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Mahanadi Coalfields CMD appeals to maintain normal mining operations

MCL CMD BN Shukla

Subrat Kumar Sarangi

Bhubaneswar (NVI): Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), an Odisha-based subsidiary of Coal India Limited, while seeking cooperation of employees, today appealed to the trade union leaders to re-consider the decision of resorting to strike.

The workers demands pertain to policy decisions beyond the purview of the company and reiterated that no coal block allotted to Mahanadi Coalfields is going to be auctioned.

“At present, MCL has 48 Coal Blocks having mineable resource of 29,100 MT, which can meet the requirement of thermal coal for another 100 years and another miscellaneous 22 projects are in pipeline, which includes washeries, coal gasification, solar power, CHP etc,” the CMD, B N Shukla said.

He also added in his appeal, that company aims at achieving coal production of 263 million tonne (MT) by 2023-24.

In the current financial year, MCL has been assigned with a target of 173 MTs of coal. However, “MCL, at present, is lagging behind in its production and overburden removal targets,” the CMD added, emphasising that any further stoppage of work will not be in the interest of company.

Even during the lockdown due to pandemic the production and dispatch continued at full pace. Shukla said, stoppage of work is never in our agenda and all our differences/ grievances are resolved in an atmosphere of mutual trust and co-operation.

He also appreciated the efforts of trade unions in motivating the employees to work for the nation during the lockdown.

Central trade unions/federations have served notices for resorting to a three-day-long-strike in Coal India and its subsidiaries from July 2, 2020, in support of their charter of demands.

However, this matter has been referred to Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner (C) of Bhubaneswar which has been seized under conciliation by Dy. CLC (C) Kolkata, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India, as per the provisions of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

-CHK

Another infiltration bid foiled by Army along LoC in J&K’s Kupwara

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

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Another infiltration bid was foiled at Parkian Gali sector in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on the intervening night of June 29 and June 30, the Army said today.

Defence Officials said that a group of at least six to eight infiltrators were challenged at Parkian Gali along LoC but they fled away taking advantage of darkness.

“On night of 29/30, suspicious movement of 6-8 persons was observed in two groups in Parkian Gali Sector, Kupwara (J&K) along the LoC. Own troops challenged the infiltrators with fire. Infiltrators ran away taking help of darkness. Details awaited,” the Indian Army’s Srinagar-based Chinar corps tweeted.

Apart from that, the Tanghdar and Nougam sectors in Kupwara district have witnessed unprovoked ceasefire violation since last night as Pakistan fired mortar shells and small arms. Top Police and Army officers have been maintaining that frequent ceasefire violations were aimed at pushing militants into this side of the LoC.

Earlier on June 1, a major infiltration bid was foiled by the Indian Army at the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowshehra sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, as three heavily armed terrorists were killed.

In early April this year, the Army foiled a major infiltration attempt at LoC in north Kashmir’s Keran sector, killing five terrorists while losing five of its soldiers from elite forces in an operation.

-ARK

COVID-19 pandemic is speeding up, far from over, warns WHO

COVAX
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

New Delhi (NVI): The coronavirus pandemic is not even close to being over and is in fact speeding up in some parts of the world, said World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus adding that about 1,80,000 people worldwide have tested positive in the last 24 hours.

Tedros noted that, six months after China first alerted the WHO to a novel respiratory infection, the grim milestones of 10 million confirmed infections and 500,000 deaths had been reached.

“We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over. Although many countries have made some progress globally, the pandemic is actually speeding up,” WHO chief said while addressing a virtual media briefing.

“Some countries have now experienced a resurgence of cases as they start to reopen their economies and societies,” Tedros said. “Most people remain susceptible. The virus still has a lot of room to move.”

He further added, “For many of our countries to really not hunt down this virus is our failure in contact tracing, because we have lame excuses, saying it’s too many and it’s too difficult to trace.”

Tedros also said that the WHO would be sending a team to Wuhan next week to investigate the potential animal source of the new coronavirus.

As per the latest data by Johns Hopkins University, a total of 10,199,798 coronavirus cases and 5,02,947 deaths have been reported so far around the globe.

-CHK

New swine flu strain with ‘pandemic potential’ found in China

New Delhi (NVI): Scientists in China have discovered a new type of swine flu with “pandemic potential”, a study published in the science journal PNAS has said. The flu is genetically descended from the H1N1, which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in 2009, and is named G4.

G4 originated in Mexico and caused a worldwide epidemic in 2009.

Scientists at Chinese Universities and China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention have observed that G4 viruses have all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus. The tests have also shown that any immunity that humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection against G4.

Named G4 EA H1N1, the virus was detected after analysing 30,000 nasal swabs from pigs in slaughterhouses in 10 Chinese provinces between 2011 and 2018.

