A Right to Information (RTI) request filed by India Today has revealed that leftist ‘intellectual’ and ‘economist’ Amartya Sen has availed free air travel by Air India flights on 21 occasions between 2015 and 2019. Sen was awarded India’s highest civilian award i.e. Bharat Ratna in the year 1999 for his work in welfare economics.
Bharat Ratna awardees are eligible for a lifetime of free air travel on Executive class in Air India flights. Just like other civilian awards in India, Bharat Ratna does not entail anyone to add prefixes or suffixes to their name. However, the Vajpayee government in 2003 had granted the perk of free air travel to all such awardees.
Screengrab of the RTI reply, image via India Today
While responding to the RTI query by India Today, Air India informed, “The procedure for issuance of free tickets to Bharat Ratna awardees was circulated by erstwhile Indian Airlines on 25/08/2003 (August 25, 2003).”
The original 2003 circular by Indian Airlines read, “The above decision has been taken as a mark of respect to the esteemed personalities for their highly acclaimed contribution in their respective fields. It is, therefore, our endeavour to provide all assistance in facilitating their travel requirements.”
Only Amartya Sen has been the beneficiary of the free Executive class air travel
Besides the ticket price for Bharat Ratna awardees, all taxes and levies are borne by Air India. Although the tickets are issued for Economy class, they are then upgraded to Executive class. The RTI had revealed that economist Amartya Sen has availed the perk 21 times between 2015 and 2019. However, Air India could not reveal the monetary cost of such travels as the data is not stored.
Screengrab of the RTI reply, image via India Today
The RTI has further revealed that Amartya Sen is the only Bharat Ratna awardee who has been a beneficiary of the scheme. Although 48 people have been awarded India’s highest civilian award (14 posthumously), only four of them are currently alive. They include Lata Mangeshkar, Sachin Tendulkar, Professor C N R Rao and Amartya Sen.
Amartya Sen: An unauthorised occupant of land belonging to Visva Bharati University
In December last year, Amartya Sen‘s name had come up in the list of people illegally occupying the land belonging to Visva Bharati University in West Bengal. According to reports, the varsity had written to the West Bengal government that several properties belonging to it had been wrongly recorded in the name of private parties. A list of such unauthorised occupants prepared by the University included the name of Amartya Sen.
The properties wrongly recorded in the name of unauthorised occupants include the girls’ hostel, academic department, office, and Vice Chancellor’s bungalow. The University had alleged that their names were wrongly recorded in the government’s record-of-right. It further informed that the University’s land had been wrongly transferred to them and they had set up restaurants, schools and other businesses on it.
After Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party targeted the Indian Government over the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ programme, senior party leader Shashi Tharoor is attacking the Union Government for halting exports of Covid-19 vaccines in light of the second wave of the pandemic.
Shashi Tharoor cited a comment by WHO chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan to say that the government should hang its head in shame over the vaccine export ban. He said, “When a senior WHO official, a distinguished Indian, says India’s decision to ban vaccine exports has had a severe impact on 91 nations, the would-be “vishwaguru” should hang its (governmental) head in shame.”
Source: Twitter
Ironically, this comes after Priyanka Gandhi has been relentlessly targeting Prime Minister Modi for exporting vaccines that ‘belong’ to Indian children.
Source: Twitter
Rahul Gandhi, too, has been attacking the Government over the same issue.
Source: Twitter
Under such circumstances, it is bizarre that Shashi Tharoor, and by extension, the Congress party, is attacking the Indian Government because export of Covid-19 vaccines have been brought to a halt.
The entire narrative of India “sending doses abroad” is misplaced as the doses of vaccines sent to friendly nations under ‘Vaccine Maitri’ is a small percentage of what India has already provided to its own citizens. Also the ‘Vaccine Maitri’ initiative has built an enormous amount of international goodwill for India, reflective in the support and help India is getting from several nations to battle the second wave of Covid crisis.
But even so, the initiative was heavily criticised by the Congress party while it now says the Indian Government should hang its head in shame. The NDTV report, too, in a bizarre fashion attacks Vaccine Maitri while blaming the government for halting exports.
The NDTV report says, “Not only did India fail to place bulk orders for its own citizens last year, it exported approximately 66.3 million doses by April 16 this year — touted as Vaccine Maitri, an attempt to help friendly nations while showcasing India as the world’s vaccine-manufacturing hub.”
“Hit by the onset of the devastating second wave, New Delhi quickly banned these exports, redirecting supplies, instead, to states within the country and opening up the vaccination programme to priority age-groups. In the process, dozens of nations depending on supplies through Gavi were left high and dry,” it added.
Quite clearly, it is a ‘Heads I win, Tails you lose” situation and an agenda-driven criticism of the Indian Government. Adding to that, the Congress party is engaging in flip-flops that would put anyone to shame.
Other ‘journalists’ are also jumping on the bandwagon with criticism that hardly makes any sense.
