As many as 4,282 new COVID-19 cases were reported in India on Monday, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The number of active coronavirus cases dropped by over 1,750 to stand at 47,246, while the death toll has increased to 5,31,547 with 14 more fatalities, which includes six reconciled by Kerala, the health ministry data updated at 8 am showed.
On Sunday, India had reported 5,874 coronavirus cases, while the number of active cases was 49,015.
The daily positivity rate recorded on Monday was 4.92 per cent while the weekly positivity was pegged at 4.00 per cent.
The total tally of COVID-19 cases was recorded at 4.49 crore (4,49,49,671).
The active cases now constitute 0.11 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.71 per cent, according to the health ministry website.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease rose to 4,43,70,878 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent.
According to the ministry’s website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
BJP National President JP Nadda will release the party’s election manifesto today in the poll-bound state of Karnataka. Nadda will be joined by Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai and party veteran Yediyurappa at the launch of the manifesto.
According to some sources, the manifesto will be centred around welfare measures for the youth, infrastructure development and women empowerment.
Further, to take the first-time voters on board, a special announcement can be made for the youth and girl students who have passed class 12.
Last time, the BJP touched upon almost every section of the society in its manifesto.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed an election rally on Sunday where he came down heavily on Congress following Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s ‘poisonous snake’ remark.
Lashing out at Congress over the remark, PM Modi said, “Today when I am fighting against corruption, Congress is disturbed the most. Congress is now threatening. They say ‘Modi teri kabra khudegi’. Congress’ topic in Karnataka elections is snake’s poison. They are comparing me with a snake and seeking votes from people. For me, the people of the country are a form of Lord Shiva. I accept being the snake on the neck of the god-like public. The people of Karnataka will give them a befitting answer on May 10.”
He said that the people of Karnataka will give a “befitting” reply to Congress in the upcoming Karnataka polls.
“Congress is an ‘outdated engine’. Development halted due to them. Congress has a bundle of fake guarantees. They don’t fulfil any promise made to the public. ‘Unfulfilled guarantees’ are their record. They betrayed the public, but BJP fulfilled all the guarantees by doing several development works,” PM Modi added.
Congress has promised the people of Karnataka 200 units of free electricity, among other things ahead of the polls which are slated to be held on May 10.
A mobile phone was thrown at prime minister Narendra Modi on Saturday while he was holding a roadshow standing on a specially designed vehicle in poll-bound Karnataka’s Mysuru, police said.
The phone was hurled out of “excitement” by a female BJP worker who had no “ill-intention”, according to police.
The phone landing on the bonnet of the vehicle after it was flung at the vehicle did not go unnoticed by the Prime Minister who indicated about the object to the Special Protection Group (SPG) sleuths who were accompanying him.
#WATCH | Security breach seen during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow, a mobile phone was thrown on PM’s vehicle. More details awaited. pic.twitter.com/rnoPXeQZgB
“The Prime Minister was under the protection of the SPG. The lady (whose phone fell on PM’s vehicle) was a BJP worker. The SPG people returned it to her later,” Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Alok Kumar told PTI.
“In the excitement (of the event), it was thrown and she had no (ill) intention but we are trying to trace the lady because the phone was handed over to her by the SPG sleuths,” he added.
The incident happened when Modi, flanked by Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha and former ministers KS Eshwarappa and SA Ramadas, was waving at people who gathered in large numbers on both sides of the roads.
Mann Ki Baat: PM Narendra Modi’s monthly radio program ‘Mann Ki Baat’ completed its 100th episode on Sunday as he has an “emotional connect” with the people of India, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar said on Sunday.
Addressing the Indian diaspora that gathered in New Jersey to listen to the live broadcast of the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat, the EAM said, “It is an important day and for many of us an emotional day.”
Addressing the gathering, Jaishankar said that he often faces the question of why PM Modi, who is the most tech-savvy Prime Minister, uses a medium which is almost 100 years old.
He added, “You have to understand that PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat has an enormous impact not because the medium is 100 years old, somewhere there is an emotional connect between PM Modi and the people of India.”
Jaishankar also tweeted, “Joining diaspora and friends of India in New Jersey, USA for #MannKiBaat100.”
Meanwhile, author Amish also listened to the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat at India House in London. He said, “I think you could’ve seen the enthusiasm of the audience for Mann Ki Baat by noticing that at 6:30 in the morning, the hall was packed.”
He also said, “In fact not just here, we had our consulates in Birmingham and Edinburgh as well to run this programme live. The participation was here, the enthusiasm was there and I think that it truly shows the connection that honourable PM has with people not just in India but Indian diaspora across the world.”
PM Modi’s radio monthly programme completed its 100th episode today which was aired live at 11 am.
The programme, which started on October 3, 2014, has become a key pillar of the government’s citizen-outreach programme addressing multiple social groups such as women, youth, and farmers and has spurred community action.