“Of concern is that swine workers show elevated seroprevalence for G4 virus,” the researchers note. They have said that controlling the prevailing G4 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs and close monitoring in human populations, especially the workers in swine industry, should be urgently implemented.

“Pigs are considered as important hosts or “mixing vessels” for the generation of pandemic influenza viruses. Systematic surveillance of influenza viruses in pigs is essential for early warning and preparedness for the next potential pandemic,” the scientists have said in the research article.

Swine flu was first recognised in the 1919 pandemic and still circulates as a seasonal flu virus. Swine flu is caused by the H1N1 virus strain, which started in pigs.

In 2009, the WHO declared H1N1 a pandemic. The infection is similar to seasonal influenza and symptoms include fever, chills and sore throat.

In India, the H1N1 virus outbreak had previously occurred during the 2009 flu pandemic. The virus killed 981 people in 2009 and 1,763 in 2010. However, the mortality decreased in 2011 to 75. It claimed 405 lives in 2012 and 699 lives in 2013. In 2014, a total of 218 people died from the H1N1 flu and India recorded 837 laboratory-confirmed cases in the year.

In 2015, India saw a significant swine flu outbreak, with nearly 30,000 confirmed cases and almost 3000 deaths by March 2015, according to the Ministry of Health. The worst affected states were Rajasthan, Gujarat and Delhi.

-ARK

India’s first COVID-19 vaccine candidate ‘COVAXIN’ gets human trials approval

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): An indigenous COVID-19 vaccine candidate COVAXIN, first to be developed in India, has received the approval by Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for phase I and II of human clinical trials.

The drug has been developed by Bharat Biotech. Human clinical trials of vaccine are scheduled to start across the country in July.

It has been developed in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the National Institute of Virology (NIV). The SARS-CoV-2 strain was isolated in NIV, Pune and transferred to Bharat Biotech.

The indigenous, inactivated vaccine has been developed and manufactured by Bharat Biotechs, BSL-3 (Bio-Safety Level 3) high containment facility located in the Genome Valley, in Hyderabad.

Clinical trials under Phase I and Phase II of the vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, approved after pre-clinical studies demonstrated safety and immune response would start across the country next month.

Apart from Bharat Biotech, many other Indian firms are also working to make a vaccine that has had a disastrous impact across the world affecting health and wealth of millions of people.

Meanwhile, a number of drug manufacturers across the world are also working to find a cure for coronavirus, but no pharmaceutical firm has won the race yet.

-RJV

Coronavirus cases surge past 10.3 million globally

Coronavirus cases

New Delhi (NVI): More than 10.3 million people around the world have now been diagnosed with the coronavirus and more than 5,04,000 have died, according to John Hopkins University.

In the US, nearly 2.6 million have been infected with the novel coronavirus while more than 1,26,000 people have lost their lives to the deadly contagion.

States in the US are pausing reopening plans amid a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalisations. Among the states stepping back is California, which reported a record surge in COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile in Brazil, coronavirus cases have surged past 1.3 million while more than 58,000 fatalities have been reported.

Mexico reported 3,805 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of infections to 2,20,657. The Mexican health ministry also reported 473 new deaths, bringing the country’s coronavirus-related death toll to 27,121.

China reported 19 new cases of coronavirus on June 29, compared with 12 the day before. Seven of the new cases were in Beijing, where a mass testing campaign is underway in the wake of an outbreak that began in the capital’s main wholesale food market on June 11.

Thailand has reported no locally-transmitted cases of coronavirus for the 36th day as a state of emergency introduced to cope with the pandemic was due to expire today.

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned the pandemic is “not even close to being over” and that while there had been some progress initially, the pandemic was “actually speeding up”.

-CHK

PM Modi to address the nation today at 4pm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 4pm today, amid an ongoing stand-off between India and China at Ladakh’s Galwan valley and a surge in coronavirus cases that has shown little sign of slowing down.

The Prime Minister’s Office released this information on Monday night.

His address also comes in the backdrop of India banning 59 apps from China including TikTok, owned by ByteDance Ltd., citing privacy and security concerns amid worsening relations between the two neighbouring countries.

In the previous address to the nation on May 12, PM Modi had announced a Rs 20,000 lakh crore ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ package to boost economic activities, which were hit by Covid-19 lockdown.

In addition to this, Covid-19 Unlock 1.0 put in place across the country also ends today and Unlock 2.0 will begin from July 1.

This would be Modi’s sixth address to the nation since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Narendra Modi on Sunday, on his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio show, said that India had given a befitting response to China on Ladakh, praising the Army which fought Chinese troops at the Galwan Valley earlier this month. He also spoke of the call for boycott of Chinese goods by the traders and the civil society.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in India has risen to 5,48,318, including 16,475 deaths, according to Health Ministry data.

