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China’s ‘out-of-control’ rocket debris disintegrates over the Indian Ocean, lands near the Maldives

OpIndia Staff
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China’s ‘out-of-control’ rocket debris disintegrates over the Indian Ocean, lands near the Maldives

On May 9, the debris of China’s largest rocket codenamed ‘Long March’ re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It disintegrated over the Indian Ocean. Based on the provided coordinated point of impact by China Central Television (CCTV), a state-sponsored media network, the segments of the rocket now lies west of the Maldives archipelago.

Space-Track, a space monitoring agency that relies on data provided by the US military, also confirmed the fact that the rocket had fallen in the ocean. The agency wrote, “Everyone else following the #LongMarch5B re-entry can relax. The rocket is down. You can see all relevant information and updates here on Twitter/Facebook, so there is no need to keep visiting the space-track dot org website.”

There were speculations that the rocket may fall on a populated area causing severe damage. However, experts had said a majority of the earth surface is covered with water, the maximum possibility was that the rocket would fall into an ocean. A major chunk of the rocket was destroyed on re-entry into the atmosphere.

AFP cited CCTV and said, “After monitoring and analysis, at 10:24 (0224 GMT) on May 9, 2021, the last-stage wreckage of the Long March 5B Yao-2 launch vehicle has re-entered the atmosphere, and the landing area is at 72.47° east longitude and 2.65° north latitude.”

China’s uncontrolled rocket was a big headache for the world

As per reports, it was a 21-ton part of the rocket that was tumbling towards Earth uncontrollably. The fears surrounding the rocket that it could crash on an inhabited land were not totally unfounded. If the rocket debris had landed over an inhabited area, it would have similar to a small plane crash.

Notably, the rocket which is uncontrollably falling back to Earth is the same space module whose launch was gloated upon by a Chinese Communist Party body to mock India’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. Last week, the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, on its official Sina Weibo account, posted photos of the Tianhe module launch and its fuel burn-off with what appeared to be a picture of a cremation ground in India and captioned “China lighting a fire versus India lighting a fire”. The post also included a hashtag denoting the new COVID-19 cases in India, which touched the 4 lakh mark on Saturday last week.

Afghanistan: Three bomb blasts near a girls’ school in Kabul’s Shia neighbourhood leaves 58 dead

OpIndia Staff
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Afghanistan: Three bomb blasts near a girls’ school in Kabul’s Shia neighbourhood leaves 58 dead

On Saturday (May 9) afternoon, multiple blasts took place outside a girl’s school in Kabul in Afghanistan, killing over 58 people and wounding around 150 victims.

As per reports, the terror began with a car bomb explosion outside the premises of Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School, followed by two rocket attacks. While speaking about the matter, the Interior Ministry of Afghanistan said that there were a total of 3 explosions, including a car bomb attack and 2 IED blasts. The incident took place when the students were leaving home from school.

Ibrahim, a teacher at the Sayed-ul-Shuhada High School informed that the majority of the victims of the terror attack were young girls. Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Ayan has expressed fears that the death toll might increase in the terror attack. As of now, no terror group has claimed responsibility for the dastardly attack. Reportedly, the attack took place in the Shia Muslim-dominated area of Dasht-e-Barchi, which was earlier been targetted by radical extremist outfit ISIS.

Afghan President condemns terror attack, blames Taliban

The incident was also condemned by the diplomatic mission in Kabul and the Afghanistan government. On Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani blamed the terror attack on the Taliban extremists in Afghanistan. However, the radical Islamist group has instead ‘condemnded’ the attack on civilians in the country. Reportedly, the family members of the victims have pinned the blame on the Afghan government and Western powers.

Family members of victims queue up outside morgues and hospitals

It was found that family members of the deceased were still collecting the dead bodies from the morgue while others have gathered outside the hospital in search of missing victims. One Mohammed Reza Ali, who had been helping the victims’ families remarked, “The entire night we carried bodies of young girls and boys to a graveyard and prayed for everyone wounded in the attack…Why not just kill all of us to put an end to this war?”

