Month: June 2022

As many as 795 fresh COVID-19 infections were recorded in Delhi in the last 24 hours, as per the Delhi government health bulletin on Saturday.

According to the health bulletin, there have been 556 recoveries and zero COVID-19 deaths in the national capital in the past 24 hours.

As per the latest data, currently, 2,247 COVID-19 cases are still active in the city, with which its case fatality rate stood at 4.11 per cent.

The cumulative COVID-19 cases in the state are 19,12,063. While cumulative recovered patients stood at 18,83,598. The cumulative number of deaths stood at 26,218. The Case Fatality Rate stands at 1.37 per cent.

Meanwhile, the country is witnessing an upward surge in COVID infections, the daily infection tally surpassed the 8,000 mark on Saturday.

India reported 8,329 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, which is 745 more infections than yesterday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With this surge, the active COVID caseload in the country stands at 40,370, constituting 0.09 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

With 3,44,994 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, the daily positivity rate was observed to be 2.41 per cent. The weekly positivity rate was recorded to be 1.75 per cent. (ANI)

Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global watchdog tasked with combatting money laundering and terrorist financing, will hold a meeting in Berlin from June 14-17. This meeting is especially crucial for Pakistan as the country continues to remain on the watchdog’s “grey list” for failing to check terror financing.

The outcomes of the FATF Plenary will be published on Friday 17 June after the close of the meeting.

Pakistan has been on the Paris-based FATF’s grey list for deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regimes since June 2018. In June 2021, the country was given three months to fulfil the remaining conditions by October.

However, Pakistan was retained on the FATF ‘grey list’ for failing to effectively implement the global FATF standards and over its lack of progress on investigation and prosecution of senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups.

This decision was announced in October 2021, at the conclusion of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) three-day plenary to discuss key issues in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

FATF President had said Pakistan will remain on the grey list till it addresses all items on the original action plan agreed to in June 2018 as well as all items on a parallel action plan handed out by the watchdog’s regional partner – the Asia Pacific Group (APG) – in 2019.

The president, however, added that the item on financial terrorism still needed to be addressed which concerned the “investigation and prosecution of senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated terror groups”.

Pakistan opposition parties had been slamming the former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government over its failure to get the country removed from the FATF grey list.

According to experts, Pakistan’s grey-listing by the FATF from 2008 to 2019 may have resulted in a cumulative GDP loss of USD 38 billion.

The FATF delegates representing 206 members of the Global Network and observer organisations, including the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations, the World Bank and the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, will take part in the last Plenary under the two-year German Presidency of Dr Marcus Pleyer next week.

The German government will host this hybrid event in Berlin, with a significant number of participants taking part in person.

During four days of meetings, delegates will finalise key issues including a report to prevent money laundering through the real estate sector and a report that will help financial institutions use collaborative analytics, data collection and other sharing initiatives to assess and mitigate the money laundering and terrorist financing risks they face.

Delegates will also discuss the assessments of measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing in Germany and the Netherlands, and the progress made by some jurisdictions identified as presenting a risk to the financial system. (ANI)

Sensational effort by experienced India goalkeeper PR Sreejesh and an on-target attack in a thrilling shootout saw the Indian men’s hockey team defeat Olympic Champions Belgium 5-4 in the FIH Hockey Pro League match here in Antwerp on Saturday.

It was a penalty stroke save by Sreejesh off an attempt by Nicolas de Kerpel during the shootout that ensured India were victorious while Harmanpreet Singh, Abhishek, Lalit Upadhyay, Shamsher Singh and Akashdeep Singh converted for India.

Earlier during the regulation time, Indian Men’s Hockey team held their nerves, making a brilliant comeback in the final quarter to overcome a 1-3 deficit only to hold Belgium 3-3 and take the encounter to a thrilling shootout.

Both teams lived up to the billing as their built on their rivalry from hooter to hooter in a packed stadium.

