The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu addressing the 15th World Rural Health Conference with the theme “Healing the Heart of Healthcare – Leaving no one behind”, in New Delhi on April 26, 2018.
The Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Shri Ashwini Kumar Choubey and other dignitaries are also seen.

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that every doctor should serve at least 3 years in rural areas before getting a promotion.

“It should be made mandatory for young doctors to serve at least 3 years in rural areas before getting promotion,” Naidu told the first convocation ceremony of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar.

He said there was a need to increase the number of doctors available at healthcare centres in rural areas as the absence of qualified medical practitioners was making people approach quacks.

“We need to overcome the acute shortage of healthcare providers as also the infrastructure in rural areas,” he added.

Naidu also stressed on the need to increase the number of medical colleges.

The Vice President said medical education curriculum had to be constantly updated, by including the latest developments and methods of treatment.

“Doctors must be trained to be more sensitive towards the sufferings of the patients and their families and should provide the healing touch with effective communication. There can be no greater service than restoring fellow human beings to good health,” he said.

Naidu said schemes such as ‘Ayushman Bharat Yojana’ or the National Health Protection Scheme would be a game-changer in terms of accessing healthcare services in India.

Speaking on girls’ education, he said: “Who says women can do nothing? Given an opportunity they can do wonders. Girls are outperforming boys.”

Speaking at the event, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the institution was growing fast and hopes rare surgeries, which are now carried out at AIIMS Delhi, would soon be conducted at AIIMS Bhubaneswar.

He said it would be a befitting tribute to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee if his statue was installed in the premises of AIIMS here.

Notably, Vajpayee had laid the foundation stone of the hospital here in 2003.

Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda said AIIMS Bhubaneswar provided treatment to over 5 lakh patients last year.

New Delhi In a partial relief to Cyrus Mistry, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday stated that Tata Sons cannot force him to sell his shares.

However, the two-judge bench headed by Justice S.J. Mukhopadhyaya, declined Mistry’s appeal to staythe conversion of Tata Sons into a private company.

The court said it will decide on conversion of Tata Sons into a private company after the final hearing on September 24.

Further, NCLAT has admitted Mistry’s appeal against his removal from the post of Tata Sons’ Chairman in 2016. The appeal was against the order of the NCLT, Mumbai bench.

Bengaluru-based lending company Capital Float on Tuesday announced it has acquired Pune-based personal financial management app Walnut for $30 million (nearly Rs 209 crore).

Walnut has over seven million downloads on Google Play Store, an average rating of 4.4/5 and is featured in Google Editor’s Choice list of Top 5 Financial applications.

The acquisition followed Capital Float’s announcing its foray into the Consumer Finance vertical, emphasising a strong strategic focus on leveraging this lucrative borrower segment, the company said in a statement.

“We’re excited to collaborate with Walnut, an accomplished member of the Fintech ecosystem. Their approach towards leveraging technology to solve financial concerns of the common individual was particularly impressive, and we eagerly look forward to working closely with them,” said Sashank Rishyasringa and Gaurav Hinduja, Co-Founders of Capital Float.

Walnut helps users automatically track spends, bank and card balances, bill payments and split expenses within a group.

In July 2017, Walnut launched “Walnut Prime”, an instant credit line that users can access on the app anywhere, anytime. This app-based credit line is centred on Walnut’s “Prime Credit Score”.

Walnut has crossed the Rs 100 crore-mark in loans to users on its mobile app.

“We believe having Capital Float on our side opens up an immense set of opportunities by leveraging their strength in online lending and financial products with our innovative approach to consumer experiences,” said Patanjali Somayaji and Amit Bhor, Co-Founders of Walnut.

Founded in 2013, Capital Float leverages technology and Big Data Analytics to deliver innovative credit products to businesses and individuals across the country.

[IANS]

The Siddaramaiah government had started Indira Canteen with the genuine intention of feeding people quality food at a subsidised cost. Unfortunately for some, this canteen is not just a place to pacify hunger, but it is also a place to lift cutlery!

