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“We mean business. You will arrange everything now”: Delhi HC threatens contempt proceedings against centre if Delhi does not get allocated oxygen

OpIndia Staff
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“We mean business. You will arrange everything now”: Delhi HC threatens contempt proceedings against centre if Delhi does not get allocated oxygen

The Delhi High Court today slammed the union govt for inadequate supply to the hospitals in Delhi. During the hearing on the Covid-19 situation, the High Court expressed dissatisfaction that Delhi is not getting its allotted share of oxygen from plants outside the state, and threated to file contempt of court case against the Central Govt if Delhi does not get its allotted quantity of 490 MT of oxygen on Saturday.

A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli of the Delhi High Court is hearing a batch of oxygen shortage in Delhi, and today’s hearing was also like the previous days, with hospitals complaining that they are running out of oxygen. While the hospitals said that they are not getting adequate supply, the suppliers said that they are supplying the allotted quantity but the hospitals are demanding more oxygen.

After learning that hospitals in the capital are still struggling for oxygen, the High Court ordered the Central Govt to ensure that the 490 MT of oxygen allocated to Delhi is delivered to it today positively. The court said that the daily allocation can’t remain on paper, it has to implemented. The High Court added that in case of non-compliance with this order, they may consider initiating contempt of court proceedings against the centre.

The High Court issued the order to the centre to deliver the allocated oxygen after the Delhi govt informed that it has no oxygen in reserve to meet the SOS calls of hospitals for oxygen. “We direct Centre to ensure that Delhi receives its 490MT oxygen supply today by whatever means,” the Court order said.

“The water has gone over our head. Enough is enough,” the court said. The high court added that the quantity of 490 MT oxygen was allocated by the centre only, and they should ensure that this quantity is delivered to Delhi. “Does it mean someday you will stop supply completely to Delhi? Should we close our eyes to people dying in Delhi? Who is asking for even a gram more?” the court said.

The bench also said that it was the responsibility of the central govt to arrange for tankers to supply oxygen, and without the tankers, the allocation remains only on paper. “The allocation to Delhi has been in force from April 20 and not for a single day Delhi has received allocated supply,” the court said.

The court added that if the allocated quantity is not delivered, the concerned authority or the secretary has to remain present before it.

When Additional Solicitor General Chetan Sharma sought to intervene, the Court remarked, “Water has gone above the head. Now we mean business. You will arrange everything now. You made an allocation. You fulfil it.” The court said it can no longer wait as 8 people died in Batra Hospital due to lack of oxygen.

ASG Sharma requested the court not to say anything on contempt, and appealed to delay the order by half an hour so that officials can respond to the court. But the court didn’t listen to him and adjourned the matter to Monday after passing the order for the centre.

The Delhi High Court also ordered the hospitals to provide a list of Covid-19 patients who are staying in hospitals beyond 10 days. The court noted that most Covid-19 cases are resolved within 10-14 days, and therefore a substantial number of beds should become available due to discharge of such recovered patients. Therefore, the court ordered the hospitals to submit the details of admissions and discharge of Covid-19 patients. The court said that hospitals should provide information on who had stayed more than 10 days, and the reason for such ‘overstay’.

Times of India passes off an anti-Modi paid article as a news item, removes the story when called out: Details

OpIndia Staff
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Times of India passes off an anti-Modi paid article as a news item, removes the story when called out: Details

The 10th page of the April 28th edition of Times of India carried an anti-Modi propaganda advertisement, but it was published like a news item. The article was authored by Devlina Chakravarty who went on a rant against the Modi government with respect to the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.

While criticising the central government for its policies and implementation is a fair game, what was wrong with the article was the way it was portrayed to the readers by the Times of India. An advertisement or a paid article was passed off as a news item by the ToI.

ToI passes off an advertisement as news item

Normally, advertisements have a starkly different appearance than regular articles and reports by the media house and its journalists. They have distinct borders, “ad” is written somewhere on them to leave no doubts in the minds of the readers that it is an advertisement and not an editorial piece. There’s a sponsor’s insert included in the advertisement for which he has paid to the newspaper.

However, in this case, there was no way the reader could discern whether the article was a news story or a paid advertisement. To the untrained eye, it could have been a normal news article, but not for Newsbred’s Ashish Shukla, there was something wrong in the article. On closer inspection, he found that the font of the paid advertisement was distinctly different from the one used for other articles. For Ashish, it was a giveaway that the article was a paid advertisement maligning PM Modi and not a genuine news story.

