The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), however, said later that 1,875 jabs were delivered at three centres in two days, and another 900 would be made available on Wednesday. 

It also said it had requested the Union government to shorten the gap between two doses as many students are to leave for foreign countries in July-August. 

The civic body last week announced walk-in vaccination -- without registration -- for students from the city who are going abroad at Kasturba Hospital, Rajawadi Hospital and Cooper Hospital from Monday to Wednesday. 

It had allocated 500 vaccine doses for this category on Tuesday -- 200 each at Kasturba and Cooper hospitals and 100 at Rajawadi Hospital, sources said.

The sharing of data by China on Sutlej and Brahmaputra comes amid strained relations between the two neighbours. 

In 2017, China had stopped sharing the data citing that the hydrological gathering sites were washed away due to floods. It also coincided with the 73-day Doklam stand-off between the two neighbours that took place during the peak monsoon period. 

It began sharing data again from 2018. 

India and China have signed an agreement under which Beijing shares hydrological data with New Delhi. 

Under the agreement, for the Brahmaputra river, the data is shared by China from May 15. 

In the case of Sutlej, the data is shared from June 1. The data is also shared twice daily until October 15. 

China started sharing hydrological data for Brahmaputra and Sutlej from 2002 and 2005 respectively. 

The data is important in flood forecasting done by the Central Water Commission.  

The information is being shared from three hydrological stations -- Nugesha, Yangcun and Nuxia, lying on the mainstream of the Brahmaputra, also known as Yarlung Zangbo in China, officials at the Jal Shakti Ministry said. 

For Sutlej, known as Langqen Zangbod, data is shared from a station at Tsada, the official said. 

The Brahmaputra originates from Tibet and flows into Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and later drains into the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh.

In a statement, they claimed that a large section of the Bengali society is living under fear and alleged that those who "voted against the TMC in the recently held assembly elections are being victimised."

Thousands of people have migrated to the adjoining states of Assam, Odisha and Jharkhand due to fear of getting killed or attacked by "hooligans supported by the ruling party of Bengal," they claimed.           

"We appeal for inquiry by independent authorities like National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and also appeal to the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the matter and set up SIT to investigate the incidents," the group said.

Stating that such acts of violence and politics of terror undermine the Constitution and destroy the basic building blocks of democracy, they said it should not be tolerated.

The BJP has blamed the state's ruling Trinamool Congress for the violence, while the TMC has accused the saffron party of politicising incidents of violence in which, it has said, its workers have also lost lives. The state government has also refuted the allegations of large-scale violence.

There were 3,165 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the latest 24-hour period, according to official government data released after what was a longer Bank Holiday weekend in the UK, when the number of deaths and cases can be lower due to reporting lags. 

Scientists in the UK have urged the government to exercise caution when making a decision about a scheduled June 21 timeline for an end to all lockdown restrictions amid growing fears on Tuesday of a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

Peshawar District Commissioner Capt (retd) Khalid Mehmud rejected the objections of the owners of both the houses and announced the award and transferred the ownership of both the houses to the archaeological department. 

The land (homes of Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor) will vest in the name of acquiring department, ie, director, archaeology and museums, a notification issued by the deputy commissioner's office said. 

The KP government had fixed the price for purchase of Kapoor's 6.25-marla and Kumar's four-marla houses for Rs 1.50 crore and Rs 80 lakh, respectively, with plans to convert them into museums. 

Marla, a traditional unit of area used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is considered equal to 272.25 square feet or 25.2929 square metres. 

While Kapoor Haveli's owner Ali Qadir demanded Rs 20 crore, the owner of Kumar's ancestral house Gul Rehman Mohmand said the government should purchase it at the market rate of Rs 3.50 crore. 

The provincial government last month handed over Rs 2.30 crore to Peshawar's deputy commissioner for purchasing the two houses located in the heart of this city to convert them into museums. 

In May, the director, archaeology, KPK Abdus Samad, had said the government would take custody of both the houses shortly and would start work to restore the structures in its original shape. 

The government would preserve both the buildings to make the people aware about the contribution made by Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor in the film industry, he said. 

Raj Kapoor's ancestral home, known as Kapoor Haveli, is situated in the fabled Qissa Khwani Bazar. It was built between 1918 and 1922 by the legendary actor's grandfather Dewan Basheswarnath Kapoor. Raj Kapoor and his uncle Trilok Kapoor were born in the building. 

It has been declared a national heritage by the provincial government. 

Veteran actor Dilip Kumar's over a 100-year-old ancestral house is also located in the same locality. The house is in shambles and was declared as a national heritage in 2014 by the then Nawaz Sharif government. 

The owners of the two buildings made several attempts in the past to demolish them for constructing commercial plazas in view of their prime location but all such moves were stopped as the archaeology department wanted to preserve them, keeping in view their historic importance.

