Archives for September 2020
Sikhs in US safe under Trump; Biden’s election campaign ‘demoralising’: Community leaders
The Biden campaign, which launched the ‘Sikh Americans for Biden’, in a press release on Sunday said that Sikh-Americans experience bullying at rates twice the national average.
WASHINGTON:Asserting that Sikhs are safe under the Trump administration, a group of prominent Sikh-American leaders have alleged that the Biden campaign is trying to “demoralise and demotivate” the community.
It is because of President Donald Trump’s initiatives to ensure religious freedom and liberty that so many Sikh youths are serving in the US military today with their turbans and beard intact, said Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh-American attorney and co-chair of Lawyers for Trump.
According to Jasdip Singh, co-chair of the Sikhs for Trump, the community members in the US have never been as safe as is under President Trump.
“We are a martial community, no one can bully us. By saying so (that the Sikh community is not safe in US), the Biden campaign is trying to demoralise and demotivate us,” he said.
The Biden campaign, which launched the ‘Sikh Americans for Biden’, in a press release on Sunday said that Sikh-Americans experience bullying at rates twice the national average and have reported a spike in these encounters since 2017.
The Biden campaign vowed to address the unique challenges, including xenophobia, being faced by the Sikh community in the US.
Singh claimed that a Biden-Harris administration would be “anti-Sikh”.
In the November 3 presidential election, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris will challenge incumbent Republican President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Singh said Harris, during her tenure as California Attorney General, was against the employment of a Sikh man, Trilochan Singh Oberoi, who refused to shave off his beard.
“Harris asked him to shave his beard and choose between faith and livelihood. Despite being of Indian-origin, she is anti-Sikh,” he said.
“We cannot support Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. Those are not Sikh values,” Singh said.
In 2005, Oberoi cleared the written test, vision test, a physical abilities test, and every other test required by the state of California to get him a corrections officer job but was denied the position when he refused to shave his beard.
The department rejected him, saying the state-mandated wearing a gas-mask during jail emergencies and that keeping beard would be a hindrance.
Finally in 2011, after a six-year-long legal battle, Oberoi was appointed as a correctional officer in the prison and won USD 295,000 in damages.
Singh said, “I want to address all my Sikh brothers and sisters who are questioning me that how being a Sikh I am supporting Trump. I want to ask them a question. How they being Sikh are supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris who are supporting and promoting weed and drug culture, who support abortion, same-sex marriages.
“Are these Sikh values?” Singh, who is also a businessman, said as part of the 2020 election campaign he has been travelling to some of the remote parts of the US and his turban and beard have never posed any problem.
“Everywhere I go — from Pennsylvania to Ohio, even in the remote parts of the country — people welcome us. Trump supporters have given me so much love and affection like never before. I represent Sikh and India with my turban,” he said on Monday.
Singh, who had launched ‘Sikhs for Trump’ in 2016, claimed Trump has very strong support from the community.
“Sikh truckers in the US are now supporting President Trump. President Trump has personally acknowledged and thanked the support of the Sikh/Indian American community,” he said, claiming that this year more than 50 per cent of the community members are supporting Trump.
Trump’s policies and vision for America resonated with Indian and Sikh values, he said.
Kanwaljit Singh Rekhi, a Sikh leader, said all minority groups in US have benefited from Trump’s economic recovery plan.
“Small minority businesses mostly owned by South Asians survived during the pandemic due to President Trump’s aggressive economic recovery plan,” he said.
According to Baljinder Singh, another Sikh leader, Trump signed the Religious Freedom Act, which opened doors for Sikh members to serve in the US military and other law enforcement agencies, keeping their turbans and beard intact.
In Bengaluru, 75 percent of heart failure patients reach hospitals late
BENGALURU: An informal survey conducted by two cardiologists in Bengaluru found that 75% of Bengalureans who suffer from a heart failure, reach a cardiologist only at an advanced stage due to the lack of awareness. The survey was conducted on 1,000 patients by Dr Rahul Patil, interventional cardiologist and head of premature heart disease division, Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, and Dr S S Iyengar, consultant cardiologist, Manipal Hospital.
