JAMMU: The People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) on Tuesday said that the Delimitation Commission’s draft of the Centre, in its attempt to mainstream Jammu and Kashmir, is “isolating” it in a “haste over several issues”.

Addressing the media after the PAGD meeting on Delimitation Commission’s draft, M.Y. Tarigami said, “We have reiterated that delimitation should take place as per the nationwide census. BJP government says that they want to mainstream J-K but they’re isolating it in haste over several issues. It will affect the sentiments of people.” Pressing the Gupkar Alliance’s demand for a “logical” increase of seats, if any, Tarigami said, “We want that even if the number of seats has to be increased, there should be some logic. Dr sahab (Farooq Abdullah) and Hasnain Masoodi went there (Delimitation Commission meet) as MPs. We said that it’s not as per people’s desire but a step to create divides between Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.” Before the meeting commenced, Tarigami had called the draft by the Delimitation Commission “divisive and unacceptable” and said, “I think it’ll further divide J&Kon the basis of communities and regions.” 

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted a sharp attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that there has been a spike in instances of lynching after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. Before 2014, the word “lynching” was practically unheard of. #ThankYouModiJi,” the 51-year-old Congress leader said in a Twitter post on Tuesday in Hindi and English. Gandhi’s swipe at PM Modi came against a backdrop of instances of lynching of two accused following instances of alleged desecrations at Sikh shrines in Punjab over the past week. On Saturday, a man was killed over an alleged sacrilege bid at the Golden Temple. The following day, a second person was beaten to death for reportedly disrespecting the Sikh flag at a gurudwara in Punjab’s Kapurthala district.

BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan promptly clapped back. “The dynast should remember 1984 and the anti-Sikh riots—that’s what set precedent to the act of lynching,” said Vadakkan.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday lashed out at the media when asked about his latest tweet on lynching and told the journalist to stop working as a government agent. BJP IT cell Head Amit Malviya slammed Rahul Gandhi and said that lashing out at journalists is an attack on freedom of the media.

The contentious anti-conversion bill was tabled in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, amid stiff opposition from the Congress. State Congress president D.K. Shivakumar even tore papers on his table, in protest against the introduction of the bill, which his party called “draconian and anti-Constitution”.

The ‘Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021’, introduced in the assembly by Home Minister Araga Jnanendra, provides for protection of right to freedom of religion and prohibition of unlawful conversion from one religion to another by misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means. The bill proposes for an imprisonment from three to five years with a fine of Rs 25,000, while for violation of provisions with respect to minors, women, SC/ST, offenders will face imprisonment from three to ten years and a fine of not less than Rs 50,000. The proposed bill is also said to have made a provision for the accused to pay up to Rs 5 lakh as compensation to those who were made to convert. With regard to cases of mass conversion, the bill proposes 3-10 years jail term and a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh.

“We are opposed to the introduction of the bill as it violates fundamental rights and the constitution. It violates individual’s rights. This is a draconian bill,” Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah said. Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri asked Congress members to go though the bill that has just been introduced. It will be taken up for consideration only on Wednesday, and the opposition members can make their objections known then. As Siddaramaiah said, they were not aware about the introduction of the bill, the Speaker hit back saying “ignorance of law is no excuse”, and the bill was tabled as per procedures and rules.

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi affixed on the Covid-19 vaccination certificates.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner which is to be paid to the Kerala Legal Services Authority within six weeks. “The petition seems to be filed with political motives and a publicity motivated petition. Therefore, it deserves to be dismissed with a heavy cost,” the High Court observed while dismissing the petition. The court further observed that while thousands of convicted persons are in Indian jails for criminal cases and are waiting for their appeal hearings, thousands for matrimonial disputes…so this court must consider this petition quickly. “In such a situation, such frivolous petitions must be dismissed with a heavy cost,” the court said.

The court criticised the petitioner for wasting judicial time, and asked: “Why are you ashamed of our Prime Minister?”

Single Bench of Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan further remarked: “There is a general trend to a section of the citizens of our country that the political leaders are all corrupt people and they cannot be believed. I think, from this concept, these types of arguments are coming into the mind of the petitioner. But can anyone generalise like that? What is wrong with politicians? Since there is a small percentage of politicians are having a bad history, the entire politicians need not be ignored.”

There are excellent political leaders who have made great initiatives for the welfare of the country, calling them builders of our nation with innovative ideas, he added. Further, in his remarks, the Judge said, “The people elect the eligible persons among them and send them to the Parliament and the majority party will select their leader and he will be our Prime Minister for five years. Till the next general election, he will be the Prime Minister of India. Therefore, according to me, it is the duty of the citizens to respect the Prime Minister of India, and of course, they can differ on the policies of the Government and even the political stand of the Prime Minister.”

