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UP Aam Aadmi Party launches sexist attack on Smriti Irani after she highlighted how states had ignored warning on Covid second wave

OpIndia Staff
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UP Aam Aadmi Party launches sexist attack on Smriti Irani after she highlighted how states had ignored warning on Covid second wave

The Uttar Pradesh unit of Aam Aadmi Party today posted a misogynistic tweet attacking the Union Minister Smriti Irani.

Through its official Twitter account, the Uttar Pradesh Aam Aadmi Party insinuated that Smriti Irani has an illicit relationship with PM Modi, innuendos which her detractors have often used while making sexist attacks against her. In the tweet in Hindi, the UP AAP referred to PM Modi as Smriti Irani’s hero, referring to a popular song from Varun Dhawan, Ileana D’Cruz and Nargis Fakhri starrer Hindi movie Main Tera Hero.

Source: Twitter

The distasteful tweet by the Aam Aadmi Party was in response to a tweet uploaded by the BJP leader. In her tweet, Smriti Irani had shared a report published on Jagran to assert that the states were cautioned by the Centre about the subsequent waves of the coronavirus outbreak in the month of January itself.

“The states were being cautioned by the Central Government since January to keep the pace of the ongoing war against Corona fast and in view of the increasing number of cases in the country. Along with the advice of expanding the testing, the Central Government had continuously alerted the states about the threat posed by the virus from time to time,” she tweeted.

However, her tweet highlighting the abject failure of the state governments to take the alarm raised by the Centre seriously did not sit well with the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Aam Aadmi Party, which resorted to making a disparaging remark against her.

Past instances of misogynistic attacks against Smriti Irani

BJP leader Smriti Irani has often been attacked by her critics with such disgraceful innuendos. In 2015, a former Assam Congress Minister’s allegedly derogatory remarks against Ms Irani, who was then the Union HRD Minister, had kicked up a massive political storm. Nilamoni Sen Deka, the former state Agriculture minister, reportedly said at a public meeting in Nalbari that many people refer to Smriti Irani as the second wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress supporter Tehseen Poonawalla, who is the brother-in-law of Robert Vadra, who in turn is the brother-in-law of former Congress President Rahul Gandhi, had posted a barrage of offensive and vulgar tweets attacking the BJP leader. The tweets targeting Smriti Irani stirred a furore after they were broadcasted on English news channel CNN-News18. Finding himself caught in an awkward situation, Tehseen quietly deleted those tweets.

Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi bungled up the response to the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak

The tweet by the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Aam Aadmi Party comes in the wake of the resurgent coronavirus outbreak that has swept the country, especially the national capital, which is ruled by its party chief Arvind Kejriwal. Delhi has been amongst the worst hit by the renewed bout of the coronavirus outbreak as the city faced shortages of medicinal oxygen, key antiviral drugs, hospital beds amidst the rising number of COVID-19 caseloads. The Arvind Kejriwal led AAP government in Delhi has been accused of massively bungling up the response to the second wave of the coronavirus flare-up.

Even the hospitals in Delhi had accused the Aam Aadmi Party government of mismanaging the coronavirus outbreak and not providing a steady supply of oxygen to them, which resulted in deaths of patients who could have otherwise be saved if the Delhi government had competently handled the crisis.

Gujarat: Here’s why the death certificate stats from March to May so far do not prove allegations of massive undercounting of Covid deaths

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat: Here’s why the death certificate stats from March to May so far do not prove allegations of massive undercounting of Covid deaths

There are significant concerns that the death tally in Gujarat is vastly greater than what is being admitted by the Government. A recent media report claimed that only 58 thousand people had died between March 1st and May 10 in 2020 but the numbers for the same period this year is 1 lakh 23 thousand.

The numbers are based on the death certificates issued during the same period, which reflect the numbers as stated above. Gujarat Home Minister Pradipsinh Jadeja has refuted allegations that the state government is undercounting Covid-19 deaths stating that death certificates alone cannot be the basis of such claims.

He said that registration of death certificates have gone online due to which there are chances that the same individual was registered twice. Furthermore, during the same period last year, there was lockdown in place that most likely delayed the registration of deaths.

