'“The administration is asking me to feed these workers. How can I feed them? You tell me how many times can I feed them? Eventually I have to cater to my family also right? How can they not be here and take care of this issue? If they are not fed, they will die. Does the government expect to leave that on our conscience?” Lubana sarpanch Karamjeet Singh tells The Quint from his village in Punjab’s Patiala district...
'Every morning for the past week N.K., a 35-year-old community health activist, has received a WhatsApp message from her supervisor with the names of the latest group of travelers returning to India from countries affected by the coronavirus. Once she has the list of names, N.K. tracks down their addresses. By noon, she’s at someone’s doorstep, armed with a list of do's and don’ts for people suspected of carrying the virus. Over the phone, she reeled off the list of instructions she gave people: “Wash your hands, clean your living spaces.
'BJP leader Kapil Mishra, whose incendiary speech is being blamed for instigating the Delhi riots in which at least 48 Indians have been killed, has nine guards protecting him round the clock on the orders of the Union home ministry that reports to Amit Shah. Sources said the Y-category security cover for Mishra, a former AAP MLA who was suspended by the party in 2017 and joined the BJP ahead of last month’s Delhi Assembly elections, is not new and was sanctioned in 2017...'
'In 2016, it was mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy who raised eyebrows for hosting the biggest and fattest spread Bengaluru had seen for his daughter's multi-crore wedding. Four years on, it appears that Janardhana Reddy's clout will be given a run for its money by his close aide and Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu who has set aside 9 days for the multi-crore wedding of his daughter Rakshita with Hyderabad-based industrialist Ravi Kumar.
'The euphoria over the claim that around 3,000 tonnes of gold reserves, worth Rs 12 trillion, have been discovered in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district could not last even 24 hours, with the Geological Survey of India (GSI) clarifying on Saturday there had been no such discovery. The GSI, headquartered in Kolkata, rebutted the claims of the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining (UPDGM), and said “miscommunication” must have led to the wrong reporting of facts. M Sridhar, director general of the GSI, said nobody in the agency gave any such data.
'India’s slowing economy took a toll on much-needed savings too, with the savings rate touching a 15-year low, and household savings also falling. This has weakened India’s macro-economic position which is already hobbled by low investment and rising external borrowing to fund capital needs...'
'The Centre is planning to splurge over ₹100 crore to host the US President Donald Trump in his first visit to India on February 24. In his two-day tour starting on February 24, Trump will spend around three hours in Ahmedabad for which Ahmedabad authorities will spend ₹80 to ₹85 crore to beautify the city, Reuters reported...'
'Budget 2020 does not address the financial and resource shortages affecting nutrition interventions in India, an analysis of budget data shows. Public provisioning for nutrition is important given the persistently high levels of malnutrition in India. Important nutrition schemes have received marginal increases. Given this prolonged underfunding of the Ministry of Women and Child Development, these allocations may not reflect its actual requirements, data show.
'A concerted bid to promote Sanskrit as a classical Indian language appears to top the Centre’s agenda, the Union ministry of culture’s latest figures suggest. The government spent Rs 643.84 crore on the promotion of Sanskrit in the last three years, 22 times the combined spending of Rs 29 crore on the other five classical Indian languages --- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia. The government has not set aside any separate fund for the promotion of Malayalam and Odia, and is yet to establish any centre of excellence to promote these classical Indian languages...'
'RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on February 16 said the cases of divorce are found more in “educated and affluent” families nowadays as education and affluence brings arrogance along, which results in families falling apart. Mr. Bhagwat also said that there is no alternative to a Hindu society in India. He was addressing RSS workers in Ahmedabad...'
