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JD(U) snubs BJP for unilaterally announcing its stand on Prez election

May 1, 2012

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New Delhi, May 1: Indicating fissures in the NDA over the issue of Presidential election, the JD-U today snubbed the BJP for unilaterally announcing its stand on the issue.

"Whatever Sushma Swaraj has said is the opinion of the BJP. This is not our party's view. The issue was not discussed in any NDA meeting. BJP has not discussed the issue with us," JD-U President Sharad Yadav told reporters here.

He also said that the country is in a bad shape and "everybody needs to be on the side of caution on this issue".

He was reacting to Swaraj's statement yesterday that BJP will not support the candidature of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari or any candidate put up by the Congress for the Presidential election.

Asked whether JD-U agrees with the stand of Swaraj, Yadav merely said, "Ours is a different party and their's is another. Neither have we discussed this issue with the BJP nor have they done it with us so far."

Yadav, who is also the NDA convener, also referred to the statement of SAD leader Sukhbir Singh Badal to hammer home his point that the issue has not been decided by NDA as yet.

Badal said that there has been "no formal meeting" of the alliance so far and hence he cannot comment that who will be NDA's Presidential candidate.

"This will be the decision of the collective leadership. I am just a member of the alliance", was his refrain when asked whether they support the candidature of former President Abdul Kalam.

Swaraj had said that the party was open to the idea of backing former President A P J Abdul Kalam if parties like Samajwadi Party mooted his name.

Yadav said the NDA has not yet discussed any name for the Presidential candidate.

The JD(U) has not discussed any probable candidates for the Presidential elections yet, Yadav said, adding that the party will form an opinion after having internal discussions.

"Whenever such a discussion takes place, the JD(U) will express its views. But, she (Swaraj) has given the opinion of her party. She has not said this after any consultation with us. I do not know whether she consulted any other NDA ally on the issue", he said.

Sources in JD-U said that the unilateral announcement by Swaraj has foreclosed options of building a consensus on the issue.

Asked whether the NDA should have settled with a Vice President like Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal for the alliance and backed UPA's candidate for the President's job, a party leader speaking on the condition of anonymity said, "all such options have been closed by the statement".

The leader also made it clear that there was no discussion in the NDA even on supporting or putting up the name of former President Abdul Kalam as the alliance candidate this time, thereby indicating that the BJP may be proposing his name but Kalam is still not the NDA candidate.

The leader pointed out that even in 2007, when the BJP was proposing Kalam's renomination, NDA ally Shiv Sena had not supported his candidature. Sena had then backed Pratibha Patil's candidature in the name of Marathi pride.

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Agencies
August 6,2020

Mumbai, Aug 6: Former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan said on Thursday that overly focusing on what sovereign rating agencies think can take one's eyes off what needs to be done for the economy.

"It is also important to convince both domestic and international investors that after the crisis associated with the pandemic is over, we will return to fiscal responsibility over the medium term, and the government should do more to convince them of that," Rajan told the Global Markets Forum.

India was placed under one of the strictest lockdowns in the world in late March for more than two months to stem the spread of the coronavirus, but cases have continued to rise steadily since the government eased restrictions in June, stymieing hopes of an economic recovery.

The government has announced several initiatives to help the poor and small- and medium-size businesses, but actual cash outgo from the government's measures has been estimated at just about 1% of GDP.

Several attribute the fiscal prudence to fear of a downgrade after Moody's cut India's rating and outlook in early June followed closely by a change in outlook from Fitch.

The central bank on its part too has reduced the key lending rate by 115 basis points on top of the 135 bps last year and is widely expected to cut rates by another 25 bps later on Thursday.

"The RBI and government have certainly been cooperating, but it seems like it is elsewhere, the ball is in the government's court to do more," Rajan said.

He said the RBI needs to focus on whether credit is reaching the stressed areas of the economy and also if the viable firms were able to access credit and not the unviable ones.

"And I think that's where it has to focus its attentions, because resources, as you well know, are limited in India today."

Recently analysts, however, have cited the growing possibility the RBI may prefer to pause and cut rates only at its October meeting.

Government officials too have suggested the possibility of any more fiscal stimulus being announced, would only come in the second half of the fiscal year, once a recovery has taken root and coronavirus cases have peaked.

"What India should focus on at this point is protecting its economic capabilities, so that when it has dealt with the virus it can go resume activity in a reasonable way. That should be the focus," Rajan said.

"And if it does that, there is no reason why the rating agencies will not see that as an appropriate policy".

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News Network
July 4,2020

New Delhi, July 4: India on Friday reported its highest single-day spike of COVID-19 cases with 22,771 cases reported in the last 24 hours, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With these new cases, India's coronavirus cases tally has gone up to 6,48,315, out of which there are 2,35,433 active cases in the country and 3,94,227 cases have been cured/discharged or migrated.

As many as 442 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the last 24 hours taking the number of patients succumbing to the deadly virus across the country to 18,655.

As per the Union Health Ministry, Maharashtra -- the worst affected state due to COVID-19 -- has a total of 1,92,990 cases which is inclusive of 8,376 deaths. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu, the second worst-affected state, has a total of 1,02,721 cases and 1,385 fatalities. Delhi's tally of coronavirus cases stands at 94,695 which is inclusive of 2923 deaths due to the virus.

The Centre said that the recovery rate has further improved to 60.80 per cent. The recoveries/deaths ratio is 95.48 per cent : 4.52 per cent.

The Indian Council of Medical Research, earlier on Saturday, said that the total number of samples tested up to July 3 is 95,40,132, out of which 2,42,383 samples were tested yesterday.

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News Network
April 28,2020

New Delhi, Apr 28: Nafisa Ali took to Instagram to share the inspiring story of her niece, Diya Naidu, who donated her plasma to help patients suffering from Covid-19 after recovering from the disease. The veteran actress shared a photo of her niece from the hospital bed and asked fans to read Diya's post to get a detailed account of her experience.

Nafisa wrote, "Diya Naidu my niece - a COVID19 hero - is back home after donating her plasma - looks like liquid gold - it’s value is priceless as it will save lives. So please read her COVID19 story and share the information that is first hand. It is the need of the hour. Help save lives. #diyanise. #diyanaidu #covid_19 #india (sic)."

Diya Naidu, who is a dancer and choreographer based in Bengaluru, revealed in her Instagram post that she has donated her plasma for other Covid-19 patients. She said that the method has been super effective wherever it's been tried.

Earlier, Nafisa Ali gave a shout-out to her niece on Instagram and penned a heartfelt note for her. She wrote, "I am so grateful to you brave child - a COVID19 warrior (living in Bangalore) has agreed to donate her plasma to help cure other COVID19 serious patients (sic)."

Explaining the process of plasma therapy to treat Covid-19 patients, she wrote, "The process of donating plasma to treat COVID-19 is not very complex and can be done in just two hours. One of the most discussed methods of treatment of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus is plasma therapy, which involves the transfusion of plasma from a convalescent coronavirus patient to a critical patient. The blood of a recovering patient is rich in antibodies produced by the body to fight the virus, which are expected to help the critical patient recover (sic)."

Plasma therapy has been suggested to treat people suffering from Covid-19. People, who have recovered from the disease, are donating plasma as it contains antibodies to fight the disease. Earlier, Kanika Kapoor, who was the first Bollywood celebrity to be diagnosed with the disease, also offered to donate her plasma. She has recovered from Covid-19 and is currently living with her family in Lucknow.

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