Month: March 2023

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday went for a surprise visit to the New Parliament Building, sources said.

They said he spent more than an hour and inspected various works. He observed facilities coming up at both the Houses of the Parliament and also interacted with the construction workers.
In July last year, the Prime Minister had unveiled the National Emblem cast on the roof of the New Parliament Building. He had also interacted with workers.

The National Emblem is made of bronze with a total weight of 9,500 kg and is 6.5 m in height. It has been cast at the top of the central foyer of the New Parliament Building. A supporting structure of steel weighing around 6,500 kg has been constructed to support the Emblem.

The Prime Minister had laid the foundation stone of the New Parliament Building in December 2020. The new building is an intrinsic part of the vision of ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat’.

The Central Vista project is poised to strengthen governance infrastructure by building new facilities for India’s Parliament and an efficient and sustainable Central Secretariat to house all the ministries of the Government of India.

The Central Vista Development and Re-development Master Plan includes construction of new Parliament building, redevelopment of Central Vista Avenue and construction of Common Central Secretariat Buildings.

The New Parliament Building will have extensive usage of wooden structures

for creation of interior as well as exterior decor, rooted in traditional motifs and elements. It will also have handknotted carpets from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)

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A woman in northern France who described Emmanuel Macron as “filth” on Facebook is to be put on trial on charges of insulting the President, a prosecutor said on Wednesday (local time), reported France24.

The woman risks a fine of 12,000 euros but not a prison if convicted at the trial due to be held in June.
She was arrested on Friday and held in custody for questioning after the state’s local administrative office filed a complaint over her Facebook post, reported France24.

The complaint focused on a post on her Facebook page made on March 21, the day before Macron gave a lunchtime interview to TF1 television to defend his controversial pension reforms that have sparked nationwide protests.

“This piece of filth is going to address you at 1:00 pm… it’s always on television that we see this filth,” she wrote.

She is accused of “insulting the president of the republic” and will stand trial on June 20 in Saint-Omer, the prosecutor said.

“They want to make an example of me,” the woman told La Voix du Nord regional newspaper, which first reported the accusations.

The months-long protest movement against the pension reform has sent social tensions spiraling in France and Macron and his government refuses to give way.

Meanwhile, France’s highest constitutional authority will rule on Macron’s controversial pension reform on April 14, it said Wednesday, a verdict decisive for the future of the changes, reported France24.

The reforms were passed by parliament on March 16 after the government used a mechanism to bypass a vote by MPs, inflaming nationwide protests.

They were considered adopted by parliament when the government survived two no-confidence motions on March 20.

But the reforms can only come into law once they are validated by the Constitutional Council, which has the power to strike out some or even all of the legislation if deemed out of step with the constitution, reported France24.

The council’s members — known as “les sages” (“the wise ones”) — will give two decisions when the ruling is made public on the legislation, whose headline measure raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The first will be on whether the legislation is in line with the French constitution.

And the second will be on whether a demand launched by the left for a referendum on the changes is admissible, reported France24.

If a referendum was ruled admissible, backers would need to get the signatures of a tenth of the electorate — almost five million people — for it to be called.

Its verdict will be a critical juncture in Macron’s battle to impose the legislation, which has seen 10 days of major strikes and protests since January, most recently on Tuesday.

New clashes between police and protesters erupted Tuesday and unions have announced a new day of strikes and protests on April 6, reported France24. (ANI)

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West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday continued her attack at the BJP-led Central government, accusing them of robbing the state’s GST money and depriving all non-BJP states of their due.

On Wednesday, Banerjee began a two-day dharna in Kolkata to protest against the central government’s alleged discriminatory attitude towards her state.
Stepping up her attack on the saffron party, she said, “You sold the LIC for Adani, Nandlal (BJP). If you say anything against the BJP, you are thrown out of the House. If you speak out against them, they send the ED and the CBI after you. They act as if they are the model of honesty. They are acting like feudal lords.”

The ruling TMC Supremo added, “They are destroying our federal structure and are depriving all the non-BJP states of their share of funds. They are robbing us of our GST money. They are stopping funds for the 100-day (MGNREGA) work. They are calling us anti-nationals. Only they are nationalists and all else are anti-nationals. That’s what they think. But we will fight them.”

Also sending out a word of caution for those taking out Ram Navami processions across the state on Thursday, she added, “I request those taking out Ram Navami processions to do so peacefully. Kindly avoid Muslim areas as Ramzan is on. Celebrate peacefully and don’t try to incite violence. I also urge one and all to not get provoked. Some BJP leaders are saying they will take out rallies with swords and knives. To them, I say it is a criminal offence and will be treated as such.”