They go to the hospital only when the symptoms become severe, including breathlessness. This leads to multi-organ failure and even death,” said Dr Patil. He said coronary artery disease, which is a block in the coronary arteries, leads to a heart attack which in turn causes muscle damage. Experts have asked people who are vulnerable — those above 50 years, obese, smokers, alcoholics, and those who suffer from diabetes and hypertension — to be more aware.
“At times, patients develop compensated heart failure, where the body adjusts to a change in the heart’s pumping ability, which goes undetected. Their condition deteriorates suddenly and they come to a hospital with low oxygen saturation levels,” Patil added. “It is imperative for patients with chronic conditions like diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart valve diseases, congenital heart diseases and patients on anti-cancer drugs, to get themselves screened regularly for heart failure. Early diagnosis and treatment can help in its prevention.
Traffic cops collect Rs 2.14 crore fines in 7 days
After lockdown lull, police back in action with over 48,000 cases in a week; helmet-less riding biggest violation
BENGALURU: Vehicle users, especially two-wheeler riders — who were used for a care-free ride without wearing helmets and flouting traffic rules during the lockdown, are in for a shock over the last few days, as the traffic police have started cracking down on even smallest of violations.The Covid-induced lockdown had reduced vehicular movement to a large extent in the city, and the traffic police too had stopped enforcement. As a fallout, motorists and bikers started violating traffic rules, such as riding without a helmet, triple riding, signal jumps, over-speeding and others.
The traffic police, due to the pandemic, had started contactless enforcement and issued notices through Field Traffic Violation Report (FTVR). Now, with normal vehicular traffic back on city roads, the traffic police have also started fining the violators. “Commuters tend to violate rules if there is no police presence. That is what exactly happened during the lockdown. Though it had come to our knowledge, we did not go for strict enforcement keeping the safety of our staff in mind, but contactless enforcement was on. However, the enforcement is back like pre-Covid times now,” a senior police officer said.
The police are sending a strong message to violators by checking vehicles on main roads and major junctions. In just seven days, from September 13 to 19, the police booked 48,141 cases, collecting Rs 2,14,38,000. More than 50 per cent of these cases were booked for helmet-less riding.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) BR Ravikanthe Gowda said, “Due to the pandemic, we were following contactless enforcement. There were also some accidents because of this. We started the enforcement again four weeks ago and it is in full swing over the past week. Discipline is back among commuters. We are taking all precautionary measures to ensure the safety of our staff.”
Sandalwood drug case: Probe stumbles on cross-country flesh racket
The CCB has arrested two Africans — Loum Pepper Samba and Ossy Philips — who are reportedly emerging as the main source of contraband drugs to the accused.
BENGALURU: The Central Crime Branch (CCB) has unearthed an alleged “cross-country drugs and prostitution racket” in the ongoing investigation into the illegal drugs case, top official sources told The New Indian Express.
“The police have reportedly seized critical evidence of drug abuse and prostitution in some high-end parties that were being thrown to select guests strictly on invitation basis. Under the guise of parties, the venues were being used for prostitution and drug abuse. In some parties, the host and ‘event managers’ had flown in women from overseas to entertain guests as paid service and contraband drugs were sold at the venue at premium prices,” he added.
“Some of these high-end parties have been hosted at premium star hotels. Whether the hotels were complicit in these illegal activities is a matter of investigation,” said the officer. It is reliably learnt that the CCB has collected a lot of digital evidence from the emails, WhatsApp chats, call data records (CDRS) of the accused, who have been arrested and are currently in judicial custody.
“The CCB has arrested two Africans — Loum Pepper Samba and Ossy Philips — who are reportedly emerging as the main source of contraband drugs to the accused,” the officer added.
“It is a layered network of people, who are part of the cartel of drugs and prostitution,” said top official sources.
