India

New Delhi, Sep 6 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Monday said the state and the Central governments cannot provide security to private hospitals and nursing homes, which operate like business enterprises, during the hearing of a plea seeking directions to provide security to doctors and healthcare workers, vulnerable to attacks by patients' relatives and others.

A bench of Justices S.K. Kaul and A.S. Oka said the private hospitals charge exorbitantly and they can take care of security issues on their own, and questioned the petitioner's counsel, how will government provide security for so many private hospitals and nursing homes?

Senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, representing the Delhi Medical Association, said the doctors and healthcare workers are vulnerable to attacks and emphasised on having a mechanism for their security.

The bench told Hansaria that in big cities, every lane would have a medical centre and how can it pass generic orders?

"You can't expect the government to put in place a security system for private players."

The bench sought details on complaints and representations made to the state governments as it were not included in the petition.

It observed that it is not possible for the apex court to micromanage the security and also it cannot pass directions to what kind of security should be given to the private hospitals.

The bench said the attack on doctors is unfortunate and whenever attack occurs, it is due to certain failure in system in place. It said providing security to a government hospital is again an executive decision and it is not for the court to enter into this arena.

It made it clear that it would not pass any direction to the government to provide security for private hospitals, since they are business enterprises.

Hansaria sought permission to amend the petition, which was allowed by the bench.

The DMA sought directions to ensure adequate security at hospitals and medical centres to prevent attacks on doctors and healthcare workers by relatives of patients and others. The plea was filed through advocate Sneha Kalita.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that Indias achievement of eclipsing the United Kingdom to become the fifth largest economy in the world is a pleasure of surpassing those who ruled over India for around 250 years, and which supersedes the "mere statistics of improved ranking".

Modi made these comments while interacting with teachers honoured with National Awards for Teachers.

Highlighting the appreciation received by the National Education Policy, the Prime Minister said that it is a step in the right direction.

Emphasising the need to go through the National Educational Policy more than once, he Agave the analogy of Mahatma Gandhi where he read the Bhagavad Gita again and again and each time he found a new meaning.

Modi stressed on the need to imbibe the National Educational Policy in such a way that the government document becomes the basis of the students' lives.

"Teachers played a major role in the formulation of the policy," he said, adding that teachers have a monumental role to play in the implementation of the National Educational Policy.

Addressing the gathering, the Prime Minister paid homage to former President of India Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, whose birthday is commemorated as Teachers Day across the country.

He also reminded the teachers that it is all the more important to be felicitated by the current President of India, Draupadi Murmu, who is also a teacher and has taught in far-flung places of Odisha.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday said that they have arrested an official of the State Bank of India in Telangana for causing an alleged loss of Rs 5,22,67,760 to the bank.

A senior CBI official said that a case was registered on the complaint from the SBI's AGM, Telangana, that accused A. Nagendet, Senior Associate & Cash In-charge, SBI, Narsapur Branch in Medak district, misappropriated cash of Rs 2.32 crore, and gold ornaments valuing Rs 0.72 crore which were under his control and also cash amounting to Rs 2.19 crore from three ATMs.

The official said that searches were conducted at the premises of Nagendet at Narsapur which led to the recovery of incriminating documents.

The accused was produced before the Special CBI Judge which sent him to judicial custody till September 17.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) Delhi Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena has sent a legal notice to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its leaders Atishi, Durgesh Pathak, Saurabh Bhardwaj, Sanjay Singh, Jasmine Shah and others for levelling 'false allegations' against him and spreading 'fake news' and a 'motivated propaganda' to malign his image.

These leaders of AAP had recently claimed that the L-G was involved in a scam during demonetisation in 2016 in a purported ‘scam' of Rs 1400 crore by KVIC under Saxena's chairmanship.

