Khurshid trust accused of corruption, Kejriwal demands his resignation

October 11, 2012

Kaushambi (Uttar Pradesh), October 11: A news channel alleged that the Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust, headed by Congress minister and Union law minister Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise Khurshid, had forged signatures of senior officials in several districts of Uttar Pradesh depriving disabled people of their
money.

According to a TV report, the Union ministry for social welfare and empowerment had granted Rs. 71.50 lakh to the trust for distributing tricycles and hearing aids to the disabled in 17 districts of UP.

While, Salman Khurshid is the president of the Trust, his wife Louise Khurshid is the project director.

As per the rules, the trust should have informed the district magistrate, the district social welfare officers prepares and send a list of beneficiaries from districts and the money is disbursed at the camps organized for this purpose, in the presence of district officials.

But reports state that the Trust distributed the equipments under the forged signatures of district welfare officers and the camps were never held.

The Zakir Hussain Memorial Trust is registered at Khurshid's residence in the national capital (4, Gulmohar Avenue, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi) and the minister's wife - Louise Khurshid, who happens to be a former MLA - is its chief functionary officer.

The trust is registered as an NGO and has been operating in many states and receiving substantial grants from several important ministries of the government of India.
The report states that the Union ministry for social welfare and empowerment had been hinted about this in May 2011, but no one sought an inquiry.

Union ministry of social justice and empowerment has, for the time being, stopped fresh grants to the trust, as Khurshid's family was yet to reply to the clarifications sought by it on the alleged malpractices.

According to reports, documents in possession of the media channel reveal that a statewide enquiry into these malpractices in a project piloted by the trust was ordered by the UP government on January 12, 2012 following a letter from the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment.

The project relates to providing aids to physically challenged people in 17 districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Khurshid's hometown Farrukhabad.

India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded Salman Khurshid's resignation and his wife Louise Khurshid's immediate arrest after the TV channel's report.

"Yesterday it was exposed by one of the TV channels how law minister Salman Khurshid and his wife are involved in defalcation of funds meant for handicapped people. These funds are released by various departments of Government of India," said Kejriwal.

"They were taken by the NGO, which has been floated by the law minister and his wife. And rather than distributing this money to the handicapped people, the law minister and his wife together have forged the signatures of several government officers which is a very serious crime," he added.

Asserting that it is a non-bailable offence and a cognizable offence under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Kejriwal demanded that an FIR should be immediately registered in connection with this case.

"Mrs Khurshid should be immediately arrested because if she remains outside she would tamper with the evidence and put pressure on various evidences. And the law minister should immediately resign," he said.

Kejriwal also asked Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to ensure that the FIR in connection with this case is registered as soon as possible so that further investigations can be carried out.

"We demand from the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who has said that he will investigate. Investigation will only start after the registration of FIR. So, if it is not done, then there would be a suspicion that is Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh is in cahoots with UPA Government at the Centre that the Central government is helping Mulayam Singh with his corruption cases and here whether Akhilesh Yadav is helping Salman Khurshid at the Centre," he said.

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Low pressure over Arabian sea to intensify into ‘cyclonic storm’ soon, says IMD

Agencies

May 31,2020

New Delhi, May 31: A low pressure area formed over Arabian sea and Lakshadweep is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm and reach coastal states of Maharashtra and Gujarat next week, the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Sunday.

Sunitha Devi, in charge of cyclones at IMD, said, "A low pressure area has formed over southeast and adjoining east central Arabian sea and Lakshadweep area. It is very likely to concentrate into a depression during the next 24 hours and intensify further into a cyclonic storm during subsequent 24 hours."

She added, "It is likely to move nearly northwards and reach near north Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts by 3rd June."

A low pressure area and a depression are the first two levels on the IMD's eight-category scale used to classify cyclones based on their intensity.

The weather bureau said that the sea condition will be very rough and advised fishermen not to venture into the sea till June 4.

