Union Home Minister Amit Shah has a following of 26.3 million on the platform, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has 19.4 million followers…reports Asian Lite News.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi now has more than 70 million followers on Twitter that made him one of the most followed active politicians across the globe on the social media platform. After Modi, Pope Francis has the highest number of followers on the microblogging site at 53 million.
As part of his social media outreach, Modi joined Twitter in 2009 during his stint as the Gujarat chief minister. Within a year, he had a lakh followers. In July 2020, the PM’s Twitter follower count touched 60 million.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has a following of 26.3 million on the platform, while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has 19.4 million followers.
A very active user, Modi regularly posts developments and events on his Twitter page. On Thursday, he wrote about India’s tiger conservation strategy on International Tiger Day. “India’s strategy of tiger conservation attaches topmost importance to involving local communities. We are also inspired by our centuries old ethos of living in harmony with all flora and fauna with whom we share our great planet,” the PM wrote.
Meanwhile, the Modi government and Twitter have been engaged in a spat after new rules for social media platforms and digital news outlets were introduced by the Centre. A number of government departments and ministers have been moving on to indigenously developed app Koo as the US company fights it out over non-compliance issues.
Other world leaders
Among other world leaders, former United States President Barack Obama has a following of 129.8 millio followers, while his current counterpart Joe Biden is followed by 30.9 million accounts.
Donald Trump, who had the highest of followers at 88.7 million, was permanently removed from Twitter following the riots at the US Capitol.
The MEA Spokesperson said India has lodged a strong protest with Pakistani authorities on this cosmetic exercise which has been protested and rejected by the local people…reports Asian Lite News
India on Thursday condemned Pakistan for holding assembly elections in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), and said it was nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation. India has lodged a strong protest against Islamabad over the issue.
“The so-called elections in Indian territory under the illegal occupation of Pakistan are nothing but an attempt by Pakistan to camouflage its illegal occupation and the material changes undertaken by it in these territories,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said during a weekly media briefing.
The MEA Spokesperson said India has lodged a strong protest with Pakistani authorities on this cosmetic exercise which has been protested and rejected by the local people.
“Such an exercise can neither hide the illegal occupation by Pakistan nor the grave human rights violations, exploitation and denial of freedom to the people in these occupied territories,” he added.
In Sunday’s polls in PoK, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) won 25 seats in the 45-seat assembly.
With regard to reference of Jammu and Kashmir in the joint statement of China and Pakistan after their foreign ministers’ meeting, the MEA Spokesperson said, “India categorically rejects any reference to Jammu and Kashmir in such joint statement the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the Union Territory of Ladakh have been and will remain integral and inalienable parts of India.”
“The joint press release has also made a reference to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor,” he added.
“We have consistently conveyed to China and Pakistan that the so called CPEC is in India’s territory, that has been illegally occupied by Pakistan and that we resolutely oppose any attempts by other countries to change the status quo in areas illegally occupied by Pakistan as also to Pakistan bringing up any material change in Indian territories under its occupation,” Bagchi added.
“We call upon parties concerned to cease such actions,” he stated further.
France has been singled out because of the British government’s concerns about the constant presence of the Beta variant of the coronavirus, but French officials said most of the cases come from the overseas island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean, reports Asian Lite Newsdesk
France said on Thursday that it did not understand why it was exempted from the new rule which allows fully vaccinated European Union citizens to enter England without quarantine.
From next week, passengers who have received vaccines approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or the European Medicines Agency will be able to travel from any country that has been on the British government’s orange list without the need for self-isolation for 10 days, it announced on Wednesday the British government.
Arrivals from France are the only exception.
“This decision is discriminatory towards the French. It is excessive and makes no sense in the context of health policy,” French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune told the LCI TV channel, adding that it has no foundation in science.
France has been singled out because of the British government’s concerns about the constant presence of the Beta variant of the coronavirus, which is believed to be more resistant to vaccines.
But French officials say most of the cases come from the overseas island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
Speaking to BBC Today, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab made clear that France was on the amber plus list and this was the government’s policy.
The UK has been at the forefront of the international #COVID19 response:
– developing the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine
– helping identify new Covid-19 variants
– and now shipping vaccines direct to the most vulnerable countries
“The announcement in relation to double vaccinations from Europe will not apply to them. There’s an exemption for them specifically,” he told BBC.
