PM Modi addresses party workers virtually on BJP's 40th foundation day

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed party workers through video-conference, others like BJP chief J P Nadda unfurled the party flag at their residence

Covid protocol breached

More than 20 officials of the Madhya Pradesh state health department are suffering from Covid-19. These include senior ones such as Principal Secretary Pallavi Jain Govil, MP Health Corporation Managing Director and MP Ayushman Bharat Yojana Chief Executive Officer J Vijay Kumar and Additional Director (Communication) Veena Sinha. During this time, some rules seem to have been broken. According to the rules, Covid-19 positive patients should be admitted to designated hospitals. But the principal secretary continues to stay at her residence, while another went to a private hospital. He was shifted to a designated hospital only after the red flag was raised.  

Monday of icons

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday celebrated its 40th foundation day. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh was re-born as the BJP on April 6, 1980. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi (pictured) addressed party workers through video-conference, others like BJP chief J P Nadda unfurled the party flag at their residence and paid obeisance (before their pictures) to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Deendayal Upadhyaya, and “Bharat Mata”. Congress leaders such as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot reminded the people that this day the Mahatma Gandhi-led Dandi March, or the salt satyagraha, had culminated in 1930. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar implored the people to follow in the footsteps of 19th-century social reformer Jyotirao Phule, who campaigned against superstition and whose birth anniversary is later this week.

Help over net

The Centre on Monday said 769 foreign tourists had registered on its portal www.strandedinindia.com since it was launched on March 31. It said states and Union Territories had deployed nodal officers to assist stranded foreign tourists. It said an American woman was in Supaul, Bihar, amid the lockdown, while her son was undergoing a surgery in Delhi. The portal facilitated her travel to Delhi. Similarly, the portal helped two Costa Ricans in Chennai after their surgery. An Australian family, touring India, was in Ahmedabad and a member of the family who had epilepsy had run out of the medication prescribed by Australian doctors. The portal helped the tourist find relief: The office of the district collector provided him sufficient medication and food, besides offering them local transportation.