Source: Twitter
While it is true that African countries have not received adequate amount of vaccines, it appears bizarre to blame India for the same instead of developed western countries, some of which are indulging in vaccine hoarding.
Source: Twitter
Quite clearly, it is a dedicated effort to tarnish India’s reputation and the Congress party is actively participating in the same without consideration for India’s reputation. During the devastating second wave of the pandemic, the Government was heavily criticised over unavailability of vaccines and Vaccine Maitri.
Now, the same individuals are casting aspersions on the government for halting exports of the same.
Earlier in April 2021, after the state governments constantly demanded liberalised vaccine policy and a greater say in vaccine procurement, the central government complied and empowered states to procure the vaccines directly from the manufacturers. However, now it seems that states are finding it incredibly difficult to procure vaccines on their own.
Several states across the country have reported that their bids to procure COVID-19 vaccines have elicited no response from the vaccine manufacturers. This has inevitably led them to demand the centre to procure the vaccines on their behalf and distribute it among the states. Back to square one.
Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das today wrote a letter to the Union Health Minister, highlighting non response from the vaccine manufacturers to the global tenders floated by the Odisha government. He has urged the Centre for the procurement of global vaccines at the national level, rather than asking individual states to procure vaccines to inoculate their population.
Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das in a letter to Union Health Minister highlighted that States which floated global tenders are facing non-response of vaccine manufacturers and urged for procurement of global vaccines at country-level, rather than individual States. pic.twitter.com/zDPtqOkkn3
In his letter, Das pointed out that global vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer & Moderna are concerned about indemnity-related issues & are willing to deal with only federal-level government at this stage, adding that they’ll require Centre-level statutory clearances for supplying to States.
“Since the above are in the domain of the union government, it might be faster and economical if the procurement of global vaccines is made at the country-level rather than by the individual states,” the letter further added.
Odisha Health Minister stated that domestic vaccine giants Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech even refused to participate in pre-bid meeting.
However, the Odisha health minister proposed that states be given the flexibility to design and decide on the distribution of vaccines taking local factors into consideration.
Odisha is the not the only state that is facing trouble receiving bids for its global tenders. There are several states who have floated tenders for vaccines but have so far garnered no response from the vaccine manufacturers.
Uttar Pradesh government extends deadline after it received no bids to its global tenders for vaccine procurement
Earlier today, Uttar Pradesh also failed to get any response from international vaccine manufacturer to its global tender floated to procure over 4 crore vaccines in the next six months. After it received no response from the vaccine manufacturers, the Uttar Pradesh government was forced to extend the last date for the opening of technical bids to 10 June, a report published in The Print said.
Suffering from a shortage of vaccine, the Yogi Adityanath government’s State Medical Supplies Corporation Limited had floated global tenders on 5 May to procure vaccines directly from global manufacturers. It had originally planned to open the technical bids on 21 May, which was first extended to 31 May and now to 10 June.
Delhi government’s global tender on vaccine procurement receives a lukewarm response from vaccine manufacturers
Earlier last month, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal lamented that Pfizer and Moderna had told his government that they don’t deal with state governments individually and will sell the COVID-19 vaccines directly to the central government. He urged the central government to procure Pfizer vaccines immediately to stop the spread of the virus. From being an ardent supporter of decentralisation of vaccine procurement, Kejriwal took an about-turn and urged the central government to intervene and procure on behalf of the states.
It is worth noting that Kejriwal is pushing the centre to purchase Pfizer’s vaccine, which is untested in India. Importantly, Pfizer is yet to conduct any efficacy trials for its vaccine in India, even as it seeks an indemnity clause for its vaccine.
Moderna turns down Punjab government’s request for vaccine procurement
Similarly, the Punjab government’s efforts to procure vaccines for its population hit a snag when Moderna passed up the government’s request for vaccine procurement, saying it does not supply directly to states. After Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh directed officials on May 20 to float global tenders, the government had written to the manufacturers of the Pfizer, Moderna, Sputnik V, and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. However, it did not receive an encouraging response as Moderna turned down its request and said that it only deals with national governments.
Jharkhand CM demands centre to procure and distribute free vaccines for his state
Most recently, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren pulled an Arvind Kejriwal-kind of U-turn when he demanded the centre to provide free vaccines for all beneficiaries in the 18-45 age group. This comes after Soren had pompously announced that his government would provide free vaccines to everyone above the age of 18 years. In April, Soren had tweeted that his government will vaccinate everyone in the 18+ age group free of cost.
However, with the shortage in vaccines and state governments eliciting no response from the vaccine manufacturer, Soren imitated Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who has been asking for the centralisation of the vaccination program after advocating decentralization. Soren cited the state’s incapability to procure vaccines owing to resource crunch after announcing free vaccines for everyone in the 18+ age group back in April. He said that the exorbitant pricing to vaccinate 1 crore 57 lakh beneficiaries in the age group of 18 to 44 years would lead to a burden of 1,100 crores on the state exchequer.