Apart from 22 Indian languages and 29 dialects, Mann Ki Baat is broadcast in 11 foreign languages including French, Chinese, Indonesian, Tibetan, Burmese, Baluchi, Arabic, Pashtu, Persian, Dari and Swahili. Mann Ki Baat is being broadcast by more than 500 broadcast centres of All India Radio.
After two out of the 20 cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa died in Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, a former official from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has claimed that Kuno does not have “adequate space” for the felines.
An emergency meeting has been called by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the body which is responsible to oversee the ambitious project, in New Delhi on Monday in the wake of the two deaths.
According to some experts, a cheetah needs about 100 square kilometre area for its movement. The KNP is spread over an area of 748 sq km and has a buffer zone of 487 sq km.
Yadvendradev Vikramsinh Jhala, the former dean of WII, told PTI that KNP has ‘inadequate space’ for these animals.
“A 750 sq km area alone is not sufficient…We have to make (more than one) cheetah population and manage it like a metapopulation where you move animals from one place to another. It is very essential to establish a second, third population,” he said.
Jhala, who has experience working on similar cheetah projects in the past, added, “Kuno is a protected area, but the landscape in which cheetahs can live in Kuno is spread over 5,000 sq km, which includes agricultural parts, forested habitats, communities living within the area.”
One of the eight Namibian cheetahs brought to KNP, Sasha, aged more than four-and-a-half-years, died of a kidney ailment at the park on March 27.
The KNP witnessed a second cheetah fatality in less than a month as a six-year-old male feline named Uday, translocated from South Africa in February, died on April 23.
On the other hand, however, one cheetah named Siyaya recently gave birth to four cubs in KNP.
The forest department of Madhya Pradesh sent a letter to NTCA earlier this month, seeking an “alternate site” for the translocated cheetahs.
“We have sent a request letter by official mail to the NTCA…They have not replied yet,” a forest official told PTI on Saturday on condition of anonymity.
“We can’t release all the 18 cheetahs into the wild in KNP,” he said while citing a lack of logistical support and space for the felines.
The historic 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat aired today where Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the citizens of India to help him reach the milestone. He said that his radio programme is the “Mann Ki Baat” of millions of Indians and an expression of their emotions.
At the beginning of his address, the prime minister said, “I have received thousands of letters from you, lakhs of messages from people. While going through these letters, I got emotional and was swept away by them.”
“You have congratulated me on the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat, but all the listeners, our countrymen deserve to be congratulated. Mann Ki Baat is the ‘Mann Ki Baat of millions of Indians and the expression of their emotions,” he added.
“The Mann Ki Baat show is the personification of our citizens; here we celebrate positivity, and people’s participation,” PM Modi said while adding that the show is a way of celebrating others’ achievements, an occasion to learn from others.
During the show, he also recalled how Mann Ki Baat was conceived in 2014. He said, “On October 3, 2014, we began the journey of Mann Ki Baat on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami. Just as the day of Vijaya Dashami celebrates the victory of good over evil, Mann Ki Baat also represented the goodness and positivity of Indians.”
This is a developing story. More updates to follow.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his US counterpart Joe Biden will meet in Papua New Guinea next month where they will join Pacific Islands leaders to take part in the “historic” future-oriented meeting, the island’s Prime Minister James Marape said.
“This is a historic first and at the same time a ‘going forward’ futuristic meeting of global superpowers, in the biggest country in the Pacific,” Marape said in a statement.
Biden’s visit to Papua New Guinea’s capital Port Moresby will be the first such visit by a sitting US President to the resource-rich but largely undeveloped country of 9.4 million people just north of Australia.
Papua New Guinea has been on the radar of both China and the US and its allies. The last time Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the nation was in 2018.
Washington has stepped up efforts to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region after China struck a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year. China failed to reach a wider security and trade deal with 10 Pacific island countries.
The island nation is working out security pacts with the US and Australia while Marape has been invited to visit Beijing this year.
“In the Indo-Pacific conversation, PNG and the Pacific cannot be ignored. With our combined forest and sea areas, we have the world’s greatest carbon sink, and the biggest sea and air space on earth,” Marape said.
The 18 countries and territories in the Pacific Islands Forum cover 30 million square km (10 million square miles) of ocean. The region’s leaders say climate change is their greatest security threat, amid worsening cyclones and rising sea levels.
Modi and Biden will stop in Papua New Guinea on the way to Australia for a May 24 summit of the Quad, which also includes Japan and Australia.
Marape said he had invited Biden when they met in Washington last year and was “very honoured that he has fulfilled his promise to me to visit our country”.
India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lashed out at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s remark on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that he is “not just a person but an institution.”
Kharge, while addressing a rally in poll-bound Karnataka, said, “PM Modi is like a ‘poisonous snake’, you might think it’s poison or not. If you lick it, you’re dead.”