It has forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over south coastal Maharashtra for June 2-4, on north coast on June 2-3 and in Gujarat, Daman and Diu and Dadar and Nagar Haveli on June 3-5.

IMD said that under the influence of likely formation of a low pressure system over Arabian Sea, conditions will become favourable from June 1 for onset of monsoon over Kerala.

The arrival date for monsoon in Kerala is around June 1 every year and in Maharashtra around June 10.

On Saturday, a private forecasting agency claimed that monsoon has already hit Kerala, but the assertions were quickly rebutted by the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

"The news about monsoon onset over Kerala in Social Media is not correct. Monsoon has not arrived over Kerala. The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge a"Stephen Hawking," saidAMadhavan Rajeevan, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

Kuldeep Srivastava, the head of IMD's Regional Weather Forecasting Centre said that the formation of a low pressure system in Arabian sea and its movement towards Gujarat coast will bring moisture to Delhi-NCR and North West India from June 3.

Two storms are forming over the Arabian Sea, one lies off the African coast and is likely to move over Oman and Yemen, while the other is placed close to India.

The development comes almost ten days after 'Amphan' pummeled four districts of Bengal in the fiercest cyclone in the region in a century, that left 86 people dead and rendered ten million people homeless.

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According to IMD alert appeared in some newspapers on 31 May 2020 , a cyclonic storm is brewing in the Arabian Sea , which is likely to reach coastal districts of Gujarat and Maharashtra by 3 June. It is expected that the these States would take more care and appropriate strategy well in time to combat the likely danger to the coastal districts from cyclonic storm designated as ‘Nisarga’. In this context , it may be apt to refer readers to this Vedic astrology writer’s predictive alerts in article - “ Predictions for coming year 2020 by kushal kumar” - published last year 2019 on 10 October at theindiapost.com/articles/predictions-for-coming-year-2020-by-kushal-kumar/. The related text of the predictive alert reads as follows in the said article :-

“ The next three months from April to June 2020 , appears to be a period of time testing ‘patience’ and ‘ perseverance’ , introducing several parts of the country to worrisome concerns. Coastal States of India , particularly those in the southern part , may be called upon to take more care and appropriate strategy against likely cyclones , storms , floods , coming of danger via sea , landslide and damage to crops during April-June in 2020. Such dates of month of May as 6 , 7 , 13 to 16 , 25 and 26 may be watched with care. Similarly , the dates 3 , 4 , 11 to 13 , 21 , 22 and 26 in June 2020 may be watched with care. Coastal States /UTs such as Gujarat , some parts of Maharashtra ……………………………………look to be vulnerable. It may be apt for them to take necessary precautions during May-June , 2020”.

The aforesaid details suggest that the predictive alert of this writer published last year 2019 on 10 October , is coinciding with the alert of IMD appeared near about 31 May , 2020.

Kushal kumar ,

202- GH28 , Mansarovar Apartments ,

Sector 20 , Panchkula -134116 , Haryana.

1 June , 2020.

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Serum Institute of India gets nod for phase 2,3 trials of Oxford covid vaccine

Agencies

August 3,2020

The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given nod to the Serum Institute of India (SII) for conducting phase 2 and 3 human clinical trials of the Oxford University developed Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the country.

Government officials said that the approval for conducting phase 2 and 3 clinical trials by the SII was granted by DCGI Dr V G Somani late Sunday night after a thorough evaluation based on the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee (SEC) on Covid-19.

"The firm has to submit safety data, evaluated by the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB), to the CDSCO before proceeding to phase 3 clinical trials," a senior official said.

"As per the study design, each subject will be administered two doses four weeks apart (first dose on day one and second dose on day 29) following which the safety and immunogenicity will be assessed at predefined intervals," the official said.

As a rapid regulatory response, the expert panel at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) on Friday, after a detailed deliberation and considering the data generated on the vaccine candidate in phase 1 and 2 of the Oxford University trial, had recommended granting permission for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the potential vaccine, 'Covishield', on healthy adults in India, the officials said.

