Kejriwal picks his team; 'unwell' Anna to skip swearing-in

December 24, 2013

New Delhi, Dec 24: Arvind Kejriwal is understood to have finalised his team of ministers that includes his trusted associate Manish Sisodia and five others to be inducted into his ministry that will be sworn in later this week.

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Besides Mr Sisodia, a former journalist who won from Patparganj constituency, the Cabinet will include Rakhi Birla, the giant killer who defeated PWD Minister Rajkumar Chouhan, Somnath Bharti (defeated Women and Child Development Minister Kiran Walia) Saurabh Bhardwaj, Girish Soni and Satendra Jain, said Bharadwaj after a meeting with Mr Kejriwal.

Mr Kejriwal may be sworn in as Chief Minister once President Pranab Mukherjee clears the Lt Governor’s proposal in this regard.

Throughout the day Mr Kejriwal held discussions at his residence here with party leaders including Mr Sisodia.

Meanwhile, Mr Kejriwal is understood to have decided on senior IAS officer, Rajendra Kumar as Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary.

Like Mr Kejriwal, 47-year-old Kumar, at present Higher Education Secretary, is an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur.

Mr Kumar met Mr Kejriwal at his residence here. Chief Secretary D M Spolia also met Mr Kejriwal. They were described as courtesy calls. Birla, Bharti, Jain and Soni met Kejriwal.

Anna to skip

Anna Hazare is yet to receive an invitation for the swearing-in ceremony of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi but would not attend even if he got one owing to ill-health.

"Nahi, abhi letter nahi aaya (No, the invitation has not come yet)," Hazare said, when asked if he has received any invitation from his former protege for attending the oath taking ceremony.

"I will speak (to him) on December 26," Hazare said. Kejriwal has requested Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung to allow him to take oath at the Ramlila Maidan on December 26, where Hazare had launched his movement for the Jan Lokpal in 2011.

Asked if he would attend the swearing-in ceremony if he received the invitation, Hazare said, "nahi, abhi toh mera tabiyat theek nahi (No, right now I am unwell)."

Hazare had yesterday declined to comment on the Kejriwal-led AAP's decision to form the new government in Delhi, but added he would express his views when his former protege acts on the Lokayukta issue.

"Mein bolta hoon, Kejriwal par no comment. Koi baat nahi karna hai," Hazare had said.

Asked about Kejriwal's party accepting outside support of Congress, Hazare said, "Whatever is good, let him do it... He will do whatever is right."

Hazare had parted ways with Kejriwal following his decision to form a political party.

The relations between the Gandhian and the AAP convenor had hit a new low when he recently ordered a frontline leader of Kejriwal's party Gopal Rai to leave his fast venue and village after he engaged in a spat with former Army chief General V K Singh. Singh had slammed Kejriwal and others for having deserted Hazare and formed a political party.

The AAP had immediately recalled Rai from Hazare's fast venue.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Noida, Jan 6: A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said.

The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.

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News Network
February 1,2020

New Delhi, Feb 1: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman promised to make India a higher education destination, as she unveiled the government’s plan to invest in the education sector in her Budget speech.

“We propose Rs 99,300 crore for education sector in 2020-21 and Rs 3,000 crore for skill development,” said Sitharaman. While there is an increase of 4.6 per cent in the education spending than last year, the budget for skill development remains almost unchanged. Sitharaman also announced holding IND-SAT exam in African and Asian countries, for foreign candidates who wish to study in India.

The Finance Minister had listed three themes of the Union Budget 2020 while presenting the financial statement of the government in Parliament: Aspirational India to boost the standard of living, economic development for all, and building a humane and compassionate society. The spend under education is being done under aspirational India, “which focusses on focussed on skills, education, and agriculture” said Sitharaman.

“A degree-level full-fledged online education programme will be offered by institutes in top 100 in National Institutional Ranking Framework,” said Sitharaman, adding that Centre will announce a new education policy soon. “The government has received over 2 lakh suggestions on it.”

Further giving boost to India’s import of skilled human capital, Sitharaman said, “I propose special bridge course for nurses and medical professional for labour export to countries who open their door for such jobs.”

“Steps will be be taken to attract external commercial borrowing and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the education sector,” the finance minister added.

She further said the government plans to start a programme for urban local bodies to provide opportunities for internship to young engineers.

The Finance Minister also said National Police University and National Forensic University are being proposed.

The government has also proposed to attach medical colleges with district hospitals on PPP model to deal with shortage of doctors, Sitharaman added.

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News Network
June 3,2020

New Delhi, Jun 3: India registered its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Wednesday with 8,909 more cases reported in the last 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 2,07,615, while the death toll rose to 5,815 according to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood to 1,01,497 while 1,00,303 people have been cured/discharged/migrated.

According to the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry, out of all the states, Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases with 72,300 patients followed by Tamil Nadu with 24,586 cases.

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