Doctors Stir Intensifies In West Bengal

As many as 43 doctors submitted their resignation in Kolkata on Friday amidst the ongoing strike by the junior doctors in West Bengal, with medical fraternity across the country lending support to the protests.

While 27 doctors of North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Darjeeling resigned over the violence against doctors in the state, a total of 16 doctors of R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata also submitted their resignation.

“We the following doctors of R. G. Kar Medical College have so far been trying our level best to run the hospital service smoothly. You are aware that the present situation is not ideal for patient care service. In response to the prevailing situation as we are unable to provide service, we would like to resign from our duty,” the doctors said in a mass resignation submitted before the Director of Medical Education and Ex. Officio Secretary of the West Bengal government.

Various medical bodies called doctors’ strike across the country to protest over rising violence against the medical fraternity after a junior doctor of Nil Ratan Sarkar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata was allegedly attacked by the relative of a patient who died on June 10.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to protesting doctors in the state to get back to work and ensure that hospitals can run “smoothly and peacefully”.

However, the protesting doctors have not called off the strike yet and are demanding adequate security in every medical college and hospital. (ANI)

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India At SCO

Modi Slams Terror Backers At SCO Meet

In a veiled attack on Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said countries that support and finance terrorism must be held accountable, while the world should come together to combat the menace.

He also called for stopping the spread of radicalisation among youth.

“To tackle the danger of terrorism, all humanitarian powers should come forward together. Countries that provide encouragement, support, and finances to terrorism must be held accountable,” he said while addressing the plenary session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit held in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek.

“Literature and culture provide our societies with positive engagements and help stop the spread of radicalisation among the youth. During my visit to Sri Lanka, I visited the St. Anthony’s shrine, where I witnessed the ugly face of terrorism that takes the lives of innocents,” he added.

Modi’s speech focused on a range of issues, particularly on the Afghan-led peace process, and India’s positive contribution to the activities of the SCO over the past two years.

“India has been a permanent SCO member for two years now, we have contributed positively in all activities of the organisation. We have continued engagements to enhance SCO’s role and credibility on the international stage,” said Modi.

The Prime Minister is attending the two-day long SCO summit being held at Bishkek. On the sidelines of the summit, PM Modi attended bilateral meetings with various leaders of the SCO member countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

This is PM Modi’s first visit to a multilateral forum after being elected for the second term.

Later today, he will hold a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The meeting will be held against the backdrop of the US sanctions on Iran as well as Tehran’s partial withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA).

(ANI)

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Gandhi Family

Existential Crisis Before The Grand Old Party

An alternative leadership takes time to emerge and the Congress high command must patiently wait for that moment to arrive

It is tempting to make an uncharitable yet apt comparison of Rahul Gandhi with Casabianca, the boy who stood on the burning deck. He wants to jump off the ship, but can’t. A ship needs an anchor, but here, the anchor needs the ship.

Most of those who sailed with him want him to stay at the helm. Blinded by a mix of loyalty and despair, they can’t visualize another captain. Before Rahul, mother Sonia, father Rajiv and grandmother Indira had led them to their electoral highs and lows. The loyalists are hoping for yet another heave out of their worst low in five generations of the Nehru-Gandhis.

ALSO READ: Is Dynastic Politics Dead? NDA Is Nursing Aplenty

It is worst because their party has lost its pre-eminence to another force that is many times more muscular, resourceful, focused and determined to stay, come what may. To some analysts, this is India’s end-of-history moment.

Those watching our Casabianca with a mix of glee and disgust that a loser invites want him out. They couldn’t care less if the ship sinks. Such is the mood after the overwhelming electoral triumph of the people Rahul fought defiantly, but lost badly. That elections come and go does not seem to occur to his friends and foes.    

This is not the first time, but yes, media and the middle class across much of India, happily listening to their own loud drum-beats, have never been so ruthless. Even if momentary, these, too, are signs of the changed times.

ALSO READ: Gandhi Or Godse? Take Your Pick

Should the ship sink, with or without Rahul and/or the Nehru-Gandhis? Risking being accused of writing an apologia, one still wants to stress the need for a strong opposition for Indian democracy to thrive. A discourse has to have at least two sides to justify itself. The Congress, although a pale shadow of the party that had inspired generations, has the biggest, if not sole, responsibility. India’s oldest party cannot and should not die.

But it is facing its existential crisis. Each time it has, groups have shifted, some even retaining the Congress label. That is how you have a beleaguered Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and a triumphant YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh.

Neglected, Congressmen have walked away. The North-East was won for the BJP by Himanta Biswa Sarma whom Rahul had paid no heed. More such shifts will take place in the coming weeks and months if the party does not put its house in order. And, to begin with, it does not fill the leadership vacuum.

