Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday questioned the government over the criteria it adopted to judge how long the COVID-19-induced lockdown will continue.
Addressing a meeting of chief ministers of states where the Congress is in power, she asked “what after May 17?.” The third phase of the lockdown ends on May 17.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi were part of the meeting.
“After May 17th, What? and After May 17th, How?…what criteria is GoI (government of India) using to judge how long the lockdown is to continue…,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala quoted Sonia Gandhi as saying in the video conference with CMs.
She thanked farmers, particularly of Punjab and Haryana, for ensuring food security by giving bumper wheat crop produce despite all odds.
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also said, “We need to know, as Soniaji said, what will happen after lockdown 3.0?”.
“Soniaji has already pointed out. CM’s need to deliberate and ask as to what is the strategy of the government of India to get the country out of lockdown,” Singh asked.
Speaking at the meeting, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said he has set up two committees, one to strategise on how to come out of the lockdown and the other on economic revival.
“Concern is people sitting in Delhi are deciding on classification of (COVID-19) zones without knowing what’s happening on the ground,” he said at the meeting.
Rajasthan Chief minister Ashok Gehlot said, “until extensive stimulus package is given, how will States and the country run? We have lost ₹10,000 crore revenue.”
He said states have repeatedly requested the prime minister for a package, “but we are yet to hear from the government of India”.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said, “States are facing dire economic crisis. They need to be provided immediate assistance.”
He said Chattisgarh is one state where 80% of small industries have restarted and nearly 85,000 workers have returned to work.
Firefighters brought under control a fire that broke out at a residential tower in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday night, Sharjah’s government media office said.
Seven people were treated for minor injuries from the fire in the tower in Sharjah’s Al Nahda area and taken to hospital for treatment, the media office tweeted.
Videos on social media purportedly of the fire showed burning debris falling from a tower engulfed in flames, which local media said was the 48-storey Abbco Tower. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
Residents of the tower were evacuated, Sharjah media office said. It did not say whether the cause of the fire was known.
As many as 85 BSF personnel tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, taking the total number of infected personnel to 154 so far.
Two of them have recovered from the disease.
Two floors of the BSF headquarters in the CGOs complex on Lodhi Road here were sealed on Monday after a staff member was found COVID-19 infected and the headquarters was shut for sanitisation.
30 BSF jawans test positive for COVID-19 in Jodhpur
Thirty BSF jawans, forming part of a company deployed earlier in the Walled City area in Delhi on internal security duty, tested positive for COVID-19 here on Wednesday, an official of the border guarding force said.
According to the BSF official, all these jawans were the part of a BSF company comprising 65 jawans, which had been sent to Delhi from Jaipur on internal security duty and had been put up at the Jama Masjid in the national capital.
Tral: In a major breakthrough, security forces today killed Hizbul Mujahideen chief commander Reyaz Naikoo and his aide in an encounter at Beighpora, Awantipora in Pulwama district.
The slain Hizb commander had a bounty of Rs 12 lakh on his head and was most wanted commander. Official sources told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that Reyaz and his aide have been killed in the ongoing encounter.
He had taken the reigns of Hizb soon after Burhan Wani’s killing in July 2016. “Yes we have killed Hizb chief commander Reyaz Naikoo and another militant,” a police official said—(KNO)
Srinagar: An Emergency Operation Center (EOC) has been established in Srinagar to meet any flood threats following increase in the water level of river Jhelum due to rain in Kashmir Valley.
An official spokesperson said here Tuesday evening that the government has established the Emergency Operation Center to deal with any eventuality that may arise due to flood like situation.
Meanwhile, the Jehlum’s carrying capacity has been raised from 32000 cusec to 42000 cusec and the target is to take it to 60000 cusec.
Delhi coronavirus liquor tax: Liquor shops pulled up their shutters on Monday after over a month since the centre announced a lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic
New Delhi: The Delhi government will charge 70 per cent extra tax on liquor from today amid the coronavirus pandemic. Calling the new tax “special corona fee”, the Arvind Kejriwal government in a late night order on Monday said the police should allow the shops to remain open from 9 am to 6:30 pm. The 70% tax is on the maximum retail price or MRP per bottle. For instance, a liquor bottle with a pre-tax MRP of Rs 1,000 will now cost Rs 1,700.
Liquor shops pulled up their shutters on Monday after over a month since the centre announced a lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The Delhi government is looking to harvest more revenue from liquor sales as the lockdown has affected businesses and tax collection.
The move to charge the 70 per cent tax on liquor was first considered at a cabinet meeting chaired by Mr Kejriwal on Monday morning itself, just after the extended lockdown kicked in with some rules eased, news agency PTI reported quoting unnamed sources.
On Sunday, Mr Kejriwal said the state government’s earnings and economy have been affected due to the lockdown. Citing revenue figures, he said the Delhi government earned Rs 3,500 crore in April 2019, but only Rs 300 crore in April this year.
