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Uttarakhand relaxes norms, no restriction on number of visitors

Devprayag, Uttarakhand

New Delhi (NVI): The Uttarakhand government has relaxed norms to visit the state as the country enters Unlock 4.0, in an effort to boost tourism which is a major source of revenue in the state.

The state has tourism as one of its core industries, which has suffered massive losses as tourism was shut down due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Now, as the country has entered Unlock 4.0, the state government is keen to attract tourists once again.

The major curbs that will no longer be in place for those intending to visit Uttarakhand is restriction on number of visitors per day. Earlier, the state allowed only 2,000 visitors a day from outside the state and e-permits were also required for the same.

Other relaxations were granted in terms of ICMR recognized COVID-19 negative report and making ‘Truenat’ tests acceptable.

State Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik said, “The visitors have to register themselves on a state government smart city portal smartcitydehradun.uk.gov.in and produce COVID-19 negative report ranging in the last 72-hours.”

Moreover, there shall be no restriction on inter-state or intrastate movement of people and goods, a letter from secretary of disaster management SA Murugesan stated.

This move comes after demands of relaxations by tourism sector which forms backbone of the economy of the Himalayan state, especially religious tourism has been hit hard with thousands left struggling for ends to meet.

As religious tourism has got hit badly in Uttarakhand due to coronavirus induced lockdown, priests are opting for odd jobs including factory workers. They were earning between Rs 8,000-12,000 per month by working in factories.

This year, the state government had also cancelled Kanwar Yatra in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic which hit religious tourism in Haridwar the hardest after Char Dham Yatra. However, the Char Dham Yatra was allowed from June for state residents and later for residents of other states too since last month giving some respite to the sector.

Last year, more than 3.5 crore devotees visited Haridwar through the yatra in the auspicious month.

-RJV

Another terror hideout unearthed in J&K’s Poonch, arms recovered

Representational Image

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): A militant hideout was unearthed during a Cordon and Search Operation in Khetnar area close to the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, security officials said.

The development comes just an hour after the Indian Army stated that it has busted multiple hideouts in Uri area of north Kashmir’s Baramulla and recovered a huge quantity of arms and ammunition.

A senior police officer said that joint teams of Police, 72-Battalion of BSF and the Army launched an operation in several villages of Poonch this morning on the basis of a specific lead about presence of militant hideouts. “During the searches in Khetnar village of Poonch district close to LoC, a militant hideout was unearthed and large quantity of arms and ammunition were recovered,” he said.

The official further said that the recoveries include two Chinese pistols, five pistol magazines, its 50 rounds, five AK-17 magazines, its 270 rounds, four grenades and two wireless sets, besides one binocular and other material.

The officer said that search operation was still on in a few villages. He said the recoveries were made from a militant hideout and it is believed that terrorists had dumped the weapons since past few months and were using the place to hide themselves.

-ARK

Indian Railway to become Net Zero Carbon Emitter by 2030

New Delhi (NVI): Indian Railways is set to produce solar energy for meeting all it’s energy consumption needs of more than 33 billion units by 2030 and become a “net zero carbon emitter”, according to Ministry of Railways statement.

Indian Railways has a mega plan for installing solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilizing its vacant land by 2030, the statement added.

In order to achieve its objective of becoming 100 per cent self-sustainable for all it’s power needs and also to contribute to national solar power goals, Indian Railways has solarised more than 960 stations till date.

Furthermore, orders have been placed for 198 MW solar rooftop capacity for 550 stations which are under execution.

Some of the stations already solarised are Varanasi, New Delhi, Old Delhi, Jaipur, Secunderabad, Kolkata, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Howrah and so on.

About 51,000 hectare vacant land available with Indian Railways and is now ready to extend all support to the developers for installing solar power plants on Railway’s vacant un-encroached land. Railways is also set to achieve 100% electrification by the year 2023.

