Chandigarh (Punjab) , October 29,2020: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday asked the Punjab government to follow the Kerala pattern and declare Minimum Support Price (MSP) for fresh farm fruits and vegetables to give a boost to agriculture besides ensuring government purchase of crops for which MSP has already been declared by the Centre.
In a statement here, former minister Bikram Singh Majithia said the Congress government in Punjab should launch this scheme on the State’s foundation day on November 1 in the same manner in which the Kerala government had done recently.
Bikram Majithia said while this measure would provide much-needed protection to the State’s farmers against sudden price drops in times of glut; it would also pave the way for diversification. He said simultaneously the State government should also ensure that the entirety of crops listed under the MSP regime, including cotton and maize, were procured by government agencies.
New Delhi, Oct 29,2020: President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday suspended Delhi University Vice Chancellor Yogesh Tyagi, while ordering enquiry into the charges of ‘misconduct’ and ‘dereliction of duty’ against the Vice Chancellor.
An order in this regard was issued by the President on Tuesday night.
‘The President of India, in his capacity as the Visitor of the University, on consideration of facts and material available on record, has ordered to conduct an inquiry into the allegations of dereliction of duties and lack of commitment and devotion to duty against him,” a statement from the Education ministry said.
In a letter to the University Registrar, the Education ministry said that the VC has been suspended till the inquiry is completed, since he can influence the investigation while in office.
Professor PC Joshi will take over as Vice Chancellor for now.
The Education ministry had asked the President to allow an inquiry against Yogesh Tyagi, after a dispute over appointments to the University last week.
New Delhi, Oct 29,2020: The Railways on Thursday said train operations in Punjab remain suspended due to the ongoing agitation by farmers.
No train services have resumed, spokesperson for Northern Railways said on Thursday amid speculations that train operations had been restored in the agitation hit state.
“Some papers have published that train services in Punjab have been resumed. It is clarified once again that this is nothing but false news and trains are not running as of now,” Deepak Kumar, Chief Public Relations Officer (CPRO) of Northern Railways said.
“These papers are quoting NR press release dated 22 October wherein goods trains services were resumed for one day and stopped because of uncertainty and safety of the train operations staff. This is for the information of all concerned,” Kumar said.
NEW DELHI,Oct 28,2020: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday the Chinese Communist Party has brought “bad deals” to Sri Lanka.
“We see from bad deals, violations of sovereignty and lawlessness on land and sea that the Chinese Communist Party is a predator, and the United States comes in a different way, we come as a friend, and as a partner,” Pompeo told a news conference in the capital Colombo.
Pompeo is in Sri Lanka as part of a four-leg Asia tour aimed at bolstering allies against Beijing.
Dhaka, Oct 28,2020: France has warned its citizens living or travelling to several Muslim-majority countries to take extra security precautions on Tuesday as anger surged over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
In a sign that some countries want to limit the fallout, Saudi Arabia condemned the cartoons but held back from echoing calls by other Muslim states for a boycott of French products or other actions.
The row has its roots in a knife attack outside a French school on October 16 in which a man of Chechen origin beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher who had shown pupils cartoons of Prophet Mohammad in a civics lesson on freedom of speech. The caricatures are considered blasphemous by Muslims.
France’s foreign ministry on Tuesday issued safety advice to French citizens in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iraq and Mauritania, advising them to exercise caution. They should stay away from any protests over the cartoons and avoid any public gatherings.
“It is recommended to exercise the greatest vigilance, especially while travelling, and in places that are frequented by tourists or expatriate communities,” it said.
The French embassy in Turkey issued similar advice to its citizens there.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has been one of the most vociferous critics of the French government, leading calls for a boycott of French goods.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin retorted on Tuesday that Turkey, and Pakistan, should not meddle in France’s domestic affairs.
Paris has recalled its ambassador in Ankara, and Pakistan’s parliament on Monday passed a resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris.
The images of the Prophet were first published years ago by a French satirical magazine, whose editorial offices were attacked in 2015 by gunmen who killed 12 people.
Since the beheading of the teacher Paty this month, the cartoons have been displayed in France in solidarity, angering some Muslims.
President Emmanuel Macron, who met representatives of France’s Muslim community on Monday, has pledged to fight “Islamist separatism”, saying it was threatening to take over some Muslim communities in France.
Patna, Oct 28,2020: Polling began Wednesday morning in 71 assembly constituencies of Bihar in the first phase of three-phase elections amid tight security and COVID-19 guidelines in place.
Of the total 2,14,84,787 electors eligible to exercise the franchise, 1,12,76,396 are male voters, 1,01,29,101 are female electors and 599 are in third gender category, according to data provided by the Election Commission
There are 78,691 service electors.
A total of 1,066 candidates — 952 men and 114 women — are in the fray in the first phase of elections being held in constituencies spread across 16 districts.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic
These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80
Besides, sanitisation of electronic voting machines, wearing of masks and other protective gear by polling personnel and the availability of thermal scanner, hand sanitiser, soap and water has also to be ensured at polling stations
The second and the third phase of polls are scheduled for November 3 and November 7. The results will be announced on November 10.
New Delhi, Oct 27,2020: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday extended the Unlock 5.0 guidelines till November 30 with no new changes.
According to the order, strict lockdown will continue in the containment zones.
