Bodoland People's Front (BPF) MLA Majendra Narzary has died of COVID-19 complications. He was 68. Narzary breathed his last at Gauhati Medical College Hospital early Wednesday morning. He was on ventilation support. On Tuesday night, health minister visited the MLA at GMCH and took stock of his health. Narzary was an MLA from Gossaigaon constituency. Meanwhile, Congress leader Ripun Bora condoled the demise of Narzary and prayed for his eternal peace."Extremely saddened at the sudden demise of our Mahajot partner MLA of BPF, Majendra Narzary. My heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of late Nazary. May his soul rest in eternal peace," he tweeted.
Acting on specific inputs, Assam police busted a recruitment racket of militants in Udalguri and nabbed seven ultras associated with it. The cadres belonged to the National Liberation Front of Bodoland (NLFB), a newly floated militant outfit based in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTAD). On Sunday, security forces launched a series of operations in the Bhairabkunda and Harisingha areas. As per a report, several mobile phones, SIM cards and cash amounting to Rs 4600 were seized from their possession. The arrested cadres have been identified as Rabindra Basumatary, Barnabas Basumatary, Pal Goyary, Kundan Singh, Prosen Daimary, Saniko Daimary and Rajendra Basumatary.
A joint forum of ten central trade unions on Wednesday observed National Black Day for Indian Democracy by wearing black badges and putting up black flags. The Assam associations of CITU, SFI, DYFI, AIDWA, etc. have also observed Black Day by raising play cards at the Guwahati Club rotary. The trade unions observed the Black Day to press the government for their demands. The demands include free vaccination for all, free ration and to provide Rs. 7,500 per month for the poor, repealing three farm laws and minimum support price for crops and withdrawal of four labour codes passed by the Parliament last year.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday appointed guardian ministers for all the districts to implement government policy decisions, administrative reforms, and other welfare schemes for the public. The Panchayat & Rural Development Minister and state BJP President Ranjeet Kumar Das has been given the responsibility of Barpeta, Bongaigaon, and Dhubri districts. Agriculture Minister Atul Bora will be the guardian minister of Dibrugarh and Tinsukia while Minister Urkhao Gwra Brahma has been allotted the responsibility of Baksa and Chirang districts. Transport, Industries, and Commerce Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary has been given the responsibility of Darrang, Kamrup (R), and Kamrup (M) districts. Environment Minister Parimal Suklabaidya will be the guardian minister of Karimganj, Hailakandi, and Hojai. Health & Family Welfare Minister Keshab Mahanta has been given the responsibility of the Golaghat and Morigaon districts. Education Minister Ranuj Pegu will look after Jorhat and Sivasagar while Ashok Singhal will be the guardian minister of Kokrajhar, Udalguri and Cachar.
In a move to support better COVID-19 management in the state, the Industries and Commerce Department in Assam and State Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) on Wednesday donated Rs. 3,24,46,724 to the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as contribution to Chief Minister's Relief Fund. The cheques were handed over to Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma during a brief ceremony held at Chief Minister's Office and Principal Secretary Dr KK Dwivedi was also present in the ceremony. Assam Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) has contributed Rs. 1 crore; Assam Petrochemicals Limited (APL) – Rs. 1 crore; Assam Gas Company Limited (AGCL) – Rs. 82,62,589; Duliajan Numaligarh Pipeline Limited (DNPL) – Rs. 25,44,025; Assam Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (AIIDC) – Rs. 10 lakhs; Assam Small Industries Development Corporation (ASIDC) – Rs. 5 lakhs and Commissionerate of Industries and Commerce contributed Rs. 1,40,110. Moreover, employees of Commissionerate of Transport contributed Rs. 17,05,421 from their salaries for the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.
