Over 300 Gujarati people, including students, are stuck in Manila, Philippines amidst the coronavirus outbreak. They have now sought Indian government’s help. As of now as many as 187 people in Philippines have tested positive for the virus that has pushed the world into panic mode.
One MBBS student studying in Philippines took to Twitter to share the ordeal faced by him and many others like him stuck there.
it’s surrounding cities from 12th March untill further announcement regarding this, only hospitals are open. There is no transportation or Food available because most of the gujarati’s are pure vegetarian and due to COVID-19 all the indian canteens are closed,bcz of all this (2)
One Ketul Patel said that owing to spread of COVID19, the Philippines government has decided to shut down Manila and its surrounding cities until further notice. He said that neither transportation nor food is available to them because of the lockdown.
but now due to the new rule of Indian government from today morning that no flight is allowed to land in India which are flying from Malaysia, Philippines and Afghanistan, because of this step 300 to 400 gujarati students are stuck here. (4)
He said that while Philippines government has given them 72 hours to leave the country, India has stopped incoming flights from Philippines, Malaysia and Afghanistan. Owing to this, many are stuck there.
Patel, on behalf of other students and Indians stuck in Philippines has reached out to Indian government for help in evacuation. As per his latest update, the Indian Embassy is in touch with them and are trying their best to help them.
The Press Council of India has issued a show cause notice [pdf] to the Bengal based ultra-left wing rag Telegraph for comparing President of India Ramnath Kovind with the deadly global pandemic COVID-19.
According to a press release issued on Tuesday, the Press Council of India took suo motu cognizance of the headline of the newspaper on March 17, 2020, projecting the President of India as Coronavirus in what it claimed as a ‘satirical’ manner. A show-cause notice has been issued to the ultra-left Telegraph for the violation of journalistic conduct.
Press Council of India issues show cause notice to The Telegraph over the headline comparing President Kovind to virus
Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, the Chairman of the media-watchdog Press Council of India, took cognizance of the issue and sent notice the Editor of the Telegraph for violating norms of Journalistic conduct.
The council stated that the satirical comments, ridiculing and denigrating the first citizen of the country was uncalled for and termed it as beyond the call of the fair journalistic comment.
On Tuesday, Bengal-based media house The Telegraph was called out by netizens for a headline that insulted Dalit community as it compared the President of India, Ramnath Kovind, who is a Dalit leader himself, to ‘Covid19’. The meltdown came after President Kovind nominated ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi to Rajya Sabha.
“Kovind, not Covid, did it”, the headline read.COVID-19 is a pandemic, a coronavirus disease which has impacted lakhs of people globally as of this moment. In its bid to make a wordplay on President’s name by comparing it to the deadly virus, The Telegraph just hit a new low even by its own standards.
The nomination of former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, to the Upper House of the Parliament by the President has caused severe heartburn to the left-liberal ecosystem, who have been relentlessly attacking the former Chief Justice for accepting the Presidential nomination.
Joining hands with the left-liberal media industry, few former Supreme Court judges did not miss their chance to target the Former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi over his nomination to the Rajya Sabha. Former Supreme Court judges Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph, who were once alongside Justice Gogoi during the controversial press conference in 2018 also seemed to be unhappy over the Gogoi’s nomination.
However, Justice Gogoi received the most shocking verbal assault from none other than the controversial former Supreme Court Judge Markandey Katju, who responded fiercely to the nomination as he referred the former Chief Justice as ‘shameless’, ‘disgraceful’ and a ‘sexual pervert’.
Katju suffered a huge meltdown on Tuesday as reports emerged that the former CJI Gogoi was nominated to the upper house. Taking to Twitter, the former SC judge Katju said that he had never known any judge in the Indian judiciary as ‘shameless, disgraceful and sexual pervert’ as Ranjan Gogoi in his 20 years of being a judge.