It was goals from Harmanpreet Singh (52′) and Jarmanpreet Singh (57′) that brought India back to the game in the fourth quarter after Shamsher Singh (18′) opened the scoreboard in the second quarter while Cedric Charlier (21′), Simon Gougnard (36′) and Nicolas de Kerpel (51′) scored for the reigning Olympic Champions.

It was a high-voltage start to the match with both teams getting off the blocks with aggression and speed in their attack. It was India who made inroads to the striking circle, with a successful penetration that saw them win the first PC of the match as early as the 5th minute. But Jugraj Singh’s attempt was well defended by a strong Belgian defence. Three minutes later, experienced forward Akashdeep Singh made a skillful foray into the striking circle but his valiant field goal attempt was off target.

A defensive error by young Jugraj Singh trying to stop Belgium attacker from taking a potential shot on goal saw India conceding a PC with just four minutes left for the first hooter. However, a brilliant effort by Sreejesh who dived low to stop Tom Boon from converting worked splendidly, to keep the score at 0-0. The first quarter belonged to the experienced Indian goalkeeper who made another great save off Alexander Hendrickx’s attempt at a PC.

It was finally Shamsher Singh who broke the deadlock when he picked up a rebound from Abhishek to score the goal in the 18th minute. Only three minutes later, Belgians showcased brilliant teamwork and one-touch hockey skills to slice through the Indian circle and beat Sreejesh with a fine field goal, leveling the score to 1-1.

Belgium rallied on home support as they built on the momentum in the third quarter to score in the 36th minute, while India fell back a tad bit with none of their attacking formations fetching a goal. Though they made excellent circle penetrations, they could not beat the Belgian goalie who was bang on target.

But India launched a resilient attack in the final quarter, pushing for goals. A deliberate infringement by Belgian defender when Manpreet Singh was forcing himself into the circle got India an opportunity as they were awarded a penalty stroke. Harmanpreet made no mistake in converting the goal in the 52nd minute to reduce the goal deficit to 2-3. With 7 minutes to go, a PC awarded to India went begging when Harmanpreet’s powerful flick was brilliantly saved by Belgium keeper. India continued to create great chances but it was finally a superbly worked PC battery where Jugraj faked a drag flick, passing the ball to Jarmanpreet Singh who scored from the effort and ending the 60 minutes at 3-3 stalemate.

“It was a great collective effort from us, and we kept on fighting. They are the World Champions and Olympic Champions; we never took a single second easy in the match and that is how we stayed in the game. It was all about energy. Tomorrow too, we can’t make a single error against a team like Belgium who have great support here in Antwerp,” expressed Sreejesh after the win. (ANI)

Nagaland Police have chargesheeted 30 soldiers of 21 Para Special Force, including an officer, in the botched army operation in Oting area of Mon district in December last year that killed 13 civilians.

A case under section 120(B), 302, 307, 326, 201, 34 of IPC has been made against 30 soldiers of 21 Para Special Forces including a Major, Nagaland police chief T John Longkumer told the media at a press conference here.

The charge sheet was submitted in the District and Sessions Court, Mon district, on May 30 through Assistant Public Prosecutor.

Following the incident, a case was registered at Tizit police station and a separate case was registered by State Crime Police Station against unknown army personnel under various sections of IPC. The investigation was handed over to SIT.

Longkumer said that the CID report seeking sanction for prosecution was forwarded to the Department of Military Affairs in the first week of April, 2022 and a remainder was sent last month.

On December 4, 2021, soldiers from the 21 Para Special Forces army unit opened fire in Mon district in a case of mistaken identity.

The DGP said that the soldiers of 21 Para Special Forces “didn’t follow standard operation procedures”.

Fourteen civilians and one soldier of 21 Para Special Forces died in the violent incidents in Mon district on December 4 and 5 last year, the Nagaland police chief said.

