Lucknow: BJP MP Varun Gandhi, whose Pilibhit constituency has been hit by heavy rains, on Thursday attacked the Uttar Pradesh government, saying if the common man is left to fend for himself, what does governance mean.

Three people were killed and hundreds were marooned as torrential rains lashed Bareilly and Pilibhit districts over two days, officials had said on Wednesday.

“Much of Terai is badly flooded. Donating dry rations by hand so that no family is hungry till this calamity ends. It’s painful that when the common man needs the system the most, he’s left to fend for himself. If every response is individual-led then what does ‘governance’ mean,” Gandhi said in a tweet.

The Sharda and Deoha rivers are in spate due to heavy rainfall and many villages situated on their banks have been flooded.

Around 500 villagers in Pilibhit are inundated by waters from the Sharda river.

On Tuesday night, the Pilibhit district administration sought the help of the Army for rescue operations and 26 people have been airlifted to safer places since Wednesday morning.

Local BJP MP Varun Gandhi had written to Chief Minister Adityanath demanding compensation for farmers whose crops have been damaged due to floods.

Gandhi’s spokesperson MR Malik had said the MP has demanded that farmers who lost their crops be provided compensation.

New Delhi: Petrol and diesel prices on Friday touched an all-time high across the country after rates were hiked for the third consecutive day by 35 paise per litre each.

The price of petrol in Delhi rose to its highest-ever level of Rs 106.89 a litre and Rs 112.78 per litre in Mumbai, according to a price notification of state-owned fuel retailers.

In Mumbai, diesel now comes for Rs 103.63 a litre, while in Delhi, it costs Rs 95.62 per litre.

This is the third consecutive day of the price hike. There was no change in rates on October 18 and 19, prior to which prices were hiked by 35 paise per litre each on four straight days.

While petrol has already hit the Rs 100-a-litre mark or more in all major cities of the country, diesel has touched that level in over a dozen states and is treading towards that mark in places from Srinagar to Chennai.

Diesel costs Rs 99.49 a litre in Srinagar, while it is priced at Rs 99.92 in Chennai. Prices differ from state to state, depending on the incidence of local taxes.

Petrol price has been hiked on 19 occasions since September 28, when a three-week-long hiatus in rate revision ended. In all, prices have gone up by Rs 5.7 a litre.

Diesel rates have been increased by Rs 7 per litre in 22 hikes since September 24.

Prior to that, the petrol price was increased by Rs 11.44 a litre between May 4 and July 17. The diesel rate had gone up by Rs 9.14 per litre during this period.

New Delhi: Hailing the crossing of the 100-crore vaccine doses milestone, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said India’s vaccination programme was science-born, science-driven and science-based. He asserted that there was “VIP culture” in the drive.

In an address to the nation, the prime minister urged people to keep following Covid protocol during the festival season and not drop their guard.

“It is a matter of pride for us that India’s vaccination programme has been science-born, science-driven and science-based,” Modi said.

From the development of vaccines to inoculation, science and science-based approach has been involved in all processes, he asserted.

Taking everyone along, the country started the campaign of ‘Sabko Vaccine, Muft Vaccine’, he noted.

The country, he said, had only one mantra — that if the disease does not discriminate, then there cannot be any discrimination in the vaccination.

“That’s why it was ensured that VIP culture was not allowed,” he said.

Bengaluru: Continuing his attack against the JD(S), ahead of the bypolls to two assembly seats in Karnataka, Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday said the party led by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda is “not secular”.

Hitting back, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy said, his party doesn’t require any certificate from Siddaramaiah on being secular, as he reminded him about his roots.

“JD(S) had formed a government with BJP in the past (in 2006), they have joined hands with BJP in the Mysuru corporation, what strong ideology does the JD(S) have? How much ever they may try to appease minority or Muslim for votes, voters are clever,” Siddaramaiah said.

Speaking to reporters here, the leader of opposition in the state assembly, accused the JD(S) of having “internal understanding” with the BJP, and that’s the reason they have fielded minority community candidates in Hangal and Sindagi constituencies that are going for bypolls.

“Will JD(S) be secular despite having formed a government with the BJP?… I can only say that JD(S) is not a secular party, they are a regional party, but not secular. They have Secular in their party name, but they are not secular in their conduct or behavior, they are communal,” he added.

Sharply reacting, Kumaraswamy said, “Should Siddaramaiah give certificates to my party as to whether it is secular or not? All communities are respected in our party. We don’t want any sermons from him.”