Himanta Biswa Sarma favourite to become new Chief Minister of Assam, could take oath on 10th May

OpIndia Staff
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Himanta Biswa Sarma favourite to become new Chief Minister of Assam, could take oath on 10th May

Assam leader Himanta Biswa Sarma is the frontrunner in the race to be the next Chief Minister of Assam, according to reports in the media. It is believed the outgoing Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal may be brought to Delhi eventually.

The Legislative Party of the BJP in Assam will meet on Sunday to decide the next Chief Minister of the state. According to The Shillong Times, Sarma’s name will be proposed for the position of Chief Minister of Assam.

Himanta Biswa Sarma and Sarbananda Sonowal reached Delhi on Saturday and met Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda and party general secretary BL Santhosh and Nadda’s residence. The duo later reached Guwahati late night on Saturday after the meetings.

In the state assembly poll results declared on May 2, 2021, BJP had won 60 out of 126 seats in Assam while its alliance partners Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) won nine and six seats respectively.

Sarma, a former Congress leader, joined the BJP in 2015, a year after the general elections. He could take oath as Chief Minister on Monday, 10th May.

Uttar Pradesh: Ghazipur DM relieves two doctors of district hospital from duty for allegedly denying admission and misbehaving with patients

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh: Ghazipur DM relieves two doctors of district hospital from duty for allegedly denying admission and misbehaving with patients

Along with increasing the medical oxygen availability in the state, Uttar Pradesh state government is also dealing with black marketing which is causing an artificial rise in demand. With the government trying to bridge the demand and supply gap, two doctors of Ghazipur district hospital allegedly refused to admit patients with oxygen levels below the regular mark citing lack of oxygen and also misbehaved with the kins.

In an audio leak that has gone viral on social media, the District Magistrate Mangala Prasad called the hospital upon receiving complaints of misbehavior and refusal to admission. 

The DM in the call can be heard interrogating the doctor on refusal to admit COVID-positive patients. When asked why was the patient not admitted, the doctor informed that the hospital has been facing a shortage of oxygen supply.

To this, the DM slammed the doctor asking why was a demand not made for additional oxygen cylinders and questioned on the shortage. Saying the administration has been counting every single oxygen cylinder being assigned to mitigate the shortage, the hospital should not be facing any shortage. 

The doctor who claimed he just resumed his shift, hustled to check with the emergency ward only to confirm that the hospital in fact is not facing any shortage of medical oxygen supply.

However, Dr. Raghunandan and Dr. Brijesh Rai, both of whom were posted in the emergency ward have been relieved from their duty after regular warnings to not misbehave with the patients and refrain from fear-mongering.

Covid situation in Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh logged over 26,000 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, however, the number of new corona cases is steadily declining in the state. 

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday informed that despite being the most populous state of the country, the state has fought corona effectively.

“It was predicted that UP will see one lakh positive cases per day from May 5 but as on May 8 we reported 26,000 cases. It means our COVID strategy and management is successful. From April 30 we’re seeing decline in cases and we also started special screening, testing in villages,” he added. 

Pakistan: Minor Hindu girl made to recite Kalma while getting raped, rapist ‘demand custody’ as she can’t return to ‘kafir parents’

OpIndia Staff
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Pakistan: Minor Hindu girl made to recite Kalma while getting raped, rapist ‘demand custody’ as she can’t return to ‘kafir parents’

In yet another case of religious persecution, a minor Pakistani Hindu girl was gang-raped for over 4 days and forcibly converted to Islam.

On Wednesday (May 5), a Pakistani Hindu rights activist Rahat Austin shared the ordeal faced by the victim on Twitter. As per Austin, she was gang-raped constantly over four days by one Muhammad Tanveer and his aides in Goth Ghulam Muhammad in Karachi in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

In a video shared by the rights activist, the accused could be heard demanding the custody of the victim. “She recited Kalma (Islamic oath of allegiance) during rape, she’s Muslim now. She can’t live with infidels (Kuffars). She must be handed over to us,” they demanded. Unfortunately, the victim had to re-live her horror as she was confronted by her perpetrators in the presence of her family members.