The five-member Congress panel has submitted its report to Sonia Gandhi on losses in the just-concluded assembly polls. 

The panel, which was set up in May, is being headed by former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan and was formed to evaluate the party's performance in the just-concluded assembly polls.

Earlier, the Congress chief had said the party has to put its house in order by facing reality and drawing lessons from the "serious setbacks".

A team of multi-agency officials led by a Central Bureau off Investigation DIG has gone to Dominica to bring back absconding diamantaire Mehul Choksi to India if the courts in the Carribean island country allow his deportation to India, officials said Tuesday. 

 

The team consisting of two members of the CBI and officials of the other agencies has reached Dominica where Choksi's case will come for hearing tomorrow (local time) before the High Court of Dominica. 

Choksi, who mysteriously went missing on May 23 from Antigua and Barbuda where he has been staying since 2018 as a citizen was detained in neighbouring Dominica for illegal entry after a possible romantic escapade with his rumoured girl friend.

His lawyers alleged that he was kidnapped from Jolly Harbour in Antigua by policemen looking like Antiguan and Indian and brought to Dominica on a boat.

His pictures emerged from Dominca having red swollen eyes and body marks.

The Dominican government had issued a statement that it is ascertaining the status of his citizenship with Antigua and once confirmed, he would be deported there.

Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne had said Dominica and law enforcement agencies, unless the court rules otherwise, can deport him to India because he is an Indian citizen, Antigua News Room reported.

"The problem is if he is sent back to Antigua because he is an Antiguan citizen, even though his citizenship is unsettled, he is still enjoys constitutional and legal protections as a citizen. We have no doubt that his citizenship will ultimately be revoked because he did not disclose material of information," he said.

Spotting a window of opportunity in the arrest of Choksi in Dominica where he was "detained" for illegal entry, India dispatched a jet with documents related to cases against Choksy which landed at Douglas Charles Airport in Dominica on May 28.

The team of officers are in Dominica to bring back Choksi and coordinate with the local prosecutors to put forward its best case before the high court.

The team is arguing that Choksi continues to be an Indian citizen with an Interpol Red Notice against him.

Browne has also said that his citizenship is under contest in court as Choksi had not revealed complete information about him.

Choksi and his nephew Nirav Modi had fled India in the first week of January, 2018 weeks before Rs 13,500 crore scam in Punjab National Bank rocked Indian banking industry.

The duo allegedly bribed the officials of state run bank to get Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) on the basis of which they availed from overseas banks which remained unpaid. -- PTI

The government on Tuesday cautioned that even though the coronavirus infection has not taken a serious shape among children till now, its impact can increase among them if there is a change in virus behaviour or epidemiology dynamics, and said preparations are on to deal with any such situation.

   

"We reassure you that the needs of the paediatric population will be arranged and no gaps will be left," NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said, adding "we will do an audit of what is required and would be required in the worst-case scenario and be put into action."

Addressing a press conference, Paul said multi-system inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) has been seen post-COVID among children and a national group has been formed to look into the pediatric complications related to the infection.

 

Paul said the children are generally asymptomatic or symptoms are minimal.

 

"Even if they get infected, it does not take a serious shape and hospitalisation is rarely required.

 

"But this situation in the paediatric population can change if the virus changes its behaviour or if there are changes in epidemiology dynamics, so then it can happen that COVID impact can increase in children," he said.

 

In children, two forms of COVID are seen, he said.

 

One is that the child gets a fever, then cough and cold. This translates to pneumonia which increases and deteriorates and the child gets hospitalised, he said.

 

"It was also seen that after COVID gets cured, after 2-6 weeks in some children again fever and rash comes and eyes get inflamed and diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding tendency is seen... this syndrome is called multi-system inflammatory syndrome," Paul said.

 

This is post-COVID and is a unique disease seen among children. Guidelines have been established for understanding its development, he said.

 

"Multi-system inflammatory syndrome does not have a difficult treatment but it must be timely," Paul added.

 

Paul said that 2-3 percent of children infected with COVID might need hospitalisation.

 

"We have looked into scientific developments in the matter systematically and the data we have shows that admission of children in large COVID facilities is very small. It has not happened till now that paediatric infrastructure was unusually burdened with cases," he added.

 

But keeping in view all kinds of scenarios, Paul said a national group has been formed to look into it.

 

"In short, we are happy to report to you that we are working very systematically and comprehensively to address the problem of paediatric COVID disease now as well as into the future and we will strengthen our facilities as required," he said. -- PTI 

The International Cricket Council has given Board of Control for Cricket in India time till June 28 to take a call on whether it would host the marquee T20 World Cup in India amid the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

   

The ICC Board met virtually on Tuesday with India being represented by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly and secretary Jay Shah. The T20 World Cup is due in October-November this year.