“The Prime Minister of India is not a person who entered the parliament house by breaking the roof of the parliament building. He came to power because of the mandate of the people. The Indian democracy is being praised by the world. The Prime Minister is elected because he has got people’s mandate,” he added. The plea was submitted by an RTI activist Peter Myaliparampil.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday released the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the use of drones in the farm sector, including for spraying pesticides as well as other soil and crop nutrients. The adoption of drone technology is the need of the times and will benefit farmers, he said in an official statement. Releasing the SOPs for drone application in agriculture, Tomar said the government’s policies since 2014 are aimed at doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

Formation of Farmer Producer Organisation (FPOs) and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) will bring about a revolution in the lives of small farmers, he noted. Tomar further said drones were used for the first time in warding off locust attacks in various states of the country. He said the government is making continuous efforts to infuse new technologies in agriculture so as to provide sustainable solutions in context of enhancing the productivity as well as efficiency of the agriculture sector.

“The SOP for drone regulation for pesticide application covers important aspects like statutory provisions, flying permissions, area distance restrictions, weight classification, overcrowded areas restriction, drone registration, safety insurance, piloting certification, operation plan, air flight zones, weather conditions, SOPs for pre, post and during operation, emergency handling plan,” the statement said.

The ministry in consultation with all the stakeholders of this sector, has brought out the SOPs for use of drones in pesticide and nutrient application that provide concise instructions for effective and safe operations of drones. The national drone policy has been notified and the Drone Rules 2021 have been made significantly easier for people and companies to now own and operate drones. The requisite fees for permissions have also been reduced to nominal levels. Drones are well-equipped with many features like multi-spectral and photo cameras and can be used in many areas of agriculture such as monitoring crop stress, plant growth, predict yields and deliver props like herbicides, fertiliser and water.

The equipment can be used for assessing the health of any vegetation or crop, field areas inflicted by weeds, infections and pests and based on this assessment, the exact amount of chemicals needed to fight these infestations can be applied, thereby optimising the overall cost for the farmer.

The ministry highlighted that drone planting systems have also been developed by many startups which allow drones to shoot pods, their seeds and spray vital nutrients into the soil. “Thus, this technology increases consistency and efficiency of crop management, besides reducing the cost,” the statement said.

The Centre in a letter to states and Union Territories has warned that the Omicron variant is at least three times more transmissible than the Delta variant. Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to all states/UTs saying: “Omicron is at least 3 times more transmissible than Delta. Hence, even greater foresight, data analysis, dynamic decision making and strict & prompt containment action are required at the local and district levels.”

“Activate war rooms”, the health secretary has written in the letter to states amid Omicron surge. Meanwhile, the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has told the Centre that Covid-19 vaccination for children is not a priority at the moment, sources said.

In a decision taken by one of the NTAGI working groups, it said that children are not at much of a risk and so, Covid-19 vaccination for children is not a priority. The NTAGI working group has conveyed the same to the Centre, the sources said, even as the Union health ministry said on Tuesday that 200 cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected across 12 states and UTs in India so far, out of which 77 patients have recovered or migrated.

The Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday that the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for Covid-19 (NEGVAC) and NTAGI are deliberating and considering scientific evidences related to vaccination of children. The central government has been regularly reviewing pace and coverage of Covid-19 vaccination and has issued multiple advisories to states and union territories to cover eligible beneficiaries with both doses of Covid-19 vaccine, Minister of State for Health Bharati Pravin Pawar said in a written reply.

A total of 34 cases of the new Omicron variant of coronavirus have been reported in Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital, out of which 17 patients have been discharged and the rest of the patients are admitted in other hospitals, informed Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Tuesday.

“Out of the Omicron patients who have come to LNJP, 3 cases have been reported, who have no travel history, who did not go abroad,” said the Health Minister in a statement issued today. “The Delhi government has decided that now all the COVID-19 cases that will come up, all of them will undergo genome sequencing. For this we have made adequate arrangements,” he added.

Looking at the rising tally of Omicron cases in the country, the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) in its latest bulletin dated 13 December, published on Monday, said that public health measures and investigations are being conducted to look into the new variant.

India reported 5,326 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the lowest in 581 days, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday. With 453 deaths in the last 24 hours, the death toll from the disease has climbed to 4,78,007. As per the ministry, the active caseload in the country now stands at 79,097; the lowest in 574 days. According to the ministry, as many as 8,043 patients recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic to 3,41,95,060. The country’s recovery rate currently stands at 98.40 per cent, which is the highest since March 2020. While the daily positivity rate stands at 0.53 per cent which has been less than 2 per cent for the last 78 days, the weekly positivity rate presently stands at 0.59 per cent which has been less than 1 per cent for the last 37 days. As many as 66.61 crore Covid-19 tests have been conducted so far in the country, stated the ministry. India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has reached 138.35 cr (1,38,34,78,1819), as per the provisional reports till 7 am on Tuesday.