MUMBAI:  Goa is abuzz that ahead of the presidential polls, 10 Congress MLAs may move to the BJP.
In the 40-member Assembly, BJP has 20 MLAs, while there are 11 MLAs of the Congress, two each of AAP and MGP, and five independent MLAs.

According to sources, the disgruntled Congress MLAs are in touch with the BJP leadership. “They are ready to join. But the leadership has decided not to hurry but induct them as per the party’s requirement,” a BJP leader said.

“The BJP’s plan is to ask the Congress MLAs to cross-vote in the presidential poll and later take them into the party. Former chief minister and Congress leader Digambar Kamat has already spoken with the leadership.”  BJP Goa president Sadananda Tabawade said no final decision has been taken yet.

A Congress leader said the main reason is harassment by the BJP-led government. “Most MLAs own hotels. BJP has been issuing notices to them, asking them to pull down the structures. The other businesses are also targeted,” he said.

According to Goa-based mediaperson Kishor Naik Gaonkar, chances are weak that 10 MLAs will make a move together. “A few of them may join now. By 2024, most Congress MLAs will be with BJP.” 

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday dubbed the Enforcement Directorate as “Examination in Democracy” and said in politics the Opposition is required to clear “this exam” when the government fails.

He said those who are “prepared” need not be afraid of any examination. “The meaning of ED is now ‘Examination in Democracy’.

“In politics, the Opposition is required to clear this exam. When the government fails, it announces this exam. Those who have prepared well are neither afraid of written-reading exams nor verbal exams. And you should never be afraid,” Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

His reaction comes amid the ongoing questioning of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi by the ED in the National Herald case.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has quashed the criminal proceedings against Reverend Prasanna Kumar Samuel in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Prasanna Kumar Samuel is a Bishop of Church of South India (CSI) Karnataka Central Diocese, Bengaluru.

The case was registered against five people, including Prasanna Kumar Samuel under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and POCSO in 2015 in relation to alleged sexual assault on some girls at the premises of a school in the the city.

Though the police had dropped the charges against Prasanna Kumar, during the trial, he was summoned on an application filed by the public prosecutor in December 2017.

This was challenged before the HC. Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar, while quashing the proceedings against Kumar on May 25, said, “The charge sheet material does not disclose that the petitioner has committed the aforesaid offences and also the investigating officer has specifically stated before this Court on November 19, 2019 there are no material available against the petitioner.

However, the Magistrate without perusing the charge sheet material, without application of mind, has issued the summons and the same is impermissible and is an abuse of process of law.”

JANJGIR CHAMPA: Rahul Sahu, an 11-year-old boy who had fallen into a borewell in Chhattisgarh’s Janjgir Champa district, was rescued after a 104-hour-long operation on Tuesday night, officials said.

Over 500 personnel, including officials of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Army, local police and the administration, were involved in the massive rescue operation that was underway since Friday evening.

Sahu fell into the unused 80-feet-deep borewell, located in the backyard of his house in Pihrid village in Malkharoda development block, around 2 pm on Friday while playing.

He was stuck at the depth of around 60 feet and a pipeline was installed for the oxygen supply. Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel tweeted,  with everyone’s prayers and relentless and dedicated efforts of the rescue team, Rahul Sahu has been evacuated safely.

“I wish that he recovers completely as soon as possible.” Television visuals showed the boy being taken in a stretcher. “His condition is stable and he will recover soon. He is being shifted to Apollo hospital in Bilaspur district in an ambulance under the observation of specialist doctors, for which a green corridor has been created for about 100 km to facilitate speedy movement,” Bilaspur Collector Jitendra Shukla said.

“We have been at the receiving end due to loss of life and property, but have given the Russians a tough fight dispelling their presumption that they would win in a matter of days.  But, post-war, we will bank on our friends like India to come forward and help us rebuild our nation and also become our guarantor,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to India Igor Polikha said.

India has vast experience in creating infrastructure and Ukraine is hoping that it will partner with them in reconstruction once the war gets over. “We are thankful to India for extending humanitarian support to us. Around 240 tonnes of humanitarian support came from India, mainly medicines,” Polikha added.

There are many Indian pharma companies in Europe and they collectively came out in support of the war-ravaged Ukraine. Around $8 million of additional support was collected and sent to Ukraine by them.
The envoy said his country understands India decision of not going all-out in criticising Russia.

“India stopped short of naming those responsible for the massacre at Bucha and sought an independent probe. However, the Ukrainians are happy that former Supreme Court Justice Dalveer Bhandari (one of the 15 sitting judges of the UN Court) voted against Russia,” Polikha added.

Ukraine is hopeful that countries like India will put pressure on Russia to end the ongoing conflict.

The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 5,24,792 with 15 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The count of active cases now comprises 0.12 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.66 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 3,089 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the data showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at two per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.35 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,26,67,088, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent, as per the data. According to the ministry, 195.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The country crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4, 2021 and three crore on June 23.

NEW DELHI: As the Covid-19 cases are rising in some states, especially in Maharashtra and Kerala, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday warned states and Union Territories that the pandemic is not over yet and the protocol must be observed and vaccination should speed up.

