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PM Modi said no need to worry about bitcoin allegations,Focus on governance implement scholarship scheme for farmers’ children successfully in Karnataka,

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Parmesh Jain

Prime Minister,Narendra Modi has asked the Karnataka government to implement the recently launched state education scholarship scheme for farmers’ children successfully so that it can be replicated in the rest of the country, chief minister,Basavaraj S Bommai said on Thursday.

Bommai,who met the Prime Minister in Delhi,told reporters after the meeting that PM Modi also appreciated the state government’s move to set up a panel to scrutinise government tenders, giving a plot for homeless people as well as the implementation of the New Education Policy.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai could heave a sigh of relief on the Bitcoin row as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured him not to bother about the issue and devote his focus on welfare works for the people of the state.

The gesture reflects the solid support from the Prime Minister for Mr.Bommai’s leadership.

Speaking to media persons in New Delhi after meeting the Prime Minister and discussing with him about 100 days of his administration after assuming office, Bommai said,the Prime Minister did not wish to dwell much on the Bitcoin issue.

However I myself raised the issue.The Prime Minister assured me not to bother much on the Bitcoin issue.Just focus on working for the welfare of the people with integrity and boldness, and things will fall in place.

Don’t worry much on the Bitcoin issue.”

Prime Minister Modi’s assurance and encouraging words has conveyed an indirect message of his support and appreciation for Bommai’s leadership.

Bommai, who also called on BJP National President JP Nadda in the National Capital said that he presented details of the deliberations of the BJP State Core Committee meeting held in Bengaluru recently.

“I urged our Mr.Nadda to finalise the party candidates for the forthcoming MLC polls as early as possible as it would help the party to prepare better for the poll battle,Bommai said.

Bommai also stated that Nadda had obtained details about the proposed tour of state leaders in four teams and right now he(Nadda) was busy with preparations for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.But Karnataka too is very important state for us.

So I will make time and come to Karnataka soon on a one day visit and hold meeting with BJP state president and other office bearers of the party,” Nadda said during the interaction according to Bommai.

Referring to his meeting with union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Chief Minister said, “I could not discuss much with him as the interaction was brief. The issue of Bitcoin did not come up during the interaction. He would have had much information on the issue,” Bommai said replying to a question.

Air quality in Delhi remains ‘severe’

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New Delhi: The air quality in Delhi remained in the ‘severe’ category on Saturday morning, with the AQI being recorded at 473. The air quality index of neighbouring areas of Noida and Gurgaon was recorded at 587 and 557 respectively.

The overall air quality index of Delhi was recorded at 473 at 10 am. In Delhi, the air quality index of Lodhi Road, Delhi University, IIT Delhi, Pusa Road l, and Delhi airport was recorded at 489, 466, 474 and 480 and 504 respectively, according to SAFAR.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

Authorities on Friday had advised people to limit outdoor activities and told government and private offices to cut vehicle use by at least 30 per cent as air quality in Delhi-NCR inched towards the emergency level amid a rise in emissions from farm fires and unfavourable meteorological conditions.

Over 4,000 farm fires, accounting for 35 per cent of Delhi’s pollution on Friday, played a major role in pushing the 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) to 471 by 4 pm. It was 411 on Thursday.

A sub-committee on Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) said meteorological conditions will be highly unfavourable for dispersion of pollutants till November 18 and agencies concerned must be fully ready to implement measures under ’emergency’ category.

Delhi recorded a minimum temperature of 11.1 degrees Celsius, three notches below the season’s average, on Saturday.

The relative humidity was recorded at 90 per cent.

Madhya Pradesh govt exempts vehicles attending PM’s Bhopal rally on Nov 15 from paying road tax

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Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to exempt vehicles travelling to Bhopal to attend the ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ tribal convention, to be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 15, from paying the toll.

Buses ferrying tribals to the rally, to be held at the Jamboree Maidan, will also have mechanics onboard to ensure quick repair in the event of the buses developing a snag during the journey.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has directed officials to take stock of the preparations for Monday’s programme in a meeting held on Friday, an official statement said.

All the vehicles coming for the ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas’ programme in Bhopal will be free from (paying) toll tax, the statement quoted Chouhan as saying.

On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet had decided to declare November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ to mark the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda and honour the contributions of the members of Scheduled Tribes to Indian history and culture.

Meanwhile, the chief minister also directed officials to ensure that an ambulance accompanies the vehicles coming for the programme from distant and remote districts of the state.

The officials were also directed to ensure that the buses carrying tribals for the rally are fit for travel and subject drivers to breath-analyser tests.

