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UN chief urges India to quickly move to renewable energy

UN Chief Guterres
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (file photo)

New Delhi (NVI): India must swiftly move away from coal and other fossil fuel-based economic growth and focus on renewable energy (RE), to aid the fight against climate change, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said today.

The UN Chief while delivering the 2020 Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture, said that new coal auctions, in a bid to kick-start a post-COVID economic recovery, would be unfavorable, since coal has no future economic viability.

“It would rather lead to greater pollution, add to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and place a burden on India’s healthcare system,” he added.

In his speech, Guterres spoke on India’s achievements in renewable energy investments and the country’s 2030 target of increasing its share of renewable energy capacity to 500 gigawatts.

On 18 June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the auction of 41 coal blocks to the private sector. On 21 July, power and new and renewable energy minister RK Singh said that India’s RE capacity would reach 510 gigawatts by 2030, he added.

Guterres said, “In some cases, we are seeing countries doubling down on domestic coal and opening up coal auctions. This strategy will only lead to further economic contraction and damaging health consequences.”

He also said that we have never had more evidence that pollution from fossil fuels and coal emissions severely damages human health and leads to much higher healthcare system costs.

The UN Chief further stated that in India 50 per cent of coal would become uncompetitive by 2022, and this would rise to 85 per cent by 2025. “This is why the world’s largest investors are increasingly abandoning coal,” he added.

Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a global economic meltdown, and the UN Chief has been calling on countries use this for a clean energy transition.

“I have asked all G20 countries, including India, to invest in a clean, green transition as they recover from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “This means ending fossil fuel subsidies, placing a price on carbon pollution and committing to no new coal power plants after 2020.”

Guterres said that investments in RE, clean transport and energy efficiency could create 9 million jobs annually for the next three years.

“Investments in renewable energy generate three times more jobs than investments in polluting fossil fuels,” he said, adding that such job creation is vital since the pandemic’s economic impact could push many people back into poverty.

The UN chief stated he was inspired to learn about a promising trend in India. During the pandemic, the proportion of renewable energy rose from 17 per cent to 24 per cent, while coal-fired power declined from 76 per cent to 66 per cent. He underlined that renewable energy must continue to grow, and coal use progressively phased out.

“Today is the time for bold leadership on clean energy and climate action. I call on India to be at the helm of the ambitious leadership we need,” Guterres added.

-RJV

J&K: 4 terrorists behind abduction, killing of Panch killed in Shopian

July 18 Shopian encounter: Army completes summary of evidence
An encounter site in Kashmir (File Pic)

(Updating earlier copy)

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Four terrorists, including an Al-Badr commander and his associate, who were behind the abduction and killing of a Srinagar Panch (panchayat member) were killed in an encounter with security forces in Shopian today while a fifth one was captured alive, J&K police said.

Srinagar Panch Nisar Amhed Bhat’s body was recovered from orchards in south Kashmir’s Shopian today. He went missing from Srinagar on August 19. He was from Khonmoh area of Srinagar.

Inspector General of Police Kashmir Vijay Kumar said that Al-Badr district commander Shakoor Parray and his associate Suhail Bhat, who had abducted and killed the Panch on August 19, were among the four slain militants in Shopian encounter.

Defence spokesman in Srinagar, Colonel Rajesh Kalia told NVI that four militants were killed in the encounter at Shopian’s Kiloora village while the fifth one surrendered.

“Two AKs and three pistols recovered. Joint operation in progress,” Colonel Kalia added.

Earlier, in the afternoon, joint teams of Army, Police and the CRPF cordoned Kiloora village on the basis of specific information about the presence of militants there. In the initial gunfight, two militants were killed, and as the operation progressed, two more were killed while the fifth one was caught alive.

-ARK

H D Revanna tests Covid-19 positive

New Delhi (NVI): Former Karnataka minister and JDS leader H D Revanna tested positive for coronavirus today and was admitted to a hospital.

Health Minister B Sriramulu prayed for his recovery in a tweet and said, “H D Revanna has tested positive for coronavirus. I pray that he recovers and gets back to serve people,” he tweeted in Kannada.

According to officials, four policemen in his security had earlier contracted the deadly virus.

Several other leaders in Karnataka including Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, three of his ministers, Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar were also infected by the virus.

Recently, the son of former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had displayed the symptoms of the virus. After tests, he was found to be infected by the pathogen.

Karnataka’s coronavirus tally rose to 62,294 after 9,386 more people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, while over 5,000 people have succumbed to the virus in the state.

-RJV

Haryana lifts weekend lockdown; malls, shops to now close on Mon and Tue

lockdown
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The Haryana government today announced that shopping malls and shops will remain closed on Monday and Tuesday in the market places of urban areas of the state, in an attempt to contain the COVID-19 outbreak.