The Delhi government issues licence to sell liquor to its tourism and related undertakings – DTTDC, DSIDC, DSCSC and DCCWS – and these agencies can further issue licence to those who want to use their premises to sell liquor.
Only standalone liquor shops as against those located at markets are allowed to open in Delhi.
Many said they were not aware that only government liquor shops were allowed to open.
Hours after the shops opened on Monday, thousands turned up to stand in long queues and without following social distancing guidelines. This led the authorities to shut many of the shops in no time.
Officials had painstakingly drawn chalk circles for buyers of booze to stand in but the social distancing efforts were thwarted as people gathered from early morning.
The Public Safety Act against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti was extended by three months on Tuesday, officials said.
In a brief order, district magistrate of Srinagar handed over the continuation of her custody at her residence, hours before her present term under the PSA was to expire.
She was initially detained on August 5 last year when the Centre abrogated special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories — Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Having spent over eight months in detention at two government facilities that were designated as sub-jails, Ms. Mufti was shifted to her home on April 7 as a partial relief to her.
Ms. Mufti heads the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which was in power in Jammu and Kashmir in alliance with the BJP till June 2018.
Initially, she was taken into preventive custody. Later on February 5 this year, she was slapped with the PSA along with Omar Abdullah, who was released in March. Farooq Abdullah had been released early last month.
Earlier, Ms. Mufti was lodged a government guesthouse in Chashma Shahi and a bunglow on Maulana Azad Road near Lal Chowk.
Daughter of Ms. Mehbooba, Ms. Iltija has moved a habeas corpus petition before the Supreme Court in February challenging her mother’s detention.
A three-judge bench had issued a notice to the Jammu and Kashmir administration seeking its response on the plea and posted the matter for a hearing on March 18. However, the petition was not taken up for hearing due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Habeas corpus is a writ seeking production of a person supposed to be in illegal detention before a court.
Authorities bring her back after 12 hours; Persons kept under quarantine says lack of facilities reason behind fleeing centre
Budgam: A woman along with two children had escaped from administrative quarantine centre in Budgam district while the officials have managed to bring her back to the centre after twelve hours.
Persons kept under quarantine told news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), that the administrative quarantine centres in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) School Budgam and Govt Degree College Charar-i-sharief lack proper facilities, saying that they have been facing hardships in absence of the proper arrangements by the concerned authorities.
A person at Quarantine Centre JNV Budgam said that “on Monday evening, a woman from Charar-i-sharief who was kept under quarantine along with her two little children fled from the centre due to lack of facilities.”
She along with her two children were brought back after twelve hours on Tuesday morning, they said adding that the trio had spent a night at their relatives home.
Besides lack of facilities, the people kept there have also complained of unhygienic food and contaminated water, which they said increase the chances of getting more exposed to infections.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Budgam, Tariq Hussain Ganaie and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) couldn’t be contacted for the comment—(KNO)
Internal report says rising wave of hostility in wake of pandemic could tip relations with US into confrontation.
An internal Chinese report warns that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into a confrontation, people familiar with the paper told Reuters news agency.
The report, presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security to top Beijing leaders including President Xi Jinping, concluded that global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the sources said.
As a result, Beijing faces a wave of anti-China sentiment led by the United States in the aftermath of the pandemic and needs to be prepared in a worst-case scenario for an armed confrontation between the two global powers, according to people familiar with the report’s content, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.
The report was drawn up by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a think-tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, China’s top intelligence body.
Reuters has not seen the briefing paper, but it was described by people who had direct knowledge of its findings.
“I don’t have relevant information,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson’s office said in a statement responding to questions from Reuters on the report.
China’s Ministry of State Security has no public contact details and could not be reached for comment.
CICIR, an influential think-tank that until 1980 was within the Ministry of State Security and advises the Chinese government on foreign and security policy, did not reply to a request for comment.
Threats of a backlash
Reuters could not determine to what extent the stark assessment described in the paper reflects positions held by China’s state leaders and to what extent, if at all, it would influence policy.
But the presentation of the report shows how seriously Beijing takes the threat of a building backlash that could threaten what China sees as its strategic investments overseas and its view of its security standing.
Relations between China and the US are widely seen to be at their worst point in decades, with deepening mistrust and friction points from US allegations of unfair trade and technology practices to disputes over Hong Kong, Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea.
In recent days, US President Donald Trump, facing a more difficult re-election campaign as the coronavirus has killed tens of thousands of American lives and ravaged the US economy, has been ramping up his criticism of Beijing and threatening new tariffs on China. His administration, meanwhile, is considering retaliatory measures against China over the outbreak, officials said.
It is widely believed in Beijing that the US wants to contain a rising China, which has become more assertive globally as its economy has grown.
The paper concluded that Washington views China’s rise as an economic and national security threat and a challenge to Western democracies, the people said. The report also said the US was aiming to undercut the ruling Communist Party by undermining public confidence.
