BHOPAL, Nov 11: Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti said on Wednesday that her party became the “elder brother” in the NDA alliance in Bihar only through the “ladder” of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

She was speaking to reporters here a day after the BJP won more seats in Bihar Assembly elections than its ally, Kumar-led Janata Dal (United).

When asked should there be a BJP chief minister in the northern state now, Bharti said, “I don’t want to get into this.

“The election was contested under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, and you will recall that his leadership had been announced by me in 2005 when I was BJP general secretary in- charge of Bihar. And we were able to form a government there,” she said.

“We (BJP) have been able to become elder brother from the younger one by climbing up Nitish’s ladder. You cannot pull down the ladder which was used for climbing,” she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party had made it clear that the elections would be fought under Kumar’s leadership, and now the JD(U) leader had to decide what to do next because Modi had already decided, Bharti said.

“I will be happy to see Nitish as CM there,” she added.

Bharti also had words of praise for the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashvi Yadav.

“Tejashvi is a good boy. But, Bihar was saved narrowly. Tejashvi cannot run the government….Ultimately, the government would have been run by (his father) Lalu Prasad Yadav and company,” she claimed.

Like Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh `played spoilsport’ for Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh, Lalu Prasad would have played the same role in Bihar, Bharti alleged.

She praised Kamal Nath, who heads the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, for the way he led his party in the assembly byelections.

“There would have been no problem had Kamal Nath run the government the way he fought the election. He fought this election very tactfully,” the BJP leader said.

The ruling BJP won 19 out of 28 seats in MP bypolls, while the Congress won nine.  (PTI)

KOLKATA, Nov 11: After clinching the Bihar assembly polls,  West Bengal will be the “prime focus” for BJP where it has set a target of winning more than 200 seats in the state elections due in April-May 2021, party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said on Wednesday.

The NDA has won 125 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly, results of which were declared on Tuesday. The BJP with its score of 74 seats has emerged as the party to have won the second highest number of seats after Lalu Prasad’s RJD.

The saffron party’s tally is much higher than that of its ally – the JD(U) which won 43 seats.

It will now shift its focus to politically crucial West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs to the Lok Sabha – two more than Bihar, Vijayvargiya, who is also BJP’s in-charge of Bengal, said.

The BJP, which has made deep inroads in West Bengal by winning 18 of its 42 Lok Sabha seat – four less than ruling TMC in the 2019 general election, was waiting for the Bihar election results before mounting its “final assault” on the Mamata Banerjee government, party sources said.

Vijayvargiya is of the opinion that not just Bihar assembly poll results, the saffron party’s victory in several by-polls across the country show that not only has the faith of the people in it increased but also in the policies of the BJP government at the Centre.

“A victory always increases the morale of the party workers. BJP’s win in Bihar and the by-polls will act as a morale booster for its workers in the state. West Bengal will now be our prime focus state.

“The ground in Bengal is well prepared for a change and we have to ensure that the anger against the TMC government is channelised. We will use all our energy to free the people of the state from the misrule of TMC,” he said.

Vijayvargiya asserted that BJP’s victory in West Bengal will be “much bigger” as it will “storm to power with a two-thirds majority”.

“If you analyse the Bihar and by-poll results you will see that BJP’s strike rate is very good. In Bengal we are fighting alone, so we are confident of crossing the target of 200 plus seats in the state,” he said.

Union Home Minister and top BJP leader Amit Shah during his visit to the state last week had said that West Bengal is the “prime focus state” for the party and it will “fight and win it with a massive mandate”.

BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh had echoed him and said “After Bihar it will be West Bengal for the BJP.”

“The saffron wave witnessed in neighbouring Bihar will sweep away the TMC in West Bengal too. The difference between the elections in the two states is that we were in power in Bihar for nearly 15 years, but in West Bengal we are a challenger,” Ghosh said.

A section of the state BJP leaders, however, underlined that the Bihar election results will have little impact on polls in West Bengal, other than seats along the border. But it will act as a “morale booster” for party workers in Bengal.

Several state BJP leaders said the party will take a cue from the Bihar poll results and “re-strategise” its campaign issues for the West Bengal elections.

To corner TMC, the BJP has been so far stressing on its alleged misrule, law and order issues, violence, corruption and the state administration’s handling of the COVID-19 situation in West Bengal.

“The Bihar election results have shown that issues like unemployment and migrant labour crisis are crucial in several seats. So we need to stress upon these problems as well.

“As Bihar was the first state to hold assembly poll after the COVID-19 outbreak, there are a few things all of us need to learn from it,” a senior West Bengal BJP leader said.

Although BJP has the advantage of being an “untested challenger” in West Bengal where it has never been in power, the party is well aware that it will be up against Mamata Banerjee, who has the reputation of being a tough fighter, party sources said.