There are more reasons why the number of deaths during the period mentioned may not be enough to paint an accurate picture of the circumstances in the state and why statistics from 2020 are not a reliable indicator.

Gujarat trends in previous years

Weirdly enough, for reasons not yet understood, there were significantly fewer deaths in 2020 compared to 2019. Times of India had reported that the state had recorded 3.74 lakh deaths in 2020 between January and November, at an average of 1,134 deaths daily, which was 10.8% less than all deaths in 2019. In 2019, 1,271 occurred every day on an average.

The death rate for the period in the current year is 1732 per day, which appears significantly higher than 2019 or 2020. But nevertheless, we will have to wait till the end of the year to figure out the excess deaths compared to 2020 and 2021.

The significantly higher death rate could be due to a seasonal upswing in deaths which could be normalised by the end of the year. However, it is to be expected that the deaths in 2021 will be significantly higher than 2020 and even in 2019 due to the Coronavirus pandemic as well as factors such as increasing population and others.

According to the Times of India report, Gujarat had recorded 3.68 lakh deaths in 2017, 3.93 lakh in 2018, 4.19 in 2019 and 3.74 lakhs in 2020 (between January and November). Based on simple calculations based on the yearly growth rate in the number of deaths, Gujarat was expect to have somewhere between 4,46,235 to 4,47,073 deaths in 2020 (barring the month of December). But as we know, the number was significantly lower than that despite the pandemic.

The figures compare data from January to November for comparison

If we take it as an estimate that the death rate will grow by 6.5% in 2021 from the estimated deaths in 2020 from January to November (which was significantly higher than the actual number of deaths), then in 2021, Gujarat is expected to suffer between 475240 and 476132 deaths barring December. That amounts to an average death rate of 1302 to 1304 deaths per day.

Since there is a pandemic underway, it is to be expected that there will be some amount of excess deaths this year. However, an average of 1732 deaths per day is quite high. The death rate during the period prior to the one mentioned and for the remainder of the year has to be seen before coming to any premature conclusion regarding the death rate in the state.

Cherry picking one particular period of the year when the virus was at its peak and concluding that it is normative of the situation in the state is not a valid metric. If that were the case, then someone else could cherry pick 2020 as his metric and reach the conclusion that the virus is not very dangerous.

The person in the hypothetical scenario would be as wrong as someone who looks at the current data for the period between March 1st and May 2021 and concludes that the situation in Gujarat is apocalyptic. India has taken quite a blow during the pandemic, yes, but caution has to be advised before drawing far reaching conclusions from limited data.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation data

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation data on deaths provides some insights into the situation in the state. As per data available, between March 1st and May 10, 2021, 13593 death certificates were issued in 2021. The same for 2020 was 7786 and for 2019, 2018, 2017, the figure was 9950, 9866, 9319 respectively.

For reasons stated above, we cannot compare the current data with the same in 2020. Therefore, the correct comparison would be between the trends observed three previous years and the 2021. By the trends of previous years, if we assume that 10,100 people are expected to die during the period, a mere 150 increase over 2 years, then add it to the Covid-19 death in AMC as reported by the Divya Bhaskar (2126), then the tally adds to 12,226.

That figure is not too far off from the tally of 13593, the total number of death certificates as reported in the media. The total extra deaths amounts to 1367, that is, 19 additional deaths per day during the 71 day period on average.

It cannot be said for certain the precise cause for the extra deaths because it is known that hospitals were overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients, leaving very little space for those suffering from other disease for adequate treatment. Thus, quite clearly, allegations that the Gujarat government is vastly undercounting deaths do not appear to have a basis in fact when one looks closely at the data available.

PM Modi had alerted Chief Ministers about Covid-19 second wave in 6 meetings, opposition CMs skipped the meetings to attend election rallies

OpIndia Staff
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PM Modi had alerted Chief Ministers about Covid-19 second wave in 6 meetings, opposition CMs skipped the meetings to attend election rallies

A few weeks before the advent of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Modi government had alerted states about the imminence of a second wave in the country and had also issued advisories urging states to take immediate measures, reports Times of India.

Amidst the opposition parties’ allegations of laxity against the centre over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has hit back at the opposition parties asserting that the state governments, especially the states ruled by the opposition parties, ignored the risk of a second surge of infections even after the centre had warned them about the second wave of the pandemic.

