This was decided in a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in the state, Minister for Medical Education Vishvas Sarang said on Saturday night.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday said Durga Puja celebrations will be allowed in the state but with an attendance cap of 100 persons in pandals.

Durga Puja is scheduled to be celebrated in October.

This was decided in a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation in the state, Minister for Medical Education Vishvas Sarang said on Saturday night.

Sarang said it was decided in the meeting that religious functions can be organised from September 21 in the presence of a maximum of 100 persons.

“Durga Puja functions will be allowed. The Prajapati community (idol makers) should decide about the height of the idols in consultation with the district administration.

But the gathering in such functions (pandals) should not be more than 100 people,” Sarang said.

The decision was taken during the ISSF Executive Committee meeting. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, also ISSF vice-president is a member of the committee.

CHENNAI: Delhi has been earmarked to host a shooting World Cup early next year as the ISSF, world shooting body, revealed the competition calendar for 2021.

The decision was taken during the ISSF Executive Committee meeting. National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president Raninder Singh, also ISSF vice-president is a member of the committee.

Rajiv Bhatia, NRAI secretary, confirmed the development and said that the event is likely to be held in March. The competition will feature rifle, pistol and shotgun shooters.

“The World Cup could be conducted in the month of March. We are hopeful that we’ll get a vaccine by then,” Bhatia told this daily.

According to the ISSF, South Korea (Changwon), Azerbaijan (Baku), Egypt (Cairo) and Italy (Lonato) have been handed the responsibility to host the remaining World Cups in 2021.

“It was decided that the final tournament of the year 2021, with the participation of 12 best athletes in each individual Olympic discipline, would be held in the capital of Azerbaijan — Baku in the second half of October 2021,” the ISSF wrote in its website.

The junior shooters will also have a lot to look forward to as the World Championships is set to be held in Peru (Las Palmas). The junior World Cups will be held in Germany (Suhl) and Kazakhstan (Almaty).

Moreover, the committee has also approved rule changes and a new ranking system. The technical changes, mostly in team events, will be included in the ISSF

Championships programme from next year. The ranking system will also be implemented from next year.

A World Cup in New Delhi, that was supposed to be held in March this year, had been postponed and subsequently owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Indian shooters have been currently training at their respective homes. Those in and around Delhi have been using the Dr Karni Shooting Range facilities.

The NRAI had planned to resume camp for Olympic core group but were forced to drop the idea with the ongoing pandemic showing no signs of relenting.

The baby, now 42 days old, was admitted to the hospital on August 17 with high fever, breathing trouble as well as urinary tract infection.

KOLKATA: A newborn baby, who was on ventilator support for more than a week after being diagnosed with COVID-19, was discharged from a hospital in Kolkata on Friday following recovery, a doctor treating him said.

The baby boy, born to a couple from the Ripon Street area in central Kolkata, was found to be positive for COVID-19 a few days after his birth, he said.

The baby, now 42 days old, was admitted to the hospital on August 17 with high fever, breathing trouble as well as urinary tract infection, the doctor said.

“The baby was not responding to dopamine (a neurotransmitter that plays several important roles in the brain) and so was put on the ventilator,” he added.

“The heart was functioning at 35 per cent and needed ventilator support and several drugs,” the doctor said.

The baby showed slight improvement when immunoglobulin was administered, he said.

“Both the lungs were affected. So, we decided to administer steroids and anti-virals, which are actually meant for adults. It was then that the baby started responding well, and finally, the functioning of his heart and lungs stabilised,” he said.

“He is now absolutely fine but will require some follow-ups. I am so happy after treating him,” the doctor said.

CHANDIGARH: Launching a scathing attack on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh said that no wonder the national capital was witnessing another surge of coronavirus cases as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was busy touting the Delhi model as an example for other states to follow. 

Unlike the Kejriwal government, which had to beg for Centre’s help when the cases peaked in Delhi, Punjab was fully prepared to handle crisis, Amarinder said.

Attacking state AAP leaders, the chief minister said they seemed ‘more focused on launching a personal attack’ against him rather than ‘condemning the Covid disinformation campaign’ being run by anti- social elements in the state’s villages. 

​“This showed the extent to which AAP is ready to stoop to further their political agenda in the state, where they have completely lost the confidence of people,” the CM said, adding that the AAP do not want people to know the about fabrication.

The teenager, who scored 85 per cent in the Class XII board exam last year, was riding pillion on his father’s cycle.

KOLKATA: A 19-year-old JEE (Main) examinee in West Bengal had to travel 75 km riding a bicycle from his village in South 24-Parganas and even cross a river to reach the examination centre at Salt Lake in Kolkata on Wednesday, the second day of the all-India entrance exam.

The teenager, who scored 85 per cent in the Class XII board exam last year, was riding pillion on his father’s cycle. He utilised the travel time to go through last-minute revision.

