Month: August 2020

As many as 53,601 new coronavirus cases and 871 deaths were reported in India in the last 24 hours, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The COVID-19 tally has risen to 22,68,676 including 6,39,929 active cases, 15,83,490 cured/discharged/migrated and 45,257 deaths.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 6,98,290 samples were tested on August 10 and over 2.52 crore samples have been tested so far.

Active coronavirus cases in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra has climbed to 1,48,042.

The Government of India said that India has now 28.21 per cent active cases, 69.80 per cent cured/discharged/migrated and 1.99 per cent deaths. (ANI)

In a possible thaw to the Rajasthan political crisis, disgruntled MLA from Tonk and former Deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot met Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday, according to sources.

The sources said that the meeting which took place at the residence of Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi around noon was successful and could lead to a possible turnaround.

Pilot and his supporters were assured by the central Congress leadership that all their differences with the Rajasthan government led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot would be addressed and resolved by the party.

The timing of the meet, which comes days ahead of the Assembly session of the Rajasthan Assembly on August 14, suggests that the issue of Pilot camp MLAs voting for the Gehlot government in case of a trust vote was also discussed.

Pilot had met senior leaders of the party yesterday, following which a meeting with Rahul Gandhi had been fixed.

During the course of the meeting, the former deputy CM said that his opposition was to Gehlot and not against the party.

After the meeting, it was decided that he will meet senior leaders shortly and a committee will be formed for resolving the issues raised by the Pilot camp.

Pilot was removed as the Deputy Chief Minister and as the state chief of the party on July 14. Pilot was reportedly miffed after a Special Operation Group of the Rajasthan Police sent him a notice to record his statement in a case of alleged poaching of Congress MLAs in the state.

The Congress has accused the BJP of indulging in horse-trading to bring down the Gehlot government. However, the BJP has rejected the allegations. (ANI)

BJP has said that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) should question Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and Maharashtra Minister Aaditya Thackeray in connection with the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and suggested that their narco tests should be conducted.

BJP official spokesperson Nikhil Anand alleged that the proof and evidence related to the case are being destroyed and tampered with.

“An absurd article was written in Saamna by Shiv Sena in which Rajput’s fans, his family, Bihar Police and Bihar Government were insulted. It is clear that Shiv Sena leaders are afraid of CBI investigation and they are nervous about it. CBI should question Sanjay Raut and Aaditya Thackeray. Their narco-analysis test should be conducted,” Anand said.

“Top leaders of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are under question. Why only Aaditya should give clarification? Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should also break their silence. It is unfortunate that the Maharashtra government is indulging in dirty politics. The proof is being destroyed and evidence is being tampered with. CBI should take cognizance all of this,” he said.

On Sunday, Raut alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched against the Maharashtra government and said the Mumbai Police was trying its best to bring out the truth in the case.

Earlier, Maharashtra Police in an affidavit in the Supreme Court said that an investigation by Mumbai and Bihar Police into Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case would have lead to a “chaotic situation”.

As the Bihar Police did not have jurisdiction to investigate into the FIR or examine witnesses, the question of co-operation by the Mumbai Police into the simultaneous inquiry by the Bihar Police did not arise, the Maharashtra Police told the top court in its affidavit.

An FIR had been registered against Rhea Chakraborty at Rajiv Nagar police station in Patna under various sections, including abetment to suicide on the complaint of Rajput’s father.

The CBI has registered a case against 6 accused including Rhea Chakraborty and others in connection with Rajput’s death.

The investigating agency has collected documents related to the actor’s death from Bihar Police.

Sushant was found dead at his Mumbai residence on June 14. (ANI)

While the Uttar Pradesh administration claimed it has efficiently dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, the district hospital in Mahoba has another story to tell where live worms were seen on the beds of the surgical ward on Sunday.

Giving a clarification on the matter, RP Singh the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Mahoba district hospital said, “This is the only incident and that too due to the carelessness of the ward boy. Otherwise, the hospital remains clean. I have warned him and instructed him to clean this.”

“There was a mentally challenged patient in that ward some time ago, who despite our precautions used to urinate and defecate there. Though we used to clean the beds regularly, they weren’t clean enough and some insects might have developed there. Now, that has also been taken care of. Other than that, we keep all our wards clean,” added the CMO.

Rahul, a patient admitted to the hospital told ANI that mattresses were not changed despite their complaints.

“Patients are coming here to get treated but because of these insects, they’ll contract other diseases. We even complained to the ward boys about the insects in the mattress, but the administration did not change the mattress,” he said. (ANI)

The ethos and spirit of Kashmiriyat were largely destroyed with the beginning of terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989 and the term lost its remaining substance and actuality following the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and attacks on other religious minorities, according to a European-based think tank.

In its study paper, the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) details how the term Kashmiriyat, coined by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has its relevance in today’s times and been often inconsistently utilised, in accordance with the certain agenda of relevant actors, including political leaders and human rights activists.