This shenanigan of the Times of India was exposed by Ashish on his news portal Newsbred. The paid article was a two-column long piece, extended till half the length of the page. An ad of this length normally costs around Rs 20-30 lakhs in Times of India.

Besides font, there were other subtle giveaways as well to make out that the article which was portrayed to be a news story or an opinion piece was in reality a paid advertisement. The article included words like you and your in double inverted commas. Furthermore, the article also carried the photo of the author next to it. Usually, opinion columns or exclusive reports publish the picture of the author with their reports, not advertisements.

If this was not enough, it also came to light that the same writer, the same article, verbatim, was published on the leftist online rag The Wire on April 25, three days before it was produced in the Times of India edition. Even if one considers it to be the reproduction of the article first published on The Wire, the one published in the Times of India did not end with: “This opinion piece had first appeared in The Wire” or “Courtesy: The Wire”.

These are basics of print and digital media, but they were not included in the article that was published in the Times of India. A meticulous attempt was being made by the newspaper to pass off an advertisement as a news article that carried propaganda against the Modi government on its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

After the Times of India was exposed for indulging in this trickery, it was quickly scrubbed off from its digital website. The online link to the article now reads: “This article has been removed”.

The “paid news” on Times of India stands removed

The scourge of “paid news” in India

In media parlance, such advertisements which appear like news articles are termed as “Paid News”. In its investigation in 2010, the Press Council of India found that “paid news” benefits journalists and media organisations. “It’s paid for by politicians, organisations, brands, movies and celebrities. The Wikipedia page says that this abuse is pioneered by Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd group, incidentally the same organisation which owns the Times of India publication.

There have been several incidents of media outlets peddling “paid news”, especially during the UPA regime. The Election Commission had earlier reported that more than 1,400 cases of paid news between 2009 and 2013 during which elections were held in 17 states in India.

‘Liberals’ always dehumanise their opponents: Did it surprise you that liberals celebrated the passing of Rohit Sardana?

Abhishek Banerjee
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‘Liberals’ always dehumanise their opponents: Did it surprise you that liberals celebrated the passing of Rohit Sardana?

Yesterday, ‘liberal’ Twitter erupted in cheers as news of the death of journalist Rohit Sardana spread everywhere. He was only 40 years old. He leaves behind two young children. How would you react?

Did it surprise you that liberals were so happy about the passing of Rohit Sardana? Did you reach out to them and say that it is not okay to mock a grieving family? Or did you bring up the matter of human decency? Well, if you were angry or surprised, then you have not understood at all how liberals think.

Liberals dehumanize their opponents. If you are not with them, your life has no value in their eyes.

I am not saying this to make you angry. I am telling you something very basic that you need to understand about liberals. According to them, your very existence is a criminal offense.

In case you are suspicious, let me clarify that I am not using the term “liberal” as a euphemism for any particular community. In fact, if you are connecting this to members of some religion, you are very much mistaken. The average liberal with a Sanskrit name hates you just as much as any other liberal.

You may want to call them evil. You may feel like reminding them of all those times when right-wingers rose above partisanship to show kindness to the other side. Again, this is futile. They are not garden variety hypocrites. A hypocrite understands that they are using a double standard. A liberal is very different. A liberal has a high sense of purpose and moral certainty. They believe they are the kindest, gentlest, most decent human beings around. They just don’t count their political opponents as human.

Why do liberals feel this way? Because they believe they own the world. And why not? Every textbook, every newspaper, every institution has always confirmed their belief. They have the liberal privilege. That is why someone who supports the massacre of CRPF jawans is described as an “80 year old poet.” But someone who wears a Hanuman shirt is put immediately on a list of potential terrorists.

Indian liberals saw the verdicts of 2014 and 2019 on the same lines as a revolt by serfs. They do not consider the current government to be legitimate and never did. It has nothing to do with whether they think India has free and fair elections. Their problem with elections is that the other side gets to vote as well. According to them, this itself makes the election unfair. And if the other side wins, this makes the government illegitimate.

With faces like Rohit Sardana on prime time, the other side encroached upon what liberals think of as their space. For that matter, they see the BJP itself as encroaching upon the corridors of power, which belong to liberals by birthright. And by extension, BJP supporters are also encroaching upon a nation that also belongs to liberals by birthright. Is there anything, you might wonder, that liberals do not see as their property? Short answer: no!

