Category: National

PTI

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that around two crore people lost their jobs in the last four months amid the coronavirus pandemic and asserted that the “truth about unemployment” cananot be hidden from the country.

Citing a media report, he said in a tweet in Hindi, “In the last 4 months, around 2 crore people have lost their jobs. The future of 2 crore families is in the dark. The truth about unemployment and destruction of the economy cannot be hidden from the country by peddling fake news and hatred on Facebook.”

The news report cited by Gandhi claimed that around 1.89 crore jobs were lost due to the coronavirus pandemic from April onwards.

A massive political row broke out after a report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) last week alleged that senior Facebook executives had opposed applying hate speech rules to posts by certain BJP leaders, with the BJP and the Congress engaged in a bitter war of words over the issue.

“We cannot allow any manipulation of our hard-earned democracy through bias, fake news and hate speech. As exposed by WSJ, Facebook’s involvement in peddling fake and hate news needs to be questioned by all Indians,” Gandhi tweeted on Tuesday.

Hitting back at the Congress, Union Information Technology Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said people whose political base has “shrunk like anything” seek to dominate discourse on these platforms, and asserted that everybody regardless of his ideology has the right to air views.

He said former Congress president Rahul Gandhi believes that any organisation that does not work to his liking is acting under the pressure of the BJP and the RSS.

PTI

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday conducted multi-city searches in connection with a money laundering case filed against Tablighi Jamaat leader Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, trusts linked to the Jamaat and others, officials said.

They said various premises in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and a few other locations are being raided to collect evidence.

The action is being carried out under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the ED said.

The central probe agency had filed a money laundering case in April against Maulana Saad and others after it took cognisance of a Delhi Police complaint against these entities.

The Delhi Police crime branch had on March 31 lodged an FIR against seven people, including the cleric, on a complaint by the station house officer (SHO) of Nizamuddin police station for holding a congregation of Tablighi Jamaat followers in alleged violation of the orders against large gatherings to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Maulana Saad was alleged to have organised the religious gathering in March at Nizamuddin Markaz in violation of social distancing protocol imposed by the Centre to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The ED later took over the case and is looking at the personal finances and charges of alleged money laundering against Maulana Saad and some other office bearers and associates of the Tablighi Jamaat.

Certain donations received by the Islamic organisation from foreign and domestic sources are also under the scanner of the agency.

In an audio message released after the Delhi Police case, Maulana Saad had said he was exercising self-quarantine after several hundreds who visited the congregation at Nizamudddin Markaz tested positive for COVID-19.

The police FIR registered against the Tablighi Jamaat event said Delhi Police contacted authorities of Nizamuddin Markaz on March 21 and reminded them of the government order, which prohibited any political or religious gathering of more than 50 people.

It says that despite repeated efforts, the event organisers failed to inform the health department or any other government agency about the huge gathering inside the Markaz and deliberately disobeyed government orders.

More than 25,500 Tablighi members and their contacts have been quarantined in the country after the Centre and the state governments conducted a “mega operation” to identify them, the government had said.

At least 9,000 people participated in the religious congregation in Nizamuddin. Later, many of these travelled to various parts of the country.

Some of the foreign nationals who participated in the congregation have been recently allowed to walk free and return to their countries by local courts on payment of varying fines, after they accepted mild charges under the plea bargain process.

However, a number of them could not fly back to their countries due to the pendency of some other police FIRs lodged against them for the same offence.

PTI

New Delhi: A spike of 55,079 cases took India’s COVID-19 tally past 27 lakh on Tuesday just a day after it crossed the 26-lakh mark, while 19.77 lakh people have so far recuperated from the disease pushing the recovery rate to 73.18 per cent, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The COVID-19 caseload stood at 27,02,742, while the death toll climbed to 51,797 with 876 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

Case fatality rate stands at 1.92 per cent.

There are 6,73,166 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which is 24.91 per cent of the total caseload, while the number of recoveries has risen to 19,77,779.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 3,09,41,264 samples have been tested up to August 17 with 8,99,864 samples being tested on Monday.

