RIVANCH

New Delhi:  India's COVID-19 caseload has gone up to 1,06,54,533 with 14,849 people testing positive for the coronavirus infection in a day, while the number of recoveries has surged to 1,03,16,786, according to the health ministry. The toll due to the viral disease has climbed to 1,53,339 with 155 more fatalities, the ministry's data updated at 8 am showed. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has surged to 1,03,16,786, pushing the national COVID-19 recovery rate to 96.83 percent, while the case fatality rate stands at 1.44 percent. The active COVID-19 caseload of the country remained below two lakh for the fifth consecutive day. There are 1,84,408 active cases of the coronavirus infection in the country currently, which account for 1.73 per cent of its total caseload, the data stated. India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on 7 August last year, the 30-lakh mark on 23 August, the 40-lakh mark on 5 September and the 50-lakh mark on 1

Coimbatore: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said his party is committed to reconceptualising the Goods and Services Tax regime if voted to power at the Centre and assured ushering in a 'One tax, minimum tax.' The current tax system has crippled the Medium Small and Micro Enterprises, he said in an interaction with industry representatives here. The Congress leader, who began his campaign for the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls, said there was the need to promote MSMEs, to compete with countries like China and Bangladesh. "In my mind, the future of India and any competition we want to win with China, Bangladesh or others is through the MSMEs," he said. The small and medium industry was the backbone of job creation, he said and blamed the Centre for creating 'huge disharmony' in the country. "You cannot have disharmony and have economic growth," he said and alleged India is unable to provide jobs and the economy has been devastated. Answering

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday rolled out the 'Ayushman CAPF' scheme, extending the benefit of the central health insurance programme to the personnel of all armed police forces in the country. Shah ceremoniously distributed the 'Ayushman CAPF' health cards among some personnel from the seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) here. Under this scheme, around 28 lakh personnel of CAPF, Assam Rifles and National Security Guard (NSG) and their families will be covered by 'Ayushman Bharat: Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana' (AB PM-JAY). An MoU was signed between the National Health Authority (NHA) and the Union Home Ministry in presence of Shah, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai and state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma at the CRPF Group Centre in Guwahati. from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/3oeVHA1 Press Trust of India

New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party MLA and former Delhi minister Somnath Bharti was on Saturday sentenced to two years in jail by a court here in a 2016 case related to assaulting AIIMS security staff and causing damage to hospital property. The mindset to cause damage to public property and infrastructure was an attack on the common man, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kumar Pandey said, as he rejected Bharti's plea to release him on probation but granted him bail to enable filing of an appeal in a higher court. The judge, who also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Bharti, said he was well educated and an MLA and, therefore, aware of the consequences of committing the offence. Bharti said in a statement that he has "full faith" in the judiciary and he is going to file an appeal against his conviction. The ruling AAP in Delhi backed its MLA from Malviya Nagar, claiming that "injustice" has been meted out to Bharti and expressed the hope that he will

Nagpur: The Maharashtra government is taking legal opinion on whether action can be taken against Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami under the Official Secrets Act over his purported WhatsApp chats concerning the Balakot air strike, a state minister said on Saturday. Addressing a press conference, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh also sought to know from the Centre how Goswami got access to sensitive information regarding the strike. He was referring to the purported chats between Goswami and former Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) head Partho Dasgupta, which mentioned that Goswami was privy to the 2019 air strike, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) hit the biggest JeM training camp in Balakot, deep inside Pakistan on 26 February that year. "The WhatsApp chat shockingly revealed that Arnab had information about the Balakot air strike three days in advance of the actual incident," he said. "We want to ask the central government how Goswami got s

On Saturday the number of Indians inoculated with the first dose of coronavirus vaccine crossed 15 lakh, with 3,47,058 vaccinated within the last 24 hours, the health ministry said. Meanwhile, the number of people who have tested positive for the UK variant of COVID-19 in India climbed up to 150 while the total number of active cases stood at 1.85 lakh. India also received praise and words of gratitude from world leaders for supplying coronavirus vaccines to other countries, despite having a large population to cater to at home. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his continued support to the global COVID-19 response, saying acting together, including sharing of knowledge, will help in combating the novel coronavirus. Nearly 14 lakh benefici aries inoculated; active caseload around 1,85,000 According to data released by the Union Health Ministry, the highest number of 1,84,699 vaccinations in the country has been reported from Karnatak

A singularly odd thing happened on Friday at the Singhu border. The farmers protesting three new laws brought by the Narendra Modi government produced before the media a masked man. He claimed that he and a few accomplices were sent by an unknown outfit to pose as policemen. They were apparently tasked with beating up farmers with batons on Republic Day if they tried to proceed to the heart of Delhi. But it does not stop there. The man said they were told to kill four farmers' leaders as well. The protesting farmers have handed them over to the Haryana Police. A day later, he claimed he was accosted by some people who abducted him, stripped him, and beat him up with belts for telling the media what he did. Meanwhile, many Indians including this columnist kept receiving voice-recorded calls supporting the creation of Khalistan from US and Canada numbers. These have been for a couple of months urging all to make the 26 January mobilisation as largescale and disruptive as possibl