The state government issued a fresh notification where it stated that all shopping complexes and malls will be closed in all urban areas in Haryana including Gurugram on Monday and Tuesday except those dealing with essential items and services.

However, there is no restriction on the opening of shops and shopping malls on Saturday and Sunday. The latest order will be applicable till further notice, it added

Earlier, all public and private offices except those dealing with essential services and shopping malls and shops in the market area were ordered to remain closed on Saturday and Sunday.

The government’s latest order comes a week after restaurant chains, mall operations had appealed to the administration to lift the weekend restrictions as it was hampering the businesses badly.

In additon to this, several traders and shopkeeper associations from Gurugram wrote to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and district administration requesting to lift the weekend restrictions.

Meanwhile, Haryana recorded a spike of 1,293 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 59,298, while 12 fresh fatalities pushed it’s COVID-19 death toll to 646.

-RJV

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe resigns due to health reasons

Shinzo Abe

New Delhi (NVI): Shinzo Abe, the longest-serving Japanese prime minister has announced that he will be resigning because of his deteriorating health.

Abe made the announcement at a press conference and said he has been thinking about his health and role as prime minister since June, but did not want to cause a sudden vacancy because of his health, the Japan Times reported.

The Japanese leader added “now is the best time to step down” as the number of COVID-19 infections in Japan have decreased in recent days and new measures for winter have been compiled.

Abe also apologised to the Japanese people for failing to complete his term in office.

He added that a new prime minister needs to be in place before Japan faces influenza and COVID-19 this winter. However, he declined to endorse anyone as his successor and said he will entrust the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to elect the new leader.

Abe suffers from Colitis, a non-curable inflammatory bowel disease, which was also a factor in his sudden resignation as prime minister in 2007, ending his first term after just over a year in office.

On August 24, Abe visited Keio University Hospital in Tokyo for what was his second hospital visit in a week. The same day, he became Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, after spending his 2,799th day in office.

Abe, whose term ends in September 2021, is expected to stay on until a new party leader is elected and formally approved by the parliament.

Japanese government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga had earlier quashed speculations that Abe may be unable to serve his term and claimed the prime minister remained in good health.

“In terms of the prime minister’s health, the prime minister himself has said he wishes to work hard and I see him every day and feel that there is no change in his condition,” Suga said.

However, the Japanese leader’s resignation will trigger a leadership race in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – most likely in two or three weeks – and the winner must be formally elected in parliament. The new party leader will hold the post for the rest of Abe’s term.

-RJV/ARK

PM remembers Ayyankali on birth anniv

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today remembered social reformer Mahatma Ayyankali on his 157th birth anniversary and said that India would remain indebted to his works and vision.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi wrote, “India remains indebted to greats like Mahatma Ayyankali. His work towards social reform and empowering the downtrodden will always inspire. Remembering him on his Jayanti.”

The Prime Minister also shared his old speech, which he had given five years ago on the birth anniversary of Ayyankali.

Mahatma Ayyankali was born on August 28, 1863, in Venganoor, Thiruvananthapuram. He was the first of eight children born to Ayyan and Mala, who were members of the Pulayar community of untouchable people.

He was a social reformer who worked for the advancement of deprived untouchable people in the princely state of Travancore in British India. Ayyankali also sought to improve access to education. He died at the age of 68 in 1941.

Ayyankali Jayanti is a regional Indian public holiday in Kerala on August 28th.

-RJV

Body of missing Panch recovered from orchards in J&K’s Shopian

Bomb disposal squad

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): The decomposed body of a Panch (panchayat member), who went missing from Srinagar on August 19, was found in an orchard at Dangam-Ratnipora area of South Kashmir’s Shopian district today, officials said.

The body was spotted by some locals, who informed police after which it was pulled out from the half-dug grave in an orchard. A police official said that the body was later identified as that of Nisar Ahmed Bhat, a Panch from Khonmoh area of Srinagar.

Nisar, according to his family, had gone missing on August 19, after which they registered a missing report. Police sources said that Nisar was booked under Public Safety Act (PSA) in 1995 and there are around a dozen cases against him pending in various police stations.

“The body of Nisar is totally disfigured and decomposed. It took us many hours to identify him,” a police official said.

Pertinently, two days after Nisar went missing, an audio clip went viral on social media, in which an unverified voice claimed that they have killed the Panch and won’t return the body as being done by the police in case of slain militants in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

Before Nisar, a Territorial Army soldier identified as Shakir Manzoor was also kidnapped by suspected militants, and later an audio clip went viral in which they claimed that they had killed the soldier and buried him. They said the TA soldier’s body won’t be given to the family in view of COVID-19.

