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Economic Survey highlights reforms for MSME sector growth

New Delhi (NVI): With the Government’s focus on reviving growth across the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, the Economic Survey tabled in the Parliament on the first day of Budget Session today highlighted the key initiatives taken in this direction.

The Economic Survey 2020, tabled in Parliament on the eve of the Budget presentation, has also favoured relaxing of the fiscal deficit target for the current financial year to revive growth, which has been on the decline in the last several quarters.

The survey, which put the current fiscal growth at 5 per cent, pitched for more reforms for making it easier to do business in India. The report was tabled by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the first day of the Budget session of the Parliament today.

It called for measures to make it easier to start a new business, registration of property, payment of taxes and enforcing contracts. It also favoured improving governance in public sector banks and more disclosures to build trust.

The survey also showed that the Indian economy might see growth at 6 to 6.5 per cent in the next financial year starting from April 1 (FY 2020-21).

Coronavirus: AI plane leaves for Wuhan to bring back Indian nationals

(UPDATING EARLIER COPY)

New Delhi (NVI): An Air India Plane left for Wuhan today to evacuate Indian nationals there in the wake of coronavirus outbreak in China that has claimed 213 lives so far.

With five doctors on board, a 423-seater jumbo B747 plane took off from Delhi airport at around 1.20 pm today. The aircraft will return after a halt of 2-3 hours at Wuhan, according to an official statement. There are five doctors from the Health Ministry on the flight and one paramedical staff, the airline said, adding that around 400 Indians are expected to be brought back from Wuhan, the coronavirus epicentre.

The development takes place two days after the Ministry of External Affairs had made a formal request to China for its permission to operate two flights to bring back Indian citizens from Hubei province.

Yesterday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said, “India is awaiting China’s response to its request to evacuate its nationals from the Hubei province in two flights.” He also said that the Indian Embassy in China had been able to establish contact with over 600 Indians across the Hubei province.

The World Health Organisation has also declared a public health emergency as the virus spreads rapidly. 1,500 new cases of the infectious disease around the globe have been reported, with Chinese officials confirming nearly 6,000 total cases of the mysterious illness.

Should focus on economic issues in this Budget Session: PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at the start of the Budget Session of Parliament.

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that both the houses should concentrate on debating over economic issues and empowerment of people during this Budget Session.

Speaking outside the Parliament on the commencement of Budget Session today, the PM said, “We should focus mostly on economic issues in this session and we should to try to see how India can benefit most out of the present global economic scenario and how it can take forward the country’s economy.”

The Prime Minister called for wide discussions on the economic issues in the country and how to maximise benefits to India in the current global economic scenario.

He also asked the members of Parliament to work towards laying a strong foundation for a bright future of the country in the new decade.

“Our Government is known for striving for the empowerment of all the underprivileged sections and women,” he said.

“We would continue to work in this direction even in this decade. I wish that both the houses have great discussions on economic issues and empowerment of people,” he added.

“I am confident that the discussions would be enlightening and enriching all of us,” he said.

Skipping breakfast linked to lower GCSE results: Study

Representative image

New Delhi (NVI): Breakfast is often referred to as the ‘most important meal of the day’, and now a new study has shown the importance of eating breakfast when it comes to taking exams.

Researchers from the University of Leeds have found a link between eating breakfast and GCSE performance for students in the UK. The research is published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.

The team found that students who said they rarely ate breakfast achieved nearly two grades lower than those who ate breakfast every day.

Katie Adolphus, who led the study, said, “Our study suggests that secondary school students are at a disadvantage if they are not getting a morning meal to fuel their brains for the start of the school day.

“The UK has a growing problem of food poverty, with an estimated half a million children arriving at school each day too hungry to learn. Previously we have shown that eating breakfast has a positive impact on children’s cognition.”

“This research suggests that poor nutrition is associated with worse results at school.”

In the study, the researchers surveyed 294 students about their eating habits, and compared the results to their GCSE results.

The results revealed that 29% rarely or never ate breakfast on schooldays, while 18% ate breakfast occasionally, and 53% frequently.

Worryingly, those who rarely ate breakfast scored an average of nearly two grades lower than those who ate breakfast frequently.

While the reason for this link remains unclear, the researchers hope their findings will highlight the impact that breakfast can have on your exam results.

Nicola Dolton, Programme Manager for the National School Breakfast Programme, said, “This report provides impressive evidence that eating a healthy breakfast improves a child’s educational attainment, which supports our own findings of improvements in a child’s concentration in class, readiness to learn, behaviour and punctuality.”

J&K: Three militants killed in Udhampur encounter

Representative image

Jammu (NVI) : Three militants have been killed in an ongoing encounter with security forces and militants in the dense woods of Nagrota along Srinagar-Jammu highway today.

The gunfight raged after a group of militants travelling in a truck were intercepted at a toll plaza along highway in Jammu region’s Udhampur district.

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Jammu, Mukesh Singh has said that three militants have been killed in the ongoing gunbattle.

Director General of Police (DGP), Dilbagh Singh has reportedly said that these militants were a newly infiltrated group and were on their way to Srinagar.

He has also said that it is suspected that they have infiltrated from Kathua, Hiranagar border.

Singh added that investigation into the matter has been started.

Indian-origin Arvind Krishna named as IBM CEO

arvind krishna
Arvind Krishna has been named as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of International Business Machines (IBM)

New Delhi (NVI): Indian-origin technology executive Arvind Krishna has been named as the chief executive officer (CEO) of American IT giant International Business Machines (IBM), replacing longtime CEO Virginia Rometty.

The IBM Board of Directors elected Krishna as company CEO and member of the Board of Directors effective April 6.

