Archives for April 2021

Nasheman News

New Delhi: A resolution passed by the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Popular Front of India has termed the Varanasi district court order directing the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out a physical survey of the Gyanvapi Mosque a clear case of abetting the Sangh Parivar assault on the constitutional rights of religious minorities. The court direction also disregards the precedent set by the Supreme Court in the Babri Masjid title suit, where the 5 judge bench had stated it clear that the archaeological findings by the ASI cannot be the basis of law in a title dispute.

The court order is also in contravention of The Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which seeks to maintain and protect the status quo of places of worship in India as of 15 August 1992. This law was also reconfirmed by the Ayodhya case verdict of the Supreme Court in 2019.  It is also a relevant fact that the appeals against the petition filed by temple claimants in Varanasi district court are still pending before Allahabad High Court. In light of these facts, Popular Front has urged the High Court and Supreme Court to quash the present order which violates the law and transgresses jurisdiction.

This ruling should be read along with the recent trends of judiciary entertaining suits that carry the violent divisive agenda of the Sangh Parivar against Muslim religious places and practices. The recent developments in the court with regards to Gyan Vapi mosque are seen to be chronologically emulating the Sangh Parivar moves with regards to the Babri Masjid, as there too the Hindutva camp was successful in first obtaining a court order requesting an ASI survey of the contested site.

In this context, the court specifying the inclusion of two minority community members in the ASI team should be seen as an attempt to garnish some credibility to the heinous moves that only promote the divisive agenda of RSS.  It remains a sad reality that the Supreme Court order permitting the construction of a Ram Mandir in the demolished Babri land has in many ways incentivised the Hindutva forces to carry forward their campaigns aggressively for capturing other Muslim worship places like Kashi and Mathura Masjids.  The bias of judiciary to Sangh Parivar listing of mosques to be demolished with their wild claims of having ancient temple structures beneath these mosques is posing dangerous threats to secular India.

Popular Front believes rebuilding Babri Masjid is the first step towards reinstating secularism in this country and having been at the forefront of this longstanding struggle to restore justice, we pledge our commitment towards not letting any more ‘Babri demolitions’ happen.

Popular Front seeks urgent intervention by the apex courts to put a halt to these Hindutva moves and onslaughts against the religious places and religious freedom of the minority communities in India. This court order will be a real credibility test for the different sections among the majority community and the political parties,   based on how they choose to react to the socio-political crisis brought in by this Varanasi district court intervention. We urge the Muslim community and its leaders to question and stand firm against these evil designs of the Sangh Parivar.

In another resolution, the NEC strongly condemned the National Council ForPromotion Of Urdu Language’s (NCPUL) move to release an Urdu version of RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s book. It is despicable to see a government body getting utilised to promote the lectures and speeches delivered by the Chief of a fascist organisation. The book is being published in Urdu to reach out to the Muslim community and carries toxic notions like every Indian should identify themselves as Hindus and that they all should assimilate themselves in “RSS Shakhas” for the sake of nation-building.

Nasheman News

Gujarat:The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim Shri Prem Singh Tamang joined the Hon’ble Vice President of India Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Hon’ble Governor of Gujarat ShriAcharyaDevvrat, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat ShriVijaybhaiRupani and Hon’bleDeputy Chief Minister of GujaratShriNitinbhai Patel for the closing ceremony of the Dandi Yatra at National Salt Satyagraha Memorial, Samarpan Ashram Road, Dandi in Gujarat.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim addressed and expressed his delight to be a part of this historic event. Speaking about the Satyagraha Ashram in Ahmedabad, he added that the purpose of the ashram was to improve the economic conditions and instil the spirit of independence through non-violence. It is the most influential weapon for mankind and was the same principle preached by Mahatma Gandhi which he urged all to embrace.

Commending the progress of the country under the able leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi he added that the call for Vocal for Local has ushered in a fresh chapter in the glorious history of our country. The Hon’ble Chief Minister also mentioned the Make in India campaign and stated prime examples of accomplishment under this initiative like the Tejas aircraft and the COVID-19 vaccines to name a few. He urged everyone to collectively work towards ATMANIRBHAR BHARAT and set more milestones in years to follow.