This programme is being discussed in the entire country. There should be no shortage in the arrangements for safe transportation of all participants, their accommodation and food. It is our responsibility that the tribal brothers and sisters coming from different districts should arrive and reach back to their homes safely, Chouhan said.

According to BJP insiders, the saffron party was trying to ensure the participation of 2.50 lakh tribals in the event.

Though the government is so far silent on the budget of the forthcoming convention, Congress MLA and tribal leader Hiralal Alawa had on November 11 alleged that CM Chouhan was diverting funds meant for health, education and development of adivasis for Modi’s publicity for the event.

Punjab govt to give Rs 2 lakh compensation to 83 arrested in Delhi for tractor march on R-Day

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Chandigarh: The Punjab government has decided to give Rs 2 lakh as compensation to 83 people who were arrested by the Delhi Police after a tractor march against the Centre’s farm laws turned violent on the Republic Day this year.

The farmers had taken out a tractor march on January 26 in the national capital to highlight their two principal demands of a repeal of three new agri laws and a legal guarantee of minimum support prices.

However, the march took a violent turn as thousands of protesters broke through barriers, fought with the police, overturned vehicles and hoisted a religious flag from the ramparts of the iconic Red Fort.

“Reiterating My Govt’s stand to support the ongoing #FarmersProtest against three black farm laws, We have decided to give Rs 2 lakh compensation to 83 people arrested by Delhi Police for carrying out a tractor rally in the national capital on 26th January, 2021,” Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said in a tweet on Friday.

Hundreds of farmers have been camping at the three Delhi borders since November 2020 with the demand that the government repeal the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The Centre, which held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with farmers, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer, while protesters claim they would be left at the mercy of corporations because of the legislations.

Karnataka to soon have anti-conversion law: CM Basavaraj Bommai

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Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said the state will soon have an anti-religious conversion law.

Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said, “The state government is studying related laws enacted by other states and soon an anti-conversion legislation will be formulated.” He was replying to a query on the meeting with a group of seers, seeking a ban on religious conversion, on Friday.

According to the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti convener Mohana Gowda, under whose aegis the event was organised, over 50 seers of various Hindu religious orders met Bommai and stressed on the need for a law banning religious conversion.

The Chief Minister categorically stated that the constitution does not permit forced conversion, including by allurement.

Later, Gowda said in a statement that Sriram Sena chief Pramod Muthalik, Santhosh Guruji, Siddalinga Swami and Pranavananda Swami were among the delegates.

Muthalik was quoted as saying that the schools and hospitals are being used for religious conversion. Many illegal churches were also coming up in the state, he said.

The delegates demanded that the converts be denied special benefits meant for the scheduled caste and other backward class.

Bitcoin scam: Congress continues attack on ruling BJP; CM Bommai says none from govt involved

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Bengaluru: Continuing its tirade against the ruling BJP in Karnataka over the alleged bitcoin scam, the opposition Congress on Friday sought a probe under a sitting Supreme Court judge, into the case.

As Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and Priyank Kharge alleging attempts to cover-up, demanded that the government come out clean in connection with the cases, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai asserted that nobody from his government was involved in the bitcoin scam and termed statements that his position was in danger, as “political”.

“I don’t want to react on this issue on a day-to-day basis, I have already made an appeal to whom ever it is, to please tell us, what is the scam and who are involved, so that it can be probed. As far as the government is concerned it is very clear that the matter was handed over to the ED about 8-9 months back, which has registered the case and probe is on,” Bommai told reporters.

Noting that the government is open minded with respect to the case, in response to a question he said, “we need not protect anybody, none of our people are involved. Therefore, whatever little information they (Congress) have, they should hand it over to investigating agencies, let the probe happen and truth come out.”

Claiming that the bitcoin scam was probably the first and biggest cryptocurrency scam in India , Congress legislator and former IT Minister Priyank Kharge listed out chronology of events concerning the case and said the documents suggest that the prime accused, Srikrishna alias Sriki was allegedly drugged in police custody.

He also questioned the delay by the police and state government in reporting the case to the central agencies, while expressing apprehensions about some kind of a cover-up.

Addressing a press conference at the KPCC office here, Kharge said Sriki’s father had in January filed an application in court claiming that his son had been administered “mind-altering drugs” by the police in their custody, especially Alprazolam, and that Sriki had also made similar claims before the magistrate, when asked.

Seeking to know why the accused was administered drugs while in police custody, citing documents, he further noted that the magistrate had sought a test of his blood and urine samples, which seems to have not been done.

Alleging that new cases were slapped on Sriki each time his police custody ended, Kharge sought an explanation from police officials in this connection.

