'Rashtrabhakti' drove us to help people of all faiths: PM Modi

Agencies
December 4, 2017

Ahmedabad, Dec 4: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said "rashtrabhakti" motivated him and his government to help people of various faiths, including Christians, and dubbed as "fatwa" a letter issued by Gandhinagar archbishop.

The prime minister was referring to the letter issued last month by Thomas Macwan, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Gandhinagar, in which he had appealed to Christians to pray to save the country from "nationalist forces".

"I was shocked to see a religious person releasing a 'fatwa' (diktat) saying uproot the nationalist forces. It is 'Rashtrabhakti' (nationalism) that guides us to help every Indian in any part of the world," Modi said.

The prime minister was speaking at a gathering after inaugurating a hospital on the campus of Shree Swaminarayan Gurukul Vishwavidya Pratisthanam (SGVP).

He said it was a "matter of concern" if some people are opposing such values.

The priest had also said that "democratic fabric" of the country was at stake amidst growing "sense of insecurity" among minorities, which was viewed as a jibe at the ruling BJP.

Modi said his government had saved and rescued people of different faiths irrespective of their religion.

He also listed several examples wherein the central government had brought back Christian missionaries as well as nurses stranded in conflict zones across the world.

"Along with Indians, we have rescued citizens of almost 40 countries from Yemen, as they were stranded there due to war. We did not see their religion or language they speak. It was our nationalism and humanitarian values which guided us," the prime minister said.

Modi said he was raising the issue of nationalism because some people have challenged it.

"Our nurses from Kerala, mostly Christians, were stranded in Iraq. They were in the custody of terrorists. Can the prime minister or any citizen of India sleep in such situation, when our daughters are in custody of terrorists?" he asked.

In 2014, a total of 46 Indian nurses, who were held captive by the Islamic State militants in Iraq for about a month, were evacuated after the successful intervention by the Union government.

The prime minister also recalled how his government used "all resources" to bring back Keralite priest Tom Uzhunnalil who was freed after being kept in captivity suspectedly by the ISIS for 18 months in strife-torn Yemen.

"Father Tom (Uzhunnalil), also a Keralite, was abducted by terrorists in Yemen last year. He went there to spread the message of Jesus Christ. Again, we have employed all our resources to bring him back, as he is the son of this country. We successfully brought him back a few months back," the prime minister said.

He also gave the example of Father Alexis Prem Kumar who was rescued from the Taliban captivity in Afghanistan.

"Another Christian, Judith D'Souza of West Bengal, was kidnapped in Afghanistan. We applied every trick in the book and brought her back alive, that too from the clutches of terrorists. We were able to do all these humanitarian work because of our rashtrabhakti," he said.

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Agencies
February 14,2020

Lucknow, Feb 14: Uttar Pradesh doctor Kafeel Khan was on Friday booked under the National Security Act (NSA) over his alleged anti-CAA speech at Aligarh Muslim University on December 12, 2019.

The Uttar Pradesh slapped NSA on Kafeel Khan on Friday even as the doctor waited to be released from jail despite being granted bail on Monday in connection with his alleged inflammatory speech.

SP Crime Dr Arvind said that there were sufficient grounds to book the doctor under NSA.

The suspended pediatrician, Kafeel Khan, was arrested for allegedly delivering a controversial speech during Anti-CAA protests on December 12 at the Aligarh Muslim University or AMU. While he was granted bail on Monday, his family members claimed on Thursday that he was yet to be released.

Dr Kafeel Khan's brother Adeel Ahmed Khan had issued a statement saying that despite being granted bail Mathura jail authorities had not honoured the court's order.

Dr Kafeel Khan was arrested by the UP Special Task Force from Mumbai on January 29 for participating anti-CAA protest at AMU. A case was registered against him at the Civil Lines police station here for promoting enmity between different religions.

After his arrest in Mumbai, Dr Khan was brought to Aligarh, from where he was shifted to the district jail in neighbouring Mathura.

According to police, this was done as a precautionary measure in view of the anti-CAA protests on the AMU campus and at the Eidgah grounds in the old city. Police had said that the Dr Khan's presence in the Aligarh jail could have aggravated the law and order situation in the city.

The doctor was earlier arrested for his alleged role in the death of over 60 children in one week at the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur in August 2017. Short supply of oxygen at the children's ward was blamed at that time for the deaths.

About two years later, a state government probe cleared Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the Yogi Adityanath government.

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News Network
April 9,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 9: Kerala, which was among the first state in the country to report a Corona positive case, has turned its entire public healthcare system into a single interconnected grid to generate uninterrupted information and provide flawless services, thanks to the daily zoom or video conferences of top health authorities for chalking out a dynamic strategy to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The daily zoom or remote conferences held by Health Minister K K Shailaja and top health sector officials with the medical and paramedical personnel on the ground have lent a cutting edge to the state government’s all out efforts in monitoring the situation on the ground and formulating effective responses to address the various needs and concerns of the people, an official release said on Thursday.

The Minister is joined in this meticulous exercise by top administrators and planners, including Dr Rajan N Khobragade, Principal Secretary, Health; Dr. Rathan U Kelker, State Mission Director, National Health Mission, Dr Saritha, Director of Health Services, Dr Ramla Beevi, Director of Medical Education and other senior officials.

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Agencies
April 23,2020

More and more Indians have become better prepared in the last one month, as far as stocking of their ration, medicine or money is concerned, according to the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker.

With the second leg of the lockdown half way through and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it's a long haul, 57.2% respondents said they have less than three weeks of stock while 43.3% said they have a stock that will last beyond that

However, if one breaks into weeks, most respondents said they are prepared for a week's time. 24.5% respondents said they have ration, medicine or money to last a week. This is closely followed by 21.9 % respondents saying they are ready for a month.

Meanwhile, 20.4 % said they are ready for a couple of weeks. There are 15.8 % who said they are ready for more than a month with food, ration and medicine. A tiny 5.6 % said they are ready with three weeks of stock.

However, there is 12.3% who still seem to live on the edge with less than a week's preparation.

But, the biggest takeaway from the IANS-CVoter COVID-19 Tracker is that in the last one month, a massive segment of society realised that the fight is long and the preparation should also be to last that long.

o put things into context, on March 16 when the tracker started, a whopping 77.1% said they have stock to last for less than a week. More than a month later on April 21, that number jumped to just 12.3%, which essentially means, people have become better prepared for a long-hauled lockdown period.

Similarly, on April 21, a sizable 21.9% respondents claimed they are ready with ration and medicine that will last them a month. On March 16, not even one respondent could claim they have a month's stock. In fact till March 22, just ahead of the announcement of the first lockdown, no respondent the IANS-CVoter tracker said that they have a month's preparation.

Similarly, when the tracker started, 9.9% said they simply ‘don't know'. As on April 21, that number is a big zero.

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