.
At that time, Pius had concealed Cocainepellets in his mouth.
Seeing the NCB officialsrush towards him, the accused peddler
gulped a dozen pellets – containing 1 grameach of Cocaine and
the Cocaine pellets land-ed in his stomach.
Without losing any time, the NCB offi-cials rushed him to J J
Hospital, where an x-ray and CT scan examination confirmed thatthe
pellets were lodged in his abdominal cav-ity,The doctors extracted
the dozen pelletsfrom his abdomen. The retrieved cocaine pel-lets
were handed over to the NCB officials.
“Accused Nigerian drug peddler was dis-charged from the hospital
today. We are try-ing to ascertain his antecedents and also whoare
his associates in Mumbai,” NCB’s ZonalDirector Sameer Wankhede
said.
This is the first instance where a peddlerwas carrying drugs in
his mouth and dis-tributing them to the customers.
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Kakinada: At a time when alle-gations of multiple templeattacks
are making headlines inAndhra Pradesh, the initiativeof installing
surveillance cam-eras at all religious places hasenabled the
state's EastGodavari district police onMonday to arrest a
drunkenbutcher for damaging the tri-dents (trishul) of a local
tem-ple in Kakinada more than aweek ago.
The police arrestedVanumu Lakshmana Rao, 39, aresident of
Kondayyapalem inKakinada, and also managed toprocure the footage of
hiscriminal act. The police sharedfootage of an inebriated
Raodancing and talking in front ofthe goddess idols holding
thetridents and touching them.
In another video capturedby a CCTV camera from theleft side, Rao
raised his handand pushed the idol's trident,resulting in its top
part break-ing.
He committed the crime injust 10 minutes: between 10:20p.m. and
10:30 p.m. on thenight of January 9 at SriNookalamma Temple
inKakinada's Kondayyapalem.
“He (Rao) was subjected toa thorough interrogation. Thearrested
accused has confessedto have committed thisoffence,” said a police
official.
On that fateful day, Raoborrowed his friend's bicycleand got
drunk. He later went tothe temple, broke the tridentsand went
away.
In the footage shared by thepolice, the bicycle was foundfallen
on the ground as Rao wasseen dancing, talking andbreaking the
tridents, even aspassersby zipped by on theroad beside
unbothered.
“Priest of the templeattended as usual in the morn-ing at about
6 a.m. on January10th and noticed that the twotridents outside the
templewere partly broken,” said theofficial.
The cement idols standingon either sides of theNookalamma
temple's entrydoor used to hold two tridents.
Following a complaint bythe temple's committee presi-dent Karri
Gangaraju at 1 p.m.on January 10, next day of thecrime, that two
tridents weredamaged, police managed toarrest Rao on Monday.
IANS
Amaravati: In a bid to ensurethat students of Governmentschools
in Andhra Pradesh donot play truant, the StateGovernment on
Mondaylaunched a special mobile app tomonitor the regular
attendanceof the students in all the schools.
The app was designed toreview the students' attendance,which can
be accessed both bythe teachers and the parents.
Officials said that 90 percent of the information per-taining to
the guardians andtheir wards has been furnishedinto the app.
The application will send analert message to the parentsabout
their child's attendance ona daily basis. The same messagewill also
be sent to the village andward volunteer, an integral cogin the
decentralization of gov-ernance system introduced inthe southern
state.
“If the child is absent formore than two days, a volunteerwill
visit the household andascertain the reasons,” said theofficial.
IANS
Thiruvananthapuram: Keralaon Monday reported 3,346new Covid-19
cases, said state'sHealth Minister K.K. Shailaja,adding that the
test positivityrate now stands at 10.11 percent.
As many as 68,399 peopleare under treatment in variousfacilities
across the state.
Ernakulam has the highestnumber with 574 cases, whileKasargod
with the least num-bers with 574 infections.
As many as 2,965 positivecases are through contacts.Atleast 17
fatalities were report-ed on Monday, pushing the tollin the state
to 3,480. 53 healthworkers have tested positive forthe coronavirus
on Monday.
2,09,786 people are underobservation at various places inthe
state. Of this 1,98,681 areunder institutional quarantine,while
11,105 under observationat various hospitals in the state. IANS
Bengaluru: The anti-cow slaughter ordinance cameinto effect in
Karnataka on Monday, with provisionsof up to seven years in jail
and (or) a fine of up toRs 10 lakh for those 'illegally' involved
in cow slaugh-tering, smuggling or selling of beef in the
State.
“All provisions of the Karnataka Prevention ofSlaughter and
Preservation of Cattle Ordinance,2020 to come into force from
January 18,” theKarnataka government has said in an order.
The new amended law bans transportation ofcattle within
Karnataka or to other states. The trans-portation is allowed only
with due permission fromthe competent authority and against the
paymentof fee, if the purpose is to use cattle only for the
agri-cultural or animal husbandry activities.
The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter andPreservation of Cattle
Act, 2020, which envisagesa ban on all forms of cattle slaughter
and stringentpunishment for offenders, is a revised version of
aBill that was passed in 2010 when the BJP was inpower.
Subsequently in 2013, Congress came to powerand the BJP's 2010
contentious Bill was shelved. TheCongress had reverted to the less
stringentKarnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter andPreservation of
Animals Act, 1964, which allowscow slaughter with certain
restrictions.
