Month: August 2022

By Shalini Bhardwaj

As COVID cases have shown a rising trend across the country, an expert on Thursday said the majority of cases have mild symptoms.

Senior Pulmonologist at Apollo Hospital in Delhi, Dr Nikhil Modi said the COVID cases are definitely rising but symptoms are mild.

“The COVID cases are definitely on the rise, Delhi also reported more than 2000 cases yesterday. But most of the patients are having very mild symptoms,” Dr Modi said.

Taking about the risk to people who have comorbidities, Dr Modi said, “Patients with 80 to 90 years of age with diabetes and other issues have been reporting to us but all of them have mild symptoms.”

A senior consultant at Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Dr Dhiren Gupta said people who don’t get tested themselves timely and don’t follow COVID-appropriate behaviour land up with trouble.

“Some of the people don’t follow COVID appropriate behaviour, people get them tested only when they land up in trouble,” Dr Gupta said.

“The reasons for rising COVID numbers are reckless behaviour of people and not wearing masks. The changes in the weather also can be a reason,” he said.

Dr Gupta also said there are few deaths that have been reported, in which most of them died due to comorbidities rather than COVID infections.

“Most of the cases are mild and it is more like flu-like symptoms which we are seeing cough, fever and some sometimes high fever for two or three days. Symptoms are usually settling with the first five or in a week,” he said.

Dr Gupta further said the COVID is not done yet, people who tested positive for the infection three months back are testing positive again.

He said that some of the swine flu patients also are reporting to Apollo hospital. Currently ther are two patients with swine flu.

Meanwhile, India on Thursday witnessed an uptick in the number of new COVID-19 infections as it recorded 19,893 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. (ANI)

Following torrential rains, southern Pakistan has been hit by heavy floods damaging cotton crops which has turned the lives of farmers in Sindh upside down as the rains destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land and orchards.

“My crop is almost totally destroyed, all six acres of it. There is no hope left, because even now the fields are covered in four feet of water,” said Pakistani farmer Sajid Ali from Masoo Burburi, a tiny village in the province of Sindh, Geo News reported.

Due to unusually heavy monsoon rains, numerous people have been killed and hundreds of homes have been washed away.

Moreover, Ali’s village which once housed 60 families engaged in agricultural work, planting cotton, wheat and chillies is now one of the worst hit.

As per Geo News, around 50 villages in Sindh were inundated, reported local media, after flash floods from the neighbouring province of Balochistan flowed over, destroying thousands of acres of agricultural land and orchards.

The region has been suffering from drought for decades but now the monsoon rains have put farmers like Ali at a loss as to what to do.

“I had taken out a loan for sowing this crop. But now I have to go and work on someone else’s land because we can’t make ends meet on what is left of the crop,” Ali said.

According to Ali, his crop was worth around USD 7,500, over four times Pakistan’s current per capita income of USD 1,666, according to the country’s statistics bureau.

As many as 30 villages were submerged in Sindh province in Pakistan after flash floods from Balochistan entered the province, taking the total number of drowned villages in the hilly region to 50.

Meanwhile, the road link between Balochistan with Sindh was completely cut off after a bridge and a road connecting the two provinces were damaged in Lasbela and Khuzdar, respectively.

Traffic on the Quetta-Karachi highway was still suspended due to collapse of major bridges and the sweeping away of big portions of the highway. (ANI)

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will support Opposition vice presidential candidate Margaret Alva in the upcoming Vice Presidential elections, said party MP Imtiaz Jaleel on Thursday.

The announcement came soon after Opposition leaders’ meeting at Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Sharad Pawar’s residence.
Margaret Alva was also present at the meeting.

“We discussed Margaret Alva’s name and decided that the whole AIMIM party will support her, help her and stand with her. She is a woman and hails from a minority background. The country would be happy to see her, we wish her success,” said AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel.

Earlier today, Alva appealed to all MPs to vote without fear or political pressure for the candidate they believe is best suited for this critical office.

In a video appeal, she claimed she is the best candidate as she has the experience and will work impartially from the chair, besides committing herself to forge consensus on issues of national importance.