I have been a lawyer for 20 yrs and a judge for another 20. I hv known many good judges & many bad judges. But I have never known any judge in the Indian judiciary as shameless & disgraceful as this sexual pervert Ranjan Gogoi. There was hardly any vice which was not in this man
Katju’s attack on Justice Gogoi is not a new one. Markandey Katju had spoken out against Gogoi before when he had responded to the Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a woman employee who had been dismissed after accusing Gogoi of sexual misconduct. Then, Katju had called Gogoi a “rascal and a rogue”.
At last the woman employee who was sexually molested by CJI Gogoi and victimized along with her family has been reinstated.
There was no vice which was not in Ranjan Gogoi. And yet this rascal and rogue rose to become CJI. It speaks volumes about our judiciary.
The rant against Justice Gogoi by Markandey Katju came despite the former Chief Justice was cleared of the charges raised in the letter in May 2019 by an ‘in-house’ committee of Supreme Court justices comprising current Chief Justice of India SA Bobde and Justices NV Ramana and Indira Banerjee.
Katju’s contempt against Gogoi perhaps stems out from a past incident when in 2016, a Supreme Court bench headed by then SC Judge had slapped a contempt notice on retired judge Markandey Katju for his controversial social media posts on sensitive issues.
Justice Gogoi then had torn into Katju before issuing the contempt notice after the latter had made unverified claims against the SC bench that was hearing the sensational Soumya murder and rape case from Kerala. The court had taken suo motu cognizance of Katju’s blog criticising the SC judges and Gogoi had even warned in an open court that Katju would be escorted out if he continued to make such contemptuous observation before the bench.
The observation made against Katju by the then Justice Gogoi perhaps still resonates in the mind of Katju, who often resorts to vile, personal attack against the former SC Chief Justice to settle his personal score. However, the worrying matter is that Katju, who himself was an SC judge has now resorted to such mindless rant against a Former SC Chief Justice.
The Press Council of India (PCI) has issued a show-cause notice to Dainik Bhaskar for publishing fake interview of Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
Press Council of India press release
In a statement [pdf] issued on Tuesday, the PCI said that the Chairman has taken suo-motu cognizance of the matter and ordered to issue show cause notice to the media house.
On March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, Dainik Baskar’s digital arm DB Post published an interview with Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland. The interviewer had claimed to have met Marin in Helsinki. But later it had emerged that no such interview had taken place, and the entire interview was fabricated.
The ‘interview’ comprised of 15 questions that the Finnish PM had ‘answered’, which was labelled as exclusive by Bhaskar. The publication had claimed that the interviewer had gone to Finland and met Sanna Marin for an exclusive chat. According to it, Marin had described India as having great potential, apart from giving detailed answers.
The interview, published on the website of DB Post, was spotted by Finnish prime minister’s office on Sunday, March 8 itself, according to a report by Finnish media house Journalisti. Päivi Anttikoski, Communications Director of Finland government said that she is amazed that a major Indian media house published an interview that never took place. “We would have known if anyone in Helsinki had interviewed the Prime Minister”, she said, affirming that the interview is fake.
Following the discovery of the fake interview, the Finnish govt launched an operation to seek answers from India, including through the Indian Embassy in Helsinki. They were informed that the interview was handed over to Dainik Bhaskar by a freelance journalist, including notes on Finnish government letterhead. Anttikoski asserts that the letterheads were also fake, and they were not from the Finnish govt’s office.
While going through the answers given by Sanna Marin in the fake interview, it was later determined that the text was lifted from an earlier interview of the Finnish PM given to German TV channel ZDF. The transcript of a portion of the TV interview was published on the ZDF website on February 19th, and it appears that Bhaskar repackaged it and presented it to DBPost as his exclusive interview of Marin. The media house too failed to check the authenticity of the interview and published it on its website.
Our government has completed three years in UP today, sailing through a sea of challenges and opportunities. Today is a historic day when the state chose the nationalist ideology to serve it by bringing BJP to power.
The nationalist government of Uttar Pradesh has been facing the numerous challenges of expectations and aspirations since ages.
