Archives for February 2020

There will be 15 trustees in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Theertha Kshetra Trust out of which one trustee will always be from the Dalit society, says Amit Shah.

New Delhi: The home minister said the trust will be independent to take every decision.  

Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra, set up by the government for construction of a temple in Ayodhya, will have 15 trustees and one of them will be from the Dalit community.

The statement comes a little over an hour after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in Lok Sabha about the constitution of the trust.

“There will be 15 trustees in the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teertha Kshetra Trust out of which one trustee will always be from the Dalit society,” he tweeted.

Amit Shah congratulated PM Modi “for such an unprecedented decision” that strengthens social harmony.

The home minister said the trust will be independent to take every decision related to the temple and 67 acres of land will be transferred to it.

“I fully believe that the waiting of millions of people for centuries will be over soon and they will be able to pay obeisance to Lord Shri Ram in his grand temple at his birthplace,” he said.

Delhi Elections 2020: “Delhi wants to know why they should vote for BJP,” Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said.

New Delhi:  Delhi Elections 2020: Arvind Kejriwal “invited” Home Minister Amit Shah to debate him in public.

As his 1 pm deadline to the BJP to announce a chief ministerial candidate for Delhi ended, Arvind Kejriwal “invited” Home Minister Amit Shah to debate him in public ahead of the Delhi election on Saturday.

“Debate is good, come, let us debate. Amit Shah said vote us, we will give you chief minister,” the Delhi Chief Minister said.

“Delhi wants to know why they should vote for BJP,” the Aam Aadmi Party chief added.

Ghulam Nabi Azad further stated that the BJP-led central government is dragging people into all these things as they did not fulfill any of their promises.

New Delhi: BJP is presenting this (NPR) wrongly: Ghulam Nabi Azad

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday attacked the central government over National Population Register (NRC) and said that around 50 to 60 crore people in this country would not be knowing their parents’ date of birth.

Mr Azad along with party leader Anand Sharma and leaders from DMK, NCP, RJD, CPM, CPI and TMC gave suspension of business notice in Rajya Sabha under rule 267 over “prevailing situation in the country”.

“Ever since Citizenship (Amendment) Bill became an Act, the government, on different occasions, said that after this NPR and after that NRC will come. NPR was done earlier also, but the questions asked in it were usual… BJP is presenting this (NPR) wrongly, it is presenting it on the name of Hindu and Muslim (BJP isko galat tareeke se pesh karti hai, isko Hindu aur Musalman ke naam pe pesh karti hai),” Mr Azad told media here.

“We all believe that Hindu and Muslim identities have nothing to do with it… I believe that there are 50-60 crore people in this country, who would not know the date of birth of their parents,” he added.

Mr Azad further stated that the BJP-led central government is dragging people into all these things as they did not fulfill any of their promises.

Delhi Election 2020: On the issue of CAA, Amit Shah said, “Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, they all promised to give citizenship to Pakistani minorities whenever they come to India.”

New Delhi:  Delhi Election 2020: BJP leader Amit Shah tore into Congress and AAP over the anti-CAA protests

BJP leader Amit Shah on Monday claimed that former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had promised citizenship to minorities from Pakistan but the Congress is now protesting the amended citizenship law because it is “afraid of its vote bank in Shaheen Bagh”.

Addressing an election rally in support of the BJP candidate from Rajinder Nagar, RP Singh, he said the February 8 elections were no longer for electing assembly members and a chief minister, but were a contest between two ideologies.

“On one hand, there are people who stand with Shaheen Bagh and on the other hand, there are people who enter Pakistan and avenge the death of our soldiers,” he said.

In his rallies, Amit Shah has been raising the issue of a sit-in by anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi since December 15, asking people to vote for the BJP to show their disapproval for the stir.

On the issue of CAA, he said, “Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Maulana Azad, they all promised to give citizenship to Pakistani minorities whenever they come to India.”

“But, when I brought in a bill to give citizenship to them, the Congress reneged on its promise and is now protesting the CAA because they are afraid of their vote bank in Shaheen Bagh,” he said.

“In Shaheen Bagh, the protesters are raising the slogans of ‘Jinnah wali azadi’… which freedom are you taking about? India attained Independence in 1947. Now, no one can divide it,” Mr Shah said.

The Home Minister alleged that the AAP government protected those who raised anti-national slogans at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

On Sharjeel Imam’s “cut-off-Assam-from-India” remark, Amit Shah said for 12 days, he had been asking Arvind Kejriwal if he would give sanction to prosecute the JNU student, but “he hasn’t uttered a word”.

