Congress & Akali Dal boycott PM's briefing on Covid
Darpan News Desk IANS, 20 Jul, 2021 11:42 AM
New Delhi, July 20 (IANS) The Congress and the Akali Dal on Tuesday decided not to attend the Prime Minister's meeting on Covid, called to brief the floor leaders about the steps taken by the government for its management.
While Akali Dal boycotted the meeting on the issue of farmers protest against the three farm laws, the Congress said that all the MPs should have been briefed and not only the floor leaders.
Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge said, "We have said that all the MPs should have been briefed."
Earlier, the Rajya Sabha discussed the issue of Covid where the opposition members mounted attack on the government for its 'mismanagement' while praising the work done by corona warriors. Kharge even disputed the number of deaths due to Covid.
Kharge said, "the government's number on deaths is not correct as India has more than six lakh villages and if five persons died in one village, its more than 31 lakh people have died but if you add urban centres then the data could be more than 52 lakh people who succumbed to Covid-19. The government is releasing incorrect data, so its necessary to expose them."
Two people have been arrested for attacking prominent journalist Arnab Goswami and his wife. A FIR has been registered at the NM Joshi Marg Police station. Goswami in his complaint to the police has alleged that he and his wife were attacked by Youth Congress workers when they were driving back home from the Republic TV Headquarters in Worli.
A "major digital transformation" is coming to a one of fastest developing countries in the world. Facebook is committed to "opening commerce opportunities for people across India", founder Mark Zuckerberg said this morning, a day after the social media powerhouse invested $5.7 billion in Reliance Industries Ltd-owned mobile telecom company Reliance Jio.
The men accused of killing three men in Palghar have been arrested and are in jail. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on he has spoken to Union home minister Amit Shah and assured him that he would look into the case. More than 100 people are in custody. The attack took place at a spot close to Mumbai.
Covid-19 death toll has reached 507 deaths in India while confirmed cases surpassed 15,000. On Sunday 44 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Rajasthan, while in Agra 45 more cases were confirmed. In Lucknow, 43 more people tested positive for the virus.
Tablighi Jamaat, the global organisation of Islamic missionaries, which may be the biggest carrier of Covid-19 infection in India, has had a long history of ties with Pakistan-based banned terror outfits like Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday ordered withdrawal of 1,300 policemen from the VIP duties, including from his own security, and their deployment in the battle against the coronavirus.