The defence minister added that the grand old party is shredding the traditions of a healthy democracy.
Singh said, “PM is not just a person but an institution on its own…The manner in which Congress leaders are making personal attacks on the PM, they’re shredding the traditions of a healthy democratic system.”
Kharge later clarified that what he wanted to say is BJP’s ideology is as dangerous as a snake and didn’t mean to make a personal attack against PM Modi.
The Congress chief further clarified his stance on Twitter, saying, “BJP’s ideology is divisive, hostile and full of hatred and prejudice towards the poor and Dalits. I discussed the politics of hatred and malice. My statement was neither for PM Modi personally nor for any other person.”
“But for the ideology he represents. Our fight with PM Modi is not a personal fight. It is an ideological battle. My intention was not to hurt anyone’s feelings and if knowingly or unknowingly someone’s feelings were hurt, then it was never my intention,” Kharge added.
His clarification, however, was not convincing enough for the ruling party. Union Minister for State for Home, Nityanand Rai, said that Congress is a habitual offender when it comes to defaming PM Modi and the Other Backward Classes (OBC).
Earlier on Friday, Telangana BJP in-charge Tarun Chugh wrote to the Election Commission urging it to file an FIR against the former and bar Kharge from campaigning in the upcoming Karnataka elections.
The total number of Indians who were brought back home from Sudan now stands at 1,725, according to official data.
The first batch of 360 evacuees returned to New Delhi in a commercial plane on Wednesday.
The second batch of 246 Indian evacuees arrived in Mumbai in a C17 Globemaster aircraft of the IAF on Thursday.
Evacuation being carried out via Saudi
Under Operation Kaveri, India has been taking its citizens in buses from conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah in Indian Air Force’s heavy-lift transport aircraft and Indian Navy’s ships.
From Jeddah, the Indians are being brought back home in either commercial flights or IAF aircraft.
India has set up separate control rooms in Jeddah, Port Sudan and the India embassy in Khartoum has been coordinating with them besides being in touch with the MEA’s headquarters in Delhi.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and paramilitary group RSF, which has reportedly left around 400 people dead.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar on Monday announced the launch of the mission to evacuate ‘Operation Kaveri’ to bring back the stranded Indians from Sudan.
Army personnel were reportedly killed on Saturday when an ambulance of the force skidded off the road and plunged into a gorge in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district.
The officials familiar with the matter said that the Army ambulance met with an accident near Dungi Gala near the Line of Control when its driver lost control while negotiating a sharp curve, the officials said.
They added that the ambulance driver and a soldier died in the accident. Their bodies were retrieved from the gorge by rescuers.
India is likely to ban the exports of sugar amid a fall in production of the sweetener. The country is expected to produce 32.8 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022-2023 marketing year, 3.5 per cent lower than the earlier forecast, as per media reports.
In view of this decline in output and to avoid a hike in prices domestically ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, the Centre is set to ban sugar exports, according to an Indian Express report.
Let’s take a closer look.
India may halt sugar export
The Central government is expected to issue a notification on banning shipments of sugar soon, sources told Indian Express.
The decision was taken on the matter at a meeting convened on 27 April by a panel of ministers, including Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal, which recommended stopping mills from exporting sugar with “immediate effect”, the report added.
“There is enough sugar at present to meet the estimated domestic consumption demand of 275 lakh tonnes or 27.5 million tonnes. But the government does not want to take any chances ahead of elections to both state assemblies this year and the Lok Sabha in March-April 2024,” the sources were quoted as saying by Indian Express.
India is expected to produce 32.8 million tonnes of sugar in the 2022-2023 marketing year. Reuters File Photo
“The government has already capped exports at 6.1 million tonnes for the current season. The ban would, then, effectively apply only on 3 LT, but will have an impact on market sentiment and check any inflationary trend,” the sources further said.
Earlier this month, PTI reported citing food secretary Sanjeev Chopra that the government may not allow additional sugar exports this year due to unseasonal rains that hit production.
“We have a sugar production target of 38.6 million tonnes (including diversion for ethanol). Maybe production will go down by 2-3 lakh tonnes due to unseasonal rains in Maharashtra,” Chopra had said.
Due to the expected decline in sugar output, “additional sugar export quota is unlikely to be allowed”, he added.
Around 5 million tonnes of sugar will be transferred for ethanol production this year, a major hike from 3.6 million tonnes in the previous year.
According to the trade report, the food ministry has approved exporting 6 million tonnes of sugar in the marketing year ending on September 2023. Out of this, 4 million tonnes have already been exported.
India mostly exports sugar to Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sudan, Somalia and United Arab Emirates.
The country’s sugar exports were valued at a record $5,770.64 million in the 2022-23 fiscal year ending March, as compared to $4,602.65 million in 2021-22, reported Indian Express.
Fall in sugar output
Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) was expecting a sugar output of 34 million tonnes in the ongoing season ending on 30 September.