The challenges
On one hand, there was a challenge to organize the highly unorganized governance structure while on the other hand there was a challenge to bring the downtrodden, marginalised and poor in the mainstream of society.
From illegal mining to illegal slaughterhouses, the challenge was to save both the state and nature. There was also a challenge to enrich education from basic to higher level.
The challenge was to let the law and order situation take a fresh breath from the prevailing anarchy and Gundaraj with the motto of `Paritranaay Sadhunaam, Vinashaya Cha Dushkratam’.
There was also a challenge to bring a revolutionary change in the entire work culture of the state. The challenge was huge, but the firm determination made it a reality and things actually happened in Uttar Pradesh.
The steps
Our first step was to give `Khadi’ it’s due respect and the next was to strengthen and bring the law and order situation under control. This was also made possible by shutting down the illegal slaughterhouses.
Unnecessary holidays were scrapped and victims of Triple Talaq were given due respect and necessary government help.
The mantra of `Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas’ was made a ground reality by bringing changes in the Madarsa Education system for Muslim students while bringing them into the mainstream of the society and the budget provision was made for the marriage of Muslim girls. The government was successful in eradicating the evils of discrimination based on caste, region and religion.
On the noble path of unity, the journey of development is rather easy and this was visible across the state.
Investment and infrastructure
While the Investors’ Summit brought global investment in UP, the infrastructure development, without creating any regional imbalance, the underdeveloped regions of the state have been given infrastructure development projects like Purvanchal Expressway (340.82 km), Bundelkhand Expressway (296.070 km) and Ganga Expressway (596.00 km) and the work is in progress on a war footing.
Purvanchal Expressway
Not only new roads are being constructed in this vast state but air connectivity is also in our priority list. It is noteworthy that before the year 2017, only two cities in the state were connected by air connectivity. Our government is working on 12 new airports.
On one hand, the construction work of metro has been expanded in Lucknow, the work is in progress in other cities like Kanpur, Jhansi, Varanasi, Agra, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur.
The Jewar International Airport is a boon to the state and it will lead to the growth and prosperity of NCR. It will not only give enough scope of jobs and employment to millions of people but will also give global recognition to UP.
It is also to be noted that the improved connectivity and better law and order have resulted in an increase of 18.6% in the interest of investors with context to Uttar Pradesh.
It is also noteworthy that as a result of “Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit 2018”, investment proposals worth Rs. 4.68 lakh crores have been received out of which 371 projects have been implemented.
All these will generate more than 33 lakh direct and indirect employment opportunities. In order to speed up the pace of industrialization in the state, the government is going to organize “UP Global Investors Summit 2020”. Today UP is the first choice of big entrepreneurs for investment across the country.
Agriculture
The biggest challenge and priority was to bring smiles on the faces of farmers of Uttar Pradesh who were on verge of committing suicide. Cane farmers were waiting eagerly since ages that someone will solve or at least understand their problems. As soon as BJP came into power, in a short span of 3 years, the government many issues have been resolved.
A system has been developed to resolve the problems related to payments that were pending since 2010-11. The collaboration of empathy towards the cane farmers and the execution of the plan that helped in waiving the pending payment dues of more than ₹92 thousand crores.
Uttar Pradesh stood first in sugarcane and sugar production in the country for the second time in a row. The sugarcane sector alone has seen record payments worth ₹92 thousand crores made to the farmers. Expansion and crushing capacity of Munderwa, Pipraich and Ramala sugar mills has been increased and the capacity of 11 sugar mills was expanded.
For the first time in 25 years, licenses of 105 new Khandasari units were approved, which led to 27,850 T.C.D. of additional crushing capacity. Similarly, Uttar Pradesh has become the largest ethanol supplier in the country. Not only this, but six dozen mills of the state are also producing two thousand megawatts of energy, due to which this industry is also becoming self-sufficient in the energy sector.
Two-thirds of the state’s population depends on agriculture-based income. Working on the target of Hon. Prime Minister’s resolution to double the income of the farmers by the year 2022, the State Government has implemented several schemes. For the same, the state government prepared soil health cards of more than 4 crore farmers.