The legal notice reads, "It may be known, that the total Khadi sale across the country during 2016-17 was Rs 2146.60 crore as per KVIC Annual Report 2016-17. There were only 7 Department Store Outlets (DSOs) of KVIC, sale from which was Rs 173.58 crore during the entire year of 2016-17, while the remaining was sale done through independent Khadi Institution stores and franchisees. Out of sale of Rs 173.58 crore from these 7 DSOs during the year, Rs 99.35 crore was through retail sales and the remaining was through whole sale and government supplies.

"Since the period under demonetisation was from 9.11.2016 to 31.12.2016, therefore on a pro-rata basis, retails sales worth approximately only Rs 14.43 crore (actual may vary) took place through these 7 DSOs during the period of demonetisation. Hence, by any stretch of imagination, whatsoever, the figure of Rs 1400 crore is not only incompatible with real and unquestionable figures duly recorded in the books of accounts but also an incomprehensible mathematical impossibility even if one were to take into account, the actual sales of the entire year which amounted to just Rs 173.58 crore, from 7 DSOs. (All figures are from the KVIC Annual Report 2016-17, available on KVIC's Website)."

The notice said that the indulgence of AAP and its leaders in such a scandalous smear campaign against Saxena, is solely with the aim of deflecting and diverting attention of the people from the gross failure of the AAP Government in Delhi, their expose in the recently unearthed excise and classroom scam coupled with the appreciation gained by the Lt. Governor for the ‘extraordinary work done by him in the past three months serving as the LG of Delhi'.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Sep 5 (IANS) India's external debt rose by 8.2 per cent to stand at $620.7 billion on March 31, 2022, compared to $573.7 billon on March 31, 2021.

Out of this, 53.2 per cent of external debt was denominated in US dollars, the Indian rupee denominated debt was estimated at 31.2 per cent and was the second largest, according to the status report on India's external debt 2021-22, released by the Finance Ministry on Monday.

According to the report, external debt, as a ratio to GDP, fell marginally to 19.9 per cent as on March 2022 compared to 21.2 per cent of the year ago period. Foreign currency reserves, as a ratio to external debt, stood slightly lower at 97.8 per cent as on March 2022, compared to 100.6 per cent of the year- ago period.

The long-term debt estimated at $499.1 billion, formed the largest chunk of 80.4 per cent, while the short-term debt, at $ 121.7 billion, accounted for 19.6 per cent of the total external debt amount. The short-term trade credit was predominantly in the form of trade credit (96 per cent) financing imports, the report added further.

Commercial borrowings, NRIs deposits, short-term trade credit and multilateral loans, all accounted for 90 per cent of the total external debt. While NRI deposits marginally contracted during end-March 2021 and end-March 2022, commercial borrowings, short-term trade credit and multilateral loans, on the other hand, expanded during the same period.

The rise in commercial borrowings, short-term trade credit and multilateral loans together was significantly larger than the contraction in NRI deposits, the report further said.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Sep 5 (IANS) The owners and the manager of Lucknow's Hotel Levana, where a major fire broke out on Monday morning and left four persons dead and seven seriously injured, have been detained, police said.

The owners, Rohit Agarwal and Rahul Agarwal, along with the manager, Sagar Srivastava, have been taken into custody.

The police spokesman said that an FIR was being registered in the case.

A Lucknow Development Authority (LDA) official said that several by-laws had been broken in the construction of the hotel which did not even have an emergency exit.

"We are going through the documents and strict action will be initiated at the earliest, said the official.

A major fire had broken out at the Levana hotel on Monday morning and about two dozen guests were trapped in the second and third floor of the hotel.

The fire personnel had to break the glass panes to bring out those trapped inside.

Four persons died in the incident while seven others have been hospitalised in critical condition.

Some fire personnel have also been injured.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already ordered a probe into the incident and has directed officials to take strict action if any lapses are found.

--IANS
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Kolkata, Sep 5 (IANS) A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday gave conditional permission to the three Congress MLAs from Jharkhand -- who were arrested in West Bengal with a huge amount of cash in July, to return to their native state.

