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Sugarcane protests: Police vehicle set ablaze in Kolhapur

[email protected] (News Network)
November 14, 2012

 Maharashtra-farmer-protest-violence

Kolhapur, Sangli, November 14: Sugarcane farmers' agitation in western Maharashtra has turned violent again. The farmers, who are demanding better prices for their produce, clashed with police in Kolhapur and Sangli districts of the state today. According to reports, they indulged in stone-pelting, torched a police jeep and damaged state-run buses after the cops resorted to lathicharge to disperse them while they were staging road blockades.

 

Yesterday, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan met the farmers and appealed to them to call off their protests. He reportedly also urged them to refrain from violence and told them that the prices of sugarcane would be determined only after a discussion in the state assembly during the upcoming winter session.  After the meeting, the leader of the delegation that met with the CM said their talks were inconclusive.

 

The protests turned violent on Monday after the police arrested Raju Shetti, MP and chief of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, who has been leading the farmers' agitation. The protests have rattled the sugar lobby of western Maharashtra that is allegedly controlled by several politicians from the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.

Mr Shetti's detention sparked large-scale violence - protesting farmers torched two state transport buses and a police jeep in Pune district on Monday. Violent protests were also reported from other parts of western Maharashtra. One farmer was killed in Sangli, the epicenter of the agitation, when police opened fire to control a crowd of farmland activists. In Kolhapur, another farmer was killed in an accident during the agitation.

 

Activist turned politician Arvind Kejriwal has alleged that that farmers' interests are being compromised by politicians because their families and associates own sugar mills. "How many sugar mills in maharashtra owned by NCP men, BJP men, Cong people? Which ministers own sugar mills? That data wud explain why govt not giving better sugarcane prices and favoring sugar mill owners," he posted on micro-blogging site twitter today.  Team Kejriwal member Kumar Vishwas is expected to meet Raju Shetti in Pune's Yerawada Jail today. Mr Kejriwal is also likely to meet him soon.

 

Senior Congress leader Patangrao Kadam visited the family of one of deceased farmers yesterday. He has ordered an investigation into the police firing that led to his death.

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News Network
April 16,2020

United Nations, Apr 16: WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has welcomed the world health body's cooperation with India to leverage strategies that helped the country win its war against polio into the response to COVID-19 outbreak, saying such joint efforts will help defeat the pandemic.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has said it will work with India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to leverage the strategies that helped the country eradicate polio to fight the pandemic.

Migrants who returned to UP and Bihar were hurriedly housed in schools and panchayat buildings, which were turned into quarantine centres. However, unhygienic conditions and people running away have proved to be a problem

The WHO's national polio surveillance network will be engaged to strengthen COVID-19 surveillance and its field staff will continue to support immunization and elimination of tuberculosis and other diseases.

“Great news: @MoHFW_INDIA & @WHOSEARO initiated a systematic engagement of @WHO's national polio surveillance network, and other field staff, for India's #COVID19 response, tapping into the best practices & resources that helped win its war against polio,” the WHO director-general tweeted, referring to India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and World Health Organization Regional Office for South-East Asia.

According to the Johns Hopkins University data, over 2 million people are infected by the virus and more than 136,000 people have died of the disease globally.

Ghebreyesus expressed gratitude to Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan “for his leadership and collaboration” with WHO. “Through these joint efforts we can defeat the #coronavirus and save lives. Together!”

India eliminated polio in 2014.
According to a WHO press release, Vardhan said in New Delhi that “time and again the Government of India and WHO together have shown our ability, competence and prowess to the whole world. With our combined meticulous work, done with full sincerity and dedication, we were able to get rid of polio.”

“All of you in the field – IDSP (Integrated Disease Surveillance Project), state rapid response teams and WHO - are our ‘surveillance corona warriors'. With your joint efforts we can defeat the coronavirus and save lives,” Vardhan added.

WHO South-East Asia Regional Director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said the National Polio Surveillance Project (WHO-NPSP) played a critical role in strengthening surveillance for polio that generated useful, timely and accurate data to guide policies, strategies and interventions until transmission of the poliovirus was interrupted in the country,” adding that the other WHO field staff involved with elimination of tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases and hypertension control initiative were also significant resources.

Singh added that “it is now time to use all your experience, knowledge and skills, with the same rigor and discipline that you showed while monitoring polio activities, to support districts with surveillance, contact tracing and containment activities.”

The WHO release said strengths of the NPSP team – surveillance, data management, monitoring and supervision, and responding to local situations and challenges – will be utilized to supplement efforts of National Centre for Disease Control, IDSP and Indian Council of Medical Research to strengthen COVID-19 surveillance.

The NPSP team will also support in sharing information and best practices and help states and districts calibrate their response based on transmission scenarios and local capacities.

The WHO field staff will continue to support immunization and surveillance and elimination of Tuberculosis and Neglected Tropical Diseases, Singh said, adding, “disease outbreaks can negatively impact progress in a range of areas, from maternal and child mortality to vaccine-preventable diseases and other treatable conditions. India had been making stupendous progress in these areas and we cannot afford for India's remarkable progress to be set back or reversed.”

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News Network
July 24,2020

Lucknow, Jul 24: A special CBI court on Friday recorded the statement of veteran BJP leader LK Advani in the Babri mosque demolition case.

The statement of the 92-year-old former deputy prime minster was recorded through video conferencing in the court of special Judge S K Yadav.

On Thursday, the court recorded the statement of BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi in the case. 

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Agencies
August 8,2020

The Civil Aviation Ministry announced an initial assistance of Rs 10 lakh to the dependents of the deceased in the Kozhikode AIE plane crash, while the Kerala government also announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each.

Minister of Civil Aviation, Hardeep Singh Puri, who visited the mishap spot on Saturday, said that a detailed probe is already on and the pilot and co-pilot were highly experienced.

He also announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the injured and Rs. 50,000 each to those who suffered minor injuries. The other normal compensations would be decided in due course.

Puri said that Captain Deepak Vasant Sathe, aged 59, who commandeered the AIE flight, had a flying experience of 10,848 hours, while co-pilot Akhilesh Kumar, aged 32, had a flying experience of 1,723 hours.

"Deepak was one of the most distinguished and experienced pilots. He had a commanding experience of 6,662 hours and was commander of B-737 aircraft for 4,244 hours. He had also operated to Kozhikode international airport 27 times. He joined AIE in 2013 and prior to that he served with the IAF and HAL. He was a figher pilot and a recipient of prestigious sword of honour and a gold medalist," said Puri.

Puri said that even as the flight slipped down to around 35 feet, a major disaster was averted due to timely rescue operations. Local people played an exemplary role and the fire brigade's timely action of cutting the plane body and rescuing the passengers minimised the casualties, he said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that the local people and all rescue and relief agencies did a well co-ordinated job. The state government would also meet the entire treatment expenses of the injured.

Till Saturday afternoon, the total number of deaths was 18. While 149 were still in hospitals, 23 were discharged.

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