Forced conversion of a minor Hindu girl in Sindh

This is not the first time that such a case of religious persecution of minority Hindus by Pakistani Muslims had come to light. Last month, a 13-year-old Hindu girl from Kandhkot area of Sindh was reportedly abducted and then forcibly converted to Islam. A video of the incident, which had gone viral on social media, was shared by Pakistani journalist Naila Inayat on Twitter.

In the video, the minor girl could be seen sitting on the ground with a mob surrounding her and recording the video of the conversion ceremony. According to Inayat, the conversion ceremony was facilitated by notorious cleric Mian Mithoo of the Bharchundi mosque. Reportedly, Mithoo is a hardline cleric and politician and is notorious for systematically carried out kidnappings and forced conversions of poor Hindu girls.

‘Dominance of one religious group cannot prevent religious celebrations of other’, says Madras HC after local Muslims object to Hindu procession

OpIndia Staff
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‘Dominance of one religious group cannot prevent religious celebrations of other’, says Madras HC after local Muslims object to Hindu procession

A petition was filed before the Madras High Court pertaining to the conduct of temple processions through a Muslim-dominated locality at V Kalathur in the district of Perambalur in Tamil Nadu, reported news agency PTI.

Reportedly, some local Muslims in the area have been objecting to the conduct of Hindu processions since 2012. The community had dubbed the Hindu festivals as ‘sins’. The petitioner had therefore approached the police for providing protection during the conduct of rituals and processions. The same was provided by the law ernforcement authorities with restrictions.

When the matter came up for hearing before the Madras High Court, a 2-Judge Bench of N Kirubakarn and P Velmurugan noted that religious intolerance is detrimental to the secular fabric of the country. The Court noted that if such a ‘resistance’ to the conduct of religious festivals is reciprocated by another religious group, it might lead to riots and chaos.

While reading out the affidavit presented by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, the Madras High Court observed that objection to temple processions was raised from 2012 onwards. The Judges observed how no such problem existed prior to 2012. The Court pointed out how objections were raised by the Muslim community despite the Court granting permission to the Hindus to carry out temple processions (in accordance with Section 180A of the District Municipalities Act 1920).

Observations made by Madras High Court

The Madras High Court remarked, “Merely because one religious group is dominating in a particular locality, it cannot be a ground to prohibit from celebrating religious festivals or taking processions of other religious groups through those roads…If religious intolerance is going to be allowed, it is not good for a secular country. Intolerance in any form by any religious group has to be curtailed and prohibited.”

“In this case, intolerance of a particular religious group is exhibited by objecting for the festivals which have been conducted for decades together and the procession through the streets and roads of the village are sought to be prohibited, stating that the area is dominated by Muslims and therefore, there cannot be any Hindu festival or procession through the locality,” the court further added.

The Judges reiterated that the dominance of one religious group in a locality cannot be a reason to curtail religious processions of another religious group through the locality. The Court argued that if such a rationale is accepted, then, minority communities would not be able to celebrate their festivals in most parts of India. The Madras High court concluded that similar acts of ‘resistance’ by other religious groups would result in loss of lives, destruction of properties, riots, religious fights and chaos.

“Too much pressure on me, I can give one machine to each Khan Market friends”, Navneet Kalra’s purported audio clip goes viral

OpIndia Staff
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“Too much pressure on me, I can give one machine to each Khan Market friends”, Navneet Kalra’s purported audio clip goes viral

Days after Delhi Police carried out raids on three restaurants and recovered 524 oxygen concentrators, the police have accessed an audio clip where businessman Navneet Kalra, the owner of all three restaurants, can allegedly be heard marketing and discussing the allotment of the oxygen concentrators.

