Mamata sees reds in TV studio, wants probe

May 20, 2012
mamatha_blaze
Kolkata, May 20: Moments after walking off the stage where a discussion hosted by a television channel on Friday evening was being recorded, an angry West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee instructed the police to take photographs of those in the audience who had asked questions which did not go down well with her.

The police, according to unofficial reports on Saturday, have begun enquiries.

The questions that drew Ms. Banerjee's ire were on the increasing attacks on women in the State, the infringement of democratic rights by the authorities, and the police action following the recently circulated e-mail by a Jadavpur professor with graphics directed at her.

“I must tell you that you are CPI(M) cadres, Maoist cadres … I cannot reply to CPI(M) questions,” Ms. Banerjee furiously responded before walking out in a huff from the interactive programme organised by CNN-IBN with the channel's deputy editor, Sagarika Ghose, as the moderator.

Shouting

The Chief Minister shouted and pointed fingers at the students of Jadavpur University and Presidency University present in the audience and told them to go back to the jungles as they were Maoists. “The students are only asking Maoist questions and the CPI(M) questions,” she complained as Ms. Ghose sought her answer to the issues raised. “They are the Maoist students.”

When Ms. Ghose tried to pacify her by saying that those in the audience were indeed university students, Ms. Banerjee said, “So what … they are only selected for Maoist activities.”

“I am shocked and horrified by what happened on Friday. For a Chief Minister who keeps screaming democracy, this is not expected of her,” a participant in the aborted TV programme told The Hindu, requesting anonymity for fear of retribution by the police.

Two days before her government completes its first year in office, Ms. Banerjee's response to the studio audience has given fresh ammunition to those who accuse her of running an intolerant administration.

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News Network
May 29,2020

New Delhi, May 29: More than 38,000 doctors, including those retired from the Armed Forces Medical Services, have volunteered to help the government in its fight against COVID-19 pandemic, a senior official said on Friday.

On March 25, the government had made an appeal to doctors, including the retired ones, to come forward and join the efforts to fight the pandemic.

"38,162 volunteer doctors, including retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or private doctors have signed up with the government to battle COVID-19 pandemic," the official said.

The official further said Niti Aayog has sent a list of names of these doctors to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

In a statement posted on Niti Aayog's website on March 25, the government had said those who wish to contribute to this noble mission may register themselves through a link provided on the Aayog's website.

"The Government of India requests for volunteer doctors who are fit and willing to be available for providing their services in the public health facilities and the training hospitals in the near future.

"We appeal to such doctors to come forward at this hour of need. You could also be a retired government, Armed Forces Medical Services, public sector undertaking or a private doctor," the statement had said.

It had noted that in case the outbreak leads to a high number of infected individuals, India's public health facilities will face tremendous load to take care of a large number of patients.

Many countries, including the US, Italy, the UK and Vietnam, had also urged retired health workers to come back to work amid the pandemic.

The number of COVID-19 cases in India has climbed to 1,65,799, making it the world's ninth worst-hit country by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Health Ministry on Friday said the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,706 in the country.

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News Network
April 25,2020

New Delhi, Apr 25: With 1,429 more COVID-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's count of coronavirus cases has reached 24,506, said Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.

Out of these, 18,668 patients are active cases and 5063 cases have been cured, discharged, or migrated.

The death toll stands at 775, with as many as 57 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.

According to the morning update by the ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit State with 6,817 cases of which 840 patients have recovered and 301 patients have died.

Gujarat now stands in the second spot with 2,815 cases, of which 265 have recovered and 127 people have died. Meanwhile, Delhi's count stands at 2,514 of which 857 patients have recovered, while 53 patients have lost their lives.

Tamil Nadu's COVID-19 figure stands at 1,755 with 866 patients recovered and 22 fatalities. Rajasthan has reported 2,034 cases of which 230 have recovered and 27 patients are dead.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 1,852 positive cases so far of which 210 patients have recovered and 92 patients have lost their lives due to the virus. In Uttar Pradesh, as many as 1,621 people have confirmed COVID-19, of which 247 recovered and 25 people have succumbed to it.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 450 people have been detected positive for coronavirus.

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News Network
May 14,2020

New Delhi, May 14: With a spike of 3,722 new cases in the last 24 hours, the COVID-19 count in India reached 78,003 on Thursday morning, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As per the latest update by the Ministry, there are 49,219 active cases in the country while 26,235 patients have been cured and discharged, and one migrated, so far.

With 134 new deaths being reported due to the disease since yesterday, the toll due to the disease reached 2,549.

With 25,922 confirmed cases, Maharashtra is the worst affected by the infection in the country so far.

Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, with 9,267 and 9,227, cases respectively are the next worst affected by the disease.

The national capital, Delhi, is just a couple of cases behind the 8 thousand mark as per the update on Thursday morning.

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