“Obviously the evidence presented on which the original decision was taken was based on the prevalence of the so-called Beta variant, in particular in the Réunion bit of France which of course is away from the mainland.”
The island is 5,800 miles from Paris. But Raab said that was irrelevant. “It’s not the distance that matters, it’s the ease of travel between different component parts of any individual country,” he said.
Britain will review the status of passengers from France at the end of next week.
French officials have complained about British travel restrictions for France.
“We should have kept reciprocity as a trump card up our sleeve at the European level. Maybe Europe, in general, should have been tougher in the negotiations,” Minister Beaune said.
France on Wednesday reported just under 28,000 new Covid cases in the previous 24 hours and 40 new virus deaths. According to the health authorities, 111,768 people died as a result of Covid-19 in France, AFP reports.
Health pass from Aug 9
A new law in France extending the use of a health pass to a wider range of public places will enter into force on August 9 to help the country battle with the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said.
“The health pass is a small tool that can save many lives. It is the best way to protect our freedom and ensure that our country remains open,” Attal told the press on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting.
Under the law, only people who have completed their vaccination, tested negative or recently recovered from Covid-19 will be allowed to enter restaurants and cafes, and go to shopping centres, gyms and even hospitals except for emergencies, reports Xinhua news agency.
The use of the health pass has been compulsory since July 21 in cultural and leisure venues (cinemas, museums, etc.) where more than 50 people gather.
“Thanks to the vaccine we will be able to avoid a strong rush to hospitals in August,” Attal said.
Warning that “the sanitary situation continues to worsen and remains worrying” ,he urged his hesitating compatriots to get vaccinated.
To date, 50.5 per cent of the French population, or 34 million people, have completed their vaccination against Covid-19. (ANI/FENA/IANS)
According to the statistics maintained at the Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar and other drug de-addiction centres, heroin smuggled in from Afghanistan has become the main drug of abuse. Around 95% of the patients treated or under treatment at different de-addiction centres have been found abusing this deleterious psychotropic drug, a report by Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
Drug abuse is on the rise in Kashmir, with supplies routed through the infamous AfPak region-the combination of Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as the ground-zero for drugs, violence and terrorism. The Jammu and Kashmir Police in collaboration with the Department of Health and Medical Education have set up drug de-addiction centres and treated thousands of patients at all the district headquarters in the Kashmir valley but it has not been able to stop smuggling of psychotropic substances from Afghanistan via Pakistan.
According to the statistics maintained at the Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar and other drug de-addiction centres, heroin smuggled in from Afghanistan has become the main drug of abuse. Around 95% of the patients treated or under treatment at different de-addiction centres have been found abusing this deleterious psychotropic drug.
At the Srinagar GMC’s de-addiction centre, among those under treatment are a couple married as late as in 2019. The 29-year-old husband with his 28-year-old wife has been found taking heroin through an intravenous route. They occasionally cross paths in the hospital’s corridors outside their contiguous wards.
According to one of the four doctors attending the patients at the de-addiction centre, a large number of the families had admitted two or two members simultaneously for consuming heroin through IV or other routes. “Many of them come in from affluent families who fall in the wrong company and spend a lot of money to acquire this high-priced drug”, says a psychiatrist at the GMC Srinagar.
“We have noticed a remarkable increase in the heroin abuse in the last two years but we have no means to determine a political reason behind it. It can or cannot be coincidence that the drug abuse has assumed menacing proportions during a combination of political and medical lockdown. Since March 2020, the Covid pandemic has kept everybody indoors. There have been familial implosions. Marriages have broken and students have forgotten about their school cultures. Smuggling and circulation of psychotropic substances has multiplied during the same period”, said a doctor at the Police Control Room in Srinagar.
According to a senior Police officer, 35 kg of heroin, 5 kg of marijuana and 3 kg of brown sugar valued at Rs 182 crore in the Indian drug markets have been seized by Police in the Kupwara Police district-half of the Kupwara revenue district-in the first six months of the current year. The recoveries made by the security forces, particularly the Army, are equally voluminous.
Drugs from Afghanistan via Pakistan have been flowing in through Kupwara and Baramulla districts on the LoC in Kashmir as also through Poonch and Rajouri districts on the LoC and Jammu, Samba and Kathua districts on the International Border in Jammu. “Over 90% of the quantities are smuggled in through conventional routes and methods but at least 10% of the quantities are now believed to be entering through tunnels and drones”, said a senior Police officer in Jammu.