You, your country, your vote, your voice, everything belongs to them. By not using these in a way that pleases your liberal masters, you have become a criminal in their eyes.

So what is the solution? How can you get liberals to start seeing you as human beings? The simple answer is that you can’t, unless you are willing to submit to them. So stop pleading, stop justifying, stop talking about decency. Yes, liberals high fived each other because they heard that a political opponent is dead. And they feel completely at peace with themselves about it. In fact, if you remind them that their opponent had two young children, they are not going to feel sad or ashamed. They will be even more thrilled. Because liberals have dehumanized the rest of us.

What can we do then? Not much, but we can tune out their reactions. We can stop talking to them about human decency. Because that will only give them more chances to laugh at us.

IIT Professor responds after Economic Times misquoted him to insinuate that the Indian government ignored warning signs of Covid 2nd wave

OpIndia Staff
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IIT Professor responds after Economic Times misquoted him to insinuate that the Indian government ignored warning signs of Covid 2nd wave

On Friday (April 30), an IIT-Hyderabad Professor named M Vidyasagar slammed the Economic Times (ET) for quoting him out of context and insinuating that the Centre ‘deliberately’ ignored the warning signs of the 2nd wave of Coronavirus outbreak in India.

In an article titled, “Panel red-flagged onset of 2nd wave in March 1st week,” and published on Friday, ET had quoted the head of the National Coronavirus supermodel committee Professor M Vidyasagar. “We did highlight the fact in the first week of March that the second wave was on its way and the government should prepare. It was red-flagged to the appropriate people in the government,” the article quoted the IIT Professor as saying.

Furthermore, the article read, “Vidyasagar, however, feels now that people were in ‘denial’ about the second wave. “Around March 8-9, we found that the beta ‘contact’ parameter was growing very high and accordingly started flagging it to people in the government. The pandemic in its second wave had already set in by March and was on course. People were in denial about the second wave,” he said.”

Screengrab of the Economic Times report

ET claimed that the government was in a ‘denial’ mode and thus responsible for the increasing Coronavirus cases in India. To bolster their misleading claim, the newspaper attributed the quote to the IIT-Hyderabad Professor heading the National Coronavirus supermodel committee. Being well aware that such an unverified and outlandish claim will generate widespread public resentment against the incumbent government, the Economic Times went ahead with the publication.

IIT Professor debunks claims that the Union govt was in a ‘denial mode’

Within a few hours, Professor M Vidyasagar took to Twitter to debunk the allegation that the Centre was in a state of denial. While attaching the image of the report, he tweeted, “Since I am quoted in this article, I would like to clarify a few things. First, I never said anyone was “in denial.” It is perhaps a paraphrase but sounds like an accusation, which was never made by me. The rest of my comments (quoted accurately) make that clear.”

ET had also quoted the Secretary of Department of Science and Technology, Professor Ashutosh Sharma. He had drawn a distinction between ‘sounding an alert’ about the 2nd wave and predicting the extent of the surge in Coronavirus cases. He had emphasised that none could predict that the surge in cases during 2nd wave would be 5-10 times higher than that of last year’s peak surge.

Although Economic Times presented the points raised by Dr Ashutosh Sharma as being antagonistic and contradictory to the claims of Professor M Vidyasagar, the latter clarified the same in his subsequent tweets. “Second, Prof. Sharma (Secretary DST) is perfectly right. We did NOT manage to project the correct values for the second peak, because the parameters of the pandemic were changing rapidly, even wildly, until about a week ago,” Professor Vidyasagar said.

He further added, “It is only during the past week that the model parameters stabilized, and we could make reliable projections. These have been shared by Mahindra Agarwal (IIT Kanpur Professor). We now project that the peak is very close at hand, perhaps even next week, at 4 lakhs plus or minus 0.1 lakhs.”

“While we were appointed by DST, we were contacted for inputs by higher authorities in GoI (Government of India) only about three or four times from July last year until now. Each time we gave whatever inputs we had. The last such occasion was April 2nd…Finally, the GoI would be doing a great service to the modelling community if it were to place all data in its possession in the public domain. These include: ratio of hospitalizations to positive tests, sequence data to of patients identify the virus variant, etc,” he concluded.

