Priyanka paid floral tributes to her grandmother Indira Gandhi at her memorial ‘Shakti Sthal’ in New Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his sister and party general-secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra paid tributes to their grandmother and former prime minister Indira Gandhi on her 36th death anniversary on Saturday

Indira Gandhi served as the first and only woman Prime Minister of India from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984. “From the false to truth. From darkness to light. From death to life. Thank you Dadi for showing me what it means to live these words,” Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet and also posted a picture of the former prime minister.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also paid floral tributes to her grandmother Indira Gandhi at her memorial, “Shakti Sthal”, here. She was shot dead by two of her own bodyguards at her official residence at Akbar Road on October 31, 1984.

Ramazan Hussain had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly elections from Bani constituency on a BSP ticket before joining the PDP.

JAMMU: A senior PDP leader joined the BJP here on Wednesday, saying the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not support anyone who tries to defame the nation and the national flag.

Ramazan Hussain, who had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly elections from Bani constituency on a BSP ticket before joining the PDP, was welcomed into the party fold by J-K BJP president Ravinder Raina at the party headquarters here, a party release said.

It said Hussain quit PDP and joined the BJP along with his supporters, stressing that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are very optimistic about the policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The people of J-K are ready to sacrifice themselves to protect the ‘Tiranga’ (tricolour) and do not support anybody who tries to defame the nation and the national flag,” the statement quoting Hussain said.

He said J-K is on the right track towards peace and development.

Hailing Hussain’s decision, Raina said he has come to the right place now and asked him to serve the party and the nation with full vigour.

Raina also assured him full support of the party in his public welfare endeavours, the statement said.

Amid soaring prices, four people were arrested for allegedly stealing onions worth Rs 2.30 lakh in Junnar in Maharashtra.

PUNE: Amid soaring prices, four people were arrested for allegedly stealing onions worth Rs 2.30 lakh in Junnar in Maharashtra’s Pune district, police said on Tuesday.

The theft of 56 bags of the kitchen staple took place in Dingore village and the arrests were made on the basis of CCTV camera footage and leads, a Junnar police station official said.

Kumar also praised Modi for his initiatives in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

PATNA: Bringing the ‘Modi factor’ to the fore of the poll campaign, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday devoted his speech at a BJP rally here to development works undertaken by the prime minister for Bihar and said Narendra Modi will make it a “developed” state if the ruling NDA is voted back to power.

Lavishing praise on Modi, Kumar referred to a slew of projects to assert that the people of Bihar can never forget what he has done for the state.

“Listening to his (Modi’s) appeal, if you give the NDA one more chance to work in the state, then you take it for sure that he will transform it into a developed state. Bihar with march ahead,” he said.

Locked in a keen electoral battle with the RJD-led opposition amid a perceived anti-incumbency against Kumar’s nearly 15-year tenure as chief minister, the National Democratic Alliance is banking strongly on the ‘Modi factor’ to help it romp home.

In the state capital and several other places, BJP’s posters carrying the prime minister’s photographs and its symbol, among with that of allies, have been put up prominently, assuring voters that he will bring them jobs — a central theme of the Bihar assembly polls — and other developments in the same way he has brought them roads and electricity.

In his speech, Kumar, the JD(U) president, spoke about the Patna metro project, smart cities plan and the Ujjwala scheme among other measures to laud Modi. He has done so much for building roads and bridges in the state, the chief minister said in his brief speech.

Kumar also praised Modi for his initiatives in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Referring to the free ration scheme for over 80 crore poor in the country between April and November, the chief minister said, “This is not a small thing.”

The NDA has projected Kumar as its chief ministerial candidate.

Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav, the chief ministerial face of his alliance, has launched an aggressive campaign around the theme of “unemployment and corruption” in the NDA government in the state and has protected himself as a harbinger of hope and change.

The NDA, on the other hand, has been raking up the issue of the “15-year-misrule” during the previous RJD regime from 1990 to 2005.

The rise, suggested officials, could be due to Dussehra and Durga Puja festivities which saw large gatherings. 

NEW DELHI:  Even as India on Tuesday recorded a three-month low in daily fresh Covid-19 cases, the Centre expressed worry at the rising case graph in some states such as West Bengal and Delhi. The rise, suggested officials, could be due to Dussehra and Durga Puja festivities which saw large gatherings. 