“Until recently, we used to say Udta Punjab. But now we say Udta Jammu and Kashmir ”, said the officer. According to him, 60% of the drugs, particularly heroin, was going all the way to Amritsar, Chandigarh, Delhi and Mumbai and about 40% was believed to be in the local consumption. Some of the officers, not authorised to speak to the media, put it at Rs 1,000 crore a year business.
Those admitted and treated at GMC’s DDC recently include two members of a family, in their mid-40s and the family head’s 10-year-old grandson. The boy is on Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST), a treatment regimen that induces abandonment of heroin and other opium derivatives-highly addictive and with life-threatening consequences. The doctors treating the boy detected that he had been infected with Hepatitis-C virus, a common infection among IV drug abusers. If ignored, Hepatitis-C can lead to liver cirrhosis and prove to be fatal.
The 10-year-old is now under treatment of Hepatitis-C and supervision of a composite team of doctors and psychiatrists including a couple of professors from GMC’s Department of Gastroenterology.
Consumption of heroin by syringe for a 10-year-old could be fatal, says a doctor. “But we are optimistic of good results as he has been admitted at an appropriate time. We don’t know how many of such boys and girls have been destroyed in Kashmir or would be still taking these dangerous drugs”.
The boy had seen his father and uncle take heroin through syringes. Out of his curiosity after falling in the company of some drug addicts, he too began consuming heroin and ended up with an infection of Hepatitis-C.
According to a doctor, the age of experimenting with drugs had come down and the number of addicts spiralled in the last five or six years. “We have noticed a remarkable increase in the number of addiction cases particularly in the last two years. Lockdowns and deterioration of the value systems due to the internet and social media have made the ground fertile for the drug menace in Kashmir”, he asserted. An early intervention and counselling, according to him, could save many lives and families.
According to the official statistics, 6,234 patients have been examined and treated for drug addiction at the DDCs in Kashmir since the outbreak of Covid-19 in March 2020. Of these, 4,830 had been found taking heroin intravenously. Additionally, 1,054 were those taking heroin through other routes. With this combination of 5,884 patients, 95% of the drug addicts were found consuming heroin. 70% of them were taking it by syringe.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government had introduced a drug de-addiction policy in the President’s rule in January 2019. It provided for the staff of 15 departments to work in coordination to uproot the menace of drug addiction. While Police, Narcotics and Excise are required to reduce availability of drugs through various measures including crackdown on the supply chain, the departments of Education, Information & Broadcasting and Social Welfare are supposed to lessen the demand. But around the scheduled date of its implementation in February 2020, Covid-19 engulfed the entire country.
There has been no movement forward in the last over 17 months. (The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com)
Calls for a negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan says there cannot be a takeover of the war-torn country by use of force, reports Asian Lite News
Replying to questions of the members in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Thursday said that there must be a negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan and there cannot be a takeover of the war-torn country by use of force.
Replying to a supplementary question asked by Swapan Dasgupta on China talking to Taliban, Jaishankar said, “There cannot be a military solution, there cannot be a takeover by use of force in Afghanistan. We will work with international community to ensure that political negotiations for a settlement are pursued seriously and we would never accept an outcome which is decided by force.” he said.
He said there is strong convergence between India and the Unites States on this issue.
US, India against military takeover of Afghanistan: Jaishankar in RS
The Minister said that he had detailed discussion with US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken on the issue of Afghanistan.
Jaishankar had tweeted on Wednesday, “A wide ranging and productive discussion today with @SecBlinken. Useful in mapping out the next steps in our bilateral partnership. Strong convergence of views on many regional concerns. Agreed to work closely on multilateral and global issues.”
He told the Upper House that India is very clear that there must be a negotiated political settlement in Afghanistan, that there cannot be a military solution, there cannot be a takeover by use of force in Afghanistan, that India will work with the international community to ensure that political negotiations for a settlement are pursued seriously and we would never accept any outcome which is decided by force.
He said, “We (Indian leadership) highlighted that in our approach to global issues were guided by a quest for perfect union but we seek to right historical wrongs. When it comes to freedom, we shouldn’t treat it as non-governance or abdication of responsibilities. Our conversation on this should be balanced.”
