Since yesterday, the resident doctors of Delhi’s Hindu Rao Hospital have been on strike. They are protesting against the alleged assault of one of their colleagues by the attendants of a patient. The doctor is said to have been attacked on Saturday.
Delhi: Resident doctors of Hindu Rao Hospital are on a strike since yesterday, alleging that attendants of a patient assaulted a doctor there on Saturday. Doctors say that only emergency services will be operational. pic.twitter.com/oyXdhF3jg4
Allegedly, despite explaining the poor condition of the patient, a group of 10-15 men had come in and thrashed the doctor. At the moment only emergency services are operational.
Dr Abhishek Bhatia: As long as this happens we won’t do any work. Only emergency services,& nothing else, will be operational. A doctor was thrashed & injured here last night. Patient wasn’t in a good condition,everything was explained, even then 10-15 people came&thrashed doctor pic.twitter.com/ElLHSQLTHM
The patient had come into the emergency room with stage V chronic renal failure. “The patient was gasping for breath and had very poor vitals. She had been recommended dialysis thrice a week but had not been following directions. The attending doctor explained her condition to the attendants. She was declared dead soon. The attendants became violent when the doctor was signing the death certificate and the attending doctor was beaten up. He received cuts on his head. We will be on strike today. Emergency services will be available”, said Dr Piyush Singh, the acting president of the Resident Doctors’ Association at the hospital.
The Resident Doctors’ Association has written a letter detailing the incident. The doctors have also demanded better security.
Two doctors were reportedly beaten up in the scuffle and were admitted to the hospital. Several members of the nursing staff were allegedly attacked too. The police have said that an FIR has been filed under sections 186, 353, 332 of IPC and sections 3 and 4 of Delhi Medical Service Personnel and Medicare Service (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Act, 2008.
North Corporation commissioner Varsha Joshi has said that the matter is being taken seriously and that there was no medical negligence on the part of the doctors.
Such incidents have happened before. Dr Sanjeev Choudhary, general secretary, RDA, said, “This is not the first time this has happened. We have demanded better security at the hospital previously as well, but since the corporation has no money to even pay our salaries, one can imagine if they can at all afford us any protection from such incidents”.
Last month doctors all arranged a nationwide strike protesting against the assault of doctors at the NRS Hospital in West Bengal. The protests were aggravated by the insensitive comments of CM Mamata Banerjee. The week-long protest was finally called off after having an amicable meeting with the Chief Minister.
As the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s term in the Rajya Sabha is nearing its end, the Congress party approached its alliance partner in Tamil Nadu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK), requesting it to allocate a Rajya Sabha seat from the seat for the Congress stalwart. However, DMK has passed up this request by Congress, naming three candidates for the upper house of the parliament.
The Election Commission had announced last month elections on six seats to the Rajya Sabha. The number of seats in the state assembly for both ruling AIADMK and the DMK-led opposition is such that they can send three members each to the Upper House. AIADMK has 123 legislators while the principal opposition party DMK has 100 legislators in the 234-member legislative assembly.
Turning down Congress’ request to consider former PM Manmohan Singh’s candidature for one of the 3 Rajya Sabha seats available to the DMK, the party instead sent its own candidates for the Rajya Sabha elections. Congress has 7 lawmakers in the assembly and thus it doesn’t qualify to send any of the nominations to the Rajya Sabha.
As per the electoral arrangement struck by the DMK, it has to designate one seat to MDMK chief Vaiko from its existing quota of three. The DMK will contest on the remaining two seats. The party president MK Stalin has declared that party trade union leader M Shanmugam and senior advocate P Wilson will be the nominees for the biennial election, scheduled to happen on July 18.
A temple in Chandni Chowk in Old Delhi was allegedly vandalised by a mob last night. According to reports being posted on social media by locals, the Durga Mata Mandir in Lal Kuan in Chandni Chowk area became the target of vandalism by a mob of 300-400 people on the night of June 30, 2019.
