Venkaiah Naidu takes oath as Vice-President of India

Agencies

August 11, 2017

New Delhi, Aug 11: M Venkaiah Naidu was on Friday sworn in as the Vice President of India.

President Ramnath Kovind administered the oath of office to Naidu, 68, at a brief ceremony in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan attended by political leaders cutting across party lines.

Wearing his trademark white panche (lungi) and white shirt, Naidu took oath in Hindi in the name of god.

While he is the 15th Vice President, he is the 13th person to hold the constitutional post. His predecessor Hamid Ansari and the first Vice President S Radhakrishnan had held the post for two consecutive terms.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former Vice President Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, BJP veteran L K Advani, several Union ministers, governors and chief ministers attended the ceremony.

SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, NCP's Tariq Anwar, CPI leader D Raja, TMC leaders Sudip Bandhopadhyay and Derek O' Brien and AIADMK's O Panneerselvam were also seen.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar — who has joined hands with the BJP in his state — also attended the ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

After the ceremony, President Kovind, Prime Minister Modi, former Vice President Ansari, Vice Presdent Naidu, and Advani were seen seated together.

Naidu's wife M Usha was also present.

Born in a humble agricultural family in Andhra Pradesh's Nellore district, Naidu has served as BJP president, minister in various portfolios and a long-time Rajya Sabha member.

This remarkable career in politics has been more than four decades in the making.

It began in the 1970s when BJP's precursor Jana Sangh was a marginal player with little clout in the south and a young party worker kept himself busy putting up posters of stalwarts such as Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani.

As Vice President, Naidu will be the Rajya Sabha chairman and the government is hopeful that his presence will result in the House running more smoothly. Opposition members, who outnumber treasury benches in the House, have often blocked its legislations.

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God save our India and Indian citizens from all devils and from criminal force.

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Defectors should be banned from holding public office for 5 years, fighting next poll: Kapil Sibal

Agencies

July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: Amid the political firestorm in Rajasthan following Sachin Pilot's rebellion, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Sunday called for amending the anti-defection law to ban all defectors from holding public office for five years and fighting the next election.

Sibal also said that the "antibodies" against the "virus of corrupt means" to topple elected governments lie in amending the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law).

His attack comes in the wake of Pilot's open rebellion against the Ashok Gehlot government, which has been on shaky ground since, with at least 18 legislators backing the rebel leader.

Pilot was sacked as deputy chief minister and the state Congress chief earlier this week.

The Congress has accused the BJP of making efforts to topple the Gehlot government by indulging in horse-trading.

"Need for Vaccine: Virus of 'corrupt means' to topple elected governments has spread through a 'Wuhan like facility' in Delhi," Sibal tweeted, in an apparent swipe at the BJP.

"Its 'antibodies' lie in amending the Tenth Schedule. Ban all defectors from: Holding public office for five years, fighting the next election," he said.

Taking a swipe at Pilot over his claim that he is not joining the BJP, Sibal on Thursday had asked what happens to his "ghar wapsi" and whether Rajasthan's dissident legislators are vacationing in Haryana under the "watchful eye" of the saffron party.

In the house of 200, the Congress has 107 MLAs, including the 19 dissidents who have been issued notices of disqualification by the speaker and they have challenged them in the high court.

The Congress has maintained the claim that the Gehlot government has the support of 109 MLAs, including the two BTP MLAs.

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I FULLY AGREE WITH MR. KAPIL SIBAL. IN FACT, IT IS NEED OF THE HOUR TO SAVE OUR DEMOCRACY.

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India's COVID-19 tally crosses 10 lakh mark, records highest single-day spike of 34,956

News Network

July 17,2020

New Delhi, Jul 17: With the highest single-day spike of 34,956 cases, and 687 deaths, India's COVID-19 positive cases crossed the 10 lakh mark on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The total positive cases stand at 10,03,832 including 3,42,473 active cases, 6,35,757 cured/discharged/migrated and 25,602 deaths, according to the Ministry.

As per the Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst-affected state from the infection -- has a total of 2,84,281 COVID-19 cases and 11,194 fatalities.

While Tamil Nadu has a tally of 1,56,369 cases and 2,236 deaths due to COVID-19.
Delhi has reported a total of 1,18,645 cases and 3,545 deaths due to COVID-19.

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UGC: College exams to be held on meeting apps

Agencies

May 1,2020

New Delhi, May 1: Amid the lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Human Resource Development Ministry are planning to conduct the PhD and MPhil exams through online mediums in various universities across the country. The universities have been informed by the UGC and the MHRD about this.

Union Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' said, "Phd, MPhil exams, practicals, viva etc can be conducted through Skype or any other meeting apps."

When this system is implemented in colleges, students will not have to wait long for various types of examinations. Especially internal examinations can be taken online. Students' viva tests can also be conducted via Skype or any other similar meeting apps.

Regular classes in the universities will resume after the lockdown is removed. The classes for the first year will start from September 1 while for the second and third years the classes will start from August 1. However, students of various colleges will have to appear for basic exams in July.

A special committee constituted by the UGC has emphasized on conducting examinations online. The committee in its recommendation said that various colleges and universities should conduct online examinations including internal exams of colleges for 25 per cent marks.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), on the advice of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, has extended the date of filling the entrance examination forms for various universities.

According to the orders of the NTA, the date of filling the form for the entrance examinations of Jawaharlal Nehru University, National Council for Hotel Management 'G' and for Phd and MBA from IGNOU has been extended till May 15.

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