Mumbai: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of scaring migrant workers into fleeing to their native states from Mumbai during the COVID-19 pandemic, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday hit back claiming the PM’s fixation with the ‘Namaste Trump’ event was responsible for the coronavirus spread in the country.

In February 2020, the then US President Donald Trump had visited India and also addressed a public gathering at a stadium in Ahmedabad as part of the ‘Namaste Trump’ event.

Modi said in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Congress “crossed all limits” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and accused the party of instigating and scaring innocent labourers into fleeing to their native states from Mumbai.

Malik, who is also the NCP’s chief spokesperson, on Tuesday said, When the Maharashtra government was asking for a ban on international flights, your (PM Modi’s) own health minister (Dr Harsh Vardhan at that time) was stressing that the coronavirus infection will not spread.”

“Modi, in his fixation with the ‘Namaste Trump’ event, invited people from across the globe to India and it spread the coronavirus infection in all parts of the country, he claimed.

Prime Minister Modi is responsible for the spread of the coronavirus in the country, Malik alleged.

The Congress currently shares power with the Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra.

You (Modi) said that we paid for the tickets of migrants. It is true, but you organised the special trains and we paid for the tickets. We bore the cost of train tickets because you wanted to collect money from the migrant labourers and workers, Malik claimed.

After the nationwide lockdown in 2020, the Indian Railways ran Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers.

When the migrant workers were walking to their native places, the Uttar Pradesh government had deployed buses for the first time to help the workers reach home. The Bihar government had also done the same. When the lockdown was imposed, you asked people to clang thalis, the NCP leader pointed out.

He further said that Modi had announced the lockdown “without any consideration or thinking about consequences of the decision. “Crores of people suffered because of such a decision, he said.

The Maharashtra government provided food, water and even paid for their (migrant workers) tickets. You did not provide the train service free of cost, Malik said.

We even operated special bus services for the migrant workers so that they could reach their native places. We were the ones who stood by the migrant workers, the minister said.

New Delhi: This is a ‘no data available’ government said former finance minister P Chidambaram in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday over the ruling dispensation’s failure to have the record on oxygen shortage deaths, corpses floating in rivers and migrants walking back home during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Initiating a discussion on the Union budget 2022-23, Chidambaram said unemployment is on the rise in the country and questioned the Centre over the steps taken for the welfare of the common people following reduced subsidies for petroleum, fertiliser, food, among others.

“Welfare has been thrown to the wind for 142 billionaires of this country, he said.

Chidambaram spoke immediately after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address.

He said he was speaking eloquently about jobs and employment, and as on March 31, 2021, there were 8.72 lakh vacancies in the central government and the government made 78,264 recruitments, leaving nearly 8 lakh vacancies.

“This is the statistic I hope the prime minister will welcome and use in his next speech,” he said.

On Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget speech, Chidambaram sarcastically said, The thing I liked about the finance minister’s budget speech is that it was the shortest speech of 90 minutes.

I will also keep my reply very short,” he said.

“I am a member of the ‘Tukde Tukde’ gang, which means disruption’. I am worried because in this parliament, a question was asked who are members of Tukde Tukde gang?’ and the honourable minister said we have no data available on Tukde Tukde gang’,” he said.

No data is also available on oxygen shortage death, corpses floating in rivers, migrants walking back to their homes and doubling farmers income, which was supposed to happen in 2022.

“This is a no data available government’…,” Chidambaram said.

“But I have some data and want the House to look into it. Last year, the finance minister projected the 2021-22 fiscal deficit as 6.8 per cent. I had cautioned them and said it will not be contained at 6.8 per cent and said we would do better than it,” he said, adding “they have done better than 6.8 per cent and they have done 6.9 per cent”.

The senior Congress leader said similarly, the target for disinvestment was fixed at Rs 1.75 lakh crore and he had cautioned the government saying it would be “indiscriminate and mindless” disinvestment.

“I am grateful to my government for accepting my caution and collecting only Rs 78,000 crore as against a target of Rs 1.76 crore,” he said.

While on capital expenditure, the budget of 2021-22 estimated Rs 5.54 lakh crore, but the revised estimate came at Rs 6.27 lakh crore, which was a “pleasant surprise”, he said.

“Until we get into the final print and found that Rs 6.27 lakh crore includes one-time debt payment of Air India of Rs 51,971 crore,” he said.