On Wednesday, the Bengal CM came down hard on the Centre, saying, “I am working for people. I am fighting for the people whose money has been stopped for 100 days’ work. I am sitting on a dharna for the common people whose money has been blocked by the Centre. If required, Mamata can even sit on dharma near the PM’s house. I have the courage to do so.”

“You blocked the money by invoking a so-called Section 27. But remember, people will vote you out with section 420 in 2024. You will not come to power,” she said.

She claimed that Opposition leaders were being hounded and harassed by the central agencies on the BJP’s watch.

“A babu is saying that I will send CBI and ED to your house if you speak against me,” the Bengal CM claimed further.

Banerjee added, “There were some good people in the BJP. I used to respect Atal-ji a lot. But not the leaders nowadays. You are taking our money in the name of GST. I ask all the Opposition parties if there’s any leader who has not been harassed by the BJP as yet. From Akhilesh, Uddhav, Arvind, Lalu and KCR, all are thieves and only you (BJP leaders) are saints.”

She also called on all Opposition parties to come together against the BJP. (ANI)

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The death toll in the Indore temple stepwell collapse incident rose to 13, informed Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday.

“Nineteen people were rescued. As per the latest information, 11 bodies have been recovered -of which 10 were women and one man. Of the 19 people who were rescued, two died. So, a total of 13 have died. An order has been given to probe into the incident,” Mishra told reporters.

The incident took place during Ram Navami celebrations at the Beleshwar Mahadev Jhulelal Temple in the Patel Nagar area.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced Rs 5 lakh exgratia to the kin of the deceased while Rs 50,000 to the injured.

“An ex-gratia amount of Rs 5 lakh will be given to next of kin of deceased while Rs 50,000 will be given to the injured,” Chouhan told reporters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to take stock of the situation.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, “Extremely pained by the mishap in Indore. Spoke to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and took an update on the situation. The State Government is spearheading rescue and relief work at a quick pace. My prayers with all those affected and their families.”

The incident occurred at around 12 pm on Thursday when devotees were offering prayers during a hawan at the temple on the occasion of Ram Navami. (ANI)

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Amid a sudden spike in Covid cases in the national capital, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has decided to step up its daily testing of samples for the pathogen, Health Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters after chairing an emergency meeting on Thursday to take stock of the prevailing Covid situation in the national capital and draw up a plan to deal with the rising cases, Bhardwaj advised hospitals to test any patient showing symptoms of Covid-19.
“We will step up testing as and when the situation demands,” the Delhi Health minister told reporters.

Bhardwaj convened the emergency meeting after the daly Covid count in the national capital climbed to 300 on Wednesday, for the first time since September, last year.

Addressing the press briefing after the meeting, the Health minister said, “The positivity rate is currently higher than 10 per cent, but the number of tests is low. However, there is no need to panic.”

Detaling other decisions taken at the meeting, he said, “An advisory has been issued that people with flu-like symptoms, and those visiting hospitals should wear masks.”

“We are on alert and the prevailing Covid situation in Delhi is being closely monitored,” he said.

However, the minister was quick to add that though the prevailing situation warrants caution, it wasn’t worrisome.

“Samples have also been sent for genome sequencing and nothing of concern has been found so far. We have stepped up surveillance and are checking for new strains, if any,” he said.

Bhardwaj informed further that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will chair a review meeting on the prevailing Covid situation on Friday.

Delhi recorded 300 fresh Covid-19 cases and two deaths on Wednesday, marking a sharp uptick in infections over the last 24 hours.

According to a bulletin issued by the Delhi Health department on Wednesday, the capital also registered two deaths from Covid over the last 24 hours.

The overall active cases are currently at 806, with the infection rate at 13.89 per cent, the bulletin stated.

Further, according to the bulletin, as many as 2,160 swab samples were tested over the last 24 hours, of which 300 tested positive for Covid-19.

The release further informed that a total of 4,07,85,433 Covid tests have been conducted so far.

It stated further that a total of 163 Covid patients recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 19,82,029.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the national capital recorded 214 new Covid infections. The total number of active cases was recorded at 671 while the positivity rate jumped to 11.88 percent.

According to the bulletin issued by the Health department on Tuesday, 81 Covid patients recovered from the virus in the city, taking the total number of recoveries to 19,81,866.

India’s active caseload currently stands at 11,903 with a rate of 0.03 percent per day and with a recovery rate currently standing at 98.78 percent. (ANI)

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