Month: October 2021

A total of 14,313 new Covid-19 cases and 549 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family welfare on Saturday.

Also, 13,543 people recovered from Covid-19 taking the overall recovery count (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,36,41,175.
“The Active Caseload is presently at 1,61,555. Active cases presently constitute 0.47% of the country’s total Positive Cases, which is lowest since March 2020,” said the medical bulletin.

Meanwhile, India administered 56.71 lakh vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s cumulative vaccination coverage over 105.43 cr, as per the official release.

“The last 24 hours saw a total of 11,76,850 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 60.70 Cr (60,70,62,619) cumulative tests,” said the official release. (ANI)

: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday paid tributes on the death anniversary of Arya Samaj founder Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati.

Adityanath said his contribution to building a progressive and egalitarian society is unforgettable.
“Heartfelt tributes on the death anniversary of Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati ji, an incomparable representative of the holy tradition of great Sanatan culture, founder of Arya Samaj, wonderful social and spiritual thinker, committed social reformer. Your contribution in building a progressive and egalitarian society is unforgettable,” informed the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister in a tweet in Hindi.

Maharishi Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s birth anniversary is marked on February 6. (ANI)

The voting for the by-poll in three parliamentary constituencies and 30 assembly constituencies in different states and one union territory across the country is underway on Saturday.

Parliamentary by-polls are underway in the Dadra and Nagar Haveli constituency in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Khandwa seat in Madhya Pradesh, and Mandi seat in Himachal Pradesh.
As far as the assembly constituencies are concerned, the voting is underway at the Badvel (SC) constituency of Andhra Pradesh.

The voting is underway in five assembly constituencies of Assam, that is, Gossaigaon, Bhabanipur, Tamulpur, Mariani and Thowra.

In Bihar, elections are underway in two seats namely Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur, while in Haryana Ellenabad assembly seat will witness the polls. Bihar recorded a voter turnout of 5.08 per cent till 9 am in the two Assembly constituencies during the by-elections.

The voting is underway in Himachal Pradesh’s three Assembly seats in Fatehpur, Arki and Jubbal-Kotkhai.

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Sindgi and Hangal, Madhya Pradesh’s Prithvipur, Raigaon (SC), Jobat (ST), Maharashtra’s Deglur is also witnessing voting for by-elections today.

Meghalaya held assembly by-polls for the Mawryngkneng (ST), Mawphlang (ST) and Rajabala constituencies.

Meghalaya recorded a voter turnout of 12.49 per cent till 9 am in the three Assembly constituencies during the by-elections.

Mizoram held polls in Tuirial (ST) assembly constituency. Nagaland held polls in Shamtorr-Chessore (ST) assembly seat.

Rajasthan held by-poll in two constituencies namely Vallabhnagar and Dhariawad (ST). Rajasthan recorded a voter turnout of 14.26 per cent in Dhariyawad and 11 per cent in Vallabhnagar assembly constituencies till 9 am.

Telangana held by-poll in Huzurabad assembly constituency.

Voting is also underway in Dinhata, Santipur, Khardah and Gosaba (SC) assembly seats during by-polls in West Bengal.

West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of 12.59 per cent till 9 am in the four Assembly constituencies during the by-elections.

The Election Commission has decided to hold these by-elections to fill vacancies and has fixed the dates of poll events as per provisions under Section 30 and date of withdrawal under Section 30(c) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The counting of votes and announcement of results will take place on November 2. (ANI)

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, who was granted bail in the drugs-on-cruise case, was released from Arthur Road jail on Saturday.

Earlier on Friday, Bombay High Court issued a detailed bail order of Aryan Khan which stated that the accused should appear before Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) every Friday and was asked to surrender his passport.
Actor Juhi Chawla was the surety for Aryan. Chawla, on Friday, signed Rs one lakh bond for Aryan after the bail conditions were explained by the Bombay High Court.

