Bihar’s new Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav on Tuesday asked government doctors to be present on duty round-the-clock in emergency wards in all hospitals in the state.

Yadav, son of RJD president Lalu Prasad, gave the stern instruction after a review meeting of health department and asked the principal secretary to the health department to ensure that doctors stay at their place of posting, according to an official statement. He also stressed that senior doctors take at least two rounds at the wards in the evening along with regular monitoring and asked the principal secretary to the health department to keep a tab on doctors who absent themselves from duty.

The minister said he would pay surprise visits to any hospital any day to see whether the order was complied with, the statement said. Yadav instructed that life saving drugs should be present in each of these hospitals so that “no patient has to roam here and there for medicines.”

He also ordered to keep CT scan, MRI, X-ray machines and ventilators in good working condition and maintain cleanliness in hospitals.

The minister instructed the superintendent of Patna Medical College and Hospital to ensure that no ‘dalal’ (broker) is seen roaming in the hospital to dupe hapless patients and take them to private facilities.

“If need be security guards should be posted for the purpose,” Yadav said. He also asked for registration of private nursing homes.

The image of him embracing Lalu Prasad Yadav having gone viral, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday sought to defend his anti-graft credentials saying it was the RJD chief who “pulled and hugged him”, and it did not amount to an “alliance”.

Kejriwal said that AAP worked “against BJP” during the Bihar assembly polls and supported the chief ministerial candidature of Nitish Kumar. He termed the JD(U) leader as a “good person” and someone who has done “good work”.

“I go to Rashtrapati Bhawan. All party leaders come there. They meet us. In Nitish Kumar’s swearing in Lalu Yadav was on the stage. He shook hand and pulled me and hugged me. And held my hand and raised it. It was projected and questions were asked. We have not formed an alliance. We are against his record of corruption and we’ll always oppose it,” Kejriwal said.

The AAP chief made the remarks at the party’s National Council meet here. Kejriwal said he was against dynasty politics and the fact that Lalu’s “two sons are ministers. We are against that too.”

“I am happy that questions are being asked. Questions are being asked because people have hope, because they think we are different. Nobody asks questions when other leader hug Lalu ji, it’s good for us,” Kejriwal added.

The Delhi Chief Minister faced flak from various quarters for hugging Lalu, a convict in the fodder scam, at the oath- taking ceremony of Kumar on November 2O. Expelled AAP leader Yogendra Yadav described it as a “shameful” act.

Yadav, said it was not mere hugging, but the defeat of ideals to form a bloc against the BJP. “Political capital of the movement sold to symbols of political corruption.Ashamed!” Kejriwal was criticised even on social media with many even posting a tweet of his that he wrote in October 2013.

“Laloo made crores in fodder scam. But no order for recovery of that money. Just 25 lakh fine and few years in jail. A sweet deal,” the Delhi CM had tweeted.

24 Nov) Washington: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has not only maintained his top position in the popularity ratings, but has also widened his gap over rivals in the 2016 elections race, latest polls showed today. According to the national opinion polls, released by Fox News, Trump retains the top spot with a record 28 per cent support. He is up by 2 per cent compared to the poll conducted on November 1-3 by the channel.

The popularity of Trump’s closest Republican rival Ben Carson has dropped from 23 per cent to 18 per cent. Two others Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are tied at 14 per cent. Jeb Bush’s popularity remains disappointing at 5 per cent. The latest poll was conducted between November 16 and 19. On RealClearPolitics.Com, which aggregates all the recent national opinion polls, Trump with 27.5 per cent leads his nearest Republican rival Carson with 7.7 percentage point. In another survey, Pew Research Centre said Trump, Rubio, Cruz and Carson get higher favourable ratings among Republicans who are angry at government than among non-angry Republicans, in part because they are better known among the “angry” group.

A year ahead of the election, American public is deeply cynical about government, politics and the nation’s elected leaders in a way that has become quite familiar, it said. The survey, based on more than 6,000 interviews conducted between August 27 and October 4, 2015, found that only 19 per cent say they can trust the government always or most of the time, among the lowest levels in the past half-century. Only 20 per cent would describe government programmes as well run. And elected officials are held in such low regard that 55 per cent of the public says “ordinary Americans” would do a better job of solving national problems, it said. According to Pew, the public finds the government frustrating and badly managed at a general level: 59 per cent say it is in need of “very major reform,” up 22 percentage points since 1997. However at a specific level, in 10 of the 13 areas included in the survey, the balance of opinion about government performance is more positive than negative.

