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It's going to be a star-studded Parliament

May 16, 2014

Parish_ravalNew Delhi, May 16: Innocent and Paresh Rawal, who are now new MPs, may be from opposite sides of the ideological spectrum, but the two actors have a common thread. Rawal, a BJP parliamentarian from the Ahmedabad East seat in Gujarat, enacted a number of roles in Hindi films that were first immortalised in Malayalam films by Innocent, a Left-backed MP from Chalakuddy in Kerala.

Rawal, a favourite of Malayalam director Priyadarshan, had given life to at least five characters Innocent portrayed in blockbuster films, when they were remade in Hindi in the 2000s. Innocent's role in 1993’s “Manichitrathazhu”, which won actor Sobhana a national award, was enacted by Rawal in the Hindi remake “Bhool Bhulaiya” to peels of laughter in movie theatres. Rawal also essayed Innocent's roles in “Hera Pheri”, “Mera Baap, Pehle Aap”, “Bhagam Bhaag”, “Chupke Chupke” and “Hulchul”.

The Malayalam actor, who recently fought a tough battle against cancer, defeated senior Congress MP P C Chacko by over 14,000 votes; while Rawal, a candidate hand-picked by Narendra Modi himself, won by a margin of over 2.5 lakh.Innocent and Rawal are not the only ones artiste-turned-MPs. West Bengal, too, is sending a number of actors and singers to Parliament this time.

Tollywood superstar Deepak Adhikari aka Dev, Moon Moon Sen, Shatabdi Roy, Sandhya Roy and Tapash Paul – all Trinamool Congress candidates – and singer Babul Supriyo of the BJP, found places in the Parliament from West Bengal.

TMC candidate in South Delhi Biswajeet Chatterjee, however, lost miserably managing to garner only 846 votes.

BJP’s Shatrughan Sinha was another prominent actor to win from Bihar’s Patna Saheb constituency, while director Prakash Jha of the JD-U lost from Paschim Champaran.

In Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura constituency, renowned dancer Hema Malini of the BJP trounced sitting MP Jayant Choudhary, son of RLD chief Ajit Singh. In Chandigarh, BJP’s Kirron Kher overcame the challenge of AAP’s Gul Panag in Chandigarh.

Yesteryear’s heart-throb Vinod Khanna also won the BJP a seat from Gurdaspur in Punjab, while Manoj Tewari brought the party victory from the North-East Delhi seat.

Besides Gul Panag, the stars who found themselves on the losing end were Congress’ Ramya from Mandya in Karnataka and RLD’s Jayaprada from Bijnore in Rajasthan.

AAP’s Javed Jafferi from Lucknow, Congress’ Vijayshanti from Medak and Nagma from Meerut also failed to sway voters and get seats.

Among sports persons, Olympian-shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore trounced Congress’ C P Joshi by a margin of around 3.20 lakh votes in Jaipur Rural, while others were not as lucky. Footballer Baichung Bhutia of the TMC lost by a margin of around 1.75 lakh to BJP’s S S Alhuwaliah in Darjeeling.

Cricketer Mohammed Kaif, the Congress candidate from Phulpur, a seat represented by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, managed to get only around 32,000 votes. BJP candidate K P Maurya, who won the seat, polled ten times more votes than Kaif.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Mumbai, Jul 30: Counterfeiting incidents have increased 24 per cent in the country in 2019 over the previous year, creating an over Rs 1 lakh crore hole in the economy, according to a report.

The report also said counterfeiters are having a free run due to the pandemic-driven disruptions to organised supply chains and the resultant spike in consumer demand.

According to the report by ASPA, a self-regulated industry body of anti-counterfeiting and traceability solutions providers, counterfeiting has risen steadily in the last few years, and exploiting the pandemic as a cover for their activities.

Between February and April 2020, over 150 incidents of counterfeiting cases were reported, mostly about fake PPE kits, sanitisers and masks taking advantage of the high demand for these products, it noted.

"There was a 24 per cent increase in counterfeiting in 2019 over 2018, leading to the loss of more than Rs 1 lakh crore to the overall economy," said Nakul Pasricha, president of Authentication Solution Providers Association.

The association works with global authorities like the International Hologram Manufacturers Association, Counterfeit Intelligence Bureau of the Interpol, and domestic industry lobbies like Ficci, he said.

Counterfeiting is a universal issue and is 3.3 per cent of global trade, according to the OECD data, impacting social and economic development across the world.

The report lists the currency, FMCG, alcohol, pharma, documents, agriculture, infrastructure, automotive, tobacco, lifestyle and apparel, as the 10 sectors impacted most by counterfeiting.

Among these, currency, alcohol and FMCG continue to be the top three sectors with the highest counterfeiting in the last two years. The FMCG sector is most vulnerable, as counterfeit incidents rose 63 per cent between 2018 (79) and 2019 when the reported cases jumped to 129.

Within the states, the fakers have a free run in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bengal, Punjab, Jharkhand, Delhi, Gujarat, and Uttarakhand, calling for urgent actions to frame anti-counterfeiting policy measures.

