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FCRA Amendment Bill passed in RS

New Delhi (NVI): Rajya Sabha today passed the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020, that bars transfer of foreign funds from one NGO to another, prohibits public servants from taking donations from abroad and mandating Aadhaar for registration, amid concerns raised by the civil society and some parties.

The Bill was moved by Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai, in the Upper House of Parliament.

The Bill amends the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, which regulates the use and acceptance of foreign contribution by individuals and organizations.

The Act prohibits foreign contribution for any activities that pose a danger to national interest.

It provides for reduction in administrative expenses of any NGO receiving foreign funding, from 50 per cent to 20 per cent of annual funds.

The Bill also proposes to enable the Centre to allow an NGO or association to surrender its FCRA certificate.

-CHK

Bengaluru crosses 2 lakh Covid-19 cases

COVID cases

New Delhi (NVI): Bengaluru, which is a major contributor to the spiralling cases of COVID-19 in Karnataka, breached the two lakh mark on Tuesday with 3,082 new cases.

With a total of 2,00,728 positive cases, Bengaluru is now the third city in the country after Pune and Delhi to have crossed the two lakh mark.

The number of cases in the capital city started spiralling from the first week of July. From 4,555 cases on June 30, cases rose to 22,944 till July 15. By August 31, the number touched 1,27,336.

After this, the city added 49,376 cases to its tally in 15 days taking the total number to 1,76,712. And, in another seven days, the tally crossed the two lakh mark, according to Health Ministry data.

In addition to this, in terms of active cases, Bengaluru now is second highest after Pune.

Furthermore, with 6,974 new cases, the tally in Karnataka rose to 5,33,850 while the death toll stands at 8,228 in the state.

-CHK

AICTE approves inclusion of Geospatial as subject in GATE, NET exam

New Delhi (NVI): The All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) has approved the inclusion of Geospatial subject in the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE) and National Eligibility Test (NET) examination.

The inclusion of the subject was approved on the recommendation of the National Geospatial Task Force Report 2013, under the Chairmanship of former ISRO Chairman, K Kasturirangan.

“Students competing for the popular NET for Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and lectureship in Indian universities and colleges, including IITs and NITs and GATE for JRF in CSIR laboratories, can now opt for Geospatial as a subject,” the Ministry of Science & Technology said in a statement.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) as an organisation and many professionals have highlighted the need for Geospatial subject especially in GATE and NET examination at different forums, the statement added.

This will, however, benefit the increasing number of students who are taking up geospatial as a subject at different levels and help in the evolution of geospatial ecosystem in the country

Moreover, the Natural Resources Data Management System (NRDMS) under DST is an interdisciplinary research programme which promoted R&D in emerging areas of geospatial science, technology, and its applications to area-specific problems, the ministry said.

Over the years, it has successfully demonstrated utilities of geospatial technologies in decision making and developed capacity for geospatial data and information management at state, district, and local levels at pilot scale, it added.

Now, it is evolving into National Geospatial Programme for catalyzing the national geospatial ecosystem and promoting geospatial science and technology solutions, capacity building, entrepreneurship, and international cooperation for sustainable sociology-economic development at all levels of governance and also stressing on including geospatial subject at different levels.

“Geospatial science and technology is a rapidly evolving subject that forms the backbone of a plethora of planning, development and governance activities with unprecedented opportunities both in the government and private sectors,” said Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, DST.

“Swamitva, a recent scheme launched by the Prime Minister is a good example to map rural inhabited lands using drones and latest survey methods. The scheme among other things will streamline planning, revenue collection and property rights and thus have a huge positive impact on securing loans by the owners and dispute resolution related to properties,” he added.

-RJV

Rajya Sabha adjourned sine die

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu speaking as 252nd Rajya Sabha session concludes. (RSTV grab)

New Delhi (NVI): The Rajya Sabha was today adjourned sine die, amid concerns of the spread of coronavirus among the members of Parliament.

The Upper House today passed The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020, The Bilateral Netting of Qualified Financial Contracts Bill, 2020, the three labour codes and the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill.

The opposition, however, boycotted the proceedings, took out a silent protest march in the Parliament premises. They have been protesting against the farm Bills passed recently.

Meanwhile, members of Opposition parties are likely to meet President Ram Nath Kovind at 5 PM today and urge him to not sign the bills.

The Upper House of Parliament had witnessed a huge chaos and drama during the passing of farm bills on Sunday as Opposition members were seen rushing to the Well of the House, attempting to tear up the rule book and the microphone of the Deputy Chairman.

Eight MP’s were suspended over the ruckus – Congress’s Rajeev Satav, Syed Naseer Hussain and Ripun Bora, Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, AAP’s Sanjay Singh and CPI(M)’s K K Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem.

-ARK

DRDO successfully test fires laser guided anti-tank missile from MBT Arjun           

(File Photo)

New Delhi (NVI): In yet another milestone for Indian defence, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test-fired its Laser-Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges, Armoured Corps Centre and School (ACC&S) Ahmednagar in Maharashtra yesterday.

