The Delhi High Court on Tuesday slammed Narendra Modi government for not complying with its order to supply enough Oxygen to Delhi for treating serious patients suffering from COVID-19. The Hon’ble court spared no words in castigating the government. It made statements like “Are you living in ivory towers?” and also said that you can put your head in the sand like an Ostrich, we will not.
India has an independent judiciary and it has powers to order government and to take action against the erring officials. It also asked the government to show cause why contempt should not be initiated against them? The contempt can lead to a maximum 6 months of simple imprisonment or a file. The court also asked two senior government officials to be present. While the punishment may not seem much, it will be enough to end the career of a bureaucrat.
The Hon’ble Court outrightly rejected the contention that Delhi is not entitled to 700 MT of medical oxygen. The highest court in India, the Supreme Court, has also directed Modi government to supply 700MT of medical oxygen to Delhi.
Modi government is being blamed for the current COVID-19 crisis due to lack of attention on improving healthcare facilities and also in delay in introducing vaccination. While the government holds billions of dollars by donors in a privately managed fund of PM Modi, named PM Cares, people think that the government doesn’t care enough. Their delay in placing the orders for vaccines, as late as April 28th, shows a lack of foresight and urgency in vaccination. People allege that it was too busy fighting an election to care about its citizens.
A Mumbai-based NGO, Youth Dance Festival, has come to aid COVID-Positive house helpers and drivers at a time when the city is grappled with the much-severe second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Under this initiative, the NGO is providing all the free basic amenities needed by the Covid-infected patient.
YDF announced to help the house helpers, drivers and workers with free clinical benefits and meals. After the last successful campaign #BeSafeButBeKind ,this year with the assistance of the medical team they approached to offer free medical services including tests, oxygen cylinders and other things which are required during the treatment of Corona patients.
Sonny Sharma, Founder of Youth Dance Festival said, “This is one of the toughest challenges that the World is facing today, especially in India where density of population is so high. A lot of people in Mumbai are daily wage earners so it becomes tough for them to make the ends meet in the lockdown situation as well as arranging all the medical facilities if they have the infection. Providing them all the medical facilities during this crucial phase help them to win over the dreaded disease. With the help of co-founders Vicky Singh, Rushabh Shah and Vishal Garg ,we have successfully implemented this campaign and we are trying to reach more house helpers. Our NGO is just making a small effort to help these people in need.”
About Youth Dance Festival
Youth Dance Festival is an initiative taken up by the young enthusiastic activists of Manish Nagar to bring light to these underprivileged. Started in 2014, YDF empowers many girls by providing them with the best of stationery, necessities, sports equipment, books and care filled mentoring. We encourage scholarships for every girl who wants to achieve her dreams. We believe in the power to Educate.Empower. Entertain.
The ruling party in India, led by Prime Minister Modi was a strong force at one time. It was one of the few parties in recent that had an absolute majority for the two terms. The charisma of national leaders like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Adityanath and others seemed like a strong recipe for success. However, all is not well for BJP now.
There is a difference between state and national elections. The state elections in India are fought primarily on local issues. It becomes very tough for political parties to continue performing in a state. It is far easier to use the anti-incumbency in a state to dislodge an existing leader like Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal by promising the moon. The same strategy has been used by BJP from state to state, across the country. For the past few elections though, this strategy is failing badly.
Just before National Elections, there always have been some incidents that have given an opportunity for raising national spirit. Whether it is a terrorist attack, strike on terrorist outposts, etc. In every case, Modi government used something to give credit, even if it was not due. For example, the space program was not even approved by the BJP government. It was attributed to the vision of the predecessor. However, PM Modi was quick to pounce on it and be during launch, which really had nothing to do with his office.
These tactics are not working in their favour now. The poor handling of the COVID pandemic and other policies that have been giving misery to the public have started instilling doubt in the voters on the governance capabilities of the party. They did everything in West Bengal but they lost poorly to their former ally – Mamata Banerjee. Despite instilling a lot of pressure on DMK, they could not prevent their absolute majority in Tamil Nadu. The same story was in Kerala where BJP was more or less wiped out. In Assam, the performance of the local unit has been very good and perhaps they will be able to form the government despite them and their allies losing some seats.