Blinken, during his two-day India visit, discussed a range of bilateral and regional issues including Afghanistan, Indo-Pacific and COVID-19 cooperation.
During Blinken’s visit, Jaishankar said he articulated India’s position at a presser that was jointly held with the US Secretary of State. “We were very clear that there must be a negotiated, political settlement in Afghanistan.”
Among other things that Jaishankar and Blinken discussed include Indo-Pacific, India-US cooperation against COVID-19 and Quad. He had further added that the Quad is a collaborative platform essential for mutual interest.
Jaishankar had also asserted that the US and India should work together more closely on key contemporary challenges like terrorism.
“We also discussed Indo-Pacific and Quad as it is in our national interests,” Jaishankar told the Rajya Sabha.
“We look at Quad as a platform where the four countries have come together for the good of the world. We discussed a range of issues including providing of vaccines, education, connectivity, maritime security,” he added.
The maximum number of children who lost their parents to Covid are from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh…reports Asian Lite News
The government on Thursday stated that a total of 645 children were orphaned due to the Covid-19 pandemic from April 2021 to May 28, 2021.
The maximum number of children who lost their parents to Covid are from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, the government said in the Parliament.
In Uttar Pradesh, 158 children were orphaned, while in Andhra Pradesh 119 children lost their parents because of Covid-19. Maharashtra comes next where 83 children were orphaned, followed by Madhya Pradesh (73).
Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha that children in distress situations merit care and protection under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
The Act and Rules made thereunder mandate a safety net of service delivery structures along with institutional and non-institutional care for these children.
The ministry is implementing a Centrally sponsored scheme namely Child Protection Services (CPS) in partnership with the state governments and Union Territories for delivering institutional and non-institutional care as stipulated under the JJ Act.
“As per the scheme guidelines, maintenance grant of Rs 2,000 per child per month is available for non-institutional care of children in need of care and protection along with the provision of maintenance grant of Rs 2,160 per child per month for children living in child care institutions,” the minister said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the PM-CARES for Children scheme to support children who have lost both parents or surviving parent or legal guardian or adoptive parents due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The scheme provides support for education and health and will create a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when he or she reaches 18 years of age.
This corpus will be used to give a monthly financial support or stipend to the orphaned children when the attain the age of 18 years for the next five years to take care of his or her personal requirements during the period of higher education, and on reaching the age of 23 years, he or she will get the corpus amount in a lump-sum for personal and professional use.
Use of plastic waste in construction of road protects the environment from adverse impact of waste plastic….reports Asian Lite News
So far 703 km of National Highways have been constructed with use of waste plastic in “wearing coat of flexible pavement”, the Parliament was told on Thursday.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that the ministry has issued guidelines for mandatory use of waste plastic in periodic renewal with hot mixes and in wearing coat of service road on national highways within 50km periphery of an urban area having population of more than 5 lakhs.
Use of plastic waste in construction of road protects the environment from adverse impact of waste plastic.
Plastic roads consist of 6-8 per cent plastic, while 92-94 per cent is bitumen.
In 2016, Gadkari had announced the usage of plastic waste in road construction in 2016. Since then, plastic waste has been used in constructing roads in 11 states.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report, as much as 3.3 million metric tonnes of plastic waste was generated in India, which is approximately 9,200 tonnes a day (TPD), in 2018-19.
The report stated that the total municipal solid waste generation is 55-65 million tonnes and out of it, plastic waste is approximately 5-6 per cent.
To regulate use of plastic, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change came up with draft Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2021, which proposes a ban on the manufacture, import, stocking, distribution, sale, and use of specific single-use plastic from January 1, 2022.
Specific single-use of plastic include plastic sticks for balloons, candy sticks, ice-cream sticks, plastic flags, and thermocol.
The Bill intends to include non-NBFC players that can engage in factoring business….reports Asian Lite News
The Parliament on Thursday passed the Factoring Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2021, following its passage in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier this week.
In industry parlance, ‘Factoring’ is defined as a financial transaction in which a business sells its accounts receivable to a third party for debt financing. This legislation will make it easier for small businesses to monetise their receivables.
The Bill intends to include non-NBFC players that can engage in factoring business.
The amended legislation will allow ‘factors’ (such as NBFCs) to acquire the receivables of a company at a discount and realise them from entities that owe the money. This will help the company monetise its receivables quickly and tackle cash-flow problems.
