Category: Political News

In worst-affected Amritsar: Admin to reach out to SGPC, Durgiana to ensure Covid-appropriate behaviour

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There being no respite from the rising cases of Covid-19 infections and fatalities, the authorities in Amritsar, one of the 11 worst-affected districts, will now talk to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee and Durgiana Temple management to encourage devotees to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.

Earlier this week, the administration had imposed a cap on social gatherings in the district and organisers were asked to insure that those attending the events should carry a Covid negative report or are vaccinated.

“We will hold meetings with the SGPC and Durgiana Temple management and ask them to ensure that Covid-19 guidelines are followed. We can understand if someone wants to remove the mask inside the Golden Temple while paying obeisance, but otherwise devotees should keep the mask on while moving in the shrine premises,” said Amritsar DC Gurpreet Singh Khaira.

On religious gatherings, the DC said that they will soon talk to the heads of religion bodies. “Sometimes people argue that there are no restrictions at religious places. So, we will tell the heads of the religious bodies that right message should go to the masses,” said Khaira.

Contacted, SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur said they will take all the precautions. “We will ask devotees to follow protocol. But religious gatherings can’t be cancelled. We are celebrating 400th birth anniversary of Guru Teg Buhadur Ji. Our programmes are scheduled inside and outside Punjab. If government wants to ban religious gatherings, then it should pass such an order,” she said.

Meanwhile, Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) spokesperson Karnail Singh Peermohammad demanded that the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, closed for over a year now, should be opened for the devotees “keeping in view the sentiments of Sikhs.”

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AIMIM to Field 13 Candidates in Bengal; Cong CEC Meet Today

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Assembly Elections 2021 News LIVE Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be addressing rallies in West Bengal’s Kharagpur in the morning and another rally in Assam in the afternoon on Saturday to campaign for the BJP in the two states.

The prime minister has already addressed multiple rallies in these states ahead of the elections. In Bengal the BJP has also told the Election Commission that central forces need to be present in polling booths in West Bengal and check ID cards of each voter to ensure free and fair elections.

Meanwhile, the TMC has continued to attack the BJP and the leaders who moved to the BJP. On Friday while addressing a rally in East Midnapore’s Tamluk area said, “I blindly supported him. My care towards him was blind. But now I will not tolerate it any more. No place for ‘gaddar’ (traitor). No place for ‘Mir Jafar’. We will not leave an inch to him and to any opposition candidates in any seats in Bengal.”

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Belgium Pauses Re-opening Plans as Coronavirus Infections Mount

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Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said Friday that the country faces a few crucial weeks as the number of coronavirus infections rise, and that the government has decided to pause its plans to gradually ease restrictions.

Obligatory mask-wearing outdoors, night-time curfews and restaurant and bar closures have been in place since the start of November. A ban on non-essential travel is also in effect. The plan had been to offer some relief to long-suffering citizens by resuming some outdoor activities from April 1.

We are pressing the pause button, De Croo told reporters.

Earlier Friday, health authorities said the number of confirmed new daily infections had risen by a third over the past seven days, to reach 3,226 on average. Hospitalizations due to COVID-19 also rose by 27% over the same period.

Virologist Yves Van Laethem warned that the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care beds could reach a critical level by April 10 if the pace of infections does not slow down.

De Croo said that most new cases were being found in schools and in the work place. The number of elderly people catching or dying from the virus is dropping as Belgiums vaccination program kicks in.

We have one month to limit social contacts as much as possible so that schools can open normally again on April 19 after the Easter vacation, De Croo said. He said the travel ban will also remain in place until at least the same date.

Van Laethem said earlier that Belgium is standing at the foot of a third wave of infections, but that people can help turn that into a mini-wave by respecting the rules.

A total of 22,624 people have died from coronavirus-related causes in Belgium, a country with 11.5 million inhabitants that was among the hardest-hit globally when the pandemic broke. Around 7.5% of the population has received a first jab of coronavirus vaccine so far.

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When professionals don politician’s garb

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Quite a few doctors, engineers and businessmen are fighting this Assembly elections

Leaving behind their cosy offices, a few candidates are sweating it out on the street canvassing votes and patiently listening to the needs and demands of their voters.