Finding lapses in the panchnama’s done with regards to the recovery of 31 bitcoins worth about Rs 9 crore, he said during the third panchnama, for transferring bitcoins to the police wallet from Sriki’s wallet, cyber experts and people from Unocoin were called. “When the wallet (of Sriki) was opened, it had 186 bitcoins.”

Then the process of transferring bitcoins to police wallet was initiated, the MLA said.

“On verifying, they (police, experts and those from Unicoin) found that the transaction ID never existed.

Kharge also raised questions about the whereabouts of the 186 bitcoins now.

In response to a query on allegations that the bitcoins have now disappeared, Bommai told reporters that all these charges have to be proved with documents. “there is lot of hear say.. but the real scam and facts of the case have to come out through probe . ED is probing, we have also referred (the case) to CBI Interpol branch, as there is international ramification,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Senior Congress leader and leader of opposition Siddaramaiah in a series of tweets sought to know if it was ‘correct’ on part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in telling Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to ignore the charges regarding the bitcoin scam in the state.

“Instead of asking the CM of Karnataka to investigate and prove the innocence, how is it correct for the Prime Minister to tell him to ignore the allegations? Can the Prime Minister unilaterally decide what he wants?” Siddaramaiah asked.

Bommai after meeting Modi in New Delhi on Thursday had said the Prime Minister advised him not to bother about the issue, and instead work for the people with dedication and honesty.

There have been speculations for some time now about involvement of politically influential people in the scam after CCB officials seized bitcoins worth Rs 9 crore from a city-based hacker Sriki, who is also accused of hacking into government portals, sourcing drugs through the dark net, and paying for it through cryptocurrency.

While Congress leaders alleging involvement of senior BJP leaders, their family members and senior officials in the scam, have accused the government of trying to cover up; the ruling party too in its counter has alleged involvement of leaders from the grand old party.

Ex-UP minister Gayatri Prajapati, 2 others get life terms for raping woman, her minor daughter

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Lucknow: Former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati and two others were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special court here on Friday for gang-raping a woman and her minor daughter.

The special court for lawmakers headed by Additional Sessions Judge P K Rai also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on each convict.

Prajapati and two other convicts Ashok Tiwari and Ashish Shukla were present in the court when it pronounced the quantum of sentence against them.

Judge Rai had on Wednesday held Prajapati, a key figure in the previous Akhilesh Yadav government, and his accomplices guilty of gang-raping the woman and her minor daughter.

It had said the prosecution has been able to prove charges against them beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court had found all the three guilty of committing gang-rape under section 376 (D) of the IPC and making “gang penetrative sexual assault on a child” under section 5 (g) read with section 6 of the POSCO Act.

Section 6 of the POCSO Act provides for the punishment for gang-raping a minor girl. The punishment ranges from at least a 10-year jail term to life imprisonment.

Prajapati held transport and mining portfolios in the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet and was arrested in March 2017. He had been in jail since then.

During the hearing on Friday on the quantum of sentence, the counsel for Prajapati and others earlier pleaded before the court for leniency in awarding the sentence.

But the prosecution counsel opposed it vehemently, arguing that Prajapati was a minister in the government when he committed the offence along with his accomplices and if a man on such a responsible post commits this kind of offence, misusing his power and position, the court should deal with him sternly to give a message to the society .

The three convicts now have the option of challenging their conviction and sentence in the high court.

While convicting the trio on Wednesday, Judge Rai had acquitted four others — Vikas Verma, Roopeshwar, Amrendra Singh, alias Pintu, and Chandrapal — due to lack of evidence.

The prosecution had produced 17 witnesses in the case.

While holding the trio, the court had also directed the Lucknow police commissioner to ascertain the circumstances in which the rape victim and two other witnesses had changed their statements time and again during the trial.

While deposing before the court, the victim had initially supported her allegation of gang-rape in the FIR, but during her cross-examination, she had retracted from it.

The court, however, relied on her initial deposition while convicting the trio.

The FIR against the minister was registered at the Gautampalli police station here on Feb 18, 2017 on the directions of the Supreme Court, which had given its order on the woman’s plea against the police inaction over her complaint.

The woman had claimed that the minister and his accomplices have been raping her since October 2014 and she decided to complain against them after they targetted her minor daughter as well in July 2016.

India records 11,850 new COVID cases, 555 fatalities; active infections lowest in 274 days

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NEW DELHI: A total of 11,850 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in a span of 24 hours, taking the country’s infection tally to 3,44,26,036, while the active cases declined to 1,36,308, the lowest in 274 days, according to the health ministry data updated on Saturday.

The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 36 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 139 consecutive days now.