The BJP has now put out details about how the Modi government alerted states about the possibility of a second wave and advisories issued to states to take necessary measures to tackle the pandemic.

Rebutting the opposition’s allegation, the BJP has said that time and again, PM Narendra Modi, in his interactions with chief ministers, had raised the issue of rising infections in certain parts of the country. The Prime Minister had also asked them to take measures to handle the surge, the BJP said. The party had also circulated videos of PM Modi’s meetings with various Chief Ministers on March 17, where he had alerted them about a fresh spike in infections and had asked them to take urgent steps before it was too late.

“We are confident about our Covid management, but our confidence should not become overconfidence,” PM Modi had said in one of the meetings and had urged states to become more proactive in order to contain the spread of the virus. He had insisted on states creating a micro containment zone to limit the spread of the virus.

In fact, PM Modi held six interactions with chief ministers, starting from September 23 last year till April 23 this year, to monitor the situations in the country. During such meetings, PM Modi had constantly asked Chief Ministers to focus on 60 districts with a high burden of cases and increase testing substantially.

“Moreover, the PM’s interaction with CMs on March 17 took place when India had only 30,000 new cases per day,” BJP said.

Opposition party Chief Minister’s skipped meeting to attend election rallies

The BJP also said that opposition CMs like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel skipped these interactions as they were busy with assembly polls. In fact, Bhupesh Baghel had left his own state to stay in Assam ahead of the state assembly elections as he was leading the Congress poll campaign in the state.

Reportedly, the Modi government had also dispatched teams to various parts as soon as states like Maharashtra and Kerala after both states started showing a steady increase in people testing positive. Till March, the opposition-ruled states Maharashtra and Kerala accounted for more than 75 percent of cases in the country.

Attacking the Congress party over its criticism against the vaccination policy of the center, BJP said that the opposition party’s functionaries like Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari, spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and health ministers of Congress-ruled states, such as TS Singh Deo and Bana Gupta, promoted vaccine hesitancy by raising questions about the efficacy of Indian-made vaccines.

“India is in the midst of a pandemic. Its scientists raced against time to produce a vaccine. They were reviewed at different levels before being given emergency use approval so that lives could be saved. But the opposition, Congress, in particular, mocked it. Result: people died,” BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted, sharing videos of Congress leaders’ raising doubts against Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

Congress leader Udit Raj run Dalit organisation shares 13-year-old image to claim that dogs are scavenging bodies of Covid-19 victims

OpIndia Staff
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Congress leader Udit Raj run Dalit organisation shares 13-year-old image to claim that dogs are scavenging bodies of Covid-19 victims

On Saturday (May 15), Dalit organisation All India Parisangh (AIP) sparked controversy by taking potshots at the Modi government using a 13-year-old image. The organisation was founded by Dalit activist and Congress leader Udit Raj.

In a tweet, AIP wrote, “Unke ‘Mann ki baat’ kyu sunna, jab Ganga pe terti lasho par bhi khamosh raha.” It loosely translates as “Why should we listen to PM Modi’s monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’ when he is silent on dead bodies floating in the river Ganga?”. The Dalit organisation shared a picture of a dog mauling a human skeleton, along the banks of a water body. At the time of writing, the image was retweeted 167 times and had 463 likes.

Screengrab of the post by the All India Parisangh

By posting the image, the organisation tried to insinuate that it is a recent image showing the mortal remains of a Covid-19 victim whose last rites were not performed. Reports of bodies of Covid victims floating on Ganga river have emerged in the last few days, and All India Parisangh tried to say the image also shows such an incident.

What is the Truth?

It may be noted that the image posted by All India Parisangh has the watermark of Alarmy on it, an stock image platform. Popular Twitter user ‘Befitting Facts’ pointed out that the stock image from Alarmy dates back to February 20, 2008. The disturbing picture was taken by one Dinodia Photos RM and captioned, “Dog eating dead man on Varanasi ghat, Uttar Pradesh in India.” Given the picture dates back to 2008, it must be remembered that the BJP did not have its government at the Centre nor at the State level. And as such, the unfortunate incident is not the result of PM Modi’s negligence.

