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WMCC meet: India, China foreign ministry officials discuss LAC situation           

Ladakh

New Delhi (NVI): Senior foreign ministry officials of India and China discuss today held another round of talks to resolve the situation at Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh through the 17th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC).

The two sides reviewed the situation in the India-China border areas and the ongoing disengagement process along the Line of Actual Control (LAC )in the Western Sector, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement today.

The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (East Asia) from the Ministry of External Affairs, while the Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs led the Chinese delegation.

As maintained past meetings military and diplomatic level talks, officials from both sides agreed that early disengagement and full restoration of peace and tranquility is essential for smooth development of bilateral ties.

“They agreed that early and complete disengagement of the troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and de-escalation from India-China border areas in accordance with bilateral agreement and protocols and full restoration of peace and tranquillity was essential for smooth overall development of bilateral relations,” the MEA said in a statement.

The two sides also noted that this was in accordance with the agreement reached between the two Special Representatives (SRs) during their telephonic conversation on 5 July 2020.

They agreed in this regard that it was necessary for both sides to sincerely implement the understandings reached between Senior Commanders in their meetings till date, MEA said.

During the meeting, the two sides also agreed that another meeting of the Senior Commanders may be held soon so as to work out further steps to ensure “expeditiously complete disengagement and de-escalation and restoration of peace and tranquillity in the border areas”.

Apart from that, the two sides also agreed to maintain their ongoing engagements both at the diplomatic and military level, including through the meetings of WMCC.

The WMCC meet came a day after India put the onus on China for maintenance of peace and tranquility in border areas by saying that it expects Beijing to “sincerely” disengage and de-escalate completely in Ladakh.

Tensions between India and China over border row have simmered for long now, following border skirmishes between the Indian and Chinese troops at several points at LAC this year and most recently the violent clashes in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley in which 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives.

-ARK

Fact check: Claim regarding Indian airforce jet shot down is fake

New Delhi (NVI): The Central Government has rejected the viral message on social media platforms claiming that an Indian Air force jet has been shot down and said that it is fake.

The message reads, “Indian airforce had crossed the border to conduct airstrike on the Nepal territories today. India conducted an airstrike in Kot Kharak Singh Pernawan near India Nepal border. In response, we’ve shot down Indian jet and two Indian pilots killed.”

This is a completely false statement. No such claimed action has been conducted by the Indian Air Force on any neighbouring country.

The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted, “Claim: A viral message on twitter claiming that an Indian Airforce jet has been shot down.

#PIBfactcheck: It’s #Fake. No such claimed action has been conducted by Indian airforce on any neighbouring country. The images used are from a previous date. Beware of panic mongers.”

PIB has initiated a Fact Check handle to check such viral fake messages. One can also submit such messages or claims on PIB’s official website.

-CHK

Covaxin: Phase-I human trial of COVID-19 vaccine begins at AIIMS Delhi

Expert panel recommends Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin for restricted emergency use
Representational/File image

New Delhi (NVI): An indigenous COVID-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’, began its Phase-I human clinical trials at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, today.

The first dose of vaccine of Covaxin was given to a 30-year-old man. The volunteer will be kept in observation for two hours in the hospital.

He will later be sent home and will be monitored for the next seven days, as per the officials in AIIMS.

This is the first dose of the ‘Covaxin’ vaccine that has been administered to the 30-year-old healthy male who qualified after initial screening and tests that were conducted on several volunteers for the vaccine human trials.

Around 3,500 volunteers have registered themselves for the trial at AIIMS since last Saturday.

AIIMS-Delhi is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for Phase I and II randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled clinical trials of COVAXIN.

In phase I, the vaccine would be tested on 375 volunteers and 100 of them, the highest, would be from AIIMS.

The trial of phase I will be done on healthy people, aged between 18 and 55 years, having no co-morbid conditions. Women with no pregnancy will also be selected for the trial in the first phase.

Whereas, the second phase, would include around 750 volunteers from all 12 sites. In the second phase, 750 people will be recruited and they will be between 12 and 65 years of age.

The indigenous COVID-19 vaccine has been developed and manufactured by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and the National Institute of Virology (NIV), which recently got the nod for human clinical trials from the Drugs Controller General of India.

-RJV

New guidelines support mangrove restoration in the Western Indian Ocean

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The new set of guidelines on mangrove restoration for the Western Indian Ocean region aims to support the restoration of its degraded mangrove ecosystems and support recovery from the economic impacts of COVID-19.

