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India in talks with 13 countries to establish bilateral air bubble arrangements: Puri

Vande Bharat

New Delhi (NVI): India is negotiating with 13 countries to establish separate bilateral air bubble arrangements for international flight operations, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said today.

Under a bilateral air bubble pact, airlines of both the countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions.

Taking to twitter, Puri said, “We’re taking our efforts forward and negotiating with 13 more countries to establish air travel arrangements. These include Australia, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, Bahrain, Israel, Kenya, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea & Thailand.”

“The ongoing negotiations will benefit stranded Indians & nationals of these countries,” Puri further said.

Air bubbles have also been proposed with Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bhutan, Puri said, adding that his ministry will continue to further strengthen the reach and scope of Vande Bharat Mission.

Since July, India has established such air bubble arrangements with the US, the UK, France, Germany, the UAE, Qatar and the Maldives.

-CHK

Heavy rains predicted over Delhi for next 2 days; IMD issues orange alert

New Delhi (NVI): A fresh spell of rains drenched the national capital today, resulting in water-logging in some parts. Increase in the intensity of showers is predicted for the next two days, according to IMD.

In addition to this, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has also issued an “orange” alert for the city for the next three days with moderate to heavy showers likely expected.

“The monsoon trough has once again shifted towards the north and will remain close to the national capital over the next three days,” IMD stated.

The weather department further said that a low-pressure area has also developed over northeast Madhya Pradesh and southeast Uttar Pradesh, which will further intensify the convergence of moisture-laden southwesterly winds from the Arabian Sea and southeasterly winds from the Bay of Bengal.

An orange alert has been sounded for Kolhapur and Satara districts in western Maharashtra as well for today with the prediction of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in ghat areas, according to Met department.

A forecast of light to moderate rains is made for Pune and adjoining areas of the district for the next 48 hours.

Meanwhile, water levels of Krishna, Warna and Koyna rivers in Sangli district have risen due to continuous rains and the residents have been put on alert.

“Light to moderate rains are likely to take place in Pune and adjoining areas on Tuesday and Wednesday. Rain activity in the district will increase as moderate rains are predicted on Thursday and Friday as well,” IMD said.

-CHK

PM to announce results of Swachh Survekshan 2020 on Aug 20

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will announce the results of Swachh Survekshan 2020, on August 20, the fifth edition of the annual cleanliness survey of the country.

 

The virtual event is being organized by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). During the event, a total of 129 awards will be handed over to the top performing cities and states in the programme, titled “Swachh Mahotsav”.

The Prime Minister will also be interacting with select beneficiaries, swachhagrahis and SafaiKarmis under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U), from different parts of the country through video conference, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

He shall launch the Swachh Survekshan 2020 results dashboard on the occasion, it added.

Swachh Survekshan 2020 is the world’s largest cleanliness survey which ranked a total of 4,242 cities, 62 cantonment boards and 92 ganga towns and saw an unprecedented participation of 1.87 crore citizens.

The government introduced Swachh Survekshan with the objective of generating large scale citizen participation in the Mission, along with inculcating a spirit of healthy competition among cities towards becoming India’s cleanest cities.

In 2016,  MoHUA had conducted Swachh Survekshan for rating 73 major cities in January, followed by Swachh Survekshan 2017 conducted in January-February for ranking 434 cities.

Swachh Survekshan 2018, which, ranked 4,203 cities followed by the 2019 edition which not only covered 4,237 cities but was also the first-of-its-kind completely digital survey completed in a record time of 28 days.

According to the ministry, in Swachh Survekshan 2020, in order to ensure continuous assessment and sustainability of on-ground performance of cities, the government had also introduced Swachh Survekshan League, a quarterly cleanliness assessment of cities and towns conducted across three quarters, with 25 per cent weightage integrated into the final Swachh Survekshan results for this year.

Moreover, the survey has also caught the imagination of citizens and stakeholders alike and the increasing participation from citizens with every passing year is testimony to the way in which common citizenry has taken complete ownership of the Swachhata of its cities.

Swachh Survekshan has today made ‘Swachhata’ a thing of motivation and pride – something to look forward to and aspire for. In the first edition of the survey, Mysuru had won the award for the Cleanest City of India, while Indore has retained the top position for three consecutive years (2017,2018, 2019), the PMO stated.

The results to be announced on August 20 will bring the curtains down on the much-anticipated results for the 2020 edition which were delayed owing to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Furthermore, the event will also bring together and felicitation of MoHUA’s partner organizations in the SBM-U journey, including United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Google, etc.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C), MoHUA Durga Shanker Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA shall be participating in the event along with various Mayors, State Mission Directors, Municipal Commissioners and other stakeholders in the area of urban sanitation and waste management.

However, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) has made significant progress in the area of both sanitation and solid waste management.

-RJV

Probing Jul 18 Shopian encounter in which 3 ‘terrorists’ were killed: Army

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

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): A high-level Court of Inquiry (CoI) has been ordered under which investigations into July 18 Shopian encounter are underway in which three “terrorists” were killed, amid allegations that the gunbattle was stage-managed, the Army said today.