According to the report, UP continues to be on top followed by Bihar, Rajasthan, and together these three states represent almost 45 per cent of all counterfeiting reported in the last two years.

What is more alarming is that counterfeiting is not limited to high-end luxury items today, as common everyday items as fake cumin seeds, mustard cooking oil, ghee, hair oils, soaps, baby care vaccines and medicines are aplenty in the markets.

"There is an urgent need for building and nurturing authentication ecosystems in the country with the active involvement and active participation of all stakeholders," said Pasricha.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Mumbai, Mar 25: Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope on Wednesday confirmed that five people from a family in Sangli and four others from Mumbai tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total count to 116, which is the highest in any state of the country.
"The current count of COVID19 patients in the state of Maharashtra is 116. In Sangli, 5 people from one family are identified as positive due to contacts and 4 people from Mumbai are identified as positive due to travel history or contacts," Tope tweeted.
The state Health Minister informed that out of 116 people, 14 people have recovered and are in the process of being discharged from the hospitals.
"14 people from these have been recovered and are in the process of being discharged from the hospitals," he said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, the Sangli district administration in Maharashtra has released contact numbers for citizens to get home delivery of essential items during the 21-day lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The police personnel and district administration will be in charge of facilitating delivery for the essential commodities during the lockdown.
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Wednesday confirmed 539 positive cases of coronavirus in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced a 21-day lockdown in the entire country effective from midnight to deal with the spread of coronavirus, saying that "social distancing" is the only option to deal with the disease, which spreads rapidly.

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News Network
April 8,2020

New Delhi, Apr 8: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country have continued to rise even on the 15th day of the lockdown, and reached 5,274 cases on Wednesday evening, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The tally includes 4,714 active, 411, cured/discharged and migrated cases as well as deaths. A total of 149 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far in the country.

Maharashtra with 1,018 confirmed cases has the highest number of COVID-19 patients in the country, while Tamil Nadu (690) and Delhi (576) are the two next most affected regions.

Fresh cases were reported on Wednesday from Telangana, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, among other states and UTs.

Meanwhile, in an interaction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and floor leaders of several parties held today via video conferencing, discussions were held on extending the lockdown even further after the 21-day period.

The 21-day lockdown was announced on March 24 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
At the regular media briefing at 4 pm, Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry said that the government has ensured that there is no shortage of hydroxychloroquine in the country at present as well as in the future.

In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) has launched 'Integrated Government Online Training Portal' wherein required resources will be provided for capacity building of the frontline workers.

"MHRD's training portal will provide required resources to the doctors, paramedics, nurse, technicians and ANMs and state government officials and civil defence officials, volunteers of National Cadet Corps (NCC), National Surveillance teams, Red Cross society and other organisations to have a large skill workforce to combat the coronavirus outbreak," said Aggarwal at a press conference here.

Speaking on government's preparedness on dealing with the patients having mild, very mild and serious conditions, Aggarwal said, "For people who have mild or very mild symptoms we have temporary hospitals, ie COVID care hospitals. Work is now being done to develop the field level infrastructure to take care of the mild and very mild symptomatic patients.

Similarly, for serious patients, we have dedicated healthcare centre and dedicated hospitals."

With fresh COVID-19 cases being reported across the country, several states and union territories, including Uttar Pradesh and Chandigarh, on Wednesday made it compulsory for people to use masks while venturing out of their houses.

Here's a quick read on the COVID-19 related updates:

1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted that the lockdown might be extended after the completion of the 21-day period.
2. Floor party leaders of various political parties from both the Rajya and Lok Sabha assured the government of their full support in the decisions needed to be taken in the coming days and also suggested taking various measures to help the people.
3. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 1,21,271 tests have been conducted in the country.
4. The Uttar Pradesh government has decided to strictly implement 100 per cent lockdown in hotspots located across 15 districts in the state till the morning of April 15. These areas will be completely cordoned off and civilian passes will stay suspended while essentials would be delivered to citizens at their doorsteps.
5. The Supreme Court suggested that all tests to identify coronavirus positive patients should be conducted free of cost in the identified private laboratories and said that the court will pass appropriate order on the matter. The SC bench also asked the central government to look into creating a mechanism for providing reimbursement for the same.
6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to take the responsibility of a poor family, at least till the COVID-19 crisis persists if they wanted to honour him.
7. Union Home Ministry announced that Rs 3000 crores have been distributed among two crore registered construction workers till now, according to Saheli Ghosh Roy, Joint Secretary.
8. The MHA official said that the Home Secretary has written to the state Chief Secretaries to ensure a continuous supply of essential commodities under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The states can use measures like fixing stock limits, capping of price and checking bank accounts of the dealers.
9. The Health Ministry has assured that there will be no shortage of Hydroxychloroquine in the country. This came after India lifted the ban on the export of the anti-malarial drug being sued to treat COVID-19
10. The Maharashtra government too has issued an order to compulsorily wear masks while entering any government offices in Mumbai Metropolitan Region and Pune Metropolitan Region.

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