9 minute read
Wokha Town Phiro Khumshum
from 16 sept 2020
KOLKATA, SEP 15 (PTI):
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday sought to reach out to the sizeable Sikh community in Bhabanipur constituency, from where she is contesting a by-poll later this month, saying she has supported the farmer’s movement and iterated her demand for withdrawal of the three farm laws adopted by the NDA.
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Banerjee, who is contesting the September 30 bypoll to retain her post, paid a sudden visit to a Gurudwara in the area and interacted with the locals.
Wearing a scarf, the TMC boss offered her prayers and spoke to devotees and the priest.
“I share an excellent bonding with the brothers and sisters of the Sikh community. Even members of my family are regular visitors here.
“I have already extended my support to the farmer’s movement. We (TMC) have already demanded that these three farm laws be withdrawn. We won’t tolerate any injustice on farmers,” she said.
A metropolitan constituency with around two lakh voters, Bhabanipur is home to a large number of Gujaratis and Sikhs living alongside Bengalis.
The BJP had managed to take the lead in the assembly segment in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll as its nonBengali voters plumped for it but failed to maintain its
Mamata Banerjee visits Gurdwara Sant Kutiya during her campaign for Bhabanipur constituency by-polls. (PTI)
grip on the sizeable Sikh and Punjabi population in the 2021 assembly election following the farmers’ agitation in Punjab. Leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which is spearheading the farmer’s movement against the farm bills, had campaigned against BJP during the April-May assembly election in the state. The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 The Essential Commodities(Amendment) Act, 2020 -- are the three key legislations passed by Parliament in September 2020. Farmer unions in Punjab and Haryana feel the laws will dismantle the minimum support price system as over time big corporates will dictate terms and farmers will end up getting less for their produce. The farmers fear that with the virtual disbanding of the mandi system, they will not get an assured price for their crops. Banerjee, who is herself a resident of Bhabanipur, had won the seat twice in 2011 and 2016 but shifted to Nandigram, where the anti-farmland acquisition movement against the Left Front government had transformed her into a major political force in the volatile state, to dare her former protege and now a BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in his home turf. Though Banerjee powered the TMC to a resounding win for a third straight term in office, she lost in Nandigram.
She now must win the Bhabanipur seat to ensure an unbroken stint as the chief minister.
Banerjee is required to win a seat in the state assembly by November 5 in conformity with the constitutional provisions to continue as chief minister. The Constitution allows a nonmember of a state legislature or Parliament to continue in a ministerial position without getting elected only for six months.
After her defeat in Nandigram, state cabinet minister and TMC MLA from Bhabanipur Sovandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the seat to facilitate her return to the assembly from there.
Banerjee is pitted against BJP’s Priyanka Tibrewal and Left Front’s Srijib Biswas for the September 30 by-poll. Congress has decided not to field a candidate against her.
NEW DELHI, SEP 15
(PTI): India has so far not seen Mu and C.1.2, the two new variants of SARSCoV2, and the Delta variant and its sub-lineages continue to the main Variants of Concern in the country, INSACOG, the genome sequencing consortium, has said.
The consortium has called for more strongly implementing existing recommendations on sequencing of positive samples from international travellers.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has added B.1.621 (including B.1.621.1) to the list of Variants of Interest (VOI) on August 30 and christened it “Mu”. It has also added C.1.2 as a new VOI.
C.1.2 is a sub-lineage of the C.1 variant described in South Africa but did not spread globally, the INSACOG said.
“Neither Mu, nor C.1.2 are seen in India so far. Existing recommendations on sequencing of positive samples from international travellers may be more strongly implemented. Monitoring and evaluation of further data appears to be adequate at this time,” the INSACOG said in its bulletin dated September 10.
“Delta and Delta sublineages continue to be the main VOC in India,” it added. The Delta variant has been driving infections in several countries. In India, it led to a deadly second wave.
The INSACOG said Mu has mutations that indicate potential immune escape properties. There appears to be a reduction in neutralisation capacity of convalescent and vaccine sera, similar to that seen for the Beta variant, but this needs to be confirmed by further studies.
Modi, Mamata, Poonawalla in Time’s 100 ‘most influential people of 2021’
NEW YORK, SEP 15
(PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Serum Institute of India CEO Adar Poonawalla have been named among the world’s 100 most influential people of 2021 by TIME magazine.
TIME on Wednesday unveiled its annual list of ‘The 100 Most Influential People of 2021’, a global list that includes US President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry and Meghan, former US president Donald Trump and co-founder of the Taliban Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
TIME’s profile of Modi says that in its 74 years as an independent nation, India has had three pivotal leaders - Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Modi. “Narendra Modi is the third, dominating the country’s politics like no one since them.”
