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J&K: Two CRPF men killed in fratricide incident

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men killed each other in a fratricide incident in Srinagar today.

The incident took place inside the water wing of CRPF at Dalgate area of Srinagar, when the two soldiers shot at each other with their service rifles.

The deceased have been identified as Constable Siju and Constable Jala Vijay.

PRO CRPF, Neeraj Rathore confirmed the death of the two CRPF men in the fratricidal incident. “We are ascertaining the reasons behind their act,” he said.

On March 21, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, who was ailing and under treatment committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in Srinagar.

He was identified as HC Dilbagh Singh of 23 Battalion, posted at Srinagar civil secretariat.

China to lift travel curbs on Hubei after months of lockdown

New Delhi (NVI): China today announced that it will lift travel restrictions from Hubei Province, which emerged as the epicenter of coronavirus outbreak in December last year.

According to reports in foreign media, healthy residents will be allowed to leave the province from Tuesday midnight.

However, the travel ban in Wuhan, the provincial capital and the epicenter of the outbreak, will be lifted from April 8, according to media reports. The city has been on lockdown since January 23.

China has reported a drastic fall in the number of fresh COVID-19 cases even as the disease has spread to other parts of the world in the form of a pandemic.

In the United States, Monday appeared to be the deadliest day caused by the outbreak, with more than 100 deaths reported in a single day.

New York state confirmed 20,000 infections, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

More governors have imposed rules and shutdowns in their cities in order to curb the outbreak. At least 15 states have issued stay-at-home orders that are either in effect or will take effect this week.

So far, More than 42,000 people in the United States have been infected with coronavirus, and at least 515 people have died.

In addition to this, Italy has reported more than 600 fatalities today, taking the total number of fatalities to 6,077 with the total cases rising to more than 63,000 in the country, according to media reports.

In the UK, the total number of deaths from the disease COVID-19, increased by 54, bringing the toll in the country to 335 among 6,650 cases. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered residents across the country to stay at home.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned “the pandemic is accelerating” with it taking 67 days for cases to reach the 100,000 mark globally, 11 days for cases to reach 200,000 and just four days for cases to reach 300,000.

More than 15,400 people have died from COVID-19 globally. An estimated 100,000 of the 362,000 people who have been diagnosed with the disease across the world have recovered, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

World Tuberculosis Day: TB claims over 4,000 lives every day

New Delhi (NVI): TB remains the world’s deadliest infectious killer, says WHO, as the World Tuberculosis Day 2020 is being observed across the globe today.

Each day, over 4,000 people lose their lives to TB and close to 30,000 people fall ill with this preventable and curable disease, says the global health organisation.

Global efforts to combat TB have saved an estimated 58 million lives since the year 2000, says WHO.

World Tuberculosis Day (TB) Day is commemorated on March 24 every year to raise public awareness about the devastating health, social and economic consequences of TB, and to step up efforts to end the global TB epidemic.

On this day in 1882, Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.

WHO has also called Tuberculosis India’s biggest killer. A large number of people lose their lives due to the disease in the country.

Tuberculosis claimed a total of 1.5 million lives worldwide in the year 2018, thereby proving that it is still extremely prevalent and challenging to fight. It is one of the top 10 causes of death across the world.

This year’s theme for World TB Day is- ‘It’s Time’, under which WHO is motivating global leaders to scale up access to prevention and treatment.

TB is one of the deadliest and most infectious diseases in the world. But the biggest attribute that we have is the fact that it is preventable and curable.

To accelerate the TB response in countries to reach targets – Heads of State came together and made strong commitments to end TB at the first-ever UN High Level Meeting in September 2018, WHO said in its report.

COVID-19: 2 more test positive in Srinagar, 1 in Baramulla

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Two more persons have been tested positive for coronavirus in Srinagar today, while Baramulla reported its first case, taking the total number of cases in Jammu and Kashmir to seven.

“Two more cases reported positive in Srinagar. One has confirmed travel history outside India while full details regarding the second being ascertained,” JK Government Spokesperson Rohit Kansal said in a tweet.

On March 17, a woman from Khanyar area of Srinagar, who had a travel history to Saudi Arabia was tested positive for COVID-19 and is undergoing treatment at SKIMS, Soura. Till now, three cases have been tested positive in Jammu. With two more cases in Srinagar and one in Baramulla now, Kashmir has a total of four positive cases. The COVID-19 affected person in Baramulla has been admitted at GMC Hospital there.

Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary tweeted: “Srinagar update. 2 more positive. Teams are on ground as per SOP. We need to be more alert and cooperative. Pl cooperate”.

 

Last date for filing I-T return for FY18-19 extended to Jun 30

New Delhi (NVI): The deadline for filing Income Tax return for Financial Year 2018-19 has been extended from March 31 to June 30, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced today, as the country is facing a lockdown in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

The pandemic situation has called for a restriction on movements and lockdown in most parts of the country.

With regard to ITR, the interest rate for delayed payment cut has also been reduced to 9 % from 12 %, Sitharamman said. She added that Vivad se Vishwas scheme has been extended to June 30, in the wake of the pandemic.

