Archives for 2020

Schools, colleges, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks and theatres will remain closed till the end of September.

KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Monday decided to go ahead with three days of complete lockdown in September, clearing the air over the issue after Unlock 4 guidelines asked states to take the Centre into confidence before imposing any local shutdown outside containment zones.

CM Mamata Banerjee said there will be a complete lockdown in the state on September 7, September 11 and September 12. Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha said the lockdown will be extended in containment zones in Bengal till September 30.

Schools, colleges, cinema halls, swimming pools, entertainment parks and theatres will remain closed till the end of September.

Meanwhile, The discharge rate of COVID-19 patients in the state rose to 82.49 per cent after 3,318 patients recovered from the disease on Monday, a bulletin released by the health department said.

On Sunday, the discharge rate was close to 82 per cent.

So far, 1,34,270 people have recovered from the disease in the state.

The state’s coronavirus caseload went up to 1,62,778 as 2,993 new cases of infection were registered in the state on Monday.

The death toll due to the disease also mounted to 3,228 after 52 fresh fatalities were reported, the bulletin said.

The number of active cases is now 25,280.

Of the 52 casualties on Monday, 41 were due to comorbidities where COVID-19 was incidental.

Thirteen of the fresh fatalities were recorded in North 24 Parganas district, 10 in Kolkata, nine in South 24 Parganas and four each in Nadia and Hooghly districts, the bulletin said.

The remaining 12 deaths were reported from several other districts.

North 24 Parganas also registered 447 new cases, while 444 people from Kolkata and 316 others from Paschim Medinipur district tested positive for the contagion.

Altogether 42,239 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, while 18,87,635 such tests were conducted in the state till date, the bulletin said.

Meanwhile, plasma collection for treating coronavirus patients started at Malda Medical College and Hospital on Monday, state government officials said.

Bars allowed to reopen

The Mamata government has also allowed bars in the state to reopen from Tuesday by following social distancing and other COVID-related protocols.

An order issued by the Excise Department on Monday said that services have to be kept within the stipulated hours of opening of the outlets.

Restaurants serving liquor can do so by allowing only 50 per cent of total occupancy at a time and following all COVID-19 guidelines, it said.

The Excise Directorate said those serving liquor at their clubs, canteens and other places will have to inform the government prior to restarting services.

The modalities to resume Metro Railway services in Kolkata are yet to be finalised, its general manager Manoj Joshi said on Monday.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued ‘Unlock 4’ guidelines under which Metro services will be allowed to resume services from September 7 in a graded manner.

Modalities for running the services have not yet been finalised and discussions in this regard with the state government will be held after the standard operating procedure (SOP) is issued by the ministry concerned, he said.

“After SOP is issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs as indicated in the MHA order, we will approach the state government to discuss the modalities.

In an order, the West Bengal government said that Metro Railway services will be allowed in a graded manner from September 8.

The West Bengal government had earlier written to the Railway Board, seeking resumption of Metro and suburban train services in a limited manner, maintaining the norms of physical distancing, and health and hygiene protocols.

In the letter to the chairman of the Railway Board, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay urged that before the resumption of services, required modalities and logistics to ensure smooth operations may be worked out in consultation with the state government.

The Metro Railway, Kolkata has been holding trial runs of its rakes for maintenance of rolling stock, signalling systems and other facilities to keep them ready as and when services are allowed to be restarted, an official said.

In a bid to encourage social distancing when it resumes service, the Metro Railway has introduced an online system of recharging smart cards, according to the official.

NEW DELHI: BJP IT department head Amit Malviya on Monday alleged that over 98 per cent of the ‘dislikes’’ for the YouTube video posted by the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat show came from abroad and alleged involvement of the Congress in this.

He also claimed that there’s a trend based on data analysis that bots are being used to build up campaigns, including against holding of the JEE examinations.

“Over the last 24 hours, there’s been a concerted effort to dislike the ‘Mann ki Baat’ video on YouTube (posted by All India Radio). So low is the Congress on confidence that it has been celebrating it some sort of conquest. However, data from YouTube suggests that only two per cent of those dislikes are from within India,” said Malviya.

Malviya shared several Twitter handles purportedly originating from Turkey which has been twitting on JEE examinations. 

He added in another tweet, “The rest 98%, like always, came from outside India! Bots and Twitter accounts from overseas have been consistent feature of the Congress’s anti JEE-NEET campaign. There is huge spike in activity by Rahul Gandhi’s favourite Turkish bots! What is this Turkish obsession, Rahul?”

Several Congress handles, representing its state units and other departments, had run a campaign on social media to “dislike” the ‘Mann ki Baat’ video.

Worrying, nominal GDP — widely used in government estimates — contracted 20.6% or from Rs  44.8 lakh crore to Rs  35.6 lakh crore.

India’s first quarter GDP shrunk to a level unknown in our economic history. At 23.9%, it’s the sharpest contraction since 1996 when we began bean-counting quarterly data and probably the worst since 1980s.