According to locals who posted videos of the temple on social media, at around 12 am, the Durga Mandir was attacked by 300-400 people belonging to the Muslim community. Along with the temple, the houses belonging to Hindus in the neighbourhood were also targeted by the mob, the locals alleged.
दिल्ली के हौजकाजी में कल रात एक मंदिर पर पत्थर बरसायें गए और तोड़ फोड़ की गई
पहले पूरे इलाके में अफवाह फैलाई गई कि एक मुस्लिम लड़के की मोब लिंचिंग हुई हैं, जबरदस्ती जय श्री राम बुलवाया हैं
Yes as per locals. Muslims barged into house of a Hindu family and created huge ruckus and misbehaved with women of the family. https://t.co/QSIK8EsYdu
A video shared by rival AAP MLA Kapil Mishra shows youths storming into the temple, and also surrounding the Hauz Qazi police station in the area. Mishra tweeted that before the incident, a rumour was spread that a Muslim boy was lynched by a mob, forcing him to say Jai Shree Ram.
According to police sources, this was triggered by a skirmish caused by an argument over parking. When the argument over parking in the area became intense, some people started pelting stones. Later in the night a mob entered the temple and vandalised it. The police have confirmed that Muslim youths in the area attacked the temple.
The photos and videos shared on social media show that the statues, fixtures, glass panes etc in the temple were smashed, curtains etc were burnt by the mob. According to locals, the population of Hindus in the area is just around 5%, and the rest 95% are Muslims, who mercilessly smashed the entire temple.
A team of Delhi police, comprising senior officials, arrived soon after they were informed about the incident, and they prevented further damage. The arrival of police also ensured that nobody was harmed in the incident. The police have so far been tight-lipped and we are awaiting a statement regarding the incident.
In a huge embarrassment to Mamata Banerjee, the Supreme Court raps West Bengal government with a show cause notice over a contempt petition filed over the delay in releasing the activist who was arrested for posting a meme of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on social media.
According to the reports, the petition has been filed in the apex court after West Bengal deliberately delayed the release of activist Priyanka Sharma, despite the Supreme Court order of granting bail to her.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued notices to the state government and others on the contempt plea filed by the activist’s brother Rajib Sharma.
Priyanka Sharma, a BJP Yuva Morcha leader, was arrested on May 10 by the West Bengal Police under section 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code and under provisions of the Information Technology Act. She was slapped with a non-bailable warrant and was later taken into 14-day custody by the West Bengal Police.
However, on May 14, a vacation bench of the Supreme Court had granted bail to Priyanka Sharma. The judges initially told Priyanka Sharma that she would have to apologise if she wanted a bail. As her lawyer had strongly objected the directive, the judges later cleared that Priyanka Sharma’s apology wasn’t a condition for her release on bail.
Later after her release, Sharma had alleged that she was kept in custody for 18 hours by the West Bengal police despite the Supreme Court order to release her with immediate effect yesterday. She was released in the morning today but before that, she was forced to sign an apology declaring that she would not post such content in future.
Rajib Sharma has now approached the Supreme Court alleging that there was a delay of over 24 hours in releasing his sister from jail, despite the court’s May 14 order.
India finally lost a game at World Cup, to the host nation in Birmingham. Questions have been raised already for the approach of batters, especially in the first 10 and last five overs of the game.
England after winning the toss decided to bat first, on a ground that has a 59-meter boundary on one side. They had a lucky start to their innings, Bairstow added runs through inside edges, Jason Roy got a lifeline when India didn’t opt for DRS when Roy edged a ball to keeper Dhoni. After some hiccups in the first few overs, Roy and Bairstow launched their onslaught, especially against the Indian spinners. They both added 160 runs in 22 overs before Roy caught at long on boundary by the substitute Jadeja.
