Fearing coronavirus spread the state gov orders schools and colleges to stay shut from March 16 to 29

Fearing the further worsening situation of corona crisis, the Health and Family Welfare Department, Sachivalay, Gandhinagar, has issued a notification, stating a complete shut down of the schools and colleges in whole state from March 16 to 29, for 14 days on 13th March,2020. However the school board examination will continue as planned before.

The state government, in the public notification, has invoked Epidemic Act-1897 for the current COVID-19 virus and ordered all the concerned educational institutes like school, college, tuition classes etc. to stay closed till March 29.

Following this notification, many universities have also issued notification declaring all the activities of the universities either suspended or postponed and also told students to remain home for this period of time. However, the teachers and other members are told to attend the colleges. For the time being, biometric attendance of the staff members will be replaced with manual attendance sheet due to touch spread issue of this fatal disease.

Meanwhile, it is important to note that coronavirus cases in India has reached almost at 100, and two fatalities have been so far confirmed.

The Union Government of India has already adopted prevention measures by enforcing mandatory screen testing for the passengers who come from abroad and setting up of quarantine centres.

Earlier other state governments too have declared emergencies in territories: Delhi government has banned IPL matches in Delhi; Kerala government has already declared holiday for the schools and colleges.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) had emerged from Wuhan city in China where the virus has claimed most lives approximately of more than 3,000 people. Italy and Spain also have death toll of more than a hundred and it is likely to increase further.

Although, India has registered only two fatalities, but looking at bulk of India’s population in comparison to the infrastructure and service facilities of nation’s hospitals, the fear of government is 100 % reasonable. 

Injured hawk rescued and sent for treatment

An injured hawk has been rescued and sent for further medical treatment to Panjarapol at about 10 am from Gujarat Vidyapith, Ashram road, Income Tax on Sunday, March 15.

Alpesh, a first year student of Journalism course, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, happened to see an injured hawk lying on
the Ahsram road highway just opposite to the famous Oswal sweets store.

The bird had a severe thread slash
in its leg which had taken it down on the road. Alpesh at once realizing that the bird belonged to the campus of
Gujarat Vidyapith, took charge of it by safely picking it up in his hands and
carried it into the campus.

Soon a call was made to the bird rescuer team by a kind fellow who comes to Gujarat Vidyapit library for reading. Meanwhile, the bird was placed safely and given water to drink by the library peon, Maheshbhai.

Finally, the bird rescuer team of two young men arrived. They examined the bird thoroghly, and carried it along in the bird box for medical treatment to Panjarapol.

Badruddin Shaikh Appointed Vice Chairperson of AICC Minority Cell

Ahmedabad: A senior leader and former spokesperson of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, Badruddin Shaikh has been appointed as vice chairperson of department of minority cell of All India Congress Committee by the general secretary KC Venugopal with instruction of Sonia Gandhi, the current Interim party president.

Badruddin Shaikh has already worked as the president of department of Gujarat Congress Minority Cell from 1992 to 1995 and has held crucial positions like leader of Opposition, former chairman of standing committee (2000-2003) in Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, and former spokesperson of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee.

''Sincerest thanks to H'BLE President Congress SMT Soniya Gandhiji, Rahul Gandhiji, Ahmed Patelji, KC Venugopalji & Nadeem Javedji for keeping faith ne me & appointing me as a vice chairman of AICC minority department'' tweeted Shaikh, showing his gratitude to the party leaders.

Earlier, the General Secretary KC Venugopal had issued a press release on March 12, which informed that 'Hon'ble Congress President has approved the proposal of the appointment of National Office bearers of Minority Department, AICC.''  Five vice chairpersons, two secretaries, 24 coordinators and one social media incharge have been appointed, as per this press release. Anurodh Lalit Jain, Anil A. Thomas, Sardar Aman Cheema and Iqbal Valivaveetil are other selected vice chairpersons for the minority cell of AlCC, who are selected along with Badruddin Shaikh.

Although Shaikh has been associated with congress party for more than 45 years, the senior leader had resigned from all party posts in October, 2019 accusing congress party of discriminating against Muslims.

Saurashtra makes history, defeats West Bengal and claims Ranji Trophy for first time

Rajkot: On Friday, March 13 the Saurashtra cricket team has first time claimed Ranji Trophy by defeating West Bengal in the final match at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. The team was announced victorious based on its lead of first inning at the end of fifth day of the match.

Skipper Jaydev Unadkat was the game changer of the match as he had Majmudar LBW and Akash Deep run out. This was crucial turn of the match for Majmudar-Nandi pair had looked reluctant to leave the ground with its sound 98 runs partnership.

