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COVID: India reports 3,688 new infections, 50 fatalities

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NEW DELHI: India saw a single day rise of 3,688 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,30,75,864, while the active cases increased to 18,684, the government said on Saturday.

The active cases constituted 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national recovery rate was recorded at 98.74 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 883 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of last 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.74 per cent and weekly positivity rate at 0.66 per cent, the data said.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease has increased to 4,25,33,377, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.22 per cent.

The number of doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 188.89 crore.

India’s COVID-19 tally crossed the two crore-mark on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.

Out of 50 fatalities, 45 were reported from Kerala, two each from Delhi and Maharashtra, and one from Uttar Pradesh.

Of total deaths so far, 1,47,842 have been reported from Maharashtra, 69,011 from Kerala, 40,099 from Karnataka, 38,025 from Tamil Nadu, 26,174 from Delhi, 23,507 from Uttar Pradesh, and 21,201 from West Bengal, among other states.

The health ministry has 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.

South Africa likely in new COVID wave, says health minister

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JOHANNESBURG: South Africa has likely entered a new wave of Covid-19 earlier than expected as new infections and hospitalizations have risen rapidly over the past two weeks, the country’s health minister said on Friday.

“Whichever way you look at it, it does suggest that we may actually be entering the fifth wave much earlier,” Health Minister Joe Phaahla said Friday at a televised press briefing.

He said officials will be watching carefully over the next few days to determine if the increase is sustained which would confirm a new wave.

The country’s new infections are now several thousand per day, up from a few hundred a few weeks ago.

According to Phaahla, there was currently no information indicating the emergence of a new strain, which scientists had earlier suggested may drive the country’s fifth wave, expected during the country’s upcoming winter season from May into June.

“We have always been informed that when a new wave comes, it will be driven by a new variant, but at this stage we have not been alerted to a definite new variant except changes in the omicron,” said Phaahla.

Three South African provinces — Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape — currently are accounting for 85% of new infections, with the positivity rate in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal above 20%, he said.

Hospitalizations from the new cases are increasing but are still relatively low, Dr. Waasila Jassat from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said.

“We are starting to see a small rise in hospital admissions in the private and public sector,” said Jassat. “Since around the 17 of April, we are seeing a sharp increase in hospital admissions.”

South Africa has experienced the highest number of infections in Africa since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, accounting for more than a quarter of the continent’s 11.4 million cases.

More than 252,000 people in South Africa have died from the virus, but the numbers are considered to be much higher when considering the number of excess deaths recorded since the pandemic compared to the same periods before the pandemic.

Just over 44% of South Africa’s adult population has been vaccinated.

Mobile internet services suspended in Punjab’s Patiala

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CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government on Saturday suspended mobile internet and SMS services, except voice calls, in Patiala district a day after clashes between two groups over an anti-Khalistan march left four people injured.

The order to suspend the services was issued by the home affairs and justice department and heavy police security was deployed at the site of the clashes outside the Kali Mata temple in Patiala.ADVERTISEMENT

“In exercise of power conferred upon me by virtue of temporary suspension of telecom services (public emergency or public safety) rules, 2017, I Anurag Verma, principal secretary, home affairs and justice, do hereby order suspension of the mobile internet services (2G/3G/45/CDMA), all SMS services and all dongle services etc provided on mobile networks except voice calls in the territorial jurisdiction of the district of Patiala from 9:30 am to 6 pm on April 30,” the order read.

Four people were injured as the two groups clashed and hurled stones at each other on Friday and police fired in the air to bring the situation under control.

ED seizes Rs 5,551 crore from Chinese telecom firm Xiaomi in Bengaluru

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BENGALURU: The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), in one of its biggest operations, seized Rs 5,551.27 crore from a Bengaluru-based Chinese telecom firm Xiaomi Technology India.The seizure was made after months-long investigations by ED. Xiaomi, which is one of the top mobile phone brands in the country, has an annual turnover of Rs 34,000 crore. The money has been seized from four bank accounts of Xiaomi under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

ED sources said the company had already sent a major portion of the money to its group companies in China. “The balance amount was lying in its four bank accounts at HSBC, Citi Bank, IDBI and Deutsche Bank,” the official source said.The royalty amount has been remitted based on the instruction of its Chinese parent group. A certain amount has also been remitted to two more unrelated US-based entities, the source added.

The company has been operating in India since 2014 and as per the agreement, it procures the completely manufactured handsets from manufacturers in India. These contract manufacturers have a direct arrangement with the group entities of Xiaomi based in China for supplying raw material and manufacturing of mobile sets as per the specifications provided by Xiaomi China, ED stated.

“Xiaomi India has not provided any technological input or software-related assistance to these contract manufacturers. Interestingly, Xiaomi India has transferred money to the three foreign-based entities from which they have not availed any kind of service,” ED authorities said.The Company, without having any authorisation, remitted the money — a violation of Section 4 of FEMA. The company allegedly also provided misleading information to the banks while remitting the money abroad.

