Congress is the only party to take country forward: Rahul at Congress Plenary

Agencies
March 17, 2018

New Delhi, Mar 17: Congress is the only party which will take the country forward, said the party president Rahul Gandhi at the 84th Plenary Session at New Delhi. "When youths look at PM Modi, they can't see the way forward."

Seeking to halt the BJP's juggernaut led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress is set to roll out a roadmap for reversing its downward electoral journey and restoring its past glory ahead of the 2019 general election.

The 84th plenary of the Congress, its president Rahul Gandhi's first since his elevation to the top slot, will focus on workers as part of the leader's bid to strengthen 'The Grand Old Party organisationally'.

The meeting is being attended by the party's top leaders, including former prime minister Manmohan Singh and former party chief Sonia Gandhi, its mandarins from across the country and workers. The party is hoping that around 15,000 party members will attend the two-day open session, beginning today.

The "Change is Now" conclave began with party president Rahul Gandhi hoisting the party flag.

The plenary session already got underway with the party's subject committee meeting here yesterday.

Party sources said the party would adopt four resolutions on political situation, economic front, foreign affairs, and agriculture, unemployment and poverty alleviation. The party will highlight its vision on each sphere and compare it with the current situation.

At the two-day brainstorming session, two resolutions, including the one on political situation, will be taken up and adopted today, while two others, including the one on jobs, will be taken up on tomorrow.

The session will end with an address of the Congress president, where he would set the tone for the party's plan forward for the upcoming elections.

The political resolution, the sources say, will also indicate the party's plans for forging coalitions with like-minded parties.

The Congress is seeking to build a larger front of opposition parties to stop the BJP from coming back to power.

Former party president Sonia Gandhi has called upon them to set aside their differences to come together for a larger national cause.

"This plenary session will be very different from other sessions this time as the Congress president is seeking to accord preference to workers than leaders," a leader said, adding the focus would be shifted from the Congress chief to workers who will be allowed to speak up on the party's future strategy.

There was no confirmation on whether the Congress Working Committee would be formed during the session or after, but the sources said it would not be an elected body and the party chief will select his own team.

Gandhi, who took over the reins of the party in December last year, will present the Congress vision document and the political roadmap for the party and the document will act as a "guiding light" to help party workers upstage the BJP from power at the Centre in 2019, besides in some states.

The session will also look into future alliances that the party foresees will be needed for defeating the BJP, a Congress leader said.

The sources said the party will also distribute literature and five books each on jobs and youth, SCs and STs, the economy, national security and corruption.

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News Network
April 4,2020

New Delhi, April 4: With 355 new cases reported in the last 12 hours, India's tally of coronavirus positive cases rose to 2,902, said the ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday.

Out of 2,902 cases, 2,650 are active cases and 184 have been cured or discharged or have migrated.

The total number of deaths reported due to the disease rose to 68 on Saturday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with 423 cases. Tamil Nadu is the next most affected state with 411 cases.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi also rose to 386.

The Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi has emerged as a hotspot for COVID-19 after several positive cases from across India were linked to the gathering including deaths in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana.

An FIR was earlier registered against Tablighi Jamaat head Maulana Saad and others under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897, in the national capital.

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Agencies
June 4,2020

New Delhi, Jun 4: CSIR Director-General Shekhar Mande said on Thursday that the World Health Organisation's (WHO) decision to halt hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) drug trial was taken in haste and the global body should have actually analysed the data before making the decision.

"I firmly believe that WHO decision was taken in haste it was a kind of knee jerk reaction they should have actually analyse the data on their own before temporarily suspend the trials that is my personal opinion," Mande said.

India's nodal government agency ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research) overseeing the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic last month wrote to the WHO citing differences in dosage standards between Indian and international trials that could explain the efficacy issues of HCQ in treating COVID-19 patients.

In addition, Dr Sheela Godbole, National Coordinator of the WHO-India Solidarity Trial and Head of the Division of Epidemiology, ICMR-National AIDS Research Institute also wrote a letter via an email to Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at World Health Organisation.

In a letter, Dr Godbole stated: "There was no reason to suspend the trial for safety concern," attributing it to the current RECOVERY data which differs significantly from the non-randomised assessment by Mehra et al, a scientific paper.

Referring to the letter, the CSIR head said, "We don't know what actually happened behind the scenes but the hypothesis is that because of the paper published in Lancet. It is a very well known journal and if Lancet has done due vigilance in publishing the paper. 

Therefore, the WHO thought the paper's findings are right that's why WHO hold based on what is published on Lancet. The WHO shouldn't have accepted it immediately this should have taken their own due vigilance to find out that study is right or not."

DG CSIR said because there is a global outcry it must have put pressure on both Lancet as well as WHO and both of them now retracted from their original position. "WHO has started a trial again and Lancet has put an expression of concern on their website both of these are very welcome development for science," he said.

"So I am pretty sure that Lancet would have published the reports only after seeing somewhere the drug failed to work," Mande said.

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Agencies
June 14,2020

Mumbai, Jun 14: A 42-year old man suddenly collapsed and died due to natural causes onboard Air India's Lagos-Mumbai flight on Sunday, the national carrier said.

The flight was part of Vande Bharat Mission, under which the Central government is operating special repatriation flights to bring back stranded Indians from abroad amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Air India's flight AI 1906 departed from Lagos in Nigeria at 7 pm Indian Standard Time on Saturday and landed in Mumbai at 3.45 am on Sunday.

"A passenger aboard AI 1906 of June 13 from Lagos to Mumbai passed away due to natural causes today.

"A doctor onboard along with our crew, trained to handle such medical emergencies, made a valiant attempt to revive the passenger, aged 42, who had suddenly collapsed, through resuscitation etc but all their efforts went in vain," the airline's spokesperson said.

He was declared dead onboard by the attending doctor. Mumbai International Airport Limited doctors attended to the passenger after the flight landed at 3.45 am and after all the procedures were complete, the body was sent to a hospital as per protocol, the spokesperson noted.

Relatives of the deceased were informed and aircraft was taken for full fumigation as per the norms, the spokesperson said.

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