With trigger-happy Taliban on the rampage in a bid to wrest control of key government-controlled parts of Afghanistan, India has decided to play it safe by monitoring the situation more frequently and regularly, given its huge investment in the war-torn country.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed, “Around 50 diplomats and other staff members at the consulate in Afghanistan’s Kandahar have been evacuated in view of intense fighting near Kandahar city.” The personnel were flown to Delhi last evening by special Air Force plane.

Sources told The Daily Guardian that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has spoken to his Afghan counterpart Mohammad Haneef Atmar on the situation there. “Whatever has been done is nothing but a temporary measure by India to keep its people safe from Taliban’s terror,” Atmar was assured, sources said.

“India is closely monitoring the evolving security situation in Afghanistan. The safety and security of our personnel is paramount, said MEA. “The Consulate General of India in Kandahar has not been closed. However due to intense fighting near Kandahar city, India-based personnel have been brought back for the time being. I want to emphasise that this is a purely temporary measure until the situation stabilises. The Consulate continues to operate through our local staff members,” added the statement by MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

In fact, the MEA sought to dispel the impression being created at this point of time that India is going to trim its presence in Afghanistan and “withdrawal” of diplomats and personnel is the beginning. Indian officials have strongly objected to Pakistan-based propagandists spreading rumour that India is running away from Afghanistan even as the country is in trouble due to resurgence of Taliban.

Though the MEA has steered clear of coming on record with rebuttal to Pakistan-based rumour-mongers obviously backed by officials in Islamabad, diplomats in MEA told TDG that India is just monitoring and reviewing the situation on daily basis, and it will do what is the best to take care of its heavy investment (to the tune of $3 billion) in Afghanistan. Moreover, India is committed to the cause of a stable and developed Afghanistan. 

According to sources, MEA is also assessing the intelligence inputs saying that terrorists of groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed are backing Taliban in Afghanistan. What India is wary of is that these terrorists are out to target Indian missions in Afghanistan and citizens of the country. Terrorists of these organisations have been spotted in various regions sharing the border with Pakistan.

While monitoring the “grim” situation in Afghanistan, India is also waiting for powerful countries such as the US, Russia, UK, etc, to react to what is happening in the trouble-torn nation amid the withdrawal of NATO and American forces from there. India wants a strong message to Taliban who are bleeding Afghanistan. 

Jaishankar has already been quite active to draw the attention of the global community on Taliban’s resurgence in Afghanistan and other attendant problems. It was Jaishankar who had sought an immediate intervention of the global community to ensure that ceasefire violation in Afghanistan is stopped.  

“For enduring peace in Afghanistan, terrorist safe havens and sanctuaries must be dismantled immediately and terrorist supply chains disrupted. There needs to be zero tolerance for terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including its cross-border one” Jaishankar had once told the United Nations. “It is equally important to ensure that the territory of Afghanistan is not used by terrorist groups to threaten or attack any other country. Those providing material and financial support to terrorist entities must be held accountable,” he had emphatically said.

“The Afghan government has been told in no uncertain terms to ensure that India’s mission is protected and Afghanistan’s soil should not be allowed to be used by terror organisations for anti-India activities,” sources said.   

India’s presence in Afghanistan has been as a major development and civilian reconstruction partner. India’s role in Afghanistan has also been focused on the development and aid aspect of the security-development complex in the country. Infrastructure development, capacity building, humanitarian aid among other initiatives have been the focus. But what is worrying now is that the Taliban have been rapidly gaining control of some of the key cities in the country ever since the US finalised its exit, ending a 20-year-long war.

While discussing India’s plan ahead in Afghanistan, what diplomats cannot lose sight of is the fact that if Afghan provinces fell to the Taliban and war intensified, Pakistan’s military the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) would exploit the prevailing chaos. Both the establishments of Pakistan will try and foment trouble for India in Afghanistan. “So India needs to formulate its strategy to tackle this possible scenario in Kabul,” says an official.

As the country battles Covid-19 pandemic and majority of Indians spend their time indoors, the food choices of consumers is also undergoing a change. USAPEEC & South Dakota recently organised an insightful session on Processed Poultry Products and discussed the nutritional and safety value of processed foods. An esteemed panel of speakers including Mr. Bhupinder Singh, CEO & MD of Vista Processed Foods, Mr. Rajiv Jaisinghani, CEO & MD of Darshan Foods Pvt. Ltd, Mr. Sivakumar K Vice President, Innovative foods ltd, Mr. Vijay Sardana, Techno-legal expert and Mr. G Balaji Veeraraghavan, DGM Operations, Venkateshwara Hatcheries P Ltd provided their valuable insights.

