Rahul Gandhi pens letter to Union ministers, seeks help for flood-hit Wayanad

Agencies
August 27, 2019

New Delhi, Aug 27: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written letters to Union Ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Harsh Vardhan and Nitin Gadkari seeking help to rehabilitate flood-hit Wayanad.

"The recent floods in Kerala have already claimed the lives of over a 100 people and uprooted lakhs of people from their homes," Rahul said in his letter to Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Harsh Vardhan.

"It is critical to strengthen capacity of the existing healthcare infrastructure and provide additional manpower, medicines, temporary infrastructure to meet the critical healthcare needs of the affected communities," he added.

Rahul went on to share that during his recent visit to Wayanad, he "received representations regarding setting up medical relief camps staffed by health specialists in Nilambur."

"I hope that the MoHFW will take immediate action in this regard," he said.

In his letter to Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari, Rahul said, "While Kerala is still reeling under the devastating impact of the 2018 flood, the deluge this year has derailed the reconstruction process."

"My Parliamentary constituency Wayanad, is one of the worst affected areas. Landslides, road caving and other mishaps have caused extensive damage to the national highways. Restoration of damaged roads must be accorded highest priority for ensuring early recovery," he said.

Rahul further shared particulars of National Highway stretches in Wayanad that "need to be repaired on war-footing basis."

"I sincerely hope that under your leadership, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways extends all possible support to the brave people of Kerala in their hour of need," he said.

In his letter to Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Rahul wrote, "In the past, the Ministry of Rural Development has made special dispensation under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA natural calamities) in calamity affected Villages/Blocks/Taluks/Districts notified by the state government."

He added, "Furthermore, Section 3 (4) of the MGNREGA Act, 2005 empowers the central government to increase the number of days of employment beyond the guaranteed period. I would like to request you to expand the scope of works under MGNREGA for the state of Kerala for enabling the state take up needed flood rehabilitation works and also increase the minimum guaranteed days of employment to a family to 200 days."

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News Network
May 21,2020

Srinagar, May 21: Two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and their weapons snatched by militants in the Pandach area on the outskirts of Srinagar yesterday.

According to IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar, the two BSF jawans, who were on road surveillance deployment, were fired upon by two of the three terrorists on a motorcycle around 5:15 pm on the 90-Ft Road at Pandach, near Soura. 

They were critically injured and later succumbed to injuries. The terrorists escaped after taking away one AK rifle and one INSAS. Efforts were underway to trace the terrorists.

He said that two jawans, Constable Rana Mandol and Constable Ziaul Haque of ‘C’ company of 37th battalion, were injured and they later succumbed.

“The terrorists managed to take away the weapons of the martyrs. Area has been cordoned off and the search for the terrorists is on”, he said.

Residents around the spot said that the two soldiers were buying chicken for Iftar from a mutton dealer, around 300 meters away from their deployment location when three militants on a motorcycle stopped and opened fire on them.

Medical Superintendent SKIMS Dr Farooq Jan said that both the jawans were brought dead to the tertiary care hospital.

Senior Police officials said it was a “clear case of security lapse” as the two jawans had left their spot of deployment on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh road and gone to a shop 500 metres away on a different road.

They said that possibility of terror attacks and subsequently claims by the new outfit TRF had been flashed to all forces earlier this week.

The terror strike in the capital city has occurred a day after an encounter in downtown Srinagar, where two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including the top wanted Junaid Sehrai, had been killed on Tuesday.

In the last one month, five Army and Police personnel and two militants had got killed in an encounter in Handwara area of Kupwara, a day before three CRPF men were killed in another attack.

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News Network
March 13,2020

New Delhi, Mar 13: Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Friday sentenced expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar and six others to 10 years imprisonment for the death of Unnao rape survivor's father. Sengar is already serving life imprisonment for raping the minor.

While sentencing them, District Judge Dharmesh Sharma said, "There can be no denying that rule of law was broken. Sengar was a public functionary and had to maintain the rule of law. The way the crime has been committed, it does not call for leniency."

Sengar and his brother Atul has been directed to give 10 lakh compensation to family of the victim for loss of their father. "There are four minor children involved, three girls and one boy. They have also been uprooted from native place," the judge said.

Seven people, including Sengar, his brother and two police personnel, were held guilty for culpable homicide and criminal conspiracy, earlier this month.

The case pertains to the death of rape survivor's father in custody on April 9, 2018. It was alleged that he was assaulted following a quarrel with some of the accused in the case.

He was taken to the police station and then framed for allegedly possessing an illegal firearm. Pursuant to this, he was sent to custodial remand, during which he died.

The case was transferred to Delhi from a trial court in Uttar Pradesh on the Supreme Court's directions in August last year. Both the death and illegal firearm case was later clubbed by the court.

During the arguments on sentencing on March 12, Sengar had told the court that he should be "hanged and acid poured into his eyes if he has done anything wrong".

The former MLA had also raped the daughter of the deceased in 2017 in Uttar Pradesh's Unnao district and was sent to jail for "remainder of his natural biological life", last year.

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News Network
May 18,2020

May 18: Goldman Sachs expects India will experience its deepest recession ever after a poor run of data underscored the damaging economic impact of lockdowns in the world’s second-most populous nation.

Gross domestic product will contract by an annualized 45% in the second quarter from the prior three months, compared with Goldman’s previous forecast of a 20% slump. A stronger rebound of 20% is now seen for the third quarter, while projections for the fourth quarter and first of next year are unchanged at 14% and 6.5%.

Those estimates imply that real GDP will fall by 5% in the 2021 fiscal year, which would be deeper than any other recession India has ever experienced, Goldman economists Prachi Mishra and Andrew Tilton wrote in a note dated May 17.

India’s government has extended its nationwide lockdown until May 31, while further easing restrictions in certain sectors to boost economic activity, as coronavirus cases escalate across the country. The announcement followed Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s fifth briefing in as many days, in which she outlined details of the country’s $265 billion virus rescue package, which is equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP.

 “There have been a series of structural reform announcements across several sectors over the past few days,” the Goldman economists wrote. “These reforms are more medium-term in nature, and we, therefore, do not expect these to have an immediate impact on reviving growth. We will continue to monitor their implementation to gauge their effect on the medium-term outlook.”

Infections are surging across the South Asian nation of 1.3 billion people, with more than 91,300 infections, including 2,897 deaths as of Sunday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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