Thousands of farmers have been provided 40 to 90% subsidy through a custom hiring centre for purchasing agricultural machinery, this amount has been transferred directly to the farmers’ account through DBT.
It is noteworthy that through “The Millions Farmers’ Schools”, farmers have been given training in improved farming at the Nyaya Panchayat level. 14 new Krishi Vigyan Kendras have been established in the state. Six new science centres are proposed. Minimum Support Price which was made a far-fetched dream in previous governments has been implemented and farmers have been given benefit at the grass-root level for pulses and oilseeds along with wheat and paddy.
So far, under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, Rs 12 thousand crores have been sent directly to the accounts of farmers. The farmers’ loan of Rs. 36 thousand crore has been waived off by our government and we have fulfilled the promises made to the farmers.
Irrigation and water conservation
The plan to benefit 50 lakh farmers by irrigation of 18 lakh hectares of additional land in this financial year through projects like Arjun Sahayak, Bhavani and Bandai Dam projects in Bundelkhand region and Saryu Canal, Madhya Ganga Canal, Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring etc. in the plains areas are going to be implemented.
In Bundelkhand, more than 8 thousand new ponds have been built on private land under the ‘Khet Talab’ scheme. This year, six thousand new local ponds will be constructed. The Aami River in Gorakhpur, the Odi River in Lalitpur, the Gomti River in Pilibhit and Tamsa in Ayodhya have been revived.
In continuation of the same, the pious Ganga Yatra, a journey from faith to economy, was the invocation of farmers and revival of rivers. Under the Namami Gange project, Sisamau drain in Kanpur, which released 14 crore litres of sewer into the holy Ganga daily, has been closed. This has greatly reduced the pollution level in the Ganga in Kanpur. The far-reaching results of the work done by the state government for water conservation on the Ganga and its tributaries will be seen in the future. Not only will the rivers be clean, but farmers will get abundant pollution-free irrigation water, which will definitely increase their income.
Healthcare
In order to let the health department recover from the virus of ‘mismanagement’, it was necessary to provide a “Prana Vayu” of good governance.
It is interesting to know here that for the last 76 years after the country became independent, only 12 medical colleges existed in the state.
Thereafter, we established 7 new medical colleges and started MBBS classes in them in just 3 years for easy, well organized and resourceful medical facilities. We laid the foundation stone of 8 new medical colleges. Along with this, approval was also received from the central government for the establishment of 13 new medical colleges. In this way, Uttar Pradesh will get the services of 28 medical colleges. Not only this, AIIMS are coming up in Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli as well.
It is the result of the improvement of health services and the activities under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that for four decades in eastern UP, the number of encephalitis patients which was known as epidemics in children, has decreased by 56% and encephalitis death has decreased by 90%. The public’s faith in the government medical system at government hospitals of the state has increased. People have started visiting government hospitals again.
We have started organizing “Mukhyamantri Arogya Mela” at every Primary Health Centre for active and enhanced medical services as a more constructive experiment to make the state healthy.
Via Twitter
Since February 2, lakhs of people have received free medical facilities in these health fairs. Today, our health department is fully prepared to deal with any emergency like Corona Virus infection in the state. From launching awareness campaigns to the setting up of isolation wards, from the blockade of border areas to the installation of thermal analyzers, no effort has been spared.
Education
A society can move on the path of development only because of education. So first of all, we freed education from the clutches of cheating mafias. Through “Operation Kayakalp”, basic facilities like boundary wall, toilets, drinking water, electrification are being provided in more than 92 thousand primary schools. In these schools, 45,383 teachers have been recruited and the recruitment of 69,000 teachers is in the last phase. Similarly, 55 new government inter colleges have also been approved in secondary education.
Not only this, but the process to set up Atal Residential Schools have been expedited in every Circle Headquarters in order to spread the light of knowledge in the lives of children of labourers and deprived kids.
