March 2024 – Page 3 – Safir News Agency

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"Sample Not Taken From Us": Family Of Child Who Died After Eating Cake

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The family has alleged that the cake contained some poisonous substance.

Chandigarh:

The family of a 10-year-old girl who died after eating a cake ordered online in Punjab has alleged the health department did not help them at all. The first information report (FIR) was also filed five days after she died, her family said.

The girl had celebrated her birthday on March 24, and died hours later after the family had gone to bed. She had also vomited the cake before and struggled to breathe before she died, her family has said. Others in the family who ate the cake had also fallen sick.

The incident was picked up by local media, and it came to national attention only on Saturday.

Her grandfather, Harbhanj Lal, told NDTV the lack of alertness on the part of the health department was disturbing.

“The health department officer refused to take the sample of the cake that we had ordered. The officer insisted they will take samples only from the shop where the cake was baked,” Mr Lal told NDTV.

The family said the name of the bakery in the bill and the actual shop were different, indicating it could have been a fly-by-night cloud kitchen, a concept that is gaining currency due to its flexible, lightweight nature of operations.

Independent kitchens would make foods in usually one-room setups to take online delivery orders, and package the foods well as from a big place.

“We are also monitoring this concept of cloud kitchen because the name of the bakery kept changing in Zomato,” Patiala Superintendent of Police Sarfaraz Alam said.

A health officer said the girl’s family visited him on Thursday. “I told them to file a formal complaint with the police and with the health department. Food teams were instructed to visit the house and collect samples of the cake,” the officer said, news agency PTI reported.

In visuals of the birthday celebrations, the girl, Manvi, was seen cutting the cake and celebrating with her family, just hours before her death.

The family has alleged that the chocolate cake, ordered from ‘Cake Kanha’, contained some poisonous substance.

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Editorial: A challenging demographic shift

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Last year, the UNPF India Ageing Report projected that number of elderly will reach 347 million by mid-century

Published Date – 31 March 2024, 11:58 PM

Editorial: A challenging demographic shift

India is staring at a serious demographic challenge, with the fertility rate steadily declining and has now fallen below the replacement level. This means that the country will turn into an ageing society in the next three decades. The latest report in the medical journal Lancet has flagged that India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) — the average number of children born to a woman — will fall to 1.29 in 2050, far below the replacement level of 2. One in five persons in India will be above the age of 60 in 2050. This reflects a demographic shift with profound implications for the country’s health, fiscal and gender policies. Last year, the UN Population Fund’s (UNPF) India Ageing Report projected that the number of elderly will more than double from 149 million in 2022 to 347 million by mid-century. This poses a challenge to the policy makers. With a lower number of births, the youth population will keep shrinking. As the size of the youth population falls, the number of older adults will surpass the young. India will need to reassess its social-security focus and make investments to provide the growing number of older adults with improved access to healthcare, income-security and social safety nets. India’s fertility numbers fell from nearly 6.2 in 1950 to just under 2 in 2021. The combination of declining fertility rates and longer life expectancies presents a complex situation, necessitating provisions for social security and healthcare for the increasing elderly population. There is also a need to generate employment opportunities that effectively utilise the skills of this demographic.

Global experience suggests that once fertility rates fall below the replacement level, it is almost impossible to set them back. India’s declining fertility rate is broadly in tune with the global trend. Experts have warned that the TFR could touch a worrying level of 1.04 by 2100. Older adults are at risk of food and nutrition insecurity, as their declining social and economic bargaining power often makes them dependent on social security. Drawing on the 2000 Population Policy, India’s health policies and programmes have focused on family planning, maternal and child health and communicable diseases. Yet, with the increased number of older adults, the number of non-communicable diseases is already outgrowing infectious diseases. According to the WHO, nearly 60% of deaths can be attributed to non-communicable diseases. That share will continue to increase in the near future, demanding a significant policy shift towards preventing and managing morbidities like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Less than 1% of older adults have health insurance, and ageing-related morbidities are a grey area in terms of coverage. Most older adults depend on families and immediate relatives for healthcare. In the face of changing demographic trends, the challenge before India is to overcome skill deficits, plug gaps in the knowledge economy and generate jobs outside of agriculture.

Middle East

New Israeli aggression against Syrian capital injures two civilians

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This file photo shows the aftermath of an Israeli missile strike on the Syrian capital city of Damascus.

The Israeli regime has launched another act of aggression against Syria, targeting a number of locations in the vicinity of the country’s capital city of Damascus.

According to Syria’s official news agency, SANA, which quoted a military source, the late Sunday attack came from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights.

The military source added that the Israeli aggression resulted in the injury of two civilians and some material losses.

The new Israeli strike came just a few days after dozens of people were killed and injured when Israeli military aircraft carried out a string of aerial assaults on targets near the northwestern Syrian city of Aleppo.