Pointing out that Siddaramaiah grew as a leader in JD(S) under Deve Gowda’s leadership, he said, “9 senior Muslim leaders in the state are JD(S) and Deve Gowda’s contribution..”

Siddaramaiah had recently urged the voters from the minority community not to cast even a single vote to the JD(S) during the Hangal and Sindagi bypolls, as voting for the regional party, means voting for the BJP.

The former Chief Minister had even accused the JD(S) of deliberately fielding minority community candidates in both the constituencies to help the BJP.

Bypolls will be held on October 30, while counting of votes will take place on November 2.

The by-elections have been necessitated as the seats fell vacant following the death of Sindagi JD(S) legislator M C Managuli and BJP’s C M Udasi from Hangal.

Chandigarh: Punjab Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday called Amarinder Singh the “architect” of the Centre’s three farm laws, drawing a sharp reaction from the former chief minister who dubbed the ex-cricketer a “fraud and a cheat”.

Sidhu’s remark came two days after Amarinder Singh said he would launch his own political party and that he was hopeful of a seat arrangement with the BJP, provided the ongoing farmers’ stir against the farm laws was resolved in the agriculturists’ interest.

Amarinder Singh, who had faced an unceremonious exit from the state government last month, had also said that he was also looking at an alliance with like-minded parties such as breakaway Akali groups.

“The architect of three black laws Who brought Ambani to Punjab’s kisani Who destroyed Punjab’s farmers, small traders and labour for benefiting one-two big corporates,” Sidhu tweeted on Thursday in an apparent reference to farmers’ allegations that big corporates will dictate terms to agriculturists with the passage of these laws.

Sidhu also uploaded an old video of Amarinder Singh in which he was heard talking about some vegetable crops under a field-to-fork programme.

Reacting to Sidhu’s tweet a few hours later, the former chief minister told him, “What a fraud and cheat you are!”

“You’re trying to pass off my 15-year-old crop diversification initiative as connected with #FarmLaws against which I’m still fighting and with which I’ve linked my own political future,” said Amarinder Singh as quoted by his media advisor in a tweet.

“It’s obvious @sherryontopp you’re clueless about Punjab’s and its farmers’ interests. You clearly don’t know the difference between diversification and what the #FarmLaws are all about. And yet you dream of leading Punjab. How dreadful if that ever happens,” he said.

Further taking a swipe at Sidhu, Amarinder Singh said that it was hilarious that he chose to post the video at a time when the Punjab government was going all out to promote its upcoming Progressive Punjab Investors’ Summit. “Or are you opposed to that too,” he asked the former cricketer.

The Charanjit Singh Channi-led government will hold the investors’ summit on October 26 and 27.

Amarinder Singh had resigned as the Punjab chief minister last month amid a bitter power tussle with Sidhu. Channi replaced Amarinder Singh as the CM.

Hundreds of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi borders since November 26 last year, demanding the repeal of the three new farm laws.

Uttar Pradesh minister Upendra Tiwari

Lucknow: Dismissing criticism over the rising fuel prices, Uttar Pradesh minister Upendra Tiwari on Thursday said 95 per cent people have no use for petrol.

Tiwari also argued that fuel prices had not really risen in real terms when the per capita income now is compared with that in 2014, referring to the year when a BJP-led government first came to power at the Centre.

Today, there are just a handful of people who travel in four-wheel vehicles and use petrol. At present, 95 per cent people don’t need petrol, Tiwari told reporters in Jalaun.

Higher fuel costs, however, impact virtually every citizen. For example, they lead to an increase in the price of all commodities — including foodgrain, fruit and vegetables — that are transported from one part of the country to another.

The minister’s remark comes when petrol prices have crossed Rs 100 per litre in most parts of the country, and diesel hovers close to that mark.

He claimed that the opposition doesn’t have any real issue to attack the government.

You see the data before 2014. What is the per capita income after the formation of the Modi and the Yogi governments? he said, referring to the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh.

Today, the per capita income is double,” he claimed.

He also referred to free schooling and the coronavirus vaccination offered by the government.

Puttur: In yet another case of moral policing in Dakshina Kannada district unidentified people on Thursday evening assaulted two people including one student here in Puttur.