Of the 876 fresh deaths reported, 228 are from Maharashtra, 120 from Tamil Nadu, 115 from Karnataka, 82 from Andhra Pradesh, 66 from Uttar Pradesh, 45 from West Bengal, 51 from Punjab, 23 from Madhya Pradesh, 18 from Delhi, 15 from Gujarat, 13 from Kerala, 12 from Haryana, 11 from Rajasthan and 10 from Odisha.

Nine fatalities have been reported from Chhattisgarh, eight each from Assam and Telangana, seven each from Bihar and Goa, six each from Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand, four from Puducherry, three from Tripura, while Andmana and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh and Manipur have registered one fatality each.

Of the total 51,797 deaths, Maharashtra has reported the maximum at 20,265, followed by 5,886 in Tamil Nadu, 4,214 in Delhi, 4,062 in Karnataka, 2,800 in Gujarat, 2,732 in Andhra Pradesh, 2,515 in Uttar Pradesh, 2,473 in West Bengal and 1,128 in Madhya Pradesh.

So far, 887 people have died of COVID-19 in Rajasthan, 863 in Punjab, 711 in Telangana, 550 in Haryana, 548 in Jammu and Kashmir, 468 in Bihar, 353 in Odisha, 250 in Jharkhand, 197 in Assam, 169 in Kerala and 158 in Uttarakhand.

Chhattisgarh has registered 150 deaths, Puducherry 114, Goa 111, Tripura 62, Chandigarh 30, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 29, Himachal Pradesh 19, Manipur 17, Ladakh 14, Nagaland eight, Meghalaya six, Arunachal Pradesh five, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu two and Sikkim one.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

PTI

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens on Tuesday to take precautions during the ongoing monsoon season, noting that this is the time when tropical and vector-borne diseases spread.

The government is also closely monitoring the situation and ensuring care to those affected, he said.

“This is the season of tropical and vector-borne diseases. I urge you all to take the right precautions. The government is also closely monitoring the situation and ensuring care to those affected. Stay safe, be happy,” he tweeted.

He also tagged a DD News report on precautions to prevent vector-borne diseases.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was discharged from a private hospital in Gurugram last week after testing negative for COVID-19 and admission there

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, at 2 a.m. on Tuesday with a complaint of “fatigue and body ache,’’ said a statement issued by the hospital authorities.

“The Minister is currently under observation and is being admitted for post-COVID care. He came with a complaint of fatigue and body ache for the past 2 to 3 days. He is comfortable and is continuing his work from the hospital”, AIIMS media and protocol division chairperson Aarti Vij said in the statement.

Doctors advised that the Minister be shifted to the hospital after he felt uneasy while at his residence, sources said.

Mr. Shah, was discharged from private hospital Medanta in Gurugram last week after testing negative for COVID-19 and admission there.

The Minister tweeted on August 14 that he would be in home isolation for a few more days on the advice of his doctors.

With inputs from The Hindu

PTI

Kokrajhar: Huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from the forest areas near the India-Bhutan border in Assam’s Kokrajhar district on Sunday, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, an operation was launched in the afternoon in Katlibil forest in Saraibil border outpost area and Belguri forest in Sefanguri police station area of the district, Kokrajhar’s superintendent of police Rakesh Roushan said.

A medium machine gun with a chain, five AK-56 rifles with four magazines and 244 cartridges, and an INSAS rifle with 23 cartridges were among those recovered, he said.

Besides, three 9 mm pistols with five magazines and six cartridges, a .22 Chinese gun with two magazines and five cartridges, and a hand grenade were also seized, he added.

Police have stepped up search operations in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) over the past one month, and huge quantities of arms and ammunition have been seized from various parts of the four districts.