“I appeal to each member of Parliament to vote for me in the election on August 6 without any fear. For, truly there is nothing to fear but fear itself. With your support, if elected Vice President, I commit myself to forge consensus on issues of national importance and to work with you – respected members to restore the glory of Parliament,” she said.

On Wednesday, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) declared its support for the opposition’s vice presidential candidate Margaret Alva.

The vice-presidential poll is slated to be held on August 6 as the tenure of incumbent M. Venkaiah Naidu comes to an end on August 10.

Alva filed her nomination for the Vice Presidential election on July 19. Opposition parties on July 17 decided to field the former Rajasthan Governor as their joint candidate for the vice presidential election.

The decision to field Alva was taken at a meeting of opposition leaders of 17 parties at the residence of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar.

On the other hand, the ruling NDA has fielded West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as its joint candidate for the post of Vice President.

Dhankar, who is a lawyer by profession, entered politics in 1989. He became the governor of West Bengal in July 2019 and has made headlines since then over his tumultuous relations with the Mamata Banerjee government. He tendered his resignation as the Governor of West Bengal, following the nomination for the vice president post.

The vice president of India, which is the second-highest constitutional post in the country, is elected through an electoral college consisting of members of the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress said that the party will abstain from voting in the upcoming Vice Presidential poll. In 2017, the NDA had nominated Venkaiah Naidu as its candidate for the vice-presidential election and he went on to become India’s 15th vice president. (ANI)

The Reserve Bank of India is likely to hike the policy repo rate by 25 to 50 basis points on Friday, the third hike since the beginning of the current financial year, in order to tame the inflationary pressure.
While the hike in policy interest rates is almost certain, analysts and economists have different opinions on the extent of the rate hike. It varies between 25 basis points to 50 basis points.

According to Srikanth Subramanian, CEO-Designate, Kotak Cherry, RBI is expected to hike the policy repo rate by 35 to 50 basis points.

“The upcoming RBI policy is expected to resonate the rate increase action taken by peer central bankers with the consensus between 35-50 bps hike getting acknowledged across the yield curve,” Subramanian said.

“Monetary policies are swayed by macro data where inflation and growth are tracked with few high-frequency indicators. Few advanced economies have fallen prey to conflicting indicators and facing the tough task of collaborating them together. Domestically, the cooling of commodities along with crude, good GST numbers, rise in PMI, firm power consumption points towards the resilience of the economy and have provided RBI with a clear guidance to focus on price stability (inflation),” Subramanian added.

The second bi-monthly meeting of the RBI Monetary Policy Committee started on Wednesday. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das is scheduled to announce the Monetary Policy Committee decisions on Friday morning.

According to HDFC Bank’s Chief Economist Abheek Barua, the RBI is “likely to take rates above a level deemed ‘neutral’ (which we think is closer to 5.25 per cent) before slowing down or looking at becoming more data dependent in this rate hike cycle.”

“We expect RBI MPC to hike benchmark repo rate by 50 bps as CPI continues to rule above RBIs threshold band. Commentary maybe neutral / dovish as CPI trend seems to be following RBIs forecast for FY 2023. Key to watch also would be the guidance if any in the future course of rate moves,” said Lakshmi Iyer, Chief Investment Officer (Debt) & Head Products, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company.

“From to hike or not earlier this year, the key question for policymakers is how much to hike! US Fed seems to be running a Sprint as far as rate hikes are concerned. Most other economies may not have the luxury of a marathon race hence,” Iyer said.

On the impact of the RBI decision on the stock markets, Subramanian said, “Equity markets seem to have discounted a 35-50 bps rise and hence a corresponding rate hike may not result in a big shock specially on the back of good earnings and economic momentum.”

Data analytics firm CareEdge expects RBI to hike the policy interest rate by another 100 basis points in the remainder of the financial year 2022-23. This will take the terminal rate to 5.90 per cent by the end of FY23.

While the current CPI inflation is still around 7 per cent, the easing of many commodity prices is attributed as a major factor of influence towards a lower inflation trajectory by the fourth quarter of the FY23.

“We expect 50 bps of repo rate hike in the upcoming policy and another 50-bps rate hike post that taking the terminal repo rate to 5.90 per cent by the end of the fiscal year,” said Rajani Sinha, Chief Economist, CareEdge.

