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Over 600 global academicians write to PM Modi, blame him for 'terrible state of affairs'

Agencies
April 22, 2018

New Delhi, Apr 22: Over 600 academicians and scholars from across the globe have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing their anguish over the Kathua and Unnao rape cases and held his government responsible for the 'terrible state of affairs'. The academicians also raised concerns over the prime minister's "prolonged silence" on the issue and the "non-specific assurance of justice" for the victims of the two rape cases that have shocked the entire nation.

"We wish to express our deep anger and anguish over the events in Kathua and Unnao and the aftermath of these events; over the efforts of those administering the relevant states to protect the alleged perpetrators of these monstrous crimes; over the subsequent profoundly distasteful efforts of rationalization and the deflection and diversion that have been so much in evidence in the reactions of your party's spokespersons in the media," the letter read.

"We have observed that there has been a prolonged silence on your part over the 'terrible state of affairs' in the country and 'an undeniable association of violence with the ruling dispensation'," it added.

The signatories to the letter include academicians and scholars from universities across the globe including the New York university, the Brown University, the Harvard, the Columbia and prominent IITs, among others. The academicians also said the prime minister broke his "prolonged (and by now familiar) silence" with "wholly inadequate, platitudinous, and non-specific assurances of justice for the victims."

They further said the Unnao and Kathua cases are not isolated incidents, but part of a sequence of "repeated targets". "We send you this letter because it is our duty to do so; so that we are not guilty of silence; and so that callousness and cowardice might finally draw the line at the broken body of a little girl and the rape of a young woman," the letter concluded.

The letter comes on the day the Union Cabinet approved an ordinance to provide stringent punishment, including death penalty, for those convicted of rape of girls below 12 years, amid a nation-wide outrage over cases of sexual assault and murder of minors in Kathua and Surat and the rape of a girl in Unnao.

Comments

angel of death
 - 
Sunday, 22 Apr 2018

The worst PM indian ever had. A coward who went to pakistan without invitation.

 

 

now his bhakts have burned there own ass after electing this man as PM hoping he will uplift hindu community...LOL

 

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Bloomberg
July 27,2020

New Delhi, Jul 27: India’s coronavirus epidemic is now growing at the fastest in the world, increasing 20% over the last week to more than 14 lakh confirmed cases, according to Bloomberg’s Coronavirus Tracker.

Infections in the South Asian nation of 130 crore people have reached 14.3 lakh, including 32,771 deaths, India’s health ministry said, with daily cases close to a record 50,000 on Monday. India is only trailing the US and Brazil now in the number of confirmed infections, but its growth in new cases is the fastest.

Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are among the states where the maximum number of daily cares are being reported. The world’s second-most populous country has been ramping up testing, with 515,472 samples taken on Sunday, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Still, India and Brazil have some of the world’s lowest testing rates, with 11.8 tests and 11.93 tests per 1,000 people respectively, compared to the US with 152.98 tests per 1,000 and Russia with 184.34, according to Our World in Data, a project based at the University of Oxford in the UK.

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News Network
March 26,2020

New Delhi, Mar 26: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs 50 lakh insurance cover for healthcare workers who are at the forefront of dealing with coronavirus pandemic.

Sitharaman said the government has finalised an economic stimulus package to deal with the impact of 21-day countrywide lockdown to prevent spread of the virus.

“It’s only 36 hours since the lockdown has been imposed. Now we have come with a package which immediately take care of the welfare concerns of the poor and suffering workers and those who need immediate help,” Sitharaman said.

She also said that 80 crore poor people, nearly two thirds of the population  will get five kg of rice or wheat per month for three months, in addition to the 5 kg they already receive, for free."

The rationcard holders can take the foodgrains and pulses from the Public Distribution System (PDS) in two installments, she added.

"This measure will ensure no gareeb (poor) remains hungry," Sitharaman said.

The package will include cash transfer and food subsidy, she said.

"Farmers who currently receive Rs 6,000 annually, will be given the first installment of the next financial year immediately. 8.7 crore farmers will benefit from it," said Sitharaman.

As many of 20.5 crore women Jan Dhan Account holders will get Rs 500 per month for next three months to run their households.

For poor senior citizens, widow and disabled will get an ex-gratia of Rs 1,000.

Also, the daily wage under MNREGA has been increased to Rs 202 a day from Rs 182 to benefit 5 crore workers.

The minister said the government will front-load Rs 2,000 payment to farmers in the first week of April under the existing PM Kishan Yojana to benefit 8.69 crore farmers.

Also, the beneficiaries of Ujjwala LPG scheme will get free cooking gas for the next three months, she said.

This forms part of the Rs 1.70 lakh crore Gramin Kalyan Package.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week had constituted a task force headed by the Finance Minister to work out package for economy hit by coronavirus.

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News Network
July 27,2020

Chengdu, China, Jul 27: The American flag was lowered at the United States consulate in Chengdu on Monday, days after Beijing ordered it to close in retaliation for the shuttering of the Chinese consulate in Houston.

Footage on state broadcaster CCTV from outside the consulate showed the flag being slowly lowered early Monday morning, after diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security.

Relations deteriorated in recent weeks in a Cold War-style standoff, with the Chengdu mission Friday ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of Beijing's consulate in Houston, Texas.

The deadline for the Americans to exit Chengdu has been unclear, but the Chinese consulate in Houston was given 72 hours to close after the original order was made.

On Saturday news agency reporters saw workers removing the US insignia from the front of the consulate.

Over the weekend, removals trucks entered the US consulate and cleaners were seen carting large black rubbish bags from the building.

Beijing says closing the Chengdu consulate was a "legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States", and has alleged that staff at the diplomatic mission endangered China's security and interests.

Washington officials, meanwhile, said there had been unacceptable efforts by the Chinese consulate in Houston to steal US corporate secrets.

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