Month: March 2021

Billboards have come up in the Greater Toronto area thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for providing COVID-19 vaccines to Canada.

The billboard read, “Thank You India and PM Narendra Modi for providing COVID vaccines to Canada. Long Live Canada-India Friendship.” The billboard also mentions the Hindu Forum, Canada.

Canada received the first consignment of 500,000 AstraZeneca’s “Made-in-India” CoviShield COVID-19 vaccines on March 4.

It is produced at the Pune-based Serum Institute of India. India will be sending a tranche of 1.5 million more doses to Canada.

Prime Minister Modi earlier this month spoke to his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau and assured him that India will do its best to support Canada’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

Expressing his appreciation, the Canadian Prime Minister said that if the world managed to conquer COVID-19, “it would be significantly because of India’s tremendous pharmaceutical capacity, and Prime Minister Modi’s leadership in sharing this capacity with the world”.

The Prime Minister thanked PM Trudeau for his sentiments.

Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India earlier this month said that “Dear Hon’ble PM @JustinTrudeau, I thank you for your warm words towards India and its vaccine industry. As we await regulatory approvals from Canada, I assure you, @SerumInstIndia will fly out #COVISHIELD to Canada in less than a month; I’m on it!” (ANI)

The nationwide COVID-19 vaccination has crossed 2.52 crores coverage, informed the union health ministry on Wednesday.

According to an official release, a total of 2,52,89,693 vaccine doses have been administered in the country till 7 pm on Wednesday.

“These include 71,70,519 health care workers (HCWs) who have taken the first dose and 39,77,407 HCWs who have taken the second dose, 70,31,147 front line worker (FLWs) who have taken the first dose and 5,82,118 FLWs who have taken the second dose, 9,29,359 beneficiaries aged 45 and above with specific co-morbidities and 55,99,143 beneficiaries more than 60 years old,” the release said.

It added that a total of 9,22,039 vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Wednesday, the 54th day of nationwide COVID-19 vaccination.

“Out of which 7,25,930 beneficiaries were vaccinated for the first dose and 1,96,109 HCWs and FLWs received the second dose of vaccine as per the provisional report. Final reports would be completed for the day by late tonight,” the ministry added. (ANI)

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she has suffered an injury in her leg after a few people “pushed” her when she was near her car.

“Few people pushed me when I was near my car. I suffered an injury in my leg,” Banerjee told ANI.

Earlier on Wednesday, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee filed her nomination from Nandigram seat for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. Following this, she visited the Durga Mandir in Shibrampur village.

West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning March 27. The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal. (ANI)

Eyewitnesses have denied West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s claims that she was pushed by a few people in Nandigram on Wednesday.

“People gathered to see her. When she was about to leave, there were people around there. But nobody pushed her. I am a student. I am not associated with any political party,” Soumen Maity, an eyewitness told ANI.

Another eyewitness Chittaranjan Das told ANI, “I was there. She was sitting inside the moving car and the door was open. The door closed after it touched a poster. Nobody pushed and hit her. There was no one near the door.”

Earlier today, Banerjee said she was hurt when she was allegedly pushed by a few unidentified people on Monday in Nandigram here.

The incident happened at Birulia when Banerjee after her scheduled program in Nandigram was returning back to Reyapara, where she stayed last night.

“A few people pushed me when I was near my car. I am hurt. My leg has swollen. I am in pain. Let me go. It is paining immensely. I am going to visit the doctor,” Banerjee told mediapersons here.

“No police official was present. Four-five people intentionally manhandled me in presence of the public. There were no police officials for 4-5 hrs in such a huge public gathering, not even the SP. It was definitely a conspiracy,” she added

Banerjee left for Kolkata today.

Earlier today, Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee filed her nomination from Nandigram seat for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. Following this, she visited the Durga Mandir in Shibrampur village.

The TMC on March 5 released its list of candidates with Banerjee announcing that she will contest from Nandigram. Banerjee had been contesting polls from Bhawanipore constituency so far.

On March 6, the BJP fielded former TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, setting the stage for a high-profile contest from the seat in the state assembly elections.