“With the softening of many commodity prices, CPI inflation seems to have broadly peaked at the current levels and is expected to witness a downward movement to below 6 per cent by Q4FY23. However, domestic inflation is still high and so is the global commodity prices, we expect RBI to continue with front-loading of rate hiking cycle,” Sinha said.

If the RBI chooses to hike the policy repo rate on Friday, it will be the third hike in a row. The RBI started tightening the monetary policy at the beginning of the current financial year. In its off-cycle monetary policy review in May, the RBI hiked the policy repo rate by 40 basis points or 0.40 per cent. This was the first increase in the policy repo rate in nearly two years. The repo rate is the interest rate at which the RBI lends short-term funds to banks.

In its second bi-monthly policy review in June, the RBI hiked the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 4.90 per cent. (ANI)

Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday was quizzed for around eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate office in the national capital in connection with the money laundering case involving the National Herald newspaper.

The Congress MP arrived at ED headquarters at around 12:30 pm on Thursday.
Slamming the Centre government over the ED summon, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said, “This is pure harassment. Modi government has created this drama before Congress’s protest rally tomorrow in all states against inflation, unemployment and GST on edibles… many security forces were deployed yesterday outside Sonia Gandhi’s residence and AICC’s headquarters.

Earlier in the day, Kharge informed the Rajya Sabha that the Enforcement Directorate had issued summons against him amid ongoing proceedings of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, accusing the Central government of attempting to intimidate the Congress party.

The ED has asked Kharge to appear before it in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald. Interim party chief Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have already been questioned in the case over alleged evasion of tax.

Kharge stated while speaking during the Question Hour session of the Rajya Sabha.

“I received ED summon, they called me at 12.30 pm. I want to abide by the law, but is it right for them to summon when Parliament is in session? Is it right for the Police to gherao residences of Sonia Gandhi & Rahul Gandhi? They are doing it purposely to afraid of us (Congress). We won’t be scared, we’ll fight,” Kharge said.

Responding to Kharge’s complaint, the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal said the Centre has nothing to do with it.

“The government does not interfere in the work of the law enforcement authorities. Perhaps during their tenure, when their government was there, they might be interfering,” Goyal said

The union minister said that said law enforcement agencies were doing their job and acting against those who have done anything wrong.

ED on Wednesday partially sealed the offices of Young India Limited — the firm that owns Associated Journals, which runs the outlet — at Herald House in Delhi.

The probe agency took action a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out raids at 12 locations in the national capital and at other places in connection with the National Herald case in which top Congress leaders are accused of violating norms.

Mallikarjun Kharge is the authorised representative for the company, and the sealing had to be done as he wasn’t there.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi termed the sealing of the Young Indian office at the Herald House building as an “intimidation attempt” by the ruling BJP and asserted that he is “not scared” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suppressive government.

Speaking to the reporters here, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, “You are talking about National Herald, it’s an intimidation attempt. They think they will be able to silence us with a little pressure…We won’t be intimidated. We are not scared of Narendra Modi. They can do whatever they want…”

ED in April this year examined senior Congress leader Kharge here in connection with its money laundering probe into the National Herald case and recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The National Herald case pertains to the alleged financial irregularities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and was registered about nine months ago after a trial court took cognisance of an Income Tax department probe carried out on the basis of a private criminal complaint filed by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Subramanian Swamy in 2013.

The petitioner had approached the court alleging that the assets of Associated Journals Limited (AJL), which published the National Herald newspaper, were fraudulently acquired and transferred to Young Indian Pvt Limited (YIL), in which Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi owned 38 per cent shares each.

Swamy had alleged that the Gandhis cheated and misappropriated funds, with YIL paying only Rs 50 lakh to obtain the right to recover Rs 90.25 crore that AJL owed to Congress.

The raids were conducted days after the investigative agency questioned Congress interim-president Sonia Gandhi for nearly three hours on July 27. It was the third round of questioning of the senior leader in the case.

Following the summoning of Sonia Gandhi by the ED, Congress workers and leaders staged protests in various parts of the country alleging misuse of probe agencies by the government. Sonia Gandhi was questioned by ED on July 26 also. She had reached the ED office accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Officials said on that day, the party president’s response was sought to around 30 questions regarding her involvement with the National Herald newspaper and Young Indian Pvt Ltd.During her questioning, the Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli was asked about the functioning and running of the newspaper, the role of its various office bearers. Prior to that, she was also questioned by ED on July 21.

