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Oxygen concentrator black marketing: Delhi court pulls up Govt and Police, grants bail to accused from Matrix cellular

OpIndia Staff
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Oxygen concentrator black marketing: Delhi court pulls up Govt and Police, grants bail to accused from Matrix cellular

On May 12, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi pulled up the Delhi Government and Delhi Police in the case of oxygen concentrator hoarding and black-marketing over an incorrect statement made by the officer-in-charge of the case. The court was hearing a plea submitted by Gourav Khanna, the chief executive officer (CEO), Gaurav, business head, Sathish Sethi, manager, and Vikrant, sales executive at Matrix Cellular. The court granted bail to all four accused.

The public prosecutor informed the Saket court that the accused had cheated the government as he failed to disclose the MRP for imports in “violation of orders passed last year”. Questioning the nature of the offence, the Magistrate asked if the same model was sold at a higher price, it could be said that the seller has hiked the price. “But if they say the model is out of stock and you buy a different model, how is that wrong? Where is the statement?” the Magistrate asked the investigating officer.

According to the Police, Matrix Cellular received a consignment from China that contained 650 oxygen concentrators. The Police recovered 524 concentrators from the company. They were selling them at the price of Rs.70,000 apiece. It was alleged that Gaga Duggal, owner of Matrix Cellular who lives in London, helped his friend Navneet Kalra to import oxygen concentrations and sell them at triple the actual price.

Statement of complainant missing from case diary

While answering the Magistrate, the investigating officer admitted that the statement of the complainant was missing from the case diary. The admission irked the Magistrate, who said, “You don’t know what the proceedings are. I have called for the case diary. Am I not entitled to see the case?”

The court pulled the Delhi Government for making an incorrect remark on the witness statement that did not exist in the case diary. He said, “Is doing business in this country an offence? You say we won’t impose lockdown, so businesses are not affected. Now, these people have imported. There are no allegations of tax or customs duty evasion.”

The court further said that as per the documents submitted before him, the company had made all the payments, and the tax department was informed about it. He said, “The officer has not yet been able to negate the story that they imported something and paid Customs duty. All payments have been accounted for, IGST, SGST has been paid. If the government is accepting, the tax department has the information. Nothing was concealed.”

The court further questioned why the state did not invoke necessary act to prevent hoarding and black-marketing. The court said, “The court is unable to comprehend as to why the provisions of Prevention of Black Marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of the Essential Commodities Act, 1980 are not being invoked by the state, if the state wants to stop black marketing.”

Navneet Kalra’s bail plea order reserved

On the other hand, additional sessions judge Sandeep Garg had reserved the order on the pre-arrest bail plea by Navneet Kalra. He will announce the order on Thursday after hearing the arguments of the defence and the prosecution. Atul Srivastava, the Public prosecutor, informed the court that the Police need to interrogate Kalra in Police custody, and bail should not be granted to such an influential person. “His intention was to cheat the public at large and wrongfully gain. Had Delhi Police not busted the racket, many people would have been cheated,” he said.

Vikas Pahwa, Kalra’s advocate, argued that as there was no ceiling price fixed by the government, how his client could be accused of selling the concentrators at a higher price. “There is no MRP fixed by the government to date. How will you decide if the prices are exorbitant?” he asked the court.

“There is a request from the ministry to this company that we want 100 concentrators. What happened suddenly,” asked the court. The Magistrate added that if private companies are overcharging and misusing the shortage of resources in the market, it is the government’s job to control it.

‘You are arresting people to appease the high court’

The Magistrate, while pulling the government, said that the arrests were made to appease the High Court. He said, “You can’t just arrest people because we want to appease the high court. You promulgated the order on May 7 that you can’t sell over MRP. This FIR is of May 5. On that date, there was no crime. There were no regulations.”

The court further added that the government is trying to hide its failures. “Just to hide your failure, you are showing that we are arresting people. You’re creating a terror of punishment. That’s not the government’s job. When there is no law, you create the law first,” said the court.

