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Chhattisgarh set for first-phase poll

November 11, 2013
Kalyan Ray, Jagdalpur (Bastar), Nov 11: A day before the first phase of polling in Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is looking for an encore in the tribal-dominated, Maoist-infested Bastar that catapulted the party to power for two consecutive terms.

chathisgarh

A thick security blanket has enveloped Bastar, even as Maoists triggered a blast in south Rajnandgaon on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Congress hopes to pull the rug out from under the BJP’s feet to topple the government in the state.

As many as 18 seats, including Chief Minister Raman Singh’s constituency of Rajnandgaon, are going to the polls on Monday. But the spotlight is firmly on the 12 seats in Bastar, which made the difference in the last two Assembly polls.

In 2008, the BJP bagged 50 seats, while the Congress won 38 seats. In Bastar, the BJP won 11 out of the 12 seats with the sole exception of Konta, where the Congress’ Kawasi Lakhma emerged victorious.

In the first election to the state in 2003, the BJP wrested power from the Congress by winning 50 seats, while the Congress could manage only 37. In Bastar, the equation was 9:3 in favour of the BJP.

Both parties, therefore, are fighting hard this time in Bastar, where the shadow of Maoist violence and caste are determining factors.

“On Sunday, 35 kg of explosives were recovered in Maad areas across the river Indravati and five IEDs were found in Kanker. There was a blast in south Rajnandgaon but there was no casualty,” Additional Director-General of Police R K Vij told Deccan Herald.

Earlier this year, the Maoists eliminated almost the entire state Congress leadership in a massacre. The victims include Bastar strongman Mahendra Karma, state Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nand Kumar Patel and former MLA Uday Mudliyar.

Hoping for a sympathy wave, the Congress has fielded Karma and Mudliyar’s wives and Patel’s son.

“We will improve in Bastar which is in the grip of fear. The Congress will get 4-6 seats,” said B K Hariprasad, Congress general secretary in-charge of Chhattishgarh.

The locals, however, denied any sympathy wave and pointed out that Devti Karma is at number three position in Dantewada.

The top BJP leadership brushed aside claims of a sympathy wave. “Raman Singh will be the chief minister for the third time,” asserted senior leader Sushma Swaraj. “Congress is direction-less and uninspiring,” Arun Jaitley pointed out.

Out of the 12 seats, at least in four, the margin was thin in 2008. In Antagarh, the BJP won by 45 votes, whereas in Kondagaon and Bastar, the margin was 2,772 and 1,201 respectively.

In Konta, Lakhma from the Congress won by 203 votes. The Congress hopes to turn the table in the first three constituencies, while the Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Manish Kunjam could very well turn out to be the dark horse in Konta.

Last time, Kunjam fought from Dantewada and garnered 24,764 votes as against the winner Bhima Mandavi who received 36,674 votes. A change in constituency may prove beneficial for him.

“I have no time to talk to you as I am busy in campaigning. Call me after midnight,” Kunjan told Deccan Herald.

The CPI leader is trying hard to ensure maximum polling as many of his voters live deep inside the forest and have to undertake a long arduous walk to reach polling stations.

The Congress hopes to wrest the Jagdalpur seat, too, from where Shyamu Kashyap, a candidate hand-picked by Rahul Gandhi, is contesting against the BJP’s sitting MLA Santosh Bafna.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

New Delhi, Jul 30: Even as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in various parts of India, more than 1 million people have recovered and discharged till now, informed Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health, here on Thursday.

"More than 1 million people have recovered from COVID-19 in the country. This landmark recovery has been achieved because of the selfless work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and frontline workers," Bhushan said at a press conference.

Giving the number of cured persons, Bhushan said, "More than 1,020,000 patients have recovered. They have been discharged. It is a great achievement."

He said, "The recovery rate has shown positive trends. It was 7.85 per cent in April and today it is 64.4 per cent, which is another heartening news which tells us that whatever battle is put by the Union government in collaboration with state governments is showing results."

"Sixteen states of the country have a recovery rate that is more than the national average. Of these, Delhi has a recovery rate of 88 per cent, Ladakh 80 per cent, Haryana 78 per cent, Assam 76 per cent, Telangana 74 per cent, Tamil Nadu & Gujarat 73 per cent, Rajasthan 70 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 69 per cent and Goa 68 per cent," Bhushan said.

