Month: January 2021

India pacer Mohammed Siraj, who had a dream tour against Australia, after returning to the country said that his mother gave him the confidence to stay with the team and fulfill his father’s dream.

Before the series against Australia started, Siraj had lost his father. But the pacer decided to stay back in Australia to fulfill his father’s dream of seeing him play Test cricket. The pacer on Thursday paid tribute to his late father Mohammed Ghaus.

“I played in Ranji, India A and IPL that helped me to play for India. My family gave me confidence which motived me. Mom used to say to stay back in Australia and fulfill dad’s dream. I think my career has just begun. I don’t want to relax now. I want to improve my performance,” Siraj told ANI.

Siraj’s hard work paid off on the fourth day of the fourth Test against Australia at the Gabba as he went on to register his maiden five-wicket haul. After the close of play on day four of the Gabba Test, Siraj revealed that it has been very tough for him, but a phone call from his mother gave the pacer much-needed confidence to go out and express himself.

The Indian pacer played three Test matches on this tour of Australia and has returned 13 wickets. Siraj made his debut for India during the MCG Test against Australia. He had made his way into the side as spearhead Mohammed Shami got injured in the first Test at Adelaide.

On Tuesday, Australia’s fortress — The Gabba — was finally breached. It took 32 years and two months, but the unthinkable was achieved as an injury-ravaged young Indian team beat Australia by three wickets against all odds to take the series 2-1.

The last time a visiting team came out triumphant from the Brisbane Cricket Ground was back in November 1988 when the mighty West Indian outfit under the leadership of Viv Richards thrashed Allan Border’s team by 9 wickets. (ANI)

As many as 1,92,581 beneficiaries were vaccinated against COVID-19 on Thursday during inoculation drive in 27 states and UTs, taking the total number of beneficiaries who received jab to nearly 10 lakh, said Union Health Ministry.

The Ministry also said that enhancement has been made in CoWIN software (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) to strengthen the process of vaccination.

“The provisional figures for today, up to 6 pm – vaccination sessions were organised in 27 states and UTs and a total of 1,92,581 beneficiaries were vaccinated today. Till 6 pm of January 21, a total of 9,99,065 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for COVID across the country for which a total of 18,159 sessions has been held,” Manohar Agnani, Additional Secretary, Union Health Ministry said during a press conference here.

The Health Ministry informed about the enhancement in CoWIN software.

“Creation of more session sites, more sessions per site and change in site locations now allowed. Planning and scheduling of the sessions for the entire week enabled. For enhanced safety of the beneficiaries, tagging of contraindications is being enabled in the vaccinator module,” Agnani said.

Agnani said that today there was one hospitalisation who was vaccinated on January 16 and “developed intracranial haemorrhage on January 20.”

“He is admitted in Geetanjali Medical College and Hospital in Udaipur, Rajasthan and it is not related to vaccination. No death reported today,” Agnani added.

To create awareness and to address issues related to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, a COVID-19 vaccination IEC campaign has been launched, Agnani said.

“IEC campaign to address vaccine hesitancy and misinformation launched by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan and Minister of State (MoS) for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Choubey today. Digital media package with impactful messages from key technical experts from the country who have taken the COVID-19 vaccine have been included in the campaign,” he said.

During IEC campaign, the focus will be on promoting the message that “vaccines are safe and efficacious, Do not believe in rumours and misinformation and Critical role on vaccines in controlling the pandemic “

Billed as the world’s largest vaccination program, covering the entire length and breadth of the country, the COVID-19 vaccination drive which began on January 16 aims to first vaccinate millions of its healthcare and frontline workers and reach an estimated 3 crore people by the end of its first phase.

Two vaccines–Covaxin and Covishield– have received Emergency Use Authorisation (EAU) after going through established safety and immunogenicity in a well-prescribed regulatory process and these will be administered during the vaccination drive. (ANI)

A day after the government proposed that it is ready to put new farm laws on hold for about 18 months, the protesting farmer unions rejected the proposal and insisted on their demand for the repeal of the three laws.

A press release issued by Samyukta Kisan Morcha after a full general body meeting on Thursday said that “the proposal put forth by the Government yesterday was rejected”.

“A full repeal of three central farm laws and enacting legislation for remunerative minimum support price (MSP) for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement,” said the release signed by Krantikari Kisan Union leader Darshan Pal.

Noting that 143 farmers had died during the protest, the release said, “these companions have been separated from us while fighting this mass movement”.

“Their sacrifice will not go in vain and we will not go back without farm laws being repealed,” it stated.

The release said Delhi Police had requested them during a meeting to not to hold “parade” in Delhi while the farmers restated their plan of taking out the parade on the outer ring road of Delhi.

