Month: November 2021

After the bill to repeal the three farm laws was passed in both the Houses of the Parliament, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that it is unfortunate that the laws were repealed without a discussion.

Addressing a press conference here, the Wayanad MP said that the upcoming State elections must have also played on the Centre’s mind while taking the decision to withdraw these laws.
“Earlier, we had said that the government will have to withdraw the farm laws, and today these laws were repealed. It is unfortunate that the farm laws were repealed without discussion. This government is scared of holding a discussion,” said the Congress MP.

The Congress leader said that the fact is that the Central government could not face the strength of the Indian people represented by farmers in this case.

“The upcoming State elections must have also played on their mind,” he added.

The Wayanad MP had left the Parliament after the Lok Sabha was adjourned till 12 noon following sloganeering by the Opposition members.

After the resumption of Lok Sabha, the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 was passed. The bill was also passed in the Upper House today.

In an address to the nation on November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws on the day of Guru Nanak Jayanti. The bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet last week.

The winter session of Parliament is scheduled to conclude on December 23. (ANI)

Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar would take over as the next chief of naval staff from November 30, from Admiral KB Singh who is superannuating after a 30-month tenure.

Kumar played a crucial role in the basic formulation of the theatre command structures as part of the Integrated Defence Staff headquarters.
Born on April 12, 1962, Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar was commissioned on January 1, 1983, into the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy.

During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 39 years, he has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.

Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar’s Sea Command includes INS Nishank, Missile Corvette, INS Kora and Guided Missile Destroyer INS Ranvir. He also commanded Indian Navy’s Aircraft Carrier INS Viraat.

He served as Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Fleet.

Vice Admiral R. Hari Kumar has undergone courses at the Naval War College, US, Army War College, Mhow and Royal College of Defence Studies, UK. (ANI)

Rajya Sabha on the first day of its business for the Winter Session on Monday suspended 12 of its members for the rest of the current session on account of ‘unruly and violent behaviour’ during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.

The suspended MPs include six from Congress, two each from TMC and Shiv Sena and one each from CPM and CPI.
The action has been taken against them for the ‘indiscipline’ in the monsoon session of the house.

The suspended MPs are Elamaram Kareem (CPM), Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, R Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress, Binoy Viswam of CPI, Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai of Shiv Sena.

The suspension notice issued of the first day of the Winter Session read, “That this House takes cognisance and strongly condemns the utter disregard to the authority of the Chai, complete abuse of rules of the House persistently thereby wilfully obstructing the business of House through their unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, unruly and violent behaviour and intentional attacks on security personnel on the last day of 254th Session of Rajya Sabha (Monsoon Session) i.e, August 11 thereby lowering the dignity of and bringing disrepute to the August House by the following members and resolves, for above compelling reasons, to suspend these members from the service of the House for the remainder of the 255th session under rule 256 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha.”

Reacting to the suspension, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “From District Court to Supreme Court, an accused is heard even there, lawyers are provided for them too, sometimes government officials are sent to take their version. Here our version was not taken.”

“If you see the CCTV footage it has been recorded how male marshals were jostling female MPs. All of this on one side and your decision on the other? What kind of unparliamentary behaviour is this?” she added.

Congress’ Chhaya Verma termed the suspension “unfair and unjust” and said, “There were other members from other parties who created a ruckus but the chairman suspended me. PM Modi is doing just as he wishes since he enjoys a brute majority.”

Congress MP Ripun Bora, called the suspension as “undemocratic”.

“We have not been given the opportunity to be heard. This is a one-sided, biased, vindictive decision. Opposition parties have not been consulted,” he said.

“Yes, we had protested in the last session. We had protested for the cause of farmers, the poor people and as Parliamentarians, it is our duty to raise the voices of the oppressed, deprived. If we don’t raise the voices in Parliament, where will we do that?” he added.

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed ruckus on Monday, with sloganeering by Opposition MPs. They were demanding a discussion on the Bill to repeal the three farm laws.

Meanwhile, the ‘Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021’ was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.