However, unseasonal showers in major sugar producing states such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh owing to Western Disturbances led to a fall in sugar cane yields.
“Rainfall was erratic. Sugar cane crop didn’t get ample rainfall during the growth phase and got too much when it wasn’t required,” Aditya Jhunjhunwala, president of the ISMA, told Reuters.
Sugarcane yields were affected due to unseasonal rainfall. Reuters File Photo
Maharashtra produced only 10.5 million tonnes of sugar, as against 13.7 million tonnes a year ago, he added.
Sugar production in Uttar Pradesh is expected to marginally reduce to 10 million tonnes, as compared to 10.2 million tonnes in the previous year. The output in Karnataka is expected to drop to 5.5 million tonnes, as against 6.2 million tonnes during the same period, PTI reported.
“This reduction is not providing space for additional exports from the country,” Jhunjhunwala explained.
India’s sugar export had touched a record 11.2 million tonnes in the 2021-2022 crop season.
If India, the world’s second largest exporter of sugar after Brazil, limits its exports, it could increase global rates. It would also allow rival sugar producing nations to boost their foreign trade.
Will fall in output affect domestic supply?
Not likely.
According to Jhunjhunwala, “Despite the drop in sugar production, there is ample supplies in the country to fulfil local consumption of 27.5 million tonnes”, Reuters reported.
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday said that it had conducted searches in the office and residential premises of BYJU’s CEO Raveendran Byju in Bengaluru for allegedly violating foreign funding laws.
The ED also said in a statement that it had found “incriminating” documents and digital data as part of a Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) probe.
A total of three premises, two businesses and one residential, were raided recently under the provisions of FEMA.
ED has conducted searches at 3 premises in Bengaluru in the case of Raveendaran Byju and his company ‘Think & Learn Private Limited’ (Byju online learning platform) under the provisions of FEMA. During the search, various incriminating documents and digital data was seized.
The investigative body said that the searches were conducted on the basis of “various complaints” received by private people. It also alleged that Raveendran was issued “several” summons but he remained “evasive and never appeared” before the ED.
The searches found that his company, Think & Learn Pvt. Ltd., received foreign direct investment (FDI) to the tune of about Rs 28,000 crore during 2011-2023.
“The company also remitted about Rs 9,754 crore to various foreign jurisdictions during the same period in the name of overseas direct investment,” the agency said.
The Indian government has roped in IndiGo to further the ongoing repatriation operation from Sudan under ‘Operation Kaveri’, the Ministry of External Affairs has announced.
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said in a tweet, “Indigo joins #OperationKaveri. 231 Indians in a flight to New Delhi from Jeddah. With this 5th outbound flight, around 1600 reached or airborne for India. Happy journey. Our Mission continues.”
“We have offered our services for charter flights to Jeddah under the Indian Government’s Operation Kaveri rescue mission of our citizens from Sudan. We are still awaiting details from the ministry to launch these flights, nothing has been confirmed as of yet,” IndiGo Airlines said in a statement.
The Indian aircraft carrier had earlier expressed its willingness to be a part of the operation. IndiGo said it remains committed to supporting the Central government’s mission to evacuate Indian citizens from Sudan.
Muraleedharan informed earlier that as many as 2,100 Indians have arrived in Jeddah, as part of ‘Operation Kaveri’.
MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that INS Sumedha, which is stationed at Port Sudan, has also left for India from the war-torn country with 300 people on board.
Earlier, on Friday, the Indian Air Force C-130J evacuated the 10th and 11th batches of 135 passengers from Port Sudan to Jeddah after the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) agreed to extend their ceasefire amid ongoing violence in the capital Khartoum and the western Darfur region.
The 100th episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio broadcast is going to be a gala event. The BJP has planned out many things to make this milestone an “unprecedented” mass outreach programme.
The party will organise facilities at 100 venues on average in every assembly constituency across the country for people to come together and listen to it on 30 April. Sources said that the party will arrange around four lakh venues around the country and abroad for people to hear Modi’s address. Party President J P Nadda will oversee the entire exercise to make it a “historic” success.
To ensure maximum outreach, the party’s overseas units and several non-political organisations have been reached out to for coordination.
The party has also made arrangements for eminent citizens residing in Raj Bhawans, official residences of governors and the homes of chief ministers, regardless of which party they belong to.
Padma awardees from all states have been invited to attend the events at Raj Bhavans, they said.
“In order to make the broadcast of the 100th episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat’ historic and to give it a comprehensive format, the Bharatiya Janata Party has released a detailed programme under which unprecedented arrangements are being made for its telecast at about 4 lakh booth level centres across the country,” BJP national general secretary Dushyant Gautam said.
BJP MPs and MLAs will be in their respective constituencies to oversee the exercise, with Nadda and other senior party leaders holding a number of video conferences in this regard.