The Assam government created the Welfare of Bodoland Department for speedy implementation of various schemes in Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, and Udalguri districts of the state. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday. Affairs of Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) were under the Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes Department. The cabinet also approved a proposal to set up Bodoland Administrative Staff College at Kokrajhar, the headquarters of BTR and will immediately begin its operations by getting a rented building. Moreover, it has been decided that the senior-most secretary of the department concerned will transfer cash to bank accounts of the pensioners within 10th of every month and there would be no need to send files to the Finance Department for its approval for releasing monthly stipends to beneficiaries of three schemes- Kushal Konwar Universal Old Age Pension, Indira Miri Universal Widow Pension and Deen Dayal Dibyang Yojana.
As Cyclone Yaas made its landfall in West Bengal and Odisha, the Dhubri Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) has issued a notification for the entire district and even South Salmara Mankachar on Wednesday. As per reports, there has been prediction made by authorities about the cyclone affecting both districts with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms along with lightning and gusty winds between May 26 midnight upto May 27. Further, the cyclone Yaas will affect South Salamara-Mankachar more. "We have received a message from the higher authority to remain alert. Accordingly we have sent the message to all the concerned circle officers, Deputy Controller Civil defense, all station officers, fire and emergency offices, volunteers, field officers to remain alert.", M. Sarkar, Project Officer DDMA was quoted as saying in The Assam Tribune.
As Covid cases in Assam continue to decline, with 5,699 fresh cases of the deadly contagion, the positivity rate on Wednesday dipped to 4.91 per cent. The overall active caseload of the state has reached 52,884 along with 90 deaths and 6,266 discharges registered today. 1, 16, 119 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, of which the district with the highest cases of Covid-19 are: Kamrup Metro (670), Dibrugarh (484), Cachar (473), and Nagaon (417). Kamrup Metropolitan in the last ten days have registered a total of 8,474, while, Majuli continues to report the lowest cases, at 108. Meanwhile, the total recoveries of the state has touched 3,29,634 with a recovery rate of 85.21 per cent. However, as cases have decreased in the region, the deaths continue to mount. The state has crossed 3,000 deaths since its outbreak. The total death tally is 3,005 with 0.78 per cent death rate.
As Covid cases continue to decline in Assam, the deaths related to the deadly contagion continue to mount. As of Wednesday evening, the state has crossed the 3000-mark of fatalities with total cases of 3,005 being reported. A report by NDTV published recently stated that data suggested if the "fatality rates are not checked, Assam will record over 3,000 Covid-related deaths by the end of May; this will place the state among 20 states with the worst fatality rates". The state has reported 90 deaths today. The case fatality rate stood at 0.78 per cent. The district wise deaths reported today are from: Kamrup Metro (18), Tinsukia (9), Cachar, Dibrugarh, and Kamrup Rural at eight each, Hojai (5), Karimganj (4), Dhemaji, Golaghat, and Morigaon at 3 each, Hailakandi, Nagaon, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, and Sonitpur at 2 each, and Charaideo, Dhubri, Darrang, and Jorhat at 1 each.The first Covid-related death was reported on April 10 last year in Silchar during the first wave of the Covid pandemic.
State-run power giant NTPC on Wednesday said a COVID Care center has been made operational at NTPC in Bongaigaon. Continuing its effort against COVID, NTPC Bongaigaon Medical Cell on Wednesday made the NTPC Bongaigaon COVID Care centre operational in association with Apollo Telehealth Services, a power ministry statement said. According to the statement, it was inaugurated by Subrata Mandal, CGM, NTPC on Tuesday, May 25, 2021. The COVID care centre is equipped with 10 COVID beds, each equipped with a multipara monitor for continuous monitoring of temperature, SPO2, heart rate, blood pressure and respiratory rate. One e-ICU which is equipped with invasive ventilators, multi-channel bedside monitor, webcam and LED television connected to Apollo, Chennai for real-time monitoring of critically ill patients are also being installed in the centre. Besides, 2 BiPAP machines for non-invasive ventilation, seven oxygen concentrators and oxygen cylinders for oxygen support, point-of-care diagnostics for assessment of d-dimer, troponin, CRP, ABG and ECG, two cart on wheels for easy accessibility of emergency medicines and equipment such as pulse oximeter, IR thermometers etc. makes the centre well equipped to deal with any kind of exigency.
