'Zee News has become the latest organisation to be caught spreading fake news about Tablighi Jamaat. The pro-BJP organisation was forced to delete its tweet containing the fake news after a warning from the Firozabad Police in Uttar Pradesh. In its tweet, now deleted, Zee Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand had said, “Four Tablighi Jamaati test corona positive in Firozabad, stones pelted at the medical team that came to pick them up.” The Firozabad Police reacted swiftly to expose the lies spread by Zee News...'
'For nearly 600 fishermen from Maharashtra, stranded at sea off Gujarat coast after they were reportedly not allowed to deboard at Nargol, about 400 kilometres from Ahmedabad, home may still be days away. The men, who have been at the sea for months, said when 23 boats carrying fishermen from Maharashtra and Gujarat reached at Nargol around 1.30 am Sunday an announcement by the mamledar or tehsildar said only fishermen from the state could alight on its shores.
'...Officials predicted that if all 171.3 million households participated, the loss of load could be 12,452 MW. The actual total demand drop recorded during the event turned out to be 31,089 MW – more than twice as high! This implies that in order to save the grid and keep voltages and line loads within permissible limits, engineers turned off select transmission lines. This in turn means large areas were without power before and during the event, and so compliance was not totally voluntary.
'Unable to get access to essential items during the national lockdown despite the Centre’s assurances, an early morning drive with his son-in-law proved deadly for 65-year-old Adivasi man in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district on Saturday. Tibu Meda, a resident of Gothaniya in Maheshwar tehsil of Khargone district, and his son-in-law were allegedly beaten up by the police for violating lockdown rules. The incident took place in Gujari village in Dhamnod, Dhar district, when Tibu went out to buy essential items, his son-in-law Sanjay claimed.
'After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with the chief ministers on April 2 to tackle COVID-19 epidemic, the Centre has approved for the release – in advance – of Rs 1,611 crore to Maharashtra under the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) to fight the disease as it has reported the highest number of such cases so far. According to a news report in The Hindu, however, Kerala, which has registered one of the highest number of coronavirus cases across the country, has been allocated only Rs 157 crore – much less than most states...'
'“India lost around five weeks in the production capacity of PPEs. If we would have been provided with the specifications and the basic numbers of stockpiling required, we would have set targets and managed accordingly.” - Sanjiiiv, Chairman of the Preventive Wear Manufacturer Association of India. At a time when healthcare workers are repeatedly raising concerns about their lack of access to personal protective equipment, or PPE kits, there are several questions that have arisen about whether the Modi government has handled this aspect of the health crisis adequately...'
'A Dubai-returned man and 11 of his family members have tested coronavirus positive in Madhya Pradesh's Morena district, days after he organised a feast for 1,500 people in the honour of his dead mother. The local authorities have sealed the entire colony where the function took place to prevent it from becoming a new COVID-19 hotspot in the state. The man, identified as Suresh, works as a waiter in Dubai. He came to Morena on March 17 and organised the ceremony on March 20. Around 1,500 people took part in the funeral function and ate at the feast...'
'The Uttarakhand police has filed a case under Section 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code against a pump operator at the GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology who is also a trade union leader in Pantnagar. The police have alleged that 52-year-old Abhilakh Singh had sent a message on WhatsApp which went ‘against the government’ and amounted to sedition. “He had sent a message on a WhatsApp group. Our social media monitoring cell saw it. It was defamatory, against the government and against the country.
'On Wednesday, April 1, the Uttar Pradesh Police in Faizabad registered an FIR against The Wire on the complaint of an individual under Sections 188 and 505 (2) of the Indian Penal Code. Section 188 refers to disobedience of an order issued by a public servant and 505 (2) to “statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes”. The FIR cites a passage without mentioning the date or headline of the article it is drawn from... The founding editors of The Wire have issued a statement in response to the FIR, which is appended below...'
'The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) has alleged that the administration and corporate social responsibility (CSR) section had redirected ₹50 lakh from Bharat Dynamics under the Ministry of Defence to PM-CARES fund rather than the originally assigned purpose of buying personal protection equipment (PPE). The Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, a public charitable trust, was set up in response to the emerging requirement for resources to defeat the novel coronavirus pandemic.