Mangrove forests are among the most powerful nature-based solutions to climate change, but with 67 percent of mangroves lost or degraded to date, and an additional 1.0 percent being lost each year, they are at a risk of being destroyed altogether.

The guidelines issued by the member states of Nairobi Convention with support from UNEP–Nairobi Convention, the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association and the Western Indian Ocean Mangrove Network analyze risks and challenges to restoration projects and point to potential solutions.

Without mangroves, 39 percent more people would be flooded annually and flood damage would increase by more than 16 percent and USD 82 billion.

They protect shorelines from eroding and shield communities from floods, hurricanes, and storms, a more important service than ever as sea levels continue to rise.

Coastal residents in the Western Indian Ocean region – which includes Comoros, Kenya, France (Reunion), Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, and Tanzania – eat or sell the fish that live around the mangroves; harvest honey from the bees that the forests support, and use their wood as building material and fuel for subsistence or sell it for income.

Because the livelihoods of coastal communities depend on mangroves, restoring them can contribute to “building back better” through green recovery in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mangrove forests can also drive eco-tourism and create jobs.

“Mangroves really are essential life support system for coastal communities in the Western Indian Ocean region,” said James Kairo, Chief Scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute and lead author of the guidelines. “If degradation continues, communities will be without resources for shelter or fuel, food, or a means to make a living.”

“It’s hard to overstate just how important mangroves can be to both the environment and economy,” said Kerstin Stendahl, Head of UNEP’s Ecosystems Integration Branch. “They are truly a super solution —without them, we’d have more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, fewer fish and less food, and more damage from cyclones and other storms.”

-CHK

HRD Minister forms committee to ensure more students ‘Stay in India and Study in India’

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'

New Delhi (NVI): HRD Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, today established a committee to suggest ways to ensure more students stay and study in India.

The committee, to be headed by the Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC) will address the needs of students aspiring to go abroad by providing them with appropriate opportunities of education in the country and supporting the students returning from abroad to complete their programmes.

The Union HRD Minister held a brainstorming session regarding “Stay in India and Study in India” with senior officials and Heads of Autonomous and Technical Organisations concerned of MHRD in New Delhi today.

Pokhriyal said, “Because of COVID-19 situation many students who wanted to pursue studies abroad have decided to stay back in India and pursue their studies within India. He said that there are also rising number of Indian students returning to India with concern about completion of their studies.”

He emphasized that Ministry of HRD should make all efforts to look into the needs of both these categories of students.

Furthermore the committee will also explore mechanisms for starting Multi-disciplinary and innovative programs, twinning and joint degree programs, Cross Country designing of centers, facilitating online lectures by eminent faculty abroad, linkage between academia and industry, facilitate Joint degree ventures and lateral entry to Indian Higher Education Institutions.

MoS for HRD Sanjay Dhotre was also present on the occasion. Secretary, Higher Education, Amit Khare, Chairman, UGC, D.P. Singh, Chairman, AICTE, Anil Sahasrabudhe, Joint Secretary (ICC), Neeta Prasad and Secretary General, AIU, Pankaj Mittal participated in the meeting.

-CHK

EV sales growth good but mining of minerals used in batteries an environmental concern

New Delhi (NVI): Countries across the world are pitching in for more Electric Vehicles to cut greenhouse gas emissions and find an environment-friendly alternative for petrol and diesel.

While more EVs on the road will help cut the harmful emissions, the surge in the mining of minerals used to make rechargeable batteries poses serious risks for the environment, according to a report by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development).

The electric car sales are expected to jump from 3 million vehicles in 2017 to 23 million in 2030, as per an International Energy Agency (IEA) report.

Similar growth is expected for rechargeable batteries, with the market for cathode – the positive electrode of the lithium-ion battery – forecast to reach $58 billion in 2024, up from an estimated $7 billion in 2018, says the UNCTAD report.

While this is great news for efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the expected boom in mining for the raw materials used to make rechargeable batteries raises environmental and social concerns that must be urgently addressed, says the report.

“Most consumers are only aware of the ‘clean’ aspects of electric vehicles,” says Pamela Coke-Hamilton, UNCTAD’s director of international trade. “The dirty aspects of the production process are out of sight.”

This is because while most of the consumers live in industrialized nations, the lion’s share of the raw materials is concentrated in a few developing countries, as per the report.

More than half of the world’s lithium resources lies beneath the salt flats in the Andean regions of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, where indigenous quinoa farmers and llama herders must now compete with miners for water in one of the world’s driest regions.