Stating the integration of Sikkim as the 22nd state of India, he added that Sikkimese people are equally patriotic and proud to be Indians and informed about a couple of initiatives and achievements of the state and the intention to contribute towards the welfare of our country.

The Hon’ble Chief Minister of Sikkim, ShriPrem Singh Tamang (Golay) also expressed his sorrow and condolences on the recent death of soldiers in Chhattisgarh at the hands of the Naxalites and condemned such heinous acts.

Towards the end, he extended his gratitude to the Hon’ble Prime Minister and Hon’ble Home Minister and thanked the Hon’ble Governor, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat, and the entire State for the exceptional hospitality and for hosting such a wonderful event.

His Excellency Vice President of India ShriVenkaiah Naidu, in his address, conveyed his best wishes to the people of Sikkim. He expressed his joy to have Chief Minister of Sikkim and other dignitaries be a part of the Dandi March. He further said that Sikkim is not only a beautiful state, but it is also dutiful. Heappreciated the Chief Minister’s call for unity and national integration.His excellency also praised to have Chief Minister P.S Golay’s and lauded the contribution made by Sikkim.

After the event, the Hon’ble Chief Ministervisited the Dandi beach, Saifee House and the Gandhi Memorial situated in the same area fvand interacted with the trustee members. 

Bengaluru: A leader in digital engineering and transformation solutions to the healthcare and life sciences industry, today announced the acquisition of Delhi-based Quovantis Technologies, an award-winning user experience design and software development company that enables health technology and product companies to deliver compelling digital experiences for web, mobile and wearables. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

emids, which has built its reputation as one of healthcare’s most trusted partners for health information technology (HIT) engineering and development, is going strategically upstream with this latest deal on the heels of its acquisition earlier this year of design-led engineering firm Macadamian. 

The combined expertise puts emids in a unique position, offering its clients industry-leading data science, engineering and business strategy acumen plus the ability to take an innovative idea from concept to MVP to full-scale enterprise solution and with speed to market. 

“We take a human-centered and iterative approach to innovation,” said Quovantis Founder and CEO Tarun Kohli. “Our customers don’t have to wait months to launch their products to understand a product-market fit. We help them launch products incrementally, see what we did right or wrong, and then calibrate that.” 

Kumar Kolin, emids Chief Technology Officer, said “The addition of Quovantis now gives us permission to say, let us sit down with you to think about the problem you’re trying to solve for, let’s help you build, test and iterate that solution, and let’s see it all the way through with you and help figure out how to scale it for the enterprise. This puts emids on the map as a top-tier product development partner, capable of the design, build and large-scale commercialization of novel digital ideas and technologies.”

emids sees this as an increasingly important capability in the midst and wake of COVID-19, where emids’ deep healthcare domain expertise puts its partners at a distinct competitive advantage in bringing mobile, web, cloud and emerging technology solutions to market faster. 

Kohli describes Quovantis as, “The company that gets married to the users’ problems and creates delightful solutions using the combination of design, strong engineering culture, and iterative development approach. I like to think of design-led engineering as the connective tissue that brings emids customers the benefit of nimbleness combined with a deep understanding of design-led engineering in the entire healthcare stack.”

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged the Centre to give flexibility to states to devise local strategies for COVID-19 vaccination within the broad parameters of the central government’s approach.

Singh made these suggestions in a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, immediately after the PM held a video conference with chief ministers of all states to review the COVID and vaccination situation, a Punjab government statement said here.

During the meeting in which Union Home Minister Amit Shah was also present, Singh apprised the prime minister of the situation in the state and the steps taken by his government to control and manage the disease.

In recent weeks, Punjab has witnessed a surge in number of coronavirus cases.

