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BJP, Govt put onus on Oppn for re-conversion law

December 21, 2014

Chennai/Hyderabad, Dec 21: As a controversy over forced religious conversions by some Sangh Parivar outfits raged, the BJP and the Government today put the onus on the opposition parties for bringing an anti-conversion law for which they were ready.Amit Shah 2

BJP President Amit Shah said government is ready to bring an anti-conversion law and dared the "so-called secular" opposition parties to support it while Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said the opposition did not respond positively to this offer.

The comments by Shah and Naidu came a day after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat strongly defended the current controversial campaign of the Sangh Parivar and dared the opposition to support a law banning religious conversions.

Shah asserted that such incidents would not derail the BJP-led NDA Government from its development agenda.

"BJP has made its stand clear on conversions. And no one can derail the party (government) from its development agenda," he told a press conference in Chennai.

He was replying to a question whether the campaign by some fringe groups on the conversion issue would affect the development agenda of the Narendra Modi Government.

Asked repeatedly about the involvement of RSS in the matter, Shah evaded a direct reply and said, "RSS is a nationalist organisation and I have no doubt over this."

Opposition parties have been seeking to corner the government on the 'ghar wapsi' campaign in parts of North India and stalled proceedings in Rajya Sabha demanding a statement from Modi.

Shah, who is on a two-day visit to Chennai since yesterday, also said BJP's stand on forced conversions was clear and the government was ready to bring a law to ban them.

"BJP is clear about its stand on forced conversions. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu has said in Parliament that the government is ready to bring in a law against forced conversions. Are the so called secular parties ready to support it?" he asked.

Shah declined to comment on Bhagwat's remarks yesterday on trying to create a strong Hindu society.

Asked about Bhagwat's comments in favour of bringing in a law against religious conversion, Naidu said the government would not bring any law against conversion without a larger consensus on it.

"BJP had already announced that it would be right to bring a law against conversion as per the prevailing situation in the country.

"But, that is possible only when there is general consensus. Without consensus, the government would not bring any such law. An advice is given. Everybody has got the right to give advice. There is a right to write. You have the right to make commentary," he told reporters in Hyderabad.

"If you feel the state government's laws are not effective, there is need for an all-India law, the government has offered on the floor of Parliament, let's go for an all-India law. The opposition did not respond positively," he said.

Conversions have been happening in the country since pre-Independence era, he added.

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Agencies
May 26,2020

New Delhi, May 26: As India ranked 10th in the global infection list, overtaking Iran, which was an early hotspot of coronavirus, India's top medical body has said the human trials of COVID-19 vaccine may begin at least in six months.

Dr. Rajni Kant, Director Regional Medical Research Centre and Head at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said, "The virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) laboratory in Pune will be used to develop the vaccine, and this strain has been successfully transferred to the Bharat Biotech International Ltd. (BBIL). It is expected that the human trials of the vaccine will begin in at least six months."

Queried on the focus areas as India inches closer to 1.4 lakh COVID-19 cases, Kant said we should not get anxious about the rapid increase in numbers, especially in the past week, which saw 5,000 Covid-19 cases daily, instead focus on protecting the most vulnerable group.

"We should not fear from increasing Covid-19 cases. The elderly and people with comorbidities need protection. This is the highly vulnerable group, and we need to deploy resources and develop strategies to keep the mortality rate as low as possible in this group," said Kant.

Initially, it was assumed that the country would require thousands of ventilators, but last week, the health ministry said only 0.45 per cent of COVID-19 cases need ventilator support.

Kant insisted the focus should be on five per cent to 10 per cent serious patients. "We are testing more than one lakh daily and our case fatality rate is already one of the lowest in the world. In absence of vaccine, people should follow social distancing guidelines," he added

On the significance of the recovery rate, Kant said the increasing recovery rate of the COVID-19 patients, which is at 41 per cent, is a bright spot in India's fight against deadly viral infection.

Queried on large scale COVID-19 cases in Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad, Kant said the population density in these regions is very high, which proves to be the just right environment for the viral infection.

He insisted on developing robust cluster management strategies in the hard-hit coronavirus spots, and the movement of people should be curtailed in these areas.

"Currently, a lot of people are moving around easily and avoiding social distancing norms. The first phase of the lockdown was very effective, but now things have changed," added Kant.

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Agencies
July 8,2020

New Delhi, Jul 8: India has reported a spike of 22,752 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's coronavirus tally to 7,42,417 on Wednesday, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total cases reported, 4,56,830 patients have been cured/discharged from the disease while one patient has been migrated, the Health Ministry informed.

It added that there are 2,64,944 active cases in the country.

482 deaths reported in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19 in the country, taking India's death toll to 20,642.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state reporting 2,17,121 coronavirus cases and 9,250 fatalities.

Tamil Nadu -- the second worst-affected state from COVID-19 -- has a total of 1,18,594 cases and 1,636 deaths due to coronavirus.

While Delhi has a total of 1,02,831 COVID-19 cases including 3,165 deaths.

The Indian Council of Medical Research on Wednesday informed that a total of 1,04,73,771 samples tested for COVID-19 up to July 7. Of these, 2,62,679 samples were tested on Tuesday.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

The Indian Defence Ministry, which had in its document that China intruded into the Indian territory in eastern Ladakh in early May, on August 6 took down the page which it had uploaded on its website.

According to a report by news channel NDTV, the ministry, in its document, had said the Chinese aggression has been "increasing along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and more particularly in Galwan valley since May 5."

"The Chinese side has transgressed in the areas of Kungrang Nala, Gogra and north bank of Pangong Tso Lake on May 17-18," the document, titled 'Chinese Aggression on LAC' stated.

The document revealed that "... a violent face-off incident took place between the two sides on June 15, resulting in casualties on both sides."

After the clash, a second corps commander level meeting took place on June 22 to discuss the modalities of de-escalation. "While engagement and dialogue at military and diplomatic level is continuing to arrive at mutually acceptable consensus, the present standoff is likely to be prolonged," it said.

A defence ministry spokesperson told the news channel that the document "did not go through him".

The opposition Congress, meanwhile, asked the government why the report was taken down with party leader Rahul Gandhi alleging that removal of the document from websites would not change facts.

"Forget standing up to China, India's PM lacks the courage even to name them. Denying China is in our territory and removing documents from websites won't change the facts," Gandhi tweeted.

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