Apart from ITR, GST returns have also been extended to June 30, the Finance Minister informed media via a video conference. She was accompanied by Minister of State for Finance, Anurag Thakur, who also talked about the steps taken by the government to deal with ITR and other financial deadlines.

Thakur informed that the deadline for linking Aadhaar to PAN card has also been extended to June 30, 2020.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also address the nation at 8 PM tonight on coronavirus situation in the country and steps being taken to deal with the crisis.

EC postpones Rajya Sabha elections

Opposition parties
File Photo

New Delhi (NVI): The Election Commission of India has deferred the Rajya Sabha elections that were scheduled to be held on March 26. The decision was taken by the election body amid the coronavirus outbreak as 10 people have died from the disease. The total COVID-19 positive cases in the country are also nearing the 500 mark.

Delhi has been put under lockdown till March 31 as the number of cases in the country surge.

Election to fill 55 vacant seats were to be held, out of which 37 candidates have already been elected without a contest. Elections for the remaining 18 seats will be done based on the prevailing situations.

Earlier the Election Commission had declared polls to 55 Rajya Sabha seats on February 25, 2020.

Currently, elections are due for four seats each from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, two from Jharkhand and one each from Meghalaya and Manipur.

Former J&K CM Omar Abdullah released after 7 months

Omar Abdullah walks out of detention

Mubashir Bukhari

Srinagar (NVI): Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was released today after around seven months as the J&K Government revoked his PSA detention.

Soon after his release, Omar interacted with media outside his residence and asked the Centre to release other detainees which also include another former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. He also asked the Government to restore 4G internet services in the Valley.

Earlier today, JK Government spokesman Rohit Kansal tweeted: “Govt issues orders revoking detention of Shri Omar Abdullah”.

Omar has spent 232 days in custody since the government revoked the special status of the erstwhile state of J&K on August 5 last year.

The National Conference leader was initially detained under preventive custody and later slapped with the PSA on February 5.

The order of revocation comes less than a week after the Supreme Court asked the Central Government to inform if it is planning to release Omar from detention.

On February 10, Omar’s sister moved the top court challenging his detention under the Public Safety Act (PSA).

On March 2, the Jammu and Kashmir administration told the Supreme Court that Omar Abdullah has been a “very vocal critic” of the abrogation of Article 370 and his presence would pose an “imminent threat to public order”.

Omar Abdullah, Farooq Abdullah and other leaders, including another former J&K CM and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President Mehbooba Mufti, were detained on August 5 last year, the day the Centre withdrew special status of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier this month, Omar Abdullah’s father Farooq Abdullah was released after being in detention for several months.

After his release, Farooq Abdullah had met his son Omar Abdullah in the sub-jail in Srinagar where he has been under detention for over the last seven months.

PM to address nation at 8 PM on COVID-19 crisis

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at 8 PM tonight on coronavirus outbreak and the overall situation in the country due to pandemic. This will be the prime minister’s second such address to the nation on COVID-19.

“Will address the nation at 8 PM today, 24th March 2020, on vital aspects relating to the menace of COVID-19,” he tweeted.

Before this, PM Modi had addressed the nation on the health crisis last Thursday and called for a Janta Curfew on Sunday that was observed in the whole country.

Apart from this, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is also expected to address media at 2 PM today. She is expected to announce a financial package to deal with the COVID-19 situation in the country.

According to media reports, more than 490 positive coronavirus cases have been reported so far and ten people have been dead. The tenth death was reported from Mumbai. A fresh positive case was reported from Manipur in the northeast earlier today.

Rain, snowfall to increase in hilly regions of North India

New Delhi ( NVI): Over the past 24 hours, light rains have occurred in the hilly states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand as well as the Union Territory region of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. These areas may witness an increased level of precipitation today also, according to SkymetWeather.

On and off rain and snowfall activities would further continue covering many parts of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, and Jammu Kashmir until March 27, the weather monitor reports. Two successive fresh Western Disturbances are expected to approach the Western Himalayas at this time, therefore leading to the change in weather.

Usually, during the fag end of March, the intensity and spread of the WD’s reduces significantly. But, this year, three active Western Disturbances have been continuously affecting the Western Himalayas.

These activities are likely to continue until March 29. So as per the forecast, it can be expected that the next week is going to be active in terms of rain and snow in this part of the country.

Apart from that, the maximum temperature in Delhi settled at 32 degrees Celsius today and the minimum temperature was recorded at 19 degrees Celsius, according to IMD.

However, the maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to rise over the next few days.

WHO warns coronavirus pandemic ‘accelerating’

COVAX
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

New Delhi (NVI): The World Health Organisation today warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is ‘accelerating’ as the total number of global cases has surpassed 3,50,000 including more than 50,000 fatalities.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted and expressed serious concern over the global health crisis that is affecting the global population.

“The #COVID19 pandemic is accelerating. It took 67 days from the 1st reported case to reach the first 100K cases, 11 days for the second 100K cases & just 4 days for the third 100K cases. These numbers matter, these are people, whose lives & families have been turned upside down,” he said in a tweet yesterday.

Over 1,00,000 patients are reported to have recovered, according to reports. In India, COVID-19 cases have surpassed 400 mark with 9 deaths.

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