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Amidst ongoing vaccination drive and relief in restrictions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday expressed deep concern over violations of Covid norms. In the first meeting of the new council of ministers after reshuffle, the PM said, “Over the past few days, we all have been seeing pictures and videos of crowded places and people roaming about without masks or social distancing. This is not a pleasant sight and it should instil a sense of fear in us.

” The Prime Minister’s concern was about reports coming from various places, mainly tourist destinations, where streets are seen as crowded.

As Modi Government's image hit by a crisis of capacity and credibility during the second Covid wave, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday signalled a reset effecting the most sweeping change in his Council of Ministers since he took charge for the first time in 2014.

As many as 36 new faces were inducted and 12 sitting ministers were shown the door taking the tally in the Council of Ministers to 78 (including the PM), just a notch short of the statutory limit of 81.

The changes mark, arguably, the largest-scale purge in recent times with the Prime Minister divesting six of 23 sitting Cabinet ministers — over one fourth — and one Minister of State (Independent Charge) of their ministerial responsibilities.

In a major reshuffle, the Centre on Tuesday announced eight new Governors, including Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot. BJP leaders claimed that there is a record number of SC, ST and OBC Governors under the Narendra Modi regime. The Indian Express takes a look at the new incumbents at these Raj Bhavans:

One of the senior most BJP leaders and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot was among seven new governors appointed on Tuesday, with the Modi government using the exercise to accommodate SC/STs, OBCs and women in Raj Bhavans.

Karnataka: Thaawarchand Gehlot held the portfolio of Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment. Considered the Dalit face of Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, he has twice been a Rajya Sabha member and had also represented Shajapur in the Lok Sabha.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it was “terrible and distressing” that nationwide application of Section 66A of the Information Technology Act to arrest persons for social media posts was still continuing, six years after the court had erased it from the statute book for being violative of right to free speech guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.

Appearing for People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), senior advocate Sanjay Parikh informed a bench of Justices R F Nariman, K M Joseph and B R Gavai that in utter disregard to the law declared void, overzealous police across the states have booked many people under Section 66A after it was quashed. Not only that, abuse of the provision has continued even after the apex court in 2019, responding to a PUCL petition, asked the chief secretaries to sensitise police against using the section.

The opposition kept up the attack on the Modi government over the Rafale deal, with Congress and CPM joining forces to demand a JPC probe into the purchase of fighter jets claiming that the French judicial probe initiated into the deal “reconfirms” apprehensions of corruption in the purchase.

On Sunday, Congress member Rahul Gandhi carried out a survey on Twitter asking people to decide why the Modi government was opposed to a JPC probe on the Rafale deal. Among the multiple choices offered were “guilty conscience”, “saving friends”, “JPC does not want a Rajya Sabha seat”, and, “all the above”. More than 63% respondents to the survey chose ‘all of the above”. Congress functionaries also joined the chorus demanding a JPC investigation, calling it the only way to find the truth. Former Union minister P Chidambaram said events and facts related to the deal are tumbling “out of the cupboard one by one”.