“If RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav can put up such a fight (in Bihar), it is anyone’s guess the kind of contest we will face in West Bengal,” another state BJP leader said.

As per the parliamentary poll results, the saffron camp had bagged 40.5 per cent votes and was ahead in more than 125 assembly seats in the state.

The central BJP leadership has asked the state leaders to fan out to the districts and organise agitations and mass mobilisations on issues the people are concerned about, before the Congress and Left Front capitalises on those problems, sources in the saffron party said.

“People will see several agitations in different assembly segments over local issues from November-December onwards,” a BJP leader said adding the party is also working to plug the gaps in its organisational strength in some districts.

The Trinamool Congress mocked the saffron party’s target of winning more than 200 seats in the state.

“As far as coming to power in West Bengal is concerned, the BJP is still living in a fool’s paradise. Its candidates will lose deposits in most of the seats,” TMC MP and spokesperson Saugato Roy said.  (PTI)

HYDERABAD, Nov 11: Sputnik V vaccine for COVID-19, being developed by Russia’s Gamaleya National Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, has demonstrated an efficacy rate of 92 per cent.

The confirmation is based on the first interim data from the largest randomised, placebo-controlled Phase-III clinical trials in Russia involving 40,000 volunteers, a press release from Gamaleya and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) said.

The trials evaluated the efficacy among over 16,000 volunteers who received the vaccine or placebo 21 days after the first injection.

As a result of a statistical analysis of 20 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the case split between vaccinated individuals and those who received the placebo indicating that the Sputnik V vaccine had an efficacy rate of 92 per cent after the second dose, the release said.

In September 2020,Dr. Reddys and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russias sovereign wealth fund,entered into a partnership to conduct clinical trials of Sputnik V vaccine and its distribution in India.

As part of the partnership, RDIF shall supply 100 million doses of the vaccine toDr.Reddys upon regulatory approval in India.

On August 11, 2020, the Sputnik V vaccine was registered by the Ministry of Health of Russia and became the worlds first registered vaccine against COVID-19 based on the human adenoviral vectors platform.

Separately, in September the vaccine was first administered to a group of volunteers from the ‘red zones’ of Russian hospitals.

The observation of additional 10,000 vaccinated volunteers representing medics and other high-risk groups under the civil use of the vaccine out of clinical trials also confirmed the vaccines efficacy rate of over 90 per cent, the release added.

As of November 11, as part of the clinical trials in Russias 29 medical centres, more than 20,000 volunteers were vaccinated with the first dose and over 16,000 volunteers with the first and the second dose of the vaccine.

In addition, as on the date, no unexpected adverse events were identified as part of the research.

Some of those vaccinated had short-term minor adverse effects such as pain at the injection site, flu-like syndrome, including fever, weakness, fatigue, and headache, according to the release.

Alexander Gintsburg, director of Gamaleya Centre, said the publication of the interim results of the post-registration clinical trials that convincingly demonstrate Sputnik V vaccines efficacy gives way to mass vaccination in Russia against COVID-19 in the coming weeks.”

Thanks to the production scale-up at new manufacturing sites, Sputnik V vaccine would soon be available for a wider population, he said.

“This will break the current trend and lead to an eventual decrease in COVID-19 infection rates, first in Russia, then globally,” he said.

Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE on Monday said their vaccine candidate was found to be more than 90 per cent effective in preventing COVID-19. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hailed the Union Cabinet’s approval to a Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for ten key sectors, saying it is an important step towards improving India’s competitiveness and realising an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

He also hailed the Union Cabinet’s approval to revamped viability gap funding (VGF) scheme, saying it will boost productive and efficient infrastructure creation and be hugely beneficial to people across the nation.

The government approved the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for ten key sectors, including telecom, automobiles and pharmaceuticals, taking the total outlay for such incentives to nearly Rs 2 lakh crore over a five-year period.

The scheme will help encourage domestic manufacturing, reduce imports and generate employment as the government works to bolster economic growth. The financial outlay for the new scheme will be Rs 1,45,980 crore.

Lauding the decision, Modi tweeted, “Cabinet decision of PLI scheme for 10 sectors will boost manufacturing, give opportunities to youth while making India a preferred investment destination.”

“This is an important step towards improving our competitiveness and realising an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” he said.

The government also approved the revamped viability gap funding (VGF) scheme envisaging a total outlay of Rs 8,100 crore for encouraging investment in social as well as economic infrastructure projects.

“Continuation and Revamping of the Scheme for Financial Support to Public Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Viability Gap Funding Scheme will boost productive & efficient infrastructure creation and be hugely beneficial to people across the nation,” Modi said in another tweet.