The Vantangia, Kol, Mushar and Tharu tribes, which have been marginalized for centuries, were brought into the mainstream of the society and we declared all their villages as revenue villages and covered them with all the public welfare schemes run by the government. They got the right to vote for the first time since independence.
Women Empowerment
Our government has also done a better job for women empowerment. Under the Mukhyamantri Samuhik Vivah Yojana, more than 01 lakh poor girls were benefited through a grant of Rs 51 thousand per beneficiary. Effective action was taken against the miscreants by establishing ‘anti-Romeo squad’. Good work has been done in the state under Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign. “Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana” was also implemented. The result of the effective implementation of programmes of Health Department and Women Welfare Department is that the sex ratio has improved significantly in various districts of the state. There has been a considerable increase in the number of beneficiaries in the Nirashrit Mahila Pension Yojana. Women battalions are being established in Lucknow, Badaun and Gorakhpur. “Pink Bus Service” has been started. In these buses, security personnel along with women conductors are being deployed and CCTV cameras are also being installed in these buses.
Law and order
On the law and order front, we inherited a helpless police force. The places that should have been “safe zones” were the “safari zones” of criminals. Our government tried hard to bring the law and order back on track. As a result, today either the criminals are fleeing the state or are imprisoned. For better policing, 41 new police stations, 13 new check posts were established in the state. 1.7 lakh police personnel were recruited. Police Commissioner system was implemented in Lucknow and Gautam Budh Nagar.
By adopting a policy of zero tolerance towards crime and corruption, the police system was immensely improved. Crime figures have dropped to a considerable extent. While the dacoity cases decreased by 59.70% in the year 2019 as compared to 2016, there was a decrease of 47.09% in murder cases in the same period.
Due to effective measures taken by the administration and the police, no incidents of violence was reported at the time of the order for the abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir, and at the time of the verdict on Sri Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in Ayodhya.
In opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act, some anti-social elements unsuccessfully tried to disturb the law and order, but this too was later effectively controlled. After identifying the miscreants, the damages done by them on the property was recovered from them, and this effort of the government also gained widespread support throughout the country. The Punjab and Haryana High Court appreciated the better law and order in the state and said that stringent law should be enforced against criminals on the lines of UP. This was a major blow to the miscreants and their leaders.
Other achievements
It is only because of efficient planning and disciplined system that the rate of per capita income is continuously increasing in the state. While the per capita income in 2014-15 was ₹ 42,267, it has currently increased to ₹ 70,419. It is the achievement of our transparent system that the government jobs provided by the state government to 03 lakh people in the last three years are dispute free.
It is a matter of personal satisfaction for me that in these three years the state has reached the top in the country in many areas. Uttar Pradesh became the first state in the country to implement skill development policy, state health policy and declare human-wildlife conflict a disaster. It also secured the first place in the country by winning the top award for making the most purchases under e-market (Gem). It bagged 9 awards in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 07 in MNREGA, 02 in Rurban Mission, 01 in Livelihood Mission, 01 in Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and 01 in NIRDP.
Within three years, the rate of maternal mortality declined by 30%. The state received the highest award for Nutrition Month. 14 municipal bodies of the state were honored in the cleanliness survey and received the Krishi Karman Award for highest oilseed production. It was commended to implement an innovative experiment like the Million Farmers’ School (Kisan Pathshala) scheme in the country and abroad, while ‘one district-one product scheme’ was lauded by the Central Government and it was considered good enough to be implemented in every district.
The state also got the Nari Shakti Puraskar for setting up One Stop Center under Women Empowerment, National e-Governance Award for Digital Land System, Saubhagya Yojana Award for more power connectivity, 03 National Awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The state also ranks first in milk, sugar, sugarcane and food production. The state is also the leader in the establishment and operation of most medical institutions in the country. These awards encourage us to innovate constantly. Because of these, the state is gaining the identity of a developed state.
We are committed to the welfare of all, including the village, the poor, farmers, women, labourers, and the youth. Uttar Pradesh, with a huge population of 23 crore people, is moving towards becoming a one trillion dollar economy as envisioned by Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, bringing positive productive change.