Left parties stage protest, say anti-encroachment drives in Delhi creating environment of hate

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New Delhi: The Left parties staged a protest here on Thursday against the Delhi civic bodies’ anti-encroachment drives, alleging that the ruling BJP and the RSS are pursuing “destructive bulldozer politics” and creating an environment of hate in the name of removing illegal constructions.

Nearly 100 people belonging to the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) gathered at Jantar Mantar, demanding the Centre to put a stop to such activities.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, party leader Brinda Karat and CPI-ML politburo member Kavita Krishnan were present in the demonstration.

“The BJP and the RSS are creating an environment of hate in the name of removing encroachments in Delhi. We have seen this happening in Jahangirpuri and now they are planning to conduct similar activities at other locations in the national capital too. We are demanding the government to end such practices, CPI-ML Delhi secretary Ravi Rai said.

The BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) on Tuesday cracked down on encroachers in all its four zones and removed temporary structures and illegal hoardings, and impounded vehicles, freeing a nearly five km road stretch, officials said.

The move came after Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta wrote to mayors of South Delhi and East Delhi corporations on April 20, seeking removal of encroachments by Rohingya, Bangladeshis and anti-social elements” in their areas.

Last week, an anti-encroachment drive conducted by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) in Jahangirpuri area, which witnessed violence between two communities on April 16, had drawn widespread criticism. The Supreme Court had to intervene to stop the demolition drive there.

Centre’s taxes on fuel prices continue to be exorbitant: TN FM responds to comments made by PM

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Chennai : The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday hit back at the Centre and reiterated its earlier demand to reduce the cess and surcharges levied on fuel prices and merge them with basic tax rates so that states receive their rightful share from the union taxes.

Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said the taxes on fuel prices levied by the Centre continue to be “exorbitant” and it was neither ‘fair’ nor ‘feasible’ for the State to further reduce it.

The remarks by the Minister were in response to the comments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday that the Centre reduced excise duty to lower the burden of fuel prices on November 2021, while some states reduced it, some did not provide that benefit to the people.

Modi in his meeting with Chief Ministers had said Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu did not heed to its request and public continue to be burdened.

Rajan, in a statement on Thursday, referred to the Tamil Nadu government’s cut on the Value Added Tax in August 2021 resulted a relief of Rs 3 per litre soon after his party assumed office in May 2021.

Continuing his attack on the Centre that the levies on petrol increased substantially in the past seven years, Rajan said, though the revenue to the Union government increased ‘manifold’ there was no matching increase in the revenues to the states. “This is because the Union Government has increased the cess and surcharge on petrol and diesel while reducing the basic excise duty that is shareable with the states.”

The Minister said, in August 2014 the basic price of petrol was Rs 48.55 per litre while diesel it was Rs 47.27 per litre. The Central government taxes were Rs 9.48 per litre on petrol and Rs 3.57 per litre on diesel. The state government taxes were at Rs 15.67 per litre on petrol and Rs 10.25 per litre on diesel, he said.

Following the reduction of taxes by the Centre in November 2021 at Rs 5 per litre on petrol and Rs 10 per litre on diesel, the union government still levies an additional tax of Rs 18.42 per litre for petrol and Rs 18.23 per litre on diesel, he pointed out.

The Tamil Nadu government levies taxes of Rs 22.54 per litre on petrol and Rs 18.45 per litre on diesel and after the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the states have ‘lost substantial powers’ to levy their own taxes and raise revenue, he said.

The COVID-19 further burdened the state with finances being ‘severely affected’ and also incurring large-scale additional expenditure towards providing COVID relief, he said.

Noting that the GST compensation regime comes to an end by June 30 and several states including Tamil Nadu have requested the compensation to be extended, he said there was no clarity from the Centre on whether the compensation would be extended or not.

DMK have been ardent proponents of “co-operative federalism” and have been practising it from the days of (former Chief Minister) Anna, Kalaignar (the late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi) and continue to do so under present Chief Minister M K Stalin, he said.

“We have repeatedly urged the Union government to reduce the cess and surcharges being levied and merge them with the basic tax rates so that states get their rightful share from the proceeds of the union taxes,” he said.

“Given that the Union government’s taxes continue to be exorbitant, it is neither fair nor feasible for the state government to further reduce taxes. We reiterate that the sole, simple and fair approach for the Centre is to remove the levy of cess and surcharges and revert to the rates that prevailed in 2014,” he said.

Take Umran Malik to England for one-off Test, limited-overs series: Sunil Gavaskar

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Mumbai: The legendary Sunil Gavaskar has pitched for young pace sensation Umran Malik’s inclusion in the Indian team for the upcoming England tour following his stunning five-wicket haul against Gujarat Titans in the IPL here.

The 22-year-old Sunrisers Hyderabad pacer from Jammu produced one of the most fiery spells of fast bowling in the IPL history, snapping five wickets for 25 runs on Wednesday night.

