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9,156 passengers from 43 flights screened for coronavirus in India, all negative

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New Delhi (NVI): A total of 43 flights and 9,156 passengers were screened for novel coronavirus till Tuesday at seven identified airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said on Wednesday.

Till now, no cases have been detected through these screening efforts, Sudan said. She further said the Indian Embassy in China has been regularly providing the health ministry with updates on the status of the infected cases in that country.

“We are on alert & our preparedness is sturdy”. This was stated by Preeti while updating on the preparedness measures taken by the Ministry on novel Coronavirus (nCoV) reported in China.She also stated that passengers travelling from China are being requested to report to the nearest public health facility in case they feel any symptoms.

As part of the measures taken by the Ministries of Health & Family Welfare, and Civil Aviation, a travel advisory has been issued and posted on the Health Ministry’s website. It has also been shared on Twitter handle for wider circulation.

Health Ministry has instructed Airport Health Organizations at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Cochin for screening of passengers coming from mainland China at these seven international airports. Signages have been put up at prominent locations in these airports for encouraging public about self-reporting of illness.

The Health Ministry is constantly reviewing the evolving scenario and is working closely with Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Health Research and the Indian Embassy in China.

WHO is being consulted for updates on technical inputs. Series of meetings have been taken to review the evolving scenario, preparedness in terms of disease surveillance, laboratory support infection prevention & control, logistics, risk communication and in particular, hospital preparedness and need for coordination and collaboration with other Ministries.

Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme has issued advisory to all States/UTs to pick up any travel related case reported in the community and follow up contacts of suspect/confirmed cases.

National Institute of Virology, Pune is fully geared up to test samples of the virus. Ten other laboratories under Indian Council of Medical Research’s Viral Research and Diagnostics Laboratories network are also equipped to test such samples, if a need arises. Adequate stock of Personal Protection Equipment is being maintained by Medical Stores Organization.

Smart City CEOs meet in Vizag on Jan 24

New Delhi (NVI): The City of Destiny, Visakhapatnam, will host the third National Apex Conference of smart city CEOs to be held on January 24-25 this month.

During the two-day conference, officials from all smart cities selected by the Union Government will participate to deliberate on various initiatives with regard to Smart Cities Mission.

The progress of implementation of projects under the Smart Cities Mission has seen tremendous growth. The value of tendered smart city projects is over Rs. 1,62,000 crores, the value of work orders issued is around Rs. 1,20,000 crores and the value of all completed projects is more than Rs 25,000 crores, the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs said on Wednesday.

During the conference, awards will also be distributed amongst the smart cities under 7 urban themes, Innovative Ideas, round-wise recognition of cities and overall city award.

Mumbai to stay open 24×7 from Jan 27

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New Delhi (NVI): The Maharashtra government today approved Aaditya Thackeray’s Mumbai nightlife project that proposes malls, eateries and pubs in the city to remain open round the clock from January 27.

The idea ‘Mumbai 24 hours’ was approved by the Maharashtra cabinet today after hours-long discussions. However, this has not been made compulsory for the places and the malls and other places that wish to remain open all 24 hours are free to do so.

Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray had raised the matter last week and said that establishments in non-residential areas in the city will have the option to remain open 24×7, although it will not be made mandatory.

His proposal came while drawing a parallel with the international metro cities. He also said that he doesn’t want Mumbai to lag behind in providing 24×7 facilities to people. He further said that the nightlife project will boost employment in the city and enhance the economy and also assured that law and order in the city won’t be affected.

Noting that London’s ‘night economy’ was five billion pounds Thackeray said after the cabinet meeting that the government’s decision could help generate more revenue and jobs, in addition to the existing 5 lakh people working in the service sector.

He also said that while taking the decision, excise rules have not been touched and pubs and bars will close as usual at 1.30 am.

Cabinet approves MoU with Brazil for cooperation in oil and natural gas sector

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New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet today chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Brazil on cooperation in the field of oil and natural gas.

The MoU will enhance cooperation between the two sides in oil and natural gas sector.

Under this MoU, both sides will work towards establishing cooperation in the E&P initiatives in Brazil and India, research & development in this sector, explore collaboration in Liquefied Natural Gas projects in Brazil, India and third countries, and also encourage collaboration in oil energy and environmental issues, including energy policies such as energy efficiency, energy research development and expansion of the regional energy infrastructure networks.

The MoU is expected to be signed during the visit of president of Brazil to India later this month.