Our ideological vision which embodies the concept of Rashtrodaya from Antyodaya is relentless in order to satisfy the desire of Awadh, the hope of Purvanchal, the expectation of Bundelkhand and the aspirations of Paschimanchal. The actions being taken by our system under zero tolerance on everyone involved in corruption and malpractices have been successful in conveying the message of “changed system” in the state.
Budget is the financial structure of schemes. For the inclusive development of Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in the country, we have presented a budget of Rs. 5 lakh 12 thousand 860 crores 72 lakh, which is the biggest budget in the history of the state. In this historic budget dedicated to youth, schemes like Chief Minister’s Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Campaign (YUVA) will prove to be milestones in the field of self-employment and self-reliance.
It is just the beginning. It is the first step of the resolve to take the holy land of Lord Shri Ram and Shri Krishna to the highest glory with the inspiration of the respected Prime Minister. I am confident that the remaining 2 years will prove to be milestones in the direction of progress, public welfare and democracy.
Yes, on the basis of the fulfilment of the promises made in 2017 elections, the foundation of a new Uttar Pradesh has been laid.
Tablighi Itjema, the Islamic evangelical event held in Malaysia late last month has emerged as the ground zero for the coronavirus outbreak in South East Asia.
11 out of 12 people who tested positive for COVID-19 coronavirus on March 16 in Cambodia had attended the Islamic evangelical event in Malaysia. A total of 79 Muslims had returned from Malaysia after attending the Tablighi Ijtema, a 3-day ‘show of strength’ event of Muslims which is all about moral reform of individuals and is often described as ‘making Muslims true Muslims’. The event was reportedly attended by over 16,000 Muslims from several countries.
The event was held between 27 February 2020 to 1 March 2020. 34-year-old Malaysian man who had attended the event died on Tuesday. He is the first reported death linked to the evangelical event. As per reports, out of a total 673 confirmed cases in Malaysia, as many as 2/3rd are linked to the mosque gathering. Apparently, only about half of Malaysian population that attended the event has come forward to get tested. This has raised apprehensions that the actual number of infected people could be even higher. On Tuesday, Malaysia reported two deaths from coronavirus, one of whom had attended the event.
As of now, Brunei has confirmed 50 cases linked to Tablighi Ijtema. The number stands at 5 in Singapore, and two in Thailand. Vietnam, too, has a confirmed coronavirus case linked to the event. A total of 67 people have tested positive in Vietnam.
As per a Reuters report, some of the Muslims who attended the event have refused to get themselves tested for coronavirus and are relying on Allah to protect them. About a third of the people who attended the event are reportedly yet to be traced. One of the attendees, 41-year-old Karim who tested positive for coronavirus blames the government for not cancelling the event. Speaking to Reuters, Karim is disappointed that the blame of spreading coronavirus is put on those who attended the event.
Tablighi Jamaat, of which Tablighi Ijtema is an integral part, is a global Islamic missionary movement which urges Muslims to return to the way Islam was practiced during the time of Prophet Muhammad. The focus is on rituals, dress and personal behaviour and is considered one of the most influential Islamic religious movements of 20th century. It has become world’s second largest Muslim congregation after the Islamic holy pilgrimage of Hajj.
The movement was founded in 1927 by Islamic scholar Muhammad Ilyas ibn Muhammad Ismail in Mewat, India. Mewat, which has emerged as a hotbed of illegal Rohingya Bangladeshis in recent times, is a geographical region which falls in Rajasthan and Haryana.
As the global pandemic of COVID-19 coronavirus is expected to hit the livelihood of daily wage earners due to slowdown in the economy, the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday announced to compensate these daily earners with state support. Taking to Twitter, UP CM Yogi Adityanath informed that the loss of wages will be deposited in their bank accounts for which a committee has been set up.