The SIT examined and recorded statements of the officer and jawans of 21 Para Special Forces who were allegedly involved in the incident.

“The SIT said the jawans did not follow standard operating procedures and rules of engagement. Their disproportional firing led to the immediate killing of villagers,” the DGP said. (ANI)

Legal experts would be asked to formulate more stringent laws to deal with those who indulge in acid attacks, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Saturday.

The Chief Minister was speaking to media persons on his arrival at Hubballi airport.

Replying to a question about one more acid attack case in Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, Mr Bommai said,” it is very unfortunate. We are mulling to further strengthening the existing laws to deal with those who indulge in acid attacks.”

He assured that the government will come out with tough laws to deal with them in the coming days. (ANI)

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday announced the arrival of the southwest monsoon in Mumbai and other nearby areas.

In a series of tweets, the IMD said that the southwest monsoon has further advanced into the remaining parts of the central Arabian Sea, most parts of Konkan (including Mumbai), some parts of Madhya Maharashtra, and some more parts of Karnataka today.

The Met agency further apprised that the present conditions are favourable for further advance of monsoon into some parts of north Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Konkan, some parts of Gujarat state, most parts of Madhya Maharashtra, entire Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, some parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Westcentral and the northwest Bay of Bengal during next 48 hours.

As per the IMD, in the upcoming days, conditions would continue to become favourable for the further advancement of the monsoon.

“Conditions would continue to become favourable for further advance of monsoon into some more parts of north Arabian Sea, Gujarat state, some parts of Marathwada, some more parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, most parts of Bay of Bengal, entire Sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim, some parts of Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar during subsequent 2-3 days,” the IMD tweeted.

Earlier in the month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah held a high-level meeting to review the preparedness to deal with flood situations in the country during the monsoon.

In Kerala, the monsoon made its onset three days ahead of its time on June 1. (ANI)

The Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police on Saturday wrote to Twitter and other social media platforms seeking details regarding the offensive content over their respective platforms a day after nationwide protests erupted over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad.

The Delhi Police is gathering unedited content of the tweets and messages. IFSO has named as many as 31 people in its two FIRs on Wednesday, however, no summon has been made to any of the named individuals so far.

The development came amid nationwide protests over the controversial statements of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal.

Recently, in a move to curb falsehood and misinformation on social media, the IFSO unit of the Delhi police has registered a case against several persons including Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal under various provisions for spreading hateful messages, inciting groups and creating an atmosphere detrimental to the maintenance of public tranquillity, FIR registered on Wednesday said.

Some of the names included in the FIR were Nupur Sharma, Naveen Kumar Jindal, Shadab Chauhan, Saba Naqvi, Maulana Mufti Nadeem, Abdur Rehman, Gulzar Ansari, Anil Kumar Meena and Pooja Shakun, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Swami Yati Narasimhananda, amongst others. (ANI)

Amid a row over remarks against Prophet Muhammad, section 144 has been imposed in Howrah after fresh clashes took place between police and a group of protestors at Panchla Bazaar on Saturday.

Police used tear gas shells to disperse them as protesters pelted stones. Violent protests broke out in Howrah on Friday over controversial remarks of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

Section 144 of CrPC, prohibits the gathering of four or more people in the concerned area, has been imposed in and around the stretches of National Highways and Railway Stations under the jurisdiction of Uluberia-Sub Division, Howrah has been extended till June 15.

Internet services have been suspended till 6 am on June 13 in Howrah district in wake of protests on Friday.

Several incidents of violence were reported from different parts of the country over the controversial remarks of Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal on Friday.

Following the protests, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) asked the police heads of states and Union Territories to be prepared and alert as they will be on target. The MHA also has asked all the states to take preventive actions, keep a check on borders and identified sensitive areas.

Earlier on Friday, a massive crowd also gathered to protest at Park Circus in Kolkata adding to the resentment against the sacked leaders. A BJP office was vandalised and torched in Uluberia, Howrah district. People also held a protest at Dasnagar railway station on the Howrah-Kharagpur railway route.