 

As reported by PTI, the BCCI sought a month's time and the ICC board unanimously agreed to give that for a detailed assessment of the health situation in the country, which has been left battered by a second wave of the raging pandemic.

 

"Yes, the ICC board has agreed to BCCI's request and they will have time till June 28 to decide on hosting the T20 World Cup in India. They will come back to the board next month with a concrete plan," a source close to the ICC Board told PTI on Tuesday.

 

If the BCCI is unable to host the event in India given the looming threat of a third wave of the pandemic, the tournament will shift to the UAE after it gets done with hosting the IPL, which finishes likely on October 10.

 

BCCI may retain the hosting rights in that scenario. 

The Mumbai civic body has proposed to steeply increase the amount of fine for spitting in public to Rs 1,200 from the current Rs 200, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief Iqbal Singh Chahal recently gave a nod to the proposal for increasing the existing fine amount, a release said.

The official said the proposal will have to be cleared by the BMC's general body before it is to be approved by the state government as it involves amending the Greater Mumbai Cleanliness and Sanitation byelaws 2006.

The existing fine of Rs 200 for spitting in public remains unchanged for the last several years.

The officer said the Bombay high court while hearing a petition, had questioned why the BMC slaps the fine of only Rs 200 for spitting at public places whereas the police fined the violators Rs 1,200.

He clarified the HC didn't give any directive about increasing the fine amount to the BMC.

After receiving the administrative nod to the proposal to hike the fine amount, the solid waste management department will take action under the additional municipal commissioner.

In the past six months, the civic body collected a fine of Rs 28.67 lakh from the people found spitting at public places.

The highest amount of fine of Rs 4.70 lakh was collected from L ward that includes areas like Kurla and Sakinaka, the release said. -- PTI 

In a show of solidarity, foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa opted for a collective 'namaste' during the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting on Tuesday. 

 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar chaired the standalone meeting through video conferencing. 

It was convened by India as the current BRICS Chair.  

 

 The meeting was attended by Brazil Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Alberto Franco Franca, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor. 

 

 The foreign ministers of five countries chose 'namaste', the traditional Indian way of greeting by folding both hands, to greet each other. 

 

Namaste became a common no-contact way of greeting around the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In his opening remarks during the meeting, Jaishankar said COVID-19 pandemic had prevented him from greeting the leaders in person.  

 

"The COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, prevents me from greeting all of you in person. It also continues to provide the larger context in which we assess the world and our policies," he said. -- ANI

Syed Akbaruddin, former permanent representative of India to the United Nations, on Tuesday joined the Kautilya School of Public Policy in Hyderabad as its dean.

      

While Akbaruddin tweeted saying it is a "new start" for him, the public policy institute said his appointment is a testimony to its commitment to provide students an exposure to the best minds from the policy fraternity.

      

Such exposure would help shape students into responsible public policymakers of the future, the institute said in a statement. 

      

The former Ambassador, who has handled many diplomatic assignments, said he looked forward to be part of an environment that would enable students better understand the processes, programmes and politics of public policies in a globalised world.

      

"From building bridges among top diplomats to articulating India's foreign policies on a plethora of platforms, he sets his vision on creating an educational haven for students who would serve as tomorrow's leaders," Kautilya School of Public Policy said.

       

The school's co-founder Prateek Kanwal said Akbaruddin would provide a "practical lens to policy making" in the classroom having championed India's fight at UN in dealing with issues such as climate change, education, terrorism, cyber security, digital and nuclear technology.

      

Akbaruddin, who joined the foreign service in 1985, was the Ministry of External Affair's spokesperson between 2012 and 2015 and he retired last April as India's permanent representative to the United Nations.

      

The 61-year old former officer, prior to his role as permanent representative had held several positions in his long career.

      

Between 2006 and 2011, he served as an international civil servant at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. Proficient in Arabic, he served in the Middle East as well in roles including as the Consul General of India, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. -- PTI 

There is actually "no use" in debating over allopathy and ayurveda as both are different and useful medicine systems, renowned scientist and Niti Aayog Member V K Saraswat said on Tuesday even as he emphasised that more research needs to be done in ayurveda to ensure it is more acceptable to the society.

Saraswat, who was associated in the development of an anti-COVID drug by DRDO, also made it clear that the drug does not have anything to do with Patanjali Ayurved, amid reports that the medicine is connected with the research done by Patanjali Ayurved.

The Niti Aayog member's remarks on allopathy and ayurveda comes against the backdrop of the Indian Medical Association raising strong objections to yoga guru Ramdev's comments that questioned the efficacy of allopathic medicines in treating COVID infections. Ramdev also steers Patanjali Ayurved.

Saraswat said India has got traditional medicine systems for thousands of years and that ayurvedic medicine has been responsible for improving the immunity of people.

"I think ayurveda and allopathy, they are two streams of medicine and they survive together... one has a particular role and other has a different role," he said.

