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Pakistan Cabinet rejects proposal to import cotton and sugar from India: Minister Shireen Mazari

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Islamabad, Apr 1: In a volte-face, Pakistan’s Cabinet on Thursday rejected a proposal of its Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to import cotton and sugar from India, according to a Cabinet minister.

“Cabinet stated clearly NO trade with India,” Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari said in a tweet soon after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday.

“PM made clear there can be no normalisation of relations with India until they reverse” their actions viz Kashmir of August 5 2019, tweeted Mazari, who is known for her hawkish stand on Kashmir.

The Cabinet decision comes a day after Pakistan’s new Finance Minister Hammad Azhar on Wednesday announced that the country will lift a nearly-two year long ban on the import of cotton and sugar from India after a meeting of the ECC chaired by him.

Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Mazari had said that all ECC decisions have to be approved by Cabinet and only then can they be seen as “approved” by the government.

“Just for the record – All ECC decisions have to be approved by Cabinet & only then they can be seen as “approved by govt”! So today in Cabinet there will be discussion on ECC decisions incl trade with India & then govt decision will be taken! Media shd be aware of this atleast!” Mazari tweeted.

Azhar’s announcement on Wednesday to import cotton and sugar from India had raised hopes of a partial revival of bilateral trade relations, which were suspended after the August 5, 2019 decision of New Delhi to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

India is the world’s biggest producer of cotton and the second biggest sugar manufacturer.

In May 2020, Pakistan had lifted the ban on import of medicines and raw material of essential drugs from India amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ties between India and Pakistan nose-dived after a terror attack on the Pathankot Air Force base in 2016 by terror groups based in Pakistan. Subsequent attacks, including one on an Indian Army camp in Uri, further deteriorated the relationship.

The ties strained further after India’s war planes pounded a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist training camp deep inside Pakistan on February 26, 2019 in response to the Pulwama terror attack in 2019 in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

India’s move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August, 2019 angered Pakistan, which downgraded diplomatic ties with India and expelled the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad. Pakistan also snapped all air and land links with India and suspended trade and railway services.

18-year-old boy washed away while swimming; incident caught on camera

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Chikkamagaluru: 18-year-old boy washed away while swimming; incident caught on camera

Chikkamagaluru: An 18-year-old boy who went swimming with his friends on Thursday afternoon, was washed away by the water. The incident was reported from NR Pur in the district.

The deceased boy has been identified as Salman (18).

According to the reports, Salman went swimming along with his friends on Thursday and was washed away by the water. The incident reportedly was captured on a camera.

A search operation is underway to trace Salman and a case in this regard has been registered at the local police station.

Karnataka Minister writing to governor against CM not right: BJP’s Karnataka in-charge Arun Singh

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New Delhi: BJP general secretary Arun Singh on Thursday disapproved of Karnataka minister K S Eshwarappa writing a letter to the governor against the chief minister’s style of functioning, saying this was not an appropriate step.

Rural Development Minister Eshwarappa on Wednesday complained to the governor against him, alleging direct interference in the affairs of his department.

“If a minister has a problem, he should talk to the chief minister. Writing a letter to the governor is not the right way,” Singh, who is the BJP’s in-charge for Karnataka.

Asked what the party plans to do over the issue, Singh said its focus right now is on the bypolls to one Lok Sabha and two assembly seats. “We will win all three seats with thumping margins,” he added.

Dissidents against Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa within his party have been attacking him from time-to-time.

Eshwarappa, who is a senior BJP leader from Shivamogga and had been a long time associate of Yediyurappa, met Governor Vajubhai Vala and submitted a five-page letter on “serious lapses and authoritarian way of running the administration” by the chief minister.

Will lockdown return in Maharashtra? Uddhav to hold meeting with state, Central officials on Friday

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MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will on Friday evening hold a meeting with the state officials over the deteriorating COVID-19 situation in the state.

Maharashtra reported 43,183 new COVID-19 cases and 249 deaths on Thursday. The state has been the biggest contributor of coronavirus cases on a daily basis in the country in the past few weeks. The state currently has 367,897 active coronavirus cases and has reported over 54,000 related deaths so far.

Thackeray on Sunday had instructed senior officials of the State Health Department and the COVID task force to prepare for lockdown. The remarks had come at a meeting of senior officials of the state’s health department and the state government’s COVID-19 task force.

During the meeting, the Chief Minister was informed that the way the number of cases is increasing on a daily basis, Maharashtra may soon face a scarcity of beds for COVID-19 patients.

The Chief Minister had observed that people are not taking the guidelines seriously and that is why serious steps, similar to a lockdown, need to be considered.

Mumbai, meanwhile, continues to registrer a hugher COVID-19 case count as the city on Thursday reported 8,646 new coronavirus cases, its highest one-day rise since the outbreak of the pandemic, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.