Economic Times tries to single out ‘political rallies’ and ‘Kumbh’ for rising Coronavirus cases

Besides trying to pin the blame of the second Coronavirus wave in India on the Modi government, Economic Times also attempted to attribute the rising cases to political rallies in West Bengal and the annual Hindu festival of Kumbh. However, Professor M Vidyasagar had clarified that it was difficult to establish ‘clear-cut links’.

On whether election rallies and the Kumbh Mela contributed to the spread, Vidyasagar said it was difficult to establish ‘such clear cut links’ between the two events and the surge in Coronavirus cases. “The second wave was itself triggered because people ignored the Covid-19 protocol, there was reckless socialising, including many weddings. Please note, that spike in Covid cases preceded election rallies by many weeks. Even the Kumbh started on March 11,” he had emphasised.

West Bengal woman protestor dies of Covid at Tikri border as ‘farmers’ continue to agitate amid second wave

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal woman protestor dies of Covid at Tikri border as ‘farmers’ continue to agitate amid second wave

A 25-year-old woman identified as Momita Basu from West Bengal has reportedly died in a private hospital at the Tikri border on Friday. Basu had been protesting against the Central government’s farm laws at the outskirts of the national capital since April 11, 2021.

Speaking about the Bengal woman’s death, Rajendra Singh Deep Singh Wala, a leader of Kirti Kisan Union said: “Momita came to Tikri from West Bengal on April 11 to join the protest. Four days ago, she was admitted to a private hospital after her condition worsened. The doctors found an infection in her lungs. She breathed her last in the hospital on Friday”.

Though the members of the farmers union are publicly claiming that Basu died of a lung infection, a journalist named Sandeep Singh has taken to Twitter to confirm that the lady indeed died due to COVID-19 related complications.

He has said that Momita Basu had a lung infection and also contracted the COVID-19. The journalist confirmed that Basu’s death is the first confirmed case of death due to the COVID-19 pathogen at the Tikri border protest site, where thousands of ‘farmers’, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have continued to protest, even as India battles a second and more brutal wave of coronavirus infections.

The ‘farmers’ had squatted on the highways leading to the national capital demanding the repeal of three agriculture bills that were passed by the Modi government in September last year. Even after five months, the so-called ‘farmer’s protest’, which has been proven to be nothing but a politically motivated game plan to degenerate the incumbent Modi government, refuses to end.

In fact, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday asserted that the ‘farmers protests’ will continue and insisted that his drama at the border will continue despite the sharp uptick in the coronavirus caseload.

All this even when it was earlier reported that the ‘farmers’ protest along the Delhi borders and a number of Kisan rallies, meetings conducted in Punjab may have contributed to the alarming rise of COVID-19 cases in Delhi and surrounding states.

The UK strain of the coronavirus, which is markedly more virulent, is more prevalent in several northern states, including Punjab, the genome sequencing data from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) revealed. Two scientists from central government labs asserted that large gatherings in Punjab were responsible for the widespread transmission of the variant in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

As others play politics, Yogi Adityanath gets to work: Says UP has received 1 crore Covid-19 vaccines for 18 to 45 age group

OpIndia Staff
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As others play politics, Yogi Adityanath gets to work: Says UP has received 1 crore Covid-19 vaccines for 18 to 45 age group

On Saturday (May 1), Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that the state has received about 1 crore Coronavirus vaccine doses to kickstart the third phase of the vaccination drive. The development comes days after the government had placed the order for vaccine doses following the Centre’s decision to immunise individuals between the age of 18-45 years.

While speaking to the media, Yogi Adityanath informed, “We ordered 1 crore vaccines. We have received vaccines for 45+ category too. We have purchased directly from the companies. We have also floated global tenders for 5 crore vaccines in the state. I am sure that we will be able to take this forward successfully.”

It must be mentioned that Yogi Adityanath had earlier tweeted that orders for 50 lakh doses each of Covishield and Covaxin were placed with both indigenous vaccine manufacturers in India, Sreum In. At the same time, he had informed that additional doses would be provided by the Centre. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister had assured that a comprehensive action plan was under preparation to conduct the third phase of vaccination starting May 1.