Modi govt to procure 1.5 lakh units of DRDO’s ‘Oxycare’ through PM CARES Fund

OpIndia Staff
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Modi govt to procure 1.5 lakh units of DRDO’s ‘Oxycare’ through PM CARES Fund

In a significant decision, the Modi government on Wednesday approved the procurement of 1,50,000 units of the ‘Oxycare’ system at the cost of Rs 322.5 crore. The Oxycare system is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Oxycare units were developed by the DRDO’s Bengaluru-based Defence Bio-Engineering and Electro Medical Laboratory (DEBEL) for soldiers posted at extreme high-altitude areas. The system aims to optimise the usage of oxygen based on the SpO2 reading of the patient and thus effectively increasing the utility of the oxygen cylinders.

“The intelligent configuration includes a system for automatic regulation of Oxygen through a Low Pressure Regulator, Electronic Control System and an SpO2 Probe in addition to the basic version,” the centre said.

The system comes in two variants – Manual and automatic. The Modi government has procured 1,00,000 manual and 50,000 automatic oxygen systems with non-rebreather (NRB) masks for immediate usage. The automatic system provides a suitable audio warning for various failure scenarios, including low SpO2 values and probe disconnections.

The non-rebreather masks are the face masks connected to a reservoir bag that allows a patient to intake only pure oxygen. A patient using an NRB mask is unable to inhale anything he or she exhales. A non-rebreather mask typically delivers 70 to 100% oxygen, thus increasing the consumption from a single-cylinder by 30 to 40%.

The DRDO has already transferred the technology to multiple industries in India for large-scale production of the Oxycare system. The Oxycare system developed by DRDO will lessen the workload of hospital staff by a large extent as the need for routine measurements, and manual adjustments of oxygen flow are not be needed.

Earlier on April 28, PM Modi had sanctioned the procurement of 1,00,000 portable oxygen concentrators. PM Modi had instructed that these concentrators should be procured on a war footing and sent to the states that have the highest case burden in the country.

On the same day, PM had also sanctioned 500 PSA (pressure swing absorption) oxygen plants from the PM CARES fund, in addition to 551 PSA plants that were sanctioned earlier.

French President Macron’s party bans hijab wearing candidate to contest election, says hijab on election poster goes against secularism

OpIndia Staff
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French President Macron’s party bans hijab wearing candidate to contest election, says hijab on election poster goes against secularism

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist ruling party has barred a hijab-wearing Muslim candidate from running in a local election after she was photographed in the hijab for an election campaign poster. Macron’s La Republique en Marche (LREM) clarified that in secular France, there should be no place for the overt display of religious symbols like the hijab on electoral campaign documents or electoral paraphernalia.

The poster where Muslim candidate appears wearing a hijab

“This woman will not be an en Marche candidate,” Stanislas Guerini, LREM’s general secretary, told RTL radio, referring to Sara Zemmahi, the barred hijabi candidate.

According to Reuters, an LREM official close to Guerini said that Zemmahi would be officially informed of the party’s decision in writing.

In the poster, Zemmahi is pictured wearing a white hijab, a religious symbol worn by Muslim women, standing alongside three other people. The words “Different, but united for you” on the flyer appear to be a message in favor of diversity.

The controversy broke out when opposition leader Jordan Bardella, number two in Marine Le Pen’s right-wing party, tweeted the image of the poster on Twitter, rhetorically asking, “Is this how you fight separatism?”

In response to this tweet, Stanislas Guerini demanded on Twitter itself for the flyer be withdrawn or the candidate Sara Zemmahi lose the party’s support.

Another LREM legislator, Roland Lescure, told Reuters: “It’s an explosive subject. Political Islam is a reality, it is a simmering threat in some neighborhoods and we have to be very firm.”

French soldiers warn, ‘Islamism will lead to civil war’

In a second warning to the French government, a group of presently serving French soldiers published an open letter in a conservative magazine warning the French President Macron of a brewing ‘civil war.’ 

The letter raised concerns over the survival of France, warning the President against the ‘concessions’ he made to Islamism despite being aware of the potential threat. 

The letter, which received 76,461 anonymous signatures, comes ahead of the 2022 polls where Macron’s main opposition is said to be the right-wing leader Marine Le Pen.

An interactive poll conducted last week observed that 58% of French people agreed with the sentiments in the letter.

Watch: Israel Defence Forces destroy 14-floor terrorist hideout inside Gaza in a precision airstrike

OpIndia Staff
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Watch: Israel Defence Forces destroy 14-floor terrorist hideout inside Gaza in a precision airstrike

On Wednesday, the Israel Defence Forces carried out airstrikes against Palestinian terrorist hideouts inside Gaza after Islamic terrorist group Hamas launched massive rocket attacks targetting Israeli cities.