The true impact of these celebrations, however, can be gauged only by coming two weeks, they added.

At a briefing on the Covid-19 situation, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said during the festive season, cases have increased in Kerala, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi.

Around 58 per cent of the fresh COVID-19 deaths in the country were reported from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka, he said, adding 49.4 per cent of the fresh coronavirus cases in the same period were reported from Kerala (4,287) West Bengal (4,121), Maharashtra (3,645), Karnataka (3,130) and Delhi (2,832), while 58% of the 488 deaths were reported from Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka.

He also said the health ministry is in contact with all these states and central teams have been sent there.

“A few teams have returned after completing the task allotted. After analysing their report further actions will be taken in formulating new strategies to be adopted for these states,” Bhushan said.

Bhushan said the Centre will this week hold meetings with the five states witnessing rise in daily Covid graph.

The officials, however, added that there has been a continuous decline in average daily new Covid-19 deaths for the last five weeks. India’s case fatality rate has declined from 1.77% on September 1 to 1.50% on October 27, Bhushan said.

Top functionaries of the government also stressed that there was no room for complacency considering several other nations in Europe and the US are experiencing a worse second waves than the first one.

“We are fortunate that we are witnessing a decline except in few states. This is more worthy as other nations continue to see severe second peaks, but we have to work harder to protect the gains,” said Dr V K Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog.

This decline is particularly noteworthy because in other countries of the northern hemisphere there is a severe increase in the intensity of the pandemic, Paul added.

The pandemic has rebounded in several countries, largely in the northern hemisphere, and a third peak has hit the US, Paul said, adding, “Becoming a bit lax. slowing down surveillance and containment strategies also must be playing a role in this.”

Stressing that the coronavirus pandemic is on a “downward trend and under control” in India, he warned that “we cannot become lax and have to stay vigilant”.

Kerala, West Bengal and Delhi are proceeding towards a third peak.

This is a matter of concern and there can be no complacency in following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour as more challenges will emerge in the coming days, Paul said.

“More festivals are ahead and wherever we have faltered in the last few days, it will show in the coming 10 to 12 days.”

Paul stressed on continuing with the test, track, trace and treat strategy.

“Looking for a super-spreading event in the case of an individual positive case is an important area of our work and we are learning that super-spreading events happen when we are together not only in very large numbers but also in medium numbers. So, super-spreading events must be avoided,” he said.

Bhushan further said a continuous decline in average daily new coronavirus cases has been observed and the figure has come down from 83,232 between September 23 and 29 to 49,909 for October 21-27.

“When we observe the number of new COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, it is only 36,470. However, the number of tests conducted during this period has not come down. If even after doing 11 lakh tests per day on an average, there is a decline in daily new cases. It surely is a very positive sign. Our number of tests per million population is more than 75,600,” he pointed out.

“India’s COVID-19 case fatality rate has declined from 1.77 per cent on September 1 to 1.50 per cent as on date. The recovery rate has increased from 76.94 per cent on September 1 to 90.62 per cent as on date,” the official said.

It should be specifically noted that many states and Union Territories have case fatality rate below the national average of 1.50 per cent.

There has also been a decline in average daily new deaths from 1,054 in September to 615 now, Bhushan said.

The health secretary said India has the highest COVID-19 recoveries in the world.

Also, the country’s number of cases as well as deaths per million population were among the lowest, he added.

“It took us 57 days to register a recovery of 10 lakhs from 1 lakhs, whereas, the latest 10 lakh recoveries have been achieved in just 13 days which is also a satisfactory sign,” Bhushan said.

To a question over the BJP’s election manifesto promising free coronavirus vaccine for everyone in Bihar, Paul said state governments have been urged to take a national approach towards engaging with companies and deciding the criteria for COVID-19 vaccination.

“In order to deliver the vaccine to priority groups, to the extent that we can foresee, there is absolutely no problem in terms of resources,” he said.

The recoveries in India have now crossed 72 lakh even as cases are above 79 lakh with the last 10 lakh recoveries registered in 13 days as against the first 10 lakh recoveries, which took 57 days.

Amid the growing concerns around air pollution in Delhi-NCR, ICMR chief Dr Balram Bhargava said that studies have proven that long-term exposure to air pollution is linked to an increased risk of dying from Covid-19.

