Archives for June 2022

“We have been at the receiving end due to loss of life and property, but have given the Russians a tough fight dispelling their presumption that they would win in a matter of days.  But, post-war, we will bank on our friends like India to come forward and help us rebuild our nation and also become our guarantor,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to India Igor Polikha said.

India has vast experience in creating infrastructure and Ukraine is hoping that it will partner with them in reconstruction once the war gets over. “We are thankful to India for extending humanitarian support to us. Around 240 tonnes of humanitarian support came from India, mainly medicines,” Polikha added.

There are many Indian pharma companies in Europe and they collectively came out in support of the war-ravaged Ukraine. Around $8 million of additional support was collected and sent to Ukraine by them.
The envoy said his country understands India decision of not going all-out in criticising Russia.

“India stopped short of naming those responsible for the massacre at Bucha and sought an independent probe. However, the Ukrainians are happy that former Supreme Court Justice Dalveer Bhandari (one of the 15 sitting judges of the UN Court) voted against Russia,” Polikha added.

Ukraine is hopeful that countries like India will put pressure on Russia to end the ongoing conflict.

The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 5,24,792 with 15 fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The count of active cases now comprises 0.12 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.66 per cent, the health ministry said.

An increase of 3,089 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, the data showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at two per cent and the weekly positivity rate at 2.35 per cent, according to the ministry.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 4,26,67,088, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.21 per cent, as per the data. According to the ministry, 195.5 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19, 2020.

The country crossed the grim milestones of two crore cases on May 4, 2021 and three crore on June 23.

NEW DELHI: As the Covid-19 cases are rising in some states, especially in Maharashtra and Kerala, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday warned states and Union Territories that the pandemic is not over yet and the protocol must be observed and vaccination should speed up.

Highlighting the need to be alert and not to forget Covid-appropriate behaviour, Mandaviya told health ministers of states and UTs in a meeting to review the status and progress of the door-to-door vaccination drive ‘Har Ghar Dastak 2.0’ launched on June 1 that there was a need to be cautious and to strengthen the genome sequencing.

“The Covid-19 is not over yet. With rising Covid-19 cases in some states, it is important to be alert and not to forget Covid-appropriate behaviour,” Mandaviya said. Stressing the importance of vaccination among vulnerable age groups, he urged the state health ministers to personally review the status and progress of the particular month-long drive.

“Let us accelerate our efforts to identify all beneficiaries in the 12-17 age groups for the 1st and 2nd doses so that they can attend schools with the protection of the vaccine,” he added. He said there was a need to widen vaccination coverage for schoolchildren as well as giving precautionary doses to the elderly.

India has been registering a continued surge in daily new Covid-19 cases since June 1. On Monday, the country recorded 8,084 fresh Covid-19 cases and ten deaths. This is the third day India’s daily new cases crossed the 8,000 mark. The Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium (INSACOG) will be reviewing the data of genomic surveillance of variants to detect whether any new variant is causing the spike, officials added.

NEW DELHI: Aimed at promoting Indian innovators and entrepreneurs through a series of innovative start-ups in the system and services of railway, Union Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday officially launched the Indian Railway Innovation Portal with a start-up policy for railways here.

Later, speaking on the occasion, the railway minister said that Indian Railways as the country’s national transporters has taken an important initiative in the field of innovation through the participation of start-ups and other entities.

“That day is not far away when India will be exporting start-ups to other countries. The railways will continue supporting the innovative start-ups, by all means, even granting up to Rs 1.5 crore to innovative start-ups,” the minister said.

Spelling out the objective of the start-up policy brought into the public domain through the portal, the minister said that the policy has been framed in a way that it will bring scale and efficiency in the field of operation, maintenance and infrastructure creation through the participation of very large and untapped startup ecosystem.

He further said that the railways will help to bring out solutions for the kind of problems faced by the Indian railways. 

the minister said that 11 problems of railways shared through the portal have been solved by the start-ups. “The response is hugely encouraging from the start-up side. A lot of innovative start-ups are being shared on various services of railways,” the minister told the TNIE.

Lauding the railway for bringing out the start-up portal, as envisioned by PM Narendra Modi, Vaishnaw said that the long-going discussions over the integration of technology into Indian Railways have taken a firm and effective shape in form of this initiative.

“It will help the railway to connect itself with the vast pools of innovative start-ups. Out of over 100 problem statements received from different divisions, field offices and zones of railways, 11 problem statements like rail fracture, headway reduction etc. have been taken up for phase 1 of this program,” he said.

Making a call to the start-ups, the minister said that the railway start-ups platform should be used with getting support from Indian Railways in form of a 50 per cent capital grant, assured market, scale and ecosystem.

The minister stated that the start-up innovation policy along with the start-ups portal aims to leverage innovative technologies developed by Indian start-ups and innovators to improve operational efficiency and safety in railways.

The minister also said that a separate fund would also be created at the division level for supporting the start-ups for railways in addition to the fund of Rs 150 crore created at the ministry level.