The victims have reportedly been hospitalized after the assault. They have been identified as Mohammed Ziyad (17), a student of Government PU College, and Mohammed Ejaz (20). Ziyad reportedly is a resident of Chikkamudnur village while Ejaz is a resident of Jedekallu.

According to the reports, Ziyad was on his way home after finishing his college hours, when a two-wheeler rammed into him after which he fell on the road. When he confronted the two-wheeler rider, the rider and pillion rider reportedly assaulted Ziyad.

When Ejaz tried to intervene, they further assaulted Ejaz and fled from the scene. The two victim youngsters were later taken to hospital where they are being treated.

Puttur Police has registered a case in this regard and is investigating the matter.

New Delhi: India recorded the milestone of administering one billion doses of COVID vaccines across the country. Pro-government social media users were elated at the country hit the one billion doses mark and soon hashtag #OneBillionDose was trending across social media.

However, close to 90% of the one billion doses administered in the country has come from Serum Institute which has as of Monday 18 October, has delivered 86.89 crore doses of its vaccine COVISHIELD, which is more than 36.69 crores more doses than what the company was initially expected to deliver.

NDTV Group Editor, Sreenivasan Jain in a tweet questioned the development adding that has any other comparable country to India has banked so heavily on a single manufacturer?

Taking to his official Twitter account, Jain wrote “As we hit the #OneBillionDoses landmark, noteworthy that close to 90% of that number has come from a single company – Serum Institute. Genuine question: has the vaccination programme of any other comparable country banked so heavily on a single manufacturer?”

One of the users supporting Jain’s question asserted that it was a monopoly and that it was not good for the market for an economy like India.

In May 2021, member Niti Aayog, VK Paul had said between August and December the country would get 216 crore doses, of which SII’s contribution would be 75 crore Covishield doses, Bharat Biotech would make 55 crore doses of Covaxin and Russian Sputnik vaccine would make available 15.6 crore vaccine doses. But these targets were scaled down by June end and as per the government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court, SII was to produce 50 crore doses of Covishield, Bharat Biotech was to produce 40 crore doses of Covaxin, and 10 crore doses by Sputnik.

SII delivered 86.69 crore vaccines which is 36.69 crores more doses than committed. Bharat Biotech has delivered 11.28 crore doses of Covaxin compared to the 40 crores expected from them. Russia’s Sputnik has made a minor contribution of 44.88 lakh vaccines as against 10 crore doses planned from the Russian vaccine maker

Ghaziabad: The BKU, whose supporters and office-bearers led by Rakesh Tikait are camping on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in Ghazipur since November 2020, on Thursday said the barriers at the protest site have been put by the Delhi police and not farmers.

The influential farmers’ outfit, Bhartiya Kisan Union, which is part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), also trashed reports of vacating the Ghazipur border that emerged in the wake of a Supreme Court observation counselling farmers to lift their blockade from roads.

Farmers have the right to protest but they cannot keep roads blocked indefinitely. You may have a right to agitate in any manner but roads should not be blocked like this. People have the right to go on roads but it cannot be blocked, an apex court bench of justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh said.

The bench made the observation while hearing a public interest lawsuit by a Noida resident Monicca Agarwal complaining of delays in daily commute due to the protesting farmers blocking roads.

The court has asked farmer unions to respond to the PIL within three weeks.

Hundreds of farmers are encamping on the Delhi borders at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November 2020, demanding the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee to retain minimum support price for crops.

Key roads connecting Delhi with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have remained impacted ever since the protests began amid the continued stalemate between the Centre and protesting farmers over the central laws.

We respect the Supreme Court’s directive. We would also like to make it clear that it was the Delhi Police which had set up barricades at the protest site. We also demand that the Delhi police should remove them now for public welfare, Saurabh Upadhyay, a BKU spokesperson, told PTI.

Whether Delhi or Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, nowhere have farmers barricaded any roads. Farmers do not have the power to barricade road but police do, Upadhyay said.

On purported images and videos of social media claiming removal of tents at the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (NH-9) in Ghazipur, the BKU office-bearer said such reports were false rumours.

There is nothing like that. We have just removed one tent which was located on a service lane towards Delhi on the flyover on NH 9 above the UP Gate. The barricading put up by Delhi Police still exists on the lane, he said.

Farmers are going nowhere from the border until the demands are met. The onus of removing barricades is on the police, he added.

Asked if farmers would continue to sit on the expressway, Upadhyay said even the Supreme Court has observed that peaceful protest is a right of citizens.