Maharashtra receives no bids for its global tender on vaccines
Maharashtra’s efforts to tide over the COVID-19 crisis with external vaccine procurement got no response as none of the vaccine manufacturers responded to the global tenders floated by the government. As of May 25, the state had not received any response from the vaccine manufacturer. However, the tender floated by the Municipal Corporation body of Mumbai did reportedly attract 8 bids, but none of them was from manufacturers.
From demanding a greater say in vaccine procurement, States pass the buck on the Centre for procuring vaccines
It is worth noting that at the start of the ferocious second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, several states, most notably Delhi, Maharashtra and many opposition-ruled states had assailed the central government for its centralised vaccine policies. They had demanded the Centre to relax its vaccine policy and empower states in vaccine procurement. The central government had eventually obliged and granted states the power to directly procure vaccines for their population from the manufacturers. In the new directive issued by the central government, states were to source 50% of the vaccines, while the centre will supply the rest.
The states had also demanded the Modi government to extend the vaccination to the age group between 18 to 45. Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government was at the forefront of this demand, exhorting the centre to authorise vaccination for everyone above the age of 18, in a bid to stop the inexorable spread of the virus. More than a month later, Maharashtra is among those states that have temporarily halted the vaccination of its population belonging to the age group of 18 to 45.
The Modi government had earlier held back the vaccination of people in the age group of 18 to 45 because of the supply constraints of COVID-19 vaccines. However, as the cases continued to surge, the state government tried to push the blame of their incompetence in stemming the spread of the virus on the central government, criticising it on its vaccine policy.
Now, as the coronavirus cases show a decline, the state governments are using this opportunity to once again attack the central government and abdicate themselves of the responsibility of vaccinating their own people. With the discontent among people brewing due to the unavailability of the vaccines, the state governments have deftly pivoted from their previously held stance and asked the central government to procure vaccines on their behalf and extricate them from their predicament.
Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli on Tuesday issued a clarification that he is a vegetarian and not vegan after he drew criticism for revealing that he consumes eggs in his diet during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on Instagram few days back.
“I never claimed to be vegan. Always maintained I’m vegetarian. Take a deep breath and eat your Veggies,” Kohli tweeted.
I never claimed to be vegan. Always maintained I’m vegetarian. Take a deep breath and eat your Veggies (if you want ?)??✌️
Kohli, who is currently quarantined in a hotel in Mumbai with team India, held an ‘AMA’ (ask me anything) session on Instagram. One fan asked him about his diet. In that, he revealed he eats lots of vegetables, some eggs, 2 cups of coffee, daal, quinoa, spinach and dosas, but all in controlled quantity.
However, Kohli’s explosive claim that he continues to consume eggs despite being a self-avowed vegetarian and vegan did not sit well with a host of social media users, who called out the cricketer for his contradictory claims.
Kohli’s claim that he is a vegetarian does not hold water, given that strict vegetarianism does not entail the consumption of eggs. A vegetarian diet does not include any meat, poultry, or seafood. It is a meal plan made up of foods that come mostly from plants. Since eggs are a product of poultry, they are not considered a part of vegetarianism. Of late, many vegetarians have taken to consuming eggs. However, they are referred to as, in popular parlance, eggetarians.
Virat Kohli had earlier claimed he had turned vegan for health reasons
Additionally, Kohli claimed in his tweet that he has never claimed to be a vegan. However, a report published in the Times of India in 2018 asserted that the prolific Indian cricketer had indeed turned vegan. Veganism is a practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. A vegan diet also excludes milk and eggs, which are both obtained from animals.
Kohli had earlier claimed that he had turned completely vegan, adding that his wife, Anushka Sharma, who is a vegan, had played a crucial role in bringing about this dietary transformation in his life. Recently, in 2020, Kohli reiterated being a vegan and mentioned a few health reasons for being the same during an Instagram chat with former English cricketer Kevin Pietersen.
“I had a cervical spine issue which resulted in a tingling sensation in my little finger, making it difficult for me to bat. It happened around the Centurion Test in South Africa in 2018. Moreover, my stomach became a bit acidic, my uric acid went high and my stomach started pulling calcium from the bones which actually resulted in the spine issue. Hence, I had to cut down on meat and now I feel better than ever,” Kohli had said during the chat.
The Congress party has created a hullabaloo to stall the ongoing construction work at the Central Vista project by the Modi government, even though the idea was originally conceptualised by the grand-old party. Amidst the ongoing political tug-of-war surrounding the project, a 2018 tweet by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has gone viral online.
In the tweet dating May 22, 2018, Shashi Tharoor shared pictures of his visit to the new Malaysian Parliament and had sought for upgrading the Indian Parliament. “Visited the Malaysian Parliament & entered the empty chamber of the Lower House. Felt a pang of envy: Each MP has their own nameplate, plush leather swivel chair, laptop &mike. We in the LokSabha sit crammed on benches with no leg room to stand, let alone swivel. Time for an upgrade!” he had tweeted 3 years ago.
