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Complaint lodged against ‘comedian’ Munawar Faruqui for hurting religious sentiments with his derogatory remarks on Lord Rama and Sita

OpIndia Staff
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Complaint lodged against ‘comedian’ Munawar Faruqui for hurting religious sentiments with his derogatory remarks on Lord Rama and Sita

Stand-up ‘comedian’ Munawar Faruqui has landed himself in a soup after an online complaint was filed with Mumbai Police against him for hurting the religious sentiments of people with his derisive remarks against Lord Rama and Sita. Hindu activist and former Shiv Sena leader Ramesh Solanki, who filed the online complaint, has asked the Mumbai Police to file an FIR against Munawar for insulting Hindu God Lord Rama and Sita in his latest stand-up show.

“I, Ramesh Solanki, is filing this complaint against Faruqui Munawar for insulting Hindu Gods and Goddesses divine to my faith. He(Faruqui) has been continuously doing so on open platforms such as live performances and shows. His activities have offended my Hindu faith. This is intentionally done to incite communal disharmony. He has been mocking Shri Rama and Mata Sita in his videos. Request you to kindly look into the matter and file an FIR against him,” the complaint read.

In his recent stand-up ‘comic’ video, Faruqui uses lyrics of popular Bollywood scores to mock Lord Rama over his 14 years of exile and portrayed Sita as an insecure wife suspicious of her husband Lord Rama’s loyalty towards her.

Faruqui says, “The song- ‘Mera piya ghar aaya, ohh Ram ji’, Ram ji doesn’t give a f*ck about your piya. Ram ji is like I’m myself not been to home in the last 14 years.” Faruqui quotes another popular Bollywood song- “Ek do teen…tera” starring Madhuri Dixit from the blockbuster movie-Tezaab to allege that Sita is suspicious of Madhuri having a soft corner for Lord Rama.

While the ‘jokes’ made by Faruqui in the video are inane and cringe-worthy, they underline the increasing trend of mocking Hinduism and Hindu deities in the stand-up shows. One pertinent point to note here is that only Hinduism is subjected to such derisive ridicule while other religions have largely been exempted from their contemptuous mockery, perhaps to preserve the secular fabric of the ‘humour’.

In 2018, a man named Paras Rajput had confronted ‘comedians’ Masoom Rajwani and Kunal Kamra for cracking offensive jokes on Hinduism. The incident is of 15th April 2018, when Masoom Rajwani insulted Hindu gods and goddess at canvas laugh club Mumbai. Paras Rajput immediately interrupted the show and filed the police complaint the same night. A video was put out by Paras Rajput people can be heard protesting against the offensive jokes made against Hinduism on the show.

A woman was heard in the video daring the comedians to crack offensive jokes against Muslims. The woman said, “You should be ashamed of that you are making such jokes being a Hindu yourself. Say something about Muslims at least once. Stand here and say something against Muslims. If you say even one word, there will be riots here. You are an educated Hindu, you should be ashamed of yourself.”

Times of India ‘journalist’ Samiya Latief wishes PM Modi and HM Amit Shah get infected with coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Times of India ‘journalist’ Samiya Latief wishes PM Modi and HM Amit Shah get infected with coronavirus

On Wednesday, Samiya Latief – a Kashmiri ‘journalist’ working with Times of India, wished that Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah be tested positive for the deadly coronavirus which has infected more than 2 million people across the world.

Latief, who claims to be an Assistant Editor at Times of India, took to micro-blogging site to share a news report that stated that Congress MLA Imran Khedawala had tested positive for coronavirus just hours after he had met Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Taking a dig at the incident, Latief wondered whether Khedawala met PM Modi or HM Shah, thereby implying that they should also meet a coronavirus positive patient who could infect them with the deadly contagion.

Image Source: @iAnkurSingh on Twitter

Imran Khedawala, the Gujarat Congress MLA from the Jamalpur-Khadia constituency in Ahmedabad has been tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus. He along with some other Congress MLAs, was present in a meeting with Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani held at the CM’s official residence in Gandhinagar.