Back then, SANA reported that Israel’s aerial attacks came from the direction of Athriya, southeast of Aleppo, adding that “civilians and military personnel” had been killed and wounded in the strikes.

The Syrian government strongly condemned the attack on Aleppo, calling on the international community to stop the regime’s violations of international law.

The Aleppo attack was carried out just hours after the regime killed two civilians in another strike on a residential building in the countryside of Damascus.

The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement that Israeli violations of Syria’s territorial integrity proved the aggressive and barbaric nature of the regime, adding that Israel is “the main reason behind instability in the region and the suffering of the regional nations.”

The Israeli regime often conducts airstrikes on military installations in Syria, particularly those belonging to the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah, which has been instrumental in supporting the Syrian army in its battle against terrorists backed by foreign entities.

The Tel Aviv regime does not acknowledge its military actions within Syrian territories, which are widely interpreted as a knee-jerk reaction to the Syrian government’s triumph over terrorism.

The recent strikes also came amid an upsurge in Israel’s ongoing genocidal war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has killed nearly 32,800 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

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Parisians rally for Palestinian Land Day as Israel violates UN-ordered ceasefire

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Ramin Mazaheri

Press TV, Paris

Protests were held around France to mark the 48th annual commemoration of Palestinian Land Day. The West continues to extend total support for Tel Aviv despite the wanton violence of the Israeli regime, which has already violated the United Nations order for a ceasefire.

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India

Manipur BJP MLA Jabs Congress With Rahul Gandhi's 2019 Tweet On NRC, CAA

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Manipur BJP MLA Jabs Congress With Rahul Gandhi's 2019 Tweet On NRC, CAA

Manipur BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh speaks to party supporters in the state capital Imphal

Imphal/Guwahati:

This election season, the ruling BJP in the border state Manipur has opened a new front against the Congress over the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, or CAA. The Manipur assembly on March 1 passed a resolution that asked the Centre to begin the process of carrying out the NRC exercise to identify illegal immigrants and deport them.

Continuing the offensive from where he left last week, BJP MLA Rajkumar Imo Singh told supporters in Imphal that not a single Congress MLA was present inside the assembly when the resolution on the NRC was passed.

“All five of them were outside, posing for photos and talking on camera. Later, we came to know why,” Mr Singh said.

He took out his phone in front of party supporters and showed a 2019 post by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the microblogging website X, formerly Twitter, which criticised the NRC and the CAB – a bill then, CAB in short – as “weapons of mass polarisation”.

“And why did the Congress MLAs walk out of the assembly during the NRC resolution? In 2019, Rahul Gandhi tweeted ‘CAB and NRC are weapons of mass polarisation… I stand in solidarity with all those protesting peacefully against the CAB and the NRC’. Rahul Gandhi was Congress president that time. The Congress has always opposed NRC and CAA,” said Mr Singh, who is also the son-in-law of Chief Minister N Biren Singh.

Mr Gandhi stepped down as Congress chief in July 2019 after taking responsibility for a second straight national election defeat. He won from Wayanad seat in Kerala, but lost his second seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Amethi to BJP’s Smriti Irani. Until then, Mr Gandhi had been winning from Amethi since 2004.

In Manipur, where tensions have been high between the Kuki-Zo tribes and the Meiteis since clashes erupted in May 2023, the Meiteis and other major communities except the Kuki-Zo tribes have been demanding the NRC exercise to be carried out. The NRC exercise aims to identify illegal immigrants based on a cut-off year and deport them.

Assam was the first state to implement the NRC, and the process faced several challenges including 19 lakh people among three crore left out of the list. Many whose names did not appear in the list had filed appeals saying there has been a mistake. The process of analysing the appeals and taking decisions on them is going on.

The CAA, whose rules were notified on March 11 in line with the Centre’s promise on enforcing the rules before the national elections this year, will help minorities from three neighbouring Islamic nations fast-track their Indian citizenship process if they fled due to religious persecution.

The Meiteis, who are dominant in Manipur’s valley areas, want NRC to be implemented, while the Kuki-Zo tribes, who are dominant in the hill areas of southern Manipur and a few other districts, have alleged the Meiteis want to grab their lands by calling them illegal immigrants since the Kuki-Zo tribes share familial and ethnic ties with the Chin people in neighbouring Myanmar. Thousands of people from Myanmar’s Chin State and other regions of the junta-ruled nation have entered India after fleeing from the conflict between the junta forces and pro-democracy rebels.

Home Minister Amit Shah last year told parliament one of the factors behind the Manipur crisis was the huge influx of illegal immigrants.

The people of Manipur needs to understand the facts and realities. Don’t go by emotions, the future of Manipur depends upon all of us realising the true nature. We witnessed Welcome to Kukiland play-cards during the visit of @INCIndia leader Shri @RahulGandhi to Kangpokpi. Well… pic.twitter.com/BoFFlmXSZM

— Rajkumar Imo Singh (Modi Ka Parivaar) (@imosingh) March 29, 2024

Opium poppy farming, illegal immigrants, and ethnic tensions are among the biggest issues ahead of the Lok Sabha election in Manipur, to be held in two phases on April 19 and 26.