Bairstow brought up his maiden World Cup hundred in the 26th over. He got out soon after reaching the milestone, but Stokes who has already scored three fifties in the tournament added 70 runs with Root and made sure that England reaches a mammoth total of somewhere around 340. England ended their innings at 337 for 7 in 50 overs. Shami again India’s most successful bowler in terms of picking wickets, he took his maiden five-wicket haul in World Cup. Bumrah, as usual, was terrific throughout the innings and gave only 44 runs in his ten over when all other bowlers went for more than six an over.
India didn’t have a great start. First, they lost KL Rahul, and then they batted slowly in the first ten overs, adding only 27 runs when chasing a target of 300 plus. India’s best bet, Rohit and Kohli shifted gears in the next 18 overs as they added 119 runs in that period. Kohli reached yet another fifty but couldn’t convert into a big hundred.
Rohit then added 52 runs with the World Cup debutant Risbhab Pant for the third wicket, and in that process, Rohit brought up his third hundred of the current World Cup. However, like Bairstow, Rohit too lost his wicket after scoring an excellent hundred. The required run rate went up to 10 runs an over, by that time and Hardik along with Pant tried their best to keep the momentum going, but once Hardik got out it was all over for India. Dhoni and Jadhav showed no intent to chase down 71 runs off the remaining 31 balls.
India lost the match by 31 runs, Bairstow received the man of the match award for his hundred.
STATS
Jonny Bairstow scored his first World Cup Hundred.
Shami became the 6th Indian bowler after Kapil Dev (1983), Robin Singh (1999), Venkatesh Prasad (1999), Ashish Nehra (2003) & Yuvraj Singh (2011) to take a five-wicket haul in World Cup.
Virat Kohli became the first Indian to score five consecutive fifties in the World Cup tournament.
Rohit Sharma scored his fourth World Cup Hundred, only Tendulkar (6), Sangakkara (5) and Ponting (5) have scored more World Cup hundreds than Rohit.
The first contest of the World Cup where the result won’t matter to both the teams as both have been eliminated from the World Cup.
Sri Lanka lost to South Africa gave England a chance to go through, and they did it by beating India in Birmingham, shutting the doors for Sri Lanka of reaching the semis. Sri Lankan team is inexperienced in both batting and bowling, which was visible in the tournament.
They somehow managed to beat England, the only strong opponent. Sri Lanka got two crucial points because of rain, against Bangladesh and Pakistan. Had it not washed out, there were high chances of these two teams beating them.
West Indies has a fantabulous start to the tournament when they beat Pakistan in their opening game. But since then they played like a novice.
Throwing away wickets in a crucial stage of the match, bowling only short balls to batsmen, with no plan B had eliminated them from World Cup. They are themselves to be blamed for their pathetic performance in this World Cup.
Players to watch out
Malinga, playing his last world cup and everyone would be hoping to see some magic before he retires from international cricket. The joy of watching Malinga bowling toe-crushing yorkers is one of the best cricketing sights in the World.
Chirs Gayle has announced that he will retire after the home series against India, but it is up to the selectors whether they pick him or not for test and ODI series against India. Our last chance to see Malinga v Gayle in an international format.
Sri Lanka v West Indies in ODIs:
Overall: Matches 57, Sri Lanka Won 26, West Indies Won 28, No Result 3
World Cup: Matches 6, Sri Lanka Won 2, West Indies Won 4
Recent Form (most recent first): Sri Lanka L W L NR NR, West Indies L L L L NR
ICC Rankings: Sri Lanka (8), West Indies (9)
Upcoming Records:
Lasith Malinga (51) needs five more wickets to become the third highest wicket-taker in World Cup history. The top three are McGrath (71), Murali (68) and Akram (55).
West Indies: Jason Holder (capt), Fabian Allen, Carlos Brathwaite, Darren Bravo, Sheldon Cottrell, Shannon Gabriel, Chris Gayle, Shimron Hetmyer, Shai Hope (wk), Evin Lewis, Ashley Nurse, Nicholas Pooran, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Oshane Thomas.