Ahmedabad: Amid widespread complaints of deletion of names from voters’ lists, polling took place on Sunday for the first phase of the two-tiered elections to local self-government bodies in Gujarat, with around 47 per cent of the electorate turning out to cast their ballot. Voting began on a lazy note at 8 a.m. at around 13,000 polling stations in the state. Secured by police and paramilitary personnel, the turnout limped to just over 15 percent by afternoon, leaving political parties worried about their prospects. Polling, however, picked up during the last three hours to hover around an average 47 percent — 4 percent higher than the 43.8 percent in the 2010 municipal elections.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state controls six of the eight municipal corporations — Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Jamnagar and Bhavnagar — that went to the polls. The terms of Gandhinagar and Junagadh are yet to end. Rajkot city topped with a maximum of 50 percent turnout, followed by Bhavnagar with 49 and Jamnagar with 47 — all three cities fall in the Saurashtra region that has a sizeable population of the Patel community which is on a warpath with the Anandiben Patel government over their demand for reservation.

The state’s commercial capital Ahmedabad and cultural hub Vadodara too saw around 47 percent voter turnout each. Surat, that cuts and polishes nearly 80 percent of the diamonds exported from the country, scored the lowest turnout of 44 percent. Though no untoward incident or poll-related violence was reported from anywhere, the state election commission (SEC) received a large number of complaints of deletion of names from voters’ lists from all the cities. Official sources said every city must have received an average of three major complaints about absence of and deletion of voters’ names from electoral lists. IANS

(20 Nov) Patna : Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav on Friday termed Nitish Kumar’s swearing-in ceremony as a ‘big day’ for Bihar and said that the grand alliance has tried to form a ‘balanced’ cabinet. “It’s a big day. Bihar’s election has become the election of the nation. We have formed a balanced cabinet. Problem is everyone has limited numbers, but we have tried to form a balanced cabinet,” Yadav told ANI here.

“It will be disclosed at 2 p.m whether Tejaswi Yadav will be the deputy chief minister. We have invited many people irrespective of political boundaries. Today’s oath ceremony will show the result of the Bihar election. It’s our priority now to fulfill the promises which were made to the people of Bihar,” he added. Senior JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar will be sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the fifth time today in a swearing-in ceremony, which will be held at the Gandhi Maidan here at 2 p.m. Governor Ramnath Kovind will administer the oath of office and secrecy to other council of ministers belonging to RJD, JD (U) and Congress parties. According to reports, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad’s sons, first time MLA Tejaswi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, would be sworn in as cabinet ministers in new government. Tejaswi would reportedly be made deputy Chief Minister.

Bobby Jindal. Photo: Reuters Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal dropped out of the 2016 race for president on Tuesday, ending a campaign that failed to gain much support among Republicans sifting through a long list of contenders for the GOP nomination. “I’ve come to the realization that this is not my time,” Jindal said on Fox News Channel as he announced the decision to suspend his campaign. The 44-year-old governor said he wasn’t ready to endorse another candidate, but intended to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. Term-limited and out of office in January, Jindal said he will work with a think tank he started a few years ago, called America Next, to devise what he called “a blueprint for making this the American century.”

“Going forward, I believe we have to be the party of growth and we can never stop being the party that believes in opportunity. We cannot settle for the left’s view of envy and division,” Jindal said in a statement. The nation’s first Bobby Jindal. Photo: Reuters Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal dropped out of the 2016 race for president on Tuesday, ending a campaign that failed to gain much support among Republicans sifting through a long list of contenders for the GOP nomination. “I’ve come to the realization that this is not my time,” Jindal said on Fox News Channel as he announced the decision to suspend his campaign. The 44-year-old governor said he wasn’t ready to endorse another candidate, but intended to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. Term-limited and out of office in January, Jindal said he will work with a think tank he started a few years ago, called America Next, to devise what he called “a blueprint for making this the American century.” “Going forward, I believe we have to be the party of growth and we can never stop being the party that believes in opportunity. We cannot settle for the left’s view of envy and division,” Jindal said in a statement. The nation’s first

(14 Nov) Patna, Nov 14: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday submitted his resignation to Governor Ramnath Kovind after the cabinet decided to recommend the dissolution of the outgoing assembly. “Nitish Kumar met the governor and submitted his resignation to him and informed about the cabinet decision,” an official said. The governor accepted the resignation but requested him to continue as caretaker chief minister till a new government is formed. Nitish Kumar, who led the Grand Alliance to a victory in the assembly elections, will stake claim to form a new government after a joint meeting of his party, the RJD and the Congress later on Saturday. Newly-elected legislators of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) will elect Nitish Kumar as the leader of the legislature party. He will then be elected leader of the legislature party of the Grand Alliance.