Currently, phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of the Oxford vaccine candidate is going on in the United Kingdom, phase 3 clinical trial in Brazil and phase 1 and 2 clinical trials in South Africa.

The officials said that the SII had submitted a revised proposal on Wednesday after the SEC on July 28, following deliberation over its application, had asked it to revise its protocol for the phase 2 and 3 clinical trials besides seeking some additional information.

The panel had also recommended that the clinical trial sites which have been proposed for the study be distributed across India.

According to the revised proposal by the SII, 1,600 people aged above 18 years will participate in the trials across 17 selected sites, including AIIMS-Delhi, B J Medical College in Pune, Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) in Patna, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh, AIIMS-Jodhpur, Nehru Hospital in Gorakhpur, Andhra Medical College in Visakhapatnam and JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research in Mysore.

"According to the application, it would conduct an observer-blind, randomised controlled study to determine the safety and immunogenicity of 'Covishield' on healthy Indian adults," the official said.

The SII, which has partnered with AstraZeneca, for manufacturing the Oxford vaccine candidate for Covid-19 had submitted its first application to the DCGI on July 25 seeking permission for conducting the phase 2 and 3 trials of the potential vaccine.

Initial results of the first two-phases of trials of the vaccine conducted in five trial sites in the UK showed that it has an acceptable safety profile and homologous boosting increased antibody response, sources had said.

To introduce the vaccine, SII, the world's largest vaccine maker by number of doses produced and sold, has signed an agreement to manufacture the potential vaccine developed by the Jenner Institute (Oxford University) in collaboration with British-Swedish pharma company AstraZeneca.

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Jyotiraditya Scindia, who quit Congress after 18 years, formally joins BJP

News Network

March 11,2020

New Delhi, Mar 11: Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Madhya Pradesh politician whose surprise exit from the Congress has brought the Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday. Scindia joined the BJP at an event in national capital Delhi in the presence of party chief JP Nadda.

Scindia, who was warmly welcomed by Nadda, described 10 March, the day that he exited from the Congress as one of the two life-changing days of his life. The first, he said, was 30 September 2001 when he lost his father. Scindia underscored that the Congress was not the party that it had been and had been living in denial.

Scindia had ended his 18-year-old association with the Congress on Tuesday after meetings with Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Scindia’s exit from the Congress was followed by resignation letters by about 22 MLAs who had been sequestered in Karnataka. The resignation letters were, however, sent to the Governor and not the assembly speaker, and threatens to upend the Kamal Nath government which has a wafer-thin majority.

If the resignations are accepted, the effective strength of the MP assembly will come down to 206, leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a slender majority beyond the halfway mark of 103 with its 107 MLAs. For now, the Congress is trying to persuade the MLAs to not pull down the state government.

In his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that Scindia put out on Twitter soon after, he alluded to his discomfort in the party over the last year or so. “...as you well know, this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year,” he had written in his letter.

It was seen as a reference to the Congress settling for Kamal Nath as the chief minister after the 2018 state elections though it was Scindia who had led from the front to oust the BJP from Madhya Pradesh. Scindia’s supporters had hoped that the Congress would tell Kamal Nath to give up his second charge - as the party chief in the state - but this also didn’t happen.

The first hint that something was amiss came in November last year when Scindia removed a reference to the Congress in his Twitter bio and instead wrote “public servant and cricket enthusiast”. He had then explained the change to an effort to make the Twitter bio shorter.

Jyotyiraditya Scindia’s aunt Yashodhara Raje Scindia appeared to declare soon after that the 49-year-old would join the BJP when she welcomed his resignation, calling it “ghar wapsi” or homecoming. “Jyotiraditya was being neglected in Congress,” Yashodhara Raje Scindia said.

Scindia’s grandmother, Vijaya Raje Scindia, was one of the founders of the Jana Sangh, the precursor to the BJP. His aunt Vasundhara Raje is a former Union minister and ex-chief minister of Rajasthan and another aunt Yashodhara Raje is a former minister in the Madhya Pradesh cabinet.

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