Arvind Kejriwal, arrested en route to PM's home, refuses to leave Bawana jail

October 13, 2012

krijiwal

New Delhi, October 13: Arvind Kejriwal, who was arrested for leading a march towards Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence, has refused to leave Bawana jail. The activist-turned-politician, who was detained along with several supporters - many of them with special needs - on Friday afternoon, is adamant that Law Minister Salman Khurshid be sacked and has decided to stay put at the makeshift jail till his demand is met with.

Mr Khurshid is in the middle of a raging controversy over alleged financial malpractices by an NGO - headed by him and run by his wife, Louise - that is meant to help special-needs people in his home state of Uttar Pradesh. Mr Kejriwal has been demanding that the minister should either quit or be fired.

"Both the minister and his wife are influential people and they can tamper with evidence," Mr Kejriwal said. Fresh from launching an as-yet-unnamed political party, Mr Kejriwal had marched towards the Prime Minister's residence at 7, Race Course Road yesterday but was stopped by the police who detained him along with other activists and took him to the makeshift jail at Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Bawana.

In a late night tweet, Mr Kejriwal alleged that the police were "selectively picking up volunteers and beating them up" to "terrorise" them. "If the government thinks that they can silence us, they are mistaken. Every such incident will strengthen our resolve to fight for our country," he said.

Police, however, denied the allegations.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Kejriwal, who gathered at the Jantar Mantar along with other activists after being stopped by the police, called on his supporters to "turn this into Tahrir Square". Later, supporters of the activist-turned-politician punctured a tyre of the bus that was leading him away, prompting his transfer to another vehicle. As he was being driven away, Mr Kejriwal, referring to Mr Khurshid, said, "Those who fight corruption are being jailed. And a corrupt minister is free."

Mr Kejriwal wanted the Prime Minister to meet differently-abled people today, but was refused an appointment. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said that the request for the meeting was made on Friday morning, and that the Prime Minister had a full day.

Mr Kejriwal says that the Law Minister must be removed because a sting carried on a Hindi news channel earlier this week proved large-scale embezzlement of funds by his NGO. The channel claims that the NGO, which is run by Mr Khurshid's wife, forged signatures of government officials to attest that the funds were being used as intended.

Mr Khurshid has denied the charges. On Friday, he described Mr Kejriwal as a "man possessed not with any noble idea but burning ambition for which he will destroy whatever is in his path." He added that Mr Kejriwal should be aware that "the free ride is over" and that he will battle his allegations legally and on public platforms.

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News Network
May 29,2020

New Delhi, May 29: With the highest spike of 7,466 more COVID-19 cases and 175 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, India's COVID-19 tally reached 1,65,799 on Friday, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The number of active coronavirus cases stands at 89,987 while 71,105 people have been cured or recovered and one patient has migrated, it said. The death toll due to the infection has reached 4,706 in the country.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state with 59,546 cases. Tamil Nadu has recorded as many as 19,372 cases while Gujarat and Delhi have recorded 15,562 and 16,281 coronavirus cases respectively.

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News Network
April 16,2020

New Delhi, Apr 16: The number of COVID-19 cases in India has reached 12,759, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

According to the official data, India has 10,824 active cases and 1514 discharged and cured cases. Meanwhile, 420 people have died from the disease which originated in China.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases in the country which stands at 2919, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

With 1578 coronavirus cases, Delhi is in the second position of India's tally of corona infected people; followed by Tamil Nadu (1242) and Rajasthan (1023).

Kerala, which reported India's first coronavirus case, has 388 confirmed cases, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, that border the national capital, have 773 and 205 cases, respectively.

Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh and Pudducherry have reported 33, 21 and 7 cases respectively. While West Bengal has 231 coronavirus infected people, Odisha has confirmed 60 cases.

The newly carved union territories -- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir--- have 17 and 300 cases, respectively.

In the Northeast, 33 people were detected positive for COVID-19 in Assam, which is the worst-affected states in the region. Six corona cases were confirmed from Meghalaya, two each from Manipur and Tripura and one from Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland remains free from coronavirus till date, said the Ministry.

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: The central government has decided that pensioners' life certificates will be collected from their doorstep, saving them from hassles of visiting pension disbursing banks.

The service will be charged an amount not exceeding Rs 60, according to a statement issued on Thursday by the Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DoPPW).

Every year a pensioner is required to give proof of him being alive to banks in order to ensure continued pension. These certificates can be submitted online or by visiting the bank.

"The department has taken a landmark step to make life easier for senior citizens to submit their annual life certificate for continued pension," it said.

Directions have been issued to all pension disbursing banks to send SMS or emails to all their pensioners on October 24, November 1, November 15 and November 25 every year reminding them to submit their annual life certificates by November 30, the statement said.

"The bank in addition will also ask such pensioners through SMS/email as to whether they are interested in submission of life certificate through a chargeable doorstep service, the charge not exceeding Rs 60, it said.

The department for stricter monitoring and in order to ensure that no pensioners are left out has also directed the banks to make an exception list on December 1 every year of those pensioners who fail to submit their life certificate and issue another SMS or email to them for submitting it.

The Central Pension Processing Cells (CPPC) of the pension disbursing banks shall now be duty bound to submit a report to the DoPPW in January, February and March.

The report will indicate the total number of pensioners who have not given their life certificate along with a breakup of the certificates submitted physically and through digital means, the statement said.

This is a landmark step from the side of the central government showing due care for pensioners, it said.

This step is in addition to the order issued in July last year, vide which all pensioners aged 80 years and above have been given an exclusive window to submit their life certificate w.e.f. 1st October every year instead of 1st November every year, the statement added.

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