Cabinet approves MoU with foreign countries for  seafarers competency certificates

New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a model Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with foreign countries for recognition of seafarers competency certificates.

This MoU will pave the way for mutual recognition of maritime education and training of seafarers by the countries involved, an official statement said.

The proposed bilateral MoU will enable India and another country with which such an MoU may be entered, to mutually recognize maritime education and training, certificates of competency, endorsements, documentary evidence of training and medical fitness certificates, issued to the seafarers who are citizens of respective countries.

Indian Seafarers, therefore, will be eligible to be placed on ships under the flag of that country for employment, thus leading to increased employment opportunities.

The bilateral MoU would therefore, make the seafarers of both the countries to be eligible for employment on ships of either party based on the certificates so recognized.

India being a seafarer supplying nation with large pool of trained seafarers will stand to be benefitted.

The unilateral MoU would facilitate unilateral recognition by another country of the certificates issued by the Directorate General of Shipping to Indian seafarers, without seeking similar recognition by India of the certificates issued by that country.

Bal Puraskar to 2 for innovation

New Delhi (NVI): Out of 26 children, who were awarded Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar today, two of them have been awarded in the field of innovation. Anmol Rathi and Harsh Agrawal, both 16-year-old got the award for creating an economical test that uses only human saliva for early detection of pancreatic cancer.

They have “shown commendable achievement by creating a colorimetric strip-based test using saliva for early detection of pancreatic cancer,” the Women and Child Development Ministry (WCD) mentioned on Twitter. “The strip is 125 times cheaper than the MRI and a CT scan and 35 times cheaper than CA19-9 Blood test,” the WCD tweet added.

President Ram Nath Kovind today awarded the prestigious PM Rashtriya Bal Puraskar to 26 children at Rashtrapati Bhavan for different showing excellence in different fields like Sports, Bravery (Courage), scholastics, etc.

Bal Puraskar is given by the government every year to recognize exceptional achievements of children in various fields. These fields are innovation, scholastic achievements, social service, arts and culture, sports and bravery.

Renewable energy to create 35 million power sector jobs: Report

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New Delhi (NVI): A recent study predicted that solar and other renewable can provide a global energy jobs revolution. A system based on a 100% share of renewable energy would be cleaner, cheaper and better equipped to fight climate change, use of renewable energy would rely on million more new jobs than those provided by conventional power generation technologies.

The solar industry will provide 22 million jobs by 2050, according to the study, ‘Job creation during the global energy transition towards 100% renewable power system by 2050’. The report considers jobs in a range of sectors including manufacturing, construction and installation, operation and maintenance, fuel supply, decommissioning and transmission, as well as factoring in potential job losses.

According to the key findings of the study, , produced by a group including Christian Breyer, professor of solar economy at Finland’s Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), the global power sector employment will rise to 35 million positions in 2050, up from 21 million in 2015, with renewable supplying 80% of future opportunities.

Professor Christian Breyer said, “The jobs will be rather similar to existing jobs, except that these jobs are sustainable ones, which is not true any more for coal, fossil gas and oil jobs. Most jobs are for the operation and maintenance of power plants, similar to today.”

Additional jobs are created for manufacturing of the technical equipment and in addition, jobs are created for the construction and installation of all these new power plants.

The overall energy sector is expected to support 35 million jobs in 2030, up from 21 million in 2015. The number of people employed by the electricity sector will dip to 30 million after 2030 before recovering to 35 million by 2050. “This is mainly due to large [generation] capacities being replaced and reinvested in, as they would reach end of their lifetimes, with decommissioning contributing around 2% of total jobs by 2050,” the research states.

The study is based on data collected from 13,863 thermal power plants above 50 MW in size, with an aggregate capacity of 4,182 GW. That represents approximately 95.8% of the world’s total thermal power generation capacity, the researchers said. Their best policy scenario, based on the LUT Energy System Transition modeling tool, was developed to assess water consumption for thermal and nuclear power generation for the 2015-50 period.

By 2050, however, the water consumption of the world’s power plant fleet could be decreased by 97.7% and water withdrawal by 95.1%, if the best policy scenario becomes reality. The water that would be not used for power generation could then be diverted into food production or aquatic ecosystems.

The results of the research can potentially help in further studies on global food security to achieve a sustainable water-energy-food nexus.

100 new malls to be built in India by 2022

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New Delhi (NVI): Around 100 new malls are scheduled to come up across the country by 2022-end, according to a research.