In an address to the nation on November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws on the day of Guru Nanak Jayanti. The bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet last week.

The winter session of Parliament is scheduled to conclude on December 23. (ANI)

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday chaired a high-level meeting on the new COVID-19 variant, ‘Omicron’ in Dehradun.

“We had a meeting regarding COVID-19 variant Omicron and we will start it with the RT-PCR test of corona warriors first. Random testing will be done at airports and railway stations. We will review again a week later. We will also increase testing,” he said.
Meanwhile, the state government has announced that people traveling from other states will have to undergo a mandatory COVID-19 test.

The Health Secretary has also given instructions to form monitoring teams at the district level for proper prevention.

The health department has given instructions to check the passengers coming from outside states on the borders and to conduct the COVID test.

“The Chief Medical Officers (CMO) of all the districts have been instructed to conduct RT-PCR COVID-19 testing for all passengers coming from outside the State at all border entry points. All districts instructed that if any passenger coming from outside the state shows symptoms of COVID, then he/she should be tested, and later put under 14-day quarantine if tested positive. COVID testing is to be conducted at various border entry points. For prevention and prevention of infection, sample checking and checking should be done at the borders as well,” State DG Health Dr Tripti Bahuguna told ANI.

Uttrakhand Health Secretary Dr Pankaj Kumar Pandey has instructed all the District Magistrates of the state to monitor the people coming from outside along with intensive testing as a precautionary measure against the Covid-19 variant Omicron.

The Omicron variant (B.1.1.529), a new variant of the coronavirus, was first reported in Botswana on November 11, 2021, and appeared on November 14 in South Africa. (ANI)

Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh congratulated Ravichandran Ashwin as the latter surpassed to become the country’s third-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket.

Ashwin scalped the wicket of Tom Latham (52) on the ongoing Day 5 of the first Test against New Zealand and hence he achieved the feat.
Taking to his Twitter, Harbhajan wrote, “Congratulations @ashwinravi99. Wish you many more brother.. God bless. Keep shining.”

The off-spinner had equalled Harbhajan’s tally of 417 wickets on Sunday after he dismissed Will Young on Day 4.

Ashwin has so far taken 30 five-wicket hauls in his career.

In the first innings of the ongoing Test, Ashwin had taken three wickets while Axar Patel took five.

Nightwatchman Will Somerville and opening batter Tom Latham held the fort as New Zealand did not lose a single wicket in the opening session of Day 5 of the ongoing first Test against India here at Green Park, Kanpur on Monday.

Currently, New Zealand’s score read 147/8 with the visitors still needing 137 runs for the win.

Former spinner Anil Kumble is at the number one spot for India with 619 wickets in Test matches, followed by all-rounder Kapil Dev at 434. (ANI)

New Zealand reported 182 new Delta variant cases of COVID-19 in the community on Monday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country’s current community outbreak to 8,298.

Among the new infections, 167 were recorded in the largest city of Auckland, 10 in nearby Waikato, and five in Northland, according to the Ministry of Health.
A total of 93 cases are being treated in hospitals, including 10 in intensive care units or high dependency units, a ministry statement said.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in New Zealand stands at 11,074 currently, according to the health ministry.

To date, 92 per cent of eligible people in New Zealand have had their first dose and 85 per cent are fully vaccinated, it said ( ANI/Xinhua).

The air quality in the national capital on Monday morning remained in the “very poor” category with overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 370, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR).

The PM10 was recorded at 353 in the ‘very poor’ category and PM 2.5 was recorded at 211 in the ‘very poor’ category at 7:53 am.
The AQI in Mathura Road (406) and Delhi University area (416) was recorded in the ‘severe’ category.

Gurugram and Noida recorded AQI of 369 and 391 respectively both in the ‘very poor’ categories.

An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’.

As per SAFAR, from December 1 wind speed and temperature are likely to decrease reducing ventilation leading to the slight deterioration of air quality.