“This peaceful movement is becoming the people’s movement. Farmers are uniting for Republic Day through vehicle rallies in many places in Karnataka. Farmers tractor marches are taking place in many places in Kerala. Farmers of Bilaspur and Rampur in Uttarakhand are preparing for the farmers’ parade in Delhi by organising tractor march. Farmers in Chhattisgarh will march towards the Raj Bhavan on January 23 and a group of farmers will also leave for Delhi,” the release said.

Samyukta Kisan Morcha alleged that the ‘Kisan Delhi Chalo Yatra’ of Navnirman Kisan Sangathan, which had started from Odisha, “is being disturbed repeatedly by the Uttar Pradesh Police”.

It said the “farmers’ movement is expected to intensify” in the coming days and a three-day big protest will be held in Kolkata from January 20 to January 22.

The protesting farmer unions and the government held the 10th round of talks on Wednesday.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said after the talks that the government had proposed that implementation of farm laws should be kept on hold for a period of one to one-and-a-half years.

He had said that representatives of farmers’ unions and the government can discuss all issues related to the farmers’ agitation during the period so that an appropriate solution can be found.

The farmer unions had said that they will discuss the proposal in detail. The next round of talks is scheduled for Friday.

Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Shraddha Kapoor, once again became the voice for the voiceless and appealed for severe punishments for the people who mistreat animals.

Being the wonderful person she is, the ‘Ek Villain’ actor took to her Instagram story and raised her voice to show support for the voiceless animals by asking people to sign a petition to raise the fine for people who harm animals.

She shared a photo along with the caption, “Increase the punishment for animal cruelty. Only we can be the voice for the voiceless. Please swipe up and sign the petition.”

Shraddha is an avid animal lover and hence it comes as no surprise that she wants the wrongdoers to be punished more severely. Currently, such people are fined a mere amount of Rs 50. This, obviously is not a punishment enough for such people and hence the petition by Shraddha Kapoor and similar other animal lovers.

Shraddha’s story, which she posted on social media, also found support from her current co-star Tiger Shroff, along with Disha Patani who urged people to stand up for the same cause.

The 33-year-old actor is known for such gestures and in fact, recently her fans called her ‘love for voiceless’ animals, as one of the reasons for them loving the star. On the work front, apart from her recently announced film ‘Nagin’, Shraddha will be seen next in a Luv Ranjan directorial alongside Ranbir Kapoor. (ANI)

As many as five people died in the fire that broke out at Serum Institute of India’s (SII) Manjari plant on Thursday afternoon. A total of six people have been rescued from the spot.

“The five people who died were perhaps the workers at the under-construction building. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but it is being speculated that welding, that was going on at the building, caused the fire,” said Pune Mayor Murlidhar Mohol.

Adar Poonawalla, the Chief executive officer (CEO) and owner of SII expressed grief over the loss of lives.

“We have just received some distressing updates; upon further investigation, we’ve learnt that there has unfortunately been some loss of life. We are deeply saddened and offer our deepest condolences to family members of the departed,” Poonawalla tweeted.

Earlier, SII CEO had said there would be no loss of COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings.

“I would like to reassure all governments and the public that there would be no loss of #COVISHIELD production due to multiple production buildings that I had kept in reserve to deal with such contingencies at @SerumInstIndia. Thank you very much Pune City Police and Fire Department,” Poonawalla said in another tweet.

Previously, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said the fire may have been caused by an electric fault. “Six people have been rescued (from fire). Prima facie it seems that the fire was caused by an electric fault. The COVID vaccine is safe. I have not spoken to Adar Poonawalla till now,” said Maharashtra CM.

Earlier, Chief fire officer of Pune Municipal Corporation had informed that fire at the Serum Institute building is under control and cooling process is underway.

The fire broke out at about 2:45 pm at an under-construction building where vaccine production was supposed to start after a month. The fire broke out at 4th and 5th floor of the SEZ3 building. BCG vaccine laboratory was there at 3rd floor of the same building but that is unaffected. The COVISHIELD plant is almost about 1km distance from fire incident site.

It may be noted that the country’s apex drugs regulator had granted restricted emergency use permission to SII’s Covishield vaccine in India.

Millions of vaccine doses are being manufactured by Serum Institute under technical collaboration with Oxford University/Astra Zeneca. It is pertinent to note that COVISHIELD (SII-ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) vaccine contains the replication-deficient simian adenovirus vector ChAdOx1, containing the structural surface glycoprotein (Spike protein) antigens of SARS-CoV-2. (ANI)

Amid the ongoing controversy over the web series ‘Tandav’, a team of police personnel from the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday reached director Ali Abbas Zafar’s residence here to serve him notice over allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

On reaching, however, they found his house locked and pasted the notice there.