“This start-up portal and policy will help the railways in adopting the latest cycles of technologies. The railway will put its problems before the start-ups and whichever will provide a solution, the railway will support that start-up,” he said.

Later, ADG PR Rajeev Jain sharing details on the salient features of the Indian Railway Innovation Policy said that the railway will provide support right from completing the process of floating of the problem statement to the development of a prototype.

“Trials of prototypes of start-ups will be done in Railways. Enhanced funding will be provided to scale up deployment on the successful performance of prototypes and selection of Innovators will also be done by a transparent and fair system”, Jain said.

He was elected as MLA twice and was the Chairman of the Third Finance Commission Implementation Task Force. He was the former president of Udupi district BJP and was also the former vice president of BJP Karnataka.

Son of freedom fighter Krishnaraya Kodgi and Rajamma, Kodgi was born in Manjarapalake of Karkala. He did his primary education in Shankaranarayana and completed high school in Kundapura. He completed BSc from the Central College Bengaluru in 1951, studied law from Pune in 1953 and was practicing in Bengaluru.

Kodgi, who began his political career as a Congressman, became MLA twice in 1972 and 1978. He joined the BJP in 1994 and served as the district president of the party from 1995 to 1999 before becoming the state vice president.

Through A G Kodgi’s leadership, Amasebail in Kundapur had become Karnataka’s first solar-powered gram panchayat with 1,497 houses receiving the solar lamps. As a director of the Karnataka Bank, he emphasized the extension of banking services to rural areas. He is survived by his wife and six children, including CAMPCO president A Kishore Kumar Kodgi and vice president of Karnataka State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation Kiran Kodgi.

Sri Kshetra Dharmastala Dharmadhikari D Veerendra Heggade and leaders of various political parties expressed their condolences. CM Basavaraj Bommai in his condolence message recalled Kodgi’s contribution as an MLA from Byndoor.

He said youth got attracted to the BJP due to onerous effort by Kodgi. Sri Vishwaprasanna Theertha Swamiji of Sri Pejavar Matha, Udupi in his condolence message recalled Kodgi as a progressive farmer and said he had immense knowledge about rural empowerment.

China has stuck to its “zero-COVID” policy requiring mass testing, quarantines and the sequestering of anyone who has come into contact with an infected person in concentrated locations where hygiene is generally poor.

A total of 228 cases have been linked to the Heaven Supermarket club in the downtown Workers Stadium nightlife area after an infected person visited there Thursday. Of those, 180 were customers, four were staff and 44 were people with whom customers had later contact.

The entire area, along with the adjacent Sanlitun shopping and dining complex, was shut down until further notice.

The outbreak prompted authorities in the sprawling Chaoyang district to put school back online, with the exception of students taking middle and high school placement exams. Sports gatherings in the city have also been put on hold.

Chaoyang, home to more than 3 million people, has ordered three consecutive days of mass testing, with long lines forming and wait times of two hours or more in some places.

In the city of Shanghai, 502 people have been linked to three positive tests detected Thursday among patrons of the Red Rose Beauty Salon. The individuals involved come from 15 districts across the city of 25 million people, prompting the first large-scale restrictions since the lockdown was formally ended June 1.

With mass testing and restrictions on movement back in force, streets and supermarkets emptied again over the weekend.

Failure to undergo testing will lead to a yellow code on a person’s health status app, forbidding them access to all public places.

Most students remain at home and all but a few restaurants are open only for takeout. Many customers simply partake of their food and drink on the steps beside flower bushes outside the establishments.

While 22 million Shanghai residents were released from lockdown almost two weeks ago, 220,000 people are still restricted to their homes under a rule requiring that no positive cases are found within their residential compounds for more than 10 days. Another 600,000 are in control zones, where their movements are restricted within their compounds.

Corrugated steel fences and other barriers continue to block off neighborhoods and businesses, leading to further discontent and complaints from residents who remain in lockdown.

The strict implementation of lockdowns, along with a lack of information and poor distribution of food and other daily necessities, has led to rarely seen displays of anger and desperation. Residents have confronted workers and police who have become known as “big whites” for the protective gear they wear, circulated protest videos online and coordinated nightly screaming and pot-banging events to let off steam.

The loosening of restrictions led to an exodus of non-Shanghai residents, including foreigners, who had found themselves trapped in the lockdown.

Despite the recent outbreak, Beijing reported just 51 new cases on Monday, 22 of them asymptomatic. City residents are still undergoing regular testing — mostly every other day — and must wear masks and swipe a mobile phone app to enter public places and facilitate case tracing.

China has maintained its “zero-COVID” policy despite considerable economic costs and an assertion from the head of the World Health Organization that the policy isn’t sustainable.

Nationwide, China reported just 143 cases, almost all in Beijing and Shanghai. The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China remained static at 5,226.