The court asked all three bail applicants – Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, Munmum Dhamecha- to appear before the NCB Mumbai office every Friday, between 11.00 am to 2.00 pm to mark their presence.

The court on Thursday granted bail to Aryan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.

Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3. An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the Vatican City on Saturday to meet Pope Francis ahead of the highly anticipated Group of 20 (G20) Summit.

PM Modi is accompanied by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr S Jaishankar.
The Vatican is a city-state surrounded by Rome and is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. While briefing about the Prime Minister’s engagements in Italy, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla on Friday said that there is no set agenda for the meeting between PM Modi and Pope.

Prime Minister arrived in Italy on Friday to participate in the two-day G20 Summit. This summit will be the eighth G20 Summit attended by the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Modi today is scheduled to have a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and a meeting with the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo. PM Modi is expected to have a meeting with Singapore PM Lee Hosein Loong as well.

In the evening, PM is scheduled to arrive at Terme di Diocleziano for a cultural program. Later, there is a dinner planned for G20 leaders and partner countries.

Shringla on Friday had said that Prime Minister Modi will discuss the global economic situation, COVID-19 pandemic, sustainable development and climate change with G20 leaders.

On Friday, PM Modi met with top European Union leaders and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. They congratulated Prime Minister Modi for India’s excellent progress on the COVID-19 vaccination.

Prime Minister also interacted with members of the Indian community-based in Italy and those who have a close association with India through spheres like academics.

PM Modi will be in the capital city of Italy till October 31. (ANI)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) preparations for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections after meeting with the party in-charges and co-in-charges of the state.

Before this, Shah also addressed a meeting of senior Karyakartas of BJP and released a book ‘Antyodaya ko saakaar karta Uttar Pradesh’.

Earlier on Friday, Shah launched ‘Mera Parivaar-BJP Parivaar’ membership drive here as BJP gears up for the assembly polls early next year.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP won a landslide of 312 Assembly seats and secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. (ANI)

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Friday approved the renaming of public infrastructures like schools, roads and buildings after eminent persons under the “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” celebrations, informed the Department of Infomation and Public relation, Jammu and Kashmir.

“As a mark of respect and acknowledgement of the exceptional contributions towards the security and development of the Union territory, the identified infrastructure will be renamed after the martyrs and living legends from Jammu and Kashmir,” said the statement issued by the Department of Infomation and Public relation.

The decision has been taken by Administrative Council (AC) under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor (LG) Manoj Sinha.

Farooq Khan and Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, advisors to the LG, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary of the union territory and Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the LG attended the meeting, the statement added. (ANI)

Targetting a Hindu temple in Pakistan’s Sindh, unidentified thieves have desecrated Hanuman Devi Mata Mandir in Kotri near Hyderabad and took away jewellery and cash worth thousands of rupees, reported local media.

An FIR under section 295 and other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code was lodged at the Kotri police station stated the thieves entered the Hanuman Devi Mata Mandir at the bank of the Indus River on Thursday, reported Samaa TV.

The incident is not the first act of theft at a mandir in Kotri. In January this year, thieves stole gold jewellery and a crown worth hundreds of thousands of rupees from the Guru Balimak Temple.

Sindh CM House released a statement over the incident stating that Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has been briefed about the matter.

“The thief entered through the roof of the mandir and stole necklaces from the moortis. The moortis [carved figures of the Hindu gods] were stored in a glass frame and were wearing two necklaces made of silver,” the statement read.

“The two necklaces are reported to be worth Rs 40,000. The thief also stole Rs 20,000 cash from the donation box,” Samaa TV quoted Sindh CM House statement.

The CM House spoke about a single thief but locals have said that multiple people entered the temple and desecrated it at night, the Pakistani publication reported.

Thieves have also removed and taken away the crown from the idol of the Devi Mata, the locals said.

Chela Ram Kewlani, chairman of Pakistan National Commission for Minorities and Giyan Chand Essarani, Sindh Minorities Minister took up the issue with police on Friday.