There is a twist in the tale of film actor Zaira Wasim who stirred up a storm in the Bollywood and ‘liberal’ world by announcing her ‘retirement’ from Bollywood because the film industry took her away from Islam. According to multiple reports, her manager has now claimed that her social media account was ‘compromised’ and she did not put up those posts.
As per reports, Wasim’s social media accounts, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where she made the announcement, were hacked and she didn’t put up such a post. However, Wasim or her family has not yet commented on the same and they have not yet approached the police for a complaint regarding her account being ‘hacked’. Moreover, the posts are still up on her social media accounts.
In a social media posts, Wasim had said that she wasn’t truly happy with her line of work despite her fame and success. It was only while trying to adjust to the new lifestyle did she realized that her career had impacted her relationship with religion.
Talking about the difficulties that she had faced, Zaira Wasim said that she has found solace in Allah and Quran. She said, “In the great and divine wisdom of the Quran, I found sufficiency and peace. Indeed the hearts find peace when it acquires the knowledge of Its Creator, His Attributes, His Mercy and His commandments”.
She says that she has taken the first step by realizing her true path and has now announced retirement from movies so that she could focus on her faith.
Earlier in 2017, Zaira was targeted by Islamic fundamentalists for acting in a “polluted” medium and acting against “religious norms” and bringing shame and disgrace to the entire Koshur community. Trolls had attacked her after she met with J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti.
Zaira’s film The Sky Is Pink is slated to be released later this year.
The Bhartiya Janata Party veteran leader, Kailash Vijayvargiya, breaks his silence over his son and BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya’s arrest for thrashing a municipal officer in full public view, for which he was later granted bail.
Kailash said that the incident was “very unfortunate” and that there was “mishandling from both the sides”. “Kachhe Khiladi hain, Akash ji bhi aur Nagar Nigam commissioner. It wasn’t a big issue but was blown out of proportion,” the national general secretary of the BJP said.
Kailash Vijayvargiya also said that the civic officers should not be arrogant and should talk to people’s representatives asserting that both parties should be made to understand ao that such incidents are not repeated. “I think officers should not be arrogant, they should talk to people’s representatives. I saw a lack of it and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, both of them should be made to understand,” Kailash Vijayvargiya said.
Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP on his son & BJP MLA Akash Vijayvargiya: I think officers should not be arrogant, they should talk to people’s representatives. I saw a lack of it and to ensure that it doesn’t happen again, both of them should be made to understand. https://t.co/BhTbirUNIj
The Senior BJP leader said that he himself was once a “the councillor, mayor and a minister of the department”, and therefore know that no residential building is demolished during rains.
“I don’t know if an order for the same was issued by the government. If it wasn’t, it’s a fault on their part,” he said. “If a building is being demolished anyway, then arrangements are made for the residents to be shifted to a ‘Dharamshala’. There was mishandling from Nagar Nigam. Women staff and women police officers should have been there. It was immature. This should not happen again,” Kailash said.
Akash Vijayvargiya, the BJP MLA representing the assembly seat of Indore-3 in Madhya Pradesh, was released from Indore district jail on Sunday, after being granted bail on Saturday.
Akash Vijayvargiya who was arrested four days ago was garlanded by supporters as he walked out of the jail. He had maintained that he was not embarrassed or guilty of thrashing the municipal corporation officer as he could not think of anything else when women were being mistreated.
“I am not guilty or embarrassed about what I did as it was in public interest. A woman was being dragged brutally in front of the police and I couldn’t think of doing anything else,” he said, adding that he hopes he would not have to pick up the cricket bat again.
Earlier, Akash had said that he will not tolerate hooliganism and corruption at any cost. “I warned them to leave in ten minutes, or they will be responsible for the consequences. But they did not listen to me. This is just the beginning,” he said.
The Indore police had arrested senior BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya’s son Akash Vijayvargiya under IPC sections 353, 294, 506, 147, 148, for assaulting and obstructing a public servant from performing his duties on Wednesday.
The BJP MLA was recorded thrashing a civic body official using a cricket bat who was in the Ganji Compound area to carry out an anti-encroachment drive. Akash along with his supporters chased the official. The incident took place in full public view including the presence of policemen and television crews.