Surprising but true, the 168 canteens across the state have lost spoons, plates and glasses worth Rs 20 lac in last one year.

According to the data, in the last one year, the Indira canteens have lost 1.5 lakh spoons and 10,000 plates. A spoon costs Rs. 15 while a plate costs Rs. 50.

It is estimated that over 2.15 lakh people are served food at these canteens on an average per day and in one year over six crore people have relished food here.

However, it is a sad state that a section of people fail to respect the intentions behind the canteen and insult the efforts of the government by resorting to theft, says a regular canteen goer.

The plan to put an Indian into space, on its own, for the first time by 2022 will create as many as 15,000 jobs, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Sivan said on Wednesday.

“We estimate that the human space mission will generate about 15,000 jobs over the next few years,” Sivan told IANS here.

The ISRO wants to take up the manned spaceflight in collaboration with multiple state-run scientific institutions, academia, industry and start-ups.

The space agency aims to take Indian astronauts into space to a height of 350-400 km above the earth and orbit around the planet for at least a week by 2022. The astronauts will also be conducting experiments in space, details of which are yet to be decided by ISRO.

“The human spaceflight will be a national project and not just ISRO’s, as we will be collaborating with several institutions, academia and the industry,” Sivan told reporters here.

Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force pilot, is the only Indian citizen to travel into space so far. He was part of the crew on Soyuz T-11 launched on April 2, 1984 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, a part of the then Soviet Union.

The ISRO will be working with the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bengaluru for training the crew and the Indian Air Force, which will select the crew, as well as with the private sector, which will be involved in research and development, Sivan said.

The ISRO Chairman addressed the press conference in this tech hub hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his Independence Day address in New Delhi the country’s plan to put an Indian into space by 2022 on its own.

Admitting that the space agency was “surprised” by the Prime Minister’s human space mission announcement, Sivan said the technological preparations for the project were on track since 2004.

“The announcement came to us as a surprise. We were not expecting it,” Sivan said, adding that ISRO, however, has been developing several critical technologies required for the mission like the crew module and the crew escape system.

“It is not an unrealistic schedule. We are confident of achieving it even before 2022,” Sivan said.

The opportunity of exploring space will enhance the country’s science and technological capabilities, while inspiring the youth, he added.

India’s attempt to reach space by 2022 is about six decades after a Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to journey into outer space and orbit the earth in 1961.

The US, Russia and China are the only three nations to have launched manned space flights.

The ISRO is yet to finalise the exact timeline of tests before a manned mission can take off, as it plans to have two unmanned test flights onboard a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk 3.

In the run-up to the first manned mission, said to be the largest project undertaken by the Indian space agency, the ISRO will conduct the next unmanned test flight by 2020.

“There will be two unmanned flights before the manned mission, for which the astronaut suit is also being developed,” said Sivan.

The ambitious human space mission is expected to cost about Rs 10,000 crore, in addition to the already spent Rs 300-crore in developing the technologies for the mission, like the crew module.

Bandeppa Kashempur, minister for co-operation informed at a press conference that there are 6,000 benami accounts in the cooperative banks of the state of Karnataka and a number of Rs 50 crore is stacked in them. The reality of these benami accounts came to light when the co-operation department made Aadhar card nomination compulsory for all the accounts in co-operative banks, said the minister.

“After a complaint was filed by the grandson of a deceased elderly on whose name a secretary of the co-operative organization of Mandya availed Rs 2.30 lac loan, the issue was unearthed. A number of such incidents have taken place,” said the minister.

Mr. Kashempur also said that he had received complaints about voluntary organizations taking financial aid from the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) and lending the same for higher interest rates in the name of microfinance. The government will call a meeting of the chief of such organizations and discuss this issue.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Wednesday said the state leads in attracting industrial investments.

Unfurling the national flag at Fort St. George, the state Secretariat here, to mark the 72nd Independence Day, Palaniswami said the state would host the second Global Investors Meet next year.

Listing the achievements of the government in the fields of industry, agriculture, and education, he added that it was due to the sacrifices of many freedom fighters that India secured its independence.