The death of 18 patients during the day, the highest single-day figure since the first week of December last year, took the fatality count to 11,704, it said.

On March 28, the city had reported 6,923 new COVID-19 cases, which was the highest till then.

On December 5, 2020, the metropolis had reported 18 fatalities, but later witnessed a gradual decline in the number of deaths.

As 5,031 people got discharge from hospitals during the day, the recovery count jumped to 3,55,691, the BMC said.

Mumbai’s COVID-19 recovery rate is now 84 per cent.

The infection growth rate has worsened to 1.38 per cent and the doubling rate has dropped to 49 days.

There are 80 active containment zones in the city, where 650 buildings have been sealed to curb the spread of the virus.

A total of 46,758 people were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, which took Mumbai’s overall test count to 41,29,931, the civic body said.

Mathura’s Krishna temple deity lies buried under a mosque in Agra Fort, claims advocate

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MATHURA: A Mathura-based advocate has moved a court here claiming that the ‘principal deity’ of the Thakur Katra Keshav Dev temple in the city lies buried beneath the staircase of a mosque built in Diwan-e-Khas of the Agra’s Red Fort.

The advocate has filed the application as part of his lawsuit seeking the shifting away of the 17th century Shahi Masjid from near the birthplace of Lord Krishna in the Katra Keshav Dev temple here, Sanjay Gaur said.

He said the court has fixed April 19 for hearing Singh’s plea.

Phalke Award goes to Thalaiva

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The stylish actor, born Shivajirao Gaekwad, will be presented the prestigeous Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honour for an artiste in Indian cinema, for the year 2019, on May 3.

CHENNAI: There are superstars and then there is Rajinikanth. The stylish actor, born Shivajirao Gaekwad, who has earned himself  a demi-God status with his inimitable on-screen mannerisms and per-formances, will be presented the prestigeous Dada Saheb Phalke Award, the highest honour for an artiste in Indian cinema, for the year 2019, on May 3.

Union Information and Broad-casting Minister Prakash Java-dekar, who made the announce-ment on Thursday, said, “A jury consisting of  Asha Bhonsle, Mo-hanlal,  Biswajit  Chatterjee, Shankar Mahadevan and Subhash Ghai unanimously decided to nominate Rajinikanth for the award, and we have accepted the nomination. For the last 50-odd years, he has been the un-crowned king of cinema.”

Minister Prakash Javadekar added, “Through his charisma, his talent and efforts,  he  has made a place for himself  in the hearts of  the people.”

Having  started  his  career with a cameo in K Balachander’s ‘apoorva Raagangal’ (1975), Rajinikanth has gone on to act in over 160 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, and english lan-guages. Tasting  success as a stylish  antagonist  in  many landmark films, including Aadu Puli Aatam, 16 Vayathin-ile, and Moondru Mudichu, Rajinikanth made the transition to ‘hero’ roles with Bairavi (1978), which was also the first film to give him the Superstarsobriquet that would later be-come so iconic. he further ce-mented his hero status with the Mahendran  drama, Mullum Malarum, in which he played a gritty winch operator who suffers a tragic accident. Known for  style  and  charisma, Rajinikanth’s box office success even  resulted in many established production houses like aVM and Vijaya Vauhini studios, returning from a sabbatical to do films again.

Fondly called ‘Thalaivar’ by his  fans,  Rajinikanth’s  100th film  was Sri  Raghavendra, which saw him explore his spiritual side for the first time.

In a career which saw few difficult stretches, the actor, over the last  decade,  has  truly  become a pan India phenomenon.

Serious re-evaluation of use of EVMs needs to be done by all parties: Priyanka

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NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday said the Election Commission needs to start acting decisively on reports of private vehicles transporting electronic voting machines, and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties.

Tagging the tweet which carried the video, Priyanka Gandhi said every time there is an election, videos of private vehicles caught transporting EVMs show up.

“Unsurprisingly they have the following things in common: 1. The vehicles usually belong to BJP candidates or their associates. 2. The videos are taken as one off incidents and dismissed as aberrations 3. The BJP uses its media machinery to accuse those who exposed the videos as sore losers,” the Congress general secretary said.

The fact is that too many such incidents are being reported and nothing is being done about them, she said.

“The EC needs to start acting decisively on these complaints and a serious re-evaluation of the use of EVMs needs to be carried out by all national parties,” she said in a series of tweets.

TMC says Mamata Banerjee Is not contesting polls from another seat

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West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

KOLKATA: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a dig at TMC boss Mamata Banerjee, sought to know if she would contest the polls from another seat, implying her loss in Nandigram is imminent, the ruling camp in Bengal clarified that she harboured no such intention.

