Archives for 2020

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the announcement was in order as it was an election manifesto announcement.

BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister Pratap Sarangi on Sunday said that all people of the country will be given free COVID vaccine, amidst the demand by opposition parties in the country for it and not only in poll-bound Bihar as announced by the BJP.

The BJP announcement of free COVID vaccine for Bihar, where assembly polls begin this week, had kicked up a controversy with the opposition parties tearing into the NDA government alleging that the ruling party was using the pandemic for political reasons.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the announcement was in order as it was an election manifesto announcement.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that all people will be provided free of cost vaccines.

An estimated Rs 500 odd will be spent on vaccination of each person, Sarangi told reporters after addressing a campaign meeting for the November 3 assembly by-poll in Balasore.

Modi had in a televised adddress to the nation on October 20 said that Indian scientists are in the process of developing several vaccines that are at different stages of clinical trials and the results seem encouraging.

Sarangi, the union minister of state for animal husbandry, dairy, fisheries and micro, small and medium enterprises spoke in reply to question raised by Odisha Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister, R P Swain.

Swain had earlier in the day sought clarification from Dharmendra Pradhan and Sarangi, the two union ministers from Odisha questioning them for their silence on their party BJP’s stand on free COVID-19 vaccination for the people of the state along the lines of the one being promised in Bihar.

The governments of Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Puduchchery have already announced free of cost COVID vaccines for the people of their states, while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has demanded free vaccine for all citizens across the country.

Swain had tweeted “I am asking questions to two Odisha union ministers from Balasore soil to clarify as to why the people of the state will not get free of cost COVID vaccine. The union ministers should clarify BJPs stand on the corona vaccination in Odisha.”

On the state governments steps for vaccination, Swain said it has signed an agreement with a vaccine manufacturer and is committed to extend the facility to all people of the state.

He, however, did not say whether the state government will provide the vaccine to the people free of cost.

BJP deputy leader in Odisha Assembly Bishnu Charan Sethi said the Centre has been supporting Odisha fully during the pandemic and has granted Rs 22,000 crore for the purpose.

“But large scale lapses have been detected in the utilisation of the fund,” he alleged.

BHOPAL: Congress MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday said that Congress gave enough respect and opportunities to Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is now in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and his father Madhavrao Scindia

“How is Scindia being treated in BJP? I have worked very closely with Madhavrao Ji Scindia. Comparing Jyotiraditya Ji with his father would be unfair to Madhavrao. Congress gave Madhavrao Ji and Jyotiraditya Ji a lot of respect and opportunity,” Singh tweeted while quoting an article.

However, earlier this month Congress leader Premchand Guddu had called Jyotiraditya Scindia and his father Madhavrao Scindia “gaddar” (traitors), apparently taking a dig at them for switching sides.

Guddu, who is contesting from Indore’s Sanwer seat, left Congress to join BJP ahead of 2018 Assembly polls. But later after Jyotiraditya Scindia’s exit in March, he returned to Congress’ fold.

“I had to leave Congress due to traitors. Everybody knows when I was MP. Jyotiraditya Scindia and his family have a history of betraying (people). From Rani Jhansi’s killing, we have been opposing them whether it is his paternal aunt or father.When Madhavrao Scindia left the party, I campaigned against him, he said.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, a prominent face of the Congress, resigned from the party on March 11this year.

Scindia’s decision to leave Congress was followed by the resignation of 22 party MLAs loyal to him. He later joined BJP.

By-elections are due on 28 seats following the resignation of 25 MLAs and the death of three legislators earlier. In the 230-member assembly, the BJP has currently 107 MLAs and Congress 88. There are 4 independent MLAs, 2 from BSP and a lone Samajwadi Party MLA.

Elaborating his promise, Chirag said Mother Sita symbolises the divine power of women and empowerment.

PATNA: In Bihar’s surcharged poll atmosphere where the Ram temple is a major election issue,  LJP chief Chirag Paswan on Sunday reached out to the people in Mithilanchal by promising to build a grander temple dedicated to Sita.

“Lord Ram is incomplete without mother Sita, so the need of hour is to develop a corridor connecting Ayodhya’s Ram temple with Sitamarhi through a bigger temple for her,” Chirag said while paigning in Bihar’s Sitamarhi district, adding that the promise of constructing the Sita temple, bigger than the shrine in Ayodha, was included in his party’s vision document ‘Bihar first, Bihari first’.  

Mithilanchal comprises parts of Bihar and Jharkhand and adjoining districts of Nepal’s eastern Terai region. Sita is an emotive issue in the region as she is considered to be daughter of King Janak of Mithila.

