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As Vinod Dua becomes ‘critically unwell’, here is what he said about using flowery language for the dead

OpIndia Staff
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As Vinod Dua becomes ‘critically unwell’, here is what he said about using flowery language for the dead

Senior journalist Vinod Dua, who was named in the MeToo campaign and accused of sexually harassing and stalking a filmmaker in 1989, is beyond critical, his daughter, actor-comic Mallika Dua, said on Monday. Dua was admitted to the hospital earlier this year after being infected with COVID-19.

Dua took to Instagram to inform her followers that her father is in ICU and critically unwell. “My Papaji is beyond critical in the ICU. His health had been deteriorating rapidly since April. He also is unable to come to terms with losing the light of his life. He has lived an extraordinary life and given us the same. He deserves no pain. He is immensely loved and revered and I request you all to pray that he experiences as little pain as possible,” Mallika Dua said in an Instagram story post.

Source: Instagram

After Mallika shared her father’s condition on Instagram, rumours about Vinod Dua’s death started doing the rounds on the internet. Mallika then shared another Instagram story, putting paid to rumours of her father’s death.

“Request everyone to not spread rumours about my father’s demise. He is in the ICU. Fighting still. Whatever be the outcome, let him have his dignity. Do not believe/spread misinformation please. Will issue all official news and updates on him. Not Twitter,” she wrote.

Vinod Dua and his wife, radiologist Padmavati ‘Chinna’ Dua, were admitted to a hospital in Gurgaon during the second wave of the pandemic. While his wife succumbed to the contagion, the journalist has been battling the complications and is in and out of hospitals since June 2021 due to his frail heath.

‘We have a habit of putting up pretences and elevating a person to the status of great men after his death’: Vinod Dua after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death

As Dua remains critical, it is worth noting what he spoke about using flowery language for the dead to appear “politically correct”. In one of his videos, Dua had said that effusive obituaries pouring over after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s death was “hypocrisy” as no one spoke ill of the dead. 

“India’s former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee died today. He was 93 years old at the time of his death. In our country, we have a habit of putting up pretences after a person has passed away. They are suddenly exalted to the status of great men and such kinds of obituaries are shared saying that it is politically correct,” Dua said in his video for the leftist propaganda website The Wire. 

Navjot Singh Sidhu hits back at Arvind Kejriwal over women empowerment, points out Delhi does not have single woman Minister

OpIndia Staff
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Navjot Singh Sidhu hits back at Arvind Kejriwal over women empowerment, points out Delhi does not have single woman Minister

President of Punjab Congress Committee Navjot Singh Sidhu has slammed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal over women empowerment and employment of teachers. Sidhu said that true leadership does not mean giving out allowance to women and pointed out that Delhi cabinet does not have a single woman Minister. Sidhu also argued that while thousands of vacancies existed for teachers in Delhi, Kejriwal filled the positions with guest lecturers.

Sidhu has equated Kejriwal’s promise of giving thousand rupees to the women of Punjab to ‘lollipops’ of thousand rupees and instead advocated for the Punjab Model of Woman Empowerment which, he claimed, believes in investing in the future of women and providing skills for self employment and woman entrepreneurs.

Regarding problems faced by the teachers and jobs, Sidhu further stated that the Kejriwal himself filled vacant teaching positions in Delhi with contractual teachers.

He said, “On teachers and jobs, in 2015 there were 12515 job vacancies of teachers in Delhi, & in 2021 there are 19907 such job vacancies of teachers in Delhi … and you are filling most of vacant posts by just guest lecturers…” adding that Kejriwal had previously promised 8 lakh new jobs and 20 new colleges in 2015 manifesto and failed miserably. He also claimed that the unemployment rate in Delhi has surged by nearly five times in last five years.

Notably, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had recently promised to give every single women of Punjab an amount of 1000 rupees if Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) formed government in Punjab. National Convenor of AAP, Arvind Kejriwal had talked about women empowerment in Punjab during his visit to the state ahead of the upcoming elections. Also, the Delhi CM had joined the protests of the contractual teachers in Mohali where he promised to regularize their jobs if his party came to power after Punjab elections.

