No party tickets to those above 75 years of age: Amit Shah

New Delhi, Mar 14: India on Friday was mulling over the option of deporting The Wall Street Journal's South Asia deputy bureau chief for misreporting Delhi riots in which over 50 people were killed last month. However, the government denied that it had made any such decision.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that a complaint was registered against Eric Bellman, the WSJ South Asia deputy bureau chief based in New Delhi, by a private individual on the government's online grievance redressal platform.

"Referring the complaint to the related office is a routine matter as per standard procedure. No such decision on deportation has been taken by the Ministry of External Affairs," Kumar said.

However, government-funded Prasar Bharati News Services had earlier tweeted screenshots of the complaint which was filed by an undersecretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Vinesh K Kalra, saying that the ministry has asked the Indian embassy in the US to "look into the request for immediate deportation of Bellman for his "anti-India behaviour".

The official had complained to the embassy about Bellman's controversial reportage on the killing of an Intelligence Bureau staffer named Ankit Sharma.

The WSJ had reported that Ankit Sharma's brother had said that he was killed by a mob belonging to a particular religious community. Ankit's brother later told Indian media that he never spoke to the WSJ reporter.

After the Prasar Bharati tweet got circulated widely on social media, the government backtracked and said that no such decision has been taken.

Kota, Jun 19: In a shocking incident, a COVID-19 patient in Rajasthan's Kota district died after his family disconnected the ventilator to plug in the air cooler to combat the scorching heat.

The incident happened on June 15 in the Maharao Bhimsingh Hospital (MBS) hospital.

A committee was formed soon after the death was reported, which will submit its report on Friday at 4 p.m., hospital Medical Superintendent Naveen Saxena told media persons.

He said, "We have set up the committee to investigate the incident based on the primary information. The committee includes deputy superintendent of the hospital, nursing superintendent and CMO. We will look into the matter and then shall explore further action for a need to go to the police."

The family members of the COVID-19 patient, who came to meet him in the MBS hospital unplugged the ventilator and had put on the cooler switch which they had brought from outside. The ventilator worked for some time on the battery but later it collapsed and the patient turned critical.

The doctors were reported of the patient's critical condition who came rushing and did all they could do to save his life, but the result was unfavourable and the patient died.

The doctors were reported of the patient's critical condition who came rushing and did all they could do to save his life, but the result was unfavourable and the patient died.

The relatives, on the other hand, attacked the resident doctors after the patient died.

Doctor Varun, on duty, submitted a written complaint to the officials, alleging that the patients' relatives misbehaved with the staff. Other resident doctors also supported him and boycotted work very briefly, but then later resumed work.

New Delhi, Jun 24: A litre of diesel on Wednesday was more expensive than a litre of petrol after the price of the former was hiked by 48 paise on the 18th successive day of fuel price revisions. While petrol price remained unchanged for the first time since June 7, diesel prices maintained upward trajectory to touch new highs.

It is for the first time in Delhi that diesel has become more expensive than petrol. A litre of the fuel now costs ₹79.88 as against ₹79.76 for a litre of petrol, as per a report in news agency ANI.

While surging fuel prices may generate much-needed revenue for governments, it would also have a detrimental impact on household budgets. The spike in diesel prices also has a wider impact on the transport and agricultural sectors which are largely dependent on the fuel.

The widest gap between the prices of the two fuels was on June 18 of 2012 when a litre of petrol was at ₹71.16 in Delhi while diesel was at ₹40.91. On June 28, the gap between the two fuels was 31.17 per litre in Mumbai. Around that time, there was a spurt in sales of diesel passenger vehicles while demand for such vehicles has come down significantly in current times. This has also led many manufacturers to ditch diesel engines completely.

The current trend of fuel price hikes are unlikely to do demand for petrol vehicles much good either.

Daily price revisions of the two fuel had been temporarily halted for 83 days till it was resumed on June 7.

India's demand for fuel doubled in May and has been steadily rising in June with the easing of restrictions. Indian refineries have already scaled up crude processing with Indian Oil Corp, the country's top refiner, looking to operate its plants at about 90% capacity in June.

The rising fuel prices, however, have resulted in political uproar with Congress leading the charge against the central government and accusing it of penalising consumers by imposing high taxes. A demand for including fuel prices under Goods and Services Tax (GST) has also been renewed by many but it is highly unlikely that it would happen. With oil companies looking to cut back on their previous loses and governments - central as well as states - aiming to generate revenue after tumultous weeks of lockdown, fuel price hikes are likely to stay till at least the end of June.