Amit Shah had appealed to the protesting farmers to move to the designated site of protest at Delhi’s Nirankari ground. He also assured the farmers that the government will consider their concerns and demands as soon as they shift.

Surjeeth Singh Paul, state president of BKU Krantikari (Punjab) said during a press conference that the condition put forward for talks is an insult to farmers. He also confirmed that the protestors wouldn’t go to Burari, terming the place as an open jail.

Meanwhile the situation remained tensed around Delhi, as thousands of farmers from Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajashthan and Punjab continued to join the farmers’protest at the border areas.

The police remain on high altert in view of the thousands gathering at Delhi borders. However the police did not use force to block the commute of the farmers.

Meanwhile the leaders of the protesting farmers will hold a press conference at Singhu border at 4pm on their further course of action.

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“We were assured of a safe stay in Jaipur by Priyankaji, who spoke to my mother and wife and said that the UP government may slap other charges against me. We feel safe here in Rajasthan,” Dr Khan said during a press conference in Jaipur.

Dr Khan was released after the Allahabad high court set aside the charges pressed against him for a speech on Citizenship Amendment Act in Aligarh Muslim University in January this year. He was arrested on January 29.
The paediatrician from the BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur said he would appeal to UP chief minister Yogi

Adityanath to revoke his suspension. “I shall write to UP CM urging him to revoke my suspension and give my service back so that I can work as a corona warrior. I want to volunteer in the vaccine research programme,” he said. Khan added that he will knock at the high court’s doors again if the suspension wasn’t revoked.

Recalling the death of 70 kids at the BRD Medical College due to shortage of liquid oxygen, Khan said it happened because the state government had faltered on payment and people in Luknow were demanding a cut to release payment of 78 lakh.

Dr Kafeel Khan was, in February, booked under the stringent National Security (NSA) over his alleged anti- CAA speech at Aligarh Muslim University on December 2019.

In 2017, he was arrested for his alleged role in the death of children in BRD Medical College in Gorakhpur, UP. About two years later, a state government probe cleared Khan of all major charges, prompting him to seek an apology from the Yogi Adityanath government.

The post Assured of stay by Priyanka Gandhi, Kafeel Khan arrives Rajasthan appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

After nearly a month-long political turmoil, Gehlot on Wednesday said whatever misunderstanding occurred within the party in the last one month should be forgiven and forgotten in the interest of the country, state, people and in the interest of democracy.

As per the reports, the Congress crisis in Rajasthan ended after the intervention of the party top leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who met rebel leader Sachin Pilot earlier this week.

Last month, Pilot along with 18 other Congress MLAs rebelled against Gehlot triggering a political crisis in the state. He was then removed as deputy chief minister and the party’s Rajasthan unit chief.

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The online forms have been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of External Affairs and Governments of various States and union territories, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttrakhand and Madhya Pradesh among others. According to the MoCA guidelines, this facility will be available for all international arriving passengers from August 8, 2020.

This will help in making passengers’ journey more convenient and comfortable in a contactless way as they won’t have to fill the physical copies of the forms on arrival. Delhi Airport continues to be a hub for international travel. With India establishing air bubble with several countries, the number of international arrivals is likely to go up. Then, this new online self-declaration and quarantine exemption portal will prove to be beneficial for the government officials in taking a swift and informed decision on granting exemption or know the latest health condition of the international arriving passenger.

Passengers seeking exemption under the five specific categories will need to fill the e-form available on the website of Delhi Airport “www.newdelhiairport.in”. They will have to submit it along with supporting documents, including copy of their passports, at least 72 hours before boarding their flights. However, there is no such time capping for passengers filling for the Self-Declaration form.

This process will help passengers avoid the hassle of providing the same set of information and documents to different authorities multiple times as online portal has the smart option to autofill the second application using the previous application’s request number. All applications will get auto-routed to the respective state government depending upon the first port of arrival. Similarly, all self-declaration applications will be routed to Airport Health Organisation (APHO), under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.

A copy of approval or rejection of exemption requests on specific grounds will be emailed to the passengers. Those who would be given exemption from mandatory institutional quarantine can show the same at the transfer area after landing at Delhi Airport, and walk out of the airport hassle-free. This process would not only help the flyers, who can seek exemptions, but also the authorities in completing the requisite formalities faster, and reduce congestions at the arrival hall of the Airports.

Passengers would be considered for exemption only if they fall under any one of the five exempted categories – Pregnant women, People whose kin died recently, people from serious illness (Description to be provided), parents accompanied by children below 10 years and COVID-19 negative in recent RT-PCR test.  Airlines may also notify passengers at the time of reservation that the receiving Indian State Government(s) may authorise exemptions from institutional quarantine for five specific categories on a case-to-case basis.

