Cong leaders rally behind Rahul after attack from Natarajan

January 30, 2015

New Delhi, Jan 30: As former Union Minister Jayanthi Natarajan targeted Rahul Gandhi, Congress today rallied behind him, dismissing as "completely baseless" the allegations of his interference in the work of Environment Ministry and accused her of having "ulterior motives".Jairam Ramesh

Jairam Ramesh, who was Natarajan's immediate predecessor in the Ministry, said her allegations against Gandhi were "not just completely unfair but also preposterously baseless."

In a statement here, he said, "As Natarajan's immediate predecessor for slightly over 25 months, I can say with all honesty that at no point of time did Rahul Gandhi ever tell me, directly or indirectly, what to do or what not to do in the discharge of my ministerial responsibilities."

Rubbishing the allegations, M Veerappa Moily, who succeeded Natarajan in the Ministry, said Rahul Gandhi had never interfered in the functioning of the ministry.

He said in Bengaluru that neither Rahul nor Sonia Gandhi had any clamour for power and that is why they remained out of government.

"Soniaji could have become the Prime Minister thrice... Rahul ji also could become the Prime Minister anytime," he said, adding both, however, chose to remain away from government.

Congress spokesman P C Chacko said Natarajan has made the "wild allegation" against the party Vice President with an "ulterior motive."

Seeking to puncture Natarajan's charges, he wondered why she did not raise the issue in the party fora for the past one year in spite of several opportunities.

"Not making use of any of the opportunities, if they make this wild allegation, the reason is obvious. It is some ulterior motive. Let them do that......Congress never stops anyone from resigning. So Jayanthi can also go Krishna Tirath way."

Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh said, "Neither Sonia Gandhi nor Rahul Gandhi have ever interfered in any government matter. If they wanted to do such thing, they would have become Minister or Prime Minister. All this talk is meaningless".

Taking a dig at Natarajan, he wondered how she has remembered all these things after such a long time.

The reactions of Congress leaders came after Natarajan claimed that as Environment Ministery, she had followed directions of Rahul Gandhi on green nod to projects but was "vilified, humiliated and sidelined" by central leadership.

"I have only followed the party line and rule book on all environment issues. To protect the forest rights of people and the rights of tribals in cases like Vedanata. There was no wrong doing on my part," she asserted at an hurriedly-called press conference in Chennai where she announced her decision to quit the party.

Virtually opening a can of worms, she accused Rahul Gandhi's office of planting stories to sully her reputation after she had resigned as Environment Minister in December 2013 on the direction of Sonia Gandhi.

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News Network
July 13,2020

New Delhi, July 13: The number of active Covid-19 cases in India crossed the 3 lakh mark on Sunday even as fresh infections during the day surged to another new peak, crossing 29,000 for the first time. After staying over 500 for the past two days, the daily death toll came down slightly to 492.

While the focus has been on recoveries, the number of active Covid-19 cases in the country has been steadily rising. It hit the 1 lakh mark on June 4 and went past 2 lakh 23 days later. It has taken just 15 days more to reach 3 lakh.

India reported 29,271 new cases on Sunday, the fifth straight day of record rise in daily infections. With this, the country’s coronavirus caseload has risen to 8,79,060, two days after hitting the 8 lakh mark, as per data collated from state governments. Active cases stood at 3,02,466 while more than 5.53 lakh people were declared cured of the infection.

Covid-19 deaths in the country rose to 23,175 after 492 fatalities were added on Sunday, translating to a case fatality rate of 2.6%. The CFR has been steadily dropping with the surge in cases.
 

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Agencies
January 15,2020

Mumbai, Jan 15: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday redistributed portfolios of Deputy Governors following the appointment of Michael Debabrata Patra to the post.

An official release said that NS Vishwanathan will handle co-ordination, Department of Regulation (DOR), Department of Communication (DoC), Enforcement Department, Inspection Department (ID), Risk Monitoring Department (RMD), and Secretary's Department.

BP Kanungo will look after Department of Currency Management (DCM), Department of External Investments and Operations (DEIO), Department of Government and Bank Accounts (DGBA), Department of Information Technology (DIT), Department of Payment and Settlement Systems (DPSS), Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC), Foreign Exchange Department (FED), Internal Debt Management Department (IDMD), Legal Department (LD) and Right to Information (RIA) Division.

The release said that MK Jain will handle the Department of Supervision (DOS), Consumer Education and Protection Department (CEPD), Financial Inclusion and Development Department (FIDD), Human Resource Management Department (HRMD), HR Operations Unit (HR-OU), Premises Department (PD), Central Security Cell (CSC), and Rajbhasha Department.

Patra will look after the Monetary Policy Department including Forecasting and Modelling Unit (MPD/MU), Financial Markets Operations Department (FMOD), Financial Markets Regulation Department including Market Intelligence (FMRD/MI), International Department (Intl. D), Department of Economic and Policy Research (DEPR), Department of Statistics & Information Management (including Data and Information Management Unit) (DSIM/DIMU), Corporate Strategy and Budget Department (CSBD) and Financial Stability Unit.

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News Network
April 24,2020

Kozhikode, Apr 24: A four-month-old baby girl, who had tested positive for COVID-19 and suffering from congenital heart disease, died in a hospital here in Kerala early Friday after suffering a cardiac arrest, officials said.

This is the third COVID-19 death and the first infant fatality in the state where two elderly people had succumbed to the disease earlier.

The baby was admitted to the Medical College Hospital here on April 21 with history of fever, cough, breathing difficulties and seizure after being treated at two other hospitals and the end came at 6 am, a medical bulletin said.

State Health Minister K K Shailaja said doctors had made maximum efforts to save the life of the child, whose family belonged to Payyanad near Manjeri in Malappuram district.

"Preliminary information which we have is that there has been some primary contact", she told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram.

The protocol for COVID-19 cases would be followed for the baby's last rites, the Minister added.

As of Thursday, the total active COVID-19 cases in the state stood at 129.

The bulletin said on arrival at the hospital on Tuesday the baby was in shock and had respiratory failure.

"She was resuscitated, mechanically ventilated and appropriate antibiotics for pneumonia and supportive measures to correct shock were started", it said adding the baby, however, continued to remain sick.

"Even though there was no history of any high or low risk contact or any epidemiological links as the child comes from SARI (Sever Acute Respiratory infection) criteria, she was admitted to the COVID-ICU and swab was taken and she tested positive", the bulletin said.

Contact tracing of those who had come in contact with the child was in progress.

Mallapuram District Medical Officer (Health) Dr Sakeena K said the child was having severe health issues from its birth itself and was admitted to a private hospital in Manjeri near here with breathing problem.

As her condition worsened, the baby was shifted to another hospital and later to the medical college hospital.

"The baby was having chest deformity and Atrial Septal Defect by birth which developed into severe health issues, the official added.

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