DailyOh! The Covid scam at Kumbh Mela, Microsoft CEO's cricket connection
Satya Nadella, the new CEO of Microsoft, cherishes a bruise on his knee that he got as a teenager playing cricket against legendary cricketer Naushir Mehta.
The pandemic seems to have eased its carnage, at least for now. Or so we believe.
We say so because a report by an NGO in Tamil Nadu has claimed that the number of Covid-19-related deaths in the state is likely to be eight times higher than the government data. Predictably, the state government has debunked the report, saying there was no reason for the government to show a reduced death rate.
If that was from the South, the North fares no better. A ‘Covid-testing scam’ has come to light in Uttarakhand. It is suspected that more than one lakh ‘fake’ Covid-19 test results were issued by private labs during the Maha Kumbh Mela held earlier this year. Why would the labs do so? Apparently to meet the daily testing quota of 50,000 tests set by the Uttarakhand High Court during the Mela. An official probe is on.
Meanwhile, the official caseload data released this morning showed 67,208 new cases of Coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours. The death toll stands at 2,330 fresh fatalities since Wednesday morning.
Even as the case of newborn calf serum in the production of Covaxin comes to light, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has urged the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) to replace the use of calf serum with an animal-free method. This comes even after the Health Ministry clarified that the calf serum is not used in Covaxin's production but used only for the preparation of Vero cells.
From Covaxin, we move to healthcare warriors. There has been a series of cases of doctors being assaulted. From the doctor in Assam, who was attacked earlier this month to the healthcare workers in Manipur who were assaulted, the family members of Covid patients think it is the doctors’ failure if the patient collapses. The Indian Medical Association had earlier written to the PM requesting to ensure the safety of healthcare workers and demanding action against the assaulters. Fed up with inaction and apathy, the IMA has called for a one-day protest tomorrow.
This brings us to our Word Of The Day. Today, the word is assault. The dictionary defines assault as “a violent physical or verbal attack”. It comes from the Latin word assiliō meaning “to rush at”, which is an amalgamation of two words ad translating to “towards” and saliō meaning “to jump”.
Another assault case that has been adding to the woes of Twitter is the attack on the old man in Ghaziabad. An FIR was registered against Congress leaders, journalists and Twitter for inciting violence. Today, a fresh complaint has been lodged against actor Swara Bhaskar, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, Asif Khan of Twitter India and Manish Maheshwari, who is the Twitter India head.
Speaking of assaults, violence, activists and complaints, the communal violence and riots in Delhi during CAA protests led to the arrests of students and activists. Accused of premeditated conspiracy to incite violence, they were arrested last year in May. They were finally granted bail by the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, even as the Court hailed their right to protest.
However, they are yet to come out of jail. Why? Because the government is 'deliberately' delaying their release, activists allege. A Delhi court has passed orders today for their immediate release.
While the activists arrested by cops have been released in Delhi, a former cop has been arrested in Mumbai. Former Mumbai Police ‘encounter specialist’ Pradeep Sharma has been arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) today in the Antilia bomb scare case and the murder case of businessman Mansukh Hiren.
From violence, cops, arrests and assaults, we now take you to the results. The results of the Class 12 examination, we mean. You can ask how results can be announced when the exams have been cancelled. And that is based on an evaluation strategy by the educational boards in the country. The CISCE and CBSE have released the marking scheme for evaluating Class 12 results. The CISCE has also said that it announce the results by July 30.
The students can now finally heave a sigh of relief and maybe watch the ongoing UEFA EURO 2020 football championship in peace. You can watch it on SonyLIV or Jio TV apps. Not into football? Well, you always have cricket, the biggest religion in this country. We have the final match of the first-ever World Test Championship from tomorrow, where India will play against New Zealand.
If you are a cricket buff, you have some high-level company. Take for instance the man who has been named the new chairman of Microsoft. Satya Nadella will now be taking over as the Chief Executive Officer from John Thompson.
And coming to the Indian-origin tech genius and his cricket connection, Nadella has written in his autobiography — Hit Refresh — about how he uses his lessons from his “all-too-brief cricketing past” even as the CEO of Microsoft. We also know that he idolises late ML Jaisimha, is an avid fan of Virat Kohli and tries not to miss watching any major match. But how about playing?
He used to play for his school team and venture to the grounds to watch other matches. Once, he was apparently called to play and was bowling to Naushir Mehta — the former Indian first-class cricketer! As Nadella recalled in an interview with a big proud smile, “One of his (Mehta’s) back-drives hit me so hard on my left leg that I still have that bruise mark.”
Some bruises are worth cherishing. You can read more about Nadella’s love for the game in Hit Refresh. Or you can choose to pick up Neena Gupta’s memoir — Sach Kahun Toh — that was released earlier this week where she details some untold stories from her life.
Books or sports, you need to chill with a glass of sorbet. And today we recommend you try the Litchi Sorbet. After all, what is summer without litchi, right?
We say bye for today on that rather sweet note.
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