According to the reports, the Delhi Police has recovered an audio clip in which Navneet Kalra is allegedly heard discussing the allotment of oxygen concentrators to his “friends” in the Khan Market area.

In the audio clip, Navneet Kalra can be heard saying that he has “too much pressure” on him and he cannot answer all the calls.

“I have 2 lakh calls to attend, so I won’t be able to answer each and everybody’s personal question. Which model is sent to you is detailed in the self-explanatory messages…I can give one machine [oxygen concentrator] per person to the people in Khan Market for their use,” Navneet Kalra is heard saying.

Further, Kalra in the audio says that if anyone needed a machine, then they have to block by 3 o clock. “I am out of machines, so I can’t allocate the machines to even Khan Market friends. So please share this message…I have too much pressure on me,” Navneet Kalra is heard saying.

Delhi Police raids Navneet Kalra’s restaurant in Khan Market

It is pertinent to note that Delhi Police on Friday had recovered 105 oxygen concentrators during the raids at two restaurants – Khan Chacha and Town Hall, situated in Lutyen Delhi’s Khan Market. On Thursday, Delhi Police had also recovered 419 oxygen concentrators from a restaurant-cum-bar in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony area.

Navneet Kalra is the owner of all three restaurants. Following the raids, Kalra switched off his mobile phone and believed to have fled the city. It is important to note that Navneet Kalra was felicitated by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government in 2020. He was among the 48 personalities honoured as ‘Delhi ke Nirmata’ by the AAP government after returning to power.

According to the police, Kalra took orders for oxygen concentrators were taken via an online portal as well as through WhatsApp groups. The accused has been importing the oxygen concentrators since October last year. As demands for Oxygen concentrators increased in February this year, he imported more such machines and stored them at different restaurants.

The seized oxygen concentrators were imported from China by a company. The cost of one oxygen concentrator was between Rs 16,000 to Rs 22,000. However, the accused were selling the machines at exorbitant prices anywhere between Rs 50,000 to 70,000.

The Delhi Police had also arrested another person identified as Gourav Khanna in connection with hoarding of Oxygen concentrators at a popular restaurant Khan Chacha in the national capital.

The 47-year-old Gourav Khanna, the CEO of Matrix Cellular Services Ltd, was arrested in connection with the alleged black marketing of the Oxygen concentrators. Khanna’s companies were involved in importing the equipment, said Delhi Police. The Delhi Police had said that Matrix Cellular had received a consignment of 650 oxygen concentrators, of which 524 have been recovered.

Centre gives nod for experimental use of drones to deliver vaccines

OpIndia Staff
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Centre gives nod for experimental use of drones to deliver vaccines

From rails to road to air, the Government of India is leaving no stone unturned to expand its capacities to battle the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. In an innovative move, the Civil Aviation Ministry has given a nod to the Telangana government to use drones for experimental delivery of vaccines using drone flights.

Sharing the update via a Tweet, “MoCA grants conditional exemption from Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021 to Government of Telangana for conducting experimental Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone flights for delivery of vaccines,” informed the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

“This exemption will remain valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of the said SOPs or until further orders, whichever is earlier,” said the letter of approval.

Order letter by Ministry of Civil Aviation

In a press release from the office of Telangana IT and Industries Minister K. T. Rama Rao, the airspace in Vikarabad has been identified for the project and is currently being reviewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

Informing about the commencement of the trials, the Union Ministry in another Tweet informed, “approval of the proposed airspace for trials is to be obtained from MHA. SOPs need to be approved by @DGCAIndia. Trials likely to commence by May end.”

Trial model and planning

Subject to clearances, the drone flight trials will be conducted with the Area Hospital in Vikarabad as the hub. The program which is said to be spread over 24 days will include four batches of selected firms performing sorties for six days each.

The release additionally stated that the payload would be vaccine cold storage boxes equipped with temperature sensors and data loggers to record the performance. 