But his breathtaking effort went in vain as Rashid Khan (31 not out off 11 balls) and Rahul Tewatia (40 not out in 21 balls) scored 56 from the last four overs, including 22 from the final six deliveries, to take the Titans home in a last-ball thriller.

“The next for him, I think is the Indian team,” former India skipper Gavaskar said during his commentary after the game.

“He might not play in the XI because India have got Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. So, he might not play.

“But just travelling with the group, travelling with the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, sharing the dressing room with them… just look what is going to happen to him!”

The young pace sensation has been clocking in excess of 150 kph consistently throughout the season and has picked up 15 wickets in eight matches at 15.93 average.

Introduced into the attack as late as the eighth over, Malik bowled devastatingly quick deliveries to scythe through the Gujarat Titans top-order, becoming the first IPL bowler to pick up all the first five wickets of an innings.

He rattled Shubman Gill’s off stump for his first wicket, before removing Hardik Pandya with a combination of pace and bounce.

Next, he produced a perfect 153 kmph thunderbolt yorker to smash the wickets of Wriddhiman Saha, before cleaning up both David Miller and Abhinav Manohar to sign off with a five-for.

India’s tour of England starts in June with the visitors playing the final Test of the five-match series, which was abandoned last year due to COVID-19, from July 1 to 5, before embarking on a three-match T20 series and playing as many ODIs.

India will begin the UK tour with two T20Is against Ireland in Dublin, starting June 26.

Assistant Professor Exam Paper Leak: Prime accused Guest lecturer arrested by Malleshwaram police

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Parmesh S JAIN

Initiating investigations into the Assistant professor question paper leak case,the Malleshwaram police on Monday taken the prime accused into custody for questioning .

The police have also summoned 300 candidates who have appeared for the geography paper which has been leaked at 8.30 am much before the commencement of the exam.

The prime accused R Soumya,32,a PhD student was allegedly the first person to receive a set of 18 questioned on her mobile phone before the exam,which he had circulated to different numbers on Whatsapp numbers.

The same set of questions appeared in the exam scheduled on March 14 this year conducted by the the Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), which had conducted the exam for the recruitment of assistant professors in government degree colleges.

Based on the complaint filed by Executive Director of KEA, the Malleshwaram police on Friday registered a case against Soumya R and others charging them under IT act and also under cheating and criminal conspiracy and arrested her.

The police produced Soumya before the court and taken into custody to ascertain the source of the leak and the people behind the conspiracy and her network .

Inter-state infant sale racket busted,Advocate arrested

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Parmesh S JAIN

Continuing investigations into child sale racket case,the south division police on Saturday arrested a 41-year-old woman advocate who was co-ordinating paper works in the racket .

The accused has been identified as, Bhanumathi KP.

Senior officer told reporters,the accused Bhanumathi KP,was coordinating between hospital,childless couple and sarogate mothers taking care of the agreement and the other jobs on behalf of the hospital .

The accused who was working on divorce cases and legal issues for the last 11 years started working for the hospital as the legal consultant for the racket,a police officer said.

The job assigned to the accused is to prepare a document containing details on sarrogacy as per ICMR guidelines and counsel the childless couple and prepare a documents to get consent for the childless couple,to make it look like entire process is legal .

The accuse would then rope in poor women from other parts of the country luring them with money to be sarrogate mothers and get their consent on video recording as well as in writing along with the signature and monitor the mother at every stage and ensure the process is completed without any hassel .

The accused getting heavy fee for the job from various private hospitals and was on the run since the racket was busted in October last year.

However the police who have booked few hospitals in the case stumbled upon the role of Bhanumathi and tracked her down and arrested her .

There are more people suspected to be involved in the racket and efforts are on to track them down,said a senior officer.

Pack of stray dog poisoned to death by unknown miscreants near apartment complaint filed in Parappana Agrahara probe on

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Parmesh S JAIN

The Parappana Agarahara police have registered an FIR against unknown persons for poisoning as many as ten stray dogs living outside an apartment in Rayasandra on Thursday night .

Senior officer told reporters,The incident occurred on Thursday night when the complainant identified as Ranee K,heard the stray dogs hauling and writhing in pain outside the apartment.

She went to check and found that the pack of dogs are drooling and unconscious.

She immediately alerted a veterinary clinic near-by for help.But by the time help came six of the stray dogs died while a female dog was rushed to the clinic and in the intensive care .

After examination the doctors confirmed that the dogs have been poisoned and the chances of survival is very weak.

The police suspect that the pack of stray living outside baldota serenity apartment and someone had poisoned the dogs as they are disturbed by the barking and howling in the night time.

The police are now verifying the CCTV footage and questioning the security staff to identify the people who are behind the crime.

Based on a complaint by one of the resident of the apartment the police registered an FIR on Saturday charged the unknown persons under section 448 (mischief by killing,poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal) of IPC and investigating to trace the accused.

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