“It will be organised on a large scale in more than 100 places in every Vidhan Sabha, in which local MPs, MLAs, other elected public representatives, senior party functionaries and party workers are involved in the coordination of the programme,” Gautam said.
A show which has no connection to politics, PM Modi began ‘Mann ki Baat’ in 2014.
“With ‘Mann Ki Baat’, the prime minister has been successful in creating an emotional connect with the listeners,” Gautam said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that Congress would put the poll-bound state of Karnataka into “reverse gear” by depriving it of the benefits put forth by BJP, the “double-engine sarkar.”
“One hand, there is the Congress under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi and on the other, is the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi. This (Karnataka Assembly) election is an opportunity for you to decide if you want a double engine sarkar led by PM Modi, which will take Karnataka forward, or the Congress’s reverse gear sarkar, which will take Karnataka backward,” Shah said while addressing a rally in Navalgund Assembly constituency.
On Friday, Shah addressed a rally in Shirahatti where he said each vote to the BJP will go to protecting the state from the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).
He said, “Each vote counts. So ensure that it goes to the right leadership. When you cast a vote in favour of the lotus (the BJP’s symbol), you will not vote to elect an MLA or a minister or Chief Minister. Your vote will further strengthen PM Modi’s hands in creating a ‘Mahan Karnataka’. Your vote will protect Karnataka from the PFI.”
Further hitting out at the Congress over its national president Mallikarjun Kharge’s “poisonous snake” barb at PM Modi, the Union Home Minister said, “The whole world admires Modi-ji. But see the level that the Congress and its leadership have stooped to. The remarks made by their leaders about Modi-ji are utterly shameful. Kharge-ji called Modi-ji a ‘venomous snake’. Can you vote for such a party?” he said.
How do you solve a problem of an elephant gone rogue and encroaching on human settlements? If you are in Kerala, then the answer is tranquilising it, capturing it and then caging it.
After months of back and forth of debates, the Kerala government finally undertook Mission Arikomban on Friday morning around 4.30 am to capture the tusker from Chinnakanal where it has become a menace by raiding houses and public distribution shops for rice, its favourite food.
As forest officials undertake the elephant-capturing exercise, we take a look back at why the pachyderm, called Arikomban – owing to his love for rice – is being seized and the row over it.
Life of Arikomban
The elephant, who goes by the name of Arikomban owing to its love for rice (‘Ari’ meaning rice in Malayalam and ‘Komaban’ meaning tusker) is approximately 30 years in age and the area of Chinnakanal in Munnar has been its stomping ground for long.
Locals say that they first spotted Arikomban when it was approximately one-year-old and was seen with the ailing mother in the lower division of Muttukad cardamom estate of Vaikundam Plantations near Chinnakanal. Back then, the elephant was called Kallakkomban’ – the tusker who steals. In those days, there were very few houses in the area. However, the situation changed in the 200s when more people were shifted to the area by the AK Antony-led Congress government.
The tusker now frequents the 301 Colony – a human settlement, looking for rice. As its raids became a regular thing, many families moved out from the area fearing for their lives. The few that have stayed back often take shelter on the roofs of their houses. Locals say Arikomban is not a killer bull, but the rice raids have affected normal life.
“We respect elephants in Kerala but this one has gone too far for too long now,” Sheeba George, an Idukki district collector, was quoted as telling The Guardian. “People can’t sleep at night for fear that he will come crashing through the doors or windows.”
Arikomban has been using Chinnakanal in Munnar as his stomping ground for more than 30 years. Image Courtesy: @BobinsAbraham/Twitter
The row over Arikomban
As Arikomban’s raids increased, he became the focus of residents and forest officials in February this year. Many residents demanded that it be captured and moved from the area owing to the damage and destruction he was causing.
Residents complained that they were fed up with the antics of the tusker and wanted it removed from the area. One such resident, a woman, was quoted as telling news agency PTI, “I live alone with my mother. One night, the elephant came there and damaged our house. Several others have faced this problem. Is human life more important than the freedom of one tusker? He is a nuisance now.”
In February, the Kerala chief wildlife warden issued an order authorising the tranquillisation and capture of the rice tusker in an elephant kraal. This angered wildlife activists and animal lovers. As Angels Nair, general secretary of NGO Animal Legal Force Integration, said, “The state government has no power to capture elephants and keep them in captivity. Moreover, if they ensure a source of food for the elephant, it would not foray into the residential and inhabited areas”
The matter quickly reached the courts and on 29 March, the Kerala High Court objected to the state government’s plan to capture and rehabilitate the elephant. At the hearing, the court pointed out that the rehabilitation is an alternative term for captivity, saying, “That’s the equivalent of Auschwitz for animals.”
Instead, the court said that the tusker may be tranquilised if it enters human settlements as a temporary measure, and ordered the fastening of a radio collar to track its movements. It also directed that a five-member committee of experts be constituted to advise the court on solutions other than capturing the elephant.