On April 19, the Centre had announced that individuals above the age of 18 years will be eligible for the Coronavirus vaccination programme from 1st May. The Union government had also permitted States to directly procure vaccines from the manufactures. As the vaccination programme kickstarts in Uttar Pradesh, several States have been crying foul over the inadequate supply of vaccines.

States defer vaccination drive, citing shortage

On Friday (April 30), the Tamil Nadu government informed that there is a shortage of vaccines in the State. As such, the third phase of the vaccination drive has been deferred. State Health Secretary Dr. J Radha Krishnan said that individuals above the age of 45 years can however get vaccinated against the Wuhan Coronavirus. The State is now in touch with Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech to ascertain the rapid delivery of 1.5 crore vaccines.

At the same, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that the third phase of the vaccination drive will not commence in the National Capital from May 1 onwards. He had also directed people to not visit Coronavirus Vaccination Centres (CVCs). He said, “The vaccines have not reached us till now. We are in touch with the manufacturers and the first batch of 300,000 doses of Covishield vaccine is likely to arrive in a day or two. Hence, I request people not to throng vaccination centres. Once we receive the doses, I will formally announce the date of launch of the mega vaccination drive.”

Similarly, Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said that the third phase of vaccination might be delayed due to lack of ‘enough’ Coronavirus doses. “I feel that we may not start by that time…We are not getting adequate doses of vaccines. That is why we are facing problems. We have staff and required infrastructure for vaccination,” he said about the vaccination drive originally scheduled on May 1.

The Brihanmumbai Metropolitan Corporation (BMC) had also stopped vaccination in Mumbai. “Owing to non-availability of vaccine stock, no vaccination will be conducted at any government/BMC/private vaccination centre for the next three days (April 30 to May 2). All efforts are being made to make more stock available and resume the drive. We urge Mumbaikars to cooperate with BMC,” it said on Friday.

Reliance Industries becomes India’s largest producer of medical oxygen, provides 1,000 MT of the gas free of cost daily to fight COVID-19

OpIndia Staff
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Reliance Industries becomes India’s largest producer of medical oxygen, provides 1,000 MT of the gas free of cost daily to fight COVID-19

Reliance Industries Limited(RIL) has rallied its resources to become India’s largest producer of medical-grade liquid oxygen. It now produces over 11 per cent of India’s total production of medical oxygen, meeting the needs of nearly every 1 in 10 patients, the company said.

The organisation has diverted its resources to quickly ramp up the production of medicinal oxygen from 0 to 1000 MT per day free of charge. According to RIL, it is catering to the needs of over 1 lakh people every day on an average with its production capacity of 1000 MT daily.

Earlier this month, Reliance had started to send oxygen to Maharashtra free of cost from its Gujarat refinery. Maharashtra was then facing an acute shortage of oxygen because of the rising number of COVID-19 cases. The company was diverting some oxygen meant for its petroleum coke gasification units after making it suitable for medical use.

At first, the company had started with 100 MT oxygen per day which was sent to Maharashtra. After a week it was increased to 700 MT per day, which was also sent to other states like Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. And now that capacity of medical oxygen production has been increased to 1000 MT per day.

“Chairman Mukesh Ambani personally supervising scale-up of production and transportation at Jamnagar. In April 2021, Reliance supplied over 15,000 MT of Medical Grade Liquid Oxygen, free of cost – helping nearly 15 lakh patients,” Reliance Industries Limited said.

It may be noted that Reliance Industries is not a traditional oxygen-producing company. It has oxygen plants in its Jamnagar refinery for its own internal use. But now those plants have been retrofitted to produce 1000 MT of medical oxygen daily. Moreover, this entire quantity of oxygen is produced at a single location.

The company also said that it has airlifted 24 ISO containers for transporting Oxygen, creating an additional 500 MT of transportation capacity for India. Reliance Industries also thanked its partners, ARAMCO, BP and IAF, for extending logistical and sourcing support to procure the containers. In addition to this, the conglomerate has said that more ISO tank containers will be airlifted in the next few days.

ISO tank containers are liquid and gas tanks fitted inside a frame built to the specification of international containers. These are intermodal tank containers that can be transported on container ships, trains and trucks.

Reliance Foundation building a 1,000-bed hospital facility in Gujarat’s Jamnagar

Besides, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) will also set up a 1,000-bed hospital with an oxygen supply facility in Gujarat’s Jamnagar.