Twitter shares surge as reports emerge of Jack Dorsey stepping down as its CEO: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Twitter shares surge as reports emerge of Jack Dorsey stepping down as its CEO: Details

jack Dorsey is expected to step down as Twitter CEO, media reports say. Earlier, Elliot Management, stakeholder at Twitter, had tried to replace Jack Dorsey as the CEO before reaching a deal with the management. Dorsey is also the CEO of his digital payment platform Square, prompting calls for him to step down from one of them.

Twitter shares witnessed a surge by as much as 11% after reports emerged of Dorsey stepping down as the CEO.

Twitter has come under severe criticism in recent days after left-wing censorship became the norm on the platform. Dorsey’s leadership has been questioned as well over the matter. It is not yet clear who will replace him as the CEO after he steps down from the position.

Twitter was cofounded by Jack Dorsey with Ev Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass in 2006. He served as the CEO of the platform until 2008 before returning as CEO for the second time in 2015.

Note: This is a developing story. More information will be added to the report as and when we receive it.

Watch: Actor Sara Ali Khan rebukes her security guard for pushing paparazzi, apologises on his behalf

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Actor Sara Ali Khan rebukes her security guard for pushing paparazzi, apologises on his behalf

Actor Sara Ali Khan was seen getting angry at her security personnel, in a brief snippet posted by Pinkvilla on Instagram, after he reportedly pushed a photographer. “Unko sorry boliyain…app nahi dijiye aaise dhaka please” (please apologise, do not push anyone please), said the visibly irked actress as she personally apologised to those present around her before sitting in her car.

According to reports, Sara had gone for the launch of her song ‘Chaka Chak’ from the film ‘Atrangi Re’ when the incident happened.

The security officials probably pushed the paparazzi away as they attempted to photograph Sara as she was leaving the premises. One of the paparazzi probably fell, after being pushed, catching the attention of the Kedarnath actor, who then rebuked her security guard for his insensitive behaviour.

“Woh giraya kisko aapne (Whom did you push down)?” When people around said, “Koi nahi gira (no one fell down), Sara replied, “Nahi nahi, jisko giraya woh chale gaye (No no the one who was pushed went away). Dhakka mat dijiye please”, lambasted Sara Ali Khan.

Meanwhile, the makers of ‘Atrangi Re’ released Chaka Chak on Monday. The film also stars Akshay Kumar and Dhanush in the lead roles apart from Sara.

Sara Ali Khan, daughter of Saif Ali Khan is very active on social media and frequently shares her pictures on Instagram, some of which have drawn the ire of the people of her own community. Earlier this month, she came under the attack of Islamists after her and actor and Janhavi Kapoor’s picture visiting the Hindu shrine of Kedarnath together, went viral on the social media.

Islamists on Sara’s Instagram comments section were evidently angry with the actor for being a Muslim and yet visiting a Hindu shrine. A barrage of despicable comments were made against the actor because she visited the hallowed shrine of Kedarnath, the abode of Hindu God Lord Shiva. 

Prior to this in October, Sara Ali Khan was attacked by the leftists and liberals for wishing HM Amit Shah on his birthday. They were displeased over the fact that she had wished the Home Minister on the occasion.

Leading the charge was Arfa Khanum Sherwani of The Wire. She had gone on to invoke Sara’s ancestry to condemn her for the wish. Liberals had claimed that Aryan Khan is being targeted because he is the son of a Muslim actor. Thus, they are angry with Sara Ali Khan for wishing Amit Shah a happy birthday under such circumstances.