Highlighting the need to be alert and not to forget Covid-appropriate behaviour, Mandaviya told health ministers of states and UTs in a meeting to review the status and progress of the door-to-door vaccination drive ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ launched on June 1 that there was a need to be cautious and to strengthen the genome sequencing.

“The Covid-19 is not over yet. With rising Covid-19 cases in some states, it is important to be alert and not to forget Covid-appropriate behaviour,” Mandaviya said. Stressing the importance of vaccination among vulnerable age groups, he urged the state health ministers to personally review the status and progress of the particular month-long drive.

“Let us accelerate our efforts to identify all beneficiaries in the 12-17 age groups for the 1st and 2nd doses so that they can attend schools with the protection of the vaccine,” he added. He said there was a need to widen vaccination coverage for schoolchildren as well as giving precautionary doses to the elderly.

India has been registering a continued surge in daily new Covid-19 cases since June 1. On Monday, the country recorded 8,084 fresh Covid-19 cases and ten deaths. This is the third day India’s daily new cases crossed the 8,000 mark. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) will be reviewing the data of genomic surveillance of variants to detect whether any new variant is causing the spike, officials added.

NEW DELHI: Aimed at promoting Indian innovators and entrepreneurs through a series of innovative start-ups in the system and services of railway, Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday officially launched the Indian Railway Innovation Portal with a start-up policy for railways here.

Later, speaking on the occasion, the railway minister said that Indian Railways as the country’s national transporters has taken an important initiative in the field of innovation through the participation of start-ups and other entities.

“That day is not far away when India will be exporting start-ups to other countries. The railways will continue supporting the innovative start-ups, by all means, even granting up to Rs 1.5 crore to innovative start-ups,” the minister said.

Spelling out the objective of the start-up policy brought into the public domain through the portal, the minister said that the policy has been framed in a way that it will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance and infrastructure creation through the participation of very large and untapped startup ecosystem.

He further said that the railways will help to bring out solutions for the kind of problems faced by the Indian railways. 

the minister said that 11 problems of railways shared through the portal have been solved by the start-ups. “The response is hugely encouraging from the start-up side. A lot of innovative start-ups are being shared on various services of railways,” the minister told the TNIE.

Lauding the railway for bringing out the start-up portal, as envisioned by PM Narendra Modi, Vaishnaw said that the long-going discussions over the integration of technology into Indian Railways have taken a firm and effective shape in form of this initiative.

“It will help the railway to connect itself with the vast pools of innovative start-ups. Out of over 100 problem statements received from different divisions, field offices and zones of railways, 11 problem statements like rail fracture, headway reduction etc. have been taken up for phase 1 of this program,” he said.

Making a call to the start-ups, the minister said that the railway start-ups platform should be used with getting support from Indian Railways in form of a 50 per cent capital grant, assured market, scale and ecosystem.

The minister stated that the start-up innovation policy along with the start-ups portal aims to leverage innovative technologies developed by Indian start-ups and innovators to improve operational efficiency and safety in railways.

The minister also said that a separate fund would also be created at the division level for supporting the start-ups for railways in addition to the fund of Rs 150 crore created at the ministry level.

“This start-up portal and policy will help the railways in adopting the latest cycles of technologies. The railway will put its problems before the start-ups and whichever will provide a solution, the railway will support that start-up,” he said.

Later, ADG PR Rajeev Jain sharing details on the salient features of the Indian Railway Innovation Policy said that the railway will provide support right from completing the process of floating of the problem statement to the development of a prototype.

“Trials of prototypes of start-ups will be done in Railways. Enhanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment on the successful performance of prototypes and selection of Innovators will also be done by a transparent and fair system”, Jain said.

He was elected as MLA twice and was the Chairman of the Third Finance Commission Implementation Task Force. He was the former president of Udupi district BJP and was also the former vice president of BJP Karnataka.

Son of freedom fighter Krishnaraya Kodgi and Rajamma, Kodgi was born in Manjarapalake of Karkala. He did his primary education in Shankaranarayana and completed high school in Kundapura. He completed BSc from the Central College Bengaluru in 1951, studied law from Pune in 1953 and was practicing in Bengaluru.

Kodgi, who began his political career as a Congressman, became MLA twice in 1972 and 1978. He joined the BJP in 1994 and served as the district president of the party from 1995 to 1999 before becoming the state vice president.

Through A G Kodgi’s leadership, Amasebail in Kundapur had become Karnataka’s first solar-powered gram panchayat with 1,497 houses receiving the solar lamps. As a director of the Karnataka Bank, he emphasized the extension of banking services to rural areas. He is survived by his wife and six children, including CAMPCO president A Kishore Kumar Kodgi and vice president of Karnataka State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Kiran Kodgi.

Sri Kshetra Dharmastala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade and leaders of various political parties expressed their condolences. CM Basavaraj Bommai in his condolence message recalled Kodgi’s contribution as an MLA from Byndoor.

He said youth got attracted to the BJP due to onerous effort by Kodgi. Sri Vishwaprasanna Theertha Swamiji of Sri Pejavar Matha, Udupi in his condolence message recalled Kodgi as a progressive farmer and said he had immense knowledge about rural empowerment.