Screengrab of the image via Alarmy

Earlier, close to 100 unidentified and decomposed bodies were found floating in the Ganga, sparking fear among the locals in several districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. While 71 bodies were recovered from Bihar’s Buxar district, other 25 bodies were fished from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur district with locals suspecting them to be the bodies of Covid victims.

After Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in a horrifying video, at least half a dozen corpses were seen floating in the Runj river in the Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. Buxar police suspected the bodies might have floated from the neighbouring Ghazipur district of Uttar Pradesh. Authorities of both the districts were yet to confirm if the bodies were of Covid victims. As such, All India Parisangh seized the opportunity and shared a 13-year-old picture to blame the Modi government.

All India Parisangh compared Brahmins to pigs last year

Besides fake news, the Dalit organisation has been at the forefront of peddling Anti-Hindu hatred. It has time and again resorted to such vile derogatory casteist hurls targeting Brahmins, and resorted to the anti-Brahmin propaganda by posting an image of a pig wearing ‘Janeu’ – the sacred thread in July last year.

By openly propagating anti-Brahmin sentiments and comparing Brahmins to ‘pigs’, the Parisangh claimed that the Indian judiciary is only comprised of Brahmins. Expressing its contempt for the country’s judiciary, the Dalit organisation claimed that ‘Brahmin’ judges in the Indian courts only recommended fellow people from the community, who were then selected as judges by the third set of Brahmins. The derogatory comments were not only directed at the Brahmins of the country but also an attack on the independence of the judiciary.

Demolished building that housed Al Jazeera and other media offices was used by Hamas, says IDF in statement

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Demolished building that housed Al Jazeera and other media offices was used by Hamas, says IDF in statement

The Israel Defense Forces have issued a statement over the demolition of the Al Jalaa Building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and other international media houses. The IDF has said that the building was being used by Islamic terror group Hamas, making it a valid military target.

The IDF said on social media, “Hamas has turned residential areas in the Gaza Strip into military strongholds. It uses tall buildings in Gaza for multiple military purposes such as intelligence gathering, planning attacks, command and control, and communications.”

Source: Twitter

“When Hamas uses a tall building for military purposes, it becomes a lawful military target,” it added. It stated further, “The Israel Defense Forces struck a number of such buildings in recent days, but before we did so, we took steps to try and ensure that civilians would not be harmed.”

Significantly, the IDF said, “All the multi-story buildings targeted by the IDF were used for military purposes within each building.”

Earlier, Israel had demolished the Al Jalaa building that housed the offices of Al Jazeera and other international media houses. A warning had been provided one hour prior to the demolition. The demolition comes during a phase of heightened tensions between Israel and Palestine.

West Bengal Governor travels across the state and Assam to console those ravaged by post-poll violence

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal Governor travels across the state and Assam to console those ravaged by post-poll violence

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has been visiting the areas affected by post-poll violence in West Bengal and also meeting people who have fled to the neighbouring state of Assam due to attacks by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons. After visiting post-poll violence-affected areas in Nandigram in East Midnapore Saturday (May 15) morning, Dhankar urged Mamata Banerjee with folded hands to take immediate measures to prevent post-poll violence in the state.

Drawing attention towards the miseries of these victims of West Bengal post-poll violence, the Governor Twitted today: “Unimaginable post-poll violence @MamataOfficial. Terrified people with difficulty and fear @WBPolice and reprisals at hands of ruling party workers narrate indescribable woes of horror. Appeal CM to take urgent steps to restore their confidence in the worst post-poll violence”.

The governor posted a snippet where a group of distressed women sob as they recount their horrifying tales in front of the WB Governor.

Speaking to the media, Dhankar said: “I have never imagined that I will see such heart-wrenching violence in Bengal. Lakhs of people fled from their respective villages out of fear. Several houses were bombed, people killed, women were raped because they fearlessly voted while maintaining the decorum of our Constitution. India has never seen Bengal like post-poll violence before,” Dhankhar said.

“I would like to appeal to our Chief Minister that it is high time she should take note of the law and order situation as millions of people are suffering. They are sitting on a volcano. I do hope that she will attend to the situation,” he added.