According to the reports, the Israel Defence Forces destroyed a 14-floor Al-Shorouk Tower in central Gaza City on Wednesday in a precision strike. This is the third such high-rise building to be destroyed by the IDF since the escalation of violence began on May 10, 2021.

Hamas terrorists reportedly used the high-rise buildings in Gaza to plan and carry out terror attacks against Israel. The Hamas used these buildings situated in the centre of the city to house its military intelligence officers and communicate tactical information.

As attacks from Gaza intensified, killing more than 30 Israeli citizens, the IDF launched a precision airstrike to destroy the hideout. Prior to the strikes, the IDF had warned the residents and had also asked the local people to evacuate. Israel military said that they are targeting militants in Gaza in response to earlier rocket attacks.

Israel said they killed 16 members of the Hamas military wing in an airstrike on Gaza on Wednesday. Israel’s Shin Bet security service said the brigade commander for Gaza City was among the senior members of the Islamist terror group Hamas who had been killed in the airstrikes.

Here is a video of the airstrikes carried out by IDF on the multi-storey building that housed Hamas terrorists:

Earlier, Israel had carried out similar airstrikes on rocket launch sites, Hamas offices and the homes of Hamas leaders. Israeli officials said at least 41 Palestinian terrorists have been killed in the Gaza hostilities so far. 

Following the airstrikes, Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the Israeli strikes were “just the beginning”.

“Terror organisations have been hit hard and will continue to be hit because of their decision to hit Israel. We’ll return peace and quiet for the long term,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive after Gaza terrorists unleashed a massive terror on Israel by launching a barrage of rockets at the densely populated Tel Aviv metropolitan. More than 130 rockets have been launched by Hamas on Wednesday in retaliation to anti-terror operations carried out by Israel.

The Israel-Palestine clashes:

The long-standing territorial-control issues between Israel and the pro-Palestinian forces have once again escalated, resulting in large scale violence and attacks. The court ruling of eviction of illegal Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in east Jerusalem has stoked tensions and sparked fresh violence in the region.

Prior to the latest exchange of fire, Israeli police were attacked by Palestinians inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday. The Israel police had come under severe attack by Palestinians, who pelted stones and unleashed heavy attacks on them inside the Al-Aqsa compound. More than 21 officers were wounded after attacks by Palestinians during the attacks on Monday.

Following the Israeli retaliation, the terror outfit Hamas escalated its attack on Israeli civilians by launching hundreds of rockets against Israel. At least five Israelis have been killed after Hamas launched hundreds of rockets from the Gaza Strip. In response to the rocket attacks, the Israeli army has struck some 140 targets in the coastal enclave after Hamas openly joined Palestinian terrorists to intensify the clashes between the two sides.

Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who once hailed ‘Shaheen Bagh dadi’, wishes for safety for Israel, gets hate from Islamists and ‘liberals’ in return

OpIndia Staff
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Israeli actress Gal Gadot, who once hailed ‘Shaheen Bagh dadi’, wishes for safety for Israel, gets hate from Islamists and ‘liberals’ in return

Amid the conflict between Israel and Hamas and Palestinian Islamic jihadis, Israeli actress Gal Gadot put up a tweet praying for peace.

She tweeted that her country (Israel) is at war and she worries for her family and friends and the people of Israel. “This is a vicious cycle that has been going on for far too long. Israel deserves to live as a free and safe nation. Our neighbors deserve the same. I pray for the victims and their families. I pray for this unimaginable hostility to end, I pray for our leaders to find the solution so we can live side by side in peace,” she tweeted.

However, soon the ‘liberals’ and Islamists descended upon her timeline with angry, hateful tweets, accusing her of being a genocide enabler.

Despite the fact that the Palestinian terrorists were attacking Israel with rockets and missiles, the Islamists accused Israel of ‘perpetrating a televised and documented ethnic cleansing’.

They also gave a call to boycott her movies and called her a ‘murderer’.

Some Islamists even claimed that Israel as a country does not exist and hence there is no ‘my country’ that she mentions in the tweet.

One Twitter user, whose heart apparently pains for ‘Palestine’, wished death upon Gal Gadot for wishing for peace upon her country.

Some also used this opportunity to hate on Jews.

Some ‘liberals’ also felt that her pray for peace for her country was ‘meaningless’.