“We have served notice asking him to appear before the Investigation Officer on January 27 in Lucknow. His house was locked and nobody was there, so we pasted the notice there,” said Anil Kumar Singh, an officer from the Hazratganj Police Station, UP.

This comes after an FIR was registered at Lucknow’s Hazratganj Kotwali against Amazon Prime’s India head of original content Aparna Purohit, director of web series ‘Tandav’ Ali Abbas Zafar, its producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki and others for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted three weeks transit anticipatory bail to Ali Abbas Zafar and three others in an FIR registered in Uttar Pradesh to enable him to approach the appropriate court for regular pre-arrest bail, said Aniket Ujjwal Nikam, lawyer of the accused on Wednesday.

The lawyer, on behalf of the accused, said in a video statement that the web series has “not hurt the religious sentiments nor there was any intention to do so.”

An FIR has also been filed by Mumbai Police PRO, DCP S Chaitanya under sections 153 (A), 295 (A) and 505 (2) IPC at Mumbai’s Ghatkopar Police station.

Zafar on Tuesday revealed that the cast and crew of the show have decided to implement changes in the Amazon Prime Video-based series in order to address the backlash against its content that has hurt the religious sentiments of many viewers.

Zafar shared an official statement from the cast and crew of the series on Twitter and reiterated that the team had no intentions to hurt or offend the sentiments of any caste, race, community or religion. (ANI)

India’s gift of one million Covishield vaccines to Nepal, under the Vaccine Maitri initiative, has reached Kathmandu, said S Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs said on Thursday.

“Nepal receives Indian vaccines. Putting neighbours first, putting people first!” Jaishankar said in a tweet.

After receiving the vaccines, Hridayesh Tripathi, Nepal Minister for Health and Population announced that more doses will be purchased from India.

“Citizens of Nepal will get Covid vaccines for free. We will bring more doses purchasing it from India,” he said.

On Wednesday, Tripathi had thanked the Indian Government for extending help to the people of the Himalayas and said, “The Government of India has provided one million doses of vaccine against the COVID-19 in grant assistance.”

India, earlier this month, rolled out two vaccines- Covishield and Covaxin, the homegrown vaccine to flatten the Covid-19 curve. Nepal earlier last week had also granted permission to use Covishield, manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) for emergency use.

“It is an incomparable example of the relations between India and Nepal. The Government of India not only cares about its citizens but also about the citizens residing in neighboring countries. I would like to thank the Indian Government via our Indian Envoy,” Minister Tripathi said.

He also announced that it would be given to those working in managing the dead bodies of Covid-19 patients, security personnel and frontline, medical workers.

With a population of nearly 30 million, Nepal plans to inoculate 72 per cent of its citizens. The minister also announced that legal and financial preparations for rolling out of vaccine have been completed and everything is on set with vaccination drive soon to start in the Himalayan Nation.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Tuesday had announced vaccine rollout for Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles from Wednesday which comes in line with its Neighbourhood First Policy.

India had earlier supplied hydroxychloroquine, Remdesivir and paracetamol tablets, as well as diagnostic kits, ventilators, masks, gloves and other medical supplies to a large number of countries during the COVID19 pandemic. (ANI)

In a move to instil hope and opportunity for the transgender community, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday have tasked them with the responsibility of becoming parking volunteers in the state capital.

“BMC has given a new responsibility of managing and collecting parking fees to transgenders here in the city. It is a good opportunity for them to explore and I am sure it will boost up their livelihood and confidence level,” BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary told ANI.

The commissioner also said that it is not the first time that transgenders have been working with the BMC. They have also been working with them for a long time.

“A group of 36 transgenders including transmen have been working with BMC for a long time. Earlier, they were involved in holding tax collection,” Chaudhary said.

A transgender, Meghna Sahoo, who is working in this project, expressed thanks to the corporation on the behalf of the community for allocating this responsibility.

“On the behalf of transgender communities in the city, I am thankful to BMC, who gave us the opportunity to work with mainstream and collect parking fees here. It will create a revolution in our community and help out to earn the livelihood and work with people,” Sahoo told ANI.

Talking about the project, another transgender, Sneha, said that this initiative was taken as a pilot basis for two months and involved 36 transgenders including transmen.

“We have been advised to charge Rs 5 for two-wheelers and Rs 25 four-wheeler for two hours parking,” said Sneha.

Apart from that, the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra has set up a cell for members belonging to the LGBT+ community making it the first political party in the country.

Two years back, homosexuality was decriminalised in India. On September 6 2018, consensual gay sex was legalised by the Supreme Court. (ANI)