Adhikari, a former minister in the Trinamool Congress government, had joined the BJP in December last year.

He had earlier said that BJP will defeat TMC by over 50,000 votes from Nandigram.

West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning March 27. The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal. (ANI)

Leaving their fans in split, celebrity couple Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone on Wednesday nailed the viral internet video trend ‘Buss It Challenge’.

The ‘Bajirao Mastani’ actors definitely have the craziest way to beat those mid-week blues. Sharing a rib-tickling video on her Instagram, Deepika showed how the duo took the ‘Buss It’ challenge and gave a dance move face-off to each other.

Deepika and Ranveer are seen dressed in funky yet comfy outfits which included a hoodie, sweatpants and a quirky hat.

Alongside the video, the ‘Piku’ star noted, “Werk it baby! @ranveersingh #bussitchallenge”

The hilarious video was quick to hog limelight and accumulated more than three lakh views within an hour of being posted.

The post from the star left netizens in splits, making them drop heart and laughing out loud emoticons in the comment section.

Meanwhile on the work front, both the stars who worked together in 2018 romantic drama ‘Padmaavat’, will be soon seen sharing same screen space in the upcoming Kapil Dev biopic titled ’83’. (ANI)

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday informed that out of 23 thousand new COVID-19 cases reported in Mumbai during January and February, 90 percent cases were registered from housing societies and rest 10 percent from slums.

“BMC has decided to strictly implement the measure against COVID-19 in housing societies of Mumbai after it has been observed that over 23 thousand new COVID cases were found in Mumbai during January and February, out of these 90 percent cases were from housing societies and rest 10 percent were from slums,” the BMC said in an official release.

According to the statement, the BMC has decided to strictly implement the COVID guidelines and protocols for the residential housing societies.

“All housing societies to keep a close watch on home isolation for COVID patients and their close contacts. If they are found roaming outside their houses, BMC must be informed immediately,” BMC said.

“Those who do not have separate rooms and washrooms for COVID positive patients will not be allowed for home quarantine.

“The building with more than five patients will be sealed for any movement and buildings having less than five patients will be sealed only on the floors which have positive COVID patients,” the statement added.

As of March 9, 2,762 floors have been sealed with 4,183 positive patients.

Maharashtra reported 9,927 new COVID-19 cases and 56 deaths in the last 24 hours, the union health ministry informed on Wednesday morning. With this, the cumulative count of the cases in the state reached 22,38,398. (ANI)

The no-confidence motion moved by Congress against the BJP-JJP government in Haryana was defeated in the state assembly on Wednesday. A total of 55 MLAs supported the government while 32 voted against the ruling dispensation in the state.

“We know that we will not win the confidence of the Opposition but we will take this opportunity to win the confidence of the masses”, said Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had in the assembly earlier while replying to the no-confidence motion.
Reciting a couplet by poet Bashir Badr, Khattar had said, “Mukhalfat se meri shaksiyat sawarti hai, main dusmano ka bada aitram karta hun (Criticism makes my personality shine, I respect my enemies a lot).”

Earlier in the day, Haryana Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda moved a no-confidence motion in the state assembly against the state government.

The 90 membered Haryana assembly currently has 88 members. The ruling alliance needed 45 votes to stay in power. (ANI)

Tirath Singh Rawat, BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Garhwal, on Wednesday took oath as the new chief minister of Uttarakhand. He replaces Trivendra Singh Rawat who had stepped down from the post on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Tirath Singh had met Governor Baby Rani Maurya to stake a claim to form the government in the state.

The 56-year-old was elected as leader of the BJP legislature, party paving way for him to take over as the state chief minister.

In the early days of his political career, he was part of the Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing, where he served as the state vice-president for some time before being elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council in 1997.

He was the first education minister of Uttarakhand in 2000. He was elected first as BJP’s Uttarakhand general secretary in 2007 and later as the party’s state unit chief in 2013.

He was the BJP chief in Uttarakhand from 2013 to 2015.