VIJAYAWADA: The COVID-19 cases are increasing marginally in the State. The spike, however, is not high when compared to States like Kerala and Telangana. As many as 23 new cases were reported in the State in the 24 hours ending Monday 9 am as against 16 in the previous 24 hours ending Sunday 9 am. 

The State reported 22 COVID cases on Friday.Health department officials said in the previous phases of the COVID pandemic, the cases increased in a span of four to six weeks.  

Officials said States like New Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala have been witnessing an alarming rise in COVID cases. These States have a large number of foreign arrivals. Andhra Pradesh is also one among the States having a good influx of international passengers.

The COVID cases in neighbouring Telangana are also rising rapidly. According to the latest bulletin, 129 people tested positive out of 13,254 samples tested in the State on Sunday. Telangana has 1,039 active cases now.  

COVID cases have been increasing rapidly in neighbouring Karnataka also. On June 12, Karnataka recorded 562 cases, the fourth highest in the country (New Delhi on top with 562 new cases).

Meanwhile, at a review meeting on COVID situation in the State, officials informed Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that the situation is under control. Officials said 99.65 percent vaccination was completed among the 15-17 age group and 97.78 percent among 12-14 age group. The Chief Minister, however, asked the officials to be on an alert.

NGO Prajarogya Vedika President MV Ramanaiah underlined the need of creating awareness on following COVID Appropriate Behaviour. He said the government should enhance the medical infrastructure and complete the vaccination.

AP State Nodal Officer for COVID Dr K Rambabu said they are expecting the fourth wave, but the impact might be less compared to first and second phases and might pass like the third wave. He urged the public to follow COVID norms.

BENGALURU:  The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is likely to increase the bus fare as the diesel prices have increased over the last few months. Officials said that 60 per cent of the corporation’s revenues is being spent on buying fuel, and so, they are negotiating with the government to permit an increase in bus fare.

H V Anantha Subba Rao, president of KSRTC staff and workers federation, said the KSRTC sent the proposal to the government a week ago to allow a 25 per cent fare hike. Speaking to TNIE, V Anbu Kumar, Managing Director, KSRTC, said earlier 32 per cent of the revenue was used to purchase fuel while the fare was increased three years ago.    

Another official said the government might reject fare hike due to the upcoming Assembly elections, and thus, the KSRTC might send a proposal to sanction grants. Transport Minister B Sriramulu did not respond to phone calls from Meanwhile, 50 electrical buses will be added to the KSRTC fleet in the next three months, and one of the trial buses will run in the next month for a couple of weeks. 

Iddenesa Mullick, mother of three daughters and one son, lives in a small house off the NH-6 where the protesters put up a roadblock. “There were massive protests in our area. I was worried when the administration clamped Section 144. I had no way out other than postponing my daughter Pakiza’s marriage which was scheduled on Sunday. But my Hindu neighbours came forward and assured me that they would take care of everything,” said Iddenesa.

Iddenesa’s neighbours Tapas Kodali, Lakhikanta Kayal and Uttam Dolui took all responsibilities of the marriage. “We grew up in the same village together. We stood beside each other always. When the mother of Pakiza was worried, we decided to be her helping hands,” said Kodali.

The three went to the police station and obtained permission for the assembly on the occasion of the marriage as Section 144 of CrPC was clamped. Iddenesa lost her husband eight years ago. “The mother and her children participate in all the events organised by the local club. It was our duty as a citizen to stand beside her,’’ said Kayal.

Iddenesa had invited around 300 guests for her daughter’s marriage. “But only 150 turned up. My Hindu neighbours welcomed them and took care of food and other comforts. They also helped me to rent a car so that Pakiza could go to her in-laws’ house safely. I will be grateful to them for rest of my life,’’ she said.

Surprise welcome

Sheikh Mokkabir, the newly-wed groom, said that he was pleasantly surprised that he was warmly welcomed by the Hindu neighbours. “It is because of them, the entire ceremony was conducted so smoothly,” he said

“Never before was such a blatant attempt made by a political family to hold an investigation to ransom into a mega corruption case. It has been done to protect the ill-gotten assets worth `2,000 crore for which Rahul Gandhi has been summoned,” Irani said.

Irani alleged that the protests were engineered by the Congress as part of a strategy to exert pressure on the investigating agency. “Shockingly as well as shamefully, it was aimed at supporting corruption. But nobody is above law”, she said, asking Rahul Gandhi to explain his family’s ties to the Dotex Merchandise Company.

She described Dotex Merchandise as a hawala operator, whose transactions were flagged by the Financial Intelligence Unit. “The nation wants to know from Rahul Gandhi about his family’s relation with the Dotex Merchandise. The Gandhi family had floated the Young India purportedly to grab the assets, worth `2000 crore, of Associated Journals Limited, which publishes the National Herald,” she said.

Quoting details, the minister said over 5,000 freedom fighters had shares in the newspaper when it started out. She alleged that Young India was formed with an aim devoted to charity in 2010. “But it admitted in 2016 that not a single charity work was conducted by it… It served not society but the Gandhi family,” Irani said.