All this while choosing to overlook the terrorism inflicted by Hamas on Israeli people. Gadot served as a soldier in the Israel Defence Forces for two years before taking a plunge into modelling and acting.

In December 2020, Gadot had hailed the ‘Shaheen Bagh Dadi’ Bilkis Bano, who was one of the prominent faces in the anti-CAA protests which culminated into anti-Hindu riots in February 2020. Bilkis was a prominent part of the protests that were organized as India decided to give citizenship to religiously prosecuted people from neighbouring Islamic countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

However, she soon deleted her Instagram story hailing Bilkis while the post continued to be up on her profile.

Israel-Palestine conflict

Conflict between Israel and Palestine escalated when Palestinian terror unit Hamas fired multiple rockets at Jerusalem, and the Israeli Defense Forces responding back in kind. The main reason behind the current conflict is the Sheikh Jarrah property dispute, a dispute which can lead to the evictions of around 300 Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighborhood.

Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint indulges in tragedy porn while emotionally manipulating a grieving family of RSS worker

Jinit Jain
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Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint indulges in tragedy porn while emotionally manipulating a grieving family of RSS worker

As the ferocious second wave of the coronavirus outbreak continues its relentless march across the country, taking precious lives in its wake, some individuals and media portals have resorted to vulture journalism, in their bid to discredit the Modi government.

One such individual is the founder of the left-leaning media portal ThePrint, Shekhar Gupta, and his colleague Fatima Khan, who tried to exploit the death of an RSS worker to allege that the Modi government did not step in to help an RSS worker, who was infected with COVID-19 and had sought help on Twitter.

Source: The Print

The article penned by Khan and published on Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint alleged that an RSS worker Amit Jaiswal, who was followed by PM Modi on Twitter was left in the lurch by the government in his battle against COVID-19. Citing his anguished family, who is still grieving the loss of their loved one, the article on ThePrint went on to assert that PM Modi and his government did not “intervene” to help one of their earnest supporters.

Twitter user Alok Bhatt busts propaganda busts ThePrint’s anti-Modi propaganda

This falsehood was decisively debunked by a Twitter user Alok Bhatt, a close associate of the deceased RSS worker Amit Jaiswal. Posting a string of tweets, Bhatt elaborated how the government and RSS workers went all out to help Amit, but unfortunately could not save his life.

In a scathing attack, Bhatt alleged that while Amit was killed by the coronavirus once, Shekhar Gupta and his portal ThePrint killed him again by sensationalising his death and trying to extract political mileage out of it. He accused ThePrint of running a one-sided story, without bothering to reconcile the facts or corroborate the claims with the hospital in which Amit was admitted.

The article on ThePrint alleges that Amit did not get a bed in Agra and therefore he had to get his mother admitted to a hospital in Mathura. Rubbishing this assertion, Bhatt revealed that Amit chose to admit his mother to the Niyati hospital because the hospital was one of his clients. Bhatt also has an audio recording of the conversation between Vikas Saraswat and Amit’s childhood friend Vipul Bansal to prove the claim.

After admitting his mother to the hospital, Bhatt says, Amit called his friend Vipul at 11 in the night and told him that he too is not feeling well. Vipul asked Amit to come down to Agra and offered to get a bed for him. However, Amit denied and instead got admitted to the Niyati hospital itself. Vipul called him again at 2 am and his sister, Sonu, confirmed that her brother is admitted to the same hospital.

Bhatt then added that Vipul could not speak to Amit as the latter’s phone was with his sister Sonu. After Sonu complained that the hospital was not briefing them, Vipul involved RSS Vibhag Pracharak as well as DM to ask the hospital to brief Amit’s family about his condition.

Meanwhile, Amit’s brother-in-law was dissatisfied with the treatment and thought of shifting him to Agra. However, after he got Amit discharged, his oxygen saturation level perilously dropped to 50, following which he was admitted once again at the Niyati hospital. As Amit was to be brought to Agra, Vipul had already spoken to Agra CMO for arranging remdesivir injections.

After Amit was readmitted to the hospital, Bhatt contacted UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s office and sent them screenshots of Amit’s tweet. They swung into action and asked Bhatt to convey about meeting CMO.

