With 122 MLAs, including independents, BJP can ensure the victory of its two candidates (each requires 45 votes), but it is eyeing second-preference votes to elect its third candidate Siroya, who will have 32 first-preference votes. With 69 MLAs, Congress candidate Jairam Ramesh can win comfortably, but the party needs the backing of JDS to send its second candidate to the Upper House as it has just 24 additional votes. If JDS, with 32 votes, supports Congress, Mansur Ali Khan can win.

Kumaraswamy said Surjewala told him that state Congress leaders will discuss the issue with them.
Senior JDS leader HD Revanna said Congress and JDS should keep aside their minor differences to defeat the third BJP candidate. “We have to come together earlier to defeat the BJP,” he pointed out.
Kumaraswamy slammed Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, asking him not to talk lightly of the regional party and its candidate.

JDS leaders were firm that they would not withdraw their candidate, while Congress too was adamant. The last date for formally withdrawing the candidate is already over and all three parties have issued whips to their MLAs as the election to the fourth Rajya Sabha seat hangs in a balance. KPCC president DK Shivakumar said that since Congress had withdrawn from the contest when JDS patriarch HD Deve Gowda contested the RS polls, the regional party should pay back and pull out its candidate.

ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, WAIT AND WATCH, SAYS CM
Bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said people have to wait and watch till Friday to know the results of the Rajya Sabha elections. The elections are being held for four seats. Of them, BJP candidates, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman and actor-turned-politician Jaggesh, and Congress nominee Jairam Ramesh will win easily as both parties have the required number of MLAs. But the fight is on for the fourth seat, for which BJP’s Lehar Singh Siroya, Congress’ Mansur Ali Khan and JDS’ Kupendra Reddy are in the race. BJP on Wednesday held a meeting to explain the poll process to its legislators. After the meeting, Bommai said that since there is a contest for the fourth seat, the candidate who gets the least number of first-preference votes will be eliminated. This is when the second-preference votes come into play. “We have additional 32 MLAs for the third candidate. Anything can happen,” he added.

Police on Thursday said that  Mohammad Khaja, 23, died by suicide by hanging in his house on Wednesday late at night.  
 
Khaja, in January, told his father that he started working and earning money. But, he actually raised loans through apps, which usually lure people with less interest. He had been claiming that he is working and making money while the fact is that he took loans from Apps. 

He reportedly repaid a portion of the loan. However, he is yet to pay the interest amounts. 

As usual, loan app agents contacted references that were given in the loan application. The agent made the first call to Khaja’s father and informed him about the loan amount and stated that his son failed to pay the interest amount. The same night, Khaja’s father questioned him about the loan and the recovery amount.

Police opined that perhaps he was upset that his family got to know about the loan amount and took his own life. Police are yet to ascertain the total amount of loan raised by Khaja and the dues. 

Addressing the Biotech Startup Expo here after inaugurating the two-day event, Modi said India’s ‘bio-economy’ has grown eight times in the last eight years and has reached USD 80 billion from USD 10 billion and noted the country is not far from reaching the league of top 10 countries in the global ecosystem of biotech.

He said in the last eight years the number of startups in the country has increased from a few hundreds to over 70,000, adding that his government had worked to boost the ease of doing business and promote a culture of entrepreneurship.

Modi observed that these 70,000 startups are established in about 60 different industries. Noting that exports from some sectors have hit a record, he said supporting and developing every sector is the country’s need and his government is exploring every means to give momentum to India’s development.

The biotech sector is very important in giving new momentum to the country’s development, he said.

Noting that global trust in the skill and innovation of India’s IT professionals in the world is at its new peak, he said the country’s biotech sector is drawing a similar trust.

Diverse population, diverse climatic zones, talented human capital pool, increasing efforts to boost ease of doing business, increasing demand in India for bio-products and the track record of this sector’s success are the five big reasons for India being considered a land of opportunity in biotech, he said.

Modi said the Biotech Startup Expo 2022 will strengthen the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ movement in the sector.

The Biotech Startup Expo-2022 is a two day event being held on June 9 and 10. The theme of the Expo is ‘Biotech Startup Innovations: Towards AatmaNirbhar Bharat’.

The Expo, the government has said, will act as a platform to connect entrepreneurs, investors, industry leaders, scientists, researchers, bio-incubators, manufacturers, regulators and government officials.

CHHATTISGARH state is going to introduce Yoga and Moral Education as part of the school curricula from the current academic session that is scheduled to commence from mid-June. The new classes will be compulsory.

The purpose behind the move, according to officials, is to create awareness among schoolchildren about health, hygiene, cleanliness, besides inculcating a better understanding about fairness, caring, respect and becoming a responsible citizen among them. “We have planned to make such education compulsory from the current session. The education shouldn’t just end up as mere academic note but it should equally lead to building a good character with sound moral values. However, there will not be any examination for these two new courses,” said Alok Shukla, secretary, school education.

“The feedback about children and students often showing indiscipline, becoming irritable during the pandemic and lockdown made us realise that the thrust be also given to indoctrinate self-discipline and good behavior,” said an educationist associated with SCERT. Chhattisgarh Textbook Corporation has published the school books on Yoga and Moral Education. “It would soon be distributed in the schools along with the other academic books to the students. Besides building moral character, it will help students perform better,” said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, chairman, Chhattisgarh Textbook Corporation.