The court’s direction wasn’t appreciated and residents of 10 panchayats in Idukki even staged a hartal on the matter.
After much deliberations and discussions, the five-member committee of experts came up with the option of capturing, radio-collaring, and relocating the rice tusker to the Muthuvarachal/Orukomban falling within the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve.
However, this move was also not approved, as the government said that people living close to Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in Palakkad district were objecting to moving the tusker there. Now, the court has ordered for it to be tranquilised and has given the state a week’s time to decide Arikomban’s new home.
Hunt for Arikomban is on
On Friday, the government finally initiated the mission to capture Arikomban but as the time of this report being published, the elephant remained elusive to the forest official team.
As many as 150 personnel from the police, fire and rescue services, health and motor vehicles department will assist the forest department team in the effort to find Arikomban. In addition to the man power, four kumki elephants – captive tuskers trained for use in trapping and capturing their wild brothers and sisters – have been brought in from Wayanad.
The officials are being led by Chief Conservator of Forest, R S Arun and once he is located a team by led by Chief Veterinary Officer, Arun Zachariah, is expected to tranquilise the jumbo.
Chief Conservator of Forest, R S Arun has said that if Arikomban is not found on Friday, the operation would continue on Saturday. Speaking to Manorama Online, he said that it seemed more unlikely to find the elephant today owing to the climate.
It has been reported that once Arikomban is tranquilised, he will be fitted with a satellite radio collar which was purchased from Assam forest department. The radio collar worth Rs 5 lakh will help the forest department to monitor the movements of Arikomban in the future.
Fearing crowds gathering, prohibitory orders have been put in place in Chinnakanal. However, people are flocking the region to witness the capture of the elephant. Forest Minister A K Saseendran, who met the media in the morning, had also urged people not to gather around as it may result in the elephant shying away which may make it difficult to capture the animal.
A new report reveals that India has lost 86 per cent of its elephant habitat between 1700 and 2015. This the second only to China that lost 94 per cent of suitable land for the tuckers. AFP
Loss of elephant habitat
Experts believe that the problem of elephants in human settlements will be far from over following Arikomban’s capture. They argue that the problem lies in the fact that elephants habitats are being encroached upon by humans.
Dr S Faizi, an ecologist and United Nations environmental negotiator, told The Leaflet, ““When we move the rogue tusker from one place to another, we are just shifting the problem to the other place.”
Dr P S Easa, elephant expert and member of the Asian Elephant Special Group, shared the same opinion. He told PTI, “Habitat is being denied to elephants,” adding that the issue is not going to end with the capture of one elephant.
A study published on Thursday highlighted the same issue. It found that tuskers have lost almost two-thirds of their habitat across Asia, owing to hundreds of years of deforestation and increasing human use of land for agriculture and infrastructure.
The research said that they are found across 13 countries in the continent but their forest and grassland habitats have been eroded by more than 64 per cent – equating to 3.3 million square kilometres of land – since the year 1700. And the one point of the report that should worry India the most is that the greatest decline in elephant habitats was in China were 94 per cent of suitable land was lost between 1700 and 2015, followed by India, which lost 86 per cent of land.
The Amethi district Congress chief has been booked for allegedly abusing and beating up a party worker Akhilesh Shukla for donning a saffron kurta to the party office.
However, Youth Congress district president Shubham Singh dismissed the allegation saying that it was a conspiracy to tarnish the Congress image.
On the complaint of Shukla, an FIR has been lodged against Congress district unit president Pradeep Singhal, Youth Congress district president Shubham Singh and others for abusing and beating Shukla and issuing life threats to him, Station House Officer of Amethi Kotwali police station Arun Kumar Dwivedi said.
Shukla, a former vice president of the Amethi Congress unit, said when he visited the party office at Durgapur Road here wearing a saffron kurta and white pants on Thursday evening, party workers accused him of supporting the BJP through his attire instead of campaigning for the Congress for the upcoming municipal elections here, the police officer said.
The argument escalated soon and a dozen people, including Singhal and Singh, thrashed him fiercely and tore his clothes, he said quoting the Shukla’s complaint. Subsequently, a case was registered late Thursday evening under the Indian Penal Code, Dwivedi said.
Singh added that Shukla was making “wild allegations” as he failed to get a position in the district party leadership.
Former CM Siddaramaiah's nephews booked for beating BJP worker
Nagesh, a BJP volunteer from Karnataka's Varuna, claims he was beaten up by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's nephews while campaigning for BJP politician V Somanna in Siddaramanahundi.
Nagesh, who was hurt during the incident, was taken to a local hospital and is being treated. Siddaramaiah's nephews have been named in a lawsuit.
09:30 (IST)
Karnataka Election 2023 LIVE
Karnataka Congress chief Shivakumar springs a surprise
DK Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress head who is facing a tough struggle from the BJP in his Kanakapura seat, has managed to get Narayana Gowda, a prominent JD(S) politician, to join the party.