After her distasteful tweet went viral, Samiya Latief has deactivated her Twitter account.

‘Liberals’, especially journalists, often wish for death upon PM Modi

This is not the first time that somebody from the “liberal-secular” coterie had wished ill for Prime Minister Modi. Just a month back, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi had indirectly hoped that Prime Minister Modi be tested positive for the deadly coronavirus that has now become a global pandemic.

Former NDTV journalist, Sunetra Chowdhury had a few years ago in 2009 had expressed glee when Narendra Modi had been diagnosed with Swine Flu.

Sunetra Chowdhury’s tweet from 2009

Earlier as well, a journalist associated with The Quint, Suprateek Chatterjee, had tweeted that he was happy to know that Prime Minister Modi was one year closer to death. Incidentally, it was just past PM’s birthday for him when he tweeted, as the Modi hater was in the US when he expressed his desire to see Modi dead. He was a repeat offender and had brazened it out when The Quint disassociated themselves from him.

Even a Times Now journalist had waited for Modi to be assassinated, and another columnist with The Quint wanted Modi to be shot dead.

Uttar Pradesh: Muslim man issues triple talaq to wife for refusing to give him a cup of tea, police registers case against Afzal and family

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Muslim man issues triple talaq to wife for refusing to give him a cup of tea, police registers case against Afzal and family

In a bizarre incident, a woman from Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki received triple talaq from her husband over a cup of tea. The man named Afzal divorced his wife Daraksha and asked her to leave his house with her two-year-old infant. However, since the country is under lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis, Daraksha could not go to her parent’s house and is currently living with one of her relatives close by. A case has been registered against Afzal and his family.

Haji Afzal, who married Daraksh three year ago, had asked a cup of tea from his wife. However, Daraksha turned down his request. This enraged Afzal. And in his fit of rage, Afzal divorced his wife and asked her to leave his house with the child. Daraksha, in her defence, said that when her husband asked for tea she was preparing milk for her infant. That’s why she had declined his request.

Similar events have occurred in the past as well. Last year, a woman from Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh had alleged that her husband has divorced through the Islamic practice of Triple Talaq because of her obesity. She claimed that her husband accused her of being fat and not good enough for him before giving her Triple Talaq.

Similarly, in July last year, a 30-year-old woman had been assaulted and given triple talaq by her husband after she asked for Rs 30 from him to buy vegetables.

Though triple talaq is now a punishable offence carrying a three-year jail term, rampant cases of domestic violence and physical assaults related to the evil practice of triple talaq are reported regularly.

Haryana: Rohtak court opens at night amidst lockdown to help an Indian boy marry a Mexican girl

OpIndia Staff
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Haryana: Rohtak court opens at night amidst lockdown to help an Indian boy marry a Mexican girl

The nationwide lockdown in the country has brought almost all activities to a screeching halt, one of them being weddings. Many couples across the country, who had had the plans of getting married had to delay their weddings indefinitely as the scourge of coronavirus looms over India.

However, while many deferred their marriages to a later date, there are some couples who braved the odds and got themselves hitched even as the coronavirus pandemic rages unabated. One such couple is from Haryana which was fortunate to have tied the knot amidst lockdown. According to the reports, a district magistrate in Rohtak came to the rescue of the couple and opened its doors on the night of April 13 to solemnise the wedding of a local youngster with a Mexican girl under the Special Marriage Act after the couple faced difficulties in marrying due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Haryana boy’s Mexican love story

Niranjan Kashyap, a resident of Rohtak, Haryana met a Mexican girl online on a language learning app and fell head over heel in love with her. The couple met on the online app in 2017 and got engaged the next year. As per Niranjan, he had applied to get married to her Mexican partner, Dana Joheri Oliveros Cruise, under the Special Marriage Act on February 17.

“We met on a language learning app. In 2017, she came to India on my birthday. Then this February 11, Dana and her mother came to India for the wedding. On February 17, we applied for marriage under the Special Marriage Act which has a 30-day notice,” Kashyap said.

He further added that the notice was to end on March 18 but by then the lockdown began and they could not get married. He subsequently submitted an application to the district collector after which his wedding was solemnised.