Screengrab of the 2018 tweet by Shashi Tharoor
Although the Congress Parliamentarian from Kerala had lamented in 2018 about the lack of adequate space in the current Parliament, he and his party members were seen rubbishing the idea of the Central Vista Project. On May 9 this year, Shashi Tharoor had shared an article written by Kapil Komireddi titled, “Modi’s ghastly Delhi dream.” The Congress MP said, “A coruscating read: Kapil’s erudite and well-researched takedown of the govt’s grand central vista scheme.”
Screengrab of the 2021 tweet by Shashi Tharoor
Several netizens called out the Congress leader for his doublespeak and changing his stance out of political opportunism. A fired-up Tharoor took to Twitter to try and undo the damage caused due to his U-turn. He claimed, “I see lots of Central Vista apologists making hay out of my 2018 tweet.” His tweet further read, “The Parliament upgrade I sought could have been achieved by converting the Central Hall of the present Parliament into the Lok Sabha with all the facilities I admired in the Malaysian one. No new building needed.”
Screengrab of the tweet by Shashi Tharoor
Why the Central Hall of the current Parliament cannot be upgraded as proposed by Shashi Tharoor?
In ‘defence’ of his earlier tweet, the Congress Parliamentarian had claimed that the Central Hall of the existing Parliament could have been upgraded to accommodate the facilities of a new and modern parliament, like the Malaysian one he was so envious about. However, nothing can be further from the truth. It must be mentioned that the present Central Hall of the Indian Parliament is about 678 square metres while the Lower House (Lok Sabha) Hall in the new building will be 1340 square metres.
Moreover, the Central Hall of the Parliament is used to hold joint sessions of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. While Lok Sabha has 552 seats, the current Rajya Sabha has about 245 seats. In total, the total strength of Parliamentarians stands at 797. However, the Central Hall has a sitting capacity of just 430 seats, which is lower than the sitting capacity of even the Lok Sabha. Given that the Central Hall is just 679 square metres, it is not possible to extend its sitting capacity further or equip it with facilities that Shashi Tharoor had sought.
To add salt to the wound, the major problem arises while conducting joint sessions of the Parliament. With a sitting capacity of just 430 seats, not all 800 members can participate in a joint session discussion. As such, temporary chairs and benches are arranged so as to ensure that the other members could sit. For one of the fastest-growing economies of the world, this is rather an undignified sight. While Shashi Tharoor tried to come up with a credible defence of his 2018 tweet to appease his masters in Congress, his justification is rather juvenile and flawed.
ON May 31, it was reported that the fugitive father of child activist Licypriya Kangujam, Kangujam Kanarjit aka Dr KK Singh, was arrested in a joint operation by Delhi Police and Manipur Police. He is accused of fraud, assault and criminal breach of trust. As per reports, he had duped multiple people with amounts as high as Rs 19 lakh.
It has to be noted that Licypriya has raised her voice for several campaigns in the past which are not even related to her activism. The child activist’s Twitter account is run by her guardian and earlier it stated it was her father.
Several questionable remarks and the use of photographs available in a public forum to assert her agenda and campaigns have raised eyebrows in the past. She is currently running a campaign to collect money so that she can help Covid-19 patients on Ketto. As OpIndia have found some discrepancies in the past in similar campaigns where FCRA regulations were not followed, we decided to look into her campaign as well.
FCRA regulations not followed
The first thing that we noticed in her campaign that as usual there was no respect for the regulations laid down by the Government of India while accepting foreign donations. In the fundraiser, where Licypriya has raised over Rs 75 lakh so far, we found many foreign donations. As There were 2709 donors listed by the time we published the report, it was decided to check the top hundred most generous donations.
Screenshot of Ketto campaign by Licypriya. Source: Ketto
There were 66 foreign donations in the top hundred most generous donations. The amount she had collected the foreign donations included USD 31720 (Rs.23,08,365.53), EUR 1484 (Rs.1,32,062.63), GBP 1220 (Rs. 1,26,326.20) and SGD 250 (13,785.03). It makes a total of Rs.25,80,539.39 as per today’s exchange rates. [We used XE.com to convert different currencies to Indian Rupees. All calculations were done on June 1, 2021.]
Top 25 most generous donations on Ketto. Source: Ketto
It has to be noted that as she is a minor, she has been withdrawing money in her mother’s name from Ketto.
In her campaign, she mentioned an organization named Noble Citizen Foundation and claimed that she transferred the money to this organization to procure oxygen concentrators from China. Noble Citizen Foundation then used one MH Traders Co. located in Delhi that deals in import and export to import oxygen concentrators. So far, everything appears alright but the problem started when we tried to dig more into Noble Citizen Foundation.