Inner Manipur’s Congress candidate is Dr Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, a professor in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), and the BJP candidate is Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh, the state Education Minister.

Manipur has two Lok Sabha seats – Inner Manipur, and Outer Manipur. The entire Inner Manipur constituency and some areas under Outer Manipur will vote on April 19. The remaining areas under Outer Manipur will vote on April 26. Votes will be counted on June 4.

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Comeback Man Pant, Warner Lead DC To 20-Run Win Over CSK

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Comeback man Rishabh Pant hit a much-awaited fifty after David Warner’s well-constructed 52 to set up Delhi Capitals’ convincing 20-run win over Chennai Super Kings for whom veteran MS Dhoni’s vintage knock was not enough to cross the line in their IPL match in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. Faced with a tough 192-run target, the Super Kings tried to scale it down through Ajinkya Rahane (45), Dhoni (37 not out) and Daryl Mitchell (34) but the Capitals carried far too many guns for them on the night. CSK ended up at 171 for six.

In the first session, Warner and Prithvi Shaw (43) overcame a slow start to share a 93-run opening stand before Pant’s 32-ball 51 powered DC to a competitive 191 for 5.

Pant, who came into the tournament after recovering from a life-threatening road mishap in December 2022, belted four boundaries and three maximums for his first fifty in 15 months.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed (2/21) set the tone for DC’s defence with his twin strikes in the Power Play which led to its fruition by pacer Mukesh Kumar (3/21).

While Ruturaj Gaikwad’s (1) trouble against left-arm seamers continued as he was done in by a superb inswinger, a frustrated Rachin Ravindra (2) holed out to Tristan Stubbs after a 12-ball stay as CSK slumped to 32 for 2 in six overs.

Rahane and Mitchell provided some stability with a 68-run stand, which included a 17-run over off DC’s impact sub Rasikh Salam’s second over but left-arm spinner Axar Patel ousted the New Zealander to break the alliance.

It was a Mukesh show thereafter as coming on to bowl after the 13th over, he struck twice in two balls to remove Rahane and Sameer Rizvi (0), leaving CSK at 102 for 5 in the 14th over.

Shivam Dube (18) was next to go as Mukesh kept bowling wide outside off and varied the pace as the batter eventually sent one straight to long-off.

With CSK needing 58 off 18 balls, Dhoni walked out to bat for the first time this season amid chants of “Dhoni Dhoni” and treated his fans to some delightful shots.

The former CSK skipper blasted two fours in the first three balls with Ahmed dropping a sitter in the second ball.

Dhoni then clobbered a six over extra cover off Ahmed, who ended up with three wides to concede 12 runs. But Mukesh conceded just 5 runs in the 19th over to crush CSK’s dream, leaving them to make an impossible 41 off the last over.

Dhoni, who turned the clock back, however, gave his fans enough to cheer with a four and a one-handed six off the first two balls before producing another four and a last-ball six as CSK racked up 20 runs.

But the Dhoni hurricane came a trifle late.

Earlier, the in-form Warner slammed five boundaries and three maximums during his 35-ball 52, while Shaw, playing his first game this season, smashed two sixes and four boundaries in his 27-ball 43.

However, Pathirana produced a sensational catch to dismiss Warner and then returned to strike twice in three balls to bring CSK back into the game.

But Pant, who had looked in fine fettle in his two earlier innings, took his time to settle and then exploded in the end overs to take them close to a 200-total.

DC had a watchful start as they were going at run-a-ball rate for the first four overs.

Warner then picked Deepak Chahar for the special treatment, depositing him twice into the stands on the leg side. He also hit two fours on the off side to accumulate 18 off the fifth over.

Mustafizur Rahman was then taken to the cleaners with Shaw hitting three successive fours as DC posted their highest powerplay score of 62/0 of this IPL.

It took the brilliance of Pathirana to send Warner back as the Sri Lankan dived to his right and plucked the ball from thin air, leaving the Aussie stunned as Mustafizur drew first blood.

Shaw smashed another six to take DC past the 100-run mark but Jadeja dismissed him next ball, inducing an edge as Dhoni did the rest for his 300th dismissal — the highest by a keeper in T20s.

With the two openers gone, the scoring rate dropped as skipper Pant struggled for early momentum.

Pathirana then unleashed a 150kph thunderbolt to uproot the middle-stump of Mitchell Marsh and then rattled Stubbs’ timbers with an in-swinging yorker to leave DC at 134 for 4 in 15 overs.

Pant then stepped up, plundering a four and a six off Mustafizur and then launched into Pathirana, clobbering him for a six and two fours in the 19th over as 43 runs came off the final three overs.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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