Tuesday, May 5, 2026
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Rs 4 lakh to be given for each death caused by coronavirus

Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): Declaring novel coronavirus as a ‘notified disaster’, the central government today announced payment of Rs 4 lakh as ex-gratia to the family of each person who dies because of this disease.

So, far two deaths have been reported due to coronavirus — one each in Karnataka and Delhi. There are 81 others who have tested positive for the deadly disease.

“Rs 4 lakh will be paid as ex-gratia to the family of the person who will lose their life due to COVID-19, including those involved in relief operations or associated in response activities,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said.

It wrote to all the states regarding this decision.

Earlier in the day, the health ministry said home quarantine is meant “to protect you and your loved ones.”

Azad for restoration of J&K’s statehood

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar: Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad today met just-released National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah here and sought a political process which would ensure restoration of statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.

Jammu and Kashmir was converted into a Union Territory in August last year when its special status, granted under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, was abolished.

After meeting Abdullah, who was released yesterday after seven-month detention, Azad addressed the media and asked, “How can such a huge state be called a UT?”

Azad, who has earlier served as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, was flanked by Abdullah when he addressed the media outside the National Conference leader’s Gupkar Road residence.

Referring to the release of Abdullah, MP and former Chief Minister of J&K, Azad described it as a matter of great happiness for him.

“I met him after over 7 months. He was detained for all these months. The reason for his detention is not yet known to me,” the Congress leader added.

He went on to add, “Such a punishment is given to criminals but what have he and the other political leaders in detention done?”

Azad said he is representing his party and all the MPs in RS and LS who raised their voice against this detention.

Delhi NCR witnessed rains and hailstorm

Photo Credit : (Sakshi Bhardwaj, NVI)
New Delhi (NVI):  Heavy rains and hailstorm lashed Delhi and its surrounding areas today, turning the afternoon almost into the night as darkness descended.

The rains and hailstorm were brought by the western disturbances, according to the weather forecasters.

Skymet forecaster said the weather of Delhi NCR will start clearing up from tomorrow onwards.

“Clear sky, bright sunshine and soaring temperatures will be witnessed. In fact, since the last many days, day temperatures are below normal by two to three degrees over Delhi and NCR,” it added.

As the Western Disturbance is moving away eastwards, the weatherman said that now the chances of moderate showers are almost over.

It also said that the trough which was extending from Punjab to Bihar has also shifted northwards over foothills of Uttar Pradesh.

Moreover, by March 20, it expects Delhi to witness maximum temperatures above 30 degree Celsius. By the end of March, the temperatures of Delhi and NCR may remain between the lower 30s and mid-30s.

“The next rain episode over Delhi NCR is ruled out for the next one week from now and weather will remain clear”, it added.

New RBI rules on credit/debit cards to come into force

New Delhi (NVI): From March 16, new rules for credit and debit cards mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will come into force.

According to these new rules, only domestic card transactions will be allowed at ATMs and PoS terminals in India.

With regard to international transactions, online transactions, card-not-present transactions and contactless transactions, customers will have to separately set up services on their card.

Those already possessing the cards can decide whether to disable any of these features. They will have to inform their banks about it.

For existing cards, issuers may take a decision, based on their risk perception, whether to disable the card not present (domestic and international) transactions, international transactions and contactless transaction rights. Existing cards which have never been used for online/ international/ contactless transactions shall be mandatorily disabled for this purpose.

Users will have 24×7 access to switch ON/OFF or change all transaction limits via all available channels — mobile application / internet banking / ATMs / Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

Issuers shall provide to all cardholders facility to switch on/ off and set/ modify transaction limits (within the overall card limit, if any, set by the issuer) for all types of transactions – domestic and international, at PoS/ ATMs / online transactions / contactless transactions, etc.,

The provisions, however, are not mandatory for prepaid gift cards and those used at mass transit systems.

