Arun Jaitley lauds NIA, defends govt’s snooping order

Agencies
December 27, 2018

New Delhi, Dec 27: Finance minister Arun Jaitley Thursday lauded the NIA for busting an alleged Islamic State terror plot, and defended a recent government order authorising investigative agencies to monitor any computer.

"Well done NIA for cracking the dangerous terrorist module," he tweeted. "Would this crackdown of the terrorist module by NIA have been possible without interception of electronic communications?"

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Wednesday arrested 10 persons after raids at 17 locations in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi for allegedly being part of a module of the IS.

Jaitley hit out at the Congress, which along with other opposition parties, has attacked the government for "snooping on citizens" through its order authorising investigative agencies to intercept, monitor and decrypt information stored in any computer.

"Were the maximum intercepts done during the UPA government? Surely George Orwell was not born in May 2014," he said in another tweet.

He was responding to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's attack on the government saying, "If anybody is going to monitor the computer, including your computer, that is the Orwellian state. George Orwell is around the corner. It is condemnable".

Congress president Rahul Gandhi too had attacked the order saying, "It's only going to prove to over 1 billion Indians what an insecure dictator you really are".

The order, Jaitley had last week stated, was under a 2009 rule and the opposition was "making a mountain where even a molehill doesn't exist".

"National security and sovereignty are paramount. Life and personal liberty will survive only in a strong democratic nation - not in a terrorist dominated state," Jaitley said Thursday.

The NIA Wednesday said the group - self-appointed and financed - was in an "advanced stage of carrying out a series of blasts" across the country and had "vital installations and important personalities, including politicians" on their target.

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Agencies
May 19,2020

Lucknow, May 19: The administration of the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) has ordered a probe into the cardiac procedure conducted on a corona positive patient in the hospital.

The patient underwent a cardiac procedure without being tested for corona before the surgery. He later tested positive for COVID-19, leading to panic among the staff and other patients.

The medical staff that came in contact with the patient were quarantined on Monday while the area was sanitized.

As per orders from the State Medical Education Department, even in emergency cases, patients are to be screened for Covid-19 before procedures are done.

According to the SGPGI administration, the incident took place late on Sunday night.

In an official statement, director, Prof R.K. Dhiman said, "The 63-year-old patient was a case of complete cardiac blockage and needed an urgent temporary pacemaker. The patient was admitted to the holding area of the institute and later shifted to the MICU for permanent pace making."

He said that when the patient's corona status was found to be positive on the Hospital Information System, she was shifted to the Rajdhani COVID Hospital.

The Director said, "Though the involved areas have been sanitized and healthcare workers were quarantined as per protocol, a probe has been ordered to investigate the lapses."

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News Network
June 24,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 24: Kerala on Tuesday was among those honoured for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic when the United Nations celebrated the Public Service Day.

The function, held on a virtual platform, saw the participation of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other top UN dignitaries who applauded all the leaders which included state Health Minister K.K. Shailaja for effectively tackling Covid-19.

Speaking on the occasion, Shailaja noted that the experiences of tackling Nipah virus and the two floods - 2018 and 2019 - where the health sector played a crucial role, all helped in tackling Covid-19 timely.

"Right from the time when Covid cases got reported in Wuhan, Kerala got into the track of the WHO and followed every standard operating protocols and international norms and hence, we have been able to keep the contact spread rate to below 12.5 per cent and the mortality rate to 0.6 per cent," she said.

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Agencies
July 7,2020

New Delhi, Jul 7: Diesel price in the national capital on Tuesday touched an all-time high following a rate hike after a week-long hiatus.

Diesel price on Tuesday was increased by 25 paise per litre, according to a price notification of state-owned oil marketing companies.

This took the retail selling price of diesel to Rs 80.78 per litre in the national capital - the highest ever.

There was no change in petrol price for the 8th straight day, and it continues to be priced at Rs 80.43 per litre.

Rates vary from state to state depending on the incidence of local sales tax or VAT.

Petrol and diesel price were last revised on June 29.

In the last one month, diesel price has been increased on 23 occasions while petrol rates have risen 21 times.

The cumulative increase since the oil companies started the cycle on June 7, totals to Rs 9.17 for petrol and Rs 11.39 in diesel.

In Mumbai, petrol is priced at Rs 87.19 - unchanged since June 29, while diesel was hiked to Rs 79.05 a litre from Rs 78.83.

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