The arrest of the BJP MLA had let to national outrage. Posters supporting Akash Vijayvargiya appeared in parts of Indore which read, “Salute Akash ji”.
Union Home Minister, Amit Shah had also sought a report after Madhya Pradesh BJP MLA was arrested.
It’s July 1, 2019. Exactly two years since India’s tax system was completely overhauled and replaced with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, 2017.
The 2019 election set many historic ‘firsts’ at the domestic level: after all, this is the first time in decades that a full majority government served out a full term and got re-elected with another full majority. When did that happen the last time? Under Nehru in 1962!
But one of the most stunning (and relatively unnoticed) feats was a global ‘first.’
A government that introduced GST voted back to power with thumping majority
Indian Prime Ministers had been toying with the idea of GST for a very long time. But there was a reason they kept backing away. Because GST is the electoral equivalent of ‘bad luck charm.’ No government anywhere gets reelected after implementing GST.
The reasons are not difficult to understand. Overhauling the entire tax system creates tremendous short term pain. And whichever government is in power faces the brunt of public anger. Obviously, GST is a long term investment in the economic future by getting rid of a thicket of central, state and local taxes. But elections always happen in the short term.
Add to it the diverse, chaotic and hyper-competitive Indian political scene and you begin to see the enormity of the GST challenge. Not only does GST threaten revenue collection of the Central Govt, but it also puts the autonomy of state governments on the line. These problems assume bitter regional dimensions when you look at richer Southern and Western states versus the poorer states in the North and East.
It takes a brave man to put his mandate on the line over the GST bet, knowing that nobody else has won that bet before.
The GST challenge can be broken down into three parts
(1) The first was simply generating the political consensus around GST
A Constitutional Amendment would be required. Two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament and ratification by at least half the states. How difficult is that when you have an opposition determined to block ‘everything’ and calculates that it has nothing to lose?
The miracle here was the creation of the unique body called the GST Council. How the council works is a marvel that is rarely ever explained.
The Council consists of representatives of the Center as well as the states. But here is how the voting powers break down:
Center : 1/3rd of the vote
States: 2/3rd of the vote
The first question here is which state gets how much vote? Well, every state gets the exact same number of votes! No matter how big, how small, how rich or how poor.
Imagine the political skill that went into creating a consensus like this across state governments. Imagine the hornet’s nest of political egos, regional chauvinism and old rivalries that had to be overcome for this.
Observe also the strategic climbdown for the Center to just 1/3rd of the votes, making the states feel that the Center was not looking down on them. You realize how little power the Center kept for itself when you learn that the GST Council can only take a decision if 75% of the votes are in favour.
So the Center (with 33% vote) effectively has veto power in the GST Council which needs at least 75% to agree on any decision. But not much more. In order to reach the magic figure of 75%, the Center must take 18 of the 29 states along or it won’t get its way.
On a side note, perhaps you can now see why it was so important for Modi to have NEDA governments in North Eastern states, no matter how tiny. The GST Council is where the real action is.
Over the last two years, this miracle called the GST Council has been managed so smoothly that its inner workings have rarely made news. Building this council was a balancing act with no parallel in recent history.
(2) The second challenge was to manage the short term economic pain after GST
Here are two charts, showing what happened to GDP growth when Australia and Canada tried to implement GST.
GST implemented by Canada on 1st January 1991GST implemented by Australia on 1st July 2000
See the plunge that GST caused! Now let us put in context the challenges in India versus a first world country like Australia or Canada. More people live in Delhi than in any of these countries!
The first thing India did was to adjust to the realities of our economy. Instead of a true GST with a single rate, India went for 5 brackets: 5%, 12%, 18%, 28% and 35%. Lots of basic food items, etc were put in the 0% bracket and you could call it the sixth slab of GST if you want.