The Centre has asked people to exercise extreme caution and follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Jan Aandolan and to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the Unlock 5.0, all activities such as the operation of the metro rail, shopping malls,hotel, restaurants and hospitality services, religious places, yoga and training institutes, gymnasiums, cinemas and entertainment park under the prescribed Standard Operative Procedures while the States and Union Territories have been permitted to take decision on reopening of schools and colleges.
However, the Centre has permitted the state and private universities for research scholars allowing gatherings not above the limit of 100.
International air travel of passengers as permitted by MHA under ‘air bubble scheme’ to continue till November 30, swimming pools being used for training of sportsperson while cinemas, theatres and multiplexes to function upto 50 percent of their seating capacity.
The Covid-19 protocol has to be followed strictly and three precautions: wearing a mask properly, washing hands frequently and maintaining safe distance have to be followed as usual, the guidelines said.
The national directives for COVID-19 management will continue to be followed throughout the country, so as to enforce COVID-19 appropriate behavior.The States have been asked not to impose any local lockdown outside containment zones and there will be no restriction on Inter-State and intra-State movement.
The use of Aarogya setu app to be encouraged while adequate protection for vulnerable persons, the guidelines said.The coronavirus induced country-wide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 25 and it was extended in phases till May 31.
The Unlock process in the country had begun on June 1 with the graded reopening of commercial, social, religious and other activities.
COLOMBOOCT 27,2020: China has raised objections to what it called U.S. bullying of Sri Lanka after Washington said the Indian Ocean island must make “difficult but necessary choices” regarding its ties with China.
The comments by the Chinese embassy in Colombo came shortly before the arrival on Tuesday of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is on a an Asian tour aimed at pushing back against China’s growing influence in the region.
“We are firmly opposed to the United States taking the opportunity of the State Secretary’s visit to sow and interfere in China-Sri Lanka relations, and to coerce and bully Sri Lanka,” the embassy said in a statement late on Monday.
China has invested billions of dollars in infrastructure projects in Sri Lanka as part of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, aimed at linking Asia, Europe and beyond, to the alarm of India and the United States.
The embassy said China’s ties with Sri Lanka stretched back 2,000 years and the two countries did not need a third party to dictate terms.
Pompeo’s trip to Sri Lanka, and later to the Maldives, another Indian Ocean island nation, is seen as part of an attempt to counter China’s dominating economic presence in smaller countries that has left some of them in deep debt.
Ahead of the trip, Dean Thompson, the senior State Department official for South and Central Asian affairs, said Sri Lanka must make tough choices to secure its economic independence over the longer term.
China also raised concern about Pompeo making the trip at a time when Sri Lanka is struggling with the novel coronavirus.
“Is it helpful to local epidemic prevention and control? Is it in the interests of the Sri Lankan people,” the embassy asked.
A Chinese delegation led by its top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, visited Colombo this month but it kept its personnel and activities to a minimum in line with guidelines to prevent a surge in cases, the embassy said.
“We are willing to share these practices with the United States, hoping to provide some reference for Mr State Secretary’s visit and its handling of relations with small and medium-sized countries,” it said.
Yerevan, Oct 27,2020: Armenia and Azerbaijan on Monday accused each other of violating the new cease-fire announced the day before in a bid to halt the fighting over the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh that has killed hundreds, and possibly thousands, in just four weeks.
The truce that took effect Monday morning was agreed upon on Sunday after talks facilitated by the United States.
It was a third attempt to establish a lasting cease-fire in the flare-up of a decades-old conflict. Two previous Russia-brokered cease-fires, including one last weekend, frayed immediately after taking force, with both sides blaming each other for violations.
The new cease-fire was also challenged quickly by accusations from both sides.
Azerbaijani Defense Ministry alleged that Armenian forces fired at Azerbaijani settlements and the positions of the Azerbaijani army along the entire front, as well as on the Armenia-Azerbaijan state border” using various small arms, mortars and howitzers.
Armenian military officials rejected the accusations and in turn accused Azerbaijani forces of shelling the northeastern area of Nagorno-Karabakh and other areas.
Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.
The latest fighting that began September 27 has involved heavy artillery, rockets and drones, killing hundreds in the largest escalation of hostilities over the separatist region in more than a quarter-century.
According to Nagorno-Karabakh officials, 974 of their troops and 37 civilians have been killed in the clashes so far.
Azerbaijani authorities haven’t disclosed their military losses, but say the fighting has killed 65 civilians and wounded 300.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that according to Moscow’s information, the death toll from the fighting was nearing 5,000, significantly higher than what both sides report.
The new cease-fire deal brokered by the US came out of intensive negotiations Washington facilitated over the weekend among the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan and co-chairs of the Minsk Group, set up by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in the 1990s to mediate the conflict.
Beijing, Oct 27,2020: China will impose sanctions on US companies including Boeing and Lockheed Martin for supplying weapons to rival Taiwan, a foreign ministry spokesman said Monday.
Raytheon also will be affected, said the spokesman, Zhao Lijian. He gave no details of what penalties might be imposed or when.
China and Taiwan split during a civil war in 1949 and have no diplomatic relations. Beijing claims the democratically led island as part of the communist mainland’s territory and has threatened to invade.
In order to safeguard national interests, China decided to impose sanctions on the American companies that were involved in arms sales to Taiwan, Zhao said at a regular news briefing.