Uttar Pradesh chosen as the most friendly state for film shooting at the International Film Festival of India

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh chosen as the most friendly state for film shooting at the International Film Festival of India

The state of Uttar Pradesh has grabbed the award for being the most friendly State for film shooting at the 52nd International Film Festival of India held at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee stadium in Goa. The award was handed over to the Additional Chief Secretary (Information) Navneet Sehgal, who received it on behalf of the state government, on the closing day of the nine-day event on November 28.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, November 28, the Yogi Adityanath government in UP said Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur and Goa’s Chief Minister Pramod Sawant handed over the award to Uttar Pradesh on the concluding day of the festival.

On this occasion, Sehgal stated that the Uttar Pradesh administration, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is encouraging various film-related activities in the state.

“In this Film City, effort is being made to provide all facilities related to film making such as pre-production, post-production and shooting under one roof. An estimated investment of over Rs 10,000 crore will be made in the Film City,” he said.

CM Yogi seeks suggestion from film personalities for the proposed Film City in Uttar Pradesh

It may be recalled, how in September last year, after announcing the development of the country’s biggest film city at Gautam Buddh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had sought suggestions from a range of film personalities regarding the proposed film city. OpIndia reported how on September 22, CM Yogi had interacted with several film personalities via video conferencing.

As per reports, 1000 acres of land has already been identified for the project. Of the 1000 acres, 780 acres are in the Sector 21 of the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority area, and the remaining are commercial plots.

CM Yogi’s decision of setting up a Film City was praised by several film personalities including actress Kangana Ranaut and singer Anup Jalota. Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar had then also met the CM Yogi for holding discussions on the proposed Film City.

Achievements of Yogi Sarkar in the last four years

In the last four years of governance, Yogi Adityanath has placed a strong emphasis on boosting the infrastructural capability and the state economy, besides adopting tough measures to address the state’s law and order problems.

Recently, OpIndia reported how Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Noida International Airport (NIA) at Jewar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, making Uttar Pradesh the only state in India to have five international airports.

In fact, in March the Yogi Adityanath-led-Uttar Pradesh government had released a 64-page document highlighting its major achievements in the State in the last 4 years. The booklet titled, “Sewa aur Sushashan ke 4 Varsh” laid down key developmental work done by the UP government. The state government informed that the economy of the state has increased from ₹10.90 lac crore to ₹21.73 lac crore in the past 4 years.

Pakistani Model’s ‘bare head’ pictures at Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara triggers controversy, Sikhs outraged

Kabir Kashyap
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Pakistani Model’s ‘bare head’ pictures at Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara triggers controversy, Sikhs outraged

A Pakistani model has sparked controversy with her ‘bare-head’ pictures taken at the premises of the Kartarpur Gurdwara Darbar Sahib located in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The owner of an online clothing store named Mannat in Pakistan had posted multiple pictures of the model’s photoshoot on the social media account as an advertisement for the clothing brand. The Pakistani woman in the pictures was seen posing in front of the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib wearing a red salwar suit where her head was uncovered.

It is notable here that both men and women are required to cover their heads while visiting a Gurudwara.

The Sikh Community have criticized the advertisement and said that the pictures of Pakistani model posing ‘bare head’ with back towards the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib have hurt the sentiments of the religious community.

President of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee Manjinder Singh Sirsa demanded strict action against those who misbehaved in religious places of the minorities in Pakistan. He stated that the model posing without covering her head inside the Gurudwara premises is akin to ‘beadbi’ or sacrilege.

He said, “Such a petty behaviour on Shri Kartarpur Sahib, the religious place of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, is “disrespectful”. Take strict action against those who misbehave in religious places of minorities in Pakistan @ImranKhanPTI @GovtofPakistan We can’t tolerate this rudeness at all! @ANI @republic”

Paramjit Singh Sarna, former president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee had termed the incident as ‘highly objectionable’ act and said that it had severely hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community. he said, “Instructions should be placed in Urdu and English for head-covering and about not showing the back to the holy site,”. It is also hinted by sources that the department Project Management Unit (PMU) in Pakistan which controls the affairs of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib has been charging money for photoshoots at the religious place.

