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Azam Khan apologises for his sexist remarks in LS

Agencies
July 29, 2019

New Delhi, Jul 29: Under fire from various quarters, Samajwadi Party member Azam Khan on Monday apologised in Lok Sabha for his sexist remarks against BJP member Rama Devi.

Though Khan had to repeat his apology twice in the House, a visibly peeved Devi said the member has the habit of uttering derogatory words against women.

As soon as the House met for the day, Speaker Om Birla asked Khan, who has come under criticism from members across party lines for his sexist remarks against Devi last Thursday, to speak and he tendered his apology.

"I have been an MLA for nine times, a minister several times, a Rajya Sabha member too. I was a Parliamentary Affairs Minister too. I know legislative procedures," he said.

"However, if my words hurt anyone, I hereby apologise," he said.

As some of his words were not audible, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said Khan should repeat the sentence clearly as the House could not comprehend what he actually said.

Samajwadi Party President and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who was sitting next to Khan, stood up to say that the Rampur MP had already apologised in the House in proper words and he can vouch for it.

Yadav also referred to the Unnao rape survivor, who had met with an accident yesterday and was hospitalised, and said the House should also talk about it, inviting loud protests from treasury benches.

A BJP MLA is an accused in the rape case.

Yadav also took a swipe at the BJP wondering why they were only chanting 'Jai Shriram' and when they should chant 'Jai Sitaram', eliciting another round of protests from treasury benches.

Devi said Khan has the habit of uttering derogatory words against women and had done so on many occasions in the past outside the House. Now he has said them inside the House, she noted.

After this, the Speaker asked Khan to tender the apology again.

Khan repeated the words and also said that Devi was like his sister.

"If my word hurts hurt anyone, I apologise," he said.

Soon after Khan tendered apology but was not audible.

After the Samajwadi Party member again apologised in the House, Devi said his remarks had pained the whole country and that she did not come to the House to hear such things.

When Yadav tried to speak, a visibly peeved Devi asked why he was supporting Khan.

Khan's remarks against Devi during a discussion on the triple talaq bill on Thursday last were slammed by members as double-meaning, malicious, utterly condemnable and a blot on all legislators.

Last Thursday, Devi was officiating when Khan made the objectionable remarks against her sparking an uproar in the House.

The Speaker said members should be careful in uttering words and maintain decorum so that no such incident takes place in the future.

"This House belongs to all members. This can be run only with the cooperation of members. The chair belongs to you all too and its dignity should be maintained. We all should be careful in uttering words and ensure that no such incident takes place in the future," he said.

Khan and Yadav were in the House for about 45 minutes.

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Agencies
March 22,2020

Mumbai, Mar 22: The total number of coronavirus positive patients in Maharashtra has risen to 74 with 10 more positive cases reported in the last 24 hours, officials said.

Of the 10 new cases, 6 are in Mumbai and 4 in Pune, they said on Sunday.

Earlier this week, a Covid-19 patient died in Mumbai.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said that he has never seen innocents like the Indian people, who believe the claims made by the government on the implementation of its programmes. The former Union Minister, addressing a literary event, said, "I have never seen innocents like the Indian people. If something appears on print (and named two newspapers also), we believe it. We believe anything."

Claims like all villages having been electrified in the country and toilets built for 99 per cent of families in India were being believed, he said.

Similar was the case of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or PM-JAY is a flagship health care scheme of the Centre), he alleged.

Stating that his Delhi-based driver's father had to get a surgery done under the scheme, he said, however, it could not be performed.

"I asked him (car driver) if he had the Ayushman card and he showed a card and I told him to take it (to hospital). In hospital after hospital, they said they were not aware of anything like that (Ayushman scheme). But we believe that the Ayushman scheme has come to the whole of India," he said.

Further, he said "we believe that for any disease, treatment will be done (indicating the Ayushman scheme) without shelling out money. We are being innocents."

Many news items and data were contrary to the truth, he added.

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News Network
August 7,2020

Idukki, Aug 7: Several people lost their lives and dozens of tea estate workers are feared trapped under soil in Kerala’s Munnar after torrential rains triggered a massive landslide on today. 

As many as five bodies have been recovered and rescue workers are fighting inclement weather to remove the debris.

According to rescue workers, four lanes of quarters and a church are buried under mud and around 80 people are feared trapped.

Seven people have been rescued so far and shifted to the hospital.

Sources said a portion of Pettimudi came crashing down on the workers colony with a deafening roar in the wee hours of Friday.

As people were sleeping in the quarters, there was little time to escape.

Further, with the Periyavara bridge being washed away, it became all the more difficult for rescue workers to reach the spot.

The construction of a new temporary Periyavara bridge however, is underway.

The bridge was previously destructed during the deluge of August 2018. Later during the north west monsoons and the south west monsoon of 2019, it suffered damage again.

The present bridge, which got damaged on Thursday after Kannimala river levels rose, was constructed under the leadership of Coir fed.

Although a new concrete bridge has been constructed near the temporary bridge in Periyavara, vehicle  movement has not been possible because the authorities are yet to build its approach via road.

The new bridge is to be constructed at a cost of Rs 4.75 crore from Devikulam MLA S Rajendran's fund.

The entire area has been cut off from outside world and communication networks have also crashed.

Teams of Fire and Rescue personnel, NDRF, revenue officials, estate workers and police are struggling to conduct rescue operations.

Meanwhile, District collector H Dhineshan said a team of rescue personnel was sent to Pettymudy after he was briefed about the mishap and search operations to locate and rescue people are underway.

Facilities have been arranged at the hospitals nearby to provide necessary treatment facilities to the people being rescued.

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