Health ministry confirms 22 Zika cases in Rajasthan

After Jaipur in Rajasthan recorded 22 confirmed cases of Zika virus till Monday, the government has put neighbouring states on high alert.

Given that the pink city is part of India’s golden triangle tourist circuit, connecting the national capital and Agra, authorities said strict surveillance was required in the region.

“A few cases of Zika virus have been reported in Jaipur. We have alerted neighbouring states, including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, to keep strict vigil on Zika virus. Given that the festive season is round the corner, many people travel to popular tourist destinations for year-end holidays. Since there is seamless travel between these states, the health authorities will have to be careful,” said Sunil Gupta, additional director, National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

The outbreak in Jaipur was detected through the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) surveillance system. The ministry of health and family welfare deputed a seven-member high level central team to Jaipur immediately following the detection of the first case to assist the state government in taking containment measures.

A control room has been set up at the NCDC to undertake regular monitoring of the situation. “All suspect cases in the defined area and mosquito samples from this area are being tested. Additional testing kits are provided to the Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratories. All pregnant mothers in the area are being monitored through the National Health Mission (NHM). Extensive surveillance and vector control measures are being taken up in the areas as per protocol by the state government,” an official statement from Union health ministry said.

Zika is a mosquito-borne disease transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes. The disease is currently being reported by 86 countries worldwide. Symptoms of Zika virus disease are similar to other viral infections such as dengue, which include fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and headache. In India, the first outbreak was reported in Ahmedabad in January-February 2017. The second outbreak was reported after five months in the Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu. Both were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management.

The disease continues to be on surveillance radars of the Union health ministry although it is no longer a public health emergency of international concern, according to World Health Organization notification of 18 November, 2016.

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Rahul’s Mega Rajasthan Road Show From Vasundhara Raje’s Home Turf

The Congress was wiped out in most of Rajasthan in the last state elections in 2013 but managed to retain a toehold in the Dholpur-Bharatpur belt, winning four seats.

Rahul Gandhi’s mega road show in six constituencies in Rajasthan’s Dholpur and Bharatpur today is aimed at taking on Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on her home ground.

Ms Raje belongs to the former royal family of Dholpur and is popular as “Maharani Sahib” to voters there.

In the by-election to the assembly seat in April 2017, it was her focused campaign run from inside Dholpur Palace that managed to dislodge the Bahujan Samaj Party and win the Dholpur seat for the BJP.

But Dholpur in eastern Rajasthan, that borders Uttar Pradesh, is a fertile ground for the Congress.

The Congress was wiped out in most of Rajasthan in the last state elections in 2013 but managed to retain a toehold in the Dholpur-Bharatpur belt, winning four seats. The Congress had a higher vote share, of 34.5 per cent, than that of the BJP in Dholpur.

This is why, the party believes, Rahul Gandhi’s public outreach programme with the 163-km road show, can boost the Congress’ prospects in the upcoming elections. “We have a good chance in east Rajasthan. That is why Rahul Gandhi is here and we are taking on the Chief Minister not just in Dholpur but in all 200 seats,” said Rajsthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot.

There’s another reason why the Congress is starting its election campaign from this part of Rajasthan, and that is the Mayawati factor. The Dalit powerhouse announced last week that her party will fight the elections on its own. She gave a shock to the Congress last week, ruling out any alliance with the party in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. In the last elections, her party did better in Dholpur than it did in the rest of Rajasthan.

But the BJP is not entirely worried about the BSP.

“It is true that Mayawati impacts a certain vote bank. But the maximum she has ever got in Rajasthan has been 4 per cent of the vote share,” said Rajendra Rathore, a minister in the Vasundhara Raje cabinet.

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Rajasthan Polls 2018: Sensing good show, Congress sitting MPs join ticket queue

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Top Congress leaders in Rajasthan are vying for tickets anticipating a ‘good performance’ by their party in the upcoming assembly elections. Even those who had contested the parliamentary polls earlier are pushing for their candidature. One of the two current Lok Sabha MPs from Congress has also indicated his willingness to try his luck in the polls.

“It would be a party decision. I am ready for whatever the party asks me to do,” he said.

Congress had drawn a blank in the 2014 general elections from Rajasthan. Later, Karan Singh Yadav won from Alwar and Raghu Sharma from Ajmer.