On Monday, the CCB submitted “critical” evidence in a sealed cover in the ongoing investigation into the narcotic drugs case to the Special NDPS Court during the hearing of the bail plea of Ragini Dwivedi and Sanjjanaa Galrani and Rahul Thonse. The court has rejected the bail plea of all the three.
Meanwhile, sources told this newspaper that they have “specific clues” on Aditya Alva – son of former JD (S) leader late Jeevaraj Alva and brother-in-law of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi — and Shivaprakash Chappi, who are wanted in the case and continue to be absconding.
The Karnataka High Court on Monday disposed of a PIL filed by a city-based activist and advocate seeking directions to the state government to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe cases involving high-profile people in the drugs racket.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi disposed of the petition, saying that a vague prayer was made by the petitioner without pointing out a specific case which required an SIT probe.
Contending that there were a large number of accidents that involved high-profile people in the state from 2017 till date due to consumption of drugs, especially in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts, petitioner Geetha Misra praised the Central Crime Branch for investigation in a case registered over drugs recently, but also said that a representation was submitted to the state government requesting to appoint an SIT but it was not considered.
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WHO, partners roll out faster COVID-19 tests for poorer nations
GENEVA: The World Health Organization announced Monday that it and leading partners have agreed to a plan to roll out 120 million rapid-diagnostic tests for the coronavirus to help lower- and middle-income countries make up ground in a testing gap with richer countries – even if it’s not fully funded yet.
At USD 5 apiece, the antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests for which WHO issued an emergency-use listing last week, the program initially requires USD 600 million and is to get started as early as next month to provide better access to areas where it’s harder to reach with PCR tests that are used often in many wealthier nations.
The rapid tests look for antigens, or proteins found on the surface of the virus.
They are generally considered less accurate ” though much faster ” than higher-grade genetic tests, known as PCR tests.
Those tests require processing with specialty lab equipment and chemicals.
Typically that turnaround takes several days to deliver results to patients.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hailed the program as “good news” in the fight against COVID-19.
“These tests provide reliable results in approximately 15 to 30 minutes, rather than hours or days, at a lower price with less sophisticated equipment,” he said.
“This will enable the expansion of testing, particularly in hard-to-reach areas that do not have lab facilities or enough trained health workers to carry out PCR tests.
“”We have an agreement, we have seed funding and now we need the full amount of funds to buy these tests,”he said, without specifying.
Dr. Catharina Boehme, chief executive of a non-profit group called the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, said the rollout would be in 20 countries in Africa, and would rely on support of groups including the Clinton Health Initiative.
She said the diagnostic tests will be provided by SD Biosensor and Abbott.
Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund, a partnership that works to end epidemics, said it would make an initial USD 50 million available from its COVID-19 response mechanism.
He said the deployment of the quality antigen rapid diagnostic tests will be a “significant step”to help contain and combat the coronavirus.
“They’re not a silver bullet, but hugely valuable as a complement to PCR tests, since although they are less accurate, they’re much faster, cheaper and don’t require a lab,”he said.
Many rich countries have also faced problems rolling out accurate tests, and testing itself is no panacea — countries like France and the United States have all faced backlogs and hiccups at times, and rapid tests in Britain and Spain turned out to be inaccurate.
But rolling out testing in poorer countries aims to help health care workers get a better grip on where the virus is circulating, in hopes of following up with containment and other measures to stop it.
Sands said high-income countries are currently carrying out 292 tests per day per 100,000 people ” while the lowest-income countries were conducting 14 per 100,000 people.
He said the 120 million tests would represent a “massive increase”in testing, but were still a fraction of what is needed in those countries.
With lockdown curbs lifted, Uttarakhand tourism sector gets a leg-up
Hotels across major tourist destinations have received over 80% booking and they hope that the losses during the summer will be recovered.
DEHRADUN: With all restrictions lifted for tourists to visit Uttarakhand, including the mandatory Covid negative report, business activities are gaining ground in the tourism sector.
Hotels across major tourist destinations have received over 80% booking and they hope that the losses during the summer will be recovered.