Railways is committed to utilize solar energy for meeting its traction power requirement and become a complete ‘Green mode of transportation’. This is in line with the recent directive of Prime Minister to solarise railway stations and utilize vacant railway land for Renewable Energy (RE) projects.

The use of solar power will accelerate the Railways’ mission to achieve the goal of becoming ‘Net Zero Carbon Emission Railway’.

In this regard, to begin with, bids for 3 GW solar projects on vacant Railway land parcels and land parcels along the railway track have already been invited by Railway Energy Management Company Ltd. (REMCL), a PSU of Indian Railways. These solar projects, besides supplying power to Railways at reduced tariff, will also protect the Railway land by the construction of boundary wall along the track.

-CHK

Fact check: Govt not seeking personal details for health ID registration

New Delhi (NVI): A media report has claimed that the Government is asking for sensitive personal data for the registration of Health ID for the National Digital Health Mission.

The Fact Check Unit of the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has clarified that the news is fake and the government is not asking for sensitive personal information for the registration of health ID.

In a tweet, the PIB said that fake news is being spread that people will have to submit crucial personal details on an individual’s medical host, finances, genetics, sex life, caste, religion and political beliefs.

“Claim: Media report has claimed that the government is asking for “sensitive personal data” for the registration of Health ID.

#PIBFactCheck: This claim is #Fake Information like name, year of birth, state, etc. are required while registering for Health ID,” PIB tweeted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 15, announced the launch of the National Digital Health Mission (NDHM). Under the programme every Indian will get a health ID that will store the individual’s medical records.

The National Health Authority (NHA) has been entrusted with the responsibility for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which has been mandated to design and roll out NDHM in the country.

Notably, in order to keep the health data of people safe, the government has proposed a framework and a set of minimum standards for data privacy protection.

-RJV

Militant hideouts busted in J&K’s Baramulla; huge cache of arms, ammo recovered

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): The Indian Army today said that it has busted multiple terrorist hideouts along the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district and recovered a huge cache of arms and ammunition supposed to be delivered to the infiltrating militants.

Defence spokesman in Srinagar Rajesh Kalia said that alert troops detected movement of suspicious persons along the LoC in Rampur Sector, Baramulla district on Sunday.

(Pic via Army)

“The movement was from a village close to the Line of Control and the suspects crossed into Indian territory. Due to terrain of thick foliage and weather condition an alert of likely infiltration attempt was sounded,” Colonel Kalia said.

“The Surveillance Grid was beefed up all across the area and along the likely infiltration routes; ambushes were sited to thwart any attempt of infiltration. Surveillance continued throughout the night,” he added.

He said that subsequently, next morning at around 5 am, a search of the area was carried out in the area along LoC.

“After extensive search of seven hours, a huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered from well concealed locations in two hideouts in Rampur Sector of Uri area in Baramulla. The cache of arms recovered comprises of five AK series Rifles (along with six magazines & two sealed boxes with 1254 rounds of AK ammunition), six pistols (with nine magazines & six rounds), twenty-one grenades, two UBGL grenades and two Kenwood Radio sets with one antenna,” the Defence spokesman said.

He said that the area has villages ahead of the anti-infiltration fence. “The suspected modus operandi is to drop war like stores in caches near the Line of Control, subsequently OGWs or militants would pick the same for further transportation into the hinterland for militant  activities,” Colonel Kalia said.

“As reported earlier, similar attempts were made on 22 July ’20, when inputs were received regarding likely weapon drop along the Line of Control ahead of the anti-infiltration fence. During the search operation along the Line of Control in Rampur Sector, Baramulla, 01 AKS-74U with magazines, 05 pistols (one with Chinese markings) & magazines, 24 grenades & other warlike stores were recovered,” he said.

The army spokesman further said that the modus operandi shows desperate attempts by Pakistan-based militant groups to infiltrate weapons into J&K for terror activities, with active connivance of Pakistan Army. “Robust surveillance and Line of Control domination activities will continue to deny all such misadventures,” Colonel Kalia added.