“I had been preparing for past two years. Had a public transport been available, going to the examination centre would not have been a such a nightmarish journey. I took the trouble because I did not want my effort to go waste,” said Diganta Mondal.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had strongly opposed the Centre’s decision to conduct NEET and JEE exams in September amid Covid-19 pandemic. Diganta and his father Rabi, a small farmer, left home on Tuesday afternoon on two bicycles. They crossed the Bidyadhari river on a boat. They kept riding with the help of two torchlights and reached Piyal, a village in the Sunderbans delta. “We spent the night at the house of a relative,” said Diganta.

Next morning, Rabi decided to carry his son as pillion. “I didn’t want him to reach the exam center in an exhausted state. We left Piyali before daybreak and I kept cycling for over 50 km. On the way, Diganta revised the syllabus for last time,” said Rabi.

Beijing: China on Thursday said India’s decision to ban 118 Chinese APPs is not beneficial to the Indian users nor to China’s businesses and claimed it violated WTO rules.

India on Wednesday banned 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including the popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security, taking the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by New Delhi to 224. India’s move came amid fresh border tensions with China in eastern Ladakh.

Responding to a question on India’s fresh ban on Chinese apps at a Commerce Ministry briefing here, spokesman Gao Feng said, the Indian side abused the concept of ‘national security’ and adopted discriminatory restrictive measures against Chinese companies, violating relevant World Trade Organisation rules. China urges India to correct its wrong practices.

“China-India economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial and win-win. It is hoped that the two countries will jointly maintain the hard-won cooperation and development situation and create an open and fair business environment for international investors and service providers, including Chinese companies,” state-run CGTN quoted Gao as saying.

At a separate Chinese Foreign Ministry briefing, spokesperson Hua Chunying in her reaction to the ban on Chinese apps, said, “By banning these hi-tech, easy-to-use and popular apps, the Indian side is sacrificing first and foremost the rights and interests of the Indian users, and damaging those of Chinese companies. Therefore, no one gains from such an action.”

She also noted that the US State Department on the same day cited New Delhi’s ban and called on other countries to join India to join the Clean Network programme.

“I wonder if there’s connection or coordination between India and the US on this issue,” she claimed.

“But India, as a country proudly possessing an ancient civilisation, is wise enough to have known about Dirtbox, PRISM, Irritant Horn, Muscular and Undersea Cable Tapping. It knows fully well whether the US is clean or dirty when it comes to US policies and practices.

“Independence is so precious. We hope that the Indian side will stick to it. No short-sighted decisions shall be made to impede the long-term interests of the two countries and two peoples,” Hua said, any avoiding any reference to the border tensions.

She noted that both countries are close neighbours and proud of their civilisations. The start of our exchange and mutual learning can date back to 1,000 years ago. The great Indian poet Tagore is very popular in China.

He wrote, “We read the world wrong and say that it deceives us.” Yoga and Indian movies like “Dangal” are also very popular in China, she said.

“However, it never crossed our mind that India is trying to infiltrate or pose any threat to our country,” she said in an updated statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry.

She said the intermingling of different cultures is conducive to promoting people’s mutual understanding and friendship.

“So, we hope that the India will attach importance to the two peoples’ friendship and long-term interests and work to promote bilateral exchange and cooperation in various fields,” the spokesperson said.

Lakhimpur Kheri: The three-year-old girl, who was found dead in a sugarcane field in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri, was raped before murder, a senior police officer said on Friday.

This is the third such incident in the district in as many weeks.

The girl’s body, which bore injury marks on the head, was recovered from the vicinity of her village in Singahi area on Thursday after she went missing on Wednesday, police said. “The postmortem report has confirmed rape. I am with family members right now. Seven of our teams are working on the case. I am myself going for combing in sugarcane fields and strict action will be taken against the accused,” Superintendent of Police, Satyendra Kumar Singh, told PTI over phone.

“If needed, NSA will also be invoked against the accused,” he said.

In his complaint to police, the girl’s father had alleged that Lekhram, a resident of their village, had abducted and killed the child due to an old enmity with his family. A case of murder was lodged against the accused.

Lakhimpur Kheri district was in the news recently when a 17-year-old Dalit girl was found dead outside her village. She was allegedly raped and murdered after she left home to fill a scholarship application.

Her mutilated body was found near a dry pond, around 200 metres ways from her village falling under the Neemgaon police limits. Prior to this incident, a 13-year-old girl was raped and killed in the district.

Police said the girl had gone to her fields in the afternoon and when she did not return home, her family started looking for her. She was found dead in a sugarcane field.

Both incidents drew flak from the opposition, with Congress and SP leaders attacking the Yogi Adityanath-led state government over the law and order situation.