Rahim Uchil files plaint against Ramanath Rai for mispronouncing ‘Sulibele’

Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) Chaiman Dr Sam Pitroda held video conference with senior IOC office bearers across Middle Eastern countries on 14th April 2020 to review the impact of COVID-19 pandemic among Indians residing in the region. Almost all speakers appreciated the efforts initiated and  implemented by  respective governments to contain spread of the deadly virus as well as measures taken towards welfare of the people affected by the lockdown. 

IOC Presidents, Mohammed Mansour - Bahrain, Abdullah Manjeri - Saudi Arabia, Dr J Ratan kunar - Oman and Girish kumar - Qatar, highlighted the quality treatment of patients and finacial aid provided by governments and other authorities. Bahrain IOC president Mansour , also  apprised about the 'Food for Needy' drive in Association with KHK Heroes foundation, initiated by HH Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Khalifa and quality treatments as well as financial aid to local and expat residents.

Anura Mathai, IOC  Global Event Coordinator, spoke about certain problems of Indians in the UAE. IOC Middle East Convener, Mansoor Palloor, emphasised and requested IOC Chairman to urge Indian government to arrange immediate repatriation of indians stranded in Gulf countries. AICC Secretary, Himanshu Vyas, IOC Secretary Dr Arathi Krishna, Dr Arshi Malik (Abha), Mohiuddin Sirajudeen (Jeddah), Advocate Joseph Palathara (Dammam) Prasad Kodru, Jayati Maitra Ziyad Ahmed (Qatar) and Khursheed Alam (Gen Secretary- Bahrain) also apprised the participants about various issues relevant to the pandemic and suggested further initiatives to be undertaken. 

Dr Sam Pitroda briefed about sustained and consolidated efforts by all IOC members  during this unprecedented situation facing the world and assured that he would convey IOC  concerns to the government and try his best to ensure all possible help is made available to all needy Indians.

New Delhi, Mar 11: Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Madhya Pradesh politician whose surprise exit from the Congress has brought the Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday. Scindia joined the BJP at an event in national capital Delhi in the presence of party chief JP Nadda.

Scindia, who was warmly welcomed by Nadda, described 10 March, the day that he exited from the Congress as one of the two life-changing days of his life. The first, he said, was 30 September 2001 when he lost his father. Scindia underscored that the Congress was not the party that it had been and had been living in denial.

Scindia had ended his 18-year-old association with the Congress on Tuesday after meetings with Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Scindia’s exit from the Congress was followed by resignation letters by about 22 MLAs who had been sequestered in Karnataka. The resignation letters were, however, sent to the Governor and not the assembly speaker, and threatens to upend the Kamal Nath government which has a wafer-thin majority.

If the resignations are accepted, the effective strength of the MP assembly will come down to 206, leaving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with a slender majority beyond the halfway mark of 103 with its 107 MLAs. For now, the Congress is trying to persuade the MLAs to not pull down the state government.

In his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi that Scindia put out on Twitter soon after, he alluded to his discomfort in the party over the last year or so. “...as you well know, this is a path that has been drawing itself out over the last year,” he had written in his letter.

It was seen as a reference to the Congress settling for Kamal Nath as the chief minister after the 2018 state elections though it was Scindia who had led from the front to oust the BJP from Madhya Pradesh. Scindia’s supporters had hoped that the Congress would tell Kamal Nath to give up his second charge - as the party chief in the state - but this also didn’t happen.

The first hint that something was amiss came in November last year when Scindia removed a reference to the Congress in his Twitter bio and instead wrote “public servant and cricket enthusiast”. He had then explained the change to an effort to make the Twitter bio shorter.

Jyotyiraditya Scindia’s aunt Yashodhara Raje Scindia appeared to declare soon after that the 49-year-old would join the BJP when she welcomed his resignation, calling it “ghar wapsi” or homecoming. “Jyotiraditya was being neglected in Congress,” Yashodhara Raje Scindia said.

Scindia’s grandmother, Vijaya Raje Scindia, was one of the founders of the Jana Sangh, the precursor to the BJP. His aunt Vasundhara Raje is a former Union minister and ex-chief minister of Rajasthan and another aunt Yashodhara Raje is a former minister in the Madhya Pradesh cabinet.

Bengaluru, May 11: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday inaugurated four buses that have been converted into COVID-19 testing facilities in Bengaluru.

State Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka and Member of Parliament from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya were also present.

"The mobile fever clinic bus initiative was taken by Sanchit Gaurav, Founder and CEO of Housejoy, in association with the Government of Karnataka, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), MP Tejaswi Surya, other partners, to increase the number of COVID tests across Bengaluru and win the fight against the virus," said KSRTC in a statement.

The bus is divided into two zones with beds and a consultation area, maintaining proper hygiene conditions.

The KSRTC said there will be four teams with four mobile bus clinics across Bengaluru - each team comprising of one doctor, three nurses and one lab technician with several volunteers facilitating the process.

The teams will be starting from red zones and will try to screen the maximum number of residents from these zones for symptoms and quarantine those who test positive.

"The testing process will start by providing free glucose, blood pressure test and COVID-19 symptoms consultation for all residents," KSRTC added.

If anyone showcases any COVID-19 symptoms, their swab will be collected immediately for testing by Biognosys Technologies (ICMR certified).

Further, the information will be provided to the government and place the person under quarantine.

"KSRTC has already initiated this mobile fever clinic buses with the association of the District Administration in Mysuru, Mandya, Tumkur, Mangaluru, Bagalkote, Hubli, Belagavi, Bengaluru and Raichur," it said.

According to the KSRTC on April 25, the cost of this clinic construction on a bus is Rs 50,000.