Singh stressed that the UK variant of coronavirus, which is dominating the second wave in the state, is reported by experts to be more virulent and affecting the youth disproportionately.

In his subsequent letter, Singh said his suggestions, some of which were submitted on March 17 to the PM and the Union health minister, were based on the state government’s interaction with independent experts.

The statement said that amid reports of some states facing vaccine shortages, Singh also requested the Ministry of Health to share the schedule for supply of vaccines with the states over the next quarter based on their confirmed supply orders.

Given that over 80 per cent positive cases found in Punjab are of the UK variant, according to early reports from central laboratories, he also sought strengthening of viral sequencing in the state which has been reporting around 3,000 cases per day since the last 15 days, with around 8 per cent positivity.

The state currently has around 26,000 active cases with a recovery rate of 87.3 per cent, with 50-60 deaths a day at around 2 per cent Case Fatality Rate (CFR), the statement said.

The chief minister reiterated his earlier request for vaccinating teachers and staff in all educational institutions to enable resumption of physical classes once the surge abates.

He also batted for occupation-based immunisation for judges and judicial officers, bus drivers and conductors, elected representatives at all levels, etc.

Singh apprised the meeting that the primary driver of the spread appeared to be fatigue and laxity in following COVID-appropriate behavior, large political, social and religious gatherings, and efforts at normalization such as opening of schools and colleges.

High positivity was being seen in younger population, he pointed out.

The chief minister urged Modi to direct central institutions like IISER, IMTECH, AIIMS, Bathinda, and PGIMER, Chandigarh, to increase the RT-PCR testing from Punjab.

Further, PGIMER, Chandigarh, should be asked to earmark at least 50 COVID ICU beds for patients being referred by the state, he added.

Currently, 55 per cent health care workers and around 90 per cent front line workers have got the first dose of vaccine, Singh told the prime minister during the virtual meeting, while disclosing that more than 8.9 lakh persons aged 45 above have taken first dose of vaccination.

Daily vaccinations have increased from 20,000 per day in mid-March to around 85,000-90,000 per day, with maximum of 1.32 lakh vaccinations on April 3.

“We are targeting around 2 lakh per day by the end of this month,” he said.

An extensive social media campaign is being undertaken to address the misinformation regarding COVID and vaccination hesitancy, he informed Modi, adding that all public healthcare facilities upto Primary Health Centre have started working as vaccination centres, making it available to the public in their vicinity.

All public health facilities have started vaccination on 7 days of the week, while more private healthcare facilities are being motivated to work as COVID vaccination centres, he added.

Singh also shared the overall testing figures for the state and detailed treatment facilities, while touching upon the measures taken by his government to check the spread of COVID including closure of educational institutions and anganwadi centres.

Meanwhile, a two-member central team deputed by the Health Ministry reached here on Thursday to support the district administration in managing the new surge of coronavirus cases.

The team expressed complete satisfaction over COVID management and execution of the inoculation drive in Ludhiana, a state government statement said.

The team held a meeting with the district administration officials in Bachat Bhawan and later took stock of the vaccination drive by visiting two camps organised in the Civil Hospital and the United Cycle Parts and Manufacturers Association (UCPMA).

The team members also inspected the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme Lab in the civil hospital and interacted with the staff there.

It supervised a micro-containment zone to assess the arrangements for restricting the movements, according to the statement.

The team comprises National Centre for Disease Control Deputy Director Anubhav Srivastava and Kavita Chaudhary from RML Hospital in Delhi.

They met Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and convened a meeting attended by Additional Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar, Civil Surgeon Sukhjeevan Kakkar and others, it said.

A small presentation was also given in the meeting regarding the present status of coronavirus cases, effective mechanism and initiatives taken to curb the rising infections, the statement said.

Fifty-six more people succumbed to coronavirus in Punjab on Thursday as 3,119 fresh cases surfaced, pushing the state’s infection count to 2,63,090, according to a medical bulletin.

So far, the infection has killed 7,334 in the state.

The number of active cases also rose from 25,855 to 26,389.

