Archives for March 2021

Kasaragod: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday dubbed as “shameful” and “utter lie” Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s dismissal as “wrong” the reports that two nuns and two postulants belonging to a Kerala-based congregation were attacked during a trainjourney in UP recently.

Vijayan’s reaction comes a day after the Union Minister had rejected the charge that the nuns and two others were “attacked” in Jhansi by some Bajrang Dal activists and said the Kerala CM was “making false statements” on the issue.

Responding to the remarks, Vijayan said according to theUnion minister, the nuns were not attacked and were let off after their travel documents were inspected and that the attackers were ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) workers was an allegation of the state government.

“They (nuns) hadbeen attacked in a country, where one has all the rights to travel freely, for the sole reason that they were nuns.

The action isshameful. He has justified the action of ABVP activists against the Nuns and two others..

A union minister is justifying the attack on the nuns, which is evidenceof the RSS agenda being implemented by the Centre,” Vijayan told a press conference at Kasaragod.

Vijayan also referred to the attack on members of the minority community in the name of beef.

“There was a lot of protest across the country against the attack on muslims in the name of beef.

Have they changed? No. When they found some nuns, they attacked them..”

Goyal was justifying the attack, he said adding this shows that the minorities and those who want democracy in this country were not safe under the central rule which is implementing the RSS agenda.

Vijayan said an attempt was being made to “cover up” for the culprits.

Earlier, it was lynching in the name of beef, he said adding secular forces will fight them.

Kerala will be in the forefront.

Moyna (WB): Former India speedster Ashok Dinda, the BJP’s candidate from Moyna in West Bengal’s Purba Medinipur, was allegedly attacked and his vehicle vandalised during the campaign on Tuesday, prompting the Election Commission to seek a report from the district authorities.

Dinda was returning from a roadshow when his SUV was attacked around 4.30 pm by hundreds of goons, wielding lathi and rods, his manager said.

They also hurled stones at the vehicle, injuring the former cricketer on his shoulder, he said.

“The incident happened right in front of Moyna Bazar when we were returning from a roadshow. There was one local TMC goon, Shahjahan Ali, who along with others, numbering more than a hundred, attacked with lathi, rods and bricks,” the manager told PTI.

“There was no way we could escape as they had blocked all the roads. Dada, was sitting in the middle row and fortunately could lower his head as one huge brick flew in, shattering the front window pane,” he claimed.

Dinda is in severe pain following the injury to his shoulder, he said.

The TMC denied the allegation, saying the attack was the result of an infighting within the BJP.

“The BJP old-timers could not accept Dinda as the candidate so they attacked him. TMC has no connection to the incident,” TMC’s district president Akhil Giri said.

The Election Commission sought a report from the district administration in connection with the incident, an official said.

“An immediate report has been sought regarding the attack on Dinda,” he added.

This report was first published in bbc

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government did not consult key ministries and states while imposing the world’s strictest coronavirus lockdown a year ago, according to an investigation by the BBC’s Jugal Purohit and Arjun Parmar.

The BBC filed more than 240 right to information applications with various Indian government departments – health, finance, disaster management – to find out if and how much they were consulted ahead of the lockdown.

The responses revealed that there is no evidence of key experts or government departments being consulted prior to the lockdown being implemented.

The home ministry, which played a key role in executing the lockdown, repeatedly rejected our request for information. It said the answers we sought were related to “strategic and economic interest and it also contains information which is held under fiduciary relationship and thus exempt from disclosure of information under section 8(1)(a) and (e) of Right to Information Act, 2005.”

The government has also denied a BBC request for a statement explaining why concerned departments were not consulted ahead of time.

The world’s ‘strictest’ lockdown

India went into a lockdown early – it had confirmed just 519 cases and nine deaths at the time. Experts hoped that forcing people to stay home would halt the virus’ spread and give officials time to ramp up test and trace efforts as well as medical facilities.

But the 68-day shutdown – which the University of Oxford termed the world’s strictest – proved devastating for the poor, costing them jobs and, in some cases, their lives.

All services, expect hospitals, pharmacies and groceries, closed. Offices, schools, colleges and all public transport was suspended. Flights in and out of India were stopped.