It’s less than ideal, but surely a mega improvement on the previous system of every item having at least 3 taxes on it: Central, State and Local. If you are lucky. In addition to VAT, service taxes, etc, etc, etc. The old system had literally hundreds of different tax rates on various items. Now, anybody could remember the sequence 5%, 12%, 18%, 28% and 35%.
When GST was implemented, the fears were many. Government revenue could have dropped precipitously. The onus was on the government to ensure compliance and manage the anger of people trying to adjust to the new system. Without choking the economy completely as had happened in every other country.
But none of the fears came true. India’s economy slowed down, but it still remained the fastest growing in the world. GST compliance burden was reduced from monthly filings to quarterly filings that most businesses would already have been familiar with. Items were constantly moved into lower and lower tax brackets (the 35% bracket is now almost empty), but total tax collection kept growing at a healthy pace.
(3) The third challenge was to handle the political fallout of GST
When GST was launched on July 1, 2017, PM Modi graciously invited all ex-Prime Ministers to be present by his side, reflecting the consensus around the passage of the GST bill and the non-partisan nature of the GST Council.
But in a characteristically cowardly move, Dr Manmohan Singh declined the invitation. The Congress was making it clear that GST would be Modi’s tax. And he would be on the line for all the immediate inconvenience that would follow. And as India’s economy shut down for a month before and after July 1, 2017 to adjust to the new regime, the Congress made the most of the low GDP numbers. Before the crucial Gujarat election.
Who remembers that Sonia ji’s UPA government had said India was ready for GST already in 2010? Nobody. You know it was Chidambaram who had set Apr 1, 2010 as the GST deadline. But, suddenly in the summer of 2017, Congress and its entire ecosystem told us that GST is “premature.”
Modi was on his own to handle the fallout. The fact that people stuck by him is a historic masterclass in leadership. In July 2017, the election was less than 2 years away. He showed confidence in the people. And the people in turn showed confidence in him.
People rarely listen to government assurances when they are hit in the pocketbook. Modi had to ensure those hits were kept to an absolute minimum and make people believe he was doing his absolute best.
The GST isn’t perfect yet, but it’s getting there. As I mentioned before, the top slab of 35% is now almost gone and the 28% slab is gradually getting hollowed out as well. Three things: fuel, real estate and alcohol are still outside GST.
The biggest takeaway here is that India and Modi sarkar survived an economic and political storm like no other. And came out relatively unscathed. Here’s to the Ease of Doing Business!
The Kolkata police have arrested a man after a 35-year-old woman had accused him of taking pictures of her inside a moving bus. The woman who had boarded the bus on Sunday morning with her husband and daughter allegedly caught the man sitting in the opposite seat recording her.
Accused of voyeurism, 24-year-old Mohammed Khan has been arrested by Muchipara police station. Khan is a resident of Uluberia in Howrah and was arrested under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code.
Reportedly, the woman had boarded a private bus on the Dhulagarh-Sealdah route on Sunday morning. The accused sat opposite her. A co-passenger had informed the woman that the accused was taking pictures of her
“One of the co-passengers first noticed that the man was taking my photos. When we challenged him, he denied. But then we found the photos on his cell phone. So I dialled 100 and sought help from the police”, said the woman.
The woman made the call while the bus went past the Wellington crossing on Lenin Sarani. An officer of the control room immediately asked the officer-in-charge of Sealdah Traffic guard to intercept the bus and look into the matter. The accused was apprehended within minutes of the woman’s call to police.
Before the police could arrive, passengers already started to assault him after they found out that he had recorded several other women in public. On learning that the police have been called, the accused fell at the feet of the woman asking for mercy. But the women decided to teach him a lesson and handed him over to the cops.
According to the police, the bus was stopped in front of the NRS hospital. The accused was handed over by the passengers but his friend had managed to flee. The youth had then been taken back to Muchipara police station.
The prompt response of the police, in this case, is being appreciated by many. This incident comes after former Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta had complained of police apathy in Kolkata when she and her Uber driver were harassed by a mob two weeks earlier.