West Bengal Governor visits a camp at Agomoni area of Dhubri in Assam

The Governor, who started his visit to violence-hit areas on May 13, had expressed similar angst yesterday, May 14 after he interacted with the refugees who were forced to take shelter in Assam after TMC thugs looted, vandalised and arson their houses, raped and killed their family members, forcing them to flee the state.

“Nothing can be more shameful for us than people of West Bengal taking shelter in other states,” Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said while visiting a camp at Agomoni area of Dhubri in Assam, where people from West Bengal have been camping post-poll violence.

‘One is made to pay with life and rights for voting’, Tweeted Jagdeep Dhankar after visiting Cooch Behar

Similarly, after visiting Cooch Behar on May 13 (Thursday), Jagdeep Dhankar had taken to Twitter to post a series of Tweets where he disparages the goons of the ruling dispensation of West Bengal who under the patronage of their supremo Mamata Banerjee, have been unleashing unimaginable atrocities against those who dared to vote against them in the recently concluded Assembly elections.

Dhankar was distraught by the “tales of sorrow” which he said, “left no tears in his eyes”. “Never imagined severity of post poll retributive violence@MamataOfficial
was much beyond. One is made to pay with life and rights for voting!”, rued the Governor.

He also informed that when he was on his way to Cooch Behar, a dozen ruling party workers stopped his convoy “with no fear of law and police”. “Such state of affairs @MamataOfficial!” Dhankar deplored.

Yesterday too, Dhankar shared a small snippet where a helpless old victim narrated her ordeal. “All day witnessed such tales of sorrow, grief and horror as victim after victim narrated horrendous post poll retributive violence incidents @MamataOfficial. Helpless victims in crossfire of police @WBPolice and ruling party workers. Will endeavour to deliberate with CM”, wrote Dhankar.

“History will judge the bureaucracy of West Bengal, police and administration… This is such an issue, where nobody has the right to play politics,” a visibly miffed Dhankar had told reporters.

Ignoring the ‘order’ of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Governor visited Cooch Behar district on Thursday and accused the state government of not doing anything to contain the post-election violence.

Mamata Banerjee, ‘orders’ West Bengal Governor to ‘refrain from surpassing CM’, latter hits back

It is pertinent to note here that the Governor’s decision to visit the post-poll affected areas had irked Mamata Banarjee, who a day prior to his scheduled visit had written to him advising him to “desist” from undertaking “field trips” and follow the established government protocols. She drew the Governor’s attention to one of her previous letters and asked him to ‘refrain from surpassing her and her ministers’ orders’.

The West Bengal Governor, in response to her letter had torn into Mamata Banerjee, categorically rejecting her ‘order’.

Condemning the rampant incidents of loot, arson, killings, rape and other horrendous acts against those in opposition to the ruling dispensation, the Governor urged the state CM to revisit her stance and commit herself to the constitution that she by her oath is obligated to uphold and follow.

Israel demolishes Al Jalaa building that housed Al Jazeera and other international media offices short time after warning

OpIndia Staff
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Israel demolishes Al Jalaa building that housed Al Jazeera and other international media offices short time after warning

A short time after issuing a warning that it will bomb the Al Jalaa building that houses Al Jazeera and other international media outlets in Gaza city, Israel has attacked and demolished the sky-rise.

Earlier today, the owner of a Gaza high-rise building where the offices of the AP, Al Jazeera and other media outlets are located, reportedly said that he received a call from Israel’s military, who warned him that his building will be targeted by an airstrike.

Tensions between Israel and Palestine escalates after Hamas launches aerial rockets at the Jewish nation

Hostilities between Israel and its nemesis Hamas is at an all-time high, especially after the intense aerial exchanges that started on Tuesday evening and continued well past midnight. On Tuesday, Palestinian terrorist organisation Hamas unleashed massive airstrikes against Israel, firing hundreds of rockets inside the country. The country’s air defence system, popularly known as Iron Dome, intercepted the continuous barrage of rockets targeting Tel Aviv and central Israel.

Israel, in response, stepped up its attacks on the Palestinian terror group Hamas inside Gaza Strip. The Israel Defence Forces carried out airstrikes on targets in Gaza in response to continued attacks by Hamas against Israel. During the retaliatory strikes on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike struck a high-rise office and residential building controlled by Hamas.