Meanwhile, in June, the ED questioned Rahul Gandhi for five days. Rahul Gandhi was questioned by the ED for over 27 hours for three straight days from June 13 to June 15 and was again summoned on June 20. On June 20, he was questioned for around 14 hours.

The Congress leader was deposed before the ED investigators in the case for the first time on June 13.

He initially sought an exemption from appearance on June 16, following which he was called on June 17. But the senior Congress leader wrote to the ED to postpone his questioning citing the illness of his mother Sonia Gandhi.

The ED then allowed him to join the probe on June 20 at his request. (ANI)

Actor Sonakshi Sinha recreated the ‘Poo bani Parvati’ scene from the film ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’ with her friend and shared it on social media.

Sonakshi took to her Instagram space on Thursday and dropped a reel where she can be seen recreating a scene with her friend Savleen Kaur Manchanda, who is playing the role of Kajol.
For the unversed, in the original scene, Kajol complains to Shah Rukh Khan about Kareena’s fashion sense. On this, Kareena replies to her sister sarcastically by saying that black makes her look thin and green makes her sister look fat.

In the video, Sonakshi is acting like Poo of ‘Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham’, which looks really cool and fun to watch. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg1JKNuof0p/embed

“I dont know to what I owe this privilege and honor but @savleenmanchanda decided to make her debut on my reels today. Also we found the perfect audio for when we were wearing black and green… how the universe works sometimes to facilitate the nonsense you want to do with your friends,” she captioned the post.

As soon as she posted the video, Bollywood celebrities and fans filled laughter emoticons in the comment section.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sonakshi will be soon marking her OTT debut with Amazon prime video’s upcoming series ‘Fallen’ in which she plays the role of a cop for the first time in her career. The series will stream later this year.

Apart from this, she also has ‘Double XL’ alongside Huma Qureshi and her rumoured boyfriend Zaheer Iqbal. The official release date of the film is still awaited. A horror comedy film ‘Kakuda’ along with Riteish Deshmukh and Saqib Saleem.

Recently, she started shooting for her upcoming film ‘Nikita Roy and The Book of Darkness’ in London. (ANI)

Actor Rakul Preet Singh has left the fashion police awestruck with her latest outfit on social media.

Rakul Preet took to her Instagram handle and posted a string of photos in a glamorous red dress, paired with a matching overcoat.

She matched her outfit with hoop earrings, a small pendant and copper-coloured stilettos.

Her subtle makeup with bright lips and open hair makes her more glamorous.

The 31-year-old actor is quite active on social media, where she has a sizable fan base. Her fans can’t get enough of the Bollywood diva, who is frequently seen sharing images and videos of herself and her loved ones on social media.

Recently, Rakul Preet was featured in a music video titled ‘Mashooka’, which is produced by none other than her boyfriend Jackky Bhagnani.

Meanwhile, on the film front, Rakul will be seen in ‘Chhatriwali’. The film, directed by Tejas Prabha Vijay Deoskar, tells the story of a chemistry graduate who ends up accepting the job of a quality tester for condoms as she needs money. Rakul will also be seen as a gynaecologist in her upcoming movie Doctor G. (ANI)

With Independence Day approaching, various forms of the tricolour can be seen dominating the market all over India including Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh under the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign.

In Jammu, markets are filled with different varieties for the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign. The markets are flooded with Tiranga kites, Tiranga T-Shirts, different sizes of Tirangas, Tiranga badges, Tiranga hand bands, and many other varieties which have depicted the Tiranga.
The shopkeepers said, “The market is filled with Tiranga items and people are coming in large numbers, mostly parents buying Tiranga items for their kids. This year’s ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign has been going on and the people in Jammu are preparing for it.”

In Vadodra, tricolour can even be found in sweets. Under the Azadi ka Amrit Mohatsav, the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign being celebrated to commemorate 75 years of India’s independence, a halwai in Vadodara has made sweets in tricolour for this occasion.

