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Opposition wants Parrikar to stop 'chilling' in Goa

December 10, 2014

Parrikar chillingPanaji, Dec 10: After outrage on the social media, the opposition is protesting against Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar's presence at a book release function in Goa, hours after a major terrorist strike in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress have asked the former Goa chief minister to safeguard India's borders and not continue to interfere in state politics as a "Super CM".

Congress leader Durgadas Kamat claims that if an Indian defence minister can spare two days a week "chilling" in Goa, there was something seriously amiss.

"Defence minister is a full-time job. The country does not want a part-timer in that position. How can (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi, himself a workaholic, allow his defence minister to do such a shoddy, half-hearted job?" Kamat asks.

On Friday evening, hours after suspected militants from the Lashkar-e-Taiba attacked an army camp in Baramulla killing eight soldiers and two policemen, Parrikar took time to attend a literary festival held on the outskirts of Panaji.

Ever since he was elevated as defence minister in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government last month, Parrikar, who is synonymous with the BJP in the politically non-significant state, has been visiting Goa two to three days almost every week.

BJP sources said that Parrikar was in the process of establishing a camp office in Panaji, where he is expected to spend two days each week to oversee political as well as administrative matters in Goa.

"The staff is being shortlisted. The camp office will be located at the Paryatan bhavan," a source said.

Reacting to the former chief minister's constant presence in Goa, NCP state vice president Trajano D'Mello asked Parrikar to stop riding two boats -- in the national interest.

"You cannot be defence minister and continue to run Goa by remote control. The problem with Parrikar is he is too used to being No.1. He cannot be No.1 in the NDA with Modi around.

Therefore he wants to come to Goa, where his writ runs over his replacement chief minister," D'Mello said.

Parrikar has defended his presence in Goa over the weekend.

"There are some who said I should be in Kashmir... If I am in Kashmir the army will have to spend energy on taking care of me," the defence minister said, adding he was monitoring the Kashmir situation on an hourly basis.

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa believes that Parrikar's weekly departures from South Block to Goa were not an issue, and if some sorting out was needed, Modi and Parrikar could handle it among themselves.

"He (Parrikar) knows his job better than me... If he comes to Goa, the party here is happy," state BJP vice president Wilfred Mesquita said.

"But if there is something to be done there, he and the prime minister will do it. It is not an issue for us," he said.

Earlier, a photograph of the defence minister's presence at the Goa book release went viral on the social media, with Twitter commentators drawing comparisons with former home ministers in the UPA government Sushil Kumar Shinde and Shivraj Patil, whose tenure was marked by controversies.

While Patil came under fire in 2008 for taking time for a change of shirts in the aftermath of a terror strike in Mumbai, Shinde attracted flak for attending a movie music launch and posing alongside actress Kangana Ranaut after the serial blasts in Patna last year.

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Agencies
August 2,2020

New Delhi, Aug 2: The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday issued fresh guidelines for international passengers coming to India amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The new guidelines will be implemented from 12:01 am on August 8.

The ministry has also asked all passengers to submit a self-declaration form online at least 72 hours before travel.

"All travellers should submit self-declaration form on the on the online portal (www.newdelhiairport.in) at least 72hours before the scheduled travel," the guidelines said.

It also said that those coming to India must give an undertaking that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days as prescribed by the government. "They should also give an undertaking on the portal that they would undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days i.e. 7 days paid institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by 7 days isolation at home with self-monitoring of health," it added.

Giving exemptions in some cases, the guidelines mentioned, "Only for compelling reasons/cases of human distress such as pregnancy, death in the family. Serious illness and parent (s) with children of 10 years or below, home quarantine may be permitted for 14 days."

"If they wish to seek such exemption, they shall apply to the online portal at least 72 hours before boarding. The decision taken by the government as communicated on the online portal will be final," it said further.

The guidelines further said that travellers could request for exemption from institutional quarantine by submitting a negative RT-PCR test report on arrival.

"This test should have been conducted within 96 hours prior to undertaking the journey. The test report should be uploaded on the portal for consideration," it added.

Passengers have also been asked to download the Aarogya Setu app on their mobile phones.

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Agencies
June 16,2020

As the Indian workforce navigates a shrinking job market in lockdown times, two in five professionals believe that the number of jobs and scheduled interviews will decrease in the next two weeks, a new LinkedIn survey said on Tuesday.

The news comes as bittersweet for Indian professionals as more than one in three stated they will now spend more time working on their resumes and preparing for interviews.

Professionals from healthcare, manufacturing and corporate service industries anticipate a decrease in personal spending and personal investments in the next six months, according to the findings of the fortnightly LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index based on responses from 2,903 professionals in the country.

This findings showed that while India's overall confidence remains steady, the country's confidence in jobs is beginning to trend downward.

However, employees at large enterprises (firms with over 10,000 workers) are more confident about the future of their employers when compared to their peers from mid-market and SMB companies.

The findings showed that 41 % of enterprise professionals think their companies will do better in the next six months, while 63 % think their companies will be better off one year from now.

However, "the enterprise professionals are least confident about the future of their jobs, finances and careers, when compared to their SMB and mid-market peers".

The findings showed that 52 % of healthcare, 48% of corporate services, and 41 % of manufacturing professionals anticipate a decrease in investments in the next 6 months.

Over the past three months, many organizations have shifted to a remote working model to circumvent the pandemic and ensure business continuity.

Three in five marketing professionals feel confident about being effective when working remotely, joined by more than half of project management and engineering professionals, who are also confident about the effectiveness of remote working.

In contrast to this optimism, only 39 % of HR, 36% of finance, and 31 % of education professionals think they would be effective when working remotely, said the survey.

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News Network
May 11,2020

New Delhi, May 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday chaired a fresh round of consultation with chief ministers on ways to strengthen the COVID-19 containment strategy and stepping up of economic activities in a calibrated manner as the 54-day nationwide lockdown nears an end.

Large-scale movement of migrant workers from urban to rural India and the problems their return to home states may cause in restarting the economy will also be among the focus areas during the fifth virtual interaction between the prime minister and chief ministers since the outbreak of the deadly virus in the country.

There will be an effort to ensure that all participating chief ministers get an opportunity to air their views during the interaction, as some of the CMs had complaint that they were not allowed to put forth their views during the last interaction on April 27.

At a meeting on Sunday with Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, state chief secretaries told him that "while protection is required from COVID-19, economic activities also need to be stepped up in a calibrated manner", according to an official statement.       

With thousands of migrant workers taking special trains to go back to their home states, the restarting of industrial activities will prove to be a challenge for states though several relaxations have been made in labour laws to increase factory output.    

The meet is also likely to discuss efforts to convert 'red' zones with high COVID-19 case load into 'orange' or 'green' zones.       The prime minister interacted with the chief ministers last on April 27. Days after the meeting, the central government had extended the lockdown by two more weeks till May 17 to arrest the spread of the virus, but gave several relaxations in economic activities and movement of people.

The nationwide lockdown has been in force since March 25 to contain the spread of the virus, which has killed more than 2200 people, and afflicted more than 67,000 in the country.

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