Lithium mining requires huge amounts of groundwater to pump out brines from drilled wells, and some estimates show that almost 2 million litres of water are needed to produce one ton of lithium.

In Chile’s Salar de Atacama, lithium and other mining activities consumed 65% of the water, causing groundwater depletion, soil contamination and other forms of environmental degradation, forcing local communities to abandon ancestral settlements, says the report.

“As demand for lithium increases and production is tapped from deeper rock mines and brines, the challenges of mitigating environmental risk will increase,” the report says.

Nearly 50% of world cobalt reserves are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which accounts for over two-thirds of global production of the mineral.

About 20% of cobalt sourced from the central African nation comes from artisanal mines, where some 40,000 children work in extremely dangerous conditions, according to UNICEF, the UN’s children’s agency.

The dust from excavation may contain toxic metals including uranium that are linked to health problems such as respiration diseases and birth defects.

The environmental risks are just as worrying, says the report, as Cobalt mine sites may contain sulphur minerals that can generate sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water. This process, known as acid mine drainage, can devastate rivers, streams and aquatic life for hundreds of years.

The environmental impacts of graphite mining are similar. The use of explosives can blow dust and fine particles into the atmosphere, causing health problems in nearby communities and contaminating soils around the site.

About 80% of natural graphite reserves are in Brazil, China and Turkey.

The UNCTAD report also recommends that the adverse environmental impacts could be reduced by investing more in sustainable mining techniques and technologies that can recycle more effectively the raw materials found in spent lithium-ion batteries.

UNCTAD also recommends that the industry find ways to reduce the need for mining in the first place. For example, scientists are testing the possibility of replacing graphite in the batteries with widely available silicon.

Moreover, reducing the use of the minerals found in only a few countries could lead to lower prices for the batteries, the report says, which could lead to even more electric cars on the road.

-ARK

Temporary basic income for world’s poorest to slow surge in Covid-19 cases: UN

Numbers of people not covered by social insurance programmes are informal workers, low-waged, migrants, and people with disabilities are the ones hardest hit by this crisis. (Source: @UNDP Bangladesh)

New Delhi (NVI): Implementing a temporary universal basic income for the world’s poorest 2.7 billion people could help ease the toll of the pandemic by enabling such people to remain at home and be safe, according to a new United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report.

“A temporary basic income would give them the means to buy food and pay for health and education expenses,” the UNDP said in its report.

The report, ‘Temporary Basic Income: Protecting Poor and Vulnerable People in Developing Countries’, estimates that it would cost from USD 199 billion per month to provide a time-bound, guaranteed basic income to the 2.7 billion people living below or just above the poverty line in 132 developing countries.

The report concludes that the measure is feasible and urgently needed, with the pandemic now spreading at a rate of more than 1.5 million new cases per week, particularly in developing countries, where seven out of ten workers make a living through informal markets and cannot earn money if they are at home.

The UNDP has carried out assessments on the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 in more than 60 countries in the past few months and the evidence shows that workers who are not covered by social protection cannot stay at home without an income, UNDP report said.

The UNDP said that it (TBI) is also financially within reach: a six-month Temporary Basic Income, for example, would require just 12 percent of the total financial response to COVID-19 expected in 2020, or the equivalent of one-third of what developing countries owe in external debt payments in 2020.

UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said unprecedented times call for unprecedented social and economic measures.

“Introducing a Temporary Basic Income for the world’s poorest people has emerged as one option. This might have seemed impossible just a few months ago,” he said.

He further said, “Bailouts and recovery plans cannot only focus on big markets and big business. A Temporary Basic Income might enable governments to give people in lockdown a financial lifeline, inject cash back into local economies to help keep small businesses afloat, and slow the devastating spread of COVID-19.”

However, a temporary basic income is not a silver bullet solution to the economic hardship the pandemic has brought, the UNDP said, urging countries to protect jobs, expand support to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and use digital solutions to identify and access people who are excluded.

One of the way for countries to pay for a temporary basic income would be to repurpose the funds they would use this year to service their debt while developing and emerging economies will spend USD 3.1 trillion in debt repayment this year, according to the report

A comprehensive debt standstill for all developing countries, as called for by the UN Secretary-General, would allow countries to temporarily repurpose these funds into emergency measures to combat the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

Therefore, several countries have already taken steps to introduce temporary basic incomes. In addition to this, Spain recently approved a monthly budget of 250 million euros (about 290 million dollars) to top up the incomes of 850,000 vulnerable families and 2.3 million individuals up to a minimum threshold.