Nirajan said that Dana was supposed to leave for Mexico on March 24 but with lockdown underway and international travel suspended, she had rescheduled her flight to May 5.

Wedding during lockdown

Dana said, “I came to India to meet him in 2017. We later got engaged in December 2018 and I returned to Mexico. I spent two years in Mexico. Due to the lockdown, we couldn’t marry. The deputy commissioner helped us in our marriage.”

The advocate who assisted the couple in getting married narrated how things went: “Both came to us to get married. Since the girl was from Mexico, they can marry under the Special Marriage Act. Later, we approached the district magistrate and he sent requests to the Mexican embassy and other offices for a no-objection certificate. After the NOC was obtained, the district magistrate opened the court and performed the wedding at 8 pm on April 13.”

When is it ever going to be Uddhav Thackeray’s fault?

Abhishek Banerjee
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When is it ever going to be Uddhav Thackeray’s fault?

There is a lockdown in progress and Maharashtra Police is responsible for maintaining it. In the midst of this, a crowd of thousands of people gathers in Bandra. Who should be held responsible?

If you want to believe liberal media, it is the fault of anyone but the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The blame was laid variously on the Railway Ministry, on some private news channels and even the government of Gujarat was dragged into the situation for some reason.

Why stop there? At this point, I am surprised they haven’t asked why BJP ruled Karnataka or Goa are not taking responsibility for workers in Maharashtra. Or why Yogi Adityanath has not arranged special trains to take people back to Uttar Pradesh?

After all, when a large crowd gathered in Delhi a few weeks ago, everyone was asking why Uttar Pradesh government has not arranged for buses to take them to their villages. The workers were fleeing from Delhi towards Uttar Pradesh. You’d think somebody would ask the government of Delhi to explain why people had to flee their state.

But no! By the strange logic of liberalism, the onus was on Uttar Pradesh to rescue people from Delhi. And why stop with Uttar Pradesh? Delhi hosts migrant workers from many other states such as Bihar and Jharkhand. I guess it is also up to the Chief Ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand to arrange for people to be picked up all the way from Delhi.

First, let us clarify something about so called “migrant workers.” The term essentially means nothing. So called migrant workers are not foreigners. They are Indians who are exercising their fundamental right to reside and settle in any part of India. Someone from Uttar Pradesh who lives and works in Maharashtra or Delhi or Karnataka or Gujarat is as much an integral part of the state as anyone else.  To even suggest that the state government of Delhi or Maharashtra can abdicate responsibility for their welfare, that too on ethnic basis, is deeply offensive and deeply unconstitutional.

But who will explain this to our seven star socialists?

Untitled
Yogendra Yadav defies common sense

Yes, at a time of crisis, let us all find a way for richer states to send the poor back to their states of origin.

Past precedence in Maharashtra

The other day, when a group of privileged persons was given a special letter allowing them to flout the lockdown in Maharashtra, the blame went to a bureaucrat, not the politicians in charge. Later it was even pointed out that the particular bureaucrat had been put in charge by the previous government of Devendra Fadnavis!

This is quite frankly, comical. Not least for the fact that the Shiv Sena was actually a coalition partner in Fadnavis’ government! In fact, why stop with blaming Fadnavis? I hear the bureaucrat was a 1992 batch officer. Let us blame every political boss under whom he has received any appointment since 1992. Instead of asking the sitting Chief Minister to take responsibility.

Or take this incident.

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Non-Coronavirus patients on the road

I cannot help wondering. What if patients had to stay under a flyover in say Uttar Pradesh? A few days back, a visual of people in UP being made to squat and sprayed with chemical became a story of national importance. Is it any more dignified when patients are huddled under a bridge?

Right now, Maharashtra is in a difficult situation and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has a difficult job on his hands. As Indians, we all stand with him and wish him the very best in this difficult mission. The least he can do in return is assure us that he takes responsibility for what happens within his state.