Model and her team apologize

A member of the team that posted the pictures of the Pakistani model has issued a video message after the controversy and tendered an apology after the backlash.

He said, ‘We had no direct connection with the post because we did not instruct anyone to do such photoshoot, this was a blogger collaboration because of which we had made the mistake..we will keep this in mind and try our best not to repeat this in future.”

The Model has apologized for the pictures posted on her account and stated that those pictures were not part of any photo shoot. She said, “Recently I posted a picture on Instagram that was not even a part of a shoot or anything. I just went to Kartarpur to learn about the history and know about the Sikh community. It wasn’t done to hurt anyone’s sentiments or anything for that matter. However, if I have hurt anyone or they think that I don’t respect their culture. I am Sorry.”

Notably, the online Mannat clothing store has also apologized for the incident and said, “The pictures posted on our accounts are NOT part of any shoot done by Mannat Clothing. These pictures were provided to us by a third-party (blogger) in which they were wearing our dress. Please note that Mannat has absolutely NO role in deciding how and where the pictures were taken. However, we accept our mistake that we should not have posted this content and we apologise to every single person who was offended by this.”

The clothing brand added that they have deleted the said pictures from their social media accounts.

Journalists spread rumours about ‘me too’ accused Vinod Dua’s death, daughter clarifies he is still alive in the ICU

OpIndia Staff
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Journalists spread rumours about ‘me too’ accused Vinod Dua’s death, daughter clarifies he is still alive in the ICU

Mallika Dua, daughter of ailing TV personality Vinod Dua, has refuted rumours that her father has passed away. Earlier, there were rumours circulating that Vinod Dua has died following prolonged illness. Mallik Dua has said that he is still in the ICU fighting for his life and requested people to avoid rumours.

Source: Anya Shankar/Indian Express

Journalists had earlier claimed that the TV personality had died. However, his daughter has clarified that he has not.

Vinod Dua died rumours
Source: Twitter

India Today journalist Ashraf Wani had also spread the rumour.

Vinod Dua died rumours
Source: Twitter

Mallika Dua had said earlier, “My Papaji is beyond critical in the ICU. His health had been deteriorating rapidly since April. He also is unable to come to terms with losing the light of his life. He has lived an extraordinary life and given us the same. He deserves no pain. He is immensely loved and revered and I request you all to pray that he experiences as little pain as possible.”

Vinod Dua was accused of sexual harassment and stalking. In a Facebook post, a filmmaker had accused Vinod Dua of stalking her and sexually abusing her. Dua had refused to face the lady who had accused him of abuse and The Wire had dissolved the probe committee out of frustration.

Hello ‘Liberals’, Munawar Faruqui’s head is still attached to his torso, and Khans are still superstars, so cut the crap

Nirwa Mehta
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Hello ‘Liberals’, Munawar Faruqui’s head is still attached to his torso, and Khans are still superstars, so cut the crap

Munawar Faruqui, who calls himself a comedian, has now hinted for the second time that he is quitting doing comedy shows. He had earlier made such claims earlier this year when he was jailed over allegations of cracking a joke for hurting Hindu sentiments. This had come a year after a clip of his comedy show where he mocked the Godhra carnage victims had gone viral.

In a now-deleted clip, Faruqui was heard cracking jokes on the burning alive of Karsevaks who were returning from Ayodhya. A murderous Muslim mob had set train on fire. Those Karsevaks were killed specifically because they were Hindus.

Now, many have claimed taking offence on jokes is curtailing one’s creative liberty. Let us see this: Would any German get away with cracking a joke on the Holocaust? Where millions of Jews were tortured, killed by the Nazis only because they were Jews. No, right? In parts of the world, Holocaust denial is also a crime. But in India, people like say Arundhati Roy, who are hailed as icons of Indian liberal world, feign ignorance over how the ‘train was set on fire’ and are so clueless that on an international platform they claimed that the Karsevaks in 2002 were returning after ‘demolishing the Babri masjid’.