It is not capital expenditure, but an amount of repaying the banks and after deduction, the amount comes around Rs 5.52 lakh crore, which is even lesser than the budget estimates, he said.

Chidambaram said two years ago, the government had promised to privatise PSUs such as BPCL, Container Corporation of India and Shipping Corporation of India.

“There is no word in this year’s budget on the matter. Last year, the finance minister had said that she would privatise two public sector banks and one insurance company and there is again no word about it in the budget,” he added.

On the government’s plan to raise Rs 6 lakh crore through National Monetisation Pipeline through selling old infrastructure, he said one year has passed and there is no word on that.

“Railways said 151 passenger trains on 109 routes would be bid out to private sector, he said, adding it was responded with zero bids”.

“Why do you make these announcements which you do not have capacity to execute?” he asked.

Referring to CMI data, Chidambaram said urban unemployment was 7.9 per cent, while rural 6.54 per cent, and the budget statement has just one reference about 60 lakh job creation and that is through Gati Shakti and infra projects in five years.

“That is about 12 lakh jobs a year and the annual addition to the labour force is 47.5 lakh,” he said, adding “what will the rest do? They will fry and sell pakodas’ (snack).”

In 2016-17, India’s GDP grew 8.3 per cent and in 2019-20, it slipped down to 3.7 per cent and in FY 2020-21, the pandemic year, it slipped down.

“In 2019-20, GDP in constant terms was Rs 145 lakh crore and 2020-21, the pandemic year, it came down to Rs 135 lakh crore. We are growing only when we go back to Rs 145 lakh crore,” he said.

On the government’s claim of reaching pre-pandemic growth, Chidambaram said India is growing only when it gets back to Rs 145 lakh crore and grows higher and the country has not reached that stage.

The budget paper says that the nominal growth in 2022-23 would be 11.1 per cent and the new Chief Economic Advisor has said real growth would be 8 per cent.

“The finance minister must clarify which is correct,” he said.

In the last two years, millions of jobs have been lost and 60 lakh MSMEs have been closed down and 84 per cent of households suffered loss in income and per capita income, and expenditure has declined. More than 4.6 crore people have been pushed towards extreme poverty.

New Delhi: Indian documentary ‘Writing With Fire’ has been nominated in the Best Documentary Feature category at the 94th edition of the Academy Awards.

The nominations were announced by Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Jordan on Tuesday evening via the Twitter page of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Directed by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, both debuants, Writing With Fire chronicles the rise of Khabar Lahariya, India’s only newspaper run by Dalit women.

“We are beyond delighted. This is a massive moment for us and for Indian cinema… This film is about fearless Dalit women journalists who are redefining what being powerful means, quintessentially the story of the modern Indian woman,” co-director Ghosh told PTI.

The festival favourite film follows this ambitious group of Dalit wonder women led by their chief reporter, Meera as the team switches from print to digital in order to stay relevant.

Armed with smartphones and the courage and conviction one must be born with, they investigate the incompetence of the local police force, listen to and stand by victims of caste and gender violence, and challenge long-standing, harmful practices that lead to injustice and intimidation.

Other nominees in the category are: “Ascension”, “Attica”, “Flee”, and “Summer of Soul ( Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).

The awards ceremony is scheduled to be held on March 27.

Bengaluru: Karnataka on Tuesday reported 4,452 new cases and 51 fatalities, taking the tally to 39,06,761 and toll to 39,447.

There were 19,067 discharges today, pushing the total number of recoveries to 37,94,866, a health bulletin said.

Of the new cases, 2,139 were from Bengaluru Urban that saw 8,604 people being discharged and 17 virus-related deaths.

The total number of active cases across the state is now 72,414.

While the positivity rate for the day stood at 5.01 per cent, the case fatality rate (CFR) was 1.14 per cent.

Of the 51 deaths, 17 are from Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada (7), Kolar and Tumakuru (4), Ballari and Mysuru (3), Chitradurga, Dharwad and Udupi (2), followed by others.

After Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi recorded the second highest number of cases with 352, Mysuru 222, Tumakuru 221, Dakshina Kannada 146, Shivamogga 122, Hassan 103 and Dharwad 102.

Bengaluru Urban district now has a total of 17,62,315 cases, Mysuru 2,27,458 and Tumakuru 1,58,223.