New Delhi, Nov 14 (IANS) President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday extended greetings to children across the country on the occasion of Children’s Day. “My best wishes and blessings to all the children of this country on the occasion,” he tweeted. “The future of our nation depends on our children.” The president said children should be encouraged to dream big about the future of the nation and explore their potential to the fullest. “When provided adequate opportunity and guidance, they (children) have immense potential to contribute to the society and humanity.” November 14, the day India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was born, is celebrated as Children’s Day.

(10 Nov) Patna: Though the official announcement is awaited, JD(U) Nitish Kumar in all likelihood would take oath as the new chief minister of Bihar on November 20. “People are busy with Diwali and after that comes the Chhath festival which ends on November 18. So oath of the new government in all likelihood will be administered after Chhath,” state JD(U) President Basistha Narayan Singh told PTI.

It is yet to be decided as to which constituent party would the speaker be from and if Lalu Prasad’s son Tejaswi would be made the deputy chief minister. This would be the fifth time that Kumar would take oath as chief minister. His first stint was in 2000 when he headed a government for only seven days. He rode to power in Novermber 2005 and again in 2010. In February 2015 he took oath for the high office for the fourth time after Jitan Ram Manjhi was removed from the chair. Bihar JD(U) chief Basistha Narayan Singh said though decision would be taken by the leaders of Congress it would be better if all three partners are part of the state government. “We have fought together and it would be good for them (Congress) too that they be part of the government,” he said. Singh refused to confirm media reports that a criteria of one minister on every five MLAs is being fixed for selection of ministers in the new Nitish Kumar government

Myanmar’s ruling party says it has lost the general election, with early results suggesting a landslide win for Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) leader Htay Oo said the government would accept the result of the country’s first free national election in 25 years.

Key points:

NLD secures all 12 of first upper house seats announced in early results
Government spokesman says he is surprised by the scale of losses
Opposition needs 67 per cent of available parliamentary seats to win majority
“We lost,” Mr Htay Oo, a close ally of president Thein Sein told Reuters news agency.

“We have to find out the reason why we lost.”

The country’s official election commission has been announcing the results of Sunday’s election, constituency-by-constituency, as they trickle in.

In the first batch, the NLD won all 12 of the seats announced. In the next, it won 14 of the 16 official tallies.

Mr Oo said he was surprised by the scale of his defeat in his own parliamentary constituency in Hinthada, in the delta region, considered the heartland of the USDP’s rural support base.

“I wasn’t expecting it because we were able to do a lot for the people in this region.” he said.

“Anyway, it’s the decision of the people.”

Suu Kyi’s opposition has commanding lead: spokesman

Earlier, NLD party spokesman Win Htein said his party had won more than 80 per cent of the votes counted so far in the densely populated central regions.

Exiles come in from the cold

Political exiles are returning to Myanmar to fight for a place in their home country’s emerging democracy, freelance contributor Kayleigh Long writes.
Outside the central area, the NLD had so far won more than 65 per cent of votes cast in the states of Mon and Kayin, he said.

Results from the five other states were not yet known, he added.

The central area is made up of seven administrative divisions.

The NLD needs 67 per cent of available parliamentary seats to enjoy a majority.

That would be enough to overwhelm the USDP, whose military allies are gifted 25 per cent of seats under the constitution.

Ms Suu Kyi addressed her supporters at NLD party headquarters after the vote closed and called for dignity and restraint.

“The loser has to accept the result bravely, with pride and the true winner should be humble,” she said.

She said it was too early then to say whether her party had secured the landslide victory it expected.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party is on track for an election victory, but even an absolute majority will not give her the right to govern.
Whatever the result, Myanmar is heading into a period of uncertainty over how Ms Suu Kyi and other ascendant parties might negotiate sharing power with the still-dominant military.

Even if she gets the majority she needs, Ms Suu Kyi is barred from taking the presidency herself under the constitution written by the junta to preserve its power.

Ms Suu Kyi has said she would be the power behind the new president regardless of a constitution she has derided as “very silly”.

The military will, however, retain significant power. It is guaranteed key ministerial positions.

The constitution gives it the right to take over the government under certain circumstances, and it also has a grip on the economy through holding companies.