57 year-old Arvind Krishna is currently senior vice president for IBM’s cloud and cognitive software unit and was a principal architect of the company’s purchase of Red Hat.

He joined IBM in 1990 and has an undergraduate degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Arvind Krishna’s appointment as head of the global IT giant adds to the growing list of Indian-origin executives at the helm of some of the biggest multinational companies.

Mr Krishna joins the club that includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, PepsiCo’s former CEO Indra Nooyi and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Railways to tag coaches, wagons for better management

New Delhi (NVI): Indian Railways is implementing radio-frequency tags (RFID) for tracking wagons, coaches and locomotives to improve service levels and operating efficiency.

The RFID project has been taken up with an aims to automatically and accurately track and trace rolling stock as they move across the country with a special focus on improving their safety and reliability.

The Indian Railways has decided to fit all rolling stock; roughly 3,50,000 vehicles are expected to be tagged by 2021.

Till now, approximately 22,000 wagons and 1200 coaches have been fitted with RFID tags.

Additionally, roughly 3,500 fixed RFID readers are expected to come up which shall communicate to a central control center using GS1’s LLRP (low level reader protocol) standard.

For implementing this project over Indian Railways Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS, the IT arm of the Indian Railways), GS1 India and the Indian Industry have come together.

To implement this project two works for RFID project have been sanctioned by Railway Board for a total of Rs 112.96 crore.

This project is being spearheaded by the Rolling Stock Department of the Indian Railways.

GS1 India is also deeply involved in ensuring the quality of the work and proper adoption of international standards.

CRIS has been utilising the considerable expertise of GS1 in developing and validating solutions, based on GS1 Standards, for the Indian Railways.

This will create a new segment in the AIDC (Automatic Identification and Data Collection) industry in India uniquely suited for the Indian Railways requirements.

In order that RFID tags can be used in all locations in the country including those with poor connectivity, Indian Railways opted to use the GIAI-202 standard.

Indian Railways has successfully field tested these CRIS designed GIAI202 encoded tags at a speed of 182.7 kmph. This feat puts the Indian Railways in the league of leaders with respect to AIDC technology in the railways sector.

Delhi temperature drops further

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi witnessed further chill in weather today as the minimum temperature dropped to 7.1 degree celsius from 8.0 degree celsius recorded yesterday.

The maximum temperature today is expected to be around 21.0 degrees celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The weatherman stated that the temperature is expected to dip further over the next few days.

Meanwhile, the overall air quality in the national capital today remained in the “moderate” category.

According to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR),the Air Quality Index (AQI) in the national capital stood at  139 which falls in the  “moderate” category.

J&K Govt amends rules to benefit Pahari speaking population

Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu

Jammu (NVI): In a significant development that would benefit at least nine lakh Pahari speaking people in Jammu and Kashmir, the UT administration today approved various amendments in the reservation rules.

The Administrative Council which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor GC Murmu today approved several amendments in the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005.

There are around 9.6 lakh Pahari Speaking People (PSP) across Jammu and Kashmir spread over mainly in Rajouri, Poonch, Baramulla (Uri and Boniyar), Kupwara (Karna and Keran) and pockets of Anantnag, Budgam, Bandipora, Ganderbal, Kulgam, Pulwama and Shopian.

Following the reorganization of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and enactment of the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Act, 2004, it had become imperative to rationalize the existing reservation percentages to give representation to the PSP in the matters thereto.

For this purpose, necessary amendments have been approved in the Jammu and Kashmir Reservation Rules, 2005 to include PSP in the category of socially and educationally backward classes.

As per the extant reservation rules, the percentage of reservation in direct recruitments is 8 per cent to Scheduled Castes (SCs), 10 per cent to Scheduled Tribes (STs), 2 per cent to weaker and underprivileged classes (Social Caste), 3 per cent to residents of areas adjoining Line of Actual Control (ALC)/International Border (IB), 20 per cent to residents of backward areas (RBA). There is also a horizontal reservation of 6 per cent available to Ex-Servicemen and 3 per cent to Physically Challenged Persons (PHC).

Following rationalisation of the percentage of reservation of different categories in direct recruitment, the residents of backward areas will now have 10 per cent reservation, Pahari speaking people (4 per cent) and Economically weaker sections (10 per cent).

For claiming the benefit of PSP Category, a person must be a member of the Pahari Clan, Community or Tribe having distinct cultural, ethnic and linguistic identity; must be speaking Pahari language and his/her mother tongue must be Pahari.  He/She must possess a valid identity proof which can be either Aadhar Card or Domicile Certificate.  Tehsildar shall be competent authority to certify the claim of persons belonging to PSP.

Administrative Council has directed the Social Welfare Department to redraw the reservation roster upon fixation of the new percentages. The decision will not only help to rationalize the reservations across Jammu and Kashmir but will also give equitable representation to the Members of Pahari Community thereby meeting their long-pending demand.

One killed as avalanche hits Ganderbal in J&K

Mubashir Bukhari

Ganderbal (NVI): A man was killed while three others suffered injuries after being buried under snow in an avalanche in Ganderbal district of Kashmir today.

According to officials, four persons who were working with IFFCO Company came under several feet of snow after the avalanche hit while they were working at Z-Morh tunnel in the area.

The deceased was identified as Ashok Rao. The three injured persons were identified as Surjeet Singh, Sukmeet Singh and Suraj Lal Singh.

SSP Ganderbal, Khalil Poswal said four people were trapped under the snow in the avalanche. “One person died, while three others were rescued,” he said.

Soon after the incident, the locals and Police jointly launched a rescue operation and shifted all the four injured to nearby Public Health Centre Kullan, where one of them was declared brought dead.

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