“There have been studies from Europe and US, where they have looked at polluted areas and have compared mortality during lockdown and correlation with pollution. It is found that pollution is contributing to mortality in Covid, that’s well established by studies,” he said in reply to a query during the daily briefing. 

Prime Minister will hold rallies in Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna on Wednesday ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.

PATNA: RJD leader and Mahagatbandhan’s chief ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav has posed 11 questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to Bihar on October 28.

Prime Minister will hold rallies in Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna on Wednesday ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls.

In a press statement, Tejashwi Yadav stated, “Tomorrow Prime Minister Narendra Modi is coming to Bihar. I want to ask these questions from the double engine government of Delhi and Patna.”

He posed 11 questions to the Prime Minister and asked, “Darbhanga AIIMS was announced in 2015 but why announcement for the start of its work was done before the polls?”

“PM is coming to Muzaffarpur. Will his combined government in Delhi and Patna speak on the Muzaffarpur shelter home case in which the Chief Minister is providing protection to the accused in the rape of 34 orphan girls?” he asked.

“The BJP-JDU government has promised a super speciality hospital in Darbhanga and Muzaffarpur but the promise was not fulfilled nor the appointment of doctors done. The government has promised to build Skill University what happened to that promise?” Yadav posed.

“Will PM also discuss flooding in Patna and regarding the work of Patna Nagar Nigam regarding the crisis,” Yadav asked.

He asked the Prime Minister to reveal to the people of Bihar that out of the 10 dirty cities of the country, six are from Bihar. “Why there is such a state of affairs in Bihar?” he asked.

“Why is Nitish Kumar such a weak Chief Minister that despite having 39 out of 40 NDA MPs, Patna University is still not given the status of a Central University?” he sought to know.

“Will PM tell, why is the state with a huge population of youth there is unemployment. How many jobs are created by the Central government in six years and by the Bihar government in the last 15 years?” Yadav asked.

he asked why migration has taken place out of Bihar and why it is increasing?

He also sought to know why students stranded in Kota and other migrant workers were stopped from coming to Bihar?

He asked the Prime Minister why the accused in the Srijan scam have not been touched by CBI yet. Why they are roaming with the NDA leaders?

Bihar Assembly elections will be held in three phases — October 28, November 3, and 7, and the counting of votes will take place on November 10.

While the BJP is fighting the elections alongside Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) and two other parties, LJP this time parted ways from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the state level opting to field candidates on over 100 seats in the state.

The searches were carried out on Monday at 42 premises in Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa, it said.

NEW DELHI: The Income Tax Department has recovered cash and jewellery worth about Rs 5.26 crore after it carried out multi-city raids against hawala operators and individuals who prepare fake bills, the CBDT said on Tuesday.

The searches were carried out on Monday at 42 premises in Delhi-NCR, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa, it said.

The action was carried out against “a large network of individuals running the racket of entry operation (hawala like operation) and generation of huge cash through fake billing”, officials said.

During the raids, Rs 2.37 crore cash and jewellery worth Rs 2.89 crore has been found along with 17 bank lockers which are yet to be searched, the CBDT said in a statement.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is the administrative authority for the I-T department.

“The search has led to seizure of evidences exposing the entire network of the entry operators, intermediaries, cash handlers, the beneficiaries and the firms and companies involved.”

“So far, documents evidencing accommodation entries (hawala) of more than Rs 500 crore have already been found and seized,” it said.

Several shell entities and firms were used by the searched entry operators for layering of unaccounted money and cash withdrawals against fake bills issued and unsecured loans given, the Board said.

Describing the modus operandi of the tax evasion racket, it said personal staff, employees, associates had been made dummy directors and partners of these shell entities and all bank accounts were managed and controlled by these entry operators.

“Statements of such entry operators, their dummy partners/employees, the cash handlers as well as the covered beneficiaries have also been recorded, clearly validating the entire money trail,” the statement said.

“The searched persons were also found to be controller and beneficial owners of several bank accounts and lockers, opened in names of their family members and trusted employees and shell entities, which they were managing in collusion with the bank officials, through the digital media,” it said.

This is being further investigated, it added.

The CBDT further said the beneficiaries have been found to have made huge investments in real estate properties in prime cities and in fixed deposits to the tune of several hundred crores of rupees.