The project, as per the official statement, aims at achieving dual objectives of faster vaccine delivery and limiting human exposure to COVID-19 prone areas.

Currently, one of the conditions for the trial remains the maximum permitted height for drone operations that is at not more than 400 feet Above Ground Level (AGL).

Project ‘Medicine from the Sky’

The initialization of supplying vaccines through drones will also mark the beginning of the ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project launched by Mr.Rama Rao in late 2019. An initiative of the Emerging Technologies Wing of the State IT Department in partnership with the World Economic Forum, the program invited participants for the study which included undertaking flights under the project in Vikarabad. 

Bengaluru Hospitals use drone

Last week four Bengaluru hospitals made use of drones to deliver vaccines and medicines within their campuses to improve the availability of drugs in Covid wards. The hospitals- Victoria, Vanivilas and Bowring government hospitals — and the Jagjivan Ram Nagar Referral Hospital deployed drones manufactured by Chennai- headquartered Garuda Aerospace.

‘India does not need lecture from anyone on vaccine supplies’: French Pres Macron expresses solidarity with PM Modi

OpIndia Staff
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‘India does not need lecture from anyone on vaccine supplies’: French Pres Macron expresses solidarity with PM Modi

As India fights the deadly pandemic Covid-19, France – one of the country’s trusted allies, has affirmed its faith in India’s leadership to tackle the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. Addressing the India-EU virtual summit, French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday expressed his solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of 26 other EU leaders saying India did not need a “lecture from anyone” on vaccine supplies.

Amidst the massive propaganda unleashed by a section of foreign media to humiliate and shame India in international fora over its Covid-19 strategy, especially on the supply of vaccines, French President Macron asserted that India does not need to be ‘lectured from anyone’ on vaccine supplies. French President also highlighted India’s vaccine exports to several countries in the time of the pandemic. 

“India does not need to listen to lectures from anyone about vaccine supplies. India has exported a lot for humanity to many countries. We know what situation India is in,” the French President said. The virtual summit was attended by Germany’s Angela Merkel and the EU president Ursula von der Leyen and amongst leaders of the European nations.

Condemning first world countries for blocking vaccines to other countries, President Emmanuel Macron said that the immediate priority of the developed countries should be to first donate more doses to poor countries.

“Evidently, we must turn this vaccine into a global public good,” President Macron said. He also added that the European Union was leading the way in vaccine donations and called for the United States and Britain to share more.

Vaccine Maitri initiative by India

Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India had yet again come to the world’s aid by successfully supplying vaccines to its neighbouring and other developing countries at an extremely affordable cost, besides giving away millions of doses to friendly nations for free. At a time when Covid-19 wreaked havoc across the world, India exported indigenous vaccines to as many as 95 countries under its ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative.

More than 67 million COVID-19 jabs have been exported to countries worldwide, including Iran, Uganda, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Brazil, amongst others since India began manufacturing the vaccines. However, the export of vaccines to other countries has been currently stopped as domestic requirements have increased.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath gets on the ground to boost people’s confidence in fight against coronavirus pandemic

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath gets on the ground to boost people’s confidence in fight against coronavirus pandemic

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday visited homes of people in Muradabad and asked them if they are doing well amid the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

As per reports, he first visited the COVID command centre and then went on to meet the people in Manoharpur village. He asked people if they are getting required medicines and they are taking precautionary measures to fight coronavirus.

He also visited Bareilly where he instructed the administration to be prepared for a third wave of the pandemic. He instructed the officers to ensure that the beds and oxygen supply is increased. He said that the third wave of the pandemic could be a reality and hence they should not let their guards down. The UP CM also added that the state government and the central government are working together to deal with the second wave of coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking to media, Yogi Adityanath informed that in past eight days, over 65,000 active coronavirus cases have been reduced in the state.

On Saturday, UP recorded 26,636 new cases and 34,721 recoveries. The active cases in the state currently stand at 2,45,736.

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