1. Home
  2. India
  3. Ordinance on convicted lawmakers:Congress looks for face saver

Ordinance on convicted lawmakers:Congress looks for face saver

October 2, 2013
New Delhi, Oct 2: Inching towards withdrawal of the controversial Ordinance on convicted lawmakers, Congress top brass including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi today grappled to work out a face saver in the wake of a huge political storm over Rahul Gandhi's public outburst against the measure. Ordinance-on-convicted-netas-should-be-torn-up-Rahul

All pros and cons were discussed and a decision was left to the Union Cabinet which is meeting in the evening, highly placed party sources said after the hour-long Congress Core Group meeting headed by Sonia Gandhi.

The sources said that the government is mulling whether to withdraw the ordinance- which was sent to President Pranab Mukherjee after the Cabinet had cleared it- or ask the President to take a call on it.

Soon after the Core Group meeting, which was also attended by Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Gandhi's political aide Ahmed Patel, the Prime Minister met President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Mukherjee is said to have reservations over the Ordinance to provide immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification overriding a Supreme Court judgement on the issue.

The day of hectic activities in the Congress began on the issue with Rahul Gandhi calling on the Prime Minister in the morning and holding one to one interaction during which the Congress Vice President explained to Singh the context in which he denounced the Ordinance.

Though Singh said he does not get "upset easily", he had indicated his unease yesterday when he told reporters that he would try to find out the reason why Rahul made a public statement and "why it had to be done that way".

"I am not the master of what people say. It has happened and as I said when I go back I will try to find the reason why it happened that way and how do we handle it," he had said.

He was asked about Rahul's remarks that the Ordinance was "complete nonsense" that needs to be "torn up and thrown away".

Meanwhile, a senior party leader speaking on the condition of anonymity said that it is not necessary that a decision is taken immediately after the Cabinet meeting today as it could give an impression of the Prime Minister's authority being eroded.

The matter may also be deferred for a view by the UPA Coordination Committee after the Cabinet makes up its mind, the leader said. There is a also a view in the party that the "Ordinance is now history" after Gandhi's carping criticism of it.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 28,2020

New Delhi, Jul 28: India on Wednesday reported 47,704 more COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the country's count of coronavirus cases to 14,83,157, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Out of the total cases, there are 4,96,988 active cases in the country while the number of patients cured/discharged and migrated stands at 9,52,744.

With 654 deaths due to COVID-19 in the country reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll rises to 33,425.

The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has increased to 64.23 per cent. The recoveries to deaths ratio is 96.6 per cent:3.4 per cent, informed the Centre.

As per the data provided by the Ministry, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state from the infection with 1,48,905 active cases and 13,656 deaths due to COVID-19. Tamil Nadu has a total of 53,703 active cases and 3,494 deaths.

Delhi has a total of 11,904 active cases and 3,827 deaths.

The Health Ministry further informed that more than 5 lakh COVID-19 tests were conducted in a single day over two consecutive days. On 26th July, India tested a total of 5,15,000 samples and on 27th July, a total of 5,28,000 samples were tested.

The total number of COVID-19 samples tested up to July 27 is 1,73,34,885 including 5,28,082 samples tested yesterday, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 11,2020

New Delhi, Jun 11: India on Thursday rejected a US government report that voiced concerns over alleged attacks and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities in the country.

"Our principled position remains that we see no locus standi for a foreign entity to pronounce on the state of our citizens' constitutionally protected rights," Spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava said.

He was replying to a question on the report at an online media briefing.

Mandated by the US Congress, the '2019 International Religious Freedom Report' that documents major instances of violation of religious freedom across the world was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday.

"India's vibrant democratic traditions and practices are evident to the world. The people and government of India are proud of our country's democratic traditions," the spokesperson said.

"We have a robust public discourse in India and constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee protection of religious freedom and rule of law," he added.

The India section of the report said that US government officials underscored the importance of respecting religious freedom and promoting tolerance and mutual respect throughout the year with the ruling and opposition parties, civil society and religious freedom activists, and religious leaders belonging to various faith communities.

The report referred to the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir last August and the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Parliament in December as major highlights for India last year.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: The COVID-19 pandemic has left the Indian private healthcare sector in acute financial distress, a new survey said on Friday adding that the healthcare facilities in the country have witnessed at least 80 per cent fall in average revenue.

Post the lockdown from March 24, Indian hospitals have seen a large impact, especially among small and medium-sized hospitals, which are now facing existential challenges.

The survey by healthcare industry body NATHEALTH was conducted in 251 healthcare facilities across nine states and 69 cities to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the domestic healthcare industry.

The findings showed that 90 per cent of the surveyed healthcare facilities are facing financial challenges with 21 per cent facilities facing an existential threat.

"There is a need for a stimulus package to revive the Indian healthcare industry which will be crucial to provide much-needed relief to the healthcare sector which is the frontline defence in this fight against COVID-19," said Dr Sudarshan Ballal, President NATHEALTH.

According to the survey, hospitals in tier 1 and tier 2 cities are experiencing a 78 per cent reduction in OPD footfalls, and a drop of 79 per cent in in-patient admissions.

The study found that 90 per cent of organisations require some form of financial assistance.

The findings indicated that even after the lockdown lift, the situation will remain difficult for the hospitals and nursing homes as patients will hesitate from visiting hospitals.

Comments

Add new comment

About text formats
  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.