69-years old Meghalaya doctor dies two days after testing positive for coronavirus, six members of his family tested positive

OpIndia Staff
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69-years old Meghalaya doctor dies two days after testing positive for coronavirus, six members of his family tested positive

A 69-year old doctor in Meghalaya who was tested positive two days ago lost the battle against the Wuhan coronavirus infection on Wednesday. He was the first Coronavirus positive patient in Meghalaya, and became the first casualty due to coronavirus in the north-eastern state.

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma wrote on twitter expressing grief: “I am deeply saddened to inform that the first #COVID19 positive patient in Meghalaya passed away this morning at 2:45 am. My heartfelt condolences to his family and loved ones. May his soul rest in peace.”

He added that out of 68 samples collected from the contacts of the doctor, six people have tested positive, and they are the family members and helpers of the doctor. Dr John L Sailo Ryntathiang was the director of the Bethany hospital in Shillong. He had done his MBBS from Assam Medical College in Dibrugarh, and had obtained his MD in medicine degree from AIIMS Delhi.

The CM also mentioned that all six reports are being tested again. Apart from these six samplings, others have been reported negative. Conrad Sangma further added that both the branches of Bethany hospital in Shillong and Nongpoh have been sealed and the primary contacts of the doctor and list of the secondary contacts are been compiled. A 48-hour curfew had also been imposed in both towns after Dr. John had tested positive.

As per reports, the deceased did not have any travel history except his son-in-law who is a pilot by profession went to several countries affected by Wuhan coronavirus and had returned on 22 March. But he did not show any symptoms of coronavirus.

Rajasthan: Women doctors who went to check coronavirus suspects in Jodhpur accused of being CAA-NRC surveyors due to rumours and misinformation

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan: Women doctors who went to check coronavirus suspects in Jodhpur accused of being CAA-NRC surveyors due to rumours and misinformation

A medical team with women doctors and auxiliary nurse midwife’s (ANM) were entrusted with the task of searching for patients with suspected coronavirus symptoms in Nagauri Gate and Udayamandir Asan areas in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Initially, their endeavour was trumped by the residents who suspected them of tacitly collecting data for CAA-NRC and almost hounded them away.

However, with the sheer presence of mind and perseverance, the women medical team managed to gain access to the households and conducted medical tests on the locals. As a result, several coronaviruses positive cases have now been reported from these areas. This team of women medical staff was felicitated by the district collector, Prakash Rajpurohit for accomplishing the impossible. A report in the Dainik Bhaskar has detailed the selfless work done by a team of women corona warriors in Rajasthan.

After learning the accent and style of conversation of the local people, the women’s medical team first won the local peoples’ trust and then collected their blood samples on the pretext of setting up a medical camp for a general health check-up. Dainik Bhaskar got in touch with these women medical warriors who shared their experience with the Hindi daily.

Medical team accused of conducting survey for CAA and NRC:

While speaking to Dainik Bhaskar, Dr Hina Aftab recollected that she had reached Nagauri Gate on March 31. The medical team she was leading were tasked with scouting for people who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus in the village. “I prepared the survey strategy as soon as I joined there”, said the doctor, “but the real challenge started when the team approached villagers with the intent to educate them with the dos and don’ts and conduct medical tests on as many villagers as we could”, she added.

The locals were evasive and non-cooperative. They all surrounded the team of doctors and started hounding them, asking to leave. They were confused because of the rumoured Whatsapp messages they were receiving on their phones, recounted the doctor. The locals told her that they were tricking them and conducting CAA-NRC survey. As soon as they would give out any kind of personal information, they would be taken away from their village, said the locals. They kept hounding the doctors asking them to leave.

In such a situation, conducting medical tests was a far-fetched idea as they were not even willing to give away the information required to fill the survey form. The team could not gain access to even one household on the first day.

The next day, Dr Aftab got hold of two locals who could speak to them in their local language and convince the residents that they were not surveyors but doctors who were there to save their lives from the pandemic.

We had to first accomplish the mammoth task of gaining their confidence by speaking to them in their accent and language and then clearing their misconceptions. It was only after we succeeded in this, that we were allowed to conduct the medical tests on them, recollected Dr Aftab. After much deliberation, we made the locals understand the importance of washing and sanitising hands and social distancing to save themselves from the coronavirus infection, recounted Dr Aftab.