Commenting on this development,. Videh Kumar Jaipuriar, CEO-DIAL, said “COVID-19 has certainly changed the way Delhi Airport operates. The focus of our activities remains on the safety and convenience of our passengers. Keeping in view the inconvenience faced by arriving international passengers during this pandemic situation, Delhi Airport has associated with the Government of India to take an initiative that is crucial for the well-being of all international arriving passengers, who are waiting to come back to India. Having an approved exemption form will not only ease the quarantine process, but also mitigate the problem of inordinate delay while queuing up for quarantine process. Further, passengers can also avoid the hassle of the filling physical copies of the self-declaration twice.”

Ms Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary, MoCA, appreciated the Delhi Airport’s initiative and said, “It’s been a while since international repatriation service resumed in India. Passengers are planning to travel for various reasons on limited international flights during the pandemic. MoCA appreciates Delhi Airport’s contribution in helping digitise and streamline this process of health self-declaration and exempting passengers. E-platform prepared by DIAL would be used by all airports in the country and help the States/ health authorities to fast track the process of clearances for international arrivals. This will further facilitate to scale up the number of flights handled at Indian airports.”

According to the current government mandate, all passengers arriving by international flights in India must undergo seven days institutional quarantine at their own cost, followed by seven days of home quarantine. It is mandatory for international arriving passengers to undergo health screening by APHO. This includes thermal temperature screening by discreetly mounted, highly accurate, mass screening cameras.

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“This has been a really tough time for us and for our entire sector,” said Yash Solanki, owner of the vegetarian Vedic eatery.

The fried vegetable balls have been shaped like ‘crowned’ coronavirus, while the breads look like surgical masks.

The restaurant advertised that their COVID curry had extra herbs and spices that are good for health

“Even with recently relaxed curbs, the fear still dominates. People are still very reluctant to eat out,” Mr Solanki said.

Around 50,000 new infections are reported in India in the last 24 hours. India is third-highest in the world behind the United States and Brazil with more than 38,000 deaths.

The post “Covid Curry” and “Mask Naans” appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Nearly 102 MLAs are supporting him and could be shifted.

This month, Gehlot was faced with a surprising revolt, led by his former deputy Sachin Pilot. The young Turk took nearly 20 of his loyalists camping in Haryana announcing that Gehlot had lost the majority in the 200-member strong Assembly.

Congress tried ironing differences with Pilot, but he remained stern and was eventually sacked.

Gehlot repeatedly claimed that Pilot is working with BJP to topple his government. Reiterating his allegations, Gehlot said that the rate of MLA has gone up since the Assembly session was announced.

“After the assembly session was announced last night, the rates of horse trading have increased. Earlier the first installment was of Rs 10 crore and second was of Rs 15 crore. Now it has become unlimited and all know who is doing horse-trading,” Mr Gehlot told reporters.

After prolonged tensions with the CM, Governor Kalraj Mishra agreed to convene the session from August 14.Reportedly, Gehlot could hold a trust vote on August 17 and want his flock to stay together till that happens.

Interestingly, Pilot’s camp would also attend the session.

The post Rajasthan: Fearing horse-trading, Ashok Gehlot shifts his loyalists again appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

The Governor in a statement said that he was concerned about the “frightening” situation in the state and the rising active coronavirus cases.

Mishra said when the assembly session was adjourned on March 13, the number of active cases in the state was two and the session was adjourned in view of the spread of the pandemic.

“There were 3381 cases on July 1. Now it is more than 10,000. The unrelenting virus spread is a cause for concern and the state has to take serious step to save people from the worldwide pandemic,” Mishra said.

The statement comes a day after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot submitted his third proposal for an assembly session from July 31.

Mr Gehlot, who is head-on clash with his sacked deputy Sachin Pilot, is seen to be pursuing an assembly session for the singular goal of proving his majority on the floor of the house. He believes he has just about the numbers to win a trust vote at this time and accuses the Governor of stalling a session under pressure from the BJP.

The Governor blocked two previous proposals raising questions including one on coronavirus precautions.

On the last request, Mr Mishra had asked how social distancing and other virus protocol would be maintained during a session.

Yesterday, Mr Gehlot met with his cabinet to discuss the Governor’s questions and sent a revised proposal for a special session citing coronavirus as an agenda.

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Meanwhile, Sachin Pilot is camping at a luxury hotel near Delhi where the Congress MLAs are presently lodging. His official group released a video last night showing at least 20 MLAs supporting him, hours after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot held a meeting at his residence in Jaipur. He insisted that Gehlot had lost his majority and his claim of 106 MLAs was greatly exaggerated. In the 200-member Rajasthan assembly, 101 is the majority mark.

The post Sachin Pilot rejects second chance to reconcile with Congress appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

At the moment Congress sources are viewing this with some amount of concern. According to the sources, this whole incident is brewing since the lockdown began. This is the third attempt by Sachin Pilot to stage coup and become Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The Congress dismissed the claim of Pilot that he has the support of 30 Congress MLAs and said only Congress government will survive the crisis.

At the same time, Congress says the doors for Sachin Pilot are still open and they have been in talks with him in the past two days regarding the present political crisis in Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, the BJP has so far said there are no conditions to Mr Pilot joining the party.

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