-ARK

Last rites of Pranab Mukherjee held

Last rites of former President were performed at Lodhi crematorium

New Delhi (NVI): Former President Pranab Mukherjee’s last rites were performed at Lodhi crematorium today, under restrictions for COVID-19. He was laid to rest with full military honours.

Mukherjee, 84, passed away yesterday at the Army Research and Referral Hospital (RR), Delhi where he was admitted earlier this month and had undergone surgery for removal of a clot in his brain. He had tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the surgery.

Earlier today, President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chiefs of the three defence services and politicians cutting across party lines paid their last respects to the former president at his residence.

Notably, National flags at Rashtrapati Bhavan and Parliament were at half-mast today as the country observes a seven-day State mourning following the demise of Mukherjee.

“As a mark of respect to the departed dignitary, seven days state mourning will be observed throughout India from August 31 to September 6, both days inclusive.” the Ministry of Home Affairs said in an official release.

Pranab Mukherjee was a senior Congress leader before he was elected as 13th President of India. He served as President from July 2012 to 2017.

-RJV

World’s largest solar tree installed in West Bengal’s Durgapur

New Delhi (NVI): The CSIR-CMERI has set up the world’s largest solar tree at its residential colony in Durgapur, West Bengal. The solar tree has an installed capacity above 11.5 kWp.

According to CSIR-CMERI Director Harish Hirani, the annual capacity of the solar tree will include generating about 12,000-14,000 units of clean and green power.

The Solar Tree has been designed and developed in a way to ensure maximum exposure of each Solar PV Panel to sunlight and create least amount of shadow area beneath. There are a total of 35 Solar PV Panels in each tree with a capacity of 330 wp each.

Hirani said, “The CSIR-CMERI developed Solar Tree besides being the World’s Largest Solar Tree also has certain customizable features for application at diverse sites. The Solar Trees were designed in a manner to ensure minimum Shadow Area, thus potentially making these Solar Trees available for widespread usage in Agricultural activities such as High Capacity Pumps, e-Tractors and e-Power Tillers.”

In addition to this, these Solar Trees can be aligned with Agriculture for substituting price-volatile fossil fuels.

Each Tree has the potential to save 10-12 tons of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere as Greenhouse Gases when compared with fossil fuel fired energy generation. Besides, the surplus generated power can be fed into an Energy Grid.

“This Agricultural Model can provide a consistent economic return and help the farmers counter the effects of the uncertain variations in Agriculture related activities, thus, making farming an Economic and Energy Sustainable practice,” Harish Hirani added.

Furthermore, each Solar Tree will cost Rs 7.5 lakhs and the interested MSMEs can align their Business Model with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) Scheme for farmers, for developing a Renewable Energy based Energy Grid.

Significantly, the solar trees can also be connected to CSIR-CMERI’s solar-powered e-Suvidha Kiosks may for real-time access to the vast majority of agricultural database and the National Agricultural MarketPlace (eNam) for instant and real-time access to a unified online market.

-CHK

Pubs, bars to reopen today in Karnataka with 50% seating capacity

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): On the day when Unlock 4.0 guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) kicks in across the country, to relax more coronavirus-induced curbs, the Karnataka government has decided to allow pubs, bars and clubs to restart their activities in the state from today.

After more than 5 months, pubs, clubs and bars in Karnataka will reopen for dine-in service with seating capacity capped at 50 per cent and strict observation of distancing norms.

According to the guidelines issued by the state government on Monday, patrons should maintain 6 feet distance, wear face mask and sanitize hands at the entrance.

The guidelines said these places should ensure sanitisation of tables every time customers leave and the room temperature should be set on AC in the range of 24-30 degrees Celsius.

Contactless mode of placing orders and digital mode of payment should be encouraged. Employees and waiters should wear masks and gloves.