“The AQI today indicates ‘very poor’ air quality. Local surface winds are likely to increase moderately on the 29th and 30th that increases the dispersion of pollutants leading to slight improvement but AQI remains in the ‘very poor’ category. Low mixing layer height is preventing efficient dispersion of pollutants. The share of stubble burning related pollutants in Delhi’s PM2.5 is 3 per cent,” SAFAR said in its bulletin.

A local, Rahul said as the pollution levels are high, people are facing breathing issues. He suggested that the government should begin the odd-even scheme again.

“Government should begin an odd-even scheme once again and close factories for some time,” he said.

“The air quality of Delhi is in very poor category and it is affecting our health, especially senior citizens. There is no effect of the steps taken by the government,” said Parthiv, a Delhi resident.

Another resident, who goes for a morning walk daily, said that he is facing problems in breathing and his eyes are burning.

“In every household, children and elderly are facing problems. We all are compelled to be imprisoned at home. The government should think of a long term plan,” he added.

The government is taking many steps to curb the pollution level in the national capital but it is not working at all, said another resident.

“When we go for a morning walk we face a lot of problems. The government is doing nothing to solve this problem,” said Prema.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Delhi today recorded a minimum temperature of 11 degrees Celsius (°C), while the maximum temperature recorded was 27 degrees Celsius (°C).

Meanwhile, the Delhi government has imposed a ban on construction and demolition activities following Supreme Court’s directions. In view of an improvement in the air quality, the ban on construction and demolition activities was lifted on November 22. The ban on the entry of trucks, barring those engaged in essential services, has been extended till November 30.

However, all schools in the national capital will reopen from today for all classes. (ANI)

India reported as many as 8,309 new COVID-19 cases and 236 deaths in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday.

With this, the active caseload in the country has now reached 1,03,859, which is the lowest in the last 544 days.
Of these, Kerala has the highest number of active cases at 47,652 followed by Maharashtra (11,863) and Tamil Nadu (8,337).

According to the ministry, the active cases in the country account for less than one per cent of total cases, currently at 0.30 per cent which is the lowest since March last year.

With 236 new deaths, the death toll in the country has climbed to 4,68,790. Kerala reported 159 deaths in the last 24 hours, followed by Maharashtra (33) and West Bengal (12).

With 9,905 people recovering from the virus in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate in the country stands at 98.34 per cent which is the highest since March last year. The cumulative recoveries have mounted to 3,40,08,183.

The daily positivity rate reported at 1.09 per cent has been less than two per cent for the last 56 days while the weekly positivity rate at 0.85 per cent is less than one per cent for the last 15 days.

Meanwhile, over 122.41 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered across the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive. (ANI)

On the first day of Parliament’s winter session on Monday, the Lok Sabha adjourned for the second time following the continuous sloganeering by the Opposition members.

Soon after the Parliament’s winter session commenced, the Lok Sabha today adjourned till 12 noon due to the ruckus created by the Opposition. After the resumption of business at 12 noon, the lower house was again adjourned till 2 pm following the Opposition’s sloganeering.
Meanwhile, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar tabled the Farm Laws Repeal Bill, 2021 after the House resumed at 12 noon. The Bill was then passed in the House amid ruckus by Opposition MPs.

The winter session of Parliament is scheduled to conclude on December 23. (ANI)

Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Sunday boycotted the all-party meeting alleging that the government never allows anyone to speak during the meet.

“They (Government) don’t let any member speak during the all-party meeting. I raised the issue of bringing a law on the MSP guarantee in this session of the Parliament and other issues including the extension of Border Security Force’s jurisdiction, among others. They don’t let us speak in all-party meet and Parliament,” said Singh.
“The government is busy with Jinnah and other issues, ignoring the core issues related to farmers and common man,” he added.

An all-party meeting was called by the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Sunday ahead of the winter session of Parliament.

Leaders of various political parties including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury arrived at the Parliament for the all-party meeting.

The BJP-led government has a heavy agenda for the winter session with its legislative business including 26 new bills.

The winter session will commence on November 29 and is scheduled to conclude on December 23. (ANI)