Director General of the CISF and IPS officer, Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, was appointed the new director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday. Jaiswal will be serving as CBI director for a period of two years. It may be noted that Jaiswal was chosen from among three officers. The other two are – SSB chief Kumar Rajesh Chandra and special secretary in home ministry V S K Kaumudi. The decision to name Jaiswal as the new CBI director was taken by a PM-led selection committee on Monday. The committee comprised of PM Narendra Modi, CJI N V Ramana and leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Jaiswal earlier served as the DGP of Maharashtra and Commissioner of Mumbai police. He also served in the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
WhatsApp on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court against the Centre's recently imposed IT Rules that would require the messaging services to "trace" the origin of particular messages sent on the service. WhatsApp through its statement said, "Requiring messaging apps to 'trace' chats is the equivalent of asking us to keep a fingerprint of every single message sent on WhatsApp, which would break end-to-end encryption and fundamentally undermines people's right to privacy." The WhatsApp spokesperson said, "We have consistently joined civil society and experts around the world in opposing requirements that would violate the privacy of our users. In the meantime, we will also continue to engage with the Government of India on practical solutions aimed at keeping people safe, including responding to valid legal requests for the information available to us." On February 25, the Centre framed the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, in the exercise of powers under section 87 (2) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and in supersession of the earlier Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules 2011, which will come into effect from May 26.The new guidelines issued by the government of India mandated a grievance redressal system for over the top (OTT) and digital portals in the country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed on vaccination process to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Greeting the nation on the occasion of Buddha Purnima, the Prime Minister said that the world has not seen a pandemic like COVID-19 in a century. However, he said that now there is a better understanding in regards to the coronavirus disease which strengthens the strategy to fight. Addressing the nation on the occasion of "Virtual Vesak Global Celebrations" on Buddha Purnima, the prime minister heaped praise on scientists who have been working hard to develop vaccines against the coronavirus disease. He described vaccines as absolutely important to save lives and defeat coronavirus. "We have the vaccine which is important to save lives and defeat the pandemic. India is proud of our scientists who have worked on the COVID19 vaccines," said Narendra Modi. PM Modi once again thanked the medics across the country who has been working 24X7 to ensure treatment to the COVID patients.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has slapped yoga guru Swami Ramdev with Rs 1,000 crore defamation notice for his remarks on allopathy medicines and their use in treating COVID-19. The notice was sent by the Uttarakhand division of the apex body of Indian doctors. The IMA, in this notice, stated that Rs 1,000 crore will be demanded from him if he fails to tender an apology for his controversial remarks via a video or a letter within 15 days. IMA Uttarakhand unit President Dr Ajay Khanna said Ramdev does not have sound knowledge and is engaging in rhetorics. "I am ready for face-to-face with Baba Ramdev. Ramdev does not have a lot of knowledge about allopathy, despite that he is against allopathy and the doctors associated with it. He is making rhetorical statements," said Dr Khanna. He added that Ramdev's remarks has reduces the morale of doctors and frontline workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He also stressed that Ramdev is "constantly lying to sell his medicines".
IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Kharagpur on Wednesday postponed the JEE Advanced 2021 examination which was scheduled to be held on July 3 keeping in view the Covid situation. Candidates can check the official notice on official site of JEE Advanced on jeeadv.ac.in. The revised dates will be announced in due course of time. The official notification reads, "Considering the prevailing pandemic situation due to COVID-19, JEE (Advanced) 2021 which was scheduled to be held on July 03, 2021 (Saturday) stands postponed. The revised date of examination will be announced at an appropriate time." On April 27, a three-member committee held a meeting to discuss the prevailing pandemic situatiion in the country. Earlier, JEE Main 2021 April and May sessions were also postponed by the National Testing Agency (NTA) in view of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The JEE Main April exam was scheduled for April 27, 28, and 30, while May exam from 24th to 28th of the month.