However, by then Amit’s brother-in-law had also arranged the remdesivir injection and was given to both his mother as well as him. All through this, Amit was kept on ventilator support. The next day when urgent demand for plasma came up, RSS swayamsevak Rahul Kaushik arranged plasma for both mother and son.

In addition, Vipul through Mathura DM also sent 10 cylinders of oxygen to Niyati hospital as they were running short of the lifesaving gas. Unfortunately, as Amit was critical and on ventilator support, his life could not be saved.

OpIndia contacted Vipul Bansal to seek more information on the revelations made by Alok Bhatt in his long Twitter thread. Vipul corroborated the claims, adding that the Sangh Parivar marshalled all the resources at its disposal to save Amit’s life. Vipul also mentioned that an RSS worker was deployed at the hospital round the clock to keep a check on Amit and his mother’s health and to provide any kind of assistance if needed.

There is another version too, where Jaiswal’s sister accepted that they did receive help from Jaiswal’s colleagues at the RSS. Sonu, who had just lost her brother, was perhaps emotionally drained and highly distressed. A person who has lost a loved one, is quite likely to say angry things in an emotional outburst. However, instead of giving a distressed family some space and letting them grieve the loss of a loved one, Gupta sends his vultures to settle political scores.

As can be seen, contrary to what ThePrint article would have us believe, the local RSS body, along with the Mathura and Agra administration, as well as the Yogi Adityanath government, steadfastly helped Amit in his fight against COVID-19. They arranged hospital, beds, oxygen, remdesivir injections, plasma etc. to assist Amit. Unfortunately, Amit’s health deteriorated and he could not be saved.

ThePrint, in their attempt to attack the Modi government, did not consider it important to corroborate the allegations made by the grieving family. Instead, the account of a grieving and traumatising family provided an opportunity to the left-leaning portal to peddle its anti-Modi propaganda. And it wasted no time in pouncing on the opportunity, showing callous disregard of journalistic ethics, and publishing unsubstantiated account to malign the Modi government.

“We decide our own foreign policy”, Bangladesh hits back at China for warning against joining the Quad

OpIndia Staff
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“We decide our own foreign policy”, Bangladesh hits back at China for warning against joining the Quad

Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr. AK Abdul Momen on Tuesday said that the country maintains an independent, non-aligned foreign policy that is in the best interest of the Bangladeshi people. This comment came in response to the Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh, who threatened Bangladesh with repercussions if it considered any sort of participation in the Indo-Pacific Quad.

“We’re an independent and sovereign state. We decide our foreign policy. But yes, any country can uphold its position,” Dr. Momen said on Tuesday.

Bangladesh also received diplomatic support from the U.S., who affirmed Bangladesh’s sovereignty to make foreign policy decisions for itself.

Chinese Ambassador’s blunt comments

Chinese Ambassador to Dhaka Li Jiming had said that the bilateral ties between the two countries will be “substantially damaged” if the country engages with the four-nation grouping of biggest naval powers in the region, the United States, India, Australia, and Japan.

Interacting with Bangladeshi journalists in Dhaka, Jiming bluntly said, “We do not want any form of participation of Bangladesh in this alliance.” He also added that China views the Quad as a “military alliance aimed against China’s resurgence and its relationship with neighboring countries”. He further called the Quad—the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue— ”a narrow purposed geopolitical clique”.

The Chinese Ambassador said that Bangladesh would not draw any benefit from joining the Quad, and advised it to refrain from any sort of participation in the group. “History has proved again and again such partnership surely damages our neighbors’ own social, economic development, and people’s wellbeing,” Li said.

The Indo-Pacific Quad

The Quad is an informal strategic alliance comprising India, the United States, Australia, and Japan. Officially, the group was conceived as a forum to cooperate for safeguarding joint security and other interests in the Indo-Pacific region. However, lately, the arrangement is seen as a counter to China’s expansionist maneuvers, most importantly in the South China Sea and in the Greater Himalayan region. Therefore, China considers the Quad as an attempt by the concerned nations to clip its rising dominance and looks at the group as a possible “Asian NATO’ of the future.

India and China have been at loggerheads over the latter’s expansionist moves in the region along the LAC in Eastern Ladakh. Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a months-long standoff along the border, which also resulted in clashes at the Galwan Valley where 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives. The discussions for de-escalation of troops since then are going at a painfully slow pace.

On the other hand, several littoral nations have complained of China’s rising hegemony in the South China Sea. Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and several other nations have reported incidents of intrusions by Chinese vessels.