Amid the ongoing debate in certain quarters over allopathy and ayurveda, he said, the debate "is actually of no use", adding that both the streams are useful.

"My opinion is that the ayurvedic system of medicine should research more and more to bring (itself) at par in understanding of the scientific methods to become more acceptable by the society, which has been done in the allopathy," he emphasised.

The Netherlands on Tuesday lifted the ban on passenger flights from India.

The ban was imposed on April 26 in view of rising COVID-19 cases in India. "As per the Dutch Government ban on passenger flights from India that had come into force on April 26, 2021, has been lifted w.e.f 01 June 2021," the India embassy tweeted.

However, there is still a European Union ban on non-EU travelers from countries where the coronavirus situation is considered very high risk.

The Netherlands had on April 26 decided to suspend India flights as "the epidemiological situation on the ground (in India) is very serious..."

The Netherlands Embassy in India tweeted in April 2021 that the "ban on passenger flights from India has been extended until June 1, 2021."

Swapan Dasgupta had tendered his resignation from the upper house of Parliament after being named as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in the West Bengal assembly elections.

PM Modi is chairing a meeting with officials to discuss class 12 board exams. The meeting commenced at 5:40 pm. He will be briefed on all options for conducting class 12 exams. 

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to the centre to cancel class 12 board exams in view of the pandemic. "I appeal to Centre to cancel Class 12 board exams, evaluate students on basis of past performance," Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said. 

 It said the positivity rate is less than five per cent in 344 districts and 30 states have reported a decline in active COVID-19 cases since the last week. There has also been an almost 69 per cent decline in Covid cases since the peak recorded on May 7, the Centre said.

Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho took offence to the fact that Tamil Nadu Finance Minister P Thiagarajan interrupted his lengthy speech, and demanded that the latter apologise to all Goans for the insult. 

The TN minister, who has been in fine fettle on Twitter, not only refused to do so, saying that he had no reason to do so  but that Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant had 'perpetrated a misdemeanour' by nominating Godinho to represent Goa at the meet. 

In a 2-page rebuttal posted on Twitter, Thiagarajan showed why he is among the most eloquent politicians in the country. 

'As a relatively new entrant to public life, I hope I will one day attain the dignified restraint shown by  Dr Amit Mitra and M S BADAL and many other Hon'ble Ministers of the GST Council in the face of provocation, but today....I can not let blatant lies and hypocrisy go unanswered,' he says in preface to his note, which had gems like: 'The only question arising from your transport minister's press conference is whether he is limited in comprehension, or honesty, or both.' 

'I found his statements during the meeting to be highly repetitive, largely vacuous, hectoring, mostly redundant to others' inputs, supercilious, and devoid of the basic courtesy of assuming good faith in the comments of other states' ministers.' 

And to the people of Goa, 'I do offer you my sincere condolences, for having such a person as your minister.' 

'Finally I sincerely request the BJP, even across the political divide, to impose some minimal quality control in its 'MLA acquisition' procedures. If it had done so, Goa and the nation would be saved a lot of pain.' 

You can read P Thiagarajan's tweet, here.

-- There is absolutely no change in the schedule of Covishield doses; it will be two doses only. After the first Covishield dose is administered, second dose will be given after 12 weeks. The same schedule is applicable to Covaxin.

(This comes after the government yesterday said it would review the impact of its decision to extend the gap between Covishield doses, which will also help decide on a possible single-dose plan for the vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India. Single dose vaccination will help the government cover a much wider base of the population.)

-- There is no shortage of vaccine. By mid-July or August, we will have enough doses to vaccinate 1 crore people per day. We are confident of vaccinating the whole population by December.

-- Our focus on childhood Covid disease is gaining our attention. The pediatric population is generally asymptomatic. They often get infections but their symptoms are minimal or nil. The infection has not taken serious shape in children. 

-- Total 21.60 crore vaccine doses administered in the country with 1.67 crore doses to health workers, 2.42 crore to front line workers, 15.48 crore to people in 45+ age group while for those in 18-44 age group, 2.03 doses have been administered.

 Urging people to take precaution so as not to get infected with coronavirus and also not transmit it to others, he said following the intense lockdown from May 24, the state is witnessing a phased decline of virus spread in key cities, including Chennai. 

 Recently, the cases in Chennai alone touched about 7,000 cases and it has now dropped below 3,000 (2,596 cases on May 31). In a video message, the Chief Minister, referring to the decline, said everyone should realise that other than a complete lockdown, there is no other (effective) way to contain the virus spread. 

 It is also true that the lockdown impacted the livelihood of a section of the people and that is why the government has disbursed the first instalment of Rs 2,000 under the Rs 4,000 COVID-19 assistance scheme.

