Goa Congress splits, 10 MLAs join BJP

Agencies
July 11, 2019

Panaji, Jul 11: In a major coup, the BJP in Goa late on Wednesday engineered a split in the 15-member Congress legislature party and inducted the 10-member splinter group headed by the leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar into the BJP.

Kavlekar has blamed disunity among senior Congress leaders in Goa and lack of development in the Opposition MLAs’ constituencies as some of the reasons for splitting from the main opposition party.

The stunning development takes the tally of BJP MLAs from 17 to 27 in the state legislative assembly.

The 10 Congress MLAs who are part of the rebel group are Chandrakant Kavlekar, Isidore Fernandes, Francis Silveira, Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Jennifer and Atanasio Monserrate, Antonio Fernandes, Nilakanth Halarnkar, Clafacio Dias and Wilfred D’Sa.

The development brings down the legislative strength of the Congress party to a paltry five MLAs. It includes Digambar Kamat, Luzinho Faleiro, Ravi Naik, Pratapsingh Rane — all of whom have served as Chief Ministers — and MLA Aliexo Reginaldo.

“A group of 10 Congress MLAs, which forms two-thirds of the Congress legislature party, under the leadership of leader of opposition Chandrakant Kavlekar split from their party and merged their group into the BJP today. The BJP’s legislative strength which was 17 earlier now rises to 27”, Sawant told reporters outside the state legislative assembly complex, after the Speaker okayed the merger late on Wednesday.

Sawant also said, that the added strength of 10 MLAs would strengthen the BJP in Goa and help the party deliver better governance. Sawant also said that the merger had been okayed by the party’s High Command. All newly inducted MLAs are expected to leave for Delhi to meet BJP national president Amit Shah.

Kavlekar, who also spoke to reporters at the state legislative assembly complex, also said, that one of the reasons for joining the BJP was lack of unity among senior Congress MLAs, because of whom the party could not stake its claim to form a government in Goa.

“We have joined with a positive thought. We had the opportunity in the past to form a government, but because of lack of unity among our senior MLAs, we were not in a position stake our claim,” Kavlekar said.

When asked if he felt it odd that a leader of Opposition should join a ruling party, Kavlekar said: “Apart from leader of opposition, I am also an MLA of a constituency and it is my duty to ensure that my constituency is looked after”.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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News Network
February 28,2020

Feb 28: The best economic tonic for the coronavirus shock is to contain its spread and worry about stimulus later, said Raghuram Rajan, former head of the Reserve Bank of India.

There’s little central banks can do, and while more government spending would help, the priority should be on convincing companies and households that the virus is under control, he said.

“People want to have a sense that there is a limit to the spread of this virus perhaps because of containment measures or because there is hope that some kind of viral solution can be found,” Rajan told Bloomberg Television’s Haidi Stroud Watts and Shery Ahn.

“At this point I would say the best thing that governments can do is to really fight the epidemic rather than worry about stimulus measures that comes later,” said Rajan, who is currently a professor at the Chicago Booth School of Business.

The spread of coronavirus is pushing the world economy toward its worst performance since the financial crisis more than a decade ago.

Bank of America Corp. economists warned clients Thursday that they now expect 2.8% global growth this year, the weakest since 2009.

“We have moved from extreme confidence in markets to extreme panic, all in the space of one week,” said Rajan, who previously was chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

The virus outbreak will force companies to rethink supply chains and overseas production facilities, he said.

“I think we will see a lot of rethinking on this, coming on the back of the trade disruption, now we have this,” Rajan said. “Globalization in production is going to be hit quite badly.”

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Agencies
June 8,2020

Lucknow, Jun 8: The coronavirus which has now been assigned a gender, is being worshipped in Uttar Pradesh also after Bihar as superstition run deep. Women in some villages in Tumkuhiraj, Kasia, Hata, Captanganj and Khadda tehsil in Kushinagar district have started worshipping 'Corona Mai' and are pleading with her to spare lives.

These women have dug a small pit in the field, filled it with water and each one offers nine cloves and nine 'laddoos' to 'Corona Mai' to appease her.

Women from adjoining villages are now flocking to the 'temple' to pray to 'Corona Mai'.

Some local people have appealed to the district administration to stop such activities which spread superstition and misinformation.

Radhey Lal, a school teacher in Kasia, said, "The authorities must stop such activities which promote superstition. Everyone knows that there is no cure for corona and this kind of activities must be stopped."

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