Hindus being burnt alive is either forgotten or mocked at because that’s what ‘liberals’ in India do: Dehumanise Hindus.

“I was watching The Burning Train on TV. My father came and told me not to watch such nonsense and turned off the channel. I was like, ‘why so?’ He was like this is the video of Godhra kaand. And this is a news channel. I thought it is a movie directed by Amit Shah, produced by RSS… I don’t know…,” he says. Munawar Faruqui then refers to the news about 2002 Godhra carnage as ‘cartoon’.

He also joked that in Godhra kaand, Hindus were burnt alive, “But aren’t they burnt after dying?” he had joked. The 59 karsevaks were burnt alive by a murderous mob because of their religious faith. And that they were returning from Ayodhya after offering seva at Ram Mandir.

Anger against Faruqui has been about that. Especially since on Barkha Dutt’s show he refused to apologise for it.

See, here he blames ‘others’ for ‘spreading’ the joke he cracked. When Barkha Dutt tries to shield him by saying how he has apologised and he’s still targeted, he stops her and corrects her that he has not apologised. And it is fault of other people who are still talking about a joke he cracked on dead Hindus.

And it is truly not because of his religion either. In India, it is the Khans who rule the entertainment industry. Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan have been considered the biggest superstars of the 90s and 2000s. Dilip Kumar, original name Yusuf Khan, has been hailed as the greatest actors of all times. Javed Akhtar and Salim Khan have been the power-writer duo who have given some of the greatest hits of Bollywood. Songs sung by Mohammad Rafi have a different fan base. And then there is musical genius A R Rahman.

In India, cricket is the most followed and loved sport. Mohammad Azharuddin has been the captain of Indian cricket team. Mohammad Kaif, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan – they all have made India proud. And when they were on the receiving end of anger from fans when India lost it was because they were part of team India just like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

When none of them are targeted for their religion, is it not a far stretch of imagination to claim that Faruqui is targeted only because he’s a Muslim?

So a section of people took an offence that someone is mocking their dead, they decide to not let them hold a show. Street power has been doing wonders as we’ve seen. The Government of India was made to repeal three farm laws because a bunch of goons decided to block Delhi border refusing to let the national capital function. There were rapes, murders brutality and riots, but the ‘farmers leaders’ did not back down and, well, the government of India took the knee.

Prime Minister Modi addressed the nation and said the three farm laws will be repealed. Today, on first day of winter session of Parliament, they were repealed in Lok Sabha.

So if street power can get the democratically elected government to take a step back, why should it not be okay for Hindus to not be okay with giving stage time to a man who wants people to laugh on their dead?

Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and 11 other MPs suspended over unruly behaviour, manhandling security personnel in last session

OpIndia Staff
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Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi and 11 other MPs suspended over unruly behaviour, manhandling security personnel in last session

The Rajya Sabha on the first day of its business in the Winter Session suspended 12 MPs, including Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Trinamool MP Dola Sen, for the remaining part of the current session. The MPs have been suspended for misconduct and unruly behaviour in the house.

These suspended MPs include six from the Congress party, two members from the Shiv Sena, two from the Trinamool Congress and the other two from the CPM and CPI respectively. They will not be allowed in Rajya Sabha in the Winter Session.

The names include Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena), Dola Sen (TMC), Elamaram Kareem (CPM), Phulo Devi Netam (INC), Chhaya Verma (INC), Ripun Bora (INC), Binoy Viswam (CPI), Rajamani Patel (INC), Shanta Chhetri (TMC), Syed Nasir Hussain (INC), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Akhilesh Prasad Singh (INC).

The official notice said, “This House takes cognisance and strongly condemns the utter disregard to the authority of the Chair, complete abuse of rules of the House persistently thereby wilfully obstructing the business of House through their unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, unruly and violent behaviour and intentional attacks on security personnel on the last day of 254th Session of Rajya Sabha i.e. August 11.”