In 2019, Tirath Singh became an MP from the Garhwal Lok Sabha seat.

Trivendra Singh’s resignation had come after BJP general secretary in-charge of Uttarakhand Dushyant Kumar Gautam and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh, submitted a report to the BJP’s central leadership, detailing the rebellion in the state unit of the party, as per sources.

The BJP had swept the elections in 2017, winning 57 seats in the 70-member Uttarakhand Assembly. Congress, on the other hand, were able to win just 11 seats. (ANI)

A day after reciting ‘Chandi’ while launching her poll campaign for the Nandigram seat, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered prayers at Durga Mandir in Shibrampur village on Wednesday.

She also participated in the ritual and sounded the gong at the temple.

Earlier today, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo filed her nomination from Nandigram seat for the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

On Tuesday, Banerjee stated that no one should dare to play ‘Hindu card’ against her as she is a daughter of a Hindu Brahmin family.

“Those who are talking about 70:30 ratio should know that I read ‘Chandi’ every morning before leaving home. I am the daughter of a Hindu family. Do not dare to play the Hindu card with me. I challenge them to have a competition with me in ‘Chandipath’,” said Banerjee while addressing a public meeting in Nandigram where she is contesting against her aide-turned- rival Suvendu Adhikari.

She further chanted shlokas of ‘Chandi’ on the stage. “Om Jayanti Mangala Kali Bhadrakali Kapalini, Durga Kshama Shiva Dhatri Swaha Swadha Namoastutte….”

The TMC on March 5 released its list of candidates with Banerjee announcing that she will contest from Nandigram. Banerjee had been contesting polls from Bhawanipore constituency so far.

On March 6, the BJP fielded former TMC leader Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, setting the stage for a high-profile contest from the seat in the state assembly elections.

BJP general secretary Arun Singh released the first list of party candidates for the Assembly polls.

Adhikari, a former minister in the Trinamool Congress government, had joined the BJP in December last year.

He had earlier said that BJP will defeat TMC by over 50,000 votes from Nandigram.

West Bengal will witness eight-phased Assembly polls beginning March 27. The tenure of the 16th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal will end on May 30 this year. A total of 7,34,07,832 voters will choose their representative for the 17th Legislative Assembly of West Bengal. (ANI)

The United States has prevented Turkey from supplying 30 locally made attack helicopters to Pakistan, Turkish Presidential spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said.

During a briefing on Monday, Kalin noted that the US blocked Turkey’s helicopter sale to Pakistan, which will likely lead to Islamabad buying it from China and cause more detriment to Washington down the line, Daily Sabah reported.

The ATAK-12 is a twin-engine, tandem seat, multi-role, all-weather attack helicopter based on the Agusta A129 Mangusta platform and is equipped with American engines, according to Dawn.

The US is holding up export clearance for the LHTEC engine.

Turkey and Pakistan signed a USD 1.5 billion deal for the Turkish-made helicopter gunships in July 2018. But the delivery date was pushed back after the Pentagon refused to issue the Turkish company an export license for the engines, Dawn reported.

United States’ blockade comes as the impact of US sanctions on Turkey, triggered by Ankara’s decision to buy S-400 missiles from Russia.

The United States announced the first blockade in July 2019, days before a meeting between the former US president, Donald Trump, and Prime Minister Imran Khan in Washington.

In January 2020, the head of Turkey’s Defence Industries (SSB) said that Ankara and Islamabad had extended the delivery deal by another year to ensure a smooth delivery. The agreement gives Pakistan the option to buy the Chinese Z-10 helicopters should the Turkish deal not materialize.

Reports in the Turkish media said that the Turkish-built T-129 ATAK helicopter was still on the Pakistan Army shopping list.

In August 2020, Turkey hired a Washington law firm to lobby with the US administration and Congress for securing an export licence, which will help complete its biggest-ever defence deal with Pakistan.

The latest blockade, however, is likely to force the two allies to cancel the deal, persuading Islamabad to look for other options.

US officials in Washington were contacted for comments on the announcement made in Ankara but did not respond, Dawn reported. (ANI)