The BJP leader said Arvind Kejriwal’s government promised to install 15 lakh CCTVs, but only 1.5 lakh could be installed, and that too with the help of the Centre’s grant. “Kejriwal promised to deploy commandos in buses (for safety of women). But in reality, he made AAP workers wear commando uniform,” he alleged.

“He said the Yamuna will be cleaned. I challenged Kejriwal to take a dip in the river at 8 am on Tuesday,” he said.

Amit Shah also accused the Aam Aadmi Party chief of stonewalling the implementation of ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme in the national capital and delaying the work to regularise the unauthorised colonies.

Coronavirus: The viral disease, which has killed 450 people in China where it originated in December, was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation last week as it spread to more than 20 countries.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala confirmed first three cases of coronavirus in the last three days.

Kerala has stepped up efforts in fight against the lethal disease caused by Novel Coronavirus- declared a “state calamity” on Monday- after confirming first three cases in India in the last five days. More than 40,000 health officials, government employees, ground staff have been mobilised for three hugely challenging tasks – surveillance, contact tracing and counselling.

The viral disease, which has killed 450 people in China where it originated in December, was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation last week as it spread to more than 20 countries.32s

China virus death toll rises above 420

Sixty-four new deaths were confirmed on Tuesday — surpassing Monday’s record to post the new biggest daily increase since the virus was detected late last year in the central city of Wuhan.

All three coronavirus patients in Kerala are students who returned from China’s Wuhan city – the epicentre of outbreak – last month. They are admitted in three different hospitals in north Kerala’s Kasaragod, Central Kerala’s Thrissur and south Kerala’s Alappuzha. Twenty-eight isolation facilities have been prepared in the state – two from each district.

In the last three days, over 80 people – who came in direct contact with the three coronavirus patients – have been traced and placed under observation at hospitals and isolation wards. Over 2,230 people are under watch across the state; around 75 of them are in isolation wards and rest of them have been quarantined at homes.

“Co-ordination is being carried out at a mammoth scale. The health department has over 40,000 employees. There are forty other state government departments – animal husbandry, revenue. Several departments will be working together. This goes all the way down to the 1,200 local self government institutions, right till the ground level”, Rajan Khobragade, State Health Principal Secretary, explained to NDTV. The Rapid Response Team in Trivandrum is chaired by the state health minister herself.

Sources have confirmed that health officials in Kerala sought support from the civil aviation ministry and details of passengers who traveled with the affected three students fron Wuhan before the screenings began at airports across the country. Over 50,000 passengers across the country were screened at airports across the country till Saturday, Union Health Ministry said. 

Contact tracing begins with a detailed interview of the patients, helping them recall as as many details of people they came in direct contact with. Details can be location specific, names of places they visited or people they met. 

More than 600 people were evacuated by India from Wuhan, where they were locked down amid outbreak, over the weekend. “Most students studying at Wuhan are from Kerala and that’s why we have been making these mass appeals, intensifying all our measures to contain any possible spread. While people are responding to our appeals very well. If there are people who do not co-operate, we may be forced to take action”, KK Shailaja, Kerala’s Health Minister has said.

On Monday, Kerala declared coronavirus a “state calamity”. This would mean ‘all hands on deck’, officials said. “All leaves have been cancelled , seven district collectors were to leave for Mussoorie for their training. Now, they have been asked to stay back. It’s about streamlining the government machinery to break the chain of contact,” state health minister said.

There is a special designated team of doctors and counsellors who have been personally calling the people under isolation at homes or at hospital.

So far, they have personally called and counselled 372 people, giving them specific numbers to call back at any point if they are anxious or fearful about anything.

“We call people, reassure them, give them a number that they can call back on anytime if they deal with anxiety, sleeplessness. This number is functional 24×7. We already had 105 counsellors posted in 10 districts affected by floods in the last two years. So this positioned us in a much better way to reach out to effected families for counselling”, Dr Kiran, the nodal officer for mental health in the state, told.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said that the arrests are in addition to the 25 made earlier.

LUCKNOW: Police in Uttar Pradesh has arrested 108 members of the Popular Front of India in the last four days for their alleged involvement in protests against the anti-citizenship law, a senior official said on Monday.

The arrests are in addition to the 25 made earlier, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi told reporters.

“This is just the beginning. We will get to the roots of the organisation. A probe is also going on about their financial dealings. We are in touch with central agencies and are sharing information with them,” he said.