J&K Police has stopped giving bodies of slain local militants, who die in encounters, to their families due to Covid-19. Their bodies are buried in Baramulla district of north Kashmir in presence of a magistrate.

-ARK

COVID-19 recovery rate improves further in India, mounts to 76.28%

COVID-19
File photo

New Delhi (NVI): India’s coronavirus recoveries have reached nearly 26 lakh and stands at 25,83,948, pushing the recovery rate to 76.28 per cent in the country, the Union Health Ministry said.

In an official statement, the ministry said that the recovery of 25,83,948 has been made possible because of effective implementation of the policy of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively and TREATING efficiently.

The number of recoveries is nearly 3.5 times the active cases, which comprise 21.90% of the total cases. Higher number of recoveries has led to a constantly growing difference between recoveries and active cases. Crossing 18 lakhs, the difference stands at 18, 41,925 today.

“Focus on standard of care protocol including use of non-invasive oxygen, better skilled doctors in the ICUs and hospitals, and improved ambulance services have culminated in yielding the desired results,” it added.

In the last 24 hours, with 60,177 recoveries, India’s recovery rate amongst the COVID-19 patients has crossed 76 per cent reflecting that the number of patients recovering is on a steady rise over the past several months, the ministry said.

The Union Government has adopted a graded and evolving strategic response to COVID management in India within the larger evolving global context. The early focus on surveillance and contact tracing through house-to-house survey was continuously strengthened with increase in testing for ensuring early identification of positive cases.

This has ensured prompt isolation of the confirmed positive cases either in supervised home care for the mild and moderate cases, and hospitalisation in case of those who are exhibiting critical symptoms.

In addition to this, effective treatment of the positive cases has resulted in a progressively dipping Case Fatality Rate, which is pegged at 1.82 per cent today.

-CHK

Meals allowed on domestic flights, no-fly list warning for passengers without mask

Institutional quarantine
Delhi Airport

New Delhi (NVI): In the latest set of coronavirus guidelines for flyers, Centre has allowed airlines to serve pre-packed snacks, meals and beverages on domestic flights depending on the travel time, and hot meals on international flights.

Apart from that, any passenger who refuses to wear a face mask in a flight can be put on the no-fly list by the airline, according to the latest DGCA guidelines.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in-flight meal service was not permitted on domestic flights since their resumption on May 25. On international flights, only pre-packed cold meals and snacks were being served depending on the flight duration since May this year.

Providing further details, the ministry said only single-use disposable trays, plates and cutlery should be used while serving food or beverages on both the flights.

“Crew shall wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal/beverage service,” it noted.

Besides food, the DGCA also allowed the usage of in-flight entertainment system on international as well as domestic flights, wherever available.

“Disposable earphones or cleaned and disinfected headphones will be provided to passengers at the start of the journey,” the statement read.

Notably, scheduled international passenger flights have been suspended since March 23. Domestic flights resumed in India on May 25 after a gap of 2 months due to coronavirus pandemic.

-CHK

Covid-19 pandemic affected mental health of millions, says WHO chief

patent

New Delhi (NVI): The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of millions of people worldwide, according to World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“For many people, the lack of social interaction caused by the pandemic has had a profound effect on their mental health,” Tedros said in a media briefing.

He stressed that people in long-term facilities such as care homes and psychiatric institutions are at an increased risk of infection.

The WHO chief also added that mental health professionals have themselves been infected with the virus, and some mental health facilities have been closed to be converted into treatment facilities for people with COVID-19.

Tedros recollected that mental health was already a most neglected public health issue globally before the pandemic, with close to one billion people living with a mental disorder.

According to WHO, at least 1 billion people are living with a mental disorder, due to which 3 million people die every year from the harmful use of alcohol and one person dies every 40 seconds by committing suicide.

Yet relatively fewer people have access to quality mental health services, he said adding that, in low- and middle-income countries, more than 75 per cent of people with mental, neurological and substance use disorders receive no treatment for their condition at all.

Earlier in July, Tedros had said that the COVID-19 crisis is getting worse, adding that in most of the world, the virus is not under control.

“In most of the world, the virus is not under control. It is getting worse. The virus has upended health systems in some of the wealthiest nations, while some countries that have mounted a successful response have been of modest means,” the WHO chief said.

Tedros further announced that for this year’s World Mental Health Day, which falls on October 10, the WHO, together with its partner organizations, United for Global Mental Health and the World Federation for Mental Health, would call for a massive scale-up in investments in mental health.

-RJV

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