While the 1964 law banned the killing of “anycow or calf of
she-buffalo”, it allowed the slaughterof bullock, buffalo-male or
female if it was certi-fied by a competent authority to be above
the ageof 12 years or incapacitated for breeding or deemedsick.
Due to lack of majority in the Upper House, theruling BJP was
unable to move this Bill there anddecided to take an Ordinance
route and promul-gated the Ordinance on December 28.
After the state Cabinet passed it, the Ordinancewas sent for the
approval of the Governor VajubhaiRudabhai Vala. The Ordinance was
formallyapproved on January 5 and it is coming into effectin the
state from Monday onwards.
According to the order, three to seven yearsimprisonment and a
fine starting from Rs 50,000to Rs 5 lakh can be imposed under this
law and sub-sequent repeat offences can invite fines up to Rs
10lakh. IANS
Lucknow: All ten BJP candi-dates for the biennial electionsto
the Uttar Pradesh LegislativeCouncil on Monday filed
theirnomination papers. ChiefMinister Yogi Adityanath waspresent
when the candidatesfiled their nomination papers.
Among the candidates arestate BJP chief Swatantra DevSingh,
Deputy Chief MinisterDinesh Sharma, former bureau-crat Arvind
Sharma, LaxmanPrasad Acharya, Salil Bishnoi,
Govind Shukla, KunwarManvendra Singh, AshwiniTyagi, Dharamvir
Prajapati andSurendra Chaudhary.
Earlier, all the candidatesreached the BJP's state head-quarters
where they were givena warm welcome by party work-ers to the
beating of 'dhols'. Thecandidates offered prayers at atemple and
then went togetherto the Vidhan Bhawan, locatedacross the road, to
file the nom-ination papers. IANS
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Saharanpur (UP): The body of Ankur Agarwal, brother of
LuvAgarwal, an IAS officer posted in the Health Ministry, was
foundin mysterious circumstances in the Sarsawan industrial area
onMonday night. Ankur’s licensed pistol was found lying near
hisbody.
Senior police officials reached the site on learning of the
inci-dent and sent the body for post-mortem analysis.
SP (rural) Saharanpur said that prima facie, it seemed to bea
case of suicide but further investigations would reveal the
rea-sons behind the death. Sources said that a family dispute
mayhave led to Ankur taking the drastic step. Further details are
awaited. IANS
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The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi(MVA) partners – Shiv Sena,NCP and
Congress – wrested powerin a majority of the Gram Panchayatsin
Maharashtra on Monday, amidclaims by the Opposition BJP that ithad
emerged number one party in theelections.
Given that the Gram Panchayatelections are not fought on party
sym-bols, there was no official data on thepoll outcome. However,
unconfirmedreports indicated that the rulingMVA had collectively
captured powerin a maximum number of GramPanchayats in the
elections to 14,234local self-bodies that went to polls.
However, as per the electionresults available till late in the
eveningsuggested that of the total gram pan-chayats that went to
polls, the candi-dates in elections in 1,523 local bod-ies were
elected unopposed.
From the results trends available,the ruling Shiv Sena had
emerged assingle largest party with 1,900 grampanchqyats in its
kitty already, whileits alliance partner NCP had also cap-tured
power 1,507 gram panchayatsand the Congresss had walked awaywith
1,365 gram panchayats. On its,the BJP competing neck and neckwith
the Shiv Sena by winning littlebelow or around 1900 gram
panch-yarts.
On his part, Maharashtra PradeshCongress Committee Chairman
andState Revenue Minister BalasahebThorat claimed that the MVA
part-ners had won 80 per cent of the14,000-odd gram panchayats
thatwent to polls and that the Congresshad won a majority in 4000
grampanchyats across the state.
“With these results, it is clear thatthe people of the state
have showntheir faith in the work done by the
Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi govern-ment in the last one year. The
BJP hassuffered a crushing defeat in the stateand the BJP leaders
should accept thedefeat with open heart instead of mis-leading the
people by giving false fig-ures,” Thorat said.
In a related development, formerchief minister and senior BJP
leaderDevendra Fadnavis claimed that theBJP had emerged as the
number oneparty in the Gram Panchayat elec-tions. “In Vidarbha, we
have scoreda pheneominal victory. In Konkan weare getting good
results. Especially inSindhudurg where Rane family andRavindra
Chavamn worked, we havewon 80 per cent of theGrampanchayats,”
Fadnavis said.
Disputing the claims of a victo-ry by Fadnavis, Thoart said that
thepeople of the state had shown greatfaith in the MVA government
and theresults of today's Gram Panchayatelections have further
validated theirtrust.”In Kolhapur, Nandurbar, Latur,Nanded,
Amravati, Yavatmal, Nagpur,Wardha, Chandrapur, Osmanabad,Washim and
Buldhana districts,Congress has emerged as the No. 1party. The
people have shown faith inthe candidates of Congress, NCP andShiv
Sena by defeating BJP in theseelections as well just like they did
inthe recent legislative council elec-tions,” he said.
Thorat said that in the Vidarbharegion, the Congress party
hasachieved great success and has wonmore than 50 per cent of the
GramPanchayats. The people of Vidarbhahave helped Congress gain
unprece-dented success in these elections.Thorat also expressed
confidencethat the Congress would emerge asthe number one party in
Marathwada.The voting percentage and seats of theCongress had
increased inMarathwada.
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