कोरोना वायरस के दुष्प्रभाव के चलते दिहाड़ी मजदूर भाई-बहनों को परिवार के भरण-पोषण में समस्या न हो, इस हेतु प्रदेश सरकार ने एक तय धनराशि मजदूर भाई-बहनों के बैंक खाते में प्रदान करने का निर्णय लिया है। इस संबंध में वित्तमंत्री की अध्यक्षता में गठित समिति 3 दिन में रिपोर्ट सौंपेगी।
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also announced that there will be no deduction of salary for those patients who take leave for coronavirus treatment.
According to the reports, the state government has also constituted a high-level committee to provide them with the required monetary support. The three-member committee, headed by the UP finance minister and comprising the state agriculture and labour ministers, has been asked by chief minister Yogi Adityanath to submit a report within three days.
“The committee will analyse the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak so that the livelihood of the poor and daily wage earners is not affected. The state intends to provide money to these people through the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) medium,” UP cabinet minister Shrikant Sharma confirmed to the media.
In the backdrop of Coronavirus health crisis, the Uttar Pradesh government has banned all forms of protest and demonstrations in the state to protect the general public from this pandemic. Meanwhile, the CM has directed for the closure of all schools, colleges, and educational institutions till April 2, while also suspending all competitive and academic board examinations. Earlier, the schools and colleges were closed till March 22 even as the ongoing exams were not disturbed.
The government has also decided to close down all the tourist sports till March 31, although the process of sanitising these places would continue, said the minister. “The state government has decided to implement the central government advisory pertaining to coronavirus in totality,” he added.
Speaking on the preparedness of the state to handle the crisis, Sharma added the CM Yogi Adityanath had appealed to the people to avoid crowded places and not to panic on the issue, although the masses should exercise caution and spread awareness. All the cinema halls and multiplexes have also been ordered to close down till April 2 in UP even as the respective district magistrates have been directed to speed up the awareness campaign through posters and banners.
“At present, the state is under stage II of coronavirus and with effective campaign and public awareness, we can prevent it from reaching the critical stage III,” Sharma underlined.
Meanwhile, the government has advised the private companies to allow their employees to work from home, while a committee headed by the state chief secretary has been constituted to suggest similar measures for the government employees. The state government has mandated free treatment of coronavirus patients, while the government and non-government employees have been assured that their salaries would not be cut during the work of the home regime.
Till now, 13 coronavirus positive cases have been identified in UP at Agra, Lucknow, Noida and Ghaziabad with the Taj City leading the tally with 8 cases. More than 1.3 million travellers have so been screened at the airports and Nepal border check posts.
Bengaluru Police has put senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh under preventive arrest as he sat on a dharna outside a hotel where he had gone to meet rebel Congress MLAs.
#WATCH Karnataka: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has now been placed under preventive arrest. He was sitting on dharna near Ramada hotel in Bengaluru, allegedly after he was not allowed by Police to visit it. 21 #MadhyaPradesh Congress MLAs are lodged at the hotel. pic.twitter.com/dP3me4qjw0
He was sitting on a dharna outside Ramada hotel where 21 Congress MLAs who tendered resignation along with former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia who recently joined the BJP. Singh arrived in Bengaluru early this morning ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections which are scheduled later this month. He is Congress candidate for the Upper House of the Parliament.”I’m a Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, voting is scheduled for 26 March. My MLAs have been kept here, they want to speak to me, their phones have been snatched, police is not letting me speak to them saying there is a security threat to MLAs,” he said.
The veteran Congress leader has now been placed under preventive arrest. Singh said that the rebel MLAs want to go back to Congress but “are being held back”. He claims that he spoke to 5 MLAs whose phones have been “snatched away” and are being “followed 24×7.”
The Madhya Pradesh state government plunged into crisis after senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia along with 21 other Congress MLAs quit the party. Scindia has since joined the BJP. With 21 Congress MLAs also quitting, the ruling government has fallen below the majority mark. The MP Governor has asked Chief Minister Kamal Nath to prove majority on the floor of the Assembly.
