New Delhi:  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will soon announce the next set of the stimulus package to boost the coronavirus-hit economy, Economic Affairs Secretary Tarun Bajaj said on Tuesday.

The Finance Ministry is looking into suggestions and requests received from various sectors of the economy, he said at a virtual conference with media.

“We are actually discussing that. It is difficult for me to commit a date but we have received a lot of requests and comments from various sectors and we are looking into it. Very soon it will be unveiled. The finance minister will come out and speak to you on that,” he said.

The finance minister last month had announced a slew of measures to spur demand and ramp-up capital expenditure. This was the third stimulus package since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government had announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKP) in March to protect the poor and vulnerable sections from the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

It was followed by the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan package of Rs 20.97 lakh crore in May, largely focussed on supply-side measures and long-term reforms.

The finance minister last month had said the option for another stimulus package has not been closed.

“I have not closed the option for another stimulus package if it comes out to be, because every time we announced one, it has been after a lot of consideration of inputs which have come from various sections of society.

“Then we sit and work it out within the ministry and Prime Minister’s Office and then take a final call. So, I have not closed the option to come up with one more stimulus,” Sitharaman had said.

Terming elevated food prices a temporary phenomenon, Bajaj said it should be back to normal soon on the back of the arrival of new crops and government measures for improving the supply of essential commodities.

Some commodities like onion, potato, and tomato are as costly as Rs 100 per kg, much higher than the average price.

“I think this should be temporary in our view… There is actually a difference between the WPI and the CPI. So, that itself shows that this should be something to do with logistics, and with a good agricultural season that is coming and the new crop with us we are hoping that this should cool down,” Bajaj said.

Nevertheless, he said agriculture and consumer affairs ministries have also announced some steps to cool down the prices.

“We think that it is a temporary affair and it should be back to normal soon and also limited to few commodities,” he said.

On the recovery, Bajaj said India continues to see an uptick in the economy for the past few months since the unlock began and there would be further improvement in the months to come.

“We are actually seeing an improvement in all parameters generally and we are expecting a further improvement in the month of November and this should continue. Hopefully, the economy should be back on rails and it is moving much faster than what had been anticipated by a lot of experts and economists, he said.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund said the Indian economy, severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic, is projected to contract by a massive 10.3 percent this year.

However, it projected a rebound to 8.8 percent in 2021. Last financial year, India witnessed a growth rate of 4.2 percent.

Last week, the finance minister had said there were visible signs of revival in the economy and the GDP growth may be in the negative zone or near zero in the current fiscal.

Bajaj said, “We continue to see an uptick in the economy since the past few months since the opening up of the economy and the manufacturing PMI has touched 58.9, which is the highest in the last decade. The power consumption in the month of October is 12.10 percent more than October 2019, which is a signal of economic activity.”

He also said India’s growth story is intact despite the COVID crisis and there is a lot of interest from investors from across the world.

“So, in spite of Covid situation that we are facing, we find that there is a lot of interest, a lot of traction, there are a lot of inquiries from investors… a lot of deals are being talked about, which shows that in spite of Covid situation, our growth story which we feel is intact is also accepted by others who are ready to invest into India during these times,” he said.

New Delhi: A plea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking early hearing of a batch of petitions, challenging Centre’s last year’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 saying that people of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir are suffering as repeated internet shutdown and restrictions were continually damaging the economy.

The application said that mere passage of time and pendency of the present issues along with continuous enactments by the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration gives permanency to August 5, 2019, which has been challenged before the court by a batch of petitions.

That it is further submitted that while the purported intent of the impugned order has continually been portrayed to have been for the betterment of the populace of the erstwhile State of Jammu & Kashmir, the truth remains that it is the very people who are presently suffering in the midst, it said.

Shakir Shabir sought direction for a listing of his petition along with others challenging the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir before the duly constituted constitution bench for further hearing.