The active cases in India have declined to 1,36,308, comprising 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said.

A decrease of 1,108 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it noted.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.94 per cent.

It has been less than 2 per cent for last 40 days.

Weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.05 per cent.

It has been below 2 per cent for the last 50 days, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,38,26,483, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.35 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 111.40 crore.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NewIndianXpress&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3NwYWNlX2NhcmQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib2ZmIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1459371609370742785&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newindianexpress.com%2Fnation%2F2021%2Fnov%2F13%2Findia-records-11850-new-covid-cases-555-fatalities-active-infections-lowest-in-274-days-2383117.html&sessionId=af18f33e57ded314897c615a747e24985e6fc4cc&siteScreenName=newindianexpress.com&theme=light&widgetsVersion=f001879%3A1634581029404&width=550px

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20 lakh-mark on August 7 last year, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16.

It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one crore-mark on December 19.

India crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23.

The 555 latest Covid fatalities include 471 from Kerala and 41 from Maharashtra.

Kerala has been reconciling Covid deaths since the last few days, hence the death tally of the state is high.

A total of 4,63,245 deaths have been reported so far in the country, including 1,40,516 from Maharashtra, 38,140 from Karnataka, 36,259 from Tamil Nadu, 35,511 from Kerala, 25,093 from Delhi, 22,905 from Uttar Pradesh and 19,294 from West Bengal.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

2022 Punjab Polls: SAD announces three more candidates

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CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Saturday announced the names of three more candidates for the 2022 Assembly polls.

The party fielded Sunita Chaudhry from the Balachaur Assembly constituency, Jaspal Singh Bitu Chatha from Patiala Rural and youth leader Bachittar Singh Kohar from Shahkot assembly constituency.

“SAD President S Sukhbir Singh Badal announced Sunita Chaudhry from Balachaur, Jaspal Singh Bitu Chatha from Patiala Rural and youth leader Bachittar Singh Kohar from Shahkot assembly constituency as party candidates. Total 83,” said party leader Daljit Singh Cheema in a tweet.

Earlier, SAD informed that former member of ParliamentPrem Singh Chandumajra will contest from Patiala’s Ghanaur, while sitting MLA Dilraj Singh Bhundar will seek re-election from Sardulgarh assembly constituency in Mansa district.

Party chief Sukhbir Singh Badal will contest from his traditional Jalalabad. Pritpal Singh Pali will be the party’s candidate from Ludhiana Central. Anil Joshi will contest from Amritsar North and Talbir Singh Gill from Amritsar South.

SAD and BSP formed an alliance in June to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections together. Out of 117 seats in the Punjab assembly, BSP will contest 20 seats and SAD will contest the remaining 97.

Assembly elections are scheduled to be held next year.

Third Covid jab to counter another wave? Anxious doctors, nurses take booster shots in Bengaluru

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BENGALURU: Even as the Union health ministry is “working” on a policy for the third dose of Covid-19 jab, anxious healthcare workers and doctors in Karnataka are jumping the gun and silently taking booster shots.  

They said they are “anxious” as they are seeing breakthrough infections, ICU admissions, fatalities and waning antibodies among those immunised with both doses. 

“Not just government, even private hospital doctors are doing this. We are educated and are following research that’s out,” said a doctor from a Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute hospital.

Dr CN Manjunath, member of Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee and Director of Jayadeva Hospital, said he is aware of this trend.

Many are taking the third jab out of fear — they are checking antibody levels, and if there is an indication of waning, they are opting for the jab.

However, there is no protocol announced yet.

“With people hesitating to take the second dose, healthcare workers feel they are at risk. Especially with reports of breakthrough infections, ICU admissions and some minute population succumbing to it, doctors are worried. Taking a booster is not dangerous but there’s no policy yet so it’s better to refrain,” he said. 

A head nurse from a private hospital on Bannerghatta Road said, “I was told to check my antibody level. It had waned, so I got my third jab,” she said.

However, a senior doctor explained that waning of antibodies is not the same as absence of immune response.

“Antibodies will taper off. When an antigen hits again, the antibodies will mount and can even come out strongly to protect the individual if he/she is young, and not immuno-compromised,” he said.

Epidemiologist Dr Giridhara Babu, who is also a member of TAC, said that flu shots are given every year as the virus keeps changing.

“In case of Covid-19, it is gamma variant which is infectious and after that, no variant has been more infectious. So we don’t know yet whether annual boosters are needed,” he said.

Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar quoted Dr NK Arora, co-chair of INSACOG, as saying that they have been working on a policy document regarding administering a booster dose for the past three weeks, which will be made public soon.  

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