'A woman constable in Gujarat has been transferred to the police headquarters after she reportedly had an altercation with the son of a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator for violating lockdown rules in Surat, The Indian Express reported on Sunday. An inquiry was set up after the purported audio and video clips of the incident was widely circulated on social media. Prakash Kanani, son of Varachha Road MLA and Minister of State for Health Kumar Kanani, had an argument with constable Sunita Yadav, who pointed out that he and his friends were out during curfew hours.
'The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has sent a notice to news agency Press Trust of India, asking it to pay more than Rs 84 crore as a penalty for alleged breaches at its office in New Delhi, reported IANS. The notice was sent by the Land and Development Office, which comes under the ministry, on July 7 but came to attention on Monday... The government’s notice to PTI comes two weeks after national broadcaster Prasar Bharati threatened to cancel its subscription of the news agency for its “anti-national coverage”. Prasar Bharati is among PTI’s biggest subscribers...'
'...A faint glimmer of hope emerged in early May. Application forms were distributed in Bajardiha, with the promise that weavers would get cash assistance under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, the Central government’s relief package announced on March 24. About 350 people filled the form in Bajardiha, said the men. A few days later, a list circulated with the names, addresses, bank account numbers, Aadhaar numbers, mobile numbers of those whose applications had presumably been approved. At this stage, they were asked to pay Rs 100.
'It’s become a new normal in Indian politics for students and activists to be incarcerated across India for expressing dissent and being vocal about certain actions and policies of the Narendra Modi government. The draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act – UAPA – has been clamped on almost all such persons, even for the flimsiest of charges...
'In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 28 constituted a brand-new trust fund for public contributions – the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund, bearing the catchy acronym of the PM CARES Fund. On Friday, the Prime Minister’s Office refused to provide details about the Fund under the Right to Information Act, stating that PM CARES was not a “public authority” under the definition of the legislation.
'The Narendra Modi government is procuring 5,000 ventilators from a Rajkot-based firm which has already been accused of supplying breathing machines to Ahmedabad’s largest COVID-19 hospital that doctors there say are not up to the mark. The firm’s current and former promoters have had close associations with top BJP leaders – with at least one business family, The Wire has established, linked to the controversial gift of an expensive suit to Prime Minister Modi. This procurement is being done through state-run HLL Lifecare, according to Gujarat’s principal health secretary Jayanti Ravi.
'To Narendra Modi, Covid-19 is not so much a disease as a deus ex machina. Before he announced the largest lockdown in human history on 24 March, the Indian prime minister was submerged in a pool of self-engineered crises. Citizenly protests against his legislative disfigurement of Indian secularism had erupted in every major city, more than four dozen lives were devoured at his doorstep in February in the worst religious bloodletting in Delhi since the 1984, unemployment was soaring, and the economy was poised to post the slowest pace of growth in a decade.
'The Coimbatore police have arrested the founder of SimpliCity, a hyperlocal news portal, for two reports that highlighted shortcomings faced by government healthcare professionals and alleged corruption by some employees of the public distribution system (PDS), making this the first documented case of a media head being jailed during the COVID-19 and lockdown crisis by the authorities for critical reportage. Andrew Sam Raja Pandian was charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Epidemic Diseases Act after a complaint was filed by M.
'The plight of poor migrant workers of India’s most populous state -- Uttar Pradesh – has no parallel. They were compelled to walk hundreds of kilometres to reach their hometowns after losing livelihood and suspension of transport services. To add to their woes, arbitrary fares were demanded by those offered bus services. Also, bus drivers harassed them, asking them to show their Aadhaar cards, and also deboarded some of them in the middle of highways.
'On 15 March, the union ministry of home affairs sanctioned the appointment of Baseer Ahmed Khan, Kashmir’s divisional commissioner, as an advisor to Girish Chandra Murmu, the lieutenant governor of Jammu and Kashmir. Baseer is accused of being involved in a multi-crore land scam in 2009. A case against him regarding the matter remains pending with a special anti-corruption court in Baramulla. His elevation brings into question the Narendra Modi government’s promise of corruption-free governance in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution...'