The mall developers have remained bullish on the growth potential of organised retail, despite low consumer spending in the recent times, says the research by ANAROCK property consultants.

The demographics of the malls to be built are divided into 3 tiers. In Tier 1, the top 7 cities alone will see 69 new malls, of the total new mall supply. The remaining 31 malls will come up in Tier 2 & 3 cities such as Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Indore, Surat and Nagpur, among others.

Region-wise, west and south Indian cities will see almost equal new supply. West India will get 36 new malls, followed closely by South India with 35 new malls. The North India region will see a supply of 22 new malls spanning over 11 mn sq. ft. area. East India will see a much more modest supply of 7 malls spread.

“2019 was defined by significantly lower retail leasing, so this generous new upcoming mall supply over the next three years testifies to the confidence of private equity investors in Indian retail’s pent-up potential,” says Anuj Kejriwal, MD & CEO, ANAROCK Retail.

“The retail sector drew over $2.8 billion private equity (PE) inflows from 2015-2019-end, 59% by foreign investors alone. Despite overall weak consumer spends, F&B, family entertainment centres, cinemas and beauty/wellness service outlets continue to flourish and demand new retail spaces. Consumer spending will rebound as the government’s concerted intervention to push consumption bear fruit over the upcoming quarters,” Anuj added.

Besides the Tier 1 markets, we are seeing major growth unfolding in Tier 2 & 3 cities. Markets such as Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur and Indore are seeing high demand from retailers.

Ahmedabad stands out with as many as 6 new malls slated to come up in the city by 2022-end. Both domestic and international brands are gung-ho on Ahmedabad; besides scoring high on consumerism, the city has a growing young population of entrepreneurs, IT professionals and factory employees.

Lucknow presents a similar picture and has plans for 4 new malls to be added by 2022-end. The western cities of Surat and Nagpur will see new supply of 2 malls each.

WFP launches ‘HungerMap’ to monitor real-time food security situation

New Delhi (NVI): In an attempt to end hunger by 2030, the World Food Programme today launched a new tool — HungerMap Live — that will help in monitoring food security in more than 90 countries and issue predictions for places where data is limited.

In simple terms, this will be a digital map to track food-security issues across the globe. The ‘HungerMap Live’ will use artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics to predict and track the magnitude and severity of hunger in more than 90 countries on a real-time basis.

Hunger, malnourishment and food scarcity are some of the serious issues have affected people in the world, especially in third world countries.

Using the latest metrics on conflict, climate shocks, populations and the weather, HungerMap LIVE aims to identify areas that are currently food insecure or are sliding towards food insecurity, says a WFP report.

Where there is limited data available, HungerMap LIVE uses artificial intelligence to supply what have been dubbed ‘nowcasts’—virtually real-time, granular estimates of the food security situation, the report states.

With the IA-enabled digital map, the users will be able to ‘overlay’ information to see how different phenomena are interlinked.

For example, data about conflict can be overlayed with hunger or seen through the prism of disasters or hazards. HungerMap can hone in on how both national and subnational contexts are faring, says the report.

For indicators and metrics, the HungerMap asks simple questions such as, “What do you do when you don’t have enough food or don’t have enough money to buy food?”; and, “Do you know where your next meal will come from?”.

Besides food security, the map will also offer information on other topics like currency exchanges, inflation and nutrition.

Tata Altroz launched in India at Rs 5.29 Lakh

New Delhi (NVI): Tata Motors has launched the all new Altroz premium hatchback in India, with the starting price at Rs. 5.29 Lakh.

The Altroz prices for the petrol variant start at Rs. 5.29 lakh and go up to Rs. 7.69 lakh, while the diesel ranges from Rs. 6.99 lakh to Rs. 9.29 lakh (ex-showroom India).

Tata Altroz is the first vehicle which is developed on the new ALFA modular platform (AMP) and the second vehicle showing the Impact 2.0 design language.

The new Altroz has cruise control, auto headlamps as well as keyless entry with push-button start-stop. Besides, the safety equipment consists of Anti-Locking Braking System (ABS) 9.3 version that prevents wheel lock-up during panic braking.

Simultaneously during the event Tata Motors also facelifted Tiago, Tigor (safest in their category) and the Nexon.

These three cars are not just fully BSVI ready but offer lot more to the aspiring Indian customers.

Additionally, with the introduction of the Altroz and the Nexon, Tata Motors also becomes the first OEM to launch BS VI ready diesel variants in their respective segments.

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