As per the organization’s website, it is located in New Delhi. It is registered as a Non-government company in August 2020. It has to be noted that according to Section 8, Companies Act 2013, a company can be registered to promote sports, commerce, art, science, education, research, social welfare, religion, charity, and protection of the environment or any such other object. In such companies the profit, if any, is used in promoting the objective. It prohibits paying any dividend to its members. Such companies do not need to add any suffix such as Pvt. Ltd. or Ltd. in the name.
OpIndia consulted Sandeep Kanoi, founder Taxguru, who said that in any case, to receive foreign funding they have to register for FCRA. In this case, Noble Citizen Foundation is possibly breaking the law by accepting foreign funds collected by Licypriya.
Under FCRA 2010, such companies are eligible to get FCRA certification in case they want to accept foreign funding. We tried to find if they have FCRA certificate, but we could not find their name in the list of organizations that have obtained FCRA certificate in 2020 and 2021 on the FCRA website. Even on its website, there was no information on their FCRA account. However, on the donation page, they have written that if anyone wants to donate to the organization from outside India, the person can mail to a specific mail ID. We have emailed them and asked about the process they are using to accept the foreign donation.
Noble Citizen Foundation has asked to contact them in case someone from outside wants to donate. Source: NCF website
Updates missing from Ketto fundraiser
There is one update that Licypriya shared on her social media accounts that are missing from the Ketto fundraiser. As it is related to the purchases they have been making, it is unclear why they did not share it on Ketto. In the update, she shared details of a fund transfer that they made to one Guangzhou Minicky Trading Co Ltd in China amounting to USD 15150. It also mentioned that the total contract with the said company was USD 50500.
The information of the transfer is missing from Ketto fundraiser page
It has to be noted that on Ketto, Licypriya had shared Proforma Invoice in which a company named Shenzhen Xishi Trading Co Ltd had shared estimate for the oxygen concentrators.
Shenzhen Xishi Trading Co Ltd’s proforma invoice is available on Ketto fundraiser page
The details of funds transferred to Guangzhou Minicky Trading Co Ltd are not only missing from the Ketto page but the details of any such transfer is also not available in the account statement they had shared on Ketto. The amount should be close to Rs.11 lakh but there were no transfers between May 8 to May 12 anywhere close to that amount. There was one transaction close to the amount but that done on May 17 to MH Traders Co.
Notably, the address of Guangzhou Minicky Trading Co Ltd is also different from what we could find online. Also, the company deals in toys, clothes etc. It is unclear why she transferred such an amount to a company that possibly do not even deal in oxygen concentrators.
Information available on Guangzhou Minicky Trading Co Ltd
MH Trader Co has little to no information available
MH Trader Co, the firm with which Noble Citizen Foundation had very little information available online. From the details available, it is unclear if they import medical equipment or not. There were no contact details available either from where we could get more information about the firm.
MH Trading Co has very little information available online. No contact information could be obtained.
Licypriya Kangujam and Noble Citizen Foundation
When we tried to find a connection between Licypriya and Noble Citizen Foundation, we noted that the founder of the organization and Licypriya knew each other for years. In one of the tweets from February 2020, Sahil calls her his Mentee. Interestingly, the tweet has now been deleted.
Sahil has been deleting tweets since KK Singh’s arrest
Notably, Sahil has also travelled with Licypriya’s father in 2019. There was a tweet in which he had shared photos with KK Singh but the tweet has now been deleted as well. In the tweet he had written, “Every day is a new adventure in this country. The challenges here have toughened its people and yet the heart here know compassion and love. I am proud to call this country my home. Motherland Wonderful ride with KK Singh Sir, Chairman IYC”. It looks like since Singh’s arrest, Sahil has been trying to cover his tracks on Twitter.
Now-deleted tweet in which Sahil was seen travelling with KK Singh
Noble Citizen Foundation’s address mismatch on invoice and website
When we looked at the address of Noble Citizen Foundation, the address available on website is different from the address mentioned on the invoice.
Address mismatch of Noble Citizen Foundation
Similar questions have been raised earlier by a twitter user Herin and The Frontier Manipur which can be checked here and here. Sahil’s attempt to remove evidence of connection to KK Singh, previous questions raised on the father-daughter duo and inconsistent information available on the fundraiser and possible FCRA violations have raised several questions on Licypriya and Noble Citizen Foundation that they need to answer.
OpIndia had earlier curated how her father took everyone for a ride by conning them. There were also reports of Licypriya herself faking her achievements to gain popularity.
As England’s biggest vaccination centre broke the prioritization policy to inoculate everyone in the 18-30 age group, thousands of Britishers reached the Twickenham Stadium located in southwest London resulting in absolute mayhem.
Thousands of people vaccinated at @twickenhamstad today. Still spaces and vaccine left: now open to all 18 and over who can get here before 7.30pm!
A Twitter user who had rushed to the stadium after coming across the Tweet made by the authorities inviting all above 18 for the jab, shared his not-so-pleasant experience on Twitter.
The netizen shared a video of the holding area of the stadium where thousands can be seen flouting the basic Covid-19 norms with no social distancing and masks. “This is the moment the pen changed from being socially distanced, to a stampede!” a Twitter user named Doug Morton said sharing a video.