Earlier, Saurashtra had scored 425 runs at the end of the 1st innings. Bengal, in response, could score only 381 runs, giving 44 runs lead to the opponent. In the second innings, Saurashtra wound up its score of 105 at the loss of 4 wickets and offered Bengal to bat. When Unadkat took the last wicket of Bengal's second innings, Saurashtra was still leading by 149 runs with six wickets in hand.

Though Bengal could have continued the match as there were still 70 overs remaining after its innings ended, it was not enough for the opposition to bowl out Saurashtra. Therefor the captains on both sides decided to stop the match.

According to the rules, if the final of Ranji Trophy heads towards a draw, the winner is decided on the basis of the lead of first-day innings.

 “I still remember my words (last year) and I remember telling you that the brand of cricket we are playing will continue for a few more years and we will win the title sooner than later. We’ve won the trophy for the first time in 73 years and I couldn’t be happier,” Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat said while celebrating the victory.

The winning of the Ranji Trophy matters a lot for the Saurashtra players as the team had reached twice in the Ranji Trophy final and lost to Mumbai on both occasions.  

Rajya Sabha Election: BJP Fields Narhari Amin as Third BJP Candidate in the Race, Congress Fears Poaching

Ahmedabad: Gujarat Rajya Sabha election takes a new turn now as BJP fields the third candidate in the race of total 4 seats members. The action has struck fear in congress party for this trick of BJP could lead to the possible poaching of congress party members and result into cross voting against the party.

Earlier both BJP and Congress have announced their candidates for the Rajya Sabha election. Ramilaben Bara and Abhay Bhardwaj are already nominated for the candidateship of Rajya Sabha election by BJP and Congress has given tickets to Bharat Singh Solanki and Shaktisinh Gohil for the same. Rajya Sabha election is going to be held on March 26.

Presently BJP and Congress have respectively 103 and 73 MLAs in the assembly. Each Rajya Sabha candidate, irrespective of BJP or Congress, needs 37 votes in order to win. If BJP wants its third candidate to win then it will need total 111 votes, which is short of 8 seats. On the other hand, Congress requires only 1 MLA vote in its favor in order to win for its two candidates.

Congress needs support of one MLA which it expects from 2 members of BTP and Jignesh Mevani. On the contrary, BJP hopes to convince some members of congress to vote in favor of the BJP candidate.

Since announcing the third candidate Narhari Amin for the Rajya Sabha, the word war has started between the members of BJP and Congress. Deputy CM Nitin Patel claims that many congress leaders are offended from the party and the current provincialism of Congress will benefit BJP to win for the third seat. But Paresh Dhanani assures that Congress party acts above caste and religion and all members of the party are committed to it. 

Motorcyclist drives over woman, still out of reach

Ahmedabad: On Tuesday, a motorcycle driver drove over a woman and fled the spot.  He first hit her and carried her on the front fender of his vehicle almost for about 50 feet. The CCTV camera has captured the whole accident. However, the culprit is still out of reach.

The incident took place in front of Shapath 5 in Prahladnagar. When Gunjan Shah, an HR manager with Citrin Cooperman India LLP in Prahladnagar, was crossing the road to reach her car in the parking area, she was hit by a speeding motorcycle, according to the FIR filed with SG-2 Division traffic police.

 "She was carried on the front fender of the motorcycle but the man did not stop and kept riding" Shah's brother, Harshal Bhatt states in the FIR.

The FIR further reveals that motorcyclist did not try to stop the bike even after the lady had fallen on the ground in front of him, instead he drove over her, leaving her injured and unconscious.

Shah had suffered fractures in her pelvis and left knee, she also had to undergo an operation for the injuries. 'Although she is recovering now but she will have to bear the pain for four or five month' said Bhatt.

Police has filed a case for rash driving, causing an act of endangering the life or personal safety of others and causing grievous hurt, against an unknown man and begun the investigation.

Although the police has the CCTV footage of the incident, it has so far not been able to identify the accused as per the information from a police official of SG-2 division traffic police. 

RBI reassures safety of deposits in private banks, advises states to refrain from transfer of deposit

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the all state governments not to move out their deposits from private bank accounts for such actions can have negative repercussions for the whole financial sector of the country, as per the letter sent by RBI to chief secretaries of all states.

"We strongly believe that such a move can have banking and financial sector stability implications,” the central bank said in this letter.

There were reports that some state governments were considering to transfer their deposits from private sector banks to public sector firms. RBI has cautioned against any such decisions, which could lead to stability implications for the whole financial sector, according to this letter.

The letter also urges to have faith in the competence of the central bank and ensures that RBI can effectively deal with any precarious hardships of banks. It further added that the money of depositor is entirely safe under the strict regulation and the authority of the central bank of India.