The EC has sought a report in connection with an incident in the Boyal area of Nandigram — where the feisty TMC chief was held up for more than two hours following a siege allegedly laid by saffron camp supporters.

BJP leader Jaiprakash Majumdar, echoing the prime minister, said that Banerjee is “likely to contest from another seat after sensing defeat in Nandigram”, an assertion rejected by the TMC leadership.

Slamming the BJP for “causing disturbance” in the high-stake constituency — where the chief minister is pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari — TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the PM must “apologise for such wild and baseless claims”.

“What happened today in Nandigram reflects BJP’s frustration. The party will lose the election not just from the Nandigram constituency, but also other seats that went to polls in the first two phases,” he told reporters.

Another TMC leader, who did not wish to be named, said the question of Mamata Banerjee fighting from another constituency does not arise as she will be winning the Nandigram seat comfortably.

COVID-19 India Update sees 81,466 new cases in last 24 hours, highest in six months

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Registering a steady increase for the 23rd day in row, the active cases have increased to 6,14,696 comprising 5 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate dropped to 93.67 per cent.

NEW DELHI: India recorded the highest single-day rise in coronavirus cases in six months with 81,466 new infections in a span of 24 hours, taking the COVID-19 tally of cases to 1,23,03,131, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday.

Registering a steady increase for the 23rd day in row, the active cases have increased to 6,14,696 comprising 5 per cent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further dropped to 93.67 per cent, the data stated.

As many as 81,484 new infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours on October 2 while 482 daily deaths were registered on December 6.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 11525039.

The case fatality rate stood at 1.33 per cent, the data stated.

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.

According to the ICMR, 24,59,12,587 samples have been tested up to April 1, and 11,13,966 samples were tested on Thursday.

The 469 new fatalities include 249 from Maharashtra, 58 Punjab, 34 from Chhattisgarh, 19 from Tamil Nadu, 18 from Karnataka, 11 from Kerala and 9 each from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

A total of 163396 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 54898 from Maharashtra, 12738 from Tamil Nadu, 12585 from Karnataka, 11036 from Delhi, 10331 from West Bengal, 8,820 from Uttar Pradesh and 7220 from Andhra Pradesh and 6926 from Punjab.

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

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

Biden admin lets Trump era H-1B visa bans expire, what it means for Indian workforce

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The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

US President Joe Biden

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Thursday let the ban on foreign workers visa, in particular H-1B, lapse as the notification issued by his predecessor Donald Trump expired, a move which is likely to benefit thousands of Indian IT professionals.

On December 31, Trump extended the order to March 31, 2021, noting that an extension was warranted as the pandemic continued to disrupt American’s lives, and high levels of unemployment and job loss were still presenting serious economic challenges to workers across the US.

Biden did not issue a fresh proclamation for the ban on H-1B visas to continue after March 31.

He had promised to lift the suspension on H-1B visas, saying Trump’s immigration policies were cruel.

The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year from countries like India and China.

The expiry of the Trump’s proclamation would now result in the issuing of H-1B visas by American diplomatic missions overseas that would result in US companies bringing in talented technology professionals inside the country.

No new proclamation was issued by Biden till Wednesday mid-night, resulting in the automatic end to the ban on issuing of fresh H-1B visas.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House will not renew a ban on H-1B and other work-based visas imposed last year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic that is set to expire on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a Republican Senator from Missouri on Wednesday urged Biden to issue a fresh proclamation to continue with the H-1B visa ban.

“I write today to urge you to extend the freeze on temporary foreign worker entries into the United States that, without intervention, will expire today,” Senator Josh Hawley wrote in a letter to Biden.

“The presidential proclamation suspending entry of certain temporary workers into the US has protected Americans suffering from the pandemic-induced economic crisis. With millions of struggling Americans out of work — and millions more desperate to make ends meet — now is not the time to open the floodgates to thousands of foreign workers competing with American workers for scarce jobs and resources,” he wrote.

In his letter, Hawley wrote that the unemployment rate remains at 6.2 per cent  with nearly 10 million Americans out of work and looking for a job.

The pandemic has been especially devastating for low-income and working class Americans, many of whom have borne the brunt of the crisis — and stand to lose the most from misguided policy decisions, he said.

In periods of high unemployment, it makes no sense to allow a struggling labour market to be flooded with a wave of foreign competition, he said.

“What makes even less sense is to willingly introduce further competition for the US workers at the same time that a disastrous illegal immigration crisis grows on our southern border.

As at the border, failure to take meaningful action is, in itself, a policy decision with detrimental impacts for American workers.

“I urge you to extend the temporary foreign worker entry suspension until the national unemployment rate has meaningfully declined, and until your administration has conducted a thorough review of non-immigrant visa programmes to ensure that American workers are fully and effectively protected from harm,” Hawley added.

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