This is the moment the pen changed from being socially distanced, to a stampede! pic.twitter.com/VMjBC5XPYm
As per Doug’s viral tweets, after 90 minutes of wait and moving three different lines, he was sent back home because of a vaccine shortage. “They were clearly not prepared for this much demand at all! Now I have a 2-hour walk home because the public transport is unusable,” he said in his Tweet.
Looool waited 90 minutes before getting told there’s no vaccine left. Got moved to three different queues by officials before getting told this. They were clearly not prepared for this much demand at all! Now I have a 2 hour walk home because the public transport is unusable. pic.twitter.com/ISNf9aPJlk
The user then went on to share his day’s experience and misadventures.
I walked 2 miles, now I’m getting an Uber. I was at work all day, then cam here and I haven’t eaten anything since midday. ? I am FINISHED! pic.twitter.com/eJSYpMQhE8
The video has gone viral on Twitter, with many people around the world commenting on the mayhem and lack of social distancing at the stadium.
Official authorities proud of the arrangements
As per a report, a Twickenham Stadium spokesperson said that they were “proud” the venue was hosting one of the “biggest walk-in vaccination events” in England.
While the ones who arrived early found the process to be smooth, but eventually many had to be sent back due to vaccine shortage as the day progressed.
Up to 15,000 Pfizer vaccine doses were offered up as part of Twickenham’s “Let’s Tackle COVID” event. As per reports, the authorities had opened vaccination for under 30s after 2.30 pm and soon thousands of people flocked there, and the centre ran out of doses by 6.45 pm. Over 100 healthcare workers were deployed for the drive.
UK in early stages of the third wave: Reports
An eminent Indian-origin scientist and professor of the University of Cambridge Ravi Gupta has warned the British government of the early signs of a third wave of the pandemic. Gupta who is a member of the government’s New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group urged Prime Minister Boris Johnson to delay the planned June 21 reopening of the country by a few weeks.
The professor informed that although the new cases of the B.1.617 variant of the Covid-19 are relatively low, it has fuelled “exponential growth” in the cases.
On Sunday, the UK reported more than 3,000 new coronavirus cases for the fifth day in a row.
The state of Uttar Pradesh, under the supervision of CM Yogi Adityanath, embarked on a massive Covid vaccination drive starting June 1 (Tuesday). The drive, which has been coined as ‘Mission June’ by the CM, intends to inoculate 90 lakhs to 1 crore beneficiaries across 75 districts of the state in the month of June.
According to a statement by the Uttar Pradesh government, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given instructions to the state government officials to ensure that all the sections of the society receive a vaccine shot under ‘Mission June’.
Yogi Adityanath has taken to Twitter to announce the same. He confirmed that under this initiative free vaccinations would be provided to all the people of the state who are above 18 years. He urged everyone to take their jab “Tika jeet ka”, and help defeat Covid-19.
आज से प्रदेश के सभी 75 जनपदों में 18 वर्ष से अधिक आयु के सभी नागरिकों के लिए निःशुल्क कोविड टीकाकरण महाभियान प्रारम्भ हो रहा है।
कोविड प्रोटोकॉल का पालन करते हुए इस महाभियान को सफल बनाएं।
आप सभी लगवाएं “टीका जीत का” और कोरोना की पराजय सुनिश्चित करें।
The Uttar Pradesh CM also shared a video of him personally visiting K D Singh Babu stadium in Lucknow, where the ‘Mission June’ inoculation drive kickstarted today.
के.डी. सिंह बाबू स्टेडियम, लखनऊ में कोविड टीकाकरण के महाअभियान का शुभारंभ… https://t.co/c8sxyWr6TP
“Our goal is to give shots to 90 lakhs to 1 crore people across 75 districts of the state in the month of June. For this, 2100 booths have been set up across these districts to inoculate 18+ beneficiaries. In order to vaccinate 45 and above age category people, more than 3000 booths are being made across the state. We have a sufficient amount of vaccine vials available to meet our target,” said the Chief Minister while addressing a high-level meeting on Monday.
“Special camps have also been set up for journalists, government employees, and members of the judiciary. Similarly as amsny as 200 “guardian booths”, where parents of children below the age of 12 can get themselves vaccinated have been set up in all districts,” informed Yogi Adityanath.
The chief minister also announced a special vaccination drive for socially and economically weaker sections like drivers, vendors, and rickshaw pullers and daily wagers, who come in contact with many people due to their nature of work, from June 15.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been indulging in moral grandstanding over the Chief Secretary controversy. The central government had recalled Alapan Bandyopadhyay after the latter betrayed protocol but the state government has refused to release him from service.
After Bandyopandhyay did not show up to report to the department of personnel, public grievances and pensions (DoPT) in New Delhi, he was served with a show-cause notice.
While Mamata Banerjee is feigning shock and making allegations against the central government that are pretty much indefensible, there are glaring discrepancies between her comments and the constitutional framework.