He said effective clinical management lead to a decrease in case fatality rate. In June it was 3.33 per cent and now 2.21 per cent.

Bhushan said the case fatality rate in India today is 2.21 per cent and it's among the lowest in the world. Twenty-four states and Union Territories have lesser fatality rate than that of the country.

Herd immunity in a country of the size and population of India can not be a strategic option. It can only be achieved through immunisation.

"Over 18,190,000 tests have been conducted in the country including RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests. There has been a week-on-week increase in average tests per day. India is conducting 324 test per 10 lakhs population per day," Bhushan said.

He added, three vaccine candidates, are in phase 3 clinical trial. These three are in the US, UK and China. In India, two indigenously developed vaccine candidates are in phase I and II of clinical trials. 

Trial of the first vaccine involves 1,150 subjects at eight sites, second on 1,000 subjects at five sites.

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Agencies
June 16,2020

As the Indian workforce navigates a shrinking job market in lockdown times, two in five professionals believe that the number of jobs and scheduled interviews will decrease in the next two weeks, a new LinkedIn survey said on Tuesday.

The news comes as bittersweet for Indian professionals as more than one in three stated they will now spend more time working on their resumes and preparing for interviews.

Professionals from healthcare, manufacturing and corporate service industries anticipate a decrease in personal spending and personal investments in the next six months, according to the findings of the fortnightly LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index based on responses from 2,903 professionals in the country.

This findings showed that while India's overall confidence remains steady, the country's confidence in jobs is beginning to trend downward.

However, employees at large enterprises (firms with over 10,000 workers) are more confident about the future of their employers when compared to their peers from mid-market and SMB companies.

The findings showed that 41 % of enterprise professionals think their companies will do better in the next six months, while 63 % think their companies will be better off one year from now.

However, "the enterprise professionals are least confident about the future of their jobs, finances and careers, when compared to their SMB and mid-market peers".

The findings showed that 52 % of healthcare, 48% of corporate services, and 41 % of manufacturing professionals anticipate a decrease in investments in the next 6 months.

Over the past three months, many organizations have shifted to a remote working model to circumvent the pandemic and ensure business continuity.

Three in five marketing professionals feel confident about being effective when working remotely, joined by more than half of project management and engineering professionals, who are also confident about the effectiveness of remote working.

In contrast to this optimism, only 39 % of HR, 36% of finance, and 31 % of education professionals think they would be effective when working remotely, said the survey.

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March 27,2020

Mumbai, Mar 27: The RBI on Friday put on hold EMI payments on all term loans for three months and cut interest rate by steepest in more than 11 years as it joined the government effort to rescue a slowing economy that has now got caught in coronavirus whirlwind.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut repo to 4.4 per cent, the lowest in at least 15 years. Also, it reduced the cash reserve ratio maintained by the banks for the first time in over seven years. CRR for all banks was cut by 100 basis points to release Rs 1.37 lakh crore across banking system.

The reverse repo rate was cut by 90 bps to 4 per cent, creating an asymmetrical corridor.

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das predicted a big global recession and said India will not be immune.

It all depends how India responds to the situation, he said.

Global slowdown could make things difficult for India too, despite some help from falling crude prices, Das said, adding food prices may soften even further on record crop production.

Aggregate demand may weaken and ease core inflation further, he noted.

The liquidity measures announced include auction of targeted long-term repo operation of 3 year tenor for total amount of Rs 1 lakh crore at floating rate and accommodation under Marginal Standing Facility to be increased from 2 per cent to 3 per cent of Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) with immediate effect till June 30.

Combined, these three measures will make available a total Rs 3,74,000 crore to the country's financial system.

After cutting policy rates five times in 2019, the RBI had been on a pause since December in view of high inflation.

The measures announced come a day after the government unveiled a Rs 1.7 lakh crore package of free foodgrains and cash doles to the poor to deal with the economic impact of the unprecedented 21-day nationwide lockdown.

While the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the RBI originally was slated to meet in the first week of April, it was advanced by a week to meet the challenge of coronavirus.

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