See the contrast: when Rahul, having lost the Amethi bastion, was thanksgiving in Wynad, mealy-mouthing his will-respond-to-hate-with-love lines, Modi was also visiting temples in Kerala. Donning veshti and angavastram, he assured Keralites that he ‘loved’ them even if they did not vote him. Modi was already preparing ground for the next election, while Rahul resembled a snake that has gobbled a shrew (chhachhunar) that he can neither devour, not eject.

As an aside, it needs recalling how the BJP, today’s victor, managed its crises after 1984 (only two members in the Lok Sabha), 1996 (losing power by a single vote), in 2004 (losing again by whiskers on failing to win over allies) and 2009 (defeat confirmed by rivals returning in larger numbers). The party was resuscitated and guided by Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), its ideological mentor, whose cadres filled the playgrounds and poll rallies.

ALSO READ: The Captain Who Sailed Against Modi Tide

The Congress has no such mentor and the ‘dynasty’ that has leads it is no longer the answer to a marauding BJP. Sonia is re-elected the parliamentary party chief as part of a holding operation to quell murmurs getting louder and turning into rebellion. Nineteen years the party chief, she enjoys respect within and among opposition leaders. But the latter, into a long winter for now, have no patience for a defeated Congress. The more agile among them, Mayawati and Aklhilesh Yadav, have mutually separated.        

The Congress’ problems are intertwined, which makes it hard to see.  The rot started with Indira Gandhi who had transformed the composition and political culture of her party by replacing established heads with rootless persons without self-esteem through a new culture of nomination. Today, it doesn’t have an organisation in most parts of the country, despite years Rahul wasted building it.

It has not wielded power in the bigger States for long years. It has failed to consolidate and to correct its mistakes – unlike BJP. Narrow victories in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan last December that got overturned in the parliamentary polls are examples.

The defeat has only exacerbated factionalism. A month after the elections’ outcome, Congressmen are damaging their party further by fighting among themselves. Provincial satraps are becoming silently defiant and legislators are beginning to jump off the ship.

The party also has serious ideological problems. Trying to be everything to everyone worked in the distant past – not any longer.  The slide-down accelerated under a politically inexperienced Rajiv when it swerved from pandering to Muslim orthodoxy (the Shahbanu case and undoing a modern court verdict on alimony to divorced wife) to opening the locks of the disputed Ram temple in Ayodhya. In adopting ‘soft’ Hindutva to counter the BJP’s ‘hard’ version, it has completely conceded the ideological space.

In contrast, the BJP now has become the dominant party occupying the space from the centre-right to the extreme right. The Congress has responded by trying to appropriate Ram temple and cow protection during the election campaign.

Having conceded the secular platform, the Congress can still develop a narrative of Sanatan Dharma, the essence of Hinduism, as a way of life different from the Hindutva, eschewing the aggressive political aspect. It can rescue secularism as well by first, self-belief and then, stressing, not on keeping away from religion, but by advocating equal treatment for faiths to build afresh the composite culture.  It’s long haul uphill.

Finally, the ‘dynasty’ is a matter of interpretation and expediency. The choice of retaining it or not is best left to the party. Virtually every party in India has dynasty at its core. If 31 percent of Congress candidates in this election were ‘dynasts’, as per a study, 22 percent BJP nominees also were from families. And most regional parties are notoriously family ventures. It can’t be argued that in the game of changing electoral fortunes, the families that lose must disappear while the victors can prosper.

The liberal classes whether or not they swear by the Congress, are on the back-foot and alarmed. They wishfully hope the party would throw up a new leadership – not of those remotely pitch-forked, not those who want to keep the seat warm for Rahul or anyone from the family. That would be waiting for Godot. Will this Godot arrive?  

Hence, it would be unnecessary and unwise to advocate a decision from outside. Established political leadership cannot be replaced abruptly and an alternative leadership takes time to emerge. It would be suicidal for the Congress, or any other party – and the BJP would want precisely that.

The writer can be reached at mahendraved07@gmail.com

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Encephalitis Deaths

47 Children Die Of Encephalitis In Bihar

As many as 47 children have died due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Muzaffarpur and over 130 are admitted in hospitals, a government doctor said in Patna on Thursday.

Civil Surgeon Shailesh Kumar Singh said, “47 children have died due to AES and 137 are admitted in hospitals with high fever and other symptoms of the infection.”

He said, “137 people were admitted in SKMCH hospital out of whom 40 causalities were reported.”

Apart from this, “41 people were admitted in Kejriwal Hospital where seven causalities were reported, taking the toll to 47,” Singh said.

Encephalitis is a viral infection which causes mild flu-like symptoms such as a fever and a headache.

(ANI)

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Narendra Modi SCO

Modi Arrives At SCO Summit, Meets Xi

On his first visit for a multilateral forum meeting after reelection, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in which both the sides discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral relations.

“Deepening friendship with China. PM @narendramodi’s first meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit is with President Xi Jinping. Both leaders are discussing ways to further strengthen bilateral relations,” PMO tweeted on the delegation-level talks between the two sides.