While appealing for peace, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar sought an urgent personal update from the Chief Secretary of the state over the worsening law and order situation in the State since Thursday.

“Expect Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to sternly warn law violators- they will not be spared,” Dhankar tweeted.

Notably, a controversy erupted after Nupur Sharma’s remarks against the minorities. Some Gulf countries have also lodged their protest. However, India on Thursday reiterated that the controversial remarks concerning Prophet Muhammad do not reflect the views of the Government and added that action has been taken by concerned quarters against those who made the comment. (ANI)

Jaipur/Chandigarh/Mumbai/Bengaluru [India], June 11 (ANI): The high-stakes Rajya Sabha elections in four states on Friday – Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan and Karnataka turned out to be a nail-biting contest with Bharatiya Janata Party posting a win in three states while the Congress swept Rajasthan.

Polling took place for 16 vacant seats in Rajya Sabha in Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra on June 10. The counting of votes was delayed for several houses in Haryana and Maharashtra with rival parties trading charges. Here’s a look at the state-wise results of the elections.

Rajasthan

In a big morale boost for the Congress following the dismal performance in the recently-concluded Assembly elections in five states, the party bagged all three Rajya Sabha seats in the elections amid allegations of horse-trading, while the BJP bagged one seat.

Congress candidates had fielded Mukul Wasnik, Randeep Surjewala, and Pramod Tiwari while BJP’s Ghanshyam Tiwari and media baron Subhash Chandra as independent were in the fray for four vacant seats. Citing fears of cross-voting, the Congress had gathered its MLAs in a resort in Udaipur.

“This is the win of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Gehlot government… This is the defeat of those powers who wanted to buy Rajasthan’s self-respect in vote market, destabilize elected state government, run a bulldozer on democracy… Money and muscle power, income tax, ED, black money lost,” said Surjewala after the poll win.

Explaining the number game in the elections, Congress leader Raghu Sharma said, “All 126 votes of Congress have gone to Congress. BJP wanted to indulge in horse trading but nothing could happen. BJP had 71 votes and RLP had 3. But they did not even get 74 full votes, got 73. This shows BJP is broken, cross-voting happened at their end.”

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot alleged that the BJP attempted to indulge in horse-trading but it did not succeed.

“As I had said, we will win all 3 seats. Everyone knew Congress had full votes and BJP did not. Then why did they even nominate candidates? This means they wanted to indulge in horse-trading which could not happen here,” Gehlot said.

Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, BJP was certain to get two seats but the party managed to secure a third seat as well with the help of Independents. Union Minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik from the BJP emerged victorious while one candidate each from Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won.

285 votes were polled on Friday and 41 were needed to win one Rajya Sabha seat.

Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, NCP’s Praful Patel and Congress’s Imran Pratapgarhi were elected without any hassle. However, all eyes were on the contest for the sixth seat where the BJP has fielded Dhananjay Mahadik and Sanjay Pawar was in fray as the Shiv Sena candidate. Mahadik’s came as a setback for Shiv Sena which was hoping to get two seats in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Commenting on the poll results, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he was not surprised with the results.

“The result doesn’t surprise me. Congress, Shiv Sena, NCP have been voted as per the quota, except (NCP’s) Praful Patel who has received an extra vote – that vote is not from MVA, it’s from the other side. We had fewer votes for the sixth seat but Shiv Sena fielded its candidate and tried to make him win. BJP had the support of many independents MLAs and we had only a few,”

“Devendra Fadnavis’ attempts to take Independents with BJP were successful. This result will not have any effect on the stability of our government,”

Before the polling day, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has extended support to Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and said its two MLAs in Maharashtra will vote for Congress candidate Imran Pratapgarhi with an aim to defeat the BJP.