The profile written by noted CNN journalist Fareed Zakaria alleges that Mod has “pushed the country away from secularism and toward Hindu nationalism.” It also accuses the 69-year-old leader of “eroding the rights” of India’s Muslim minority and imprisoning and intimidating journalists.
On Banerjee, her profile for the 100 most influential list says that the 66-yearold leader “has become the face of fierceness in Indian politics.”
“Of Banerjee, it is said, she doesn’t lead her party, the Trinamool Congress - she is the party. The streetfighter spirit and self-made life in a patriarchal culture set her apart,” the profile says.
Poonawalla’s TIME profile says that from the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic, the 40-year-old head of the world’s largest vaccine maker “sought to meet the moment.”
“The pandemic is not over yet, and Poonawalla could still help end it. Vaccine inequality is stark, and delayed immunisation in one part of the world can have global consequences— including the risk of more dangerous variants emerging,” it says.
The Time profile describes the Taliban cofounder Baradar as a “quiet, secretive man who rarely gives public statements or interviews.”
“Baradar nonetheless represents a more moderate current within the Taliban, the one that will be thrust into the limelight to win Western support and desperately needed financial aid. The question is whether the man who coaxed the Americans out of Afghanistan can sway his own movement,” says Baradar’s profile.
(L-R) Narendra Modi, Mamata Banerjee and Adar Poonawalla
NEW DELHI, SEP 15
(PTI): India’s ‘Gaganyaan’ mission is likely to be launched by the end of 2022 or early 2023, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.
The mission, originally scheduled for a launch by 2022, was delayed due to coronavirus pandemic. It aims to launch a manned mission in the Lower Earth Orbit.
“We could have actually done this (launched Gaganyaan by 2022). We had planned to time it along the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, but it could not happen that way because of the inevitable delay caused due to COVID-19.
“But I am sure, maybe by the end of next year or may be (by) the beginning of 2023, we would be able to do that as well,” he said.
Singh, the Minister of State in the Department of Space, was addressing a webinar on ‘Future of IndiaOceania Space Technology Partnerships’ organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) here.
He further said a brainstorming exercise by space scientists and government officials in 2015-16 helped them understand where space technology could be used.
“Space technology has a role to play, virtually, in every sector,” he asserted.
Space technology has come very handy in the area of disaster management, the minister said, adding that space medicine is also deeply connected in the endeavour to send three Indians to space.
According to the government, four biological and two physical science related microgravity experiments from academic institutions are shortlisted for unmanned mission of the Gaganyaan programme.
Singh also emphasised on the importance of reaching out to start-ups and industry players working in the arena of space.
Speaking on India’s collaboration with oceanic countries in the area of space, he noted that India has a “comfort level” with these countries which makes it easy to collaborate with them.
“The Oceania countries such as New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Island countries can also collaborate (with India) and work on joint space technology solutions and innovative products,” the MoS added.
NEW DELHI, SEP 15
(PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that Parliament is not only about politics but policy too and described content as “connect”, saying this is as much applicable to the parliamentary system as to the media.
Launching Sansad TV, which has been created by merging Lok Sabha TV and Rajya Sabha TV, jointly with Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, he said it is very important that the common man connects with Parliament and feels he is part of it. Parliament is in fact more about policy that politics, Modi said.
The new channel adds another important chapter in the country’s parliamentary system, he said.
Noting that the launch coincides with International Day of Democracy, Modi reiterated that India is mother of democracy, saying democracy is not just a system but an idea and not merely a constitutional structure but spirit.
Democracy in India is not just a collection of the Articles of the Constitutions but it is our life stream, the prime minister added.
New ministers of Patel-led govt in Gujarat to take oath today
AHMEDABAD, SEP 15
(PTI): New ministers of the Bhupendra Patel-led government in Gujarat will take the oath on Thursday, a state BJP spokesperson said.
The swearing-in ceremony of the new ministers, whose names have not been declared so far, will be held at 1.30 pm in the state capital Gandhinagar, an official said.
The party had earlier in the day said the ceremony would be held on Wednesday. Even the posters at Raj Bhavan had mentioned September 15 as the date for the ceremony.
However, the posters were taken down Wednesday afternoon.
The governor’s office confirmed that the ceremony has been postponed to Thursday.
“The swearing-in ceremony of ministers will take place at 1.30 pm on Thursday,” Manish Bharadwaj, officer on special duty to Governor Acharya Devvrat, told PTI.
Gujarat BJP spokesperson Yamal Vyas had in the morning said the ceremony was scheduled after 2 pm in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. Neither the BJP nor the state government gave any reason for the postponement.
Gujarat BJP in-charge Bhupender Yadav has been holding marathon meetings in Gandhinagar for the last two days to finalise the names to be included in the new cabinet.