Chinese officials had a “special responsibility” to inform their people and the world of the threat posed by the coronavirus “since they were the first to learn of it,” US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in response to questions from Reuters.
Without directly addressing the assessment made in the Chinese report, Ortagus added: “Beijing’s efforts to silence scientists, journalists and citizens and spread disinformation exacerbated the dangers of this health crisis.”
A spokesman for the US National Security Council declined to comment.
Repercussions
The report described to Reuters warned that anti-China sentiment sparked by the coronavirus could fuel resistance to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure investment projects and that Washington could step up financial and military support for regional allies, making the security situation in Asia more volatile.
Three decades ago, in the aftermath of Tiananmen, the US and many Western governments imposed sanctions against China including banning or restricting arms sales and technology transfers.
China is far more powerful nowadays.
Xi has revamped China’s military strategy to create a fighting force equipped to win modern wars. He is expanding China’s air and naval reach in a challenge to more than 70 years of US military dominance in Asia.
In its statement, China’s foreign ministry called for cooperation, saying: “The sound and steady development of China-US relations” serve the interests of both countries and the international community.
It added: “any words or actions that engage in political manipulation or stigmatisation under the pretext of the pandemic, including taking the opportunity to sow discord between countries are not conducive to international cooperation against the pandemic.”
Echoes of Cold War
One of those with knowledge of the report said it was regarded by some in the Chinese intelligence community as China’s version of the “Novikov Telegram”, a 1946 dispatch by the Soviet ambassador to Washington, Nikolai Novikov, that stressed the dangers of US economic and military ambition in the wake of World War II.
Novikov’s missive was a response to US diplomat George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” from Moscow that said the Soviet Union did not see the possibility for peaceful coexistence with the West and that containment was the best long-term strategy.
The two documents helped set the stage for the strategic thinking that defined both sides of the Cold War.
China has been accused by the United States of suppressing early information on the virus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan, and downplaying its risks.
Beijing has repeatedly denied that it covered up the extent or severity of the virus outbreak.
China has managed to contain the domestic spread of the virus and has been trying to assert a leading role in the global battle against COVID-19. That has included a propaganda push around its donations and sale of medical supplies to the US and other countries and sharing of expertise.
But China faces a growing backlash from critics who have called to hold Beijing accountable for its role in the pandemic.
Trump has said he will cut off funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), which he called “very China-centric,” something WHO officials have denied.
Australia’s government has called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the virus.
Last month, France summoned China’s ambassador to protest a publication on the website of China’s embassy that criticised Western handling of coronavirus.
The virus has so far infected more than three million people globally and caused more than 250,000 deaths, worldwide.
Srinagar: Administration has framed new protocols where a pregnant lady has to go COVID-19 test two weeks before estimated date of delivery (EDD) in Kashmir.
Kashmir has witnessed a surge in COVID-19 cases. At the same time, the pregnant ladies are facing immense inconvenience at the time of delivery. It has been seen that various hospitals have shown reluctance to conduct surgeries on pregnant women.
Taking note, administration has taken a serious note and has framed new protocols. Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Pandurang K Pole has directed the health authorities to devise a birth plan for the pregnant women.
“The possibility shall be explored for sparing the separate maternity OT facility in the hospitals JLNM, SKIMS Bemina. However the pregnant ladies of the red zone areas shall be tested for the COVID 19 well before two weeks of EDD.
Directorate of Health Services shall ensure that gynecology/OBG facilities in the district and sub district hospitals are functional at the separate block or nearest CHC for the convenience of the pregnant ladies,” read the directives of Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, a copy of which lies with news agency KINS.
An official said execution of these directives can help the hospital authorities to take all necessary measures while admitting a COVID-19 pregnant lady.
“If COVID-19 test is done before pregnancy, health authorities can accordingly decide where her surgery has to be conducted,” the official said. Two pregnant ladies have died in the last 10 days in Anantnag district due to alleged medical negligence.
One of them hailed from Kharpora village which has been declared a coronavirus red zone by the administration in south Kashmir- was pregnant with twins and was admitted to the maternity and child care hospital. She died with unborn babies. Following which the doctors at the hospital took her sample for testing, which turned positive.
Another pregnant also died but her family reportedly did not allow to take her samples for test.
The Anantnag district court on Monday took suo motu cognisance of the deaths and directed the Senior Superintendent of Police-Anantnag, to hold an inquiry into the matter.
A Principal District and Sessions Judge, Anantnag, in his order, said, “A video has gone viral on the social media sites where in a pregnant lady is being ferried on trolley by her relatives through the streets of Anantnag obviously for not having been provided an ambulance by the hospital authorities.”
The order also said, “This is not the first incident of medical negligence. A pregnant lady has also died at Bijbehara Hospital, who was denied treatment and this authority cannot watch such medical negligence as a mute spectator. Such kind of negligence needs an inquiry and persons involved in negligence must be brought to book so that trust of people that they have lost in the working of administration is reposed.”(KINS)