He said the contributions of Tamil Nadu in the fight for freedom – armed or non-violent – were immense.

Palanswami recalled the Sepoy mutiny against the East India Company at Vellore on July 10, 1806, owing to similar causes that triggered the 1857 revolt at Meerut.

State-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will fly an Indian astronaut into space for the first time by 2022, an official said on Wednesday.

“All the critical technologies for the human space mission are being developed. We will pursue it to put an Indian astronaut in space by 2022,” a senior ISRO official told IANS, citing the space agency Chairman K.Sivan’s statement.

Addressing the nation on the occasion of Independence Day earlier in New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that an Indian would be sent to space by 2022.

So far, only the US, Russia and China have launched human spaceflights.

ISRO Chairman Sivan earlier said a mission document for India’s human space programme was in the making.

“Critical technologies are being developed for our human space programme, as it is India’s dream to put a man in space. A mission document is in the making,” Sivan had said on July 7 at an event here.

The space agency on July 5 carried out a successful maiden pad abort tests at its spaceport Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh for the safe escape of the crew in an emergency.

“The technology is very essential for our manned missions in the future,” Sivan had said.

The crew escape system is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.

The ISRO Chairman, however, admitted that the space agency was “not close” to a human spaceflight yet.

“We are not close to that. We need to work a lot towards achieving the dream of putting a man in space,” Sivan added.

Fears over a rise in global protectionist measures, along with a strong US economy, dragged the Indian rupee to a fresh intra-day low of over 70 against the US dollar on Tuesday before recovering by a fraction at Rs 69.98.

Around 11 a.m., the rupee plunged to 70.08 — lowest-ever — against the greenback.

However, soon afterward, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is said to have intervened to curb the rupee’s fall.

The intervention aided the rupee to stabilise just a tad below 70 to a USD at 69.98 around 11.05 a.m.

“The fear of a rise in global protectionist measures along with a strong US economy pulled the Indian rupee lower to 70.08 during intra-day,” said Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President for Currency and Interest Rates with Kotak Securities.

Banerjee predicted an immediate range from Rs 69 to Rs 71 per US dollar.

At 1.40 p.m. the rupee stood at 69.855 to a US dollar.

“Around 70-70.08 level, the RBI might have intervened to protect the rupee. We saw some exporters selling in the market. So, that too supported the rupee. But importers will jump into the market on every dip in the USD/INR given the turmoil in the global market,” Rushabh Maru, Research Analyst, Anand Rathi Shares and Stock Brokers, told IANS.

“A decline in the WPI also provided support to the rupee. Market will now focus on the trade balance data for further direction,” he said.

Suspected hackers siphoned off Rs 94.42 crore from the Cosmos Cooperative Bank Ltd — the second oldest and second biggest cooperative bank in India — to various foreign and domestic bank accounts, police said on Tuesday.

The bank was cyber-attacked twice, on Saturday and on Monday, according to an FIR lodged by an official of Cosmos Bank with Chaturshringi Police Station.

The complaint said the first attack took place on August 11 between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. and on August 13 around 11.30 a.m., affecting its headquarters on Ganeshkhind Road.

A police officer said that during those hours, some unknown persons hacked into the ATM Switch (servers) at the headquarters and acquired the sensitive data of its Visa and RuPay debit card customers.

As per tentative estimates, the hackers siphoned off Rs 78 crore by 12,000 Visa card transactions and transferred it out of the country, including bank accounts in Hong Kong.

Another amount of Rs 2.50 crore from 2,849 transactions was transferred within India, details of which were being investigated, said the police.

Before the bank could react, in a fresh attack on Monday (August 13), the hackers initiated SWIFT transactions and transferred Rs 13.92 crore to the accounts of a company, ALM Trading Ltd, with Hang Seng Bank, Hong Kong. The amounts were soon withdrawn from that bank.

Established in 1906, the Pune-headquartered Cosmos Bank is the second oldest and second biggest cooperative bank in the country, enjoying the status of a multi-state scheduled bank.