The earlier VGF scheme was limited to projects concerning economic infrastructure.

The revamped VGF scheme will attract more PPP projects and facilitate private investment in the social sectors (health, education, waste water, solid waste management and water supply, among others).  (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The Supreme Court Wednesday granted interim bail to journalist Arnab Goswami in the 2018 abetment to suicide case, saying it will be a “travesty of justice” if personal liberty is curtailed.

The apex court also expressed concern over state governments targeting individuals on the basis of ideology.

The court granted interim bail to two others in the case — Neetish Sarda and Feroz Mohammad Shaikh — on personal bond of Rs 50,000 each and directed that they shall not tamper with the evidence and shall cooperate in the probe.

A vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Indira Banerjee, which ordered that the accused shall not try to meet any witness in the case, said their release should not be delayed and the prison authorities should facilitate this.

The bench said personal bonds are to be furnished to Superintendent of Taloja jail instead of the magisterial court.

Goswami, Editor-in-Chief of Republic TV, has challenged the Bombay High Court’s November 9 order refusing to grant him and the two others interim bail in the case and asking them to move the trial court for relief.

The accused were arrested by Alibaug police in Maharashtra’s Raigad district on November 4 in connection with the suicide of architect-interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother in 2018 over alleged non-payment of dues by companies of the accused.

During the day-long arguments, the top court said if state governments target individuals, they must realise then that there is apex court to protect the liberty of citizens.

Observing that it would be a travesty of justice if personal liberty of a person is curtailed like this, the bench also expressed concern over state governments targeting some individuals on the basis of ideology and difference of opinion.

“We are seeing case after case where high courts are not granting bail and failing to protect personal liberty of people,” the bench said.

The bench asked Maharashtra whether there was any need for custodial interrogation of Goswami, and said the issue pertains to “personal liberty”.

It observed that Indian democracy is “extraordinarily resilient” and the Maharashtra government must ignore all this (Arnab’s taunt on TV).

“Whatever be his ideology. Least, I don’t even watch his channel. But, if in this case Constitutional Courts do not interfere today, we are travelling the path of destruction undeniably,” Justice Chandrachud said, adding, “the point is can you deny personal liberty of a person on these allegations”.

“If the government targets individuals on this basis…You may not like television channels but this should not happen,” the apex court said.

It observed that assuming the FIR is “gospel truth” but that is a matter of investigation.

“Is not paying up money abetment to suicide? It will be a travesty of justice if bail is not granted while FIR is pending,” the bench told senior advocate Kapil Sibal who was appearing for the state.

“’A’ does not pay money to ‘B’, and is this the case of abetment of suicide? If the high court don’t act in matters like this, there will be complete destruction of personal liberty. We are deeply concerned for this. If we don’t act in matters like this then it will be very disturbing,” the court said.

Justice Chandrachud observed that courts are being attacked for judgements delivered by them and, “I often ask my law clerk and they say that Sir, please don’t look at tweets”.

Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Goswami, referred to various cases lodged against him and the channel and alleged that Maharashtra government is targeting him.

“This is not an ordinary case and the Bombay High Court being a constitutional court should have taken note of the incidents. Is this a case where Arnab Goswami is put in Taloja jail with hardened criminals,” Salve said.

“I would urge the case to be transferred to the CBI and punish him if he is guilty. What will happen if a person is granted ad-interim bail,” he said.

Sibal referred to the facts of the case and said that details of investigation conducted in the matter are not before the apex court and if it intervenes at this stage, it would set a dangerous precedent.

Senior lawyer Amit Desai, also appearing for the state, said this is not a case where the court should exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction to grant bail at interim stage.

He said the state’s ability to investigate a criminal case has to be respected.

The hearing in the case is going on and would continue in the post-lunch session.

The high court, while rejecting the interim bail pleas of Goswami and the two other accused, had said, “no case has been made out for us (court) to exercise our extraordinary jurisdiction”.

Apart from seeking the interim bail, the journalist and other accused had also sought a direction from the high court for staying the investigation into the case and quash the FIR against them.

The high court will hear their pleas seeking to quash the FIR on December 10.

Goswami was arrested on November 4 from his Lower Parel residence in Mumbai and taken to Alibaug in neighbouring Raigad district.

He and the two other accused were later produced before a magistrate who refused to send them in police custody and remanded them in judicial custody till November 18.

Goswami was initially kept at a local school which is designated as a COVID-19 quarantine centre for the Alibaug prison.