Team divided themselves into three groups, detected more than 30 cases:

Dr Aftab divided her team into three smaller teams and started approaching the residents in their local way. “This made them understand our point. We started catering to their daily needs of food, medicine and other problems, to gain their trust. Once we succeeded in doing so, we, called them on the pretext of helping her team to set up a medical camp in the community hall. The crowd started gathering there. We started screening them and started taking blood samples of all those who appeared suspicious. As a result, two and more positive cases started coming out every day from the Nagauri Gate district. After filtering out more than 30 cases from here, we are filtering this area again. Survey has been done here thrice. There is a lack of education in this area, due to which they do not cooperate”, said the doctor to Dainik Bhaskar.

Team caught coronavirus positive Ayub Ali holed up in his house:

ANM Shobha of Udayamandir region said that it was a difficult challenge for them to work in the area. She recollects that she had to join the Anganwadi centre, Asha Sahyogini Nargis to conduct the survey with them. She said that she interacted with the locals in their language and gained their trust. She was then informed by few locals that one Ayub Ali, a coronavirus suspect has been hiding in his house. After much hardships, ANM Shobha managed to get Ali’s address and visited his place. He was suffering from a sore throat. Shobha got Ali tested on April 10 and his report came out positive on 12 April. After this, positive cases started coming in this area continuously. “Despite this, people here do not cooperate with us, tell us to go away and accuse us of spreading coronavirus,” said ANM Shobha.

The Coronavirus test slip worked as an invitation card:

ANM Hemlata Vyas recounts how the coronavirus test slips worked as an invitation card for the villagers. She visited locals in Udayamandir region and wrote her number at the back of the coronavirus test slips telling people to get in touch with her if they required free medicines or any other assistance. The locals started contacting her for help. “Eventually, the families started sending their sick family members to the clinic for testing. This strategy worked with these villagers and as a result many coronavirus positive cases were reported from this district,” recounted ANM Hemlata Vyas.

The ground-level health workers express pleasure that their efforts are finally paying off, and coronavirus positive cases are being reported in the area, in addition to increased awareness among the local public over personal hygiene.

As per latest reports, Rajasthan has 969 confirmed cases of the Chinese pandemic. 147 persons have recovered while 3 persons have died so far.

Raghav Bahl’s Quint’s business partner Bloomberg News had killed a report on wealth of Chinese leaders, fired journalist and tried to silence his wife: Report

OpIndia Staff
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Raghav Bahl’s Quint’s business partner Bloomberg News had killed a report on wealth of Chinese leaders, fired journalist and tried to silence his wife: Report

Bloomberg News, owned by Michael Bloomberg who dropped out of US presidential rest after spending almost $1 billion in a bid for Democratic presidential nomination, had killed an investigation into the wealth of Chinese Communist Party leaders, using the now well known notorious non-disclosure agreements that the company forces its employees to sign. Fearing retaliation by Beijing, the publication even tried to get the wife of one of the journalists to sign a non-disclosure agreement, even though she was not associated with them.

What happened

According to a report by NPR, Bloomberg was successful in silencing the reporters who were doing the investigative report six years ago. Journalist Mike Forsythe, the former Beijing correspondent for Bloomberg News, was doing a follow-up story on an award-winning report done in 2012 into the accumulation of wealth by China’s ruling classes. The Chinese ambassador had warned Bloomberg against publishing the report, but Bloomberg had ignored that warning and published the report titled Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite in June 2012.

After the report was published, Forsythe had received messages through other journalists which he and his wife had considered as death threats. Due to that, Forsythe and his family moved to Hong Kong, believing it to be safer than mainland. Even after that, he and his team continued on working on the next part of the report, focusing on relations between Chinese leaders and China’s richest man Wang Jianlin. They had also started looking into the family of new Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to NPR, while the senior Bloomberg editors in New York showed excitement over the report earlier, suddenly there was complete radio silence from them. The story was never published by Bloomberg.