 However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banarjee announced his retirement on Monday and appointed him as the chief advisor to the state government. PTI

 "While GHAC has already handled several import shipments of vaccine prior to this, todays shipment of 56.6 tonnes of vaccines is the single largest import shipment of COVID-19 vaccines handled in India till date. This shipment completed all processes and was dispatched in less than 90 minutes," it said. 

 The Sputnik V vaccine requires specialised handling and storage, required to be kept at a temperature of -20 C.

GHAC has been working closely with the experts from the customers supply chain team, officials from customs department and other relevant stakeholders over an extended period of time to ensure that the necessary infrastructure and handling processes are fully in place at the Air Cargo Terminal for smooth handling of the vaccine shipments, it said.

 Dr Reddy's Laboratories is in a pact with Russian Direct Investment Fund to sell the first 125 million people doses (250 million vials) ofSputnikVin India.

Basu tweets, "New growth data for 20-21 shows India (growth -7.3%) is now 142 among 194 nations, a shocking drop in rank for a nation once among the fastest growers. For those who say this happened to all nations because of COVID, my advice is: re-read your school notes on the meaning of rank."

After the Prime Minister landed at Kalaikunda last week, Banerjee left for Digha after meeting him briefly and did not attend the review meeting over the damage caused by Cyclone Yaas. Mamata maintains she took the Prime Minister's permission before leaving but the GoI sources say that the PM Modi had not given permission to Banerjee to leave the meeting. 

"It is clear that Mamata Banerjee's statement of being made to wait is entirely false and that she made the PM wait," a source said.

The sources also said that the Chief Minister had agreed to attend the meeting, but changed her mind after coming to know that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) Suvendu Adhikari was going to be part of the meeting, which she also mentions in her letter.

Slamming her claims of being told to wait for 20 minutes before the Prime Minister, the government sources said that she was expected to come in advance, as everyone does when PM is supposed to land at any airport.

They also said that the Bengal CM had chosen to prevent other officers too from attending the meeting and in effect cancelled the review meeting scheduled by the Prime Minister, as she sensed that she had to wait till the meeting was over.

"Mamata Banerjee chose to boycott the review meeting because the LOP of West Bengal was present. No issue was created by GoI on this, because what mattered was cyclone relief activities. It was suggested to her that PM will meet her immediately after the review meeting as that was the reason for which he traveled to the state," the sources said.

Referring to Banerjee's protests following the recall of Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay, describing the order as 'unprecedented and unconstitutional, the sources said that the order is perfectly constitutional since Chief Secretary is an All India Services officer. 

"He chose to ignore his constitutional duties, as a result of which no presentation was given to PM and no officer of West Bengal government attended the PM's review meeting," they said.

They also stressed that All India officers are not expected to be part of politics and that Banerjee knows all this and his retirement is the last bid to save him.

"Chief Secretary's retirement shows that Mamata Banerjee is on the back foot. She knows that facts of the matter are against the Chief Secretary and his behaviour was such that it will invite strict disciplinary action as he is an All India Services Officer and it was his duty to ensure that the review meeting takes place as scheduled," the sources said.

"Mamata Banerjee has done a big U turn in a matter of hours. From requesting PM to confirm the extension of Chief Secretary for three months, to retiring him now," they further said.

"Out of them, 9,928 were minors (aged below 18), which comes to about 11.5 per cent of the total cases reported last month," Bhosale said. He said out of the 9,928 minors who contracted the viral infection, 6,700 were in the age group of 11 to 18, 3,100 were in 1 to 10 years age bracket, while some were also below the age of 1 year. 

"Since around 95 per cent of them were asymptomatic, there is nothing to worry. However, considering the threat of a possible third wave of COVID-19, it has now become paramount to take utmost care of children," the collector said. 

 Ahmednagar's paediatric task force member Dr Sachin Solat said though the number appeared big, the situation was "not alarming at all" as about 95 per cent of the minors who contracted COVID-19 were asymptomatic. 

 He also said 350 to 370 patients were currently admitted to the district's civil hospital and out of them, only five to six were children. Dr Solat also said that on Monday, around 1,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the district and out of them, 97 were minors. 

 Asked about the reason for such a big number of children contracting the disease, he said, "In most of the cases, the infection to minors comes from their parents or other adult members of the family." Generally adult members of a family test positive and during high risk contact-tracing, when children from the same index family are tested, they too test positive, he said.

Citing rise in the number of divorce cases, the Goa government has decided to come up with a policy to make premarital counselling mandatory.

State Law Minister Nilesh Cabral on Monday said the state government's Goa Institute of Public Administration and Rural Development (GIPARD) will finalise the counselling course and its format.

"We are coming up with a new policy to make premarital counselling mandatory in the state. We may also rope in religious institutions for the same," he said.

The decision was taken following a rise in divorce cases reported in Goa, he said.

"Many divorces are taking place within six months to one year of marriage. As a policy, we thought that premarital counselling should be made compulsory to create awareness among couples," Cabral said.