The new legislation has also lifted the eligibility requirement for entities to become factors. This is expected to allow a lot of opportunities to the non-bank lenders.
The current Bill is based on the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Finance.
On Monday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that the government has accepted all the recommendations made by the committee.
The Bill, once converted in to a law, is expected to increase the supply of funds available to small businesses such as MSMEs.
The reservation is meant for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses from the current academic year (2021-22) onwards….reports Asian Lite News
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare decided on Thursday to provide 27 per cent reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and 10 per cent reservation to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in the All India Quota (AIQ) scheme for medical courses.
The reservation is meant for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses — MBBS, MD, MS, Diploma, BDS and MDS — from the current academic year (2021-22) onwards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting held on July 26 had directed the concerned Union ministries to facilitate an effective solution to this long-pending issue.
Soon after the decision, Modi lauded the step in a series of tweets, saying: “Our government has taken a landmark decision for providing 27% reservation for OBCs and 10% reservation for Economically Weaker Sections in the All India Quota scheme for undergraduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses from the current academic year.
“This will immensely help thousands of our youth every year get better opportunities and create a new paradigm of social justice in our country.”
The decision would benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in postgraduation courses, besides benefiting around 550 EWS students in MBBS and around 1,000 EWS students in postgraduation couses every year.
The AIQ scheme was introduced in 1986 under the directions of the Supreme Court to provide for domicile-free, merit-based opportunities to students from any state to study in a medical college located in another state.
The AIQ consists of 15 per cent of total available undergraduate seats and 50 per cent of total available post-graduate seats in the government medical colleges.
Initially, there was no reservation in the AIQ scheme up to 2007.
In 2007, the Supreme Court had introduced 15 per cent reservation for SCs and 7.5 per cent reservation for STs in the AIQ scheme.
When the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act became effective in 2007, providing for uniform 27 per cent reservation to OBCs, the same was implemented in all the Central Educational Institutions such as the Safdarjung Hospital, Lady Harding Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University and Banaras Hindu University etc.
However, this was not extended to the AIQ seats of state medical and dental colleges.
Being a Central scheme, the Central list of OBCs shall be used for this reservation. Around 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 in post-graduation will benefit through this reservation.
In order to provide benefit to students belonging to the EWS category in admission to higher educational institutions, a constitutional amendment was made in 2019 which enabled the provision of 10 per cent reservation for the EWS category.
Accordingly, seats in medical and dental colleges were increased over two years in 2019-20 and 2020-21 to accommodate this additional 10 per cent EWS reservation so that the total number of seats available for unreserved category did not reduce.
During the last six years, MBBS seats in the country have increased by 56 per cent from 54,348 in 2014 to 84,649 in 2020, while the number of PG seats have increased by 80 per cent from 30,191 in 2014 to 54,275 in 2020.
During the same period, 179 new medical colleges have been established and now the country has 558 medical colleges, including 289 colleges and 269 private institutions.
Students arriving from red-list countries will be put into managed isolation facilities, it reported…reports Asian Lite News.
Northern Ireland has removed quarantine rules for people who have been fully vaccinated in the European Union or the United States, media reported.
This easing of the Covid-19 travel rules is in line with changes made in England, Scotland and Wales. The Northern Ireland Executive also decided to allow international cruises to restart from 31 July, the BBC reported.
Students arriving from red-list countries will be put into managed isolation facilities, it reported.
The pilot rollout for the expansion of the amber listed countries vaccinations policy is due to start on Monday 2 August.
It means all those coming from the US or from EU countries (except France) will not have to isolate.
There was also agreement that Villarreal football fans coming to Belfast for next month’s Uefa Super Cup final against Chelsea would not have to self-isolate, according to BBC.
The executive has also agreed the 1m (3ft) social distancing regulation will be applied in indoor settings such as supermarkets and shopping centres from 18:00 BST on Friday 30 July.
The 1m rule remains as guidance outdoors. It was also agreed that function rooms and community halls can put on live music from 30 July.
Plans to reopen conferences and exhibitions have been delayed – that will be considered in August.
A final decision to drop the wearing of masks in schools has also been delayed although earlier this month ministers said the wearing of face coverings may just be regarded as guidance when schools return, according to the BBC report.