The poor, especially undernourished children and pregnant women who rely on government programmes, found it difficult to access benefits. Immunisation programs were halted. People suffering from serious illnesses struggled to access crucial health services even in urban areas such as Mumbai and Delhi.

But the hardest hit were informal workers, who make up the bulk of India’s workforce – from domestic helps to street vendors to construction workers. They were suddenly left out of work and with no guarantee of when they would start earning again.

Experts believe the lack of consultation ahead of the lockdown led to local governments being ill-prepared for the exodus of migrant workers from cities to villages. Without any public transport, millions of them began walking them home and many died on the way in accidents or due to hunger and exhaustion.

On the other hand, some epidemiologists believe that India’s lockdown saved tens of thousands of lives, and bought time to beef up medical infrastructure and capabilities.

But when the country began to reopen in June last year, cases began to spike. India now has the world’s third-highest number of infections after the United States and Brazil.

It has so far reported more than 12 million cases and 160,000 deaths.

‘No consultations, no meetings’

Even before the national lockdown was imposed, 30 states and federally administered territories had already declared local lockdowns, according to government data. Many of them were in effect until 31 March, 2020.

But the federal government said a nationwide lockdown was necessary “for consistency in the application and implementation of various measures across the country”.

“The prime minister acted only after consultations with everyone,” said Rajiv Kumar, vice chairman of the Niti Ayog, a government think tank. “To say that it was done out of nowhere would be wrong.”

But queries to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) revealed that no consultations or meetings were held with Mr Modi in attendance about Covid-19 or the need for a lockdown.

The offices of the chief ministers in Delhi, Assam and Telangana, as well as those of the governors of Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh replied to the BBC’s request saying they did not have any evidence indicating prior consultations on the lockdown.

“The kind of responses you have received are unacceptable,” says Anjali Bhardwaj who works to promote transparency and accountability in government.

“”The coronavirus infections and India’s response began from early January and we locked down after 20 March. It was not like there was an overnight development akin to a flood or an earthquake. So the expectation was that when the prime minister declared there would be a lockdown, it was a decision arrived at after consultations from all quarters.”

The lockdown also hobbled India’s economy and its GDP recorded the sharpest contraction in its history.

Both economic and health experts believe localised lockdowns would have had better results and allowed state governments more flexibility.

“There was scope to plan better. It needed to be a decentralised decision, depending on states and districts. A complete lockdown was not required. What has happened now is a huge shock because the Indian economy was performing poorly anyway,” says Priya Ranjan Dash, a public policy analyst.

Recollecting the events of last year, Sima Kumari says, makes heart pound.

She was working as a nurse at a care home in Goa state when the lockdown was announced.

“Our employer denied us our salary and wanted us to work without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). We had no option but to quit,” she says.

She says she was finally forced to go home to Jharkhand on the special trains the government organised for migrant workers. They were crowded and she says was terrified.

“One man would keep shouting at us, asking us to maintain distance even as they packed us in like sheep. I would prefer death over reliving a situation like that again.”

New Delhi: The TMC has written to the Election Commission alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Bangladesh violated the model code of conduct in place for the West Bengal Assembly polls and some of his programmes there “intended to influence the voting pattern” in certain constituencies of the state.

The letter dated March 28 was released by the Trinamool Congress on Tuesday.

Modi visited Bangladesh from March 26 to 27 to attend the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence and the birth centenary of ‘Bangabandhu’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman following an invitation from his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina.

The subject line of the letter written by TMC national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien read: “Gross violation of democratic ethics and the Model Code of Conduct by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi during his visit to Bangladesh.”

“We have no objection whatsoever to his visit to Bangladesh for this official purpose. After all, India played a critical role in the liberation of Bangladesh. West Bengal, in particular, made an immense contribution to the heroic struggle of our fellow Bengalis in (what was then) East Pakistan for freedom from the brutal regime in West Pakistan.

“However, the All lndia Trinamool Congress strongly objects to Shri Modi’s programmes in Bangladesh on March 27. These had nothing to do with either the 50th anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh or the birth centenary of ‘Bangabandhu’. Rather, they were solely and exclusively intended to influence the voting pattern in certain constituencies in the ongoing elections to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal,” O’Brien said in the letter.

“No lndian Prime Minister has so brazenly indulged in an unethical and undemocratic act and violated the Model Code of Conduct by indirectly campaigning for his party from foreign soil,” he said.

