Archives for June 2021

Sachin Pilot

Jaipur: Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Friday refuted claims made by BJP leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi that she had spoken to him about joining the saffron camp.

“Rita Bahuguna Joshi claimed that she had spoken to Sachin. She might have spoken to Sachin Tendulkar. She does not have the courage to speak to me,” Pilot told reporters during a protest organised by the Congress in Jaipur against fuel price hike.

Joshi told a TV channel that she had spoken to Pilot about joining the BJP.

Pilot’s statement came amid reports of his discontentment with the Congress leadership.

The Congress leader had openly revolted against the leadership of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in July last year, and after a month-long political crisis, the party high command assured him of resolving the issues raised by him and formed a committee.

The Pilot camp, however, says that the issues are unresolved and nothing was done by the committee.

In the protest outside a petrol pump in the Sanganer area, Pilot targeted the central government over inflation and hike in fuel prices.

“Economic slowdown, inflation and unemployment have hit the country hard during the coronavirus pandemic. People have lost jobs and labourers are not getting wages,” he said.

“It is very sad that lakhs of people died, dead bodies were thrown in rivers and every family struggled with the coronavirus, and in such a situation, the government is not taking any step to control inflation and instead, increasing fuel prices,” Pilot added.

He said the prime minister had to roll back his decision on vaccination and announce free inoculation for all under pressure from the Congress.

The Congress and other opposition parties will be successful in mounting pressure on the Centre over inflation and fuel price hikes, Pilot said.

Earlier, the Congress leader reached Dausa’s Bhandana village to pay tributes to his father and former Union minister Rajesh Pilot on his death anniversary.

Local leaders of the party were there with him in Dausa.

Gehlot and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra paid tributes to Rajesh Pilot on Twitter.

NEW DELHI: Passenger vehicle wholesales in India declined by 66 per cent to 88,045 units in May as compared to April this year as lockdowns across various states impacted dispatches to dealers, auto industry body SIAM said on Friday.

Passenger vehicle wholesales in April stood at 2,61,633 units.

As per the latest data by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), two-wheeler dispatches to dealers dropped by 65 per cent to 3,52,717 units, compared to 9,95,097 units in April.

Motorcycle sales declined 56 per cent last month to 2,95,257 units, as against 6,67,841 units in April.

Similarly, scooter sales were down 83 per cent to 50,294 units, from 3,00,462 units in April this year.

Three-wheeler sales declined by 91 per cent to 1,251 units, as compared to 13,728 units in April.

Vehicle sales across categories witnessed a dip of 65 per cent to 4,42,013 units last month, as against 12,70,458 units in April this year.

Commenting on the sales data, SIAM Director General Rajesh Menon said that many states were under lockdown due to COVID-19 cases for most part of May thus impacting overall sales and production during the month.

“Many members (auto cos) had also shut down their manufacturing plants to divert oxygen from industrial use for medical purposes,” he added.

NEW DELHI: The daily COVID-19 count in India remained below the one-lakh mark for the fourth consecutive day with the country reporting 91,702 fresh cases, while the daily positivity rate dropped to 4.49 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

The COVID-19 death toll climbed to 3,63,079 with 3,403 daily deaths, the data updated at 8 am showed The active cases further declined to 11,21,671 comprising 3.83 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 94.93 per cent.

Also, 20,44,131 tests were conducted on Thursday taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 37,42,42,384.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.49 per cent .

It has been less than 10 per cent for the 18th consecutive day, the ministry said, adding the weekly positivity rate has also declined to 5.14 per cent.

Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for the 29th consecutive day.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,77,90,073, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.24 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 24,60,85,649 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of 2 crore on May 4.

The 3,403 new fatalities include 1,915 from Maharashtra, 358 from Tamil Nadu, 194 each from Karnataka and Kerala.

A total of 3,63,079 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 1,03,748 from Maharashtra, 32,485 from Karnataka, 28,528 from Tamil Nadu, 24,748 from Delhi, 21,597 from Uttar Pradesh, 16,642 from West Bengal, 15,367 from Punjab and 13,285 from Chhattisgarh.

The ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

KOCHI: Lakshadweep Police on Thursday booked filmmaker Ayesha Sulthana on sedition charges following a complaint by a BJP leader that she spread false news about the spread of COVID-19 in the union territory during a TV debate.

The complaint was filed by the BJP’s Lakshadweep unit president Abdul Khader.

Sulthana hails from Chetiath island in Lakshadweep.

According to the FIR lodged by the Kavaratti police, a case under sections 124 A (sedition) and 153 B (hate speech) of the Indian Penal code has been registered against the filmmaker.

Aiysha Sultana, budding filmmaker, booked under sedition charges. Crime: Dared to describe admin policy a bio-weapon . Reason: Laccadives did not have a single case of Covid for a year until admin removed mandatory quarantine for travellers. Now Covid rages.

In his complaint filed with the Kavaratti police on Wednesday, Khader said Sulthana, during a debate in a Malayalam TV channel, had alleged that the Central government used biological weapons for the spread of COVID-19 in Lakshadweep.

The BJP leader, in his complaint, has alleged that Sulthana’s was an anti-national act, which tarnished the ‘patriotic image’ of the central government.

He sought action against her.

Earlier in the day, the BJP staged a protest in the islands seeking action against the filmmaker.

The Lakshadweep-based model and actor Sulthana has worked with several Malayalam filmmakers.

Lakshadweep has been witnessing protests by various political parties since the administration started implementing reform measures in the islands.