While the minister said he did not have data on the exact number of divorce cases reported each month, he claimed the number has increased in the recent times.  -- PTI

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Madhya Pradesh minister Laxmikant Sharma died of coronavirus at a private hospital, family sources said on Tuesday.

Sharma, 60, succumbed to the deadly infection at Chirayu Hospital and Medical College on Monday night, the hospital's director Dr Ajay Goenka said.

The senior BJP leader is survived by his wife and three daughters, the family sources stated.

Sharma's last rites were performed at Sironj, his ancestral town, in Vidisha district with full state honours on Tuesday, they said.

Sharma was elected as an MLA from Sironj Assembly seat for four terms in 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008.

The senior BJP leader had served as a minister in the cabinet of former chief ministers Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur and also under the present Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the party sources said.

Sharma was embroiled in the Vyapam (admission and recruitment) scam, but was given a clean chit by the CBI in 2019, the sources added.

The chief minister condoled Sharma's death in a tweet.  -- PTI

The court also said that extension of contract, in the future, of the contractual pilots would be at the discretion of Air India in view of their satisfactory performance. 

 The court said the detailed judgement would be available only on Wednesday. The order was passed in over 40 petitions by pilots whose services were terminated by Air India on August 13 last year. PTI

The Southwest Monsoon is likely to be normal in north and south India, above-normal in central India and below-normal in east and northeast India, the MeT department said on Tuesday.

Releasing its Second Long Range Forecast for Southwest Monsoon 2021, India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said that the monsoon this year is likely to be normal in the country as a whole.

It is likely to be in the range of 96-104 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA), Mohapatra said.

"Southwest Monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole is most likely to be normal (96 to 104 per cent of Long Period Average (LPA).

"Quantitatively, the monsoon seasonal (June to September) rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be 101 per cent of the Long Period Average (LPA) with a model error of plus or minus 4 per cent," he said.

The LPA of the season rainfall over the country as a whole for the period 1961-2010 is 88 cm.   -- PTI

Read the column by Vappala Balachandran, ex-Special Secretary, cabinet Secretariat.

Pratap Chandra, a resident of Lucknow, stated that after listening to a press briefing of ICMR where it was mentioned that antibodies in sufficient quantities are formed in the body against the virus after taking the first dose, he got an antibody test to determine the level of antibodies formed in his body. 

Chandra was administered the first dose on April 8 and got the test done on May 25.Speaking to ANI, Chandra said, "I was administered Covishield on April 8, 2021. On May 21, ICMR and Union Health Ministry had in a press briefing said that after being inoculated with Covishield vaccine, antibodies are produced in the body at a good level. After hearing this, on May 25, 2021, I got an antibody test done from Thyrocare, which is an authorised laboratory. On May 27 the report had come, which was received by me on May 28, 2021. I was shocked and surprised to see a negative antibody in my report."

"I got vaccinated with Covishield, ICMR said that antibodies will be produced in sufficient quantity after the first dose itself, but the antibodies were not formed even in minimum quantity. This fraud has happened to me. It is just like a fake protection layer which will not protect against anything, he said.

Chandra further alleged, "As the name suggests, Covishield is supposed to shield us from the virus. Most of the people have already believed that these vaccines are protecting us. So many people died after getting vaccinated KK Agarwal, Rohit Sardana. Nobody knows whether antibodies were formed in their body or not. This only implies that we are being injected with water."

Chandra said he filed a complaint at the Ashiyana Police Station under sections 307 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Mamata, who had held a virtual administrative review meeting and a brief news conference on the impact of Cyclone Yaas in the afternoon, had steered clear of elaborating on the developments regarding the chief secretary after she sent a five-page letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the morning.

Bandyopadhyay was present at the administrative meeting, having not gone to New Delhi to report to North Block by 10am as the Centre had asked him to.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Raut dismissed prospects of any new political arithmetic emerging in the state. "Forget about 'operation Lotus' in Maharashtra. It will not happen here, not in West Bengal. Why bring political angle into every meeting?" he said. 

 Fadnavis, who is the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, called on Pawar (80) on Monday and later termed it as a "courtesy meeting". 

The meeting came against the backdrop of the BJP criticising the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government over its handling of the Maratha quota issue and the COVID-19 situation in the state. The NCP and Congress share power with the Sena in Maharashtra. 

 Pawar underwent a gall bladder surgery in April this year following which he was advised rest. Asked about the meeting between the two leaders, Raut took a dig at Fadnavis saying, "Sharad Pawar may have advised Devendra Fadnavis on how to be a good opposition leader. If he continues to act like this, the opposition (BJP) will not come to power (in the state) in the next 100 years." 

 "It (the meeting) could be about how to play his role (as an opposition leader) in the interest of the state, the public and the nation," the Sena leader added. Asked about any political angle to the meeting between Pawar and Fadnavis, Raut said the BJP leader himself termed it as a "courtesy meet".