Elections to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), scheduled to have been held on April 4, have been kept in abeyance until further orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kokrajhar Police recovered 5 AK rifles, 1 INSAS rifle, 1 MMG with chain, 5 pistols & a huge quantity of ammunition from Saraibil & Serfanguri area of Kokrajhar (ANI)

PTI

Hyderabad: A local court on Monday sentenced a 46-year-old man to rigorous life imprisonment for sexually abusing a four-year-old girl.

The First Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge Suneetha Kunchala found the man guilty under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and sentenced him to rigorous life imprisonment.

The court found the man guilty also under different IPC sections and awarded the rigorous imprisonment ranging from three-10 years.

It imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 and said the sentences will run concurrently.

According to the prosecution, the city police received information on December 17, 2015, that the accused committed an unnatural offence and sexually abused the girl. The act was recorded in a CCTV camera at his house.

The girl lived in the house rented out by the accused to her parents.

“Career of students cannot be put in peril. We find no merit in the petition. The petition is dismissed”, the bench which also comprised justices BR Gavai and Krishna Murari said.

Police reject father’s claims that body of the 13-year-old girl was mutilated

The Uttar Pradesh government has come under fresh criticism after a 13-year-old girl was raped and strangulated to death in a field in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

Talking to media, the victim’s father had claimed that upon discovering the body in a sugarcane field, he saw it was mutilated. However, the district police chief on Sunday said the reports of mutilation were “completely false.”

The post-mortem report only confirmed rape, said Satendra Kumar, SP Kheri.

Mr. Kumar, however, said that while the body had some blood stains near the eye, she may have received cut marks from the sugarcane leaves. And the tongue getting pressed between the teeth was a sign of strangulation, Mr. Kumar said.

Two accused, both locals, were arrested and police said they were being booked under the stringent National Security Act.

The girl’s body was found in a sugarcane field hours after she had stepped out to answer the call of nature, police said.

Shameful, says Mayawati

BSP chief Mayawati said the minor Dalit girl’s rape and “brutal” murder was shameful. “With such incidents, what difference is there between the SP government and the current BJP government,” she asked in a tweet, demanding strict action.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the incident had “shaken humanity”. The oppression of girls and women under the BJP rule in U.P. was at its peak, he said.

Ajay Kumar Lallu, Congress U.P. president, said the incident had shamed the entire society and claimed there was a “jungle raj” in the State.

“BJP chants ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’, but is not able to provide security to [our] daughters,” he said. “There is lawlessness everywhere, criminals are fearless,” he said.

With inputs from The Hindu

Kolkata: Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a software which can be of immense help to teachers who are currently facing challenges as the entire classroom session has shifted to online mode in different educational institutions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prof Raja Datta of Electronics and Electrical Communication Department with his postgraduate students developed the software, the current version of which can be used within a campus LAN, an IIT Kharagpur spokesperson said on Saturday.

Talking about the software ‘Deekshak’, Datta said, “it is now a single session platform where the teacher would concentrate on the screen with the teaching materials while being able to view queries on a live chat box where each student can send in their queries.”

Students also have access to a doubt box where they can click to “raise their hand” and wait for the teacher to address it, as is done in a physical classroom.

Teachers can also share documents with the students through the platform and even update notes on the documents in real-time, Datta said.

Deekshak is a low bandwidth web-based software and can be accessed using any computer or even a cell phone.

Teachers can also record attendance of the students on the platform.

The software has been tested at IIT Kharagpur during the initial phase of social distancing with about 40 hours of classes being conducted with a total of approximately 300 students.

IIT Kharagpur, Director Prof Virendra K Tewari said, “We need platforms for addressing challenges faced by India and Deekshak is designed to cater to Indian academia, be it the bandwidth issue, or user interface or storage.”

He said, “Deekshak is one step towards that goal through which the teachers would be able to offer more personalised interaction while focusing better on the act of teaching.”

IIT Kharagpur has applied for the copyright registration of Deekshak and is in search of a start-up company for its maintainability.

Further development of Deekshak is also underway to improve its features and make it secure so that it can be made available for use in academia, said Datta.