Of the total 1,000 beds, 400 will be made operational by the next Sunday, a statement released by the Gujarat government said. The company will also employ its strength to add remaining 600 beds in a week’s time.

Islamists celebrating death of Rohit Sardana were not fringe, prove themselves to be mainstream as #StandWithSharjeelUsmani trends

Editorial Desk
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Islamists celebrating death of Rohit Sardana were not fringe, prove themselves to be mainstream as #StandWithSharjeelUsmani trends

On Friday, the journalism fraternity was hit with tragic news. The sad demise of Rohit Sardana, the AajTak journalist who stood up to the system hit people like a ton of bricks. As messages of condolences poured in, it was not only the death of Sardana that shook people, but also the unbridled venom that poured in by Islamists and Leftists. One of the first Islamists who celebrated this news was a Newslaundry columnist and an accused in the Delhi anti-Hindu riots, Sharjeel Usmani.

As soon as it was confirmed that Rohit Sardana had passed, Sharjeel Usmani took to Twitter to celebrate the news. He quoted Sardana’s colleague and Islamist ally Rajdeep Sardesai to reprimand him for mourning the loss of his colleague.

Calling Rohit Sardana a ‘sociopath’, ‘pathological liar’ and ‘genocide enabler’, he said, screaming in caps, that he shall not be remembered as a journalist, almost shocked that his own ally Rajdeep Sardesai dared to mourn the loss.

After getting severe backlash for his tweet, his Islamist brethren began to tweet with the hashtag #StandWithSharjeelUsmani.

One Twitter user called Sheikh said that Sharjeel did what he had to do and if the “country” has to be saved, everyone has to become like him.

Afreen Fatima, who had inflamed passions during the CAA protests, that eventually culminated into anti-Hindu riots also took to Twitter to allege that those asking Islamist Sharjeel Usmani to not celebrate the death of a journalist were spreading Islamophobia.

Thousands others took to Twitter to essentially say that celebrating the death of one journalist and wishing death on others who don’t submit to their Islamist ways was fair game.

To get a bit of perspective into just what thousands of Islamists on Twitter was supporting, one has to also analyse the thread that was tweeted by Sharjeel Usmani after the backlash he received for his initial celebration of Sardana’s death.

Calling himself oppressed, Sharjeel Usmani had lashed out at those who were telling him, someone from the “oppressed community”, he lashed out at those who wanted him to not sound excited at the prospect of death. He also said that “liberals and centrists” are asking oppressed communities to speak within defined limits.

He further said that Sardana was enabling Muslim genocide and his colleagues are continuing to do so. He said he would rather think about “his victims”. Let us keep in mind here that he is talking about a journalist who died of COVID-19 and before that, he had just done his job, honestly, without enabling people like Sharjeel who are accused in anti-Hindu riots.

He ended his rant with “Also, next time a fascist dies, please try to not feel sad about it. It is the most human thing to do”.

Essentially, what Sharjeel Usmani is saying that absolutely anyone who does not conform to the Islamist agenda, is someone whose death should be celebrated. It further reveals the pervasive influence of Islamism in liberal circles.

Sharjeel Usmani is not a fringe element. He is entirely a creation of liberal media and its band of ‘intellectuals’. He is as mainstream as mainstream gets. Only days ago, liberals were cheering his speech at the Elgar Parishad 2021.

Then, too, Usmani had spread venom against the Hindu community and said that Hindu society was rotten. His comments were then justified and celebrated. Is it any surprise that now he has stooped to celebrating the death of a journalist?

If that weren’t enough, he had also called Kashmiri Pandits the ‘most pampered minority’ and this is after the community suffered a genocide. Liberals have justified, whitewashed and defended his hate-filled bigotry but now the chicken has finally come home to roost. And they cannot wash their hands off him.

They have nurtured him, nourished him and provided him with cover so that he could go on to unleash his unvarnished hatred. Blame for mainstreaming him will fall on liberals.

Gujarat CM announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to kins of 18 people who died in the fire at Bharuch Hospital

OpIndia Staff
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Gujarat CM announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to kins of 18 people who died in the fire at Bharuch Hospital

A fire broke out at Patel Welfare COVID Hospital in Bharuch, Gujarat on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. As many as 18 people lost their lives in the unfortunate incident. 50 other patients were rescued by local residents and firefighters from the Covid-19 ward. Horrifying visual emerged which showed remains of some patients roasted alive on stretchers and beds.