Putting on hold their career as doctor, engineer and businessman, a few professionals have taken the political plunge in the State. They wave at the voters, seek votes with folded hands and make short speeches at corner meetings. Life has been never been this hectic for these professionals.

S.S. Lal, a public health expert, and J. Jacob, an orthopaedic surgeon, took the Hippocratic Oath to treat the sick to the best of their abilities decades ago. These days, the two are slogging it out to win votes.

Dr. Lal, who is the United Democratic Front candidate in Kazhakuttam, will take on Kadakampally Surendran of the Left Democratic Front and Shobha Surendran of the National Democratic Alliance.

Dr. Jacob is seeking the popular mandate from the Thrikkakara constituency of Ernakulam district as an LDF-backed Independent candidate. Congress strongman P.T. Thomas and S. Saji of the BJP are his rivals.

Taking the plunge

After his career with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, E. Sreedharan took the plunge and the BJP was quick to field him from Palakkad. It is to be seen whether Mr. Sreedharan who lead teams of engineers and technical experts in building bridges and rail networks would be able to make inroads in politics. Shafi Parambil of the UDF and C.P. Pramod of the LDF are his political rivals.

All through his professional life as a police officer, Jacob Thomas had courted controversy. His service story ‘Sravukalkkoppam Neenthumpol’ had ruffled many feathers. He was suspended from service for his open criticism of the State government. Though it was expected that he would contest the 2019 Parliament election, his political debut came two years later.

Mr. Thomas, who had made his appreciation for the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh as a “nation builder” known, is the NDA candidate in Irinjalakuda. R. Bindu of the LDF and Thomas Unniyadan of the UDF are the other key contestants.

New role

These days, S. Rajasekharan Nair speaks to the voters of Neyyattinkara not on his favourite topic, the hospitality sector, but about the need to work together for the State.

In his new found role as NDA candidate from the constituency, Mr. Nair is keen to let others know about his plans for the constituency. S. Selvaraj of the UDF and K. Ansalan of the LDF are other key contestants.

Designing houses, offices and other structures has been her passion. When the LDF approached her with the offer to be the architect of its political campaign in Aluva, Shelna Nishad happily accepted the new assignment.

An architecture graduate, Ms. Nishad has set up her office in Ernakulam and was part of the designing team of the Kochi metro. Anwar Sadath of the UDF and M.N. Gopi of the BJP are her political rivals in the constituency.

Twenty20, a non-political outfit, has also fielded quite a few professionals.

It is to be seen whether the voters would give these professionals a chance to redefine the political narrative of their respective constituencies. One needs to wait till May 2 for the answer.

(With inputs from Mini Muringatheri in Thrissur and R.K. Roshni and Tiki Rajwi Thiruvananthapuram)

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Odisha govt begins reviewing paddy procurement after irregularity claims

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The Odisha government has announced that it has started reviewing the procurement procedure of paddy across districts to ensure maximum procurement from all registered farmers. The move comes after allegations of irregularities in the procurement procedure raised by the opposition.

“There has been a bumper harvest but we ensure that paddy from all the registered farmers from the state will be procured by March 31. We have already procured 61.24 lakh metric tonnes of paddy. The total procurement so far is nearly 18 per cent more compared to the procurement in Kharif season last year,” State Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain said on Friday.

“Even if any MLA points out any specific irregularity from their constituencies, efforts will be made to resolve the issues at the earliest. The government has already started reviewing the procurement procedure in each district to resolve all the issues, if any, being faced by the farmers,” Swain added.

On Monday, a delegation of BJP MPs requested Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister Piyush Goyal to ask the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to pick up more rice from Odisha’s warehouses — which are running out of space to store foodgrain procured from farmers of the state.

In their memorandum, the MPs had said, “The movement plan for the month of March 2021 has been reduced substantially. At this pace, the surplus 30 lakh of rice cannot be evacuated by the start of the next kharif marketing season or till the start of the next calendar year, which will greatly hamper the ensuing Rabi procurement and the next Kharif procurement. If, like, previous years, FCI lifts only 17 lakh tonnes of rice, then 13 lakh tonnes of rice will be left with Odisha. Long storage of rice will lead to discolouration and then, even FCI will then not accept it. Loss of 1 lakh tonnes of rice due to deterioration in quality would mean a loss of about Rs 320 crore and the state would lose Rs 4,160 crore this way.”