“Your birthday falls on June 15. On behalf of the people of India, I give my best wishes to you. After election results, I received your message and you congratulated me again. I am obliged. Together, we can move forward and work with each other in various areas in the coming days,” Modi said in his opening remarks.

Later, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted, “Building on the momentum of high-level exchanges, PM @narendramodi had a warm meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Leaders discussed all aspects of enriching our bilateral relations & recognised the positive role of strategic communication in deepening our partnership.”

This is the first bilateral meeting between Modi and Xi this year. It also comes after China had lifted its objections against the United Nations’ blacklisting of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar in May.

In April last year, Modi and Xi had met in Wuhan for an informal summit in order to deepen bilateral cooperation. That meeting came following the 73-day standoff in Bhutan’s Doklam plateau in 2017, which strained bilateral ties between the two countries.

Modi will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani later in the day. The Prime Minister will also join an informal dinner hosted by Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov for the SCO leaders, where Prime Minister Imran Khan will also be present.

Khan is being accompanied by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Usman Dar.

It will be the first time that Modi and Khan will share the same table at the SCO summit amid strained relations between the two neighbours since the February 14 Pulwama terror attack. India has already clarified that there will be no official meeting between the two leaders.

In 2017, India and Pakistan became full members of the SCO.

Founded in 2001, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are the founding members of the organisation.

(ANI)

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Namami Gange Project

75L Ltr Bad Water Flows Into Ganga Daily

Over 75 lakh litres of polluted water is being dumped into river Ganga every day, said a senior official engaged with the Centr’s Namami Gange mission, a pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking to ANI, Sumit Agarwal, senior project manager at R K Engineers Sales Limited, said the pollutants being dumped into the river will be capped after the sewer treatment plant is constructed here.

“75 lakh litres of polluted water that is being dumped into Ganga per day will be stopped after the construction of sewer treatment plant is completed,” he said after he accompanied Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on an inspection of the sewer treatment plant in Rishikesh.

“Shekhawat-ji met us today and asked us to complete the project as soon as possible, we are working towards the same,” Agarwal said.

R K Engineers Sales Limited firm has taken up the work for sewer plants in Haridwar and Rishikesh as part of Namami Gange.

“In Haridwar, we have completed our work before the stipulated time. In Rishikesh, we are planning to make two small grinder pumps (SGPs) of 5 MLD that will be commissioned in August and 7.5 MLD that will be commissioned in December,” Agarwal said, adding, “Three sewers of 7.5 MLD, running directly into the Ganga river, will be capped. These are the most polluted sewers of Rishikesh.”

(ANI)

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Kaushal Vikas Yojna

'Kaushal Vikas A Boon For Underprivileged’

Vipin Kumar, 51, has closely worked with Kaushal Vikas Yojna, the NDA government’s ambitious skill development scheme, in Bihar for four years. He believes the programme is set to bring about an entrepreneurship revolution in the country

I came into the skill development sector in 2014, before which I was serving in the Indian Air Force. A year later, when the NDA government launched the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna, I knew I had to be a part of it. Currently, I am the state head of JITM Skills, which is one of the partner firms collaborating with National Skill Development Corporation for running various skill training centres on a pan-India basis.

I take care of around four centres, namely Banka, Khagaria, Saharsa and Madhepura (in Bihar) with 750 students in each centre (3,000 students in total). How we differ from many other skill development firms is that we don’t wait for students or those in need of skill development programmes to come to us; we go from village to village to evaluate and mobilise the youth. We asses them and then pick up only the ones that look promising; those who wouldn’t drop out midway and those who have the capacity to take initiative to learn about a particular skill.

The training and assessment fees are paid by the government. This dedicated mobilisation initiative on our part is what is leading our particular centres to flourish. The sheer number of students means we have to run two four-hour batches.

I can say that this programme is successful because so far we have been able to give placement to nearly 70% of our students from under-privileged backgrounds. Part of the training partner payment structure is linked to the placements – at least 50% placement in a particular centre is required. So far, we have faced no financial losses as partner firm, in fact we are opening new branches. What is more heartening is the fact that more girls taking admission in our various courses than boys, and this is the same across all our four centres despite the difference in demographics. The two most popular courses in Bihar are Health and Apparel.

I would consider the Kaushal Vikas Yojna a successful initiative, though I believe the success of these centres depends a lot on the soft skills of those in charge of running them. A lot of youngsters coming from villages are hesitant to ask questions regarding the course or the job opportunities and it is our duty to make them feel comfortable and give them the correct information as well as the strengths of a particular course.

We make sure that students choose industry-relevant skill training programmes wisely because they would also be investing their time for at least 3-4 months. The NSDC also makes sure that everything is run smoothly and so far we have faced no official roadblocks.

So far we have had only freshers come to our centres, meaning that no one who has already done a skill training programme somewhere else has approached us. We hope people living in the area where our centres are running can also avail the benefits of our various training programmes.