“The idea of Kashmiriyat refers to feelings of communal harmony, hospitality, peace, equilibrium, tolerance and understanding, embraced by adherents of both Hinduism and Islam in the Kashmir Valley. Despite the difference in religious beliefs, members of the two religious communities manifested similar customs, practices and traditions, which portrayed their common ethnic and cultural ties,” the think tank said.

“The syncretism of the two religious communities is further demonstrated through the frequenting of Sufi shrines by members of the groups. Sufis settled on various hills across Jammu and Kashmir, where they sought solitude in their pursuit of meditation, prayer and ascetic way of life,” it said.

Hence, the idea of Kashmiriyat could not be described not as an ideology, according to some scholars, but a behavioural pattern, as a pluralistic culture of tolerance and sharing of common practices, instead of a mixture of religions, according to EFSAS.

“The ethos and spirit of the Kashmiriyat were largely destroyed with the onset of the Kashmir conflict in 1947. With the beginning of Islamic militancy in 1989, and thereof the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus and violent attacks against remaining religious minorities, the term completely lost its remaining substance and actuality. What was earlier known as a higher power, which bound together individuals with different beliefs, casts or creeds, was long gone,” the think tank said.

The politicisation of the term Kashmiriyat began in the early 20th century, when excessive oppression of Dogra rulers was deemed alien and illegitimate to the people, thereby triggering nationalistic sentiments.

Between 1931 and 1939, Kashmiri nationalism primarily constituted Muslim political movement, designed to challenge the injustices meted out by the Dogra rulers. Later, it expanded to include all religions, giving it a secular flavour, resulting into the transformation of the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference into All Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, said EFSAS.

“Its leader, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, recognising the need of establishing a framed and structured political narrative, which will unite his followers, evoked the tale of Kashmiriyat, thus reinforcing the legitimacy of the National Conference as a representative of all Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus,” it said.

The term Kashmiriyat, according to other scholars, argue that it has become a “powerful socio-political tools, which assisted in singling out and shaping certain groups in the region of Kashmir.”

“As a result, the term has been associated with a lot of vagueness and thereof controversy, highlighting the conflicting political agendas of different actors who resort to it,” the think tank said.

It stated that with the onset of the Kashmir issue, the idea of Kashmiriyat as an appraisal of common ethnic identity was off-track following the rise of religious sentiments by certain actors to propagate their stance.

“For instance, as it was the case of Pakistan, the country was emphasising on the Muslim identity of the majority of Kashmiris living in the Valley in order to brew sectarian beliefs, by fostering a pan-Islamic and anti-Hindu agenda, ultimately aiming at their merger with the Islamic republic,” EFSAS said.

Violence began to take centrestage in Kashmir Valley in the late 1980s, following the launch of the so-called Operation Topac, the brainchild of Pakistani President Zia-ul-Haq, intended to “liberate” the Muslim majority in the Kashmir Valley and create an independent state. In 1988, several separatist leaders and Kashmiri youth crossed the Line of Control (LoC) into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and received weapon training and returned to the Valley.

“Pakistani and Kashmiri religious parties and their terrorist squads were used as a front to escalate armed attacks in Jammu and Kashmir and succeeded in injecting the ideology of communalism in the Valley of Kashmir. A malicious campaign against the Kashmiri Pandits, was launched by extremist Islamic terrorist groups using periodic write-ups in local newspapers, sermons through mosques, shouting slogans and referring to the minority community as non-believers (kafirs),” EFSAS said.

“A final ultimatum was given to this community through a press release on April 14, 1990, asking them to leave the Valley within two days or face death as a reprisal. The entire community of about 350,000 Pandits was ethnically cleansed and forced to flee their ancestral homeland. In this phase, the local Muslims who resisted, also bore the brunt of atrocities by Islamist terrorists and mercenaries as there was a massive propaganda drive against Sufi Islam and the composite Kashmiri culture, both dubbed as anti-Islamic,” it added.

The EFSAS stated that with the advent of terrorism in the Valley, the narrative on Kashmiriyat has changed drastically. While Kashmiriyat has not only lost its intangible meaning, the tangible cultural elements of the term started to erode slowly, it said.

“With the rise of Pan-Islamism and almost three decades of violence, religious extremism, uncertainty and instability, the national ethos of Kashmir has been altered and one wonders whether the same culture will ever prove to be a binding force for the people of Kashmir again and thereby, perhaps, be the stimulus for the resurrection of Kashmiriyat,” the think tank further said. (ANI)

India recorded the highest single-day spike of 64,399 coronavirus cases, on Sunday taking the country’s tally to 21,53,011.

As many as 861 deaths were reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative toll due to the disease to 43,379, Union health ministry said.

The COVID-19 count includes 6,28,747 active cases and 14,80,885 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) said that the country achieved the peak of testing more than 7 lakhs tests in a single day. 7,19,364 tests were done in the last 24 hours.

