分类： bharat

Indonesian Muslims conducted a rally in front of the Indian Embassy here, Friday, as a mark of their solidarity for Indian Muslims and demanded that the Indian government end violence against Muslims in South Asia.

The demonstration was initiated by the Front Pembela Islam (FPI-Islam Defenders’ Front), GNPF Ulama, and the 212 Alumni Brotherhood (PA 212).

The protesters strongly condemned the recent violence against Muslims in India that resulted in the deaths of 42 people and caused injuries to some 350 others. The communal mob by Indian Hindus against Muslims was triggered by the passage of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act in December 2019 by the Modi administration.

The Indonesian protesters brandished posters that read “Stop Genocide of Muslims in India”, “Save Muslims in India”, “Modi is Terrorist”, and “The Government, don’t remain silent. Cut relations with India”, among other things.

The rally’s coordinators demanded a meeting with a representative of the Indian Embassy to echo their protests.

The Jakarta Police tightly guarded the Indian embassy that was protected with barbed wire.

On March 2, members of Muslim organizations in Medan, North Sumatra Province, had held a rally in front of the Indian Consulate General to echo their solidarity towards Indian Muslims and condemn the bloody violence.

To bailout or not to bailout? Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday sought to allay market fears after the RBI took over control of Yes Bank, saying a resolution will be found soon. “I have been personally monitoring the situation,” she said on Friday. The government-approved plan envisages an SBI-led consortium buying half of Yes Bank’s shares, though further plans on how exactly the bank could be brought back from the brink remains unclear.

But the bigger question in the minds of bureaucrats, policy makers and industry, especially in this age of economic slowdown, is whether other institutions in the banking as well as other troubled sectors can also expect a bailout from the government. And more importantly, is it the right routemap for the government to take?

Put this into perspective with moves within the government to put up a ‘bailout’ package being formulated for the AGR-hammered telecom sector. With the Supreme Court hardening its stand that operators have to shell out their dues and biggies like Vodafone-Idea saying they will have to shut down operations if they are forced to pay up the entire amount (Vodafone has paid Rs 3,500 crore only out of its estimated dues of Rs 53,000 crore), reports indicate a proposal for relief to telecom operators to ensure they don’t stop operations could come up for approval in the next cabinet meeting itself. The total AGR dues is about Rs 1.02 lakh crore, of which about Rs 25,701 crore has been paid up so far, with Vodafone-Idea, Airtel and Tata Teleservices being the worst affected.

Bailout is a silver bullet often asked for by both government and private players, but seldom granted in the manner they envisage. While government has shouldered the losses of public sector entities through bailouts over the years—the repeated largesse for Air India is a case in point—the buck stops short when it comes to private companies. Though a bailout was mulled over last year for beleaguered private airline Jet Airways, it did not materialise, despite it being just before the general elections. The airline’s closure eventually left 16,000 employees jobless and an aviation sector without enough capacity as was feared. The airline was forced to suspend operations in April last year.

Another case in point is the economic slowdown that had seen auto and real estate players pleading to the government for bailout. While the auto sector was left waiting in the wings, the real estate sector saw Rs 25,000 crore-worth bailout announcement in November. The new year eve announcement of Rs 1.02 lakh crore infrastructure fund may have been billed a ‘stimulus’, but is actually a case of a rose by any other name.

Twelve more people have tested positive for coronavirus — six in Kerala and three each in Karnataka and Pune, state authorities said on Tuesday as the total cases went up to 59 and amid COVID-19 scare, a combination of two anti-HIV drugs was used for the first time in India in the treatment of two patients.

The health ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has risen to 50, adding the rest are being retested for confirmation. Once the fresh cases declared by the state governments are taken into account, the figure will go up to 59.

In Karnataka, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said four persons have been confirmed for coronavirus, including three new cases. In Pune also, three persons tested positive, a day after two cases were reported.

In the morning, 58 Indians were brought back home from coronavirus-hit Iran in a military transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

IAF spokesperson Group Captain Anupam Banerjee said the C-17 Globemaster aircraft evacuated 25 men, 31 women and two children. It also brought swab samples of 529 Indians to carry out laboratory tests and check whether they have coronavirus infection.

Those who returned have been quarantined at a medical facility in Hindon.

Announcing the latest cases in Kerala at a media interaction in Thiruvananthapuram after a special cabinet meeting held to discuss the coronavirus situation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said at least 1,116 people are under observation — 149 in isolation wards of various hospitals and 967 under home quarantine.

The fresh cases are friends and relatives of an Italy-returned couple and their son who had on Saturday tested positive for the deadly virus along with two other kin staying with them at their home in Rane in Pathanamthitta district, Health Minister K K Shailaja, who was also present, said.

The aged parents of the couple are among the six latest positive cases, she said.

In Jaipur, the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, both second-line HIV drugs, was administered was administered on an elderly Italian couple undergoing treatment for Covid-19 at the SMS Hospital.

The Drug Controller General of India approved “restricted use” of these medications for treating those affected by novel coronavirus after the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) sought their emergency approval.

SMS Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr D S Meena said the Italian man and his wife had developed severe respiratory problems following which a decision was taken to put them on the combination of lopinavir and ritonavir.

According to officials, consent of the patients was taken before the drugs were administered.

This combination along with other drugs has been used in clinical trials in China, where coronavirus first emerged, and Thailand for treating Covid-19 patients.

In Karnataka, a software engineer who returned from the US on March 1 tested positive on Monday, becoming the first COVID-19 patient in the state.

According to health department officials, his wife and daughter too tested positive for the virus on Tuesday.

Another person, who had travelled from America via London and arrived in Bengaluru on March 8, also tested positive, they said.

State Health Minister Sriramulu said the family members of the four persons have been quarantined. Using a hashtag of #CoronaVirusOutBreak, the minister said, “I appeal to the people to make sure that this disease does not spread further.”