“It was after these bypoll victories that the Congress has come into the reckoning. Now, Rajasthan is the best bet for the party’s revival,” said a senior Congress functionary.

Political analysts feel that the rush for Congress tickets this time is due to the suspense over the chief ministerial candidate.

“Had the party declared the CM face, like BJP has done by projecting Vasundhara Raje, other senior Congress leaders would not have shown so much of interest,” said Ram Pratap Singh, a political analyst.

In 2013, Congress had fought by projecting the then chief minister Ashok Gehlot as the CM candidate. That time, most of the senior leaders contested the Lok Sabha elections giving the assembly polls a miss, which were held about six months before the 2014 LS elections.

“Party stalwarts Sachin Pilot, Jitendra Singh, CP Joshi, Girija Vyas, Mahesh Joshi, Namo Narayan Meena and Ijyaraj Singh, among others, unsuccessfully contested the elections then. Now, focus is on the state assembly polls where dislodging Raje looks more “doable” than engaging in the “complicated” 2019 general elections,” he said.

Earlier in 2008, CP Joshi, the then state party chief, was slated to become the chief minister (though not declared).

But he lost the election by a solitary vote and Ashok Gehlot was given the responsibility

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Ahead Of Elections, Campaign Of Communal Rhetoric In Rajasthan’s Alwar

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Alwar has repeatedly been in the national headlines in the past two years for lynchings in the name of the cow. Pehlu Khan was murdered in 2017 and more recently, Rakbar Khan died in custody; both men were accused of cattle smuggling.

ALWAR, RAJASTHAN: “Cow blood has been shed on this land, on my land. Russian and American scientists, after studying Hindu shastras, have confirmed that whenever and wherever cow blood is spilt, there will be earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes will erupt” – Gyan Dev Ahuja, a BJP lawmaker in Rajasthan’s Alwar, delivers the little speech without flinching as he campaigns for elections in the state due later this year.

Alwar has repeatedly been in the national headlines in the past two years for lynchings in the name of the cow. Pehlu Khan was murdered in 2017 and more recently, Rakbar Khan died in custody; both men were accused of cattle smuggling.

Alarmed, the Supreme Court has repeatedly asked state governments to rein in cow vigilantism.

“We don’t have any problems with Parsis, why do we have problems with Muslims? If they blend like sugar into water there will be no trouble. If they stop cutting up the cow, there will be no problem,” said Gyan Dev Ahuja, with a theatrical twirl of his handle-bar moustache.

A large section of Mr Ahuja’s election machinery comprises members of gaurakshak (cow vigilante) groups, like Dharmendra Singh from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an outfit affiliated to the ruling BJP’s ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Mr Ahuja’s protege Banwari Lal Singhal is the BJP lawmaker representing Alwar city. Also a staunch VHP member, Mr Singhal’s latest campaign focuses around his claim that Rakbar Khan did not die in police custody but committed suicide, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

“The gaurakshaks sent him (Rakbar) peacefully to the police station, even the police did nothing. I think he knew he was guilty so he himself consumed poison,”

Mr Singhal cursorily lists some development projects he has commissioned before launching into details of his campaigns against Muslims.

“The Muslims have made cow their vyavasaya (business)…They will not stop cutting up our mother and eating her. Gaurakshak groups help the police, they are doing social service,” he said.

In the last assembly election in 2013, the BJP won nine of Alwar’s 11 assembly seats. In the 2014 national election, the party won the Alwar Lok Sabha seat.

But in a by-election this year, the Congress did well, winning back the Lok Sabha seat.

Analysts say Hindu-Muslim polarisation is one way that BJP leaders may see as a way of regaining lost ground.

Alwar falls in the Mewat region, which has a high percentage of Muslims, known as Mev Muslims.

Far more pressing issues like water scarcity ought to take centrestage. Ramgarh, Mr Ahuja’s seat, is an extension of an arid region which spills over from Haryana into parts of Rajasthan. But water scarcity or crop procurement prices – another important issue – barely get a mention.

The climate of hate “leaves us feeling very vulnerable and scared, especially as elections near,” says Farman Ali, a Mev Muslim and the owner and director of one of Alwar’s most popular coaching institutes located in the heart of the city.

“Outside every home here you will see cows. We Mevs depend on cattle, depend on dairy but now people are so scared they will not even take a sick cow to the doctor because of the fear of getting lynched,”.

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