Speaking about public awareness on benefits of processed poultry products, Mr Sardana said, “It is an important conversation in Covid times when people want good health. There is a saying that you are what you eat. We all should focus on what we eat, from hygienic, nutritional and food delivery point of view. Processed poultry products are a better option as it is cost effective, nutritious and better in hygienic than conventional ways.

There is an Indian understanding that organic, unprocessed local products are better. Talking about how contactless packaging ensures safety, Mr Bhupinder said, “In processed poultry products, cold chain is taken care of carefully. Packaging process is temperature controlled by experts.” To back the claim that processed poultry products are better and healthier, Mr Sivakumar said, “It is process facility that makes it safer, healthier and better. These products come from a processor which has all safety parameters. The raw material hardly gets in contact with workers hands as it is completely automated process.”

Speaking about brands claiming to be producing more healthier, better and safer poultry products, Mr Rajiv emphasised, “We know that good chicken slaughtered wrongly ends up being bad quality chicken. When chicken is slaughtered, cleaned and stored right, you get better, safer and healthier chicken. As food processing companies, we provide quality certification to consumers.”

Mr G Balaji Veeraraghavan further mentioned the convenience logic of easily procuring these processed products. He said “Time spent to cook unprocessed chicken is higher compared to when processed product goes into the kitchen.” Talking about innovation and new technology, he added, “Coming across individual freezing as well as the frozen, tech is concerned that if you have 20- 30 minutes time, you have 500kg to 1 ton material, mind you something which 80 degrees hot, within 20 minutes or get gets to -18 degrees, that is the kind of nutrition locking capability that the technology has and even modern technology, modern innovations, it all interesting consumers have started accepting.”

When asked about market policy and growth rate, Vijay Sardana said “Across the processing food sector, the growth is very fast. There are several factors for it. First of all, cooking is an art. If you don’t know how to cook a chicken curry but you want to eat it so there is a demand for ready-to-eat products. Second, urbanisation is increasing. There is no trying now because now you don’t have time after coming back from work. That’s why all e-commerce food sites and growing.”

He further spoke of the required policy support for processed food industry and said, “As far as financial support is concerned, there are a lot of government schemes to support industry. Public fund is available for development and processed food industry. So, money is not in short supply for processed food industry. As far as market is concerned, we are 140 crore people, so market is also huge. What’s missing in this industry is understanding it and getting deeper into quality, hygienic and marketing aspect which is art aspect. Process food industry is Science plus art. Science part of the industry has developed but what’s missing is the art part.”

Mr Rajiv further expressed how some processed food products are aspirational like ‘seekh kebabs’ which people like to eat. “For a small family, it’s difficult and too much work to prepare it at home. That’s where our processed food comes handy,” he added.

With this, the speakers spoke at length about -what processed actually means and what options are currently out there for the consumers to create wider acceptance for processed poultry products among Indian audience. Overall, it was a well-rounded interactive discussion on an interesting and pertinent topic.

iTV Network has acquired a majority stake in The Real Kashmir News and consolidated its presence in the Kashmir Valley.

On this occasion, Kartikeya Sharma, Founder of iTV Network, said, “We are delighted to announce the acquisition of The Real Kashmir News. This is part of our strategic expansion in a hybrid system of print, digital and television to augment the presence of India News in Jammu & Kashmir. With this acquisition we will be sharing the news from different corners of Jammu and Kashmir to national and global audiences. Also, iTV Network will be launching India News Jammu & Kashmir”

The Real Kashmir News, founded with a vision to promote positive news from the Valley and cover first-hand news from Jammu and Kashmir, is dedicated to providing unbiased stories.

Expressing his views on the acquisition, Sajid Yousuf, CEO, The Real Kashmir News, said, “It’s really a proud moment for us all that we have merged with iTV Network, a brand in itself. By merging with iTV Network, we will become the voice of voiceless people.”

Yana Mir, Editor-in-Chief, The Real Kashmir News, said, “The Real Kashmir News is proud to announce that we are now a product of iTV Network. Proud moment!”

Speaking on this, Varun Kohli, CEO, iTV Network, said, “iTV Network has expanded further into the regional news space with the acquisition of The Real Kashmir News. We will be reaching out to a wider audience with this tie up.”

On this development, Meenakshi Singh, President – Government and Retail, iTV Network, said, “We believe that the partnership with The Real Kashmir News is in keeping with a continued focus to partner and invest into good ideas within the media space in India and globally.”

CHANDIGARH: In May, when Covid-19 cases were on peak, Punjab and Haryana High Court was on a vigil over States’ hospitals and had ordered Chandigarh, Punjab, and Haryana to set up ICU Control rooms to ensure the wellbeing of the patients infected with the virus, and so that the relatives remain in regular touch with the concerned authorities, as well as the respective patients. It has been two months so far, but none of the states except Haryana have set up such control rooms so far.