The next day, on Tuesday, a delegation of BJP MPs led by Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan had met Goyal, requesting him to ask the Odisha government to expedite the process of procuring unsold paddy in the state.

Pradhan later tweeted: “The State Govt. of Odisha is misleading the farmers on issues of paddy procurement and has been conveniently trying to belie its own systematic failure in governance and in providing allied agricultural services to Odisha’s farmers. Despite this years’ better-than-expected harvest of paddy due to a favourable monsoon, farmers in Odisha are suffering due to the State Govt. apathies, administrative inefficiencies and long-standing malpractices.”

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Spring Season: Google marks beginning of spring season with colorful doodle | India News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: Google on Saturday marked the beginning of the spring season with a doodle.
The Google Doodle marked the day with a hedgehog, that has flowers on its back. The doodle also features honey bees buzzing around flowers, which together spell out ‘Google’.
March 20 is the first day of the spring season in the Northern hemisphere and it continues till June 21.
The first day of spring season, also known as Spring Equinox, occurs when the sun passes the equator moving from the southern to the northern hemisphere.
At the equinox, days and nights are approximately twelve hours long.

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US Republican Tom Reed Accused of Sexual Misconduct: Report

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U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, a Republican from western New York, is accused of rubbing a female lobbyist’s back and unhooking her bra, without her consent, at a networking event in a Minneapolis pub in 2017.

The lobbyist, Nicolette Davis, told The Washington Post that Reed appeared to be drunk as he pawed her back and leg as the two were seated next to each other during a networking trip.

Reed fumbled with her bra before pinching the clasp through her blouse and unhooking it, then moved his hand to her thigh, she said.

A frightened Davis, who was 25 and on her first trip as a junior lobbyist for insurance company Aflac, texted a friend and co-worker that a drunk congressman is rubbing my back.

“HELP HELP, she texted, before the person seated on her other side responded to her request by pulling Reed out of the restaurant, according to her account, published Friday.

Reed, elected to Congress in 2010, declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press. In a statement released by his office, he said, This account of my actions is not accurate.

Reed has been among the members of Congress calling for the resignation of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo over sexual harassment allegations. In late February, Reed said he was seriously considering running for governor against Cuomo.

Davis, now a 29-year-old second lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, contacted The Post through a tip line Feb. 11, the newspaper said.

Davis said she is speaking out as she thinks about the kind of platoon leader she wants to be after graduating from field artillery school later this month.

I need to always act in good conscience and set the right example for the soldiers I will lead, including younger females, she said. I hope it will allow people who have endured similar experiences to feel confident enough to say something.

Her story was corroborated by the friend whom Davis texted from the restaurant, Jessica Strieter Elting, who runs Aflacs political affairs team in Washington, D.C.

Strieter Elting told The Post that Davis was shaken by the encounter.

I felt horrible for her, being in that position while trying to do her job, said Strieter Elting.

Davis also reported the incident, at the time, to her supervisor at the company, then-vice president and counsel Brad Knox.

Knox said he recalled Davis telling him that Reed had been drinking and had undone an article of her clothing. He said she declined when he asked if she wanted to file a complaint with the House Ethics Committee.

Reed is a former mayor of Corning, New York. In Congress, he co-chairs the Problem Solvers Caucus, whose 24 Republican and 24 Democratic members meet weekly on issues.

In response to the #MeToo movement, Reed said sexual harassment training was a basic requirement in his office, and that he had taken it. He also backed bipartisan legislation in 2018 requiring lawmakers to be personally liable for settlements resulting from harassment.

The statement provided by Reed’s office said: I stand by my record.

Commenting on the allegations against Cuomo last month, Reed had said, these incidents of sexual harassment and pattern of abuse are abhorrent and have absolutely no place in our society, let alone the highest rungs of government.

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AIADMK Leader Caught on Camera Distributing Cash for Votes in Tamil Nadu’s Chepauk, DMK to Approach EC

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Video grab of the AIADMK leader distributing cash for votes

Video grab of the AIADMK leader distributing cash for votes

DMK has fielded party supremo MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin from the Chepauk constituency. A report said that the junior Stalin is expected to approach the EC in the matter.

