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Lokpal Bill passed in Lok Sabha, will become law soon

December 18, 2013

New Delhi, Dec 18: The historic Lokpal Bill today took a giant step towards enactment after a 40-year wait, with the Lok Sabha passing it a day after the anti-corruption measure sailed through the Rajya Sabha with the support of opposition parties.lok

"It is our responsibility to complete our unfinished fight against corruption," said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who is being pitched by his party as its leading champion for the Lokpal initiative.

Shortly afterwards, the government's key ally Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party staged a strategic walkout after slamming the Bill. The party was yesterday talked into backing down on its threat to block the Bill at any cost.

"In a democracy the people's representatives are supreme. This Bill will allow a policeman to come and harass us. Have MPs and MLAs not been convicted under existing laws?" Mr Yadav said, urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to speak up on the proposed law.

Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, appeared to target the ruling Congress as she criticized attempts to take credit for pushing the Lokpal Bill. She said Anna Hazare deserved credit for it.

"People are lining up to take credit, but there is an old man who keeps fasting for the bill and appeals to our collective conscience. And then the people of this country deserve credit," she said.

Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare has said he will call off his indefinite hungerstrike - now in its ninth day - once the lower house passes the bill.

Anna is fasting to demand that Parliament give life to the legislation, first proposed 46 years ago, in the current Winter Session which ends on Friday. But the ruling Congress' extreme zeal to ensure that happens is being seen more as a result of the massive losses it suffered in the recently held Assembly elections.

In Delhi, which it had ruled for 15 years, the Congress was felled by Arvind Kejriwal's one-year-old Aam Aadmi Party, which made a stunning debut based on its promise to fight corruption.

In general elections due by May, corruption and clean governance are expected to be top campaign issues.

The Lokpal Bill provides for the appointment of a powerful anti-graft ombudsman to investigate wrongdoing in government.

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News Network
July 9,2020

Ujjain, Jul 9: Kanpur encounter main accused Vikas Dubey has been arrested at a police station here on Thursday, as per sources in the Uttar Pradesh government.

"Vikas Dubey, the main accused in Kanpur encounter case, has been arrested at a police station in Ujjain," said UP government sources.

Dubey is the main accused in the encounter that took place in Kanpur last week, in which a group of assailants allegedly opened fire on a police team, which had gone to arrest him.

Eight police personnel were killed in the encounter.

Earlier today, Bahua Dubey and Prabhat Mishra, close aides of the main accused, were killed in separate encounters in Etawah and Kanpur respectively.

Whereas, Shyamu Bajpai, also an aide to Dubey, has been arrested by Chaubeypur police following an encounter. He carried a reward of Rs 25,000. Uttar Pradesh's Special Task Force (STF) had gunned down Vikas Dubey's close aide Amar Dubey in Hamirpur district, earlier on Wednesday.

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Agencies
June 10,2020

New Delhi, Jun 10: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday brought back over 2,300 kg of polished diamonds and pearls worth Rs 1,350 crore of firms belonging to Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi from Hong Kong, officials said.

Out of the 108 consignments that landed at Mumbai, 32 belong to overseas entities "controlled" by Modi while the rest are of Mehul Choksi firms.

Both the businessmen are being probed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with an over USD 2 billion alleged bank fraud at a PNB branch in Mumbai.

The valuables include polished diamonds, pearls and silver jewellery, and is worth Rs 1,350 crore. 

The ED completed "all legal formalities" with authorities in Hong Kong to bring back these valuables, the agency said.

These will formally seized under the PMLA now, it said.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Centre has written to all states and Union Territories stating that smartphones and tablet devices should be allowed for hospitalised Covid-19 patients so that they can interact with family and friends through video conferencing, which would provide them psychological support.

Though mobile phones are allowed in hospital wards, the missive was issued following some representation from the kin of patients alleging otherwise.

Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) in the Health Ministry Dr Rajiv Garg in the letter to the principal secretaries of health and medical education of states and Union territories said appropriate protocols for disinfecting devices and allotting timeslots can be developed by the hospital concerned to facilitate contact between patients and their family.

He underlined that administrative and medical teams should be responsive to the psychological needs of patients admitted in Covid-19 wards and ICUs of various hospitals.

"Social connection can calm down patients and also reinforce the psychological support given by the treating team. Please instruct all concerned that they should allow smartphones and tablet devices in patient areas so that the patient can video conference with their family and friends," stated the letter issued on July 29.

"Though mobile phones are allowed in the wards to enable a patient stay in touch with his or her family, we received representations from the patient families from some states stating mobile phones are not being allowed by hospital administrations because of which they were not being able to stay in contact with the patient," said Dr Garg.

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