It is important to note that after the sudden crisis of Yes Bank, which is at present under the moratorium by RBI, there was an atmosphere of gloom as to the safety and security of the deposits in the bank. This fear still haunts people as well as some privates and government institutes about safety of the deposits in private bank accounts.

Addressing to the Yes Bank crisis, the letter said "It is precisely with a view to retaining depositors' confidence in private sector banks and mitigating their hardship that, after the imposition of a moratorium on Yes Bank Ltd, the RBI has drawn up a draft scheme without any delay and we are making every effort to expedite the finalization of the scheme.”

Corona continues its haunt, common man frightened

Corona scare mounts up as the number of the infected persons reaches to 52 in the country

With latest two positive tests of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Pune, the number of the infected persons reaches to 52 causing a feeling of scare in the country.

Out of 52 confirmed cases, there are 36 Indians and 16 foreigners. Kerala and Uttar Pradesh each has the highest numbers of 9 positive cases of Indians. While Haryana with 14 cases tops in the number of foreign infected persons, according to the latest update on coronavirus from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 

Kerala where the situation is rather grim with 1,116 people under observation, the state government has ordered to close schools, colleges and cinemas till March 31 and postponed the CBSC and ICSE Boards examination. Similar measures have been adopted in Jammu and Kashmir too. Also, Mizoram and Manipur have shut its borders with Myanmar fearing the entry of coronavirus infected people.

In a recent development, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has suspended all the visas granted to nationals of France, Germany and Spain on or before March 11. The total number of passengers who were screened at airport is 9,41,717 till now.

Apart from this, the government has advised against travelling to China, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, Japan, France, Spain and Germany. On March 10, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has brought back 58 Indians from Iran.

The Coronavirus (Covid-19) belongs to a large family of viruses that causes illnesses ranging from the common cold to acute respiratory syndromes. The common symptoms of this virus include fever, cough, and shortness of breath, according to the World Health Organization which has also termed it as an epidemic on global health.

The novel virus has killed at least 3,000 people in China since its emergence from Wuhan city of China and infected more than 113,000 worldwide.

Amidst the political drama of Madhya Pradesh, HM Amit Shah likely to reply to The Opposition on Delhi riot in Parliament today

Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to reply to the opposition over the much controversial issue of Delhi riot in Parliament around 5 pm today. This is the first time when the Home Minister will speak on the issue after 13 long days of the Delhi communal violence.

The discussion will be initiated by BJP member Meenakshi Lekhi and Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary according to the Lok Sabha Bulletin.

Congress along with other opposition parties has been demanding strongly a discussion on the Delhi riot since March 2 and disrupted the working of the Parliament over this issue. However, the ruling government had opted to engage in the discussion only after Holi.

The persisting protest against the much controversial CAA Act and the fear of NRC had led to the communal riot of Hindu-Muslim in the east and north area of Delhi between February 23 and 26. The brute violence had caused 53 people's death and severely injured more than 200 people. It had also destructed property worth 25,000 crore.

The graveness of Delhi riot can be explained from the fact that 254 FIRs have been registered and nearly 1,000 individuals have been detained according to the latest figures by Delhi police.

Home Minister Amit Shah's words on the riot matters a lot, as the Delhi police whose role during the riot and before that has been criticised several times, comes under the direct authority of the Union government. There have been accusations against the Delhi police of not taking appropriate action to curb the violence.

Meanwhile, the parliament discussion on the Delhi riot will be at a time when the political crisis is on its peak for the Madhya Pradesh Congress government. In a recent development, former congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia has joined the BJP leading the Nath government to possible minority as several others congress MLAs are said to leave the party after Scindia.  

SBI says Yes to Yes Bank

The revival scheme for Yes bank is the next step of RBI. State Bank Of India (SBI) has decided to invest nearly RS 2,450 crore for the cause. 

On Friday, March 6 the Reserve Bank Of India  (RBI) presented a draft scheme for reconstruction of Yes Bank. Following this State Bank Of India (SBI) has shown willingness to participate and invest money and own 49 per cent of its shareholding.

Earlier, RBI had placed Yes Bank under a moratorium late on Thurday. It took control of the bank for 30 days. RBI also apponited Prashant Kumar, former chief financial officer of SBI as the administartor for the reconstruction sheme.

" We have to give assurance to potential investors and depositors. That is why we are stepping in" said Kumar on Saturday, March 7 to the Press conference.  He further made it clear that SBI's contribution will not exveed Rs 10,000 crore. Though there might be some inconvenience but, the money of the depositors is safe, he said.

However, many criticize this roadmap of reconstruction. The argument goes that SBI's investment of 2,450 crore might temporarily avert the Yes Bank crisis. But the ban of withdrawing money to just 50,000 rupees for a month will only worsen the trust of public in private banks.