United Nations raises India’s growth forecast for 2021 to 7.5%, says outlook ‘highly fragile’ due to COVID-19 second wave

OpIndia Staff
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United Nations raises India’s growth forecast for 2021 to 7.5%, says outlook ‘highly fragile’ due to COVID-19 second wave

Even as India grapples with the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, the United Nations has raised the country’s growth forecast by 0.2 per cent to 7.5 per cent for the fiscal year 2021.

However, the UN cautioned that the growth outlook of India was “highly fragile” as it is the “new hotbed of the coronavirus outbreak”.

The World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) released on Tuesday estimated that the Indian economy would grow at 10.1 per cent in the calendar year 2022, nearly double the 5.9 per cent growth projections for the country in its January report.

With the forecast of 10.1 per cent in 2022, India will become the fastest-growing major economy in the world, moving past China, which is predicted to grow at 5.8 per cent, markedly slower than the 8.2 per cent growth estimates for the year 2021.

Dr Aurodeep Nandi of Nomura says the downturn in the economy due to coronavirus outbreak is fleeting and less severe

Meanwhile, with India currently in the throes of the resurgent coronavirus outbreak, the Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI) fell to 64.5 for the week ended May 9 from 69.7 the prior week (i.e., 35.5pp below pre-pandemic levels). The drop in the NIBRI could be attributed to the rolling state-wide lockdowns that are having a debilitating effect on the sequential growth.

However, Dr Aurodeep Nandi of Nomura is upbeat on India’s resilience, stating that the effect on the GDP this time around will be likely lesser than the previous year. In an interview with the ET Now, Nandi said that in the last year’s lockdown, India was down by about 55 per cent levels. However, this year, the slump is relatively less as the indices suggest that India is down by 35 per cent vis-a-vis pre-pandemic levels.

Elaborating on how the downturn in the economy due to the second wave of the COVID-19 outbreak will be limited, Nandi explained that the first wave brought with it an element of shock and surprise, which devastated the economy. However, in the second wave, he argues, the economy and the consumers have grown used to the pandemic. Therefore, the damage to the economy this time is likely limited, he said.

Moody’s slashes India’s growth forecast to 9.3 per cent for the current fiscal year

Additionally, Moody’s Investor Services on Tuesday lowered India’s growth forecast for the current financial year to 9.3 per cent, stating that the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak restricts economic recovery and poses a risk of longer-term scarring.

The US-based ratings agency had forecasted 13.7 per cent growth for India in the month of February.

“The surge of the virus, which has been driven by a highly contagious variant, has put significant strain on India’s healthcare system with hospitals overrun and medical supplies in short supply,” Moody’s said.

However, it added that the impact of the lockdowns induced by the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak is not going to be as severe as the first wave. In the first wave, strict nationwide lockdowns were imposed to curb the spread of the virus. But in the second wave, localised lockdowns are being imposed, with only those area affected by the contagion being locked under. Businesses and customers have also grown accustomed to this new normal, Moody’s said.

Just as India’s economy was limping back to normal, the country was hit by a second wave of the coronavirus outbreak in March 2021, this time with a more virulent strain of the virus, prompting states and cities to impose lockdowns and restrict public movement. As a result, the economy and the businesses took a hit as state and local government enforced localised lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

‘Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will pay heavy price’, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu says terror leaders have blood on their hands

OpIndia Staff
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‘Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad will pay heavy price’, Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu says terror leaders have blood on their hands

After more than 1000 rockets rained from the Gaza Strip on Central Israel on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups will have to “pay a dear price” for their attacks on Israeli civilians.

Israel has vowed to increase retaliatory attack to bring a ‘total long-term quiet’ before proceeding with any truce.

However, the Prime Minister of Israel warned that “this campaign will take time” and the Israelis must follow all safety instructions issued by authorities.

While delivering statements alongside Defense Minister Benny Gantz and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, Netanyahu blamed the Palestinian terror groups saying “Their blood is on their own hands.”

“We stand united in the face of a vile enemy. We all mourn the dead and pray for the wounded and stand behind the IDF forces,” the prime minister said after a day that resulted in three fatalities from the airstrike including the death of an Indian nurse.

Statement by Israel’s Defense Minister 

Speaking after Netanyahu, Defense Minister Gantz said that the Israel Defense Forces keeps everyone safe, Jews and Arabs alike. He also called for calm between the two communities within the country.