Gujarat CM announces Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to next of kin of deceased

Expressing his condolences, Gujarat CM announced Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia to the family of each of the deceased. “I express my condolences to the patients, doctors and hospital staff who lost their lives in the fire accident at Bharuch Hospital. The state government will provide assistance of Rs 4 lakh to the families of each of the victims of the accident,” CM Vijay Rupani Tweeted in Gujarati.

The CM has also asked two senior IAS officers of the state, Additional Chief Secretary for Labour and Employment Vipul Mitra and Commissioner Municipalities Rajkumar Beniwal, to immediately reach Bharuch and investigate the incident.

The CM also assured that the state government will be initiating a judicial inquiry into the tragedy.

PM Modi expresses his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in Bharuch fire

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, expressed his condolences as he Tweeted: “Pained by the loss of lives due to a fire at a hospital in Bharuch. Condolences to the bereaved families.”

Speaking about the incident, the trustee of the hospital, Zuber Patel told ANI: “It’s an unfortunate incident not only for us but for the entire Bharuch. With the police and administration’s help, we could shift patients to other hospitals. 14 patients and two staff nurses lost their lives in the incident.”

According to Rajendrasinh Chudasama, Superintendent of Police, Bharuch, a fire broke out in the ICU due to a short circuit. “The fire broke out at ICU one unit at Patel Welfare COVID Hospital due to short circuit at around 12.30 am. The fire has been doused. The initial reports suggest that there is a possibility that at least 12 people died in the fire. We can give a clear number by morning only,” the SP had said.

After the fire incident, patients were shifted to another hospital, confirmed Chudasama.

The COVID-19 designated hospital, Patel Welfare COVID Hospital is situated on the Bharuch-Jambusar highway, around 190 km from the state capital Ahmedabad. The hospital is being run by a trust. According to reports, the fire was controlled within an hour and around 50 patients were rescued by locals as well as firefighters and were shifted to nearby hospitals. However, almost 18 people, which included two hospital staffs, lost their lives to the fire.

Editors Guild wants Govt to vaccinate journalists on priority, even as ordinary citizens wait patiently for their turn

OpIndia Staff
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Editors Guild wants Govt to vaccinate journalists on priority, even as ordinary citizens wait patiently for their turn

The Editors Guild of India on Friday demanded that the Central Government vaccinate journalists on priority, even as ordinary citizens are patiently waiting to get vaccinated themselves. It was demanded that journalists be vaccinated alongside frontline workers.

The Editors Guild said in a statement, “The Guild is extremely distressed that the central government has yet not taken any steps to hasten the vaccination of journalists over the last few months. Many of them were freelancers and hence were not insured. Others who worked for media organizations did not necessarily enjoy the assurance and comfort of being insured by their companies.”

“Few weeks ago, EGI had demanded that journalists be declared as frontline workers and be vaccinated on priority to protect them from the new variant. Despite the support from various state governments and media organisations, the central government has not responded to this request,” it added.

The statement comes across as remarkably obtuse as even in the midst of a raging pandemic, journalists appear unable to look past their self serving interests. The mainstream media constantly preaches that they are the allies of the masses, voice of the unheard, and the comrades of the common man.

And yet, when things get difficult, the first thing they do is attempt use their clout to protect their own interests, abandoning their solidarity with the common man at the first opportunity. It is selfishness of unparalleled proportions.

The media claims to fight for the common man but the manner in which the Editors Guild is attempting to use its influence to get ahead in the line for vaccines only shows that the only thing they for fight is their own interests. For all their moral sermons, they would not stand in solidarity with the common man and wait for their turn to receive the vaccine. Instead, they will do all they can to get ahead.

The Editors Guild says that more than a hundred journalists have died since the 1st of April 2020. Every death is terrible because every individual represents a world within himself and every death deserves to be mourned. But it is also true that India has lost over 200,000 individuals to the Covid-19 pandemic. And more lives are under threat every day.

Therefore, it makes no sense why journalists should receive priority treatment over others. They rant against VIP culture but quite clearly, they are perfectly fine with it when they themselves are the intended beneficiaries.

Noticeably enough, the Guild is yet to issue a statement on the death of Aaj Tak news anchor Rohit Sardana and condemn those celebrating his demise. Quite evidently, everyone is equal, according to the Guild, but some are evidently more equal than others.

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