16-05-2021 The Asian Independent

6 16-05-2021 to 31-05-2021 ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Desperate villagers
clash at Bihar health
centre over getting vax
Patna : In a bid to get the anti-corona jab, villagers fought with
each other, sparking a massive clash at a primary health centre of
Aurangabad's Dev block in Bihar on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses said more than 850 people turned out at a single
health centre in the hope of getting the vaccination.
"The villagers of Dev and adjoining areas came to the health centre
and formed a long queue outside. Soon, they became out of control
in absence of police personnel and began pushing one another.
Moreover, a group of people tried to jump into the queue which eventually
turned into a massive fight between them," said Sunil Kumar,
a villager of Dev.
He said that 12 village panchayats fall under the Dev block and a
majority of the villlagers come to the centre to get the vaccine.
"The scare of corona has made people scared and desperate. The
villagers kicked and punched each other in a bid to enter the centre
in a gross violation of Covid protocols. It was complete chaos at the
centre," said Rajeshwar Singh, the village head of Dev.
"The doctors of the hospital informed us about the incident. We
immediately sent a police team to the centre and calmed the villagers
down. Some of the villagers have been injured in this incident," said
a sub-inspector rank officer requesting anonymity.
Johnson, Irish leader agree to maintain
'SMOOTH TRADE' after Brexit
London : UK Prime
Minister Boris Johnson and his
Irish counterpart Micheal
Martin have agreed to work
together to "maintain smooth
trade" between Great Britain,
Northern Ireland and the
Republic of Ireland after Brexit.
The agreement came during a
meeting between the two leaders
on Friday at Chequers, the
country house of Johnson,
reports Xinhua news agency.
"They agreed on the importance
of working together to uphold
the Belfast/Good Friday
Agreement and to maintain
smooth trade between Great
Britain, Northern Ireland and
the Republic of Ireland," a statement
from 10 Downing Street
said. Taking to Twitter, Johnson
said: "We are both committed to
the Belfast/Good Friday
Agreement and to addressing
the legacy of the troubles to
deliver a brighter future for
everyone in Northern Ireland."
Due to the post-Brexit trade
deal, food products from Britain to the
European Union (EU) will have to enter
through new border control posts at Northern
Ireland's ports, as stated in the Northern
Ireland protocol signed by London and
Brussels in 2019. Northern Ireland will continue
to apply EU customs rules at its ports,
to allow goods to flow into the Republic of
Ireland and the rest of the EU. This is known
as the Irish sea border, which is a new trade
border between Northern Ireland and other
parts of Britain.
Also on Friday, Northern Ireland
Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots was elected
leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, a
pro-British political party in the region.
Poots is reportedly seen by some commentators
as more aggressive in his opposition
to Northern Ireland's post-Brexit trade
barriers and more conservative on social
issues than his opponent, Jeffrey Donaldson.
20 civil servants appointed
to joint secretary-level posts
UK to speed up Covid vaccination
amid concerns over India variant
London : UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that
the country is planning to accelerate its coronavirus vaccination program
for priority groups amid concerns over the spread of the Indian
variant. Speaking at a press conference at Downing Street on Friday,
Johnson said those aged over 50 and those considered clinically vulnerable
will be able to get a second vaccine dose after eight weeks,
reports Xinhua news agency.
He said the spread of the new variant, known as B1617.2, would
not affect the scheduled easing of lockdown in England from May
17. But the Prime Minister said the variant could cause "serious disruption"
to the next stage of lockdown easing on June 21.
Johnson said "at this stage" there are some important unknowns
but he believes the variant is "more transmissible" than previous
ones, and therefore the race between the vaccination programme and
the virus could get tighter.
He said there was "no evidence" to suggest the current vaccines
would be less effective against the strain.
Joining Johnson for the press briefing, England's Chief Medical
Officer Chris Whitty said the country is going "in a very steady but
rapid progression in terms of vaccination", starting with the most vulnerable
people, including some people in their 30s.
Whitty said he hopes everybody in Britain has their first vaccine
by end of July. "That is the aim," he said.
The latest development came after four people in Britain have
died due to the variant first detected in India,
Public Health England (PHE) said cases of the variant known as
B1617.2 in Britain have more than doubled to 1,313, up from 520
infections recorded by PHE last week. According to the latest official
figures, more than 36.1 million people in Britain have been given the
first jab of the coronavirus vaccine.
New Delhi : In a major bureaucratic
reshuffle, 20 civil servants were on Friday
appointed to joint secretary-level posts.
A 2002 batch Indian Administrative
Service (IAS) officer, D. Senthil Pandiyan,
was appointed as Joint Secretary in the
Ministry of AYUSH for a tenure of five
years, replacing Indian Forest Service (IFS)
officer Roshan Jaggi, a 1988-batch J&K
cadre officer.
Nirupama Kotru, a 1992 batch Indian
Revenue Service (IRS) officer, was appointed
as Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor
in the Ministry of Coal for an overall tenure
of five years in place of Reena Sinha Puri, a
1987-batch IRS officer.
Bhaskar Verma, a 1995-batch Indian Civil
Accounts Service (ICAS) officer, has been
appointed as the Member Secretary, National
Monuments Authority (NMA), Ministry of
Culture, for five years replacing Navneet
Soni. The Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, approved the appointments that
include the names of Lily Pandeya for the
Joint Secretary's post in the Ministry of
Culture; Mayank Tewari for the same post in
the Department of Defence; Nazli Jafri
Shayin in the Ministry of Defence (Finance);
Indira Murthy in the Ministry of Earth
Sciences; Bhuvnesh Kumar in the Ministry
of Electronics and Information Technology;
and Patibandla Ashok Babu in the
Department of Health and Family Welfare.
Manisha Sinha, Ashish Vachhan and
Sandhya Bhullar were appointed as Joint
Secretaries in the Department of Economic
Affairs. Jeetendra Singh has been appointed
as Joint Secretary in the Department of
Heavy Industry; Sumant Singh in the
Department of Home Affairs; Sanjiv Shankar
in the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting; Manoj Kumar in the
Department of Investment and Public Asset
Management; and Sonmoni Borah in the
Department of Land Resources.
Indian Ordnance Factories Service
(IOFS) officer Veena Tamta Bhatia has been
appointed as the Additional Central
Provident Fund Commissioner (HQ), EPFO,
under the Ministry of Labour and
Employment, while Central Secretariat
Service (CCS) officer Som Dutt Sharma has
been appointed as the Director in the
Institute of Secretariat Training and
Management under the Department of
Personnel and Training.
IAS officer Sanjeeb Kumar Mishra has
been appointed as Secretary-cum-Controller
of Examination, National Recruitment
Agency (NRA), under the Department of
Personnel and Training for a tenure of five
years.