India has recorded the highest number of recoveries in a single day with 53,879 COVID patients having recovered and discharged yesterday leading to the recovery rate reaching 68.78 per cent in the country while the Case Fatality Rate has further slumped to 2.01 per cent today.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra had crossed the five-lakh active cases on Saturday. The state had 5,03,084 confirmed cases, including 1,47,048 active cases and 17,367 deaths, according to the state health department on August 8.

In addition to it, five new positive cases have been reported in Dharavi area of Mumbai on Sunday, taking the total number of cases to 2,617 including 88 active cases, as per the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Tamil Nadu, the second worst affected state by the pandemic, recorded 5,994 new positive cases and 119 deaths. The total number of cases in the state now stands at 2,96,901 including 53,336 active cases, 2,38,638 discharged cases and 4,927 deaths, according to the state health department.

As per the health department of national capital 1,300 new coronavirus cases, and 13 deaths were reported today. The total number of cases in Delhi now stands at 1,45,427, including 1,30,587 recoveries, 10,729 active cases and 4,111 deaths.

In Andhra Pradesh 10,820 new COVID-19 cases and 97 deaths were reported, according to the COVID-19 Nodal Officer in the state. The total number of cases in the state are now at 2,27,860 including 87,112 active cases, 1,38,712 recovered cases and 2,036 deaths.

A total of 1,078 new corona cases were reported in Gujarat today, alongwith 25 fatalities. The state’s tally rose to 71.064 including 14,272 active cases, 54,138 cured and discharged patients and 2,654 deaths, as per the state government.

The state control room for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand said that 230 new positive cases have been detected today, taking the total number of cases to 9,632 including 3,334 active cases, 6,134 recoveries and 125 deaths.

792 new COVID-19 cases and 9 deaths were reported in Haryana today, taking the total number of cases to 41,635. The death toll stands at 483, according to the state health department.

5,985 new COVID-19 positive cases and 107 deaths have been reported in Karnataka today. Total number of cases now stand at 1,78,087, including 80,973 active cases, 93,908 discharges and 3,198 deaths, according to the state department.

In the last 24 hours, Manipur reported 118 new COVID-19 positive cases, taking the total number of cases to 3,753, the Health Department of the state said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja said that 1,211 new COVID-19 cases, 970 recoveries and 2 deaths reported in the state in the last 24 hours. There are 12,347 active cases and 21,836 have recovered so far. The death toll stands at 108.

507 new positive cases have been reported in Jammu and Kashmir today, 129 from Jammu division and 378 from Kashmir. Total number of cases at 24,897 including 7,422 active cases, 17,003 recoveries and 472 deaths, according to the J-K administration.

Total COVID-19 cases in Himachal Pradesh rose to 3,334 on Sunday, including 2,128 patients cured and 13 deaths, as per the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Himachal Pradesh. (ANI)

China seems to have angered Russia with its expansionist policies as Moscow recently stated that it would perceive any ballistic missile launched at its territory as a nuclear attack that warrants a nuclear retaliation.

Some believe that this warning was aimed at the United States while most others view it more in reference to China’s recent geopolitical moves. The harsh warning came in the official military newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda (Red Star). Experts say this reaction is a result of China eating into Russia’s sphere of influence. Beijing’s political and economic rise has irked Moscow at many levels.

Recent geopolitical developments signalled in this direction including China’s attempts to undermine Russian influence in the Arctic and Central Asia and its claims in the Russian Far East strongly. Russia had also accused China of copying its defence designs.

Russia and China are far from an alliance. The two occasionally come together to counter their enemies in the United States. Moscow recently announced a postponement of delivery of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems to Beijing. This move holds significance as it comes at a time when China is being questioned on a variety of issues including its claims in the South China Sea.

Russia’s engagement with China has grown sharply since 2014, when western sanctions forced Moscow to look east for new trade and investment partners.

It appears that cracks have begun to appear in the relations between Beijing and Moscow. Recently, Russia has accused one of its leading Arctic researchers of treason, alleging that he provided sensitive information to China.

China has tried to play down the development by saying that Moscow was forced to make such a decision as it “is worried that the delivery of S-400 missiles at this time will affect the anti-pandemic actions of the People’s Liberation Army and does not want to cause trouble to China.”

Watchers of Russia-China relations believe the spying allegations against an Arctic researcher could highlight a burgeoning competition between the two countries in the region, according to CNN. (ANI)

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei has opened an official Twitter account in Hindi.

The new account, which has his bio written in Devanagari, has been putting out tweets in the same script.

The new account at the time of filing this report had 1,009 Followers. Khamenei has posted two tweets so far.

Khamenei has also created Twitter accounts in other languages including Persian, Arabic, Urdu, French, Spanish, Russian and English. However, so far Khamenei has not followed any Indian leader from his new Hindi account.

Khamenei is a Twelver Shia Marja’ and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran.

He was previously President of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei is the longest-serving head of state in the Middle East, in office since 1989.