PATNA: Bihar will soon include NCC as an ‘elective course’ in universities and colleges, officials from the state and the NCC decided at a top level meeting here on Thursday.

The education secretary assured that all efforts would be made to get the resolution passed in the State Academic Council. A proposal on this will be prepared and submitted to the chancellor of universities and governor of state for approval on top priority, Kumar added. 

The move comes as a big motivator for lakhs of NCC cadets across the state, who has to spend a major part of the non-academic time undergoing the training and participation of activities for the NCC. 

Official statement further said that the UGC and AICTE have also underlined the importance of NCC training among students in their circulars to Central and State Universities and recognized the necessity and possibility to adopt it in the core academic curriculum.

The newly designed NCC Elective Course will carry 24 credits spread over 6 semesters with specific credit for attending rigorous 10 days mandatory camp.

“In the first phase of the implementation, NCC as an elective course or subject will be offered only in those colleges, which already have NCC senior platoon or company and to only those students who enroll as NCC cadets,” the official statement read.

Likewise private colleges which are allotted NCC under the Fully Self Finance Scheme (FSFS) will also be allowed to offer NCC Credit Course. 

Ramvichar Netam

Raipur: BJP’s Rajya Sabha member and former Chhattisgarh minister Ramvichar Netam has become a victim of credit card fraud as an unidentified person allegedly misused it and made a transaction of around Rs 37,000, police said on Friday.

A complaint in this regard was lodged by the MP’s relative at Telibandha police station in Raipur on Thursday night, a police official said.

“Unidentified conman has made a transaction of USD 508.92, around Rs 36,844 in Indian currency, by misusing an SBI credit card issued in the name of MP Ramvichar Netam. The transaction was made on February 24 this year,” said Station House Officer (SHO) of Telibandha police station, Sonal Gwala.

Netam possessed that credit card, but its validity had ended in 2020, following which he had destroyed it. After that, Netam did not make any request for its renewal, he said.

Without the permission and knowledge of Netam, an unidentified trickster fraudulently managed to get the credit card renewed and carried out a transaction of USD 508.92. The forgery came to light when the bank’s executive called Netam for payment of Rs 45,668 (which also includes taxes as well as interest against the transaction), he added.

Initially, Netam told the bank that no such transaction was done by him and the credit card is also not available with him as its validity has ended. However, as he continued to get calls from the bank for the payment, he visited the bank, where he came to know about the transaction, after which a complaint was lodged, Gwala said.

An offence under section 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered in this connection, he added.

Param Bir Singh

New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday said it is shocking that former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, who has served the state for over 30 years, is now stating that he has no trust in state police and is seeking transfer of all inquiries against him to an independent agency outside Maharashtra.

It is commonly said, the person who lives in glass house should not throw stones at others, said a vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian while hearing Singh’s plea seeking transfer of inquiries against him outside Maharashtra.

After the apex court observed that it will pass an order dismissing the petition, Singh’s counsel said he would withdraw the plea and would avail other appropriate remedy.

Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer, was removed from the post of Mumbai Police Commissioner on March 17 and was made the General Commander of Maharashtra State Home Guard after he levelled allegations of corruption and misconduct against the then Home Minister and senior NCP leader Anil Deshmukh.

Senior advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for Singh, said the petitioner can’t keep on facing one case after the other just because he is a whistleblower in the matter.

He said Singh is seeking directions for transferring all inquiries which are already ordered against him outside the state and also that the investigation be transferred to an independent agency like the CBI.

This is surprising us. You have been a part of Maharashtra state cadre and served it for over 30 years. Now you are saying that you have no trust in your own state police. This is shocking, the bench observed.

During the hearing conducted through video-conferencing, Jethmalani said that the Bombay High Court had ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh.

He argued that Singh has been pressurised by the inquiry officer to withdraw his letter in which he had levelled allegations against the former minister.

These are two different things. The inquiry against the former minister is different and the inquiry against you (Singh) is different. You have served in the police force for over 30 years. You should not have doubt on the police force. You cannot say now that you want inquiries to be done outside the state, the bench said.

Jethmalani told the bench that Singh is not living in a glass house and false cases have been lodged to frame him.

The Bombay High Court had earlier ordered a CBI probe into allegations of Singh against Deshmukh who had to resign as the minister.

In his plea filed in the apex court, the senior police officer has alleged that he has been made to face several inquiries by the state government and its instrumentalities and sought their transfer outside Maharashtra and a probe into them by an independent agency like the CBI.

Singh has been facing inquiries, including the one under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in a case of 2015 and he has termed this as a witch-hunt by the state agency.

Singh, in his earlier plea filed before the top court, had sought a CBI probe against Deshmukh who, he claimed, had asked police officers, including Sachin Waze, to extort Rs 100 crore from bars and restaurants.

The top court had then asked him to go before the Bombay High Court which later ordered CBI probe into Singh’s allegations.

The state government and the NCP leader subsequently filed an appeal in the apex court but failed to get any relief against the high court order.

Deshmukh denied any wrongdoing and had said there was not an iota of substantive evidence to even prima facie establish that any of the allegations made by Singh had an element of truth.

In its 52-page judgement passed earlier, the high court had said that Singh’s allegations against Deshmukh had put at stake the citizen’s faith in the state police.

Such allegations, made by a serving police officer, against the state home minister could not be left unattended, and were required to be probed into, if prima facie, they made a case of a cognisable offence, the high court had said.

The high court’s verdict had come on three PILs including one filed by Singh seeking several reliefs as also a CBI probe into the matter.