Dhankhar said the chief minister had called him before the meeting at Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district and indicated that she won't attend it if Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari is present in it. "Constrained by false narrative to put record straight: On May 27 at 2316 hrs CM @MamataOfficial messaged 'may I talk? urgent'," Dhankhar tweeted. "Thereafter on phone indicated boycott by her & officials of PM Review Meet #CycloneYaas if LOP @SuvenduWB attends it. Ego prevailed over Public service," he said in another Twitter post. 

 Besides Adhikary, Dhankhar and BJP MP Debosree Chaudhuri were present at the meeting. The chief minister said she skipped the meeting because "a BJP MLA has no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting". Adhikari has defeated Banerjee in Nandigram seat in the recent assembly elections. 

 In a letter to the prime minister on Monday, Banerjee had written, "I wanted to have a quiet word with you, a meeting between the PM and the CM as usual. You, however, revised the structure of the meeting to include a local MLA from your party and I am of the view that he had no locus to be present in a PM-CM meeting." Banerjee had also mentioned in the letter that she had no objection to the presence of the governor and other Union ministers in the meeting. PTI

 Of this, the total consumption, including wastages, is 21,51,48,659 doses, the ministry said. "More than 1.57 crore COVID-19 vaccine doses (1,57,74,331) are still available with the states and UTs to be administered," it said.

 As part of the nationwide vaccination drive, the Centre has been supporting the States and UTs by providing them vaccines free of cost. In addition, it has also been facilitating direct procurement of vaccines by the states and UTs. PTI

 The World Health Organisation's move on Monday came nearly three weeks after India objected to the B.1.617 mutant of the novel coronavirus being termed an "Indian Variant" in media reports with the Union Health Ministry pointing out that the UN's top health organ has not used the word "Indian" for this strain in its document. 

 The UN health agency named the B.1.617.1 variant of the COVID 19 as 'Kappa' while the B1.617.2 variant was dubbed 'Delta.' Both the variants were first found in India. 

 Taking to Twitter, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's technical COVID-19 lead, on Monday said: "Today, @WHO announces new, easy-to-say labels for #SARSCoV2 Variants of Concern (VOCs) & Interest (VOIs). They will not replace existing scientific names, but are aimed to help in public discussion of VOI/VOC. The WHO, while announcing the new naming system making them simple, easy to say and remember, said that it is stigmatising and discriminatory to call the variants by names of the nations they are first detected in. The labels do not replace existing scientific names, which convey important scientific information & will continue to be used in research. The naming system aims to prevent calling COVID-19 variants by the places where they are detected, which is stigmatizing & discriminatory," the WHO said in a tweet on Monday. 

 The Geneva-based global health agency encouraged countries and others to adopt these names as they will ease public discussions about the global COVID-19 Variants of Concern and Interest. The B.1.1.7 strain first detected in the UK will be known as Alpha, while the B.1.351 variant detected in South Africa is now Beta', P.1 variant first found in Brazil is Gamma and the P.2 variant is Zeta. The strains found in the US are Epsilon and Iota.

The 30-share BSE index was trading 271.72 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 52,209.16 in initial deals, and the broader NSE Nifty rose 69.70 points or 0.45 per cent to 15,652.50. Bajaj Auto was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising more than 2 per cent, followed by SBI, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, L&T, Reliance Industries and IndusInd Bank. On the other hand, Infosys, TCS, Nestle India, Dr Reddy's were among the laggards. -- PTI

Total cases: 2,81,75,044 

Total discharges: 2,59,47,629 

 Death toll: 3,31,895 

 Active cases: 18,95,520 

 Total vaccination: 21,60,46,638 

1.27 lakh cases is the lowest case load in the last 54 days. Total 2,59,47,629 recoveries reported across the country so far after 2,55,287 patients recovered during the last 24 hours. Recovery rate continues to increase, at 92.09 per cent today. Weekly positivity rate currently pegged at 8.64 per cent and daily positivity rate dips to 6.62 per cent. 

A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Lakshadweep met party chief J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday and discussed the situation in the union territory and the concerns of the locals.

Shah assured the BJP delegation that all concerns of the locals will be addressed.

"A BJP delegation from Lakshadweep met party chief J P Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah. We thoroughly discussed the situation in Lakshadweep. Shah said - 'we're with people of Lakshadweep. We'll address all of their worries'," said BJP's in-charge for Lakshadweep, A P Abdullakutty.

Over the last week, several leaders have called for a new administrator in the Lakshadweep islands, including Lakshadweep MP and Nationalist Congress Party leader Mohammed Faizal.

Faizal accused Administrator Praful Khoda Patel of implementing anti-people rules and regulations and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to 'listen to the outcry of the local people and send in a new Administrator'.