The Madhya Pradesh Congress moved the Supreme court on Tuesday against the Bharatiya Janata Party accusing the opposition party of kidnapping 16 of its MLAs. The Congress party is also seeking directions for ‘releasing their MLAs from the captivity of BJP’. The rebel MLAs of Madhya Pradesh Congress are presently staying at a Bengaluru resort and they have demanded security for their safe return to Bhopal. A rebel Congress leader Govind Singh Rajput said that the group of rebel MLAs were willingly living in Bengaluru resort.
The rebel MLA has accused MP Chief Minister Kamal Nath of not hearing the ideas and demands for their respective constituencies for even 15 minutes. “When the MP government was formed, we were there in the opposition for 15 years. When the government was formed Rahul Gandhi brought two faces in light– Scindia Ji and Kamal Nath Ji. We thought everything will be normal but CM’s behaviour changed later,” he said.
MP Governor Lalji Tandon wrote to Kamal Nath on Monday urging him to hold the floor test till 17 March. The speaker on Monday had adjourned the session till 26 March due to coronavirus scare. However, BJP moved to the supreme court against the speaker. The plea filed by former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan urges the top court to order a floor test immediately.
On 9 March, the influential Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia had resigned from the party and later joined the BJP. Following him, 19 MLAs including six cabinet ministers have also resigned from the assembly.
Talking to media for the first time after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the president, former chief justice of India Ranjan Gogoi said that he has accepted the offer humbly. Talking to Assamese news channel Pratidin Time in Guwahati on Tuesday morning, Gogoi said that he was given ample time before taking the decision, and it was announced by the government after he had given his consent.
Responding to criticism by Congress party and others over his nomination, Ranjan Gogoi said that time has come to set a precedence. “I have accepted the offer of the nomination to the Rajya Sabha because of strong conviction, that the legislature and the Judiciary must at some point of time worked together for Nation-building,” he said.
The former CJI added, “My presence in Parliament will be an
opportunity to project the views of the Judiciary before the legislature and
vice versa,” responding to debates going on in social media over his nomination.
Ranjan Gogoi informed that he is going to Delhi tomorrow, and said that he will open up on the issue but first he will take the oath in Rajya Sabha. “I have much to say but let me take the oath in the Parliament and then I shall open up,” he said while talking to senior journalist Mrinal Talukdar during the interview. He also added, “let God give me the strength to have an independent voice in the Parliament.”
In the meanwhile, the attack on the BJP government over the decision continued with Gogoi’s fellow judges joining the criticism. Judges Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph today made comments opposing the move by the government and Ranjan Gogoi.
The nomination of ex-Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha has now come under the attack from his fellow Judges Madan Lokur and Kurian Joseph. The two of them along with former CJI Gogoi and Justice J Chelameswar were part of the contentious press conference wherein they had questioned the alleged misconduct of then CJI Deepak Mishra in the allocation of important cases. An explosive letterwritten by the 4 Judges to the Chief Justice Mishra, several months ago, was also put out in public domain.
Justice Madan Lokur who retired in December 2018 remarked, “There has been speculation for some time now about what honorific would Justice Gogoi get. So, in that sense, the nomination is not surprising, but what is surprising is that it came so soon. This redefines the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary. Has the last bastion fallen?”
Justice (retired) Kurian Joseph said, “I am surprised as to how Justice Ranjan Gogoi, who once exhibited such courage of conviction to uphold the independence of the judiciary, has compromised the noble principles on the independence and impartiality of the Judiciary.”
He claimed that the Rajya Sabha nomination of the former Chief Justice has shaken the confidence of the common man on the “independence of the Judiciary” and thus compromised the “solid foundation of the nation.” Justice J Chelameswar, however, refused to comment on the new development.
It is imperative to remember that CJI Gogoi’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha is not “unprecedented” for two primary reasons. First, there are no constitutional restrictions that bar him from seeking employment, joining a political party or getting elected/nominated to the Indian Parliament. Second, India has a long history of judges becoming governors, contesting on the tickets of political parties, becoming Vice President and so on.
