London cycling event to raise funds for Covid relief in South Asia
Darpan News Desk IANS, 11 Jun, 2021 01:04 PM
London, June 11 (IANS) The Prince of Wales and Manoj Badale, lead owner of the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Rajasthan Royals, on Thursday flagged off a cycling event here to raise funds for Covid relief in South Asia.
More than 30 cyclists, who started off at Highgrove in Gloucestershire, are taking part in the 420km-long event that will see them visit some of England's most iconic royal households and palaces over four days, a Rajasthan Royals statement on Friday.
Badale, who is also the British Asian Trust chairman, aims to raise funds to help people who have "suffered from the effects of the pandemic".
The team is being led by Rohit Chadha, a supporter of the British Asian Trust and founder of the event.
Rajasthan Royals had announced Rs 7.5 crore as contribution towards Covid relief to help with "immediate support to people in India impacted by the surge" of the pandemic.
"We've all got our responsibility to do our bit for the people of South Asia that are suffering at the hands of a devastating pandemic, especially the ones that are disadvantaged. It's an initiative that is looking pan-region and to harness complete effort towards regenerating a certain section of the population that needs help on various fronts," said Badale in the statement.
Siddharta Vashishtha, also known as Manu Sharma, the convict in the Jessica Lal murder case was released from Tihar Jail on Tuesday. Sandeep Goel, Director-General of Tihar Jail, said: “He was released on the recommendations of the Sentence Reviewing Board meeting. The entire process has been carried out.”
A swarm of locusts on Wednesday and Thursday devastated crops in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadhra district, which shares borders with Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. The pest has damaged crops in six states, leading to the Centre issuing a locust warning to 16 states.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Rs 1,500 crore for the relief and rehabilitation of people affected by Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal and Odisha, and assured the states of more support after conducting separate aerial surveys with chief ministers Mamata Banerjee and Naveen Patnaik on Friday.
US President Donald Trump tweeted that the US would donate ventilators to India in the fight against COVID-19. "We stand with India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during this pandemic,".
Fugitive liquor lord Vijay Mallya Thursday lost his application to appeal against extradition proceedings in the England Supreme Court, setting off the 28-day “mandatory period” for the 64-year-old businessman to be extradited to India on charges of fraud and money laundering related to unrecovered loans to his now non existent Kingfisher Airlines.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 270 billion dollar package to tackle the impact of coronavirus and weeks of lockdown. India would not be controlled by the virus, he said, also announcing "lockdown 4" after May 17 in a "completely different form", with new rules.