Not only due to repeated internet shutdowns and reduced internet speeds have the students and businesses being suffering in Jammu and Kashmir, the impugned order and the slew of restrictions continually damage the economy as well as the everyday life of the locals, who have been completely kept away from the entire process despite the fact that each change under the laws detrimentally affects the locals at an individualistic level, the application also said.

It said that several laws are being promulgated by the Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration pursuant to the developments that have taken place on or subsequent to August 5, 2019.

After the passage of more than one year, all such actions that are being taken by the respondents shall also be rendered illegal and void should this Court, after consideration of the petitions so filed, deem the initial impugned order to be unconstitutional and void, it said.

The application further said that the mere passage of time and pendency of the present issues along with continuous enactments by the respondents also stands to risk giving permanency to the initial impugned order dated August 5, 2019, which has been challenged in several petitions .

The application said that subsequent to Centre decision of August 5, 2019, and in the absence of any stay with regard to the same, the respondents (Centre and Jammu and Kashmir administration) are continually proceeding ahead with further changes in laws concerning the erstwhile State, which has now been split into two distinct Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

On March 2, the top court had declined to refer to a larger 7-judge bench a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

A number of petitions have been filed in the apex court including those of private individuals, lawyers, activists and political parties and they have also challenged the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which splits J&K into two Union Territories — Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

On March 2, the top court had said that the schedule of hearing on the batch of petitions challenging the validity of abrogation of the provision of Article 370 would depend on the hearing by a 9-judge bench in the Sabarimala case, which was expected to start after the Holi break.

However, after the Holi break, the top court had restricted its functioning due to COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown, only urgent matters were heard virtually.

On November 14, 2019, the top court had refused to pass any interim order on a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the Centre’s decision saying that any interim order might lead to delay in the matter and the apex court would settle all the issues at one go after hearing all the parties.

The top court had on October 1, 2019, put an embargo on filing any fresh writ petition challenging the constitutional validity on abrogation of Article 370.

On August 28, 2019, the top court had said that its five-judge Constitution bench will be examining a batch of pleas challenging the Centre’s decision to change the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir.

Several political parties including the National Conference (NC), the Sajjad Lone-led J&K Peoples Conference and CPI (M) leader Mohd Yousuf Tarigami have filed pleas challenging Centre’s August 5 decision to abrogate Article 370.

A petition has also been filed by a group of former defence officers and bureaucrats — professor Radha Kumar, ex-member of Home Ministry’s Group of Interlocutors for J&K (2010-11), former J&K cadre IAS officer Hindal Haidar Tyabji, Air Vice Marshal (retd) Kapil Kak, Major Gen. (retd) Ashok Kumar Mehta, ex-Punjab-cadre IAS officer Amitabha Pande and ex-Kerala-cadre IAS officer Gopal Pillai.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday asked the Union government to decide on a private firm’s request that decommissioned aircraft carrier Viraat be handed over to it so that the ship could be converted into a museum.

While the warship is awaiting dismantling at a ship scrapping yard at Alang in Gujarat, the Union government said it had no objection if the petitioner bought it from the bidder who purchased it for scrapping.

A division bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Milind Jadhav was hearing a petition filed by Mumbai-based Envitech Marine Consultants Pvt Ltd, seeking a direction to the Union Ministry of Defence to allow it to buy Viraat.

The company wanted to convert the ship into a maritime museum and multi-functional adventure centre, the plea said.

The HC said that the relief sought by the petitioner was a matter of policy.

“Even if INS Viraat is to be converted into a museum….necessary permissions are required to be obtained.

It would thus be appropriate that the Ministry of Defence takes a suitable decision,” it said.

The petition said that Viraat was the oldest serving warship in the world when it was decommissioned.

“Such a carrier is being sold as scrap by the Union government instead of converting it into a maritime museum.

The petitioner has filed an application to the government in July seeking its No Objection to take possession of the carrier and convert it into a museum,” it said.

Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Anil Singh said the ship is 67 years old and was lying unused since 2015.

“The Union government had initially written to all state governments calling for proposals but there was no reply. The ship was occupying a lot of space and hence the government decided to sell it as scrap,” Singh said.

Gujarat-based Shree Ram Group won the bid, he said, adding that the sale process was completed in September and the government has received the money.

“Hence the government is no more concerned with the ship as its owner is now the winning bidder,” ASG Singh said.

But the petitioner company can approach Shree Ram Group and purchase the ship from it, the ASG said, adding that “we (government) do not have any objection”.

The HC said that the concerned secretary of the Union government should decide on the petitioner’s application.

“It would be desirable that the decision is taken early as if the ship is dismantled, an irretrievable situation may take place,” the court said, disposing of the petition.

New Delhi: The railways are set to go big with artificial intelligence and data analytics to improve its operational efficiency and has tied up with the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad to analyze the data generated by the national transporter, Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav said.

He said the railways will set up a Centre for Excellence in this regard in the next three months.

The Railway Board has taken a decision to appoint a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in every zonal railway whose mandate will be to keep track of emerging technologies in analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and use it in the rail system, Yadav said.

We have passengers-related data, train operations-related data, freight data, and even asset-related data. We want to analyze all this data with the help of AI and analytics and use it in our Passenger Reservation System (PRS), the introduction of new trains, and even predictive asset maintenance. We have tied up with the Indian School of Business (ISB) for this, he said.

The Indian School of Business in Hyderabad has been assigned to plan an introductory capacity building program and formulate a report on the industrial practices of AI on rail transport and benchmarking. It will also develop a report on establishing the centre for excellence and an advanced capacity building program.

Meanwhile, the railways have already trained 88 officials over the last two months for this purpose and such training will be provided for identified officials in every zone and division.

The training modules include cloud computing, data science, big data analytics, AI using reinforcement learning, and AI for autonomous vehicles.

According to officials, the railways has not only planned to have a CTO in zonal headquarters, but also an assistant chief technology officer (ACTO) in divisions directly reporting to the General Manager and Divisional Railway Managers respectively.

Six to ten officers in divisions and about 20 in zonal headquarters will be identified for training in data analytics and AI. They will be formally trained in institutes like IITs, ISB, IIMs, IIIT in the two subjects (of data analytics and AI).

The railways are also looking at the development of data sharing protocols with the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), RailTel, and others, they added.

The necessary surveys — which include visiting the hospital to check its infrastructure and cold storage facilities — have been carried out by a site management organisation.

If all goes well, Phase-II clinical trials of Russian vaccine Sputnik V will commence at state government-run College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital by the end of this month, a senior official of the health department said on Tuesday.

The necessary surveys — which include visiting the hospital to check its infrastructure and cold storage facilities — have been carried out by a site management organisation before starting the process, he stated.

Snehendu Koner, the head of business development at site management organisation CliniMed LifeSciences, said a report on survey findings has been sent to the Drug Control General of India (DCGI) for approval.

“We have visited the site, conducted checks on its infrastructure as well as facilities for storing vaccines and immunogenicity samples.

“We have also gone through the hospital’s records and found it has experiences of conducting clinical trials. Our findings are quite satisfactory and we have sent it to the DCGI for approval.

Once the DCGI gives green signal, the hospital’s ethics committee will issue a clearance to start the Phase-II clinical trials there, he said “We have also identified the principal investigator as well the co-investigator for the process,” he said.

The clinical trial of Sputnik V, scheduled to be held throughout the country, will be conducted by pharma company Dr Reddy’s Lab, which has joined hands with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

According to a health department official, the RDIF will be supplying 100 million doses of its potential COVID-19 vaccine to Dr Reddy’s Lab.

Hundred volunteers will be chosen all over the country, and out of them 75 will be administered the vaccine.

Twenty five others will be given placebo — a substance or treatment which is designed to have no therapeutic value.