Three unidentified “militants” were killed in the encounter on July 18 at Amshipora, Shopian. Pictures of three youths went viral on social media with some unverified posts claiming that the encounter was fake.

Following this, three families from Rajouri district claimed that the slain “militants” being shown in the pictures are their wards who had gone to Shopian to find some work as labourers.

On August 11, the Army had stated that it had taken note of the social media reports where netizens had termed the encounter as a fake and maintained that “investigations into the matter were ordered.”

Defence spokesman Rajesh Kalia said that as intimated on August 11, a high-level Court of Inquiry into the operation Ashimpora, Shopian is under process.

“Statements of key witnesses are being recorded and progress is being monitored closely. Additional civil witnesses are being asked to depose before the CoI. Concurrently, DNA samples have been collected from Rajouri under the aegis of Jammu and Kashmir police and sent for matching with the militants killed on July 18, 2020,” Colonel Kalia said.

He said that the army is committed to ethical conduct of all the counter militancy operations. “Cases where doubts are raised are investigated under due process as per the law of the land. Since the case is under investigation, further details will be shared periodically, as appropriate without affecting due legal process,” the Defence spokesman said.

Pertinently, a special team from Jammu and Kashmir Police had visited Rajouri recently and collected the samples of families of three deceased youths in encounter. The samples were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for cross matching, the reports of which are expected by September 5. The families have been demanding an independent probe, a demand supported by the Amnesty International and other civil society groups.

-ARK

New data shows world’s 3 hottest Julys happened in last 5 years

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): Last month was the third hottest July ever recorded according to a new data by the Copernicus Climate Change Service which reveals that climate change could double the area of central Europe affected by severe drought by the second half of the century.

This isn’t the result of a one-off heatwave or freak weather front, but part of an alarming trend that has seen three of the hottest July months ever recorded – peaking in 2016, followed by 2019 – occurring within the past five years, according to a report by World Economic Forum (WEF).

Humans could face a future that’s too hot to survive without air conditioning. Exposure to extreme heat can stress the body to the point where organs shut down, presenting potentially life threatening conditions for many people living in developing countries.

But hot weather is only part of the climate crisis story.

Warming temperatures make extreme weather events, such as floods, storms and droughts, both more likely and potentially more intense.

Increasing temperatures could make extreme droughts as much as seven times more likely, according to new research. This means the area of cropland affected by extreme drought across central Europe could double in the second half of this century, to more than 40 million hectares (approximately 4,00,000 square kilometres).

Using precipitation and temperature data from records from as far back as 1766 to inform climate change computer models, researchers from the UFZ-Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research in the German city of Leipzig forecast that moderate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the drought-affected area of central Europe by 40 per cent.

However, for the icy wilds of remote northern Canada, the threat of droughts isn’t a consideration, but the region is no less affected by climate change.

At the periphery of Ellesmere Island sits the Milne Ice Shelf, the last fully intact ice shelf in the Canadian Arctic. July’s extreme heat caused two-fifths of this natural wonder to break up in just two days, according to media reports.

Extreme July temperatures have hit the entire Arctic region, which scientists say is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet. The 2020 summer melt produced the lowest recorded ice cover for the month of July since records began in 1981.

While the impact of global warming is clear to see, it’s not too late to curb emissions and tackle the climate crisis, but urgent action is needed to accelerate the journey toward net zero emissions.

-CHK

Atul Garg tests positive for Covid

New Delhi (NVI): Uttar Pradesh’s Minister of State for Health Atul Garg today said that he has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Taking to twitter, Garg said, “I had my RTPCR test on August 15, which came negative, but I tested positive in the repeat test at 9 o’clock last night,”

“Whoever met me between August 16 and 18, should ideally get the test done. For any kind of help, you can talk to me or my colleague Rajendraji, Ajay Rajput too!” he tweeted in Hindi.

He also asked those who came in contact with him from August 16 to 18 to get tested.

This comes after around 20 employees of the state Assembly recently tested positive and two ministers form the state, Kamal Rani Varun and Chetan Chauhan, succumbed to the disease.

So far, the COVID-19 tally in Uttar Pradesh stands at 1,58,216 while the death toll mounted to 2,515.

-RJV

Satya Pal Malik Meghalaya Guv now

New Delhi (NVI): Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik has been appointed as Meghalaya Governor, his third shift in 2 years. He will replace Tathagata Roy who has completed his five-year term on the gubernatorial post.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has been given additional charge of Goa, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique.

“Satya Pal Malik, Governor of Goa is transferred and appointed as Governor of Meghalaya,” read the official release.

“Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Governor of Maharashtra to discharge the functions of the Governor of Goa in addition to his own duties,” it read.

Satya Pal Malik was appointed Goa governor in October last year. Before that, he was the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir after the erstwhile state was bifurcated into two Union Territories following the abolition of Article 370 which gave it a special status.