In October 2013, Bloomberg’s founding editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler revealed the reason in a private conference call with senior executives at New York and the investigative team in China, audio of which have been accessed by NPR. “It is for sure going to, you know, invite the Communist Party to, you know, completely shut us down and kick us out of the country,” Winkler had said. “So, I just don’t see that as a story that is justified,” he had informed the team in China.

He had expressed great apprehension about the consequences of publishing the report as it would link the Chinese Community Party leaders with the Country’s wealthiest man.  “The inference is going to be interpreted by the government there as we are judging them. And they will probably kick us out of the country. They’ll probably shut us down, is my guess,” Winkler had said predicting the likely Chinese reaction if the story was published.

The fear of China

The fear of the Bloomberg was real, as after the first story was published in 2012, Chinese authorities had searched Bloomberg’s news bureaus in the country, delayed visas for reporters and ordered state-owned companies not to sign new leases for Bloomberg’s terminals, which is the main product of the company. Terminals are the primary source of revenue for Bloomberg, as subscribers pay more than $20,000 per year for the data service that provides real-time financial data, news0 feeds, messages, besides facilitating the placement of financial transactions.

At that time, Mike Bloomberg was the mayor of New York City, and theoretically was not controlling the company. But in reality, was in frequent contact with the executives and he had shared his aspirations for growth in China. Reacting to an earlier report by New York Times report in 2013 about Bloomberg shelving the report on Chinese leadership, Michael Bloomberg had denied it. He had said that he was not involved with running the publication at that time, and he had been told that the accusations are not correct. But later when he re-joined the company after his term as mayor ended, he had said to his staff, “If a country gives you the license to do something with certain restrictions, you have two choices, you either accept the license and do it that way, or you don’t do business there.”

The journalist’s wife

Later in 2013, Mike Forsythe was suspended by Bloomberg, accusing him of leaking the story about the publication killing the China report, and later fired him. At the time of leaving the company, he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which forbids him from speaking publicly about his time at the Bloomberg News. Forsythe joined the New York Times after that. Others in the Chinese team also left Bloomberg gradually, each signing similar agreements. But the lawyers of the company had even pressurised Forsythe’s wife Leta Hong Fincher, who is also a journalist, to sign a nondisclosure agreement. They also threatened that Forsythe and Fincher will have to pay back the tens of thousands of dollars which was spent on moving the family to Hong Kong following the death threats.

Fincher told NPR that she had no reason to sign the NDA, as she didn’t have damaging material about the company. Even after she said that she does not have any material, the company’s lawyer had questioned about “all the evidence that’s in her head?” The agreement that the company was trying to persuade her to sign included a promise to never criticise the company or its officials. After Fincher had hired a pair of elite lawyers in Hong Kong, the company relented and stopped asking for her to sign the agreement.

The non-disclosure agreements that many women were made to sign at Bloomberg had come to forefront during the Democratic primaries, when Mike Bloomberg’s rival Elizabeth Warren had raised the issue during debates. Soon after that, Mike dropped out of the Democratic primaries.

It may be noted Bloomberg has a partnership with Raghav Bal’s Quintillion Media, who run the Quint.

Ahmedabad: After Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, Congress corporator Badruddin Sheikh tests positive for Coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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Ahmedabad: After Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala, Congress corporator Badruddin Sheikh tests positive for Coronavirus

A day after Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala tested positive for coronavirus, Ahmedabad corporator and Congress leader Badruddin Sheikh too tested positive. He is senior Congress councillor in Amdavad Municipal Corporation and has also been the spokesperson of Gujarat Congress.

Amdavad Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra in a press briefing informed that Badruddin Sheikh was home quarantined two days before and is now being hospitalized after found infected by the novel coronavirus.

Imran Khedawala

As per reports, Congress MLA representing Jamalpur-Khadia constituency Imran Khedawala tested positive yesterday and is now hospitalized at SVP Hospital of AMC and is undergoing treatment. Two other leaders of Congress Gyasuddin Sheikh and Shailesh Parmar who visited Gandhinagar with Khedawala yesterday have been sent under home quarantine and their reports are awaited. Contact tracing of Khedawala is currently underway.