Chirag made this promise before a massive crowd after offering prayer in the Sita temple at Puraundha in Sitamarhi. Elaborating his promise, Chirag said Mother Sita symbolises the divine power of women and empowerment.

“To glorify this women power, a bigger Sita temple should be built here in Sitamarhi than Ram temple of Ayodhya.   Along with this, a corridor connecting Ayodhya to Sitamarhi should also be constructed. With the construction of this temple, both employment and income will grow to the people.”

In Buxar,  Chirag took a swipe at Bihar CM Nitish Kumar saying that the people involved in corruption would be identified after proper investigation and sent to jail.

“Jo bhi log honge involve bhrashtachar mein , chahe officials  ho ya CM tak, sabhi jail jayenge jancha ke baad ‘Saat Nischay’ mein. (Whoever is found involved in corruption, either officials or CM, will be sent to jail after proper investigation as per our seven resolves),” Chirag categorically said at Buxar. 

Meanwhile, BJP MP Tejasvi Surya, who has returned to Bihar for the second round of campaigning for NDA, accused RJD’s Tejashwi of misleading the Gen Next voters on job promise. 

“It is ironical that some people  indulged in scams when they got the chance to work are now trying to befool the people by announcing  of 10 lakhs jobs,” he taunted.

The district had hogged spotlight last month following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman, a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four men in a village.

HATHRAS: A four-year-old girl in Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras was allegedly raped by two boys aged 9 and 12, both of whom were taken into police custody, officials said on Friday.

The incident was reported from a village by the girl’s father on Thursday after which an FIR was lodged at the local Hathras Junction police station, they said.

“The two accused boys, who belong to the same village, have been taken into custody and booked under relevant provisions of the law,” a police spokesperson said.

The girl has been sent for a medical examination and further proceedings are underway, the spokesperson added.

The district had hogged spotlight last month following the death of a 19-year-old Dalit woman, a fortnight after she was allegedly raped by four men in a village.

The incident, which had brought flak to the state government over the handling of the case, is now being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

NEW DELHI: About 61 per cent of the total recovered cases from COVID-19 are from six states and UTs of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the Union health ministry said on Saturday.

Around 70,16,046 people have so far recuperated from the disease, pushing the national recovery rate to 89.78 per cent on Saturday, it said.

“About 61 per cent of the total recovered cases from COVID-19 are from six states and Union territories (UTs) of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi,” the ministry said.

While Maharashtra recorded 20.6 per cent of the total recoveries, 10.9 per cent recovered cases were from Andhra Pradesh, 9.9 per cent from Karnataka, 9.4 per cent from Tamil Nadu, 6.1 per cent from Uttar Pradesh and 4.1 per cent from Delhi, it said.

In a statement, the health ministry said latest recoveries have exceeded the fresh cases in the recent days, with 67,549 COVID-19 patients having recovered and discharged in the last 24 hours.

“A total of 53,370 new confirmed cases were recorded in the last 24 hours. Eighty per cent of the new cases are from 10 states and UTs. Kerala is reporting the maximum addition with more than 8,000 cases followed by Maharashtra with more than 7,000 cases,” it said.

India’s COVID-19 tally climbed to 78.14 lakh with 53,370 fresh cases in a day.

The death toll due to the infection mounted to 1,17,956, with the novel coronavirus virus claiming 650 lives in a span of 24 hours in the country, the ministry data updated at 8 am on Saturday showed.

The COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.51 per cent.

There are 6,80,680 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprise 8.71 per cent of the total caseload, the ministry added.

The rest of the five states did not record a GST shortfall. According to the arrangement, the Centre borrows the money from the RBI and transfers it to the states.

NEW DELHI:  The Centre on Friday borrowed Rs 6,000 crore and transfered it to 16 states as the first tranche of GST compensation under the special borrowing window announced last week. The Centre has set up the special borrowing window to address the shortfall in GST collections during the fiscal year 2020-2021. 

In all, 21 states and 2 Union Territories have opted for borrowing through this special window, which involves back-to-back borrowing coordinated by the Ministry of Finance.  The money will be given to 16 out of 21 states who agreed to the first option given by the Centre—to borrow Rs 1.1 lakh crore to meet the shortfall in GST compensation.

The states which will receive  the transfer are Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and two Union Territories including Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir.

The rest of the five states did not record a GST shortfall. According to the arrangement, the Centre borrows the money from the RBI and transfers it to the states. The finance ministry said that the borrowing is at an interest rate of 5.19 per cent and the tenor is expected to be broadly in the range of 3 to 5 years. The borrowed amount, along with the interest, is to be settled from future realisations of the GST compensation cess.