-CHK

Unlock 2: MHA issues new guidelines, schools and colleges to remain shut till July 31

New Delhi (NVI): The Union Ministry of Home Affairs issued guidelines for ‘Unlock 2’, the second phase of re-opening activities in areas outside containment zones, which will be applicable between July 1 and July 31 after the ‘Unlock 1’ phase ends on June 30.

The new guidelines, issued are based on feedback received from States and UTs, and extensive consultations held with related Central Ministries and Departments, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said in a statement.

The salient features of the new guidelines for Unlock 2 are as follows:

  • Domestic flights and passenger trains have already been allowed in a limited manner. Their operations will be further expanded in a calibrated manner.
  • Night curfew timings are being further relaxed and curfew shall be in force from 10.00 pm to 5.00 am. Further, relaxations in night curfew have been given for seamless operation of industrial units in multiple shifts, movement of persons and goods on National and State Highways, loading and unloading of cargo and movement of persons to their destinations after disembarking from buses, trains and airplanes.
  • Shops depending upon their area, can have more than 5 persons at a time. However, they have to maintain adequate physical distance.
  • Training institutions of the Central and State Governments will be allowed to function with effect from July 15, 2020. SOP in this regard will be issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India.
  • After extensive consultation with States and UTs, it has been decided that schools, colleges and coaching institutions will remain closed till July 31, 2020.
  • International air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat mission. Further opening up will take place in a calibrated manner.

All activities, except the following, shall be permitted outside containment zones:

1. Metro Rail.

2. Cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places.

3. Social/ political/ sports/ entertainment/ academic/ cultural/ religious functions and other large congregations.

“Dates for opening of these will be decided separately, based on the assessment of the situation”, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the containment zones till July 31, 2020. States and UTs, based on their assessment of the situation, may prohibit certain activities outside the containment zones, or impose such restrictions as deemed necessary.

However, there shall be no restriction on inter-State and intra-State movement of persons and goods. No separate permission/ approval/ e-permit will be required for such movements.

The Centre also said that persons above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women, and children below the age of 10 years, should stay at home, except for meeting essential requirements and for health purposes.

The use of Aarogya Setu mobile application will continue to be encouraged, the MHA stated in its order.

-RJV

J&K: Two terrorists killed in Anantnag encounter

2 LeT militants surrender after gunfight in J&K's Kulgam
(Representational/file image)

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Two terrorists were killed in an encounter that broke out today in Waghama area of Bijbehara in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district today morning, police said.

This is the second encounter in last 24 hours in southern Anatnang district. Yesterday, three terrorists including the last surviving terrorist from Doda district, were killed in Runipora, Anantnag.

Acting on a specific tip-off about the presence of terrorists in Bijbheara, joint teams of security forces, Army, police and CRPF launched a cordon early morning today. “When the forces zeroed in on a suspected spot, the hiding terrorists opened fire at the forces triggering an encounter,” an official said, adding that security forces while following the proper Standard Operating Procedure (SoP), performed professionally and in the ensuing gunfight, two terrorists were killed.

The identity of the terrorists is being ascertained and it is believed that they are locals affiliated with the J&K Islamic State.

With the killing of two more terrorists today, the total number of terrorists killed this year in Kashmir have reached 118.

Today’s encounter was 15th in a row in south Kashmir in the month of June that has seen the killing of 38 terrorists so far including top commanders of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Asaar Gazwatul Hind.

Officials said that Hizbul has beared the maximum brunt of the counter insurgency operations as the outfit alone has lost 60 terrorists this year so far.

Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar recently declared Tral area of Pulwama district of south Kashmir, once a hotbed of militancy, as Hizb free area after three terrorists of the outfit were killed there.

-CHK

Overnight ceasefire violation in Tanghdar, Naugam sectors in J&K’s Kuwpara

Representational Image (File)

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Pakistan resorted to intense shelling of mortars and small arms since yesterday evening in Tangdhar and Naugam sectors of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district, defence officials said today.

Defence spokesman in Srinagar, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, said that Pakistan resorted to unprovoked firing in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara on Monday evening. “Our troops gave a befitting response,” he said.

Officials sources said that late yesterday night, Pakistani Army again resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation (CFV) along the LoC in Naugam sector (in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district) by firing mortars and other weapons, adding that a befitting response is being given to the Pakistani aggression. “Pakistan continued to fire mortar shells till early morning today.”

There were no reports of any casualties so far. This year, a record number of 1,660 CFVs have taken place in J&K.

-CHK

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