In a shocking case reported from Tamil Nadu’s Chepauk constituency, an AIADMK leader was seen distributing cash for votes. The video, viral in the internet, shows the leader distributing Rs 500 to voters in the constituency.

DMK has fielded party supremo MK Stalin’s son Udhayanidhi Stalin from the Chepauk constituency. A report in Times of India said that the junior Stalin is expected to approach the Election Commission in the matter.

The video is said to be shot by some locals where the AIADMK leader was seen as verifying ID cards and then handling over the cash to the people.

Last Wednesday, the EC Flying Squd seized Rs 3.21 crores of unaccounted cash in Srivilliputhur Assembly constituency.

Madras High Court recently refused to entertain a PIL which said that voters should be administered an oath at the polling booth, swearing that they have not received any cash or any other incentive from candidates or parties before voting.

The court observed that it cannot be called upon to pass impractical orders and that it was for the legislators to take a call on such issues.

Elections to the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly will be held on April 6 and the counting of votes will take place on May 2.

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Govt Panel Says Superspreader Events Like Weddings Behind Recent Coronavirus Surge, National Covid Task Force Warns Country in Midst of Second Wave

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Superspreader events like weddings might have led to the recent resurgence of Covid-19 cases in India, a preliminary assessment by the Union government suggests adding that people were found becoming less careful in the recent months when the daily cases were low.

“That (role of superspreader events) is what it looks like, as people have become lax in their behaviour. We must understand that there is still a large section of population that is vulnerable, especially in villages. We cannot afford to lower our guard at this stage, and should avoid mass gatherings as it can become superspreading events,” Dr VK Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog reportedly said, according to Hindustan Times.

India on Friday recorded around 40,000 new coronavirus infections, the highest single day rise recorded so far this year, taking the nationwide COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,15,14,331, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The daily rise in infections (39,726) was the highest recorded in 110 days, while the death toll increased to 1,59,370 with 154 daily new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Dr Paul said that testing, especially RT-PCR testing needs to be increased in districts reporting high positivity rate.

Some experts also said that the country is in midst of second Covid wave and it could witness even more cases in the coming weeks.

“We are in the midst of second wave of Covid. 1,00,000 new cases could be added in the next 6-8 weeks if specific steps aren’t taken,” Dr NK Arora, Head, Operations Research group of National Covid-19 Task Force told CNBC TV18.

Punjab authorities said that they had found at least 30 super-spreader instances, where more than 10 cases were recorded from a single event.

“In around 75-80 percent of the cases, patients were found asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. Contact tracing, after one person from the event was found, led to detection in these functions,” a nodal officer reportedly said.

Doctors in Delhi also blame weddings, social outings and get-togethers for the current surge in cases.

“I have personally seen several cases where groups of people got the infection at a wedding. There are cases where five to six people in one group who travel for a destination wedding get it. Then, there are kitty parties where four to five people have contracted the infection. We need to change our behaviour, there is no other way to control the spread of the infection,” Surajit Chaterjee, senior consultant at Apollo hospital said.

Recently, a large gathering of people in a funeral turned into a superspreading even in Telangana where 33 people got infected after attending a funeral on February 18.

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Self-enumeration at two stages of Census | India News – Times of India

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NEW DELHI: The option of self-enumeration in the upcoming census — allowing residents to respond to questionnaires online before census workers come calling possibly in the second half of this year — will be offered both at the ‘houselisting’ and ‘population enumeration’ stage.
The government had earlier announced that respondents could self-enumerate only in the population enumeration phase.
Self-enumeration for the houselisting phase will allow residents to enter details like housing conditions, housing amenities and assets possessed online through the census app or the Central Monitoring and Management System (CMSS) portal. A reference code will be generated and shared later with the enumerator during her field visit. Similarly, for the second phase of population enumeration, people can use the app/CMSS portal to self-enumerate data on religion, literacy, language, SC/ ST, economic activity, migration and fertility.
There shall be a selfenumeration option for National Population Register (NPR) update as well, allowing residents to furnish online demographic details such as name, parents’ name, date and place of birth, nationality, voter ID, Aadhaar number (voluntary) and mobile number.
Sources in the government told TOI that a pre-test for the mobile application and CMSS portal had been completed. The pre-test covered one location in every state and Union Territory.

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