In these tests, the ATGM successfully defeated a target located at 3 km. Laser guided ATGMs lock and track the targets with the help of laser designation to ensure precision hit accuracy, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement today.

The missile employs a tandem HEAT warhead to defeat Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) protected armoured vehicles. It has been developed with multiple-platform launch capability and is currently undergoing technical evaluation trials from gun of MBT Arjun.


Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) Pune in association with High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) Pune, and Instruments Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) Dehradun have developed the missile.

DRDO is working towards reducing import dependency in the defence sector in the near future, as part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Atma Airbhar Bharat (self-reliant) India. PM Modi had recently said that self-reliance in the defence sector will pave the path for an Atma Nirbhar Bharat.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated DRDO for the achievement. “Congratulations to @DRDO_India for successfully conducting test firing of Laser Guided Anti Tank Guided Missile from MBT Arjun at KK Ranges (ACC&S) in Ahmednagar. India is proud of Team DRDO which is assiduously working towards reducing import dependency in the near future,” Singh tweeted.

Secretary DDR&D & Chairman DRDO also congratulated DRDO personnel and industry on the successful test firing, MoD said.

In another development yesterday, DRDO had conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) light-weight expendable drone from the Interim Test Range, Balasore in Odisha.

During the trials, two demonstrator vehicles were successfully test flown. The vehicle can be used as target for evaluation of various missile systems, MoD said in a statement.

1.9 mn people die from tobacco-induced heart disease every year: WHO

Representative image

New Delhi (NVI): Around 1.9 million people across the world die from tobacco-induced heart disease every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) has said in a news brief ahead of World Heart Day on September 29.

This equates to one in five of all deaths from heart disease, warned the report’s authors, urged all tobacco users to quit and avoid a heart attack, stressing that smokers are more likely to experience an acute cardiovascular event at a younger age than non-smokers, the WHO brief stated.

The brief was prepared in association with the World Heart Federation and the University of Newcastle Australia.

“A few cigarettes a day, occasional smoking, or exposure to second-hand smoke increase the risk of heart disease. But if tobacco users take immediate action and quit, then their risk of heart disease will decrease by 50 per cent after one year of not smoking,” the WHO said.

Eduardo Bianco, Chair of the World Heart Federation Tobacco Expert Group said, “Given the current level of evidence on tobacco and cardiovascular health and the health benefits of quitting smoking, failing to offer cessation services to patients with heart disease could be considered clinical malpractice or negligence.”

According to the brief, smokeless tobacco is responsible for around 2,00,000 deaths from coronary heart disease per year while e-cigarettes also raise blood pressure increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Moreover, high blood pressure and heart disease increase the risk of severe COVID-19. A recent WHO survey found that among people dying of COVID-19 in Italy, 67 per cent had high blood pressure and in Spain, 43 per cent of people who developed coronavirus were living with heart disease.

“Governments have a responsibility to protect the health of their people and help reverse the tobacco epidemic. Making our communities smoke-free reduces the number of tobacco-related hospital admissions, which is more important than ever in the context of the current pandemic,” said Vinayak Prasad, Unit Lead of the WHO No Tobacco Unit.

Tobacco control is a key element for reducing heart disease, however, governments can help tobacco users quit by increasing tax on tobacco products, enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and offering services to help people give up tobacco, the brief said.

-RJV

India’s COVID-19 recovery rate crosses 81%, maintains trend of high recoveries

COVID-19

New Delhi (NVI): India’s coronavirus recoveries have reached nearly 46 lakh and stands at 45,87,613, pushing the recovery rate to 81.25 per cent and crossed another milestone in the country, the Union Health Ministry said.

In an official statement, the ministry said that, “On a continuous upward trajectory, the recovery rate has touched 81 per cent reflecting the increasing number of high recoveries per day.”

India has the highest recovered cases in the world. It contributes 19.5 per cent to the global recoveries.

89,746 recoveries have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country, whereas the number of new confirmed cases stands at 83,347, according to Health Ministry data.

Furthermore, new recoveries in India have exceeded the new cases for the fifth consecutive day.

In addition to this, 75 per cent of the new recovered cases are being reported from ten States/UTs, viz. Maharashtra, Karnataka , Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala, West Bengal and Haryana.

Maharashtra continues to lead with more than 20,000 new cases of recovered patients. Andhra Pradesh contributed more than 10,000 to the single day recoveries.

India is currently in the second place in terms of coronavirus cases at 56,46,011, while the country’s death toll stood at 90,020 as per the latest bulletin of Health Ministry.

-CHK

PESO gets permission to introduce ISO tanks for movement of liquid oxygen amid Covid-19

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has given permission to the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) to introduce ISO tank containers for movement of liquid oxygen for domestic transport.