‘The order is legally untenable and unconstitutional’
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Banerjee wrote, “I must confess that I have been shocked and stunned by the unilateral order dated 28th May, 2021, sent to us by the Government of India, asking us to release Alapan Bandyopadhyay, IAS, Chief Secretary, West Bengal, so that he may join the Government of India on 31st May, 2021, the normal date of his superannuation.”
“The unilateral ‘order’ comes without any prior consultation whatsoever with the government of West Bengal, without any volition/option of the officer, without meeting any of the pre-conditions of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, and other applicable laws under reference. The unilateral order/directive is legally untenable, historically unprecedented and wholly unconstitutional,” she added.
In reality, the Chief Secretary falls under the All India Services. Sources within the Government said, “She knows that facts of the matter are against the Chief Secretary and his behaviour was such that it will invite strict disciplinary action as he is an All India Services Officer and it was his duty to ensure that the review meeting takes place as scheduled. All India Officers are not expected to be part of politics.”
‘GoI extended his service by 3 months’
Mamata Banerjee admitted that the Union Government extended Bandyopadhyay’s service period by three months. The central government has cited this as evidence that it is cooperating with the state government.
“The fact that GoI had agreed to extend the service of Chief Secy shows that it is acting in full co-operation and without malice against West Bengal,” sources said.
‘You revised structure of meeting’
Mamata Banerjee also said that inviting Suvendu Adhikari to the meeting was “unacceptable”. However, he is the leader of opposition and an MLA from the affected area. Sources said, “There have been numerous meetings in the past in non-BJP ruled states where representatives of other parties have been present.
‘Chief Secy sent messages, we received no response’
Mamata Banerjee said that the Chief Secretary had sent messages to the officer accompanying the Prime Minister but received no response in turn. However, the Central Government says it is only another excuse to gloss over the fact that she did not want to attended the meeting due to Adhikari’s presence.
Sources said, “Mamata Banerjee chose to boycott the review meeting because the LOP of West Bengal was present. No issue was created by GoI on this, because what mattered was Cyclone relief activities. It was suggested to her that PM will meet her immediately after the review meeting as that was the reason for which he traveled to West Bengal. Sensing that she may have to wait till the review meeting gets over, she chose to prevent other officers too from attending the meeting and in effect cancelled the review meeting scheduled by the Prime Minister.”
‘You permitted us to take our leave’
The Chief Minister claimed that she was given permission to leave by the Prime Minister but sources said that no such permission was given.
The Chief Secy saga
Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced that Alapan Bandyopadhyay had retired from the post of chief secretary. “Since Alapan Bandyopadhyay has retired today on May 31 from his service, he is not going to join in Delhi,” Mamata said, adding that he will continue as the chief advisor to CM for the next three years.
Sources said that the retirement is evidence that the Chief Minister is on the “back foot” and called it a “last bid to save him”.
After Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma threatened Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar for publishing a report on vaccine wastage in the state with legal action, the media house responded. It shared the picture of the 500 vials with the batch number and the expiry date, which the Hindi daily said its investigating team picked up from the dustbins of these various vaccine centres in Rajasthan.
OpIndia had reported on May 31 that an investigation conducted by Hindi news daily Dainik Bhaskar has found that around 500 vaccine vials discarded in dustbins in 35 vaccination centres in 8 districts in the State. These vials contained more than 2500 doses. During the probe, Bhaskar found that the wasted 500 vaccine vials were filled up to 20-75%. It has raised concerns about the claims of ‘vaccine shortage’ made by the Rajasthan government.
Hours after Dainik Bhaskar published its report posting a picture of the wasted vials to fact-check Rajasthan Health Minister’s claims of ‘misleading’ report, the minister responded. In his Tweet, the Congress alleged claimed that the picture Dainik Bhaskar has posted to substantiate its claims is that of “expired and discarded” vaccines. He claimed they have been kept in a yellow disposable bag according to the rules laid down by the Biomedical Waste Management rules of the Government of India.
मैंने दैनिक भास्कर में प्रकाशित फोटो गौर से देखी और तत्काल जांच करवाई।
जांच से स्पष्ट हुआ कि यह फोटो पीले बैग की है, जिसमें भारत सरकार के बायोमेडिकल वेस्ट मैनेजमेंट नियमों के अनुसार एक्सपायर्ड एवं डिस्कार्डेड वैक्सीन वाइल्स डालनी होती है। (1/2) pic.twitter.com/ZV5ZSoHNTQ
The Rajasthan minister had on May 31 also taken to Twitter to post a series of Tweets, in which he called the investigative report by Dainik Bhaskar “misleading” and “bereft of facts”. He warned legal action against the journalist who wrote the “fake news”. He claimed that he has asked the State health department to conduct a detailed investigation into the report published by the Hindi daily maligning the Rajasthan government.