The FIR has been registered under three sections of the Pakistan Penal Code: 295 about injuring or defiling a place of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class; 297 about trespassing on burial places; and 380 about theft in a dwelling house, according to Samaa TV. (ANI)

Young Afghan girls have called on the Taliban regime to reopen girls’ schools across the country. Since the Taliban took control over the country, school-aged girls and young women from grades 7 to 12 are still deprived of education in many of the provinces, reported TOLOnews.

Expressing concerns over not being able to complete her secondary education, Mariam — an Afghan girl in the 12th grade, told the Afghan news organisation: “It has been over two months that we have been deprived of education, and I feel that all the girls who have stopped going to school feel the same way.”

Urging the Taliban to reopen the doors of schools based on Islamic regulation, Mariam said that delay in the opening of girls’ schools is “very dangerous” for the students.

According to the United Nations Educational Organisation, nearly 4 million students in Afghanistan have been deprived of education.

Kandahar residents, meanwhile, have urged the Taliban regime to rebuild all those schools that have been destroyed in the fighting. They said that dozens of schools have been destroyed in the city and in other districts, and thousands of students have been deprived of learning, according to TOLOnews.

Recently, the Ghazi Mohammad Akbar Khan school in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province was destroyed in the fighting between the former government and the Taliban. The school’s devastation is an example of the war’s devastation in Kandahar.

“Anyone who sees this school says ‘we ask our leaders to let the children go back to school,’ but they said that a large part of the school has been destroyed,” said Barialai, the principal of the school told TOLOnews.

Kandahar education department’s officials have said that plans are underway for the reconstruction of schools in the province. (ANI)

India will soon achieve the target of Rs 3500 crore exports in the aerospace and defence sector, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday.

Singh was speaking on “Delivering Democracy; Two Decades of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Head of Government”, organised by the Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini at India International Centre.
“In politics of independent India, Narendra Modi has done great work. He accepted this crisis of credibility as a challenge and overcame it. You might have felt that in independent India, the biggest challenge before politics and politicians has been a crisis of credibility. Due to the difference between words and deeds of politicians, people’s trust in them lessened gradually,” he said.

“We were the biggest importer in the world in terms of Defence equipment. We are now among the top 25 exporters of the world. We will soon achieve the target of Rs 3500 crore export. It all happened because of PM Narendra Modi directions,” he added.

“Challenges do come in life and PM Modi life is full of challenges but he never bowed down but he fought and won. He is a case study of effective leadership and effective governance. I request people in the field of the management school. The life and work done by PM Narendra Modi should be taught as a case study,” said Singh.

The revolution in urban planning and road infrastructure that was laid by former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee was slowed down during the previous government but PM Modi has set a new definition of urban planning and road infrastructure.

“I request people to do an unbiased analysis of PM Modi and he has only agenda of National building and Lok Kalyan. No one can question the intention and integrity of PM Modi. He is 24 cart gold and in his long political career of 20 years no one can point a finger on him over corruption allegations,” he added.

PM Modi knows how to maintain coordination between individual rights and national interest, he said.

“After people were angry over corruption by the previous government and wanted a credible alternative. They have only option that is BJP. Except for BJP and left people all political parties are family Enterprises,” he added.

Singh said BJP is the only political party with ideology.

“Decision making the power of PM Modi is unimaginable. BJP were always clear with its agenda to abolish Article 370. PM Modi did that in no time. Except for a few small incidents, the situation is normal in Kashmir. He has redefined and redesigned the fight against terrorism,” he said.

“PM Modi is clear terrorism and talk can’t be done simultaneously. We never discuss cricket matches. Action will be done either inside the border or across the border as per the requirements. We did surgical strikes and airstrikes. PM Modi deliver want he promised,” the Minister added.

BJP leader further said there is a major paradigm shift in Internal security or border security because of PM Modi’s decision making powers.

Singh assured that no one will die due to the oxygen crisis because the country has developed sufficient Oxygen plant capabilities. (ANI)