16-04-2021 The Asian Independent

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16-04-2021 to 30-04-2021 ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Sharmila continues her
fast in HYDERABAD
Hyderabad : The daughter
tioned the silence of Telangana
of former Andhra Pradesh
Chief Minister K.
Chief Minister Y.S.
Chandrasekhar Rao over the
Rajasekhara Reddy, Y.S.
suicides by unemployed youth.
Sharmila, continued her fast for
a second consecutive day on
She said the CM should
respond to the burning problem.
Friday demanding the
Telangana government to issue
job notifications for the unemployed
youth of the state.
She alleged that dejected
over the delay in job notifications,
unemployed youth are
Sharmila continued the
ending their lives but the Chief
hunger strike at her Lotus Pond
residence in Banjara Hills here.
Her mother Y.S. Vijayamma
was also present to show solidarity
with her.
Minister is neglecting the issue.
Recalling that the youth
were in the forefront of the
movement for the statehood to
Telangana, she demanded that
Doctors have examined
the Telangana Rashtra Samithi
Sharmila, who has vowed to
continue her fast for 72 hours
demanding the state government
to fill all the vacancies to
provide employment to the
(TRS) government must fulfil
their aspirations by providing
them jobs.
"There are 1.91 lakh vacancies.
The government should
educated youth of the state.
fill them," she said and
Sharmila, who plans to
launch a new political party in
Telangana in July this year, had
appealed to the youth not to
resort to suicides, assuring
them that she would lead the
launched the fast at the Indira
fight to pressurise the government
to issue job notifications.
Park on Thursday. As the police The police, however, stopped Sharmila at her residence. She,
had given permission only for Sharmila from doing so, leading
to pushing and jostling there, condemning the police a week after addressing a pub-
however, continued the fast Sharmila undertook the fast
one-day fast, they forced her to
end the protest on Thursday between the police personnel action and demanding release lic meeting at Khammam,
evening.
and the protesters. At one stage, of all her supporters.
where she had announced that
She then tried to take out a she collapsed and was briefly Sharmila, who is the sister of she will launch a new political
'padyatra' from the hunger unconscious.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister party on July 8, the birth
strike venue to her residence. The police later dropped Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, ques-
anniversary of her father.
Covid 2.0 may claim 2,320 lives
per day in India by June: Report
New Delhi : The lethal second
wave of Coronavirus will
likely claim nearly 1,750-2,320
lives per day in India by the
first week of June 2021, if
proper steps are not immediately
taken to curb its spread,
warned a report by the Lancet
Covid-19 Commission.
Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh,
Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu,
Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh
and Gujarat will likely remain
the most affected, according to
the report titled "Managing
India's second Covid-19 wave:
Urgent steps".
The second wave of the
Covid-19 pandemic hit India
hard with the number of new
infections rising from 11,794 in
the first week of February 2021
to 152,565 as of April 10, 2021.
Death rate also touched new
heights daily -- from 116 in the
first week of February 2021 to
838 as of April 10, 2021.
The second wave also took
less than 40 days to reach the
80,000 mark. From 10,000 new
cases per day in February to
80,000 new cases per day in
April. In September, this journey
took 83 days. Many positive
cases are asymptomatic or
mildly symptomatic, the report
said.
Fiscally, India may need to
spend more than $7.8 billion on
testing and $1.7 billion on
health care utilisation due to
Covid-19 infections leading to
death by September 2021, it
added.
"All efforts need to be made
to break the transmission chain
and reduce the rate of new
infections, with minimum disruption
to the economy and to
the livelihood of its people,"
the report said, noting that
accelerating vaccinations is
key.
"The past year has shown us,
both within India and in other
countries, that strong political
will, together with building
preparedness in the health system,
and individual and community
behaviour change can
yield powerful results. We hope
that strong, decisive actions
taken now will spare India a
long second wave and set in
place actions to prevent further
waves of Covid-19 infections,"
the report said.
To combat the spread of
Covid-19, the report suggested
measures such as ensuring vaccinations
for all adults, including
those below 45, need to
ramp up manufacturing capacity,
address vaccine hesitancy
among others.
In the last 24 hours, India
reported over 2 lakh new
Covid-19 cases, the biggest single-day
spike ever, according to
the latest Health Ministry data.
The overall number of confirmed
cases stands at
1,40,74,564.
Mehbooba backs SPO, says
even women aren't spared
in 'NAYA KASHMIR'
Srinagar : Speaking in support of a woman SPO (special
police officer), whose services
were terminated for
allegedly glorifying terrorism,
former Jammu and Kashmir
Chief Minister Mehbooba
Mufti said on Friday that the
officer has been slapped with
UAPA for raising legitimate
questions.
On Friday, the Jammu and
Kashmir Police arrested and
terminated the services of a
lady SPO for allegedly glorifying
terrorism. "Saima
Akhter from Kulgam has been
slapped with UAPA for raising
legitimate questions about searching her home repeatedly
without any reasons," Mufti tweeted.
"Saima's ailing mother understandably exacerbated her worries.
When it comes to cruelty, even women aren't spared in Naya
Kashmir," she added.
The police had earlier said that the lady SPO was arrested
from Kulgam district and her services were terminated for glorifying
terrorism and obstructing government officials in the discharge
of their duty. "On April 14, acting on a specific input
regarding the presence of terrorists at Karewa Mohallah in Frisal
village, a search operation was launched by the security forces in
the area. During the search operation, the search party was
obstructed by a lady identified as Saima Akther, the daughter of
Ghulam Nabi Rah, a resident of Frisal," the police said.
"The lady resisted the search party and turned violent, uttering
statements glorifying violent actions of terrorists. She captured a
video through her personal phone and uploaded it on social
media platforms for dissemination with the intent of disrupting
the search operation," the police added. Taking cognisance of the
matter, the police arrested the woman and subsequently terminated
her from service.