On 27 May, the HC ordered, “We also find that the ICU control rooms are a necessity as relatives of patients cannot be left in a state of anxiety if information regarding the medical condition of their kith and kin, who are admitted in the ICU is not available to them. This also leads to complaints by the relatives of the patients and the consequent fact-finding inquiries. We, thus, feel that state governments need to issue necessary directions in this regard on the analogy of PGIMER, Chandigarh and other reputed institutions”.

A division bench, comprising of Justice Rajan Gupta and Justice Karamjit Singh, passed these orders while hearing an ongoing petition regarding arrangements and facilities available in the region to tackle the pandemic.

Haryana was the only State which has been able to set up ICU Control rooms in even District-based Hospitals. Dr. Veena Singh, Directorate General Health Services, Haryana, told The Daily Guardian, “Orders or No orders, we made all arrangements for people who were anxious for their relatives admitted in ICUs. The relatives had words with doctors, they could see their patients on screen. Our Mahendergarh district-based Primary Health Care Centre was also been able to run an ICU where doctors worked tirelessly to fight the peak.”

As per sources, the Chandigarh Administration is still in process of setting up the ICU control rooms. The State Medical Research and Education Department has approved the file and 250 cameras are to be installed inside the ICUs pointing on the nursing stations, to make the ICU Control rooms functional. Whereas the court had asked to show patients on screen so that the relatives could be ensured of their patients’ well being.

The Daily Guardian tried to contact officials but they didn’t respond to the queries so far.

However, Dr. GB Singh, Director Health Services Punjab, said, “I will look into the matter, so far I am not aware of this”.

As per the orders of the Gujarat administration, standard 12 classes, polytechnic institutes and colleges in the state will be resumed from Thursday 15th July 2021 with 50% capacity, however the consent from the parents would be sought. Attendance of students in such institutions is optional.

In a meeting of the core committee, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, Chief Secretary Anil Mukim, Additional Chief Secretary of Home Department Pankaj Kumar, Frontline Secretary of Education S. J. Haider, Chief Minister’s Secretary Ashwini Kumar and Education Secretary Vinod Rao were present.

The Zydus Cadill corona vaccine for children between the ages of 12 and 18 in India may be available from September, stated the chairman of the expert committee on vaccine matters. The results of a trial of the Zydus Cadill vaccine on children are expected to be available before September.

The state government had initially decided to close direct education in all primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Gandhinagar from March 19, 2021.

Educational work in schools-colleges, educational institutions was closed from March 16 last year. Subsequently, schools and colleges in Std 6 to 12 were reopened in phases from January to February.

Earlier, standard 10 and 12 schools were opened from January 11, following which standard 10 and 12, PG and last year’s college classes were started. Then in the state schools for standard 9th and 11th were started on 1st February as well as classes for standard 9th to 12th and competitive examinations were allowed. After the reopening of schools and colleges from 9 to 12, the state government’s education department announced the resumption of classroom education for first-year students in colleges from February 8.The Gujarat government had announced mass promotions for students of standard 1 to 9 and standard 11 in the state.

Gujarat Youth Congress Vice President Nikhil Savani has split with the Congress, sources said. Nikhil claims that like his elder brother, Hardik Patel’s position in Congress is not good. On the other hand, he has accused the Youth Congress of massive corruption in the elections. Amidst the sensational allegation that no one gives importance to Hardik in the party, Congress said that a person who has been in the party for two-four years has not made any contribution just after getting the post.

Some leaders of the Youth Congress and NSUI have now come face to face. Nikhil Savani has said that there is a controversy within the Congress and the acting president Hardik Patel is not being treated properly.

Savani has accused the leaders of his own party of conspiring to end the political career of Hardik Patel, the working president of the state. Savani said that factionalism is at its peak in Gujarat Congress and Congress leaders are conspiring to end the political career of party’s working president Hardik Patel. They allege that the party runs membership campaigns only to collect money. Elections for NSUI and Youth Congress President are also won on the basis of money, he alleged. He alleges that in Congress it is the tradition of the king’s son to become the king. The common worker is not allowed to progress.

Nikhil Savani was earlier in the BJP. After that, Nikhil, who was close to the Surat businessman, defected to the Congress and got the post as he was close to Hardik. Meanwhile, he had also given tickets to his wife Donica in the corporation elections, but sources said that Nikhil had suddenly split again after splitting with Congress.

Amid the allegations, Youth Congress leader Parthiv Rajsinh Kathwadia from the Congress said that the people were adopting a strategy of blackmailing by telling lies. Those who are alleging have only taken from the party itself, but given nothing to the party.