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Army called out, curfew in Kishtwar after communal riots; 2 killed

August 10, 2013

srinagar

Srinagar, Aug 10: Authorities imposed curfew and called out the Army to control the situation as two persons died and around 80 sustained injuries in the worst communal riots to shake Jammu and Kashmir at Kishtwar on Friday.

Official sources said people from the peripheral villages of Bandirna, Hullar and Kuleed were heading for the spacious Chowgan Grounds to join congregational Eid-ul-Fitr prayers around 10 a.m., when a section of local Hindus objected to their pro-azadi slogans. What began as an altercation culminated into a major clash in which people from both sides resorted to intense stone-throwing.

Even as over 10,000 people performed Eid prayers, some miscreants ransacked commercial properties and set shops and vehicles on fire. The district headquarters turned into a battlefield with even government-controlled Village Defence Committee (VDC) members and Special Police Officers joining the violence in some cases using firearms. Private firing with .12 bore guns was also reported.

IGP (Jammu) Rajesh Kumar said from Kishtwar that the four-hour-long riots left two persons of the two communities dead and 23 civilians injured. However, independent sources claimed that around 80 persons, including 40 police and CRPF personnel, sustained injuries. They said 23-year-old Arvind Kumar Bhagat, son of the local BSP leader Desraj Bhagat, died of gunshot wounds. Some reports said he was hit when the police opened fire on a mob. However, some officials insisted that Mr. Bhagat was found hit by a private weapon as there was evidence of .12 bore ammunition on his body.

Sources said one unidentified person of the other community was manhandled, set on fire and burnt to death. His body was lying on the Chowgan Grounds till late on Friday night.

One petrol tanker, one police bunker, a number of buses and cars were among the 60 vehicles destroyed in fire. As many as 70 shops, one hotel and one residential house were destroyed in the arson as the police and the civil administration failed completely to control the situation.

Shaheedi Road, Malik Market, Kuleed Chowk, Dak Bungalow Chowk, Amar Market, Bus Stand and Hospital Market witnessed the worst of arson. Reports said some peripheral villages were also engulfed by late afternoon.

While Minister of State for Home and Kishtwar MLA Sajad Ahmad Kichloo is already in town, Chief Secretary Iqbal Khanday and Director-General of Police Ashok Prasad flew in to Kishtwar from Srinagar. Divisional Commissioner (Jammu) Shant Manu and Inspector-General of Police Rajesh Kumar also reached the spot. They called out the Army even as the Deputy Commissioner imposed indefinite curfew. After a flag march by the Army, situation was reportedly under control.

Tension also spread to Jammu, Samba and Udhampur district headquarters as some markets closed in protest and some people staged demonstrations.

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News Network
March 9,2020

New Delhi, Mar 9: The Centre and the Delhi government are working in close coordination to deal with coronavirus, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said here on Monday.

Talking to reporters after a review meeting with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on the preparedness for COVID-19, the chief minister said people arriving from foreign countries are being screened at airports.

A campaign will be run to make people aware of the preventive measures to contain the spread of the disease, Kejriwal said.

Health Ministry sending directives to states: Vardhan

Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the government is prepared to deal with novel coronavirus and his ministry is sending directives, including guidelines, to states in all the languages on ways to contain it.

"We are sending detailed guidelines to all states on ways to contain coronavirus. Have asked states to strengthen laboratories and manpower to effectively deal with coronavirus and form early rapid action teams," Vardhan told reporters adding, that the government is prepared to deal with the infection.

Vardhan stressed on a coordinated action between all concerned departments and agencies for activities such as contact tracing, community surveillance, hospital management, identification of isolation wards, ensuring adequate personal protection equipment and masks and risk communication for mass awareness.

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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
February 4,2020

New Delhi, Feb 4: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday accused Arvind Kejriwal of having a "partnership" with Pakistan and appealed to the people in Delhi to not vote for the AAP chief as it will make Pakistan happy.

Ramping up his attack on the Shaheen Bagh protest, Adityanath said that the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is merely an excuse for people to vent their anger against the scrapping of Article 370.

"You must have seen their partnership on 370. Arvind Kejriwal used to speak in the same voice as Imran Khan on Article 370. You must have heard it.

"Now when elections are taking place in Delhi, who is speaking in favour of Arvind Kejriwal? It is the ministers of Pakistan. They are aware that Kejriwal is feeding 'biryani to protesters at Shaheen Bagh'," he said, referring to Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhry's tweet asking Indians to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Adityanath addressed three rallies on Monday in the national capital ahead of assembly elections.

"Will Pakistan decide who Indians should vote for. If voting for Kejriwal will make Pakistan happy, should it be done," he asked at a rally in Mehrauli.

Adityanath said his Delhi counterpart Kejriwal has become a "toy in the hands of anti-social and anti-India elements".

Addressing a rally in Vikaspuri in west Delhi, he said that Kejriwal is not bothered about key issues such as providing clean drinking water but is concerned about Shaheen Bagh, the anti-citizenship amendment act protest site.

At another rally in Uttam Nagar in west Delhi, Adityanath said Kejriwal has played with the emotions of the people of Delhi for the last five years.

"He obstructed the development of Delhi. And knowingly and unknowingly, he became a toy in the hands of anti-social and anti-India elements," Adityanath said.

The protest at Shaheen Bagh, he said, has disrupted traffic across the capital.

"A guest with an appointment to meet him at 9.30 am could only reach at 11. He told me he had left as early as 7 am but got stuck because of the traffic in Shaheen Bagh," he said.

The Uttar Pradesh chief minister also slammed Kejriwal for "sympathising" with elements who he said gave anti-India slogans in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

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