He was inspired by the administration to make sweets in the form of tricolour. At present, Tricolour Shrikhand will also be made along with Tiranga Malai Penda, and Tiranga Barfi.

Naval Bhumiya, shopkeeper said, “To give a look to the sweet, vanilla essence has been used for saffron colour for white colour and pistachio essence for green colour.”

In Kanpur, there is a lot of enthusiasm among the people in the markets for August 15 and the tricolour call by PM Modi at every home.

Various types of tricolour-related products have come into the markets and the sellers of the tricolour have brought many tempting products into the markets, especially to entice children. The euphoria of the Azadi ka Amrit Mohatsav festival is such that the tricolour has been in shortage in the market.

This time along with the traditional flag of Khadi, flags made from silk cloth are availabe in the market. Tricolour bracelets for small children, hair bands, specs for children and many attractive varieties of decorations are available in the market and people are also buying these products heavily.

This year the tricolour is made available at Post Offices for the citizens to purchase directly in all regions of Kanpur.

R S Sharma, Assistant Director, Kanpur Post Office said, “This year the tricolour flags are available at all the Post Offices in the Kanpur region for the citizens, one flag costs Rs 25.”

“This is the first time that such facility is provided at Post Offices,” he added. (ANI)

Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed a 6000-page chargesheet against Pune businessman Avinash Bhosale’s son Amit Bhosale of ARA properties based in Maharashtra’s Pune and two others in connection with the Pune land grab scam.

Last year in August, ED has provisionally attached immovable assets worth Rs 4 crore of ARA Properties in connection with its ongoing probe against builder Avinash Bhosale, the promoter of Avinash Bhosale Infrastructure Ltd (ABIL), who is accused of purchasing a plot in Pune after manipulating the rules and constructed a commercial structure for himself while the plot was meant for the construction of a residential building for bureaucrats.
ED officials said that the market price of the attached assets of ARA Properties is estimated at around Rs 100 crore. The attached property is the land, where the corporate office of ABIL and its other group companies are situated.

ED initiated a money-laundering investigation in the case on December 30, 2020, on the basis of the First Information Report (FIR) registered by Pune Police in 2016.

The ED case against Avinash Bhosale and his son pertains to the alleged construction of a commercial complex on a prime plot of land in Pune which was meant for a complex to be constructed for bureaucrats.

The investigating agency has named six people in its case including Avinash Bhosale and his son Amit Bhosale.

Besides the father and the son, Ranjit Mohite, Ravindra, Swapnil Deshpandey and one more person are accused in the case.

“The FIR alleged that the land situated at plot no 2, Yashwant Ghadge Nagar Cooperative Housing Society, Range Hill Corner, Ganeshkhind Road, Pune, MH 411007 was transferred by Ranjit Mohite to ARA Properties in violation of Original Allotment Conditions existing at that point of time, whereby the land could have been transferred only to the Government or Commissioned Officers, being a primary condition at the time of allotment of this land by the government in 1951,” an ED statement said.

During the money-laundering investigation, the ED said, search and seizure operations were carried out at various places and incriminating documents were seized. “The documents found during the search corroborated the allegations made in the FIR.”

In June this year, the ED also seized Avinash Bhosale’s assets worth Rs 40 crore in India in another case registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations, for investing in Dubai after violating the rules.

Last month ED also summoned Avinash Bhosale and his son Amit in connection with the money laundering case. The ED officials in February this year also conducted searches at offices and residences of Avinash Bhosale in Pune and at some locations in Mumbai in connection with the case. (ANI)

The national capital reported 2,202 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours with a case positivity rate of 11.84 per cent, according to a bulletin by Delhi Health Department on Thursday.

There are currently 6,175 active COVID cases in the national capital. Further, 1,660 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours in Delhi taking the total recoveries to 19,29,874.

With no fresh COVID death reported in the last 24 hours, the COVID death toll in the city stood at 26,325.

As many as 3,587 patients are in home isolation in the national capital while 386 patients are admitted to hospitals.

The health bulletin said a total of 13,303 samples were tested in the last 24 hours for COVID.

As many as 14,008 COVID vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours in Delhi of which 1,083 beneficiaries were of the first dose, 2,274 were of the second dose and 10,651 received the precaution dose. (ANI)