The trio had gone to Gandhinagar to attend a meeting called upon by Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. Rupani has not shown symptoms of coronavirus and has currently tested negative. However, as a precautionary measure he will self-quarantine.


MHA issues consolidated guidelines for lockdown till May 3: Agricultural activities allowed, sports arenas and religious places to remain shut

OpIndia Staff
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MHA issues consolidated guidelines for lockdown till May 3: Agricultural activities allowed, sports arenas and religious places to remain shut

After PM Modi yesterday announced an extension of the lockdown for an additional 19 days till May 3 to bolster the country’s battle against the Wuhan coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs has today issued detailed guidelines for states, union territories and the general public to follow during this extended lockdown.

In its latest guidelines, the government has eased restrictions for agricultural activities. This move comes at a time when the harvest season of Rabi crop is at its peak. The guidelines that were issued today said that some of the essential sectors such agriculture, manufacturing sectors will be allowed to operate during the lockdown as a measure by the government to “mitigate the hardships” suffered by people.

The guidelines also decreed that all the religious places, educational institutes, schools, cinema halls, malls and sports arena, gyms, swimming pool and other community places will remain closed till May 3.

Guidelines during the lockdown:

1. All the domestic and international air travel will continue to remain suspended till May 3. All passenger railways services will also remain suspended.

2. All educational, training institutions, schools etc to remain shut during the lockdown. Cinema halls, malls, shopping/sports complexes, gyms, swimming pools, theatres, bars etc to remain closed till May 3. Even taxis (including auto and cycle rickshaws) and services of cab aggregators are prohibited from resuming their operations during the lockdown period.

3. A strict ban on the sale of tobacco, gutka and liquor is to be observed during the lockdown. Spitting has been made a punishable offence.

4. District Magistrate will regulate and monitor gatherings of funerals and marriages.

5. Industries functioning in rural areas, outside the municipal limits, are allowed to operate from April 30 but with rigorous social distancing norms.

6. Manufacturing and industrial organisations located in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Export Oriented Units (EOU), industrial estates and industrial townships are permitted to resume their operations from April 20. However, these organisations will have to adhere to government-mandated requirements for the stay and transport of its workers.

7. Manufacturing units involved in the production of essential goods such as drugs, medicines etc have been allowed to function.

8. Government has asked Workspaces to conduct screening of all employees and keep a gap of 1 hour in between shifts and stagger lunch breaks etc. The entire list of hospitals and medical facilities treating COVID-19 shall be put up at all workplaces.

9. Outlets of farm machinery, its spare parts, supply chain, repairs, ‘Custom Hiring Centres’ related to machinery are allowed to open from April 20.

10.  In areas which are not affected by the coronavirus outbreak, activities such as agricultural, horticultural, farming, procurement of Agri products, ‘mandis’ will be permitted from April 20.

11. Wearing of mask/face cover is mandated in all public places, workplaces.

12. Self-employed electricians, IT repairs, plumbers, motor mechanics, carpenters can render their services from April 20.

13. Provision stores, fruit, vegetables shops or carts, milk booths, meat, poultry and fish stores to remain open during the lockdown.

14. Government has also given its assent to highway ‘dhabas’, truck repairing shops to operate from April 20.

15. Places of worship, religious places, religious functions, social, political, sports gatherings remain prohibited during the lockdown till May 3.

16. The government has exempted all the agricultural and horticultural activities from the list of activities banned under lockdown. Agricultural and horticultural activities can remain fully functional, such as farming operations by farmers and farmworkers in the field. The work under MNREGA is allowed with caveats such as the strict implementation of social distancing norms and mandatory use of face masks.

17. Banks, ATMs, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents, ATM operation and cash management agencies to carry out functioning business-as-usual.

18. Exemptions given from April 20 will not be applicable in COVID-19 hotspots or containment zones.

As per latest reports, India 11,555 total cases of coronavirus. 1362 persons have recovered wile 396 people have died of the pandemic.

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