According to the bulletin, Bengaluru Urban tops the list among discharges with 17,16,457, followed by Mysuru 2,21,860 and Tumakuru 1,53,477.

Cumulatively, a total of 6,28,91,697 samples have been tested, of which 88,797 were on Tuesday alone.

Srinagar: Facebook and Instagram have blocked the handles of Chinar Corps, the Indian Army’s strategically located formation in the Kashmir valley, for over a week now and have not responded to the official communication in this regard, officials said on Tuesday.

The pages on Facebook and Instagram were created to negate the lies and propaganda flowing from across the border and also to apprise people of the real situation in the Kashmir valley, an official said.

A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the matter had been taken up with the authorities concerned in Facebook, but so far there has been no response from their side.

“A link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed,” read the messages on both Facebook as well as Instagram pages of the Chinar Corps, a popular name of XV Corps of the Army in Kashmir.

There was no immediate response from Facebook and Instagram, which are a part of the same company.

The two social media websites remove a page if it does not follow the rules and regulations laid by the company or if people report about it.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah

Srinagar: National Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Tuesday said hatred for Muslims has been normalised in the country and India no longer celebrates its diversity.

Abdullah was commenting on a video on social media which showed some men heckling a woman wearing a Hijab at a college in Karnataka.

“How brave these men are and how macho they must feel while targeting a lone young lady! Hatred for Muslims has been completely mainstreamed and normalised in India today. We are no longer a nation that celebrates our diversity, we want to punish and exclude people for it,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said incidents like these should not be seen in isolation.

“Harassing a Muslim girl in broad daylight without fear of any repercussion shows such goons enjoy patronage from those in power. Such incidents shouldn’t be seen in isolation as the BJP hopes that it helps to polarise in UP elections,” she tweeted.

Mangaluru: Police here on Tuesday arrested six persons while they were trying to sell 3.480 kg of ambergris (sperm whale vomit) worth Rs 3.48 crore from Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.

The arrested have been identified as Prashanth (24) from Kundapur, Sathyaraj (32) of Bengaluru, Rohit (27) of Thenkapadav, Rajesh (37) of Addur, Virupaksha (37) of Thenkayedapadav and Nagaraj (31), a resident of Kaup.

Police sources said they were found selling the ambergris, a high-valued, banned substance under the forest and environmental laws, near the Navodaya school at Balepuni in Bantwal taluk.

On being questioned, they told the police that the ambergris was given by Sedhu Manikya, a fisherman hailing from Tamil Nadu, the sources said. One Kg of ambergris costs Rs 1 crore in the international market and smugglers target whales for the substance.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of ACP Dinaker Shetty and a police team led by Konaje inspector Prakash Devadiga, the sources said.

Kushalnagar: A 20-year-old college student was on Tuesday stabbed by a fellow student allegedly over the differences that cropped up over wearing saffron shawls for protesting against students wearing Hijab to college. The incident was reported from Kushalnagar’s Sundarnagar College here.

According to the reports, 20-year-old Sandeep a final year student of Arts stream was stabbed by a first-year student after he refused to wear a saffron shawl protesting the students wearing Hijab to college.

Several students on Tuesday turned up to the college wearing saffron shawls amidst the Hijab row. A first-year student identified as Vikram allegedly asked Sandeep to wear a saffron shawl, things went out of control when Sandeep refused and got into a physical fight with Vikram after a brief altercation.

The fight later turned violent between the two groups supporting Vikram and Sandeep. Vikram allegedly stabbed Sandeep after dragging him outside the college campus, injuring him on the shoulder and back before fleeing the spot. Sandeep was rushed to a local hospital for treatment after the incident.

According to the eye-witnesses, Vikram was later detained by cops near Gopal Circle in the city.

Police sources have said both the group of students have been summoned to the police station and further investigations are underway.

New Delhi: Over 17,000 farmers in different parts of the country committed suicide between 2018 and 2020, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.

Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Kumar Mishra said the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles statistics on accidental deaths and suicides from states and Union Territories and publishes the same annually as ‘Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India’ (ADSI) report.

According to the ADSI report, 5,763 farmers or cultivators committed suicide in 2018, while another 5,957 killed themselves in 2019. The report said 5,579 farmers or cultivators committed suicide in 2020.