However, the defence minister informed that retaliation will take place and that the IDF has identified “a great many targets in the pipeline” that it can yet strike in Gaza.

He added that the terror organizations “have been severely hit and will continue to be hit due to their reckless decision to fire at Israel.”

IDF Chief responds

IDF Chief Kohavi clarified that the Israeli military is only hitting hard the Palestinian terror groups in the enclave and has conducted over 500 targeted strikes in the past day and a half.

“We are determined to strike terror groups in the most serious way possible,” Kohavi reiterated.

The military confessed to having initially believed that Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of the State of Israel, was not interested in a full-blown conflict with Israel at this time. However, that assessment changed over the past two days after the Palestinian terror groups clubbed two events- unrest in Jerusalem after Al-Aqsa attack and eviction of Palestinian families from Sheik Jarrah to attack Israel.

Speaking at the same event, Israels’ Internal Security Agency Shin Bet chief Nadav Argaman announced that “now is not the time for talking” after the terrorist organizations unleashed mindless violence 

Attack on Israel

The Hamas terror group, which currently rules Gaza, claimed to have launched over 130 rockets at a time in a violent onslaught on Israel. According to Israeli forces, terrorists of Palestine Islamic Jihad are also launching rockets attacking Israel.

Israel has been kept engaged in retaliatory targeted airstrikes on terror base which resulted in the killing of two top Hamas leaders.

Giving an update, Netanyahu informed that the military has so far struck hundreds of targets in the Gaza Strip and assured that the raids will continue.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi ‘took note’ of Saamana editorial view over party’s poll debacle in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala, claims Shiv Sena

OpIndia Staff
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Congress president Sonia Gandhi ‘took note’ of Saamana editorial view over party’s poll debacle in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala, claims Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena on Wednesday claimed that even though Maharashtra Congress leaders do not read its mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, the interim President Sonia Gandhi has ‘taken note’ of its article, which raised questions on the Congress party’s inability to defeat the incumbent government in Kerala, Assam, and drawing a nought in West Bengal.

An editorial published on Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Wednesday said that Sonia Gandhi had raised important issues of the party’s failure in the recently concluded elections in the meeting of the Congress Working Committee. The Marathi publication said Congress seems to be affected by the defeat in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala. Raising questions on the responsibility for the lack of grass-roots leadership in the Congress, the editorial said that all three chief ministers of Assam, Puducherry and West Bengal were once a part of the Congress fold.

Sena advised Congress to self introspect and emerge as the leader of all opposition parties in future.

The editorial came against the backdrop of a humiliating poll drubbing that Congress received at the hands of the incumbent BJP in Assam and the LDF in Kerala during the recently held Assembly polls in the two states. On the other hand, West Bengal saw a pitched battle between the BJP and the TMC, with Congress struggling to maintain its relevance. As a consequence, it could not win a single seat out of the total 292 assembly seats.

Significantly, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole had recently said that he has stopped reading ‘Saamana’ and does not take things published in the Sena mouthpiece seriously. The Congress leader had also suggested that Shiv Sena should stop commenting on his party and its leadership.

However, the editorial published on Wednesday said that Sonia Gandhi asked the same uncomfortable questions over the Congress party’s defeat in the assembly elections which were asked through an editorial in ‘Saamana’.

“If senior Congress leaders have read the Saamana editorial and gave their feedback from the grass-root level to Sonia Gandhi, it is good,” said Shiv Sena in its article.

The article also fawned over the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, hailing him as a lone leader putting up a brave fight against the BJP despite the barrage of criticism levelled against him. “Rahul Gandhi is the commander-in-chief of the Congress party and his attacks on the government are very specific and to the point, ” the article said.

The article further added that Congress will have to fashion itself as a strong opposition party to fight the Modi government in future. It suggested Congress leave the Twitter world and get on the ground to connect with the people and restore their lost pride.

“At this time, all the opposition leaders to shun their Twitter existence and emerge on the political battleground. Coming to the ground doesn’t mean inviting crowds during the time of the pandemic, it means to question the government and hold it accountable,” the editorial said.

“The Congress party should take the lead in forging a united front of opposition political parties. Sonia Gandhi must be wanting to give the same message. She is still the Congress president and it is important to take note of her views,” it said.

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