500 vehicles stranded as Srinagar-Jammu highway remains closed

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar: Over 500 vehicles, including trucks and passenger vehicles, are stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway as the only surface route connecting Kashmir Valley with rest of the country remained closed for third consecutive day today due to landslides and shooting stones at many places.

The stranded vehicles included 130 passenger ones, according to officials.

The highway has been closed since March 12 after landslides and shooting stones hit the arterial road in the Ramban district.

IGP (Traffic), Jammu and Kashmir, T Namgyal told NVI that clearance operations are still on. “Efforts are on to clear the road which has been blocked by fresh landslides and shooting,” he said.

He said once the road is cleared,only stranded vehicles will be allowed to move.

According to the traffic officials, due to rainfall last night, the traffic was blocked at Kunfar Nalla and Dugi Pull at Ramban on Srinagar-Jammu highway.

“Mudslides and shooting stones blocked highway at Marog and Monkey Morh. Heavy slides at Iron stand and shooting stones at Digdol, Gujjar Morh shooting stones blocked the highway,” officials said.

The landslides also blocked highway at Digdol, Panthyal, Mompasi and Hingani in Ramban sector.

On March 8, A truck driver from Rajasthan was killed and six persons, including three CRFP personnel, were injured as rolling boulders from hillocks hit vehicles and also disrupted traffic along the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway.

Azad meets Farooq Abdullah in Srinagar

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today met National Conference patron and Member Parliament from Srinagar constituency Farooq Abdullah who was released yesterday after seven-month-long detention.

According to sources, Azad, former Chief Minister of J&K, met Abdullah at his Gupkar residence soon after his arrival from Delhi.

After meeting Abdullah, Azad is expected to return to Delhi in the evening.

Azad is the first leader to meet Abdullah, a former Chief Minister of J&K, after his release.

Earlier in the day, Farooq Abdullah met his detained son Omar Abdullah at Hari Niwas, which is a designated subsidiary jail.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration yesterday revoked the detention of Abdullah.

He was under detention since August last year when the central government abrogated Article 370 and ended the special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir.

His release has been hailed by many political leaders, who called it a welcome step.

Ocean plastic waste causes economic damage of USD 13 billion, says UN report

Plastic
Representational image

New Delhi (NVI): The economic damage caused by plastic pollution to marine ecosystems is estimated to reach around USD 13 billion every year, according to a United Nations report.

Plastic accounts for 80 per cent of all ocean debris but only about 1 per cent of this waste floats in surface waters.

Moreover, scientists say that waxworms and other organisms are capable of breaking down plastic, which could provide as a solution to reduce plastic waste.

Waxworm is a larval form of the greater wax moth. Its gut can digest plastic, and researchers are trying to understand why and how this happens.

More than 50 species of plastivore – small organisms that consume plastic have been discovered, which are mostly bacteria and fungi but include some insects capable of turning plastic waste into energy.

“The waxworm and its gut bacteria must break down these long chains,” the study author, Christophe LeMoine said.

“And presumably, because plastics are similar in structure, they can also co-opt this machinery to use polyethylene plastics as a nutrient source,” he added.

If scientists can discover how eating plastic enhances waxworms’ gut bacteria, though, LeMoine says they may be able to design “the perfect plastic biodegradation system”.

Waxworms aren’t the only plastic-eaters. It’s been found that mealworms, can digest plastic too and still be nutritious food for other animals.

Mushroom corals are common in the shallow waters around the Maldives. The researchers have studied one species in an area in which they described the amount of plastic pollution as staggering.

Even more particles get stuck to the coral’s rough surface, helping to further sequester microplastics from the water.

The corals could pay a heavy price for this cleaning, with the researchers noting that both this ingestion and adhesion could have a negative impact and further threatening a species.

The researchers say this could help explain why despite millions of tonnes of plastic ending up in the ocean, microplastics measuring under 1mm are found in much lower concentrations than expected in surface waters.

Taiwan earmarks special fund to fight Coronavirus

New Delhi/Taipei (NVI): Taiwan, which is making strident efforts to fight coronavirus, has earmarked a special fund to the tune of $1.99 billion to contain the deadly disease and deal with its impact on the economy.