Intended Goals 

Yoga education: To improve concentration, meditation, learn benefits of types of yoga workout
Cleanliness: on how to accomplish it at home, school, in the vicinity where students live
Discipline: its importance in schools and home. Significance of discipline in student’s life

In his Tiranga yatra on Monday, Kejriwal dared the state BJP chief CR Patil to name him as ‘maha-thug’ and quickly reminded the people of the honest works that he has done for Delhi. The AAP convener clearly put up the Delhi model against the BJP’s Gujarat model of development.

The BJP’s model had the brand name of Narendra Modi. The party draws its strength from the booth-level management that percolates down to all villages. AAP is trying to brand itself with Kejriwal, a well-known national leader who exploited the pent-up anger among voters of Punjab, resulting in the massive defeats of all mainstream parties in the February polls.

The AAP has dug in its heels against the formidable BJP in several ways. The BJP has formed a page committee to reach every corner of Gujarat. AAP is organizing village meetings (Gamdu Bethaks). Such panels formed by BJP do a good job by connecting people with the party. The village meetings of AAP bring the people of the city and the village together in one place to unite them with the party.

On the development front, AAP is countering the BJP government’s development model with that of Delhi on education and employment. While the BJP is seeking votes for developing roads, providing drinking water and other beneficiary schemes. AAP promises to provide free electricity and bus passes to workers and employment to the youth based on the Delhi model. BJP is using the slogan of Lok Sabha 2014 “Abki baar Modi sarkar” for 2022 Assembly elections, while AAP slogan is ‘Me mauko Kejriwal ne” (one chance to Kejriwal).

Head to head 

AAP is asking for votes in the name of the development model of Delhi, promoting the development work done by Arvind Kejriwal in the field of health, education, and employment in the national capital

Addressing an election rally at the Maratha Mandal College in Belagavi on Tuesday for the North West Teachers’ Constituency poll, he said only Congress can honour and protect the Constitution and urged people not to vote for BJP. 

“The educated should not take a wrong decision when it comes to voting. You should compare the state of the economy and development now with that of the then PM Manmohan Singh government,” he said.

“Over Rs 19 lakh crore tax revenue collected in the state is going to the Centre, but merely Rs 4 lakh crore is given back. The Modi government is only advertising they have given lar­ge funds to the state,’’ he said.

JAIPUR: In the latest twist in the Rajya Sabha saga in Rajasthan, the ruling Congress has now complained to the Election Commission of horse trading efforts allegedly being made to ensure  win for media baron and BJP-backed Independent candidate Subhash Chandra.

Meanwhile, Nagaur MP Hanuman Beniwal’s Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), a former ally of the BJP, announced that its three MLAs will support Subhash Chandra — a decision that has led the AAP to allege that a Rs 40 crore deal was struck to swing these three votes.

In the tussle to win the fourth Rajya Sabha seat in the state, allegations and counter-allegations about horse-trading have intensified. Government Chief Whip and Water Resources Minister Dr Mahesh Joshi on Tuesday complained to the Chief Electoral Officer on the possibility of horse-trading of MLAs.

Joshi said the BJP is promoting horse-trading on the pretext of supporting Subhash Chandra. He remarked: “The BJP is playing a dirty game in Rajasthan from behind the scenes. Money and other inducements are being given to MLAs in Rajya Sabha elections. Due to this, there is a possibility of democracy getting weakened.” Joshi asserted that “The Gehlot government has failed horse-trading conspiracies in the past and will fail them now.”

Politics has also intensified after RLP announced that its three MLAs will vote for Subhash Chandra. This has drawn a sharp reaction from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its state in-charge Vinay Mishra. He termed Hanuman Beniwal as “the seat seller.”  Mishra made these charges against Beniwal on Twitter though the AAP has no MLA in Rajasthan and has nothing to lose or gain in these elections. After the Punjab victory, the party is trying to expand its presence in Rajasthan.

Mishra has accused Beniwal of supporting Chandra by taking Rs 40 crore. He tweeted, “If you give me blood, I will give you freedom – Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. You vote for me, I will sell your vote for 40 crores – Netaji Beniwal (Rajya Sabha seat seller)”

This row also led to Congress MLA Divya Maderna hitting out at Beniwal’s party. Terming it an “anti-farmer decision”, Maderna taunted Beniwal’s party by tweeting – “RLP is BJP’s B team.  This is an anti-farmer decision.  One of the three Congress candidates, Randeep Surjewala, is from the farmers’ class.  If they were farmer friendly, they would have decided to vote in their favour.”

Maderna said Beniwal had broken his alliance with the BJP on the pretext of farmer agitation. The BJP has backed the candidature of Subhash Chandra whose channel had termed the agitating farmers “terrorists and Khalistanis”, she further said, adding that extending support to Chandra by his party is “sheer hypocrisy”.

Sensing displeasure of some Congress and Independent MLAs, the BJP had extended its support to Chandra which has made the contest for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat a close one.

NEW DELHI: Daily coronavirus infections in India were recorded above 5,000 after 93 days taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,31,90,282, while the active cases rose to 28,857, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

A total of 5,233 infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll climbed to 5,24,715 with seven fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.07 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.72 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 1,881 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.67 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 1.12 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,26,36,710, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive has exceeded 194.43 crore.

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 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. The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.