“We have received over 80% booking for this weekend. Every necessary precaution will be in place to check the spread of Covid. Now that the business seems to be back on track, we hope things are going to be promising,” said Ved Sah, spokesperson of the Nainital Hotel and Restaurants Association.
Hotel owners in Mussoorie also said that bookings are expected to be full in a day or two for the weekend. “I have got bookings of over 75% to date. The summer season went without any business. We hope to recover some of the loss as people would now want to travel more than ever,” said Sandeep Sahni, president of the Uttarakhand Hotels Association.
Many other popular destinations such as Mukteshwar, Bhimtal, Harsil, Devorayag and others are also getting bookings along with lesser known destinations.
According to estimates, over 2.5 lakh people are dependent directly or indirectly on the tourism sector for their livelihood.
The state government, from September 24, eased norms on Covid. Now, tourists travelling to the hill state do not need a Covid negative report but hoteliers and tourists will have to inform authorities in case of symptom or infection.
Tourists will have to mandatorily register themselves on the Dehradun Smart City portal.
“Our aim is to revive the tourism sector so that the industry gets a boost. Tourism is the backbone of our state’s economy and we are committed to make the sector world class,” said tourism minister Satpal Maharaj.
IPL 2020: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians in thrilling Super Over game
DUBAI: Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Mumbai Indians in a thrilling Super Over contest in the Indian Premier League on Monday after the match was tied.
Bangalore’s Navdeep Saini came up with a brilliant over, giving away just seven runs. It was a surprise that Ishan Kishan did not walk into bat as he had made 99 runs earlier in the second innings. Pollard and Hardik Pandya, who came onto bat, did not make great connection when it mattered most while Bangalore’s Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers reached the target in Jasprit Bumrah’s last delivery.
It is quite unbelievable that the game actually went to a super over, considering Mumbai were 35/2 in six overs while chasing 202. But Pollard and Ishan Kishan had some other ideas and kept on fighting even when things looked improbable.
In fact, Pollard and Ishan, at one point, needed 104 from 36 balls, but a last ball four by Pollard meant the game was tied. The duo’s heroic partnership of 119 runs and Ishan’s 58-ball 99 went in vain.
Chasing a target of 202, Mumbai Indians managed 201 for 5 after Ishan Kishan (99 off 58 balls) and Kieron Pollard (60 off 24 balls) nearly pulled off an incredible chase but could manage 8 off the required 19 runs in the last over.
Bangalore should, more importantly, thank their batsmen for putting up a good score. Else, they would have suffered another loss. Finch starred with 35-ball 52 and laid the foundation with a partnership of 81 alongside Devdutt Padikkal. Kohli failed, but De Villiers (55 n.o) and Padikkal (54) delivered.
Padikkal, at one point of time was 25 from 23, and he made his intent clear with back-to-back sixes off James Pattinson. But, when the South African smashed two sixes and a four off Bumrah in the 17th, and there was no holding back despite Padikkal’s wicket.
Whatever was bowled to him resulted in a four or a six, such was De Villiers’s form. It was a special innings considering the likes of Bumrah, Trent Boult and Pattinson were on the receiving end. Shivam Dube also played his part, smashing Pattinson for three sixes in the last over.
COVID-19 Update in India reports 70,589 new cases, 776 deaths as tally crosses 61-lakh mark
India’s case tally stands at 61,45,292 including 9,47,576 active cases, 51,01,398 cured/discharged/migrated & 96,318 deaths.
India’s COVID-19 tally has crossed the 61-lakh mark with a spike of 70,589 new cases and 776 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Case tally stands at 61,45,292 including 9,47,576 active cases, 51,01,398 cured/discharged/migrated & 96,318 deaths, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s latest update read.
Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the duration of several schemes has been extended till December 31 due to COVID-19.
“The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has extended the duration of several schemes till 31.12.2020 in view of the continued disruption caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic in certain parts of the country and to provide greater Ease of Doing Business,” a tweet from the Office of Nirmala Sitharaman said.
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