Youth Congress Kerala President and Congress MLA Shafi Parambil even wrote to the Chief Minister of Kerala, Opposition Leader and the Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly requesting to pass a resolution 'as a solidarity of the Malayalee community to the struggle of the people of Lakshadweep' against the new authoritarian decisions taken by the current Administrator of Lakshadweep Praful Patel.

Congress had written to President Ram Nath Kovind alleging that the current Administrator of Lakshadweep Praful Patel had taken 'authoritarian measures' and demanded his recall.

In a letter written to the President, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said that there is apprehension among the people of Lakshadweep and resultant widespread protests 'owing to the authoritarian measures taken by the current Administrator Praful Patel'.

Patel, who was appointed as the Administrator of Lakshadweep in December 2020 is facing opposition over policies introduced by him from the people of the union territory and politicians, both from within Lakshadweep and neighbouring state Kerala.

The Collector had defended the laws imposed by Administrator Praful Khoda Patel earlier as well and said people with vested interests are propagating misinformation about him.

In a press note, he said, 'A few days ago, 300 kg heroin with an international value of 3,000 crores and 5 AK-47 rifles and 1,000 live rounds were confiscated. Similarly, many cases of illegal smuggling of Marijuana and liquor and POCSO have also been reported here. In this small UT, the future of youth is expected to be clouded by such illegal business. Keeping this in mind, strict and stringent laws are needed so that the youth here are not misguided. People having personal interests in such illegal business are propagating against the imposition of strict laws.'

He added that the administration is also taking action to remove illegal encroachments at various places over the years in Lakshadweep, in protest of which, a self-motivated propaganda is being carried out by the people with vested interests.

Congress leader and Kerala MP Hibi Eden has also written to President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah urging them to 'protect the interests and culture of the islanders'.

Eden raised objection on Lakshadweep Administrator's decision to take over the control of the Administrative powers of elected zilla panchayat regarding-- Education, Health care, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries.  -- ANI

Father of 'Cycle girl' Jyoti died of cardiac arrest on Monday in Darbhanga.

Jyoti had cycled around 1,200 km carrying her injured father from Gurugram to their native place in Darbhanga amid COVID-19 lockdown in May last year.

Read her story: How Life has CHANGED for Bihar's Bicycle Girl

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is scheduled to chair a meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) foreign ministers through video conferencing on Tuesday.

In this meeting, the leaders will exchange views on COVID-19 pandemic, global and regional issues of concern, sustainable development and countering terrorism.

'India as the current BRICS Chair will convene the standalone meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs/ International Relations on June 1, 2021,' the Ministry of External Affairs said in a release on Monday.

Brazil Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Alberto Franco Franca, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Chinese foreign Minister Wang Yi, and South African Foreign Minister Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor are expected to participate in the meeting.

'The ministers are expected to exchange views on the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the need for strengthening and reforming the multilateral system with a view to enhancing its capacity to effectively address the diverse challenges of our time and to adapt them to contemporary realities, on global and regional issues of concern, sustainable development, countering terrorism besides discussing ways to enhance intra-BRICS cooperation, especially people-to-people cooperation,' the release said. -- ANI

The Centre sent a reminder to West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay who "retired" on Monday to report to the Personnel Ministry in Delhi at 10 AM on Tuesday, failing which disciplinary action would be initiated against him, officials said.

   

They said the reminder was sent after the officer failed to report here on Monday in response to an order issued by the ministry placing his services with the Government of India.

 

Amid the political slugfest over the issue, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said Bandyopadhyay has "retired" and he has been appointed as her adviser for three years.

 

She had earlier in the day written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to rescind the Centre's order recalling Bandyopadhyay, and said her government  was "not releasing" the top bureaucrat.

 

She said the central government had asked Bandopadhyay to report to Delhi's North Block on Tuesday, but added an officer cannot join a new office without permission from the state administration.

 

"The CS got a letter from the Centre asking him to join North Block by tomorrow. This is not a reply to my letter but to the CS. I have not received any reply from it to the letter which I had sent earlier today," she told newspersons in Kolkata.

 

Sources in Delhi said necessary disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against the officer in case he fails to report in Delhi on Tuesday.

 

"A show-cause notice can also be issued to him seeking his explanation as to why he did not join," a source explained.

 

The Personnel Ministry had on May 28 sought services of Bandyopadhyay and asked the state government to relieve the officer immediately.

 

Bandyopadhyay, who was scheduled to retire on Monday after completion of 60 years of age, was recently given a three-month extension. His extension was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet  headed by the prime minister.

 

In a communique to the state government, the Personnel Ministry on Friday said the ACC has approved the placement of the services of Bandyopadhyay with Government of India as per provisions of Rule 6(1) of the Indian Administrative Service (Cadre) Rules, 1954, "with immediate effect". -- PTI