Earlier yesterday, Israel attacked and destroyed the underground network of the tunnel, dubbed as the “Metro” that was used by Hamas for deploying terrorists and smuggling weapons.

PM Modi orders audit of ventilators given by central Govt after reports emerge that ventilators lying unused, leased to private hospitals

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PM Modi orders audit of ventilators given by central Govt after reports emerge that ventilators lying unused, leased to private hospitals

Amidst reports of ventilators procured through PM Cares Fund were lying unused or leased out to private firms in several states, Prime Minister Modi has asked for an immediate audit of the installation, operation of ventilators provided by the central government.

According to a press release by the Prime Minister’s Office, PM Modi asked for an immediate audit of the ventilators given to the state governments at a high-level meeting on Saturday.

“The Prime Minister took serious note of some reports about ventilators lying unutilized in storage in some states and directed that an immediate audit of installation and operation of ventilators provided by the Central Government should be carried out” the official statement said. The PM also added that refresher training for properly operating ventilators should be provided to healthcare workers if necessary.

The prime minister gave the directives during a high-level meeting held today to discuss the Covid-19 and vaccination related situation in the country.

During the meeting, the PM said that localised containment strategies are the need of the hour specially for states where positivity rate in districts is high. The Prime Minister instructed that testing needs to be scaled up further, with use of both RT PCR and Rapid Tests, especially in areas with high test positivity rates. PM Modi said that states should be encouraged to report their numbers transparently without any pressure of high numbers showing adversely on their efforts.

The PM also asked for augmentation of healthcare resources in rural areas to focus on door to door testing & surveillance. He also spoke about empowering ASHA & Anganwadi workers with all necessary tools. He asked for guidelines to be made available in easy language along with illustrations for home isolation and treatment in rural areas.

The Prime Minister directed that a distribution plan for ensuring oxygen supply in rural areas should be worked out, including through provision of Oxygen Concentrators. The Prime Minister added that necessary training should be provided to health workers in the operation of such equipment, and power supply should be ensured for smooth operation of such medical devices.

1500 ventilators lying unused in Rajasthan, state government leasing out ventilators to private hospital to earn hefty profits

PM Modi’s directives to carry out an immediate audit of ventilators given by the Centre came in the wake of news reports from Rajasthan where a state-run hospital had leased out 20 of its ventilators to a private hospital, citing ‘abundance or non-usage. Not only this, the report mentioned that the unused ventilators were being rented out for exorbitant rates, the burden of which was inevitably carried by the unsuspecting and desperate patients.

As per reports, Bharatpur’s Rai Bahadur Hospital had leased out 20 of its ventilators provided by the PM Cares Fund to Jindal private hospital, citing ‘non-usage of the machine. The report comes at a time when the coronavirus outbreak is galloping across the country, leading to rising demand for life-support machines. The development exposes Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government that allowed renting out ventilators that were procured from PM Cares Fund to the private hospitals.

Disgruntled by the state government’s move to lease out ventilators when the cases have been on the rise, one of the aggrieved kin while speaking to Republic TV said: “About 40 ventilators were given to the state by the PM-CARES fund. I have been asking the hospital administration for the last 2 months as to where have they installed the ventilators, but they have no answers to my questions. Jindal Hospital, which has always been in controversy, was given 10 ventilators by the hospital administration. The collector justified the decision by saying that the ventilators were faulty, but they were not. Jindal hospital has been charging Rs 35,000-40,000 for these ventilators.”

On the other hand, Rai Bahadur Hospital administrator unabashedly defended the institute’s move to lease out ventilators to the Jindal Hospital. He said, “We had earmarked 20 ventilators for non-COVID ICU wards, while the other 20 were kept for COVID ICU wards. According to our oxygen point availability and caseload, we were not utilising 20 ventilators. Therefore, we took a conscious decision of renting it out a private hospital.”

Not just the hospital administration, but even the Rajasthan state government has brazened out its stand on shamelessly leasing the ventilators procured from the Central government fund. State transport minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas defended the move saying, In Bharatpur, they have rented the ventilators. They have rented them not given them for free. They had extra ventilators which they rented as private hospitals are also treating the patients of COVID-19.”