BJP is losing its relevance in National Politics. Its leaders really need to get their act together in managing the COVID crisis. A lot has been said about donating and exporting over 7 crore doses of the vaccines that would have saved a lot of people across many main metros. With many of its leaders caught with their pants down smuggling or hoarding life-saving materials and keeping them away from the public, and with the national leaders looking away and not responding, the party is losing faith, day by day.
With their absolute power and a hard crackdown on dissent, people spoke with mumbled voices. The farmer agitation was the first movement where they effectively raised the voice without fear to the government. It also casts a serious doubt on the government to push one dubious legislation after the other instead of handling the immediate crisis. I
The writing is on the wall. It’s no way that they should do anything else but handle COVID. It can be a make or break moment for the party.
The current wave of Covid 19 has shaken up not just the nation but the entire globe. Viral variant being more powerful is an airborne mutant for which single cloth masks and ordinary masks give insufficient protection. Most masks do not fit around the nose causing people to either wear it below their nose or to keep adjusting them. To combat this mind boggling situation, World University of Design has come up with a new design that provides utmost safety along with the ease of functionality.
Seeing the rise in Covid cases, fashion faculty Prof. Umair Khan of World University of Design along with his students and some staff members have come up with a face mask that not just covers the nose, mouth and chin but envelops them snugly. The mask has a specially designed extension that’s the USP of the mask, as it follows the contours around the nose and covers it completely. This ensures that the vents around the nose are blocked offering extra protection preventing the air from outside to slip in. The second most important outcome of the design is that it does not allow vapours from the breath to be expelled out and fog up the spectacles thereby making it extremely functional for persons wearing glasses. Thirdly, the design makes the mask a very comfortable one to be worn for long hours without having the need to adjust it time and again as it follows the contours.
Since the mask is made to cover the face securely and for long hours, it can be deemed successful in the current scenario as it does not allow air to sneak in through any channel but the mask and it minimizes the spread of droplets (source control) when the wearer sneezes or coughs.
Made with two layers of simple cotton fabric, the mask took a week’s time to reach its final version after trials and feedback from volunteers. As he designed the mask in the fashion lab along with his students, Prof. Umair Khan says, “I used the humble cotton fabric which is very effective, however if a manufacturer likes he could use 2-layer cotton-silk mix or the 3-ply light weight nonwoven material used for surgical masks. The design has been developed mindfully to fit any average Indian face size which can also be extended in case of larger/broader face structures.“
World University of Design over the period of merely 3 years, has been coming up with substantial designs that are in compliance with the dream of Aatmnirbhar Bharat and the mask here is also one of them. Last year, this time they had shared the design of a PPE kit. The mask to fight the second wave of Covid 19, when manufactured will not cost more than Rs. 15-20/- and that is indeed a great way of serving one’s nation.
Popular TV Anchor Rohit Sardana has passed away today. He was suffering from COVID-19 and also had cardiac issues. The exact cause of death is not yet clear but it looks more like a combination of the two. Till yesterday, he was tweeting and retweeting messages of people to help them get assistance from the authorities during this terrible pandemic.
Rajdeep Sardesai said, “Rohit and I had differing political views but always enjoyed debating without any rancour. We did a show one night that finished at 3 am (think it was SC verdict on Karnataka) after which he said, ‘boss aaj maza aa gaya!’ He was a passionate anchor journalist. RIP Rohit Sardana.”
Senior India Today journalist and anchor Rahul Kanwal said “Rohit Sardana was the sharpest young anchor I have met. Superb command over Hindi, brilliant with his turn of the phrase, precise questions, clear in his thinking, loved by the masses, warm and humble off the screen, he was destined for great things. Our newsroom is in deep shock.”
The social media managers of PM Modi and Amit Shah also shared condolence tweets on their behalf.
The Supreme Court today literally warned State governments and police against clamping down on the spread of information or desperate calls for help through social media from citizens affected by COVID-19. A Special Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao, D.Y. Chandrachud and S. Ravindra Bhat said any such move will attract the contempt of court.
“We don’t want any clampdown of information. We will treat it as a contempt of court if such grievances is considered for action. Let a strong message go to all the States and DGPs of States. Clampdown of information is contrary to basic precepts,” Justice Chandrachud said in the court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had to agree and said “As an officer of the court, I fully agree with what Your Lordships have said.”