The special budget was approved by Taiwan’s legislature with an overwhelming support from lawmakers.

Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang told lawmakers that the budget is aimed at creating quick effects, spread benefits to as many industries as possible, push for infrastructure and eventually strengthen the economy.

According to the approved bill, the special budget will be effective from January 15, 2020 and run through June 30, 2021.

The fund will be spent on transforming hospitals into isolation venues, establishing quarantine and testing venues for the virus, requisitioning medical materials and allocating funds as subsidies for schools and the transportation industry to battle the virus contagion.

The government will also subsidize a wide range of industrial sectors that have been hit by the COVID-19 spread. These sectors include service industry, the manufacturing industry, the tourism industry, the transportation industry, the agriculture/fishing industry, and the arts/cultural industry.

The government will also pay compensation to the people who are in mandatory quarantine and home isolation or who have to take unpaid family care leave to take care of family members who are in quarantine or home isolation without self-care ability, such as children under the age of 12.

In addition, the government will give vouchers for local consumers to spend in restaurants, retail shops, night markets and traditional markets, besides art and cultural events.

Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board

Bill Gates

New Delhi (NVI): Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has stepped down from the company’s board of directors, the company has announced.

Gates, 64, is to dedicate more of his time to his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and philanthropic priorities including global health and development, education, and his increasing engagement in tackling climate change.

With a net worth of USD 103.6 billion, Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft in 1975 with Paul Allen, who died in 2018. Gates was the CEO until 2000 when Steve Ballmer took over the role. Microsoft’s current CEO, Satya Nadella, took over in 2014.

Gates was the director of the board at Microsoft until 2014 but began dedicating more of his time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2008.

Microsoft did not announce a replacement on the board to Gates but said that it will now consist of 12 members.

Bill Gates remains one of Microsoft’s main shareholders owning 1.36 per cent in shares.

It is one of the most highly valued company’s in the world, valued at $1.21 trillion.

“It’s been a tremendous honor and privilege to have worked with and learned from Bill over the years,” Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella said to the media.

‘World tourism suffers $30-50 bn loss due to COVID-19’

New Delhi (NVI): The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has estimated a loss of USD 30 to 50 billion in international tourism receipts in 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

UNWTO has revised its 2020 prospects for international tourist arrivals to a negative growth of 1 per cent to 3 per cent, translating into an estimated loss of USD 30 to 50 billion in international tourism receipts.

UNWTO offers a first assessment pointing to a decrease in international arrivals and receipts in 2020, an official statement said.

Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, UNWTO predicted a positive growth of 3 per cent to 4 per cent for this year.

This first assessment expects that Asia and the Pacific will be the worst affected region, with an anticipated fall in arrivals of 9 per cent to 12 per cent.

Public health measures need to be implemented in ways that minimize any unnecessary disruption to travel and trade. Since the start of the outbreak, UNWTO has been working closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure this is the case.

Estimates for other world regions are currently premature in view of the rapidly evolving situation.

UNWTO underscores that any estimate must be treated with caution and is likely to be updated.

UNWTO calls for financial and political support for recovery measures aimed at tourism, and to include support for the sector in the wider recovery plans and actions of affected economies.

The impact of the COVID-19 outbreak will be felt across the whole tourism value chain.

UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili furthermore stresses that “small and medium-sized enterprises makeup around 80 per cent of the tourism sector and are particularly exposed with millions of livelihoods across the world, including within vulnerable communities, relying on tourism”.

Political and financial commitments are key to ensure that tourism can lead wider economic and social recovery, as proven in past disruptions on the back of the highly resilient nature of the sector and its ability to bounce back strongly.

In recent decades, tourism has come of age and is now firmly established as an important contributor to sustainable development, economic growth, employment and international understanding.

As the UN agency responsible for tourism and sustainable development, UNWTO stands ready to provide guidance and support for recovery measures of its members, the private and public tourism sector, including organizers of tourism events and fairs.

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