Assuming a 5-6% trendline growth, the effective output loss in Q1 is upwards Rs 10 lakh crore. That’s the national output lost, perhaps, forever, as Covid-19 cut the economy fiercer than a Samurai blade.

Just as misfortune conspires with bad luck during crises, several key metrics pounded each other into the ground leaving Asia’s third-largest economy in a quicksand with both demand and supply side contraction standing witness.

On the supply side, all but agriculture saw a de-growth with some like construction, manufacturing and services contracting indecently at 40-50%.

Demand side too mirrored this with investments shrinking 47%, while consumer spending saw a negative growth of 27%. Like in the past, government expenditure saved the day with 16.4% growth, but that’s an impolite increase given the pandemic and the sovereign’s role of riding to everyone’s rescue.

That said, excluding government spending, GDP would have contracted even worse by 30%. So that’s some solace.

In essence, just two life-sustaining arteries — agriculture and government spending  —pumped our economy.

As if that’s not disappointing, fiscal deficit data released separately showed that the government continued to pinch both revenue and capital spending. Whether this was anticipating lower tax receipts or fearing deficit scolds is unclear.

Almost every country is emptying its public purse to fight the pandemic-led downturn, but India’s fiscal deficit in July stood lower than June, reflecting overt caution against a debt binge.

Meanwhile, economists believe the latest data betrays the inferno inside as they expect revisions to toss shocking de-growth grenades later. Policy watcher Anil Sood offered some proof.

Take inventory, which should have seen depletion because production was shut for two months. Instead, it recorded a quarterly increase similar to last year at Rs  53,000 crore.

Ditto consumption spending, which Sood thinks could be sharper than what’s captured in Monday’s provisional estimates.

Interestingly, valuables — including high value purchases — saw an unmistakable decline indicating spending curbs not just by lower income households, but also by India’s burgeoisie and the super rich.

Moreover, given the unglamorous state of core sector data, chances are we are in a recession right now, though the official word will be out in November.

In nearly seven decades, we’ve seen only four years of negative growth, but economic pundits are entering heavy discussions not about recession, but when the worst will be behind us, so recovery can begin.

Chief economic adviser K V Subramanian signalled that India was experiencing a V-shaped recovery with high frequency indicators like rail freight and power consumption showing promise.

But even with some improvements in next three quarters, several believe the rate of FY21 contraction could be beyond -5%.

The choice for the government will be whether consumption or investment side needs to be pushed. Given the limited fiscal space economists believe a demand or consumption-led recovery is crucial for the economy, but that requires government measure to arrest job losses and increase disposable incomes.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that states and universities cannot promote students without holding final year exams by September 30.

Upholding the UGC decision to hold final year exams, a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said if any state feels they can’t conduct exams by that date, they must approach the UGC for new dates to hold the exam.

Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, is one of the petitioners in the apex court and has questioned the UGC’s directive to hold examinations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The UGC had earlier said that the July 6 guidelines are based on recommendations of experts and have been made after due deliberation and it is wrong to claim that it will not be possible to conduct the final examinations in terms of the guidelines.

Assailing the decisions of some states like Maharashtra and Delhi to cancel final year examinations, the UGC had said that such decisions directly affect standards of higher education and will be an encroachment on the legislative field of coordinating and determining the standards of higher education that is exclusively reserved for Parliament under Schedule VII of the Constitution.

New Delhi: The government has permitted the airlines to serve pre-packed snacks, meals and beverages on domestic flights and hot meals on international flights, according to an official order.

Moreover, any passenger who refuses to wear a face mask in a flight can be put on the no-fly list by the airline, said a senior official of the aviation regulator DGCA.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in-flight meal service was not permitted on domestic flights since their resumption on May 25. On international flights, only pre-packed cold meals and snacks were being served depending on the flight duration since May this year.

In an order issued on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Ministry said, “Airlines may serve pre-packed snacks/meals/pre-packed beverages on domestic flights depending on the duration of flight.”

Airlines and charter flight operators can “serve hot meals and limited beverages” on international flights “as per the standard practices”, it added.

The ministry said only single-use disposable trays, plates and cutlery should be used while serving food or beverages in domestic and international flights.

“Crew shall wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal/beverage service,” it noted.

The ministry also permitted the aircraft operators to let passengers use the in-flight entertainment system on international as well as domestic flights wherever available.

“Disposable earphones or cleaned and disinfected headphones will be provided to passengers at the start of the journey,” it noted.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, “A passenger who refuses to wear a face mask can be put on no-fly list by the airline.”

The official said no new order has been passed in this regard as the airline and its cabin crew are sufficiently empowered under the existing DGCA rules to take action.

As per the DGCA rules, an airline can choose to put an unruly passenger on its no-fly list after internal deliberations. Subsequently, other airlines may follow suit in putting that passenger on their no-fly lists.

Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and bilateral air bubble arrangements that have been signed with various countries.

Domestic flights resumed in India on May 25 after a gap of two months in view of the pandemic. However, airlines are allowed to operate 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.

New Delhi: Marking the sixth anniversary of the ‘Jan Dhan’ scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the initiative has been a “game-changer” and served as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives.

After he led the BJP to power in 2014, this was one of his government’s first major projects under which bank accounts of crores of people, mostly poor, were opened.

“Today, six years ago, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched with an ambitious aim of banking the unbanked. This initiative has been a game-changer, serving as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives, benefitting crores of people,” the prime minister tweeted.

“Thanks to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the future of several families has become secure. A high proportion of beneficiaries are from rural areas and are women. I also applaud all those who have worked tirelessly to make PM-JDY a success. #6Years Of JanDhan Yojana,” he added.

The graphics shared by him showed that more than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened so far with more than 63 per cent of the beneficiaries belonging to rural areas. Over 55 per cent of them are women.

The government has said that it has been able to directly transfer welfare benefits to the needy due to the scheme.

New Delhi: A record single-day spike of 77,266 COVID-19 cases pushed India’s virus tally to 33,87,500, while the recoveries surged to 25,83,948 on Friday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 61,529 with 1,057 people succumbing to the diseases in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The recovery rate was recorded at 76.28 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.82 per cent.

There are 7,42,023 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.90 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and went past 30 lakh on August 23.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 3,94,77,848 samples have been tested up to August 27 with 9,01,338 samples being tested on Thursday.

New Delhi: A 43-year-old woman’s SOS to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the Indian Embassy in London, the Ministry of External Affairs here and the Delhi Police swing into action and prevent her from killing herself.

“If help is not met in next two hours, would commit suicide” was the message emailed on Wednesday night by the woman, who is apparently suffering from some psychotic disorders due to breakdown of her marriage, police said.

The Indian Embassy in London was immediately informed, which contacted the Ministry of External Affairs officials here and sought quick response as the life of the woman appeared to be at risk, a senior police officer said.

The matter was reported at Rohini’s Aman Vihar police station following which police launched an intense exercise late night to locate her with house-to-house search in the area as she did not mention her complete address in the email and also was not receiving phone calls.

The officer said the women had sent the email to the Prime Minister of United Kingdom apparently seeking help, sounding to be in an extremely distressful state of mind.

The police officer said that the woman has a huge financial burden due to loans and lives in a rented accommodation in Delhi’s Rohini area.

“The information reached Aman Vihar police station in Rohini area. The woman did not write her full address in the mail. Police reached area, but failed to locate her as her complete address was not mentioned,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) P K Mishra said.

Starting around 1 am, the police checked each house in the locality and managed to locate her house after two hours of search, the DCP said.

Initially, the woman did not open the door despite repeated persuasions, raising alarm bells among the police who called the fire brigade to break open the door, the DCP said.

Just after two-three minutes of fire brigade operating on the door, the woman came outside, looking fraught with anxiety and fear, the police officer said.

The woman said she was ok and requested the fire brigade and the police to go back, following which most staff left the spot, Mishra said, adding some staff went inside her house on her request.

Around 16 to 18 cats were roaming around and the entire house was stinking, suggesting that it was not cleaned for years, he said.

The woman herself was smelling so foul that it was almost impossible to stand next to her, police said.

She said she used to be a teacher in an MCD school, but left the job due to some personal reasons. She is a divorcee and had incurred some loans a few years ago but failed to pay EMIs for some reasons, the DCP said.

The woman refused to give details about her relatives, police said.

Two psychologists and a doctor were called in immediately to address her problems or to advise if the police should obtain the requisite assent of the magistrate concerned to shift her in the Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences (IBHAS) for further treatment, police added.

She was allowed to stay at her home and is being counselled, they said.

New Delhi: As many as 1,095 look out circulars have been deleted and 630 foreign members of the Tablighi Jamaat have left India, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

On the issue of foreign Tablighi Jamaat members stuck in India for violating visa rules and pandemic restrictions, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the ministry has been actively facilitating their consular access, deletion of LOCs and smooth repatriation to their respective countries.

“We have kept the respective foreign embassies informed through the entire process,” he said.

“As of August 24, 1,095 look out circulars (LOCs) were deleted and 630 foreign members of the Tablighi Jamaat have left India,” he said at an online media briefing.

These members of the Tablighi Jamaat were charged under the Foreigners Act for indulging in activities that were incompatible with their visa status, he said.

Therefore, for such activities, appropriate category of visa has to be sought, Srivastava said.

To a separate question on whether External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting next month, Srivastava said the minister has received an invitation for the meeting to be held in Moscow and a decision on his participation would be made known once it is taken.

On whether the Kerala government had sought MEA’s approval for signing an MoU with the UAE Red Crescent Authority – an NGO — for a project, Srivastava said no such approval had been taken.