“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need felt to move oxygen in sufficient quantity from surplus areas to deficit areas, it was felt necessary to give permission to ISO containers to move liquid oxygen for domestic transport,” the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said in a statement.

The movement of oxygen within the country through the ISO containers shall greatly enhance the translocation of safe and fast movement of oxygen through road network, it added.

Meanwhile, the proposal to introduce ISO Tank containers for domestic movement was initiated by DPIIT after a consultation meeting with cryogenic oxygen manufacturers, the ministry noted.

“A stakeholder consultation was also carried out. This permission has been given for one year initially to expeditiously deal with the emergent situation,” it added.

In addition to this, the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organization has devised the module for receipt of online applications from the stake holders to expeditiously grant the permissions for ISO Tank Containers for oxygen.

Furthermore, ISO Tank is a tank container built to the ISO standard (International Organisation for Standardisation), which are designed to carry liquids in bulk. The tank is made of stainless steel and is surrounded by various types of protective layers. It can carry up to 20 MT of liquid oxygen.

Since they can carry huge amount of oxygen at one go, ISO containers will help to translocate sufficient Oxygen to areas where required, the ministry added.

-RJV

State-wise details of Covid-19 cases in India

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in India crossed the 56 lakh-mark today and reached 56,46,011, with another huge surge of 83,347 positive cases in the last 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The country’s death toll has gone up to 90,020 after 1,085 new fatalities were reported in the country during this period.

In terms of total number of cases, Maharashtra continues to be the worst affected state with 12,42,770 coronavirus cases followed by Andhra Pradesh with 6,39,302 cases, Tamil Nadu with 5,52,674 positive cases.

Total positive cases in States/UTs:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 3,691

Andhra Pradesh- 6,39,302

Arunachal Pradesh- 7,844

Assam- 1,61,393

Bihar- 1,71,255

Chandigarh- 10,298

Chhattisgarh- 90,917

Dadra Nagar Haveli & Diu – 2,944

Delhi- 2,53,075

Gujarat- 1,26,007

Goa- 29,343

Haryana– 1,14,870

Himachal Pradesh- 12,769

Jammu and Kashmir- 66,261

Jharkhand- 73,948

Karnataka- 5,33,850

Kerala- 1,42,756

Ladakh- 3,887

Madhya Pradesh- 1,10,711

Maharashtra- 12,42,770

Manipur- 9,280

Meghalaya- 4,791

Mizoram- 1,713

Nagaland- 5,604

Odisha- 1,88,311

Puducherry- 23,684

Punjab- 1,01,341

Rajasthan- 1,18,793

Sikkim- 2,594

Tamil Nadu- 5,52,674

Telangana- 1,77,070

Tripura- 23,338

Uttarakhand- 42,651

Uttar Pradesh- 3,64,543

West Bengal– 2,31,484

State/UT wise total death toll:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 52

Andhra Pradesh- 5,461

Arunachal Pradesh- 14

Assam- 586

Bihar- 873

Chandigarh- 130

Chhattisgarh- 718

Dadra and Nagar Haveli- 2

Delhi- 5,051

Goa- 368

Gujarat- 3,352

Haryana- 1,206

Himachal Pradesh- 134

Jammu and Kashmir- 1,042

Jharkhand- 626

Karnataka- 8,228

Kerala- 572

Ladakh- 50

Madhya Pradesh- 2,035

Maharashtra- 33,407

Manipur- 60

Meghalaya- 38

Nagaland- 15

Odisha- 721

Puducherry- 473

Punjab- 2,926

Rajasthan- 1,367

Sikkim- 29

Tamil Nadu- 8,947

Telangana- 1,062

Tripura- 251

Uttarakhand- 512

Uttar Pradesh- 5,212

West Bengal- 4,483

There are 9,68,377 active cases in the country now and nearly 46 lakh people have recovered.

-CHK

Mumbai flooded after heavy overnight rain, trains suspended

Many areas in Mumbai flooded after extremely heavy rain. (File photo)

New Delhi (NVI): Heavy overnight rain in Mumbai has hit rail and road traffic after several parts in the city were water-logged. The weather department has warned of a flood-like situation in the low-lying areas.

In the last 24 hours, over 280 mm of rainfall was received in western suburbs, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

Furthermore, train services on the Central and Harbour lines have been suspended due to water logging, Mumbai’s civic body – the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation or BMC – tweeted this morning.

In addition to this, the weather bureau has sounded a yellow alert (possibility of heavy rain across isolated areas) for the rest of Wednesday and predicted a gradual reduction in rain intensity by Wednesday evening. The city is expected to receive more rainfall over the next 24 hours.

The Regional Meteorological Centre, in a late-night statement, said that “people living in vulnerable places may take caution” as it also warned about traffic disruption and power cuts.

The weather office has also warned of “possibility of danger to very old buildings and unmaintained structures”. Earlier this week, over 20 people died in a building collapse in Bhiwandi near Mumbai.

-CHK

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