JD (U) indicates not averse to Advani as NDA's PM nominee

April 14, 2013

New Delhi, Apr 14: As it virtually shut the door on NarendraModi, JD(U) today indicated it would prefer BJP veteran L K Advani as NDA's prime ministerial candidate over the Gujarat chief minister.

"NDA had contested under the leadership of L K Advani earlier. I do not think there should be a problem for any NDA faction to go to polls with his leadership. Advani will definitely be more acceptable to most of the factions of NDA," JD(U) leader Devesh Chandra Thakur said.

Thakur said this after the two-day national executive and council meet of JD(U) which while setting conditions for NDA's PM nominee said in its political resolution that the candidate should be someone like Atal Bihari Vajpayee. nithsi

When asked who else in the BJP is closer to Vajpayee's personality or whether JD(U) favours Advani for the top job, party general secretary and spokesperson K C Tyagi said, " We have earlier also fought elections under the leadership of Advani. So how can we say that we were wrong."

Another JD(U) leader Narendra Singh, a Bihar Minister, said in his view Modi ranks sixth or seventh in BJP's hierarchy. "If seniority is taken into account Modi is far below and Advani is No. One", he said, adding there is no dispute in backing Advani as he had been the face of the NDA in the 2004 elections.

Making a strong case for declaring NDA's PM candidate before elections, the resolution said BJP had declared Vajpayee's name for Prime Ministership before the elections in 1999 and 2004 and that of L K Advani before 2009.

Noting that there has been a tradition in NDA to name its Prime Ministerial candidate before Lok Sabha elections, the resolution said, "In this context, it is the clear view of JD(U) that NDA's PM candidate's name should be announced before polls since the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to take place between March and May next year."

Addressing the media after the meet, Tyagi said that "even the grandson of Sheikh Abdullah was a minister in the Vajpayee government. We want such a Prime Minister.. No body is bigger than Vajpayee."

Asked about the last night meeting of Nitish Kumar with BJP President Rajnath Singh and senior leader Arun Jaitley, Tyagi, who had also accompanied the Bihar Chief Minister,said that Jaitley had told him that they would sit and talk over it.

"Certain things are said indirectly," was his response when he was asked what was the refrain of the BJP leaders about the Prime Ministership issue.

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Kerala forms committee to examine data privacy of Covid19 patients

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April 23,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 23: Amid opposition charges, the Kerala government on Tuesday constituted a two-member committee to examine whether the privacy of personal and sensitive data of COVID-19 patients has been protected under the agreement entered by it with US-based IT firm Sprinklr.

The committee, headed by former Special IT Sscretary M Madhavan Nambiar and former health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan, will also ascertain whether adequate procedures were followed while finalising the arrangements with the private company.

The Opposition Congress has been levelling charges that the collection of data by the US firm violated the fundamental rights of the patients.

In its order, state government said it had initiated steps to set up a Data Analytics platform to integrate data from various sources available in the government to meet the "exigency of a massive and unprecedented surge of epidemic".

The committee will also examine whether deviations, if any, are fair, justified and reasonable considering the extraordinary and critical situation faced by the state, it said.

Meanwhile, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to file its reply by April 24 on a plea seeking to quash its contract with the US-based firm.

Expressing concern over the confidentiality of the citizen's data processed by a third party, the court sought to know why the sanction of the law department was not taken before finalising the agreement.

The court hailed the state government's fight against COVID-19, but said it is concerned about data confidentiality.

The government informed the court that the agreement with Sprinklr has safeguards for data protection "as per standard practices of software as a service model."

The ward-level committees, set up by the government for the anti-coronavirus fight, collect information of those under home isolation, the elderly and those at the risk of the disease, using a questionnaire and later uploads it on the server of the private agency.

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India would not discriminate among religions, we are not a theocratic country like Pakistan: Rajnath Singh

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January 22,2020

New Delhi, Jan 22: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said Indian values consider all religions equal, and that is why the country is secular and never became a theocratic state like Pakistan.

Speaking at the NCC Republic Day Camp in Delhi, Singh said: "We (India) said we would not discriminate among religions. Why did we do that? Our neighbouring country has declared that their state has a religion. They have declared themselves a theocratic state. We didn't declare so."

"Even America is a theocratic country. India is not a theocratic country. Why? Because our saints and seers did not just consider the people living within our borders as part of the family, but called everyone living in the world as one family," the minister said.

Singh underlined that India had never declared its religion would be Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist and people of all religions could live here.

"They gave the slogan of 'Vasudev Kutumbakam' -- the whole world is one family. This message has gone to the whole world from here only," he added.

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Very thoughtful and eye-catching statement by Defense Minister, Rajnath Singh.

Sir, I kindly request you to convey this beautiful message to your Party’s comrades, who are deprived of this dosage for long times and are badly need of this.

Also, for those from your Party, who are, time and again, spitting the venomous rhetoric against Dalits, Muslims, Christians and others alike.

Yashwant Sinhaji is now doing a wonderful job in this regard.

You will also follow his suit for sure in the days to come; that’s what your honest statement indicates.

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India's COVID-19 cases surge to 29,974

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April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: With 1,594 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the last 24 hours and 51 deaths, India's total count of coronavirus cases surged to 29,974, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

The total cases are inclusive of 7,026 cured and discharged patients, one migrated and 937 deaths.

At present, there are 22,010 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Addressing a press conference here, Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, said that in the last 28 days, 17 districts have had no new Covid-19 cases. "This means we need to maintain constant vigil," he added.

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