ऐसी झूठी अफवाह फैलाने एवं स्वयं की गलत पहचान बताने के लिए संबंधित व्यक्ति पर कार्रवाई की जाएगी। स्वास्थ्य विभाग ने उक्त अखबार के प्रबंधन को अपनी विस्तृत जांच रिपोर्ट उपलब्ध करवाकर उचित कार्रवाई के लिए अवगत कराया है। (4/5)
Following the report by Dainik Bhaskar, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on May 31 (Monday) had also written to the Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma over reports of wastage of Covid-19 vaccine doses in the state.
Citing reports published in Hindi dailies ‘Dainik Bhaskar’ and ‘Rajasthan Patrika’ over high vaccine wastage in Rajasthan, Dr Harsh Vardhan urged Raghu Sharma to look into the matter.
Dr Harsh Vardhan wrote in his letter: “In almost all districts of Rajasthan, vaccine wastage is more than the national average of less than 1%. Further, the Dainik Bhaskar article has also highlighted that more than 500 vials of Covid-19 vaccines were found in the waste bins of 35 Covid-19 vaccination centres in the state.”
“The high wastage, you would agree, is not acceptable,” he added.
The Union Health Minister also took to Twitter to share the letter he had written to Sharma. His Tweet in Hindi roughly translates to: “Taking serious cognisance of reports of wastage of Covid-19 vaccine doses in some places in Rajasthan, I’ve written a letter to state health minister @RaghuSharmaINC and urged him to look into the issue. I’ve also asked him to make better preparations at the local level to avoid wastage of vaccine doses”.
राजस्थान के कुछ ज़िलों में कोरोना वैक्सीन की बर्बादी की ख़बरों को गंभीरता से लेते हुए मैंने राज्य के स्वास्थ्य मंत्री श्री @RaghusharmaINC जी को पत्र लिखकर मामले की जांच करने को कहा है।
In his subsequent Tweet, he quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to write: “Wastage of even a single dose means failure in protecting an individual from Covid-19.” He added in the same tweet that all states and Union territories (UTs) should target zero vaccine wastage. Dr Harsh Vardhan shared the Dainik Bhaskar report in his Tweet to warn the Rajasthan Govt over vaccines wastage.
एक वैक्सीन बर्बाद होने का अर्थ है एक व्यक्ति को आवश्यक सुरक्षा प्रदान करने में अक्षमता :पीएम मोदीजी
सभी राज्यों व केंद्र-शासित प्रदेशों को zero vaccine wastage को अपना लक्ष्य बनाना होगा।
Dainik Bhaskar also revealed that during the investigation, its team, on May 28, found burnt Covid-19 vaccines in the drain near Lamba Harisingh Primary Health Center in Rajasthan’s Tonk district. When the doctor present there was asked about the burnt vial, he claimed they had burnt the empty vial.
When the Bhaskar team told the doctor on duty that if any person who has been inoculated developed any kind of adverse symptom and the authorities would want to know from which batch of jabs that particular person was vaccinated, then how could that be ascertained if the empty vials are not retained. The doctor reportedly told the Bhaskar team that they did not get any such order from the state government that the vial has to be preserved after vaccination.
Rajasthan Govt’s failure in handling the Covid pandemic
As per the Union government, the state has wasted about 11.50 lac Covid-19 doses between January 16 and May 17. However, the state government has alleged that only 2% of the total doses have been wasted. In the investigation conducted by Bhaskar, it found that the rate of wastage of Coronavirus vaccine doses was a whopping 25%.
The wasted vials were recovered by Bhaskar, which will be handed over to the Principal Secretary of Rajasthan Health Department Akhil Arora. He has assured to initiate an investigation into the matter.
It was earlier reported Rajasthan had recorded the highest percentage of Covid-19 vaccine wastage. Reportedly, a total of 11.5 lakh doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, which amounts to almost 7 percent, was wasted in the Congress-ruled state.
Moreover, reports had revealed last month that in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, 1,500 ventilators received under the PM CARES Fund are lying unused and unopened. These ventilators were received over ten months back. Reports stated that of these 1,500 ventilators, 230 are faulty but even amid the raging Chinese coronavirus pandemic, these ventilators have not been repaired and put to use.
The Rajasthan Government’s callousness in handling the pandemic does not end at this. On May 23, Jaipur’s largest state-run Covid-10 facility RUHS CMS Hospital recorded 442 deaths of patients on ventilator support in just 20 days. The main reason cited for these deaths was not cleaning and maintaining the ventilators on a regular basis.
On May 8, OpIndia reported how 21 people died in less than 3 weeks in a village in Rajasthan after Coronavirus protocols during the burial of an infected patient were violated.
Moreover, recently it was reported how discrepancies were found in COVID death records and the number of cremations in Rajasthan. A report by Dainik Bhaskar had pointed out that the government of Rajasthan had reported 3918 deaths between April 01 to May 20 from 25 districts, however, 14,482 cremations had taken place in just 512 village blocks during the same period.