Gowda ran against Shivakumar in the 2018 elections and received 47,643 votes. The BJP has fielded R. Ashoka, the current Minister of Revenue and the party's Vokkaliga face. This time, the JD(S) has fielded BR Ramachandra.
Shivakumar, who aspires to be the CM candidate if Congress is elected, wants to win elections by a landslide. However, the contest would be difficult for Shivakumar because Ashoka is completely sponsored by the BJP and the JD(S) candidate has a traditional vote bank in this constituency.
With less than a fortnight left for the May 10 Assembly polls in Karnataka, electioneering is in full swing as political leaders intensify their campaigning across the state to woo voters.
While the ruling BJP has fielded a battery of its leaders including chief ministers from other states and union ministers, along with state leaders, to campaign in various parts of the state, the star campaigners of Congress are also touring the state to make strong political pitch for the grand old party of India.
Furthermore, JD(S) is also not behind in the political game, where party patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, 89, and his son and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy have been leading their party’s campaign.
The 224-member parliament will be elected on 10 May, and the results will be announced on 13 May.
Our efforts to swiftly send Indians back home from Jeddah are paying. 246 Indians will be in Mumbai soon, travelling by IAF C17 Globemaster. Happy to see them off at Jeddah airport, tweeted Union minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan minutes before the plane left for Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), in a statement issued in the evening, said a batch of 244 Indian evacuees from the strife-torn African country arrived at the Mumbai aerodrome from Jeddah.
The first flight to the city, C17, under the Indian government’s evacuation mission ‘Operation Kaveri’, landed at the airport at 15.14 pm from Jeddah, carrying 244 Indian nationals, CSMIA said in the statement.
The evacuees were from as many as 18 states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, the private airport operator has said.
Airport authorities made elaborate arrangements for the returnees.
These included operationalisation of 10 dedicated counters at immigration for processing and clearance, deployment of four coaches and provision of 300 pre-packed snack boxes and refreshment for passengers, the statement said.
Besides, thermal checks were carried out by officials of airport health offices, it added.
Evacuation being carried out via Saudi Arabia
Under ‘Operation Kaveri’, India has been taking its citizens in buses from conflict zones of Khartoum and other troubled areas to Port Sudan from where they are being taken to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah in IAF’s heavy-lift transport aircraft and Indian Navy’s ships.
The distance between Khartoum and Port Sudan is around 850 km and the travel time by bus varies from 12 hours to 18 hours considering the prevailing situation and whether the vehicles are operating during the day or night.
Sudan has been witnessing deadly fighting between the country’s army and paramilitary group RSF.
India earlier stepped up evacuation efforts after the two warring sides declared a 72-hour truce
Highlighting the role of technology in good governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said governance happens through innovations and new ideas.
He was addressing the 20th anniversary of the SWAGAT (State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology) initiative in Gujarat via video conferencing. “The SWAGAT initiative in Gujarat demonstrates how technology can be efficiently used to resolve people’s grievances,” he said.
“The uniqueness of SWAGAT initiative in Gujarat is that it embraces technology to address people’s grievances. The SWAGAT initiative ensured prompt resolution of the grievances of people. Even after 20 years, SWAGAT means ease of living and reach of governance,” he added.
PM Modi interacted with the past beneficiaries of the scheme. The programme was held in Gandhinagar in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
SWAGAT was launched when Modi was Gujarat CM
The Swagat online grievance redressal scheme was launched by Narendra Modi in April 2003 during his tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat. The prime objective of the scheme was to resolve the grievances of citizens in an efficient and time-bound manner. The aim of the initiative was to bridge the gap between people and the government, leveraging technology.
With around 2,800 nationals in Sudan, Indians are one of the largest Asian communities in the civil war torn country. Sudan has been engulfed in a conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and rival paramilitary force – Rapid Support Force (RSF).
Indians stuck in Sudan are being evacuated on a war footing by the Government of India under Operation Kaveri.
Operation Kaveri was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. Under the mission, 670 Indians have, so far, been brought back and work is underway to ensure the safe return of others stranded in Sudan.
The Indian diaspora in Sudan have been residing in the major urban centres of Sudan, such as Khartoum, Omdurman, including regions that have been badly hit by the conflict.
Though the Embassy of India in Khartoum began coordinating for possible evacuation of Indian citizens from Sudan four days prior to the launch of Op Kaveri, the actual operation got a bit delayed as it took time for the ceasefire to come into effect.
Our efforts to swiftly send Indians back home from Jeddah is paying.
Most of the Indian expatriates in Sudan work as professionals in key sectors and a few work with the UN missions and other international organisations.
Of about 2,800 Indians in Sudan, around 100 are from the Hakki-Pikki tribe, a nomadic tribe from the southern Indian state of Karnataka. People of the tribe sell herbal medicine and products in Sudan.