He was on Sunday shifted to the Taloja jail in Raigad district after allegedly being found using a mobile phone while in judicial custody.  (PTI)

HYDERBAD, Nov 11: The last rites of martyred army jawan Ryada Maheshwar were performed with full military honours at his native village Komanpally in Nizamabad district of Telangana on Wednesday.
Amid chants of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande Mataram”, several people adhering to COVID safety norms and wearing face masks, participated in the funeral procession and bid a tearful adieu to Maheshwar. Ryada Maheshwar, who served as a Sepoy in the army, achieved martyrdom on Sunday last during an anti-terror operation in Jammu and Kashmir. He is survived by his parents and wife. Telangana Roads and Buildings Minister Vemula Prashanth Reddy and Nizamabad MP Arvind Dharmapuri and district officials were among those who paid their last respects.
Prashanth Reddy said the last rites were performed with full military honours. Earlier, Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and senior army officials had paid floral tributes to Maheshwar, after his mortal remains were brought by a flight at Air Force Station Begumpet here on Tuesday night.
Besides, Maheshwar, three security force personnel, including an Army officer, and three militants were killed during a failed infiltration bid by the ultras along the Line of Control (LoC) in Machil sector of Jammu and Kashmir on November 8. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, Nov 11: The National Green Tribunal has directed the Armed forces to hold a meeting with Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to develop an in-house monitoring mechanism for scientific waste management.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel said certain establishments in the Armed Forces may lack requisite knowledge on ecological issues and steps were necessary for protection of environment.

“The designated officers at different levels can also initiate awareness programmes on environmental issues and challenges which may be an ongoing process,” the bench said.

The tribunal passed the order after perusing a status report by the Air Force which mentioned that green norms have been laid down and environmental friendly procedures are being adhered to.

“The report of the Army refers to the Siachen Glacier Ecological Issues, action plan by way of sensitization of troops, identifying methods to decrease the waste and methods of disposal thereof.

“Two Task Forces have been constituted and responsibilities given to reduce waste generation and scientific waste management at different locations,” the status report said.

According to the petitioner Anil Chopra, who is a retired Air Marshal and has also worked as a part of Uttar Pradesh Solid Waste Management Monitoring Committee, the waste generated by military weapons, domestic, industrial, biological, hospital and electronic activities (e-waste) needs to be scientifically disposed in the interest of public health and environment.

Such problems may also be faced in desert and marine areas which need to be monitored at an appropriate level, the former officer said.

The applicant referred to three reports — Environmental Issues and Waste Management by Armed Forces, Siachen Glacier Ecological Issues and Cantonments and Military Stations. (PTI)

MUMBAI, Nov 11: Global payments major Visa on Wednesday responded to the Indian Government’s push for adoption of RuPay cards, saying presence of all kinds of players fosters innovation and offers customers a choice.
A day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asked banks to “only promote” RuPay cards, Visa’s country manager for India and South Asia T R Ramachandran said that digital payments penetration is very low in India at only 18 per cent of overall personal consumption expenditure.
“We all have our roles to play,” Ramachandran, whose company along with peer Mastercard competes with the Rupay alternative offered by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), said.
Talking to reporters, he said that India is a large country and unlike the western countries, where it is a zero-sum game, where somebody has to lose for somebody to win.
“Given the statistics… That under 18 per cent of private consumption expenditure is digitised, I would argue it takes all kinds of players, domestic, international etc because that fosters innovation, that fosters customer choice,” he said.
Addressing the annual general meeting of the Indian Banks Association on Tuesday, Sitharaman had asked lenders to “only promote” Rupay cards to their customers.
“RuPay card will have to be the only card you promote. Whoever needs a card, RuPay will be the only card you would promote,” she had said in the remarks which come at a time when self-reliance has become a key policy goal for India.
It can be noted that global rivals have been jittery since the launch of Rupay alternative in 2012. India feels the global payments enablers take out money and data out of the country which can be saved within. NPCI is a body that was initially promoted by the RBI and now owned by multiple financial institutions.
On Wednesday, Ramac-handran was speaking at an event where Visa and HDFC Bank announced a newly enhanced version of their app for merchants called ‘Smarthub Merchant Solutions 3.0’.
HDFC Bank’s head for payments, consumer finance, marketing and digital banking Parag Rao said the largest private sector lender is targeting a 10x growth in the number of merchants it serves and take the number up to two crore in the next three years.
At present, the bank is adding over 75,000 merchants a month across all forms of services and added that these are long term relationships which the bank develops through a current account to start with.
It also offers value added services along with the app, like giving a merchant an ability to send product details to customers over instant messaging service Whatsapp along with a code to enable a closer look at the product and immediate payment, for the product to be delivered, Rao said.
To a question about the New Umbrella Entity (NUE) on payments, Rao said the NUE is a “strategic” initiative which the bank and other industry players are looking at but declined to comment further. (PTI)