The counting of votes began after 1 am on Saturday following the order of the Election Commission. The counting could not start at its scheduled time on Friday after the BJP approached the EC alleging rules violation by three MLAs of MVA. On the other hand, the MVA had challenged the vote of one BJP MLA.

After the counting, Sanjay Raut alleged that the Election Commission favoured the BJP.

“Election Commission made our one vote invalid. We objected to two votes but no action was taken on that. Election Commission favoured them (BJP),” he said.

Karnataka

BJP won three seats in Rajya Sabha, the Congress one seat while the Janata Dal-Secular drew a blank after the results of elections to the Upper House of Parliament were declared on Friday. Six candidates were in the fray for four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka.

All three BJP candidates– Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-turned-politician Jaggesh and Member of Legislative Council Lehar Singh Siroya–and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh won the elections. JD-S’ Kupendra Reddy and Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan suffered the defeat.

Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Kumaraswamy on Friday alleged “horse-trading” in the Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections claiming that Congress leader Siddaramaiah was pressurising JDS MLAs to not vote for their own party but that of the candidate of the grand old party.

JD(S) MLA K Srinivasa Gowda admitted said that he voted in favour of Congress.

Haryana

In Haryana, BJP scored a comfortable victory winning one of the two seats. BJP’s Krishan Lal Panwar registered victory after 31 votes were polled in his favour. The interesting contest was between Congress Ajay Maken and BJP-backed independent candidate Kartikeya Sharma. However, Maken lost the Rajya Sabha elections to Sharma, the BJP-backed independent candidate, by a “narrow margin”, a huge shock for the grand old party which was confident of winning the seat.

Polling was held on June 10 to elect two members to the Upper House of Parliament from Haryana. Amid allegations of cross-voting and rule violations, the counting of votes was delayed and there was a recounting of votes that went on past midnight.

Out of 90 MLAs in the Haryana Legislative Assembly, independent candidate Balraj Kundu abstained and a vote, apparently of Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi, was rejected leaving 88 votes valid. Sharma, who was backed by the BJP and its ally Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), got 29.6 votes while Maken received 29 votes.

Commenting on Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi whose vote was rejected, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that he voted openly after listening to his “inner conscience”. (ANI)

Reform measures taken by the government in the past eight years, like the removal of outdated laws, have furthered ‘Ease of Doing Business’ in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday.

“Guided by the principle of ‘Reform, Perform and Transform’ the Government of India has brought in several reforms which have furthered ‘Ease of Doing Business.’ At the same time, many outdated laws which slowed growth have been removed,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

The Prime Minister shared details of reforms during the last 8 years in the field of ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and for spreading widespread prosperity and encouraging entrepreneurship in the country.

He shared a MyGov tweet thread and articles from his website and Namo App. It listed major economic reform measures taken by the government in the past eight years.

A graphic released with the tweet notes that India has become the fastest-growing economy in the world.

The Indian economy grew by 8.7 per cent in the year ended March 2022, the fastest among the major economies across the world.

The real GDP or Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at Constant (2011-12) Prices in the year 2021-22 is estimated to attain a level of Rs 147.36 lakh crore, as against the first revised estimate of Rs 135.58 lakh crore for the year 2020-21, released on 31st January 2022. The growth in GDP during 2021-22 is estimated at 8.7 percent as compared to a contraction of 6.6 per cent in 2020-21, as per the latest data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO).

The tweet highlighted that India has achieved its highest-ever merchandise and services exports.

India achieved an all-time high annual merchandise export of $417.81 billion in FY 2021-22, an increase of 43.18 per cent over $291.81 billion in FY2020-21 and an increase of 33.33 per cent over $313.36 billion in FY2019-20, as per the Ministry of Commerce & Industry data.

The reform measures taken by the government helped attract the highest ever foreign direct investment (FDI) $83 billion in 2021-22.

GST collections surged to an all-time high of Rs 1.68 lakh crore in April 2022. (ANI)