Daily Current Affairs

Ahmedabad, August 31 The rise in number of Covid-19 cases should not be a cause of concern as long as the number of serious patients and deaths due to the disease remain low, say public health experts in Gujarat. They are of the view that the new cases being reported daily should be categorised as mild, moderate or severe to better understand the pandemic. "We are finding new cases every day, but the first thing we need to know is how many of them are serious," said Dileep Mavalankar, Director of the Gandhinagar-based Indian Institute of Public Health. "The government should report how many new patients have been put on oxygen or ventilator support...we are reporting low mortality," he said. The new cases should be divided into three categories- mild, moderate, if a patient needs oxygen, and severe, if he/she needs ventilator support, he said. In a recent study, Mavalankar found that between March and July, the percentage of deaths due to COVID-19 compared to ...

New Delhi, August 31 Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who was admitted to the AIIMS here on August 18 for post-COVID care, was discharged on Monday morning, sources said. The AIIMS had said in a statement on Saturday that "he has recovered and is likely to be discharged in a short time". On August 2, Shah, 55, had said on Twitter that he had tested positive for COVID-19. He had undergone treatment at Medanta Hospital and was discharged after he tested negative for the disease. He was later admitted to the AIIMS following complaints of fatigue and body ache. PTI Source:- The Tribune https://ift.tt/2QGbn0Y

New Delhi, August 31 The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce on Monday its verdict on the quantum of sentence to be awarded to activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, convicted for contempt of court over his two tweets against the judiciary. A Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra will pronounce its verdict against Bhushan, who faces simple imprisonment of up to six months or with a fine of up to Rs 2,000 or with both as punishment under Contempt of Court Act. On August 25, the top court was urged by senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan to show "judicial statesmanship" and not make Bhushan a "martyr" by punishing him for contempt over his tweets criticising the judiciary, after the activist-lawyer rejected fresh suggestions from the court for an apology. As the top court reserved its verdict on the sentence to be awarded to Bhushan, Justice Arun Mishra, who presided over a three-judge bench, at the fag end of the nearly three-hour-long hearing had asked why he cannot seek ...

New Delhi, August 30 The Congress on Sunday questioned the "alacrity" exhibited by the Centre in ordering a CBI probe into the Sushant Singh Rajput case and sought investigation into alleged BJP links of Sandeep Ssingh, producer of a biopic on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is under the scanner in a related drugs case. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi asked who in the BJP is trying to "save" Ssingh, who produced "PM Narendra Modi", the posters of which were unveiled by the then Maharashtra CM, Devendra Fadnavis. Singhvi alleged that the film producer who claimed to be Rajput's close friend made 53 calls to the Maharashtra BJP office in the last few months. "Who he was seeking security from," Singhvi asked. He said political parties do not get into Bollywood matters. "But if a suspect is linked to the ruling party, the country wants to know who is he connected to and who in the BJP is trying to save Ssingh. Was Ssingh the rea...

Aditi Tandon Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 30 Knives are out in the Congress over a section of dissenters making daily public statements against the leadership, with Punjab party president Sunil Jakhar on Sunday becoming the first Congress functionary to publicly demand action against the out of line people. "The Congress president will have to draw a line somewhere. Strong action must be taken against party persons, no matter how senior, who continue to needle the leadership daily even after our president Sonia Gandhi graciously told them she bore no ill-will against anyone. These dissenters are aware that the Congress is going through difficult times. They think they are untouchables and can continue to exploit the party's predicament. They must be dealt with sternly," said Jakhar days after another veteran Ambika Soni demanded disciplinary action against letter writers in the meeting of the Congress Working Committee. Jakhar also slammed the dissenters fo...

Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 30 While most members of the ginger group that recently demanded radical organisational reforms in the Congress are busy defending their positions, at least one signatory to the letter is finding support, although marginal, to run for the post of Congress president. The Congress unit of Thiruvananthapuram has already launched a social media campaign in favour of Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor. The campaign started on August 19, just a few days after Tharoor and 22 others wrote a letter dated August 7 to Congress president Sonia Gandhi demanding a full time active party chief. The viral post inviting support for the ex-minister has since received 3.2K likes, 5.6K shares and 303 comments. Interestingly, a few comments under the Tharoor post also favour Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh as Congress president while many support Rahul Gandhi as well. Congress leaders are not amused by such a campaign of Tharoor supporters. Congress chief whip in Lok S...

New Delhi, August 30 The Congress today said once party president Sonia Gandhi had asked everyone to move on letting bygones be bygones it was not proper for anyone to comment in organisational affairs. Reacting to Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal consistently speaking to the media defending their letter, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said, "I am not speaking about individuals, individual press conferences or reports. Nobody is censored to speak. But, once the Congress chief has spoken on the issue its letter and spirit must be observed in every way." — TNS Source:- The Tribune https://ift.tt/31Fjt06

New Delhi, August 30 Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his monthly radio address "Mann ki Baat" on Sunday lauded the country's canine brigade and specifically mentioned about two dogs — "Sophie" and "Vida". The two brave dogs were awarded the Chief of Army Staff's Commendation Cards on August 15. Sophie and Vida received this honour because they performed their duties diligently while protecting their country, the PM said. Military sources said Vida, belonging to an Army dog unit under Udhampur-headquartered Northern Command, was instrumental in the timely detection of five mines and one grenade buried underground, preventing possible casualties and injuries to soldiers. Sophie of the Special Frontier Force (bomb disposal squad) saved lives by sniffing out the presence of initiator/accelerant which could have been hastily used to fabricate an IED (improvised explosive device), they said. "Such canines have played a very important role in th...

New Delhi, August 30 The delimitation commission, set up to redraw the constituencies of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, will visit the north-eastern states and the Union Territory after preparing a "broad framework" of the delimitation exercise, officials said. The commission will also seek views and inputs of its "associate members" — a group of Lok Sabha members and MLAs — after drawing up the broad framework. "First the broad framework has to be developed on carving out constituencies based on the 2011 Census. Only then would the delimitation commission visit the states to meet locals. Once the framework is drawn, it would also interact with associate members to seek their views and inputs," said an official aware of the developments. The delimitation panel will redraw the Lok Sabha and assembly constituencies of the four north-eastern states and work on increasing the Assembly seats of the Union Territory of Jamp...