Most of the people of this tribe were residing in capital Khartoum where the clashes are intense. Other were residing in the western city of Al-Fashir, about 1,000-km away from the capital.
Human traffickers con innocent Indians to Sudan
Former Indian ambassador to Sudan, Deepak Vohra, said human traffickers have on several occasions managed to "con malleable Indians into migrating."
"During the period that I was the Indian envoy there between 2005-2010, we had innumerable cases of Indians being brought to Sudan and told that they could go to Dubai. There were many takers for such falsehoods," Vohra was quoted as saying by Money Control.
Indian companies in Sudan
According to Indian Embassy in Sudan, some Indian nationals in Sudan have set up businesses in Juba, while others were working for several other companies.
There are several Indian companies which are functioning actively in Sudan, including ONGC Videsh Ltd, BHEL, TCIL, Progressive Construction Ltd, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto.
Also, there are various Indian hospitals in Sudan - Apollo, MIOT, Narayana Hrudayalaya.
There are many students too who have been pursuing their higher academics and professional courses in Sudan.
A small number of Indian nationals residing in Sudan work in Christian missionary organisations and NGOs in South Sudan.
As per the embassy, Indians were among the first to open hotels, borehole companies, printing press and departmental stores in Juba in early 2006.
There were about 2,000 Indian Army peace keeping personnel, 31 police officers and some civilian officials attached to the UNMISS (United Nations Mission in South Sudan) and UNPOL (United Nations Police).
Indian community in Sudan
According to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) India, the settled Indian community in Sudan is about 150 years young.
Happy to receive 297 Indians at Jeddah carried by INS Teg. With this second ship and total six batches, around 1100 Indians rescued from Sudan have arrived in Jeddah.
Luvchand Amarchand Shah, a Gujarati trader, is believed to be the first Indian to visit Sudan from Aden in the early 1860s. He used to import goods from India. After expanding his business in the African country, Shah brought his relatives from Saurashtra, who in turn invited their own friends and family. This is how the Indian community grew and developed in Sudan.
From Port Sudan and Sawakin the early Indian moved into the interior of the country and settled down in Omdurman, Kassala, Gedaref and Wad Medani.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the ‘National Medical Devices Policy 2023 will boost the health sector and further efforts to make India a leader in making as well as exporting medical devices.
PM lauded the Union Cabinet’s move to approve the policy. He also said the cabinet decision approving the establishment of 157 new nursing colleges is great news for India’s aspiring nursing professionals.
“The co-location with existing medical colleges also signifies optimum use of resources,” he said. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the establishment of 157 nursing colleges at a cost of Rs 1,570 crore in co-location with the medical colleges set up in the country since 2014.
In another decision, the Union Cabinet approved National Medical Devices Policy 2023 to promote domestic manufacturing and help the sunrise sector grow from the present USD 11 billion (one billion = 100 crore) to USD 50 billion in the next five years and reduce import dependence.
“This is an important decision taken by the Cabinet, which will boost the health sector and further our efforts to make India a leader in making as well as exporting medical devices,” Modi said in a tweet.
This is an important decision taken by the Cabinet, which will boost the health sector and further our efforts to make India a leader in making as well as exporting medical devices. https://t.co/EKQn6bmcNfhttps://t.co/LqnXxscDnA
The Union Cabinet approved the policy on Wednesday.
The medical devices sector in India is an essential and integral constituent of the Indian healthcare sector. The Indian medical devices sector’s contribution has become even more prominent as India supported the domestic and global battle against COVID-19 pandemic through the large-scale production of medical devices & diagnostic kits, such as ventilators, rapid antigen test kits, ‘Real-Rime Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) kits, infrared thermometers, Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) kits & N-95 masks.
The Indian medical devices sector is on a growth track and has an enormous potential to become self-reliant and contribute towards the goal of universal health care.
The National Medical Devices Policy 2023 is expected to facilitate an orderly growth of the medical device sector to meet the public health objectives of access, affordability, quality and innovation. This sector is expected to realize its full potential, with the strategies viz, building an enabling ecosystem for manufacturing along with a focus on innovation, creating a robust and streamlined regulatory framework, providing support in training and capacity building programs and promoting higher education to foster talent and skilled resources in line with the industry requirements.
Encouraging domestic investments and production of medical devices complements the government’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ programs.
Salient Features of National Medical Devices Policy, 2023:
Vision: Accelerated growth path with a patient-centric approach and to emerge as the global leader in the manufacturing and innovation of medical devices by achieving a 10-12% share in the expanding global market over the next 25 years. The policy is expected to help the Medical Devices Sector grow from the present $11 Bn to $50 Bn by 2030.
Mission: The policy lays down a roadmap for accelerated growth of the medical devices sector to achieve the following missions viz, access and universality, affordability, quality, patient-centred and quality care, preventive and promotive health, security, research, innovation and skilled manpower.