The TMC leader further alleged that the political motive behind Modi’s visit is proven by the fact that he took along with him BJP MP from West Bengal Santanu Thakur, who holds no official position in the government of lndia.

“No MP or representative from the Trinamool Congress or other parties was invited to accompany the PM. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has thus grossly misused his official position to interfere from foreign soil in the election process in West Bengal,” O’Brien said.

“The All lndia Trinamool Congress demands that the Election Commission of lndia not only censure him but also take deterrent punitive action against him so that he dares not repeat such misconduct in future,” he said.

Idukki: As campaigning for the assembly polls reached feverish pitch in Kerala, former MP Joyce George courted a controversy by making alleged derogatory remarks against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in connection with the latter’s interaction with students of a women’s college in Kochi last week.

George, who had won as the CPI(M) supported independent during 2014 Parliament election from Idukki, made highly objectionable comments against the Nehru scion while addressing an election rally at Irattayar here on Monday.

Distancing himself from the comments, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the LDF’s stand is not to personally attack Gandhi.

“We will oppose him politically not personally”, Vijayan told reporters in Kasaragod on Tuesday.

Attacking the opposition Congress-led UDF and Rahul Gandhi in particular, George said Gandhi would visit only women’s colleges and the girls should be “cautious” while dealing with the former Congress President.

“Girls never bend down in front of him.. he is an unmarried trouble maker,” he alleged.

The former Left independent MP’s remarks came days after Gandhi had given Aikido lessons at the famed St Teresa’s college in Kochi based on the request of a student.

The Congress leader had visited the women’s college for an interaction with students after he arrived at the state for election campaigning.

Joyce George’s statement drew intense criticism from the Congress fold.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday termed the sexually coloured remarks against Gandhi as ‘unfortunate and unacceptable.’

A case should be registered against the former MP and he should be arrested, he said.

Member of Parliament and Youth Congress leader Dean Kuriakose lashed out at the ex-MP and said George might have spoken about his own character.

“The vulgarity within him has come out now. What is his merit to criticise Rahul Gandhi? He is trying to follow the footsteps of power minister M M Mani, known for making such derogatory comments,” he said.

Kuriakose said through the comments, the former MP had not only insulted Gandhi but also the girl students. He also said he would soon lodge a complaint with the Election Commission against George in this regard.

Criticising George, Kerala Congress leader P J Joseph said the remarks were “immature” and wanted to know whether it was the opinion of the entire LDF.

However, minister M M Mani justified George and said he had not made any anti-women remarks and only criticised Rahul Gandhi.

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday were cut for the third time within a week on the back of softening international oil prices.

Petrol price was cut by 22 paise per litre and diesel by 23 paise per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

Petrol now costs Rs 90.56 per litre in Delhi and a litre of diesel comes for Rs 80.87. Rates have been reduced across the country and vary from state to state depending on the local incidence of taxation (VAT).

In Mumbai, the petrol price was cut to Rs 96.98 a litre on Tuesday from Rs 97.19, while diesel rates were reduced to Rs 87.96 from Rs 88.20, the price notification showed.

Fuel prices were reduced for the first time in six months on March 24, and thereafter on March 25 as well after international oil prices fell on prospect of speedy recovery in consumption getting clouded by the second wave of COVID-19 cases.

They had remained on freeze thereafter as global rates edged up after one of the world’s most vital waterways clogged. The reopening of the Suez Canal cooled rates again.

In three reductions, petrol price has come down by 61 paise per litre and diesel by 60 paise.

Despite bouts of rate freeze, prices had gone up by a record Rs 21.58 per litre on petrol since the government raised excise duty in March last year. Diesel prices had increased by Rs 19.18 a litre.

Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi was on Tuesday admitted in a hospital here for COVID-19 treatment.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s wife Rashmi Thackeray was on Tuesday admitted in a hospital here for COVID-19 treatment, sources close to the CM’s family said.

Earlier, the CM’s son and minister Aaditya Thackeray had also tested positive for coronavirus.

The CM and Rashmi Thackeray had taken the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the government-run J J Hospital here on March 11.

Rashmi Thackeray is editor of ‘Saamana’, the mouthpiece of the Shiv Sena.