COVID-19 has exacerbated existing global and national inequalities and has created new disparities that are hitting the most vulnerable people the hardest, as per the report.

With up to 100 million more people being pushed into extreme poverty in 2020, 1.4 billion children affected by school closures, and record-level unemployment and loss of livelihoods, UNDP predicts that global human development is on course to decline this year for the first time since the concept was introduced, it said.

-RJV/ARK

Rajnath dials Israeli counterpart, reviews defence cooperation progress

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (File pic)

New Delhi (NVI): Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today held a telephonic conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Lt Gen Benjamin Gantz to review the progress on defence cooperation between both the countries.

Both the ministers expressed satisfaction at the progress of strategic cooperation between the two countries and discussed possibilities of further strengthening the defence engagements.

“Had a telephone conversation with the Defence Minister of Israel, Mr. Benny Gantz and reviewed the progress on defence cooperation between both the countries. We also discussed the prevailing COVID-19 situation and how we can fight against this menace through mutual cooperation,” Rajnath Singh tweeted.

They also expressed satisfaction at the ongoing collaboration in research and development in fighting pandemic COVID-19 which will not only benefit the two countries but also aid the larger humanitarian cause.

Singh invited greater participation of Israeli defence companies under new liberalised foreign direct investment (FDI) regime in defence manufacturing.

Furthermore, the two ministers exchanged views on regional developments.  Defence Minister of Israel responded positively to an invitation from Rajnath Singh to visit India at the earliest opportunity.

This comes days after India is considering to enhance its surveillance capabilities and firepower by placing orders for Heron surveillance drones and Spike anti-tank guided missiles from Israel under the emergency financial powers granted by the government.

-CHK

MHA issues guidelines for Independence Day celebrations amid COVID-19

File photo

New Delhi (NVI): The Union Ministry of Home Affairs today issued an advisory for Independence Day celebrations this year and asked all states, government offices to use technology for their celebrations instead of conducting large gatherings, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

As per the advisory issued, “All programmes should be organized in a way that large congregation of people is avoided and technology is used in the best possible manner for celebration befitting the occasion. The event organized could be web-cast in order to reach out to the people at large, who are not able to participate,” it added.

The Ministry also urged people to strictly follow basic COVID-19 preventive measures like social distancing, wearing of masks, proper sanitization, avoid large gatherings and follow all guidelines related to COVID-19.

Furthermore, the flag hoisting ceremony at Red Fort will consist of a Guard of Honour to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi accompanied by national anthem and 21-gun salute.

The performance of police and military bands may be recorded at places of historic importance and screened during public functions and on social media, the ministry said in its notification.

Other functions allowed includes tree plantation, inter-school and inter-college debates on digital platforms, quiz contests, patriotic essay writing and poetry competitions on virtual platforms, webinars centered around patriotic themes and any other innovative event keeping in mind social distancing rules, it said.

The guidelines issued by the Home Ministry for states/UTs and other districts are as follows:

1. Flag hoisting ceremony in state and union territory capitals, including unfurling of flag by Chief Minister, playing of National Anthem, presentation of Guard of Honour.

2. COVID-19 warriors like doctors, health workers and sanitisation workers may be invited to the ceremony as a recognition of their noble service.

3. No large congregation to take place in the ceremony. Basic COVID-19 preventive measures and social distancing norms to be followed.

However, in the end, the ministry has also asked the respective administrative heads to promote the Atmanirbhar Bharat scheme in the light of the isolated celebrations due to the ongoing pandemic.

-RJV

Indian Railways to use RFID tags for tracking all wagons by 2022

New Delhi (NVI): The Indian Railways today said that it will complete the process of fitting radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) in all the wagons by December 2022. These tags will be used for tracking all wagons.

The Ministry of Railways, in a statement, said that so far, 23,000 wagons have been covered under RFID project.

“The Project is still in progress and continuing, although this work has been slowed for some time due to pandemic Covid 19. Government has fixed the deadline for fitting of RFID in all the wagons of Indian Railway till December 2022,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Indian Railway has maintained such data manually so far, which leaves scope for errors. Using RFID devices will be easier for the railways to know the exact position of all the wagons, locomotives and coaches.

While the RFID tag will be fitted in the rolling stock, trackside readers will be installed at stations and key points along the tracks to read the tag from a distance of about two meters and transmit the wagon identity over a network to a central computer. In this way, each moving wagon can be identified and its movement tracked, the Ministry said.

With the introduction of RFID, the issue of shortage of wagons, locomotives and coaches is expected to be addressed in a more transparent and expeditious manner, it said.

-ARK

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