19 coronavirus patients in Kerala cured, active cases stand at 178 in State

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 14: The Kerala government on Monday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrange special flights to the Gulf to bring back non resident Keralites stranded there due to the lockdown.

In a letter to Modi, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said many Keralites who had gone on visit visas and in search of employment were finding it difficult to continue there without jobs.

"While we appreciate the constraints faced in allowing international travel as the threat of COVID-19 has not yet receded, it is requested that special consideration to their needs be given and at an earliest opportune time, the Government of India consider arranging special flights to bring these people back," Vijayan said in the letter.

All International health protocols can be followed while extending this facility, he said and assured that testing and quarantine needs of Keralites who are returning would be undertaken by the state government. During the video conferencing the Prime Minister had with Chief Ministers on April 11, this matter had been broght to Modi's notice, Vijayan said.

Raipur, May 25: A union minister was caught on camera issuing threats to district administration officials in Chhattisgarh saying that she “knows how to take people to a room and beat them with belts"

Officials were taken aback when Renuka Singh, Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, delivered this dialogue during her visit to the quarantine centre at Balrampur, around 400 km from Chhattisgarh capital Raipur on Sunday.

Dilip Gupta, a resident of Balarampur district in Chhattisgarh, had accused the chief executive officer and tehsildar of the district panchayat of assaulting him in a quarantine centre in the area following a quarrel over shoddy facilities. Renuka Singh took cognizance of the matter and reached the quarantine centre to speak to Dilip Gupta.

The minister, on reaching the quarantine centre, received details of the incident from Gupta and his family and lashed out at the officials for "beating him up".

In a video, Renuka Singh is seen cautioning the officials to not think of BJP workers as "weak".

"Ye bhagwadhaari BJP ke karyakartao ko kamzor mat samajhna. Janpad me baithke aur aap tehsil me baith ke jo bhed-bhaav kar rahe hain BJP ke karyakartao ke sazth, bhool jaiye (Don't think of saffron-wearing BJP workers as weak. Forget the discrimination that you are showing towards BJP workers)," Renuka Singh said, lambasting the officials.

However, the minister did not stop there and went on to threaten the officials saying she knows how to 'thrash people with a belt'. 

"Andheri kothri me le jaa ke na main belt khol ke thokna jaanti hu bohot acche se (I very well know how to lock people in a dark room and thrash them with a belt)," Renuka Singh can be heard saying in a video from the incident.

Dilip Gupta, who was put under quarantine after he recently arrived from Delhi, had reportedly complained about the quality of food and basic facilities in the centre and had even uploaded a video on social media over the same after officials failed to address his issues.

New Delhi, Jul 26: Nidan Singh Sachdeva, the Afghan Sikh who was kidnapped a month ago and released recently, arrived here earlier in the day and narrated the ordeals that he faced at the hands of abductors and also thanked the Indian government for bringing him back to his 'motherland'.

Facing threats from Pakistan-backed Taliban, eleven members of Sikh community from Afghanistan, who were granted short-term visas by Indian Embassy in Kabul, including Sachdeva, who was abducted from a gurudwara in Paktia province last month, touched down in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking to news agency on his return, an emotional Sachdeva, said, "I don't know what to call Hindustan -- whether it is my mother or my father -- Hindustan is Hindustan."

"I was abducted from the gurudwara and 20 hours later, I was covered with blood. I was tied to a tree as well. They used to beat me and ask me to convert into a Muslim. I repeatedly told them that why should I convert, I have my own religion," he said while describing
Nidan Singh thanked Government of India for bringing him here.

"I am more than thankful to the Indian government for bringing us here to our motherland. I have no words to describe my feelings here. I arrived here after much struggle. The atmosphere of fear prevails there.

Gurudwara is where we can be safe but a step outside the Gurdwara is fearful," he said.
"They used to beat me every day and every night," he said further and added, "It is because of sheer happiness, I am speechless. I am very grateful to them."

Ministry of External Affairs recently announced that India has decided to facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India.
The decision comes four months after a terror attack at a gurdwara in Kabul's Shor Bazaar killed at least 25 members of the community.

India has condemned the "targeting and persecution" of minority community members by terrorists in Afghanistan at the behest of their external supporters remains a matter of grave concern.

Leaders of the Afghan Sikh community have appealed to the Indian government to accommodate the Sikhs and Hindus from Afghanistan and grant them legal entry with long term residency multiple entry visas.

Once a community of nearly 250,000 people, the Sikh and Hindu community in Afghanistan has endured years of discrimination and violence from extremists, and the community is now estimated to comprise fewer than 100 families across the country.