-ARK

Indonesia’s Bali may not reopen to foreign tourists this year

New Delhi (NVI): Indonesia’s resort island of Bali will remain closed to foreign tourists at least until the end of the year, in view of the rising coronavirus cases in the country.

It was reported earlier that Bali will be reopen for international travellers from September 11, a timeline that has been scrapped as of now.

The government of Indonesia is still considering whether to open Bali to foreign visitors in September, with the tourists’ favourite haven shut since April to curb the spread of the virus .

Although, the government agrees that reopening the country to international tourists is a positive move, but seeking for the right timing to do that.

“The Minister of Law and Human Rights still has not allowed foreign tourists to enter Indonesia,” said the head of the Bali Provincial Tourism Office, Putu Astawa.

“As long as this regulation has not been revoked, the plan to open Bali on September 11 cannot go ahead,” he added.

Meanwhile, the resort island began to welcome back domestic tourists on July 31, with appropriate health and safety protocols in place, but their return cannot offset the absence of foreigners.

The country is strengthening its domestic tourism by developing other tourist spots.

However, tourism is the main source of income for Bali and foreign holidaymakers, who generate billions of dollars in revenue, remain a critical part of Indonesia’s economy. About 6.3 million foreign tourists visited Bali last year.

The world’s fourth-most populous country continues to see large daily increases in the number of new COVID-19 cases, which now total 1,35,000, with just over 6,000 deaths.

State-wise details of Covid-19 cases in India

State-wise details of Covid-19 cases in India

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of coronavirus cases in India has reached 27,02,742, after 55,079 new cases were reported in the past 24 hours, according to Union Health Ministry data.

Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 51,797 after 876 new fatalities were reported in the country during this period.

In worst-hit Maharashtra the coronavirus tally reaches 6,04,358, followed by Tamil Nadu (3,43,945) Andhra Pradesh (2,96,609) and Delhi (1,53,367).

Total positive cases in States/UTs:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 2,445

Andhra Pradesh- 2,96,609

Arunachal Pradesh- 2,741

Assam- 79,667

Bihar- 1,06,307

Chandigarh- 2,216

Chhattisgarh- 16,025

Dadra Nagar Haveli & Diu – 1,908

Delhi- 1,53,367

Gujarat- 79,710

Goa- 11,994

Haryana– 48,040

Himachal Pradesh- 4,174

Jammu and Kashmir- 28,892

Jharkhand- 23,752

Karnataka- 2,33,283

Kerala- 46,140

Ladakh- 1,966

Madhya Pradesh- 46,385

Maharashtra- 6,04,358

Manipur- 4,687

Meghalaya- 1,418

Mizoram- 789

Nagaland- 3,455

Odisha- 62,294

Puducherry- 8,029

Punjab- 32,696

Rajasthan- 62,630

Sikkim- 1,187

Tamil Nadu- 3,43,945

Telangana- 93,937

Tripura- 7,409

Uttarakhand- 12,493

Uttar Pradesh- 1,58,216

West Bengal – 1,19,578

State/UT wise total death toll:

Andaman and Nicobar Islands- 29

Andhra Pradesh- 2,732

Arunachal Pradesh- 5

Assam- 197

Bihar- 468

Chandigarh- 30

Chhattisgarh- 150

Dadra and Nagar Haveli- 2

Delhi- 4,214

Goa- 111

Gujarat- 2,800

Haryana- 550

Himachal Pradesh- 19

Jammu and Kashmir- 548

Jharkhand- 250

Karnataka- 4,062

Kerala- 169

Ladakh- 14

Madhya Pradesh- 1,128

Maharashtra- 20,265

Manipur- 17

Meghalaya- 6

Nagaland- 8

Odisha- 353

Puducherry- 114

Punjab- 863

Rajasthan- 887

Sikkim- 1

Tamil Nadu- 5,886

Telangana- 711

Tripura- 62

Uttar Pradesh- 2,515

Uttarakhand- 158

West Bengal- 2,473

However, a total of 19,77,779 people have been cured or discharged. Total active cases stand at 6,73,166.

-CHK

Amit Shah admitted to AIIMS, Delhi

Amit Shah meets farmer leaders
File Photo: Union Home Minister Amit Shah

New Delhi (NVI): Home Minister Amit Shah, who tested negative for COVID-19 last week, has been admitted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi this morning.

The Home Minister has been “complaining of fatigue and body ache for last three-four days”, the government hospital said in a statement.

Shah, 55, was discharged from the private hospital Medanta in Gurgaon last week after testing negative for COVID-19. He had tweeted he would be in home isolation for a few more days on the advice of his doctors.

“Amit Shah has been complaining of fatigue and body aches for last three-four days. He has tested negative for COVID-19. He has been admitted to AIIMS for Covid care. He is comfortable and is continuing his work from hospital,” according to the hospital release.

He had tested positive for Covid-19 on August 2.

-CHK

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