Mohali on Thursday recorded the maximum 456 cases, followed by 425 in Ludhiana, 419 in Jalandhar, 354 in Patiala and 317 in Amritsar.

Among the fresh deaths, 12 were reported from Hoshiarpur, eight in Jalandhar, seven in Amritsar and six in Patiala, according to the bulletin.

A total of 2,480 coronavirus patients were discharged after recovering from the infection, taking the number of cured people to 2,29,367, the bulletin said.

There are 24 critical patients who are on ventilator while 386 are on oxygen support.

A total of 62,35,386 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, it said.

Meanwhile, Chandigarh reported 324 cases of infection, taking the tally to 29,521 in the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.

The death of a 70-year-old man took the toll to 389, according to a medical bulletin.

The number of active cases stood at 3,115.

A total of 329 patients were discharged after they recovered from the infection, taking the number of cured people to 26,017.

A total of 3,31,288 samples have been taken for testing so far, of which 3,00,725 tested negative while reports of 103 samples are awaited, the bulletin added.

JAMMU: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha ordered on Thursday imposition of night curfew in the urban areas of eight districts, including Jammu and Srinagar, to check the spread of the soaring coronavirus cases.

These districts are Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam, Anantnag and Kupwara, it said.

The curfew will be in force in the municipal limits of the urban local bodies of these districts.

Rural district will be under close observation for any possible spikes in cases, it added.

Jammu District Magistrate Anshul Garg on Thursday declared several areas as micro-containment zones to contain the soaring coronavirus cases.

The area in and around Government Gandhi Memorial, Science College, Canal Road, falling under the Nowabad police station, and area in and around Sanskrit University, Kanger Morh, Bhalwal, falling under the Gharota police station, were declared as micro-containment zones, an official said.

This followed the detection of COVID-19 cases in the educational institutes during a sampling drive.

Quoting an order issued by the district magistrate, the spokesperson said these areas would be under strict lockdown and tight perimeter control, except for essential needs.

“There shall be no movement, whatsoever, in and out of the micro-containment zones,” the spokesperson said.

He said it would be mandatory for the persons residing in designated containment zones to get themselves tested and any refusal in this regard would invite action, including filing of an FIR under the Disaster Management Act.

“The magistrate and the SHO of the area shall ensure that 100 per cent sampling and testing is done,” the spokesperson said.

He said the Jammu chief medical officer would ensure deployment of sufficient teams for sampling and surveillance of the designated zone.

He would ensure contact tracing of positive cases and their testing as per the SOP, the spokesperson said, adding that the district control room would monitor strict home and medical isolation of all positive cases reported from the zones twice on daily basis.

“Any violation of this order shall invite punitive action under section 188 of Indian Penal Code and other relevant sections of Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 and the Disaster Management Act, 2005,” the order said.

All travellers coming to Kashmir by road shall undergo coronavirus tests in Kulgam district, an official said on Thursday.

Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Mohammed Aijaz Asad chaired a meeting to review the coronavirus situation, a spokesperson said.

Asad said the testing for travellers coming by road shall be started in Lower Munda area in a couple of days as this would help in containing the spread of virus in the Valley.

The deputy commissioner said mass vaccination of hotel staff, drivers, houseboat staff and others shall be started across all tourist destinations.

A special training programme shall be conducted for the staff members to ensure that all standard operating procedures are followed strictly while dealing with the tourists, he said.

Asad urged the tourism stakeholders to ensure proper sanitation and hygiene in all hotels.

The deputy commissioner asked the hoteliers to keep two rooms available for isolation of tourists in case they test positive.

Dr Gazalla, the incharge COVID-19 testing at Srinagar Airport, deliberated on the importance of vaccination.

Various tourism stakeholders from Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam and Sonamarg also attended the meeting.

The tourism players raised various demands, including hiring of separate hotel accommodation for isolation of infected tourists, permission to tourists to the valley only after their RT-PCR test reports, improvement in testing facility at the Airport and sanitation of hotels.