Earlier this month, a report published in Dainik Bhaskar stated that 1500 ventilators received by the Rajasthan State government from the Centre have been lying unused and unopened for the last 10 months, while 230 of them were found to be faulty. Even though the state was hit by a ferocious second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, the state had inexplicably decided to not make use of the ventilators that were in its possession.

Reports of ventilators provided under PMCares lying unused had emerged from several other states also, including UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, Punjab, Chhatissgarh etc states. In Punjab, 251 ventilators purchased under PM Cares Fund have remained uninstalled.

Most affected people in Bengal post-poll violence are from Scheduled Caste, says NCSC chief

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Most affected people in Bengal post-poll violence are from Scheduled Caste, says NCSC chief

On Friday (May 15), the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) informed that people belonging to the Scheduled Castes are being murdered and raped in West Bengal after the assembly election results were declared. The development comes in the aftermath of the post-poll violence committed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) goons on members of BJP and other opposition parties.

While speaking to the media, NCSC chief Vijay Sampla said, “The way incidents have happened here after May 2 is worrisome. For the first time since 1947, rapes, murders are happening with no state protection. The most affected have been people from Scheduled Castes.” He informed that around 1,627 cases have been reported, which includes 10-12 cases of rape, 15-20 murder cases of violence against the SCs. Furthermore, he said that about 627 new cases have been reported.

“I have told ADGP to probe against SHO. Rehabilitation (of villagers) should be borne by State,” Vijay Sampla directed. He said that during his visit to Nabagram in the Purba Bardhaman district, the police misled him into believing that the culprits who perpetrated atrocities against the Scheduled caste community were also SCs.

However, when the NCSC chief inquired about the matter, he learnt that several culprits were from the ‘general category’ as well. “And the ones (from SC) who visited the police station to file a complaint are attacked, their houses are looted,” he informed.

VHP seeks action from the Judiciary over the persecution of Hindus in West Bengal

In a press release by National Spokesperson of VHP, Vinod Bansal, he stated, “The Central Secretary General of Vishva Hindu Parishad, Sri Milind Parande today said that unfortunately, the Hindu society has been at the receiving end of the brutal and gruesome political violence that started in West Bengal on May 02.” The press release emphasised, “More than 3500 villages and over 40-thousand Hindus, including our SC & ST brethren in great numbers, are badly affected by the violence.”

The VHP said, “The footprints and signatures of Islamic Jihadists are overly obvious in all these incidents and patterns. The attitudes of the state government and the administration on these gruesome and brutal violence that have been going on for so many days, appear to be completely indifferent and despicable. There is an atmosphere of fear in the society. Due to this fear & non-co-operation of the local police, victim’s complaints/Cases are not being registered.”

NCPCR seeks action against Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam for violating the Juvenile Justice Act

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NCPCR seeks action against Delhi minister Rajendra Pal Gautam for violating the Juvenile Justice Act

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has written a letter to the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi seeking action against AAP leader and Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam for disclosing the identity of children staying in a child care institution situated in Delhi. The Commission has also asked for an action taken report to be submitted in a week’s time.

In its letter, the Child Rights body said that it received a complaint against a video uploaded by Gautam on his Twitter handle. In the video, the AAP minister was seen inspecting a child care institution in Delhi, disclosing the identity of the children, along with the name of the institution. In the video, the Social Welfare Minister also mentioned that the children living in the CCI were orphans.

The NCPCR has deemed the video showing the children along with the name of the institution where they are living a prima facie violation of Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, and a serious offence against children. Section 74 of the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015, prohibits the disclosure of the identity of children such as their name, address, age, school name etc. on any media platform which may lead to the identification of a child in conflict with the law or a child in need of care and protection or a child victim or witness of a crime, involved in such matter.

Additionally, the details of such children are prohibited from being made public so that the confidentiality of the children is maintained and these vulnerable children are not made susceptible to trafficking, abuse, cruelty, illegal adoption etc. Furthermore, it said Section 74(3) of the JJ Act, 2015, provides that any person violating this provision shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or a fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or both.

“Therefore, given the violations of provisions given under the JJ Act, 2015, an inquiry in this matter must be conducted and action, as deemed fit, may be taken. It is requested that a report informing about the action taken in the matter may be sent to the Commission within a week,” the letter read.

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