The Calcutta High Court's division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Bivas Pattanayak ruled that three MLAs -- Irfan Ansari from Jamtara, Rajesh Kacchap from Khijri (ST) and Naman Bixal Kongari from Kolebira (ST) will be allowed to go back to Jharkhand only to participate at any assembly session of the state.

However, before leaving West Bengal, these three MLAs will have to inform the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of state police, and also furnish a copy of the letter from Jharkhand assembly inviting them to participate in any session as supporting evidence.

The division bench also ruled that all the three MLAs will have to come back to Kolkata within 24 hours after their participation in any session of the Jharkhand assembly is over.

To recall, on the evening of July 30, 2022, the MLAs were caught with bags of bank notes at Ranihati in Howrah district of West Bengal. When the notes were counted, the total amount was found to be Rs 48 lakh.

These three MLAs were travelling in an SUV along with two other associates.

On the basis of intelligence inputs, the West Bengal police had apprehended them.

This SUV bore the board of Jamtara MLA of Jharkhand. It was reported that the three MLAs who were taken into police custody could not give clear information about the cash found in the vehicle.

After certain rounds of legal deliberations at the Calcutta High Court, the three MLAs were granted bail on August 17. However, the court barred them from leaving Kolkata till further orders.

Recently, the three MLAs again approached the Calcutta High Court's division bench of Justice Bagchi and Justice Pattanayak with a prayer for permission to be present at the Jharkhand assembly sessions.

On the basis of that, the High Court gave conditional approval to their appeal.

--IANS
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Jaipur, Sep 5 (IANS) A BJP leader Kripal Singh Jaghina was shot dead by a few miscreants  in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district.

According to police officials, the incident took place late on Sunday night when the BJP leader was returning home in his car. At around 10.45 p.m, his car was surrounded by more than a dozen bike-borne miscreants near Jaghina Gate. Soon after, the attackers fired on him, killing him instantly.

The culprits could not be nabbed despite the police blocking all the surrounding roads.

Local sources quoted old enmity as the reason for the murder, but it could not be confirmed.

Kripal Singh's body has been kept in the mortuary of RBM Hospital, where the post-mortem will be conducted later in the day.

According to police, Jaghina was earlier the district spokesperson for BJP Kisan Morcha.

Currently, he was serving as a member of the Railway Advisory Committee.

On receiving information, Kripal Singh's friends and relatives rushed to the spot and rushed him to RBM Hospital where the doctors declared him dead..

After that the police reached the spot. MP Ranjeeta Koli and BJP District President Dr. Shailesh Singh also reached the spot.

According to Additional Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Meena, investigation is being carried out from all angles.

Search for the accused is on.

--IANS
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Lucknow, Sep 5 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday ordered a joint probe by the Divisional Commissioner and police Commissioner of Lucknow into the hotel fire incident.

The injured will be given proper and free treatment, he added.

A major fire broke out in the Levana hotel in Hazratganj area of the state capital this morning.

More than 20 persons have been shifted to a hospital in an unconscious state, sources said.

--IANS
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Patna, Sep 5 (IANS) At least 10 persons were missing after two boats collided in the middle of Ganga River in Patna's Shahpur locality, officials said on Monday.

The incident happened late on Sunday night and rescue operation was still continuing.

Officials said that around 55 persons had gone to the Gangahara island on the other side of the river to bring vegetables and food for cattle. While returning, their boat collided with another boat.

Sharif Alam, the SHO of Shahpur police station said: "They went to Gangahara island on Sunday night and returned from there around 8 p.m. Due to the strong current, the sailors of both the boats failed to control the boats, which resulted in the collision. 45 persons managed to swim to the shore while 10 are still missing. As it was late night, the SDRF team started the rescue operation but were unable to trace the missing persons."

The missing have been identified as Khiladi Rai, Kumkum, Preeti, Aarti, Chathu Rai and others. A majority of the victims belong to the Daudpur village. Due to the monsoon session, the water level of Ganga is near the danger level mark.

--IANS
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