According to reports, they were reprimanded for indiscipline during the monsoon session of the house, which had to be ended two days prior to the scheduled date after it witnessed a commotion in the Upper House on the last day of the session.

Reacting to the decision Shive Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi was quoted by ANI as saying: “From District Court to Supreme Court, an accused is heard even there, lawyers are provided for them too, sometimes Govt officials are sent to take their version. Here our version wasn’t taken”.

“If you see the CCTV footage it has been recorded how male marshals were jostling female MPs. All of this on one side & your decision on the other? What kind of unparliamentary behaviour is this?” she added.

In August, the House had begun a discussion on ‘farmers’ protests against farm laws on the last day of the session, when opposition MPs had climbed on the officials’ table, waved black cloth, and flung files and papers in the House. They had also manhandled the security personnel.

MPs were seen manhandling security personnel in video footage

Justifying their unruly actions, the opposition leaders had, however, alleged that their MPs were roughed up by the security personnel. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi even accused the government of bringing people from outside who posed as marshals and beat up opposition leaders. However, video feeds from August 11 inside Rajya Sabha showed a whole different story.

It was evident from the video evidence that the leaders of opposition unruly behaviour led to the ruckus in the Rajya Sabha. The opposition leaders not only disrupted the working of the house but also assaulted Marshals on duty. In a detailed report, the Director of Security in the Rajya Sabha had narrated how the MPs had dragged a female marshal and had assaulted others during the ruckus in the house in the Monsoon Session.

Following this, Rajya Sabha chairperson Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla resolved to conduct a thorough investigation into past unruly incidents and the best course of action to be taken in such cases.

Meanwhile, today, ahead of the winter session at the Parliament, PM Modi gave a statement to the media urging the members of the Parliament to maintain the dignity of the House, the Speaker and the Chair. During his address, PM Modi said that the government is ready for the discussion, to give answers to every query but there should be peaceful and productive discussions in the Parliament.

Policy on booster shots likely to be presented in next two weeks, govt plans to immunise 44 crore children: India’s COVID-19 task force chairman

OpIndia Staff
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Policy on booster shots likely to be presented in next two weeks, govt plans to immunise 44 crore children: India’s COVID-19 task force chairman

Amidst the renewed scare of a fresh bout of coronavirus outbreak following the emergence of a much more virulent and infectious ‘Omicron’ COVID-19 variant, the Indian government on Monday said it will formulate a policy for vaccine booster shots in the coming two weeks.

Dr N K Arora, India’s COVID-19 Task Force Chairman informed that a comprehensive policy on additional and booster doses for the COVID-19 vaccine will be made public in the next two weeks. He added that the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation(NTAGI) of India was working on a policy for COVID booster shots, and the same would be released in December.

“A comprehensive policy on additional and booster for COVID-19 will be made public in the next two weeks by the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation(NTAGI) of India,” Dr N K Arora said while speaking to news agency ANI.

In addition to this, the chief of India’s COVID task force also revealed that a detailed plan to vaccinate 44 crore children under the age of 18 years would also be shared soon. He suggested that prioritisation in vaccination will be given to children with comorbidities.

Besides vaccinations, Dr N K Arora also weighed in on the new COVID-19 variant ‘Omicron’, adding that the data so far has shown that the mutation was highly transmissible. “We see that there is a lot of talk about this new variant for the last 6-7 days. The WHO within 48 hours declared this virus as a ‘variant of concern’. There are scientific and robust biological reasons for that. The number of mutations is far too many,” he said.

The new variant ‘Omicron’ has sent countries across the world into a tizzy, forcing them to impose restrictions that they had grudgingly relaxed. The variant, which was first detected in South Africa, and has since then been found in many European countries, prompting nations to impose travel bans from places where it has been detected. Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting on Saturday to review the preparedness and the vaccination situation with regards to the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting lasted around 2 hours and the emergence of the Omicron variant was also discussed. The plans for relaxing international travel restrictions were also discussed in light of the Omicron variant.

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