Permission denied for mass marriage of those who converted from Hinduism to Islam in Bareilly

New Delhi: Healthcare services have been hit across the nation as doctors responded to the Indian Medical Association's (IMA) call for a 24-hour withdrawal of medical services from 6 am on Saturday till Sunday.

Amid growing protests over the gruesome rape-murder of a trainee doctor at a Kolkata hospital, The IMA has called for a nationwide strike during which routine OPD services and elective surgeries will not be conducted. However, all emergency services will be functional.

The Health Ministry has requested the agitating doctors to resume their duties in the public interest and assured them that a committee would be set up to ensure the safety of healthcare professionals. Representatives of all stakeholders including state governments have been invited to share their suggestions with the committee. 

OPD services at major Delhi hospitals remain suspended as doctors at Guru Teg Bahadur, Ram Manohar Lohia and DDU hospitals along with AIIMS continue their protest.

In Jharkhand, all government and private hospitals are taking part in the strike, IMA said. Multiple medical organisations have also planned to take out a march in Ranchi later in the day. A sit-in protest by doctors is on at Assam Medical College and Hospital, the oldest medical college in the Northeast.

In Chennai, doctors have organised a boycott protest while outpatient departments of both government and private hospitals have been affected across West Bengal.

The IMA's Chandigarh unit has suspended OPD services and will conduct a protest march. In Bengaluru, over 1,000 doctors will participate in a protest at the IMA office.

IMA, the largest organisation of doctors in India, has demanded an overhaul of the working and living conditions of resident doctors, including 36-hour shifts and safe places to rest. It sought a central law to prevent violence against medical professionals at workplaces.

In its statement, the IMA has put forth a list of demands to ensure that security protocols of hospitals "be no less than (that of) an airport". Hospitals should be declared as safe zones with CCTVs and higher deployment of security personnel, it said.

The nationwide strike comes a day after medical students across Indian cities conducted protest marches and staged dharnas against the alleged inaction over the horrific rape-murder that has sent shockwaves across the country.

Protesting doctors at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, where the horrific crime took place, have accused the police of mishandling the case and the ruling Trinamool Congress government of trying to destroy evidence to shield the accused.

The case is now being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under an order from the Calcutta High Court. "We have identified at least 30 suspects and have started questioning them," a CBI officer said on Friday.

Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has once again lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media, saying that if the PM does not announce his retirement by his 75th birthday, he shall be removed from his position "by other methods".

"If Modi does not, as committed to RSS Pracharak’s sanskaar, announce his retiring to Marg Darshan Mandal after his 75 th year birthday on Sept 17 th, then he will lose his PM chair by other methods," read Swamy's post on social media platform X.

One might remember that during campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, in his very first address to party workers and leaders after coming out of the jail, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal taunted the BJP saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi is asking for votes for his "successor" Union Home Minister Amit Shah as Modi will "retire" on turning 75.

"These people ask INDIA bloc about (PM) face. I am asking the BJP who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 would be retired. They retired L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan," Kejriwal said at the AAP headquarters. "Modi will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfil Modiji's guarantee?" he asked.

The counter came quickly from Shah, who told a press conference in Hyderabad that Modi will continue to lead the country and there is "no confusion in the BJP" on the issue.

This is not the first time that Swamy has slammed Modi on social media. Earlier, he said that Modi was 'shivering while the Muslims kicked out Bangladesh Lady PM' Sheikh Hasina.

Swamy has also slammed the Modi government's opposition to the RTI he had filed in connection to the alleged Chinese encroachment in India. In a post on X he said, "Why is Modi’s govt opposing me in Court to prevent my getting the truth of China’s recent occupation of 4064 sq kms in undisputed Ladakh? The people have a right to know (sic)."

The Israeli military has carried out airstrikes against several towns across the occupied West Bank, leaving at least 11 Palestinians dead and 15 others wounded, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) says.  

Ahmed Jibril, spokesman of the PRCS said on Wednesday that two Palestinians were killed after Israeli forces launched a drone strike on the city of Jenin, adding that four others lost their lives in a drone assault on their vehicle in a nearby village.

Five others were also killed in an Israeli strike on the al-Fara refugee camp located south of the West Bank city of Tubas, he said.

Israeli tanks also besieged the camp, preventing medical teams from reaching the wounded.

Israel deployed hundreds of troops to the cities of Jenin, Tulkarm and Tubas to carry out large-scale military operations in those areas.

The raids were met with strong resistance from Palestinian fighters, who destroyed Israeli bulldozers.

Meanwhile, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said the operation is part of a wide-scale military offensive launched by the Israeli occupation authorities in several areas of the West Bank.

Israeli forces were carrying out a “major offensive in the city of Tulkarm,” besieging hospitals and preventing Palestinians from moving in and out of the city, according to Wafa.

The bloody attacks came two days after seven Palestinians were killed in an Israeli drone strike on a house in al-Manshiya neighborhood at the Nour Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm in northwestern West Bank.

A number of others were also wounded during the raid on Monday, which saw the Israeli aircraft releasing several missiles against the targeted residence.

Israel has ramped up attacks on Palestinian towns and cities throughout the occupied territories since the beginning of Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. More than 640 Palestinians have been killed in the assaults and in attacks by Israeli settlers, including more than 100 children.

Israel launched the barbaric campaign of death, destruction and genocide in Gaza on October 7, 2023 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime's decades-long campaign of bloodletting and devastation against Palestinians.

Israel has so far massacred 40,476 Palestinians, mostly women and children.