India News
UK health minister Matt Hancock quits after kissing photos trigger violation of Covid protocols
The UK health minister Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday, a day after he apologized for breaching social distancing rules with his office aide. He has resigned over allegations that he broke country’s Covid protocols during an affair with his close aide.
The United Kingdom health minister Matt Hancock resigned from his post on Saturday over the allegations of breaking country’s Covid protocols.
His resignation comes after the Britain’s health minister caught breaking Covid-19 rules by kissing and embracing an aide in his office.
In his resignation letter to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Hancock said Britain have worked so hard as a country to fight the pandemic.
Hancock, 42, wrote to Prime Minister Boris Johnson to resign after The Sun newspaper published photos on Friday of the married minister embracing senior aide Gina Coladangelo, who he had appointed to a taxpayer-funded role to scrutinize the performance of his department.
Johnson had said on Friday he had accepted an apology from the minister and considered the matter to be closed, but Hancock had faced rising pressure to quit.
Hancock has been at the centre of the government’s fight against the pandemic, routinely appearing on the television to tell people to strictly follow Covid protocols to contain the virus.
It will be really challenging for Johnson to appoint a new minister to take the charge of a huge department that is responsible for overseeing the health service and tackling the virus, at a time when cases have started to rise again. The controversy may also harm the health department’s efforts to tackle the pandemic and undermine its messaging about the importance of maintaining social distancing.
Hancock, who ran against Johnson for the Tory leadership in 2019, had already been under pressure over his handling of the crisis. Johnson’s former aide, Dominic Cummings, earlier this month published text messages he said showed the premier regarded Hancock as hopeless. Cummings also accused Hancock of lying and incompetence at the height of the Covid outbreak last year.
Hancock and Coladangelo had been friends since their time together at Oxford University and both are married with children. At the time the photos were taken, pandemic rules advised against meeting people from different households indoors.
With 128,000 deaths, Britain has one of the highest official death tolls from Covid-19 in the world and Hancock, in the post for almost three years, had been heavily criticised for his initial handling of the pandemic.
Read Also: AIIMS chief says availability of Covid vaccine for kids will pave way for school reopening
However Johnson’s Conservative government has been boosted by a rapid rollout of the vaccine programme, with 84 percent of adults having one dose and 61 percent having both, well ahead of most other countries.
India News
Earthquake of 6.2 magnitude on Richter scale shakes up Delhi-NCR, North India
Reports said the tremors were felt acutely by people residing in high rises and many fled by staircase to the groundfloor and were awaiting more aftershocks.
Strong tremors lasting almost a minute rocked parts of Delhi-National Capital Region, and several northern states after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake at its epicentre hit Nepal.
Reports said the tremors were felt acutely by people residing in high-rises and many fled by staircase to the groundfloor and were awaiting more aftershocks. Similar sights were visible in the region’s office districts. The tremors were also felt in parts of Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand just after 2.45 pm. According to the Delhi Disaster Management Authority website, “Delhi is located in zone IV which has fairly high seismicity where the general occurrence of earthquakes is of 5-6 magnitude, a few of magnitude 6-7 and occasionally of 7-8 magnitude. Delhi thus lies among the high-risk areas.” The site adds that Delhi and the union territory region has already seen five earthquakes of the 5.5 to 6.7 scale since 1720.
There has been no report of damage to life and property as of now and reports are awaited on the situation in Nepal. Seismologists said the epicentre was 5 km underground in Bhatekhola in Nepal. The Himalayan country has already faced a massive quake on April 25, 2015 of 7.8 magnitude. Some 9,000 people died and injured more than 20,000.
India News
Watch: Nitin Gadkari takes a test drive on hydrogen bus in Prague
In the video Gadkari is seen seated on the bus while officials surround him standing. One of the officials asked about the distance the bus can cover in a single charge. Gadkari said the visit is part of India’s commitment to eco friendly and sustainable transportation solutions.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari is currently on an official visit to the Czech Republic. He took a test drive in a hydrogen bus. Nitin Gadkari took to X (formerly Twitter) and shared a video of the bus ride. In the video Gadkari can be seen surrounded by a group of officials.
In the video Gadkari is seen seated on the bus while officials surround him standing. One of the officials asked about the distance the bus can cover in a single charge. Gadkari said the visit is part of India’s commitment to eco friendly and sustainable transportation solutions. The video is captioned Hydrogen buses are a beacon of hope in India’s fight against environment degradation and carbon emissions. The buses will pave a greener and cleaner future.
The union minister posted a series of photographs on X, which showed the Gadkari’s test drive. Hydrogen fuel celled powered buses use air and hydrogen to generate electricity. It is a more environment friendly and sustainable mode of public transportation.
Gadkari arrived in the Czech Republic on October 1. He received a warm welcome at the Prague airport. He also participated on the ministerial session on road safety at the 27th World Road Congress in Prague. The Minister reaffirmed India’s dedication to achieving road safety targets which are outlined in the Stockholm Declarartion.
Nitin Gadkari has clearly advocated asserting that advancements and transition to green fuel. This will reduce the cost of electric vehicles when compared to petrol run vehicles within a span of two years. Variety of comments started coming on X (formerly twitter). One social media user said all school and state run buses would be run on hydrogen in the coming days. One X User was asked about the mass production of hydrogen cars. One user said the video was highly inspiring.
India News
Watch: Rajasthan independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla polishes people’s shoes
Hudla did a similar act in the year 2018. He won the election from Dausa constituency. Talking to the media Hudla said he took the initiative to polish the shoes of workers and voters. He said he wanted to make them realize MLAs are their employees and not vice versa.
As the election fever grips Rajasthan independent MLA Om Prakash Hudla became a cobbler in Dausa. He polished people’s shoes. In a video going viral on social media, Hudla is seen wearing a garland and polishing the elderly man’s shoes. He later helps the man to put the shoes on.
Many people have surrounded the MLA. One man even threw rose petals on him. Hudla did a similar act in the year 2018. He won the election from Dausa constituency. Talking to the media Hudla said he took the initiative to polish the shoes of workers and voters. He said he wanted to make them realize MLAs are their employees and not vice versa.
He said he has done it before. He was doing it again and he would continue to do it in the future. Hudla also hosted a tricolor outside a hospital on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. Rajasthan will have assembly elections later this year.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh in preparation for the upcoming state elections. PM Modi slammed Ashok Gehlot led congress government in the state and said the Rajasthan state had been destroyed in the past five years.
PM Modi said every leader of Congress, Tyrant, rioter, goon and corrupt person has considered himself the government of Rajasthan. PM Modi added Congress had left no stone unturned in looting the state. He added The Congress has successfully deceived the people of Rajasthan.
But the Congress had failed to run the government in the state. He said Ashok Gehlot was trying to save his chief minister’s chair and almost half of the Congress party was trying to unseat him. Pilot and Gehlot have been up against each other over the past few years as Pilot was trying his level best to replace Gehlot in the Chief Minister’s position.