However, gaming zones and children play areas must be closed in clubs.

This will be the first time bars will be allowed to open since the nationwide lockdown was put in place in March.

Notably, restaurants attached with bars, which reopened in the first week of June, were until now allowed to serve only food and not liquor.

-CHK

Rajeev Kumar takes over as new EC

Rajeev Kumar

New Delhi (NVI): Former Finance Secretary Rajeev Kumar today assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner (EC) of India and will work with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra.

Kumar, a retired Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer of 1984 Jharkhand cadre, was appointed as new Election Commissioner on August 22 following the resignation of Ashok Lavasa.

During his over three-decade tenure in the government, Kumar has worked in various Ministries at the Centre and in his State cadre of Bihar and Jharkhand.

He has acquired his academic degrees of B.SC, LL.B, PGDM and MA Public Policy, Kumar has extensive work experience across Social Sector, Environment and Forests, Human Resources, Finance and Banking Sector.

Kumar was serving as the chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB). His tenure was to end on April 28, 2023. Prior to this, he had served as the union finance secretary from September 2017 to February 2020.

He was, however, appointed as the secretary in the Department of Financial Services in September 2017 and is credited to play the key role in the merger of 10 public sector banks into four.

As Chief Election Commissioner, Kumar is expected to oversee the next general election in 2024.

-RJV

State-wise details of Covid-19 cases in India

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in India has reached 36,91,167, after 69,921 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry data.

The country’s death toll has gone up to 65,288 after 819 new fatalities were reported in the country during this period.

In worst-hit Maharashtra, the coronavirus cases climbed to 7,92,541, followed by Andhra Pradesh with 4,34,771 cases, and Tamil Nadu with 4,28,041 cases.

Total positive cases in States/UTs:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 3,132

Andhra Pradesh- 4,34,771

Arunachal Pradesh- 4,112

Assam- 1,09,040

Bihar- 1,36,457

Chandigarh- 4,346

Chhattisgarh- 31,503

Dadra Nagar Haveli & Diu – 2,367

Delhi- 1,74,748

Gujarat- 96,300

Goa- 17,418

Haryana– 64,732

Himachal Pradesh- 6,116

Jammu and Kashmir- 37,698

Jharkhand- 41,656

Karnataka- 3,42,423

Kerala- 75,385

Ladakh- 2,681

Madhya Pradesh- 63,965

Maharashtra- 7,92,541

Manipur- 6,252

Meghalaya- 2,368

Mizoram- 1,011

Nagaland- 3,950

Odisha- 1,03,536

Puducherry- 14,411

Punjab- 53,992

Rajasthan- 81,693

Sikkim- 1,652

Tamil Nadu- 4,28,041

Telangana- 1,27,697

Tripura- 12,153

Uttarakhand- 19,827

Uttar Pradesh- 2,30,414

West Bengal – 1,62,778

State/UT wise total death toll:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 46

Andhra Pradesh- 3,969

Arunachal Pradesh- 7

Assam- 306

Bihar- 582

Chandigarh- 56

Chhattisgarh- 277

Dadra and Nagar Haveli- 2

Delhi- 4,444

Goa- 192

Gujarat- 3,020

Haryana- 689

Himachal Pradesh- 38

Jammu and Kashmir- 703

Jharkhand- 417

Karnataka- 5,702

Kerala- 294

Ladakh- 34

Madhya Pradesh- 1,394

Maharashtra- 24,583

Manipur- 28

Meghalaya- 10

Nagaland- 9

Odisha- 492

Puducherry- 228

Punjab- 1,453

Rajasthan- 1,056

Sikkim- 3

Tamil Nadu- 7,322

Telangana- 836

Tripura- 113

Uttar Pradesh- 3,486

Uttarakhand- 269

West Bengal- 3,228

However, a total of 28,39,882 people have been cured or discharged. Total active cases stand at 7,85,996.

-CHK

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