Archives for 2021

TUMAKURU: The BJP looks to be utilising the ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatra’, aimed at introducing the four new Union Ministers of State from Karnataka, to project them as next-gen leaders who can strike a rapport with different segments of society in specific regions.

Evidently, the yatras of the Union ministers have witnessed traction wherever they have visited. Union Minister of State for Social Justice Anekal Narayanaswamy received a rousing welcome at places like Nelamangala in Bengaluru Rural district and Tumakuru on Tuesday. 

With slogans of ‘Jai Madiga’, the SC-Left community members, cutting across party affiliations, took part in the yatra, indicating that they accept him as their community leader. One of the factors which may have worked for him is that he has been unwavering in the demand for internal reservation from within the 15 per cent SC quota. If the government decides to implement the Justice Sadashiva Commission recommendations, the SC-Left community will exclusively get 6 per cent internal reservation.

“There is no question of backtracking on internal reservation. I have fought for the cause for several years. But it will be achieved by winning the hearts of all SC communities”, he declared at the Siddaganga Mutt here, and it was received with huge applause.

“I was surprised when I was named MoS for social justice. But my three decades of commitment to the party’s ideology have paid off,” he remarked.

Narayanaswamy migrated to Chitradurga Lok Sabha seat after he lost the Anekal Assembly seat. He is quite popular with the SC-Left community (Madiga) in parts of Old Mysuru, especially Tumakuru and Chitradurga. Interestingly, the community has also started identifying with L Murugan, MoS for Animal Husbandry, who hails from Tamil Nadu, as they consider him as their man.

Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Shohba Karandlaje, who was seen as a replacement for former Union minister D V Sadananda Gowda, got to engage with the Vokkaliga community in strongholds such as Mandya and Hassan where she too reportedly got good response.

Lingayat leader and Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, Bhagwanth Khuba, took part in the yatra in Bidar, a region dominated by the community. Interestingly, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrashekar, an entrepreneur himself, went to Hubballi, a business centre, and Uttara Kannada, where former Union minister Anantkumar Hegde has been inactive due to personal reasons.

How this will pay dividends for the BJP in the coming days, specially in the light of the series of elections, remains to be seen.

FATEHPUR: A man has been booked for allegedly divorcing his wife over phone from Saudi Arabia through the outlawed practice of instant triple talaq, police here said on Wednesday.

A case has also been registered against eight members of Tasabbul’s family, police said.

Bano had married Tasabbul, a resident of Mohammadpur Gaunti under the Sultanpur Ghosh police station, on May 21, 2005, the SHO said, adding that the woman is a resident of the Chak Auhadpur village.

After her marriage, Tasabbul and his family members also allegedly assaulted her several times, Gautam said.

Tasabbul, who works in Saudi Arabia, on Monday gave her triple talaq over phone, the SHO said.

No arrests have been made yet and the matter is being probed, he said.

HUBBALI: Union Minister for Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday said the Government is doing everything for total evacuation of Indian citizens stuck in Afghanistan after the Taliban asserted control over the nation.

He added that the government is trying to bring the remaining Indian citizens stuck there.

“The entire system has collapsed there (in Afghanistan). Flight services are hit and aeroplanes are not flying. Not only airport but also the air space is jammed. In this scenario, the Indian government is doing whatever best it can do. We are very concerned about individual citizens,” Joshi said.

Stating that the government of India is closely monitoring the developments, Joshi said the Government led by Modi is capable of handling all kinds of situations.

To buttress his point, he said no terrorist activity has taken place in any part of India except for “things happening” in Jammu and Kashmir unlike earlier when terrorist activities were happening in many parts of India including Hubballi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Hyderabad.

“Today not a single incident is taking place. The reason is that we follow zero tolerance towards terrorism. Accordingly, we have made our preparations whatever is necessary and we are doing everything to put the terrorist organisations in their place,” Joshi said.

The minister said for the past seven years, the Government is monitoring “every development at the micro-level” and, hence, there was no need to panic.

MUMBAI: A health task force constituted by the Maharashtra government on Tuesday warned that the easing of Covid restrictions may trigger a third wave of the pandemic, if people fail to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. From Tuesday, malls, hotels, and other commercial establishments are allowed to operate till 10.00 pm across the state. The education department has given a green light to schools to begin offline classes for secondary and higher secondary divisions in both urban and rural areas. 

The task force said the easing of restrictions was essential to boost the economy, but it can lead to a surge in Covid-19 cases and help trigger a third wave of the pandemic.Dr Sanjay Oak, chief of the task force, said if the demand for oxygen goes beyond 700 metric tonnes per day and if 30,000 patients are either on oxygen support or ventilators, then the government will have to re-impose the curbs.

“We have to also closely monitor the growth and spread of the delta plus variant. In the second wave, the delta virus was there and that spread very speedily across the state and other parts of India,” Dr Oak said. In Maharashtra, a total of 76 cases of delta plus variant cases have been reported. There have also been five deaths linked to the variant. 

Dr Oak said the vaccines were manufactured before the advent of the delta plus variant and therefore it is not clear how much effectiveness the vaccines would have. “The vaccine was manufactured and produced before the rise of delta plus variant. Therefore, it is yet to check how much the vaccine is effective on delta plus variant,” he said. 

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court has recently issued an order terming the live-in relationship between a man and a married woman “illicit”.

The plea was filed by a 30-year-old married woman and a 27-year-old man from the Jhunjhunu district. During the hearing, the counsel for the petitioners submitted that both the petitioners are adults and are consensually in a live-in relationship.

The petition said the woman is married but has been living separately because of physical abuse by her husband.

“It is clear from examining all the documents of both sides that petitioner number 1 is already married. She has not got a divorce but despite that, she is staying with petitioner number 2 in a live-in relationship. In such a scenario, the live-in relationship between the two comes under the category of an illicit relationship,” says the order by the court.

While passing the order, Justice Sharma also cited a recent order of the Allahabad High Court, wherein it had rejected the request for police protection in a similar case. 

NEW DELHI: Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen has said they will not allow Afghanistan’s soil to be used against any other country and called on India to complete the infrastructure projects if New Delhi wished. “We will not allow any country or any group to use the soil of Afghanistan against anyone. This is clear. India has made projects, many reconstruction and infrastructure projects, and if they want, they can complete the incomplete projects because they are for the people,” Shaheen told a Pakistani news channel in Urdu. His remarks are the first after the Taliban seized power in Kabul on Monday.

However, last week, the external affairs ministry clarified India has no role once the projects are completed and it would be up to the Afghan people to protect them. Meanwhile, the Taliban spokesperson said the group’s policy does not allow if anyone wants to use Afghan soil for their objectives or for their military objectives or for their rivalries. 

NEW DELHI: India saw a single-day rise of 25,166 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest in 154 days, taking the tally to 3,22,50,679, while the national recovery rate was recorded at 97.51 percent, the highest since March 2020, according to the Union health ministry data updated on Tuesday.

The active cases have declined to 3,69,846, the lowest in 146 days. It comprises 1.15 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, the health ministry said.

A reduction of 12,101 cases has been recorded in the total number of active COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours.

Also, 15,63,985 tests were conducted on Monday, taking the cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 49,66,29,524.

It has been less than three per cent for the last 22 days. Weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.98 per cent.

It has been below three per cent for the last 53 days, according to the health ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,14,48,754, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.34 per cent, the data stated.

Cumulatively, 55.47 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered under the nationwide vaccination drive so far with more than 88.13 lakh doses being administered in the last 24 hours, which is the highest ever vaccination achieved in a single day, the ministry said.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 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.