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said India should have four capitals on a rotation basis and sessions of Parliament should be held in different locations in the country. She also slammed the Centre for its decision to observe 23 January as 'Parakram Diwas' to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and said the Narendra Modi government did not consult with her before announcing it. "During the British-era, Kolkata was the capital of the country. I think we must have four capitals on a rotation basis. Why does the country have only one capital? And the sessions of Parliament should be held in different places in the country. We will have to change our concept," she said while addressing a gathering here after participating in a grand procession to pay tribute to Netaji's 125th birth anniversary. She also questioned why will the birth anniversary of Bose not be celebrated as 'Deshnayak Diwas'. "

Chandigarh:  Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Saturday appealed to farmers and their supporters protesting the Centre's contentious farm laws not to oppose ministers or political leaders at Republic Day events in the state. He, however, said farmers will continue opposing state ministers at rallies and events on other days. "I would like to request that in Haryana if any minister or political leader comes to an event to unfurl the national flag on the occasion (of Republic Day), we don't have to oppose them," Chaduni said in a video message. Disruption of any kind of a Republic Day function "will send out a wrong message", he said. Farmers will continue to oppose Haryana ministers if they hold rallies and functions on other days in the state, he added. Earlier this month, protesting farmers had vandalised the venue of a "Kisan Mahapanchayat" in Karnal where Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar was to address pe

Jammu: The Border Security Force (BSF) on Saturday detected a second underground tunnel constructed by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district to facilitate the infiltration of terrorists, a spokesperson of the border guarding force said. This is the second such structure found in 10 days. The secret tunnel was detected during an anti-tunneling operation in the border outpost (BOP) Pansar area of Hiranagar sector, opposite Abhiyal-Dogra and Kingre-de-Kothe in Shakargarh, the spokesperson said. This is the second underground tunnel detected by BSF personnel in the Hiranagar sector during the past 10 days, fourth in the past six months along the International Border (IB) in Samba and Kathua districts, and 10th in the past decade. On 13 January, a 150-metre-long tunnel was detected in Bobiyaan village in the same sector. The spokesperson said the latest tunnel was unearthed on a specific intelligence input in the early hours of the day during the anti-tunnelling drive. &

Sivasagar: Reaching out to the indigenous people of election-bound Assam amid frequent anti-CAA protests, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday distributed land ownership certificates to over one lakh such families, insisting the move will guarantee them "pride, freedom and protection". On his first physical visit outside the National Capital this year, Modi reaffirmed the state and the Centre's commitment to protecting the land rights and the unique cultural traditions of the indigenous people. He also castigated the previous governments for depriving them of their land rights for years since Independence. "When the Sarbananda Sonowal government took over the reins in Assam, more than six lakh indigenous families had no legal rights over their land. In the last few years more than two lakh such families have been allotted ownership certificates. "With more than one lakh families added today, the government has shown its commitment to protecting the rig

Several people were injured, many vehicles vandalised as BJP and Trinamool Congress supporters clashed in West Bengal's Howrah district on Saturday, police said. BJP alleged that a party member was shot at, while some were beaten with rods and sticks. Crude bombs were also allegedly hurled during the street fight at Bally, triggering panic in the area. Besides, a few bikes and a police vehicle were vandalised, officials said. On Friday, Bally MLA Baishaki Dalmia was suspended by the Trinamool Congress for alleged anti-party activities, hours after Domjur MLA Rajib Banerjee resigned as a minister in the Mamata Banerjee government. Police were yet to confirm about the firing but the BJP claimed that party member Promod Dubey who received a bullet injury in a firing at Abhra Sen Street was rushed to the Howrah hospital. Police said that a huge contingent has been deployed in the area to control the situation and prevent any further flare-ups. Local TMC leaders said that some BJP

Mumbai: At least five persons were killed and seven others injured when a vehicle carrying them fell into a 150-feet deep gorge in the Nandurbar district of Maharashtra on Saturday, a police official said. The accident took place around 10.30 am at the hilly stretch of Khadki ghat, located approximately 10 kilometres from Toranmal hill station, he said. "The victims are residents of Jhapi Phalai village inNandurbar. They were travelling in the vehicle to Toranmal to purchase things of daily needs," he said. "However, as the driver lost control over the vehicle, it plunged into the 150-feet deep gorge," the official said. Mahendra Pandit, Nandurbar's Superintendent of Police, said, "As per the initial information, at least five persons have died and seven others have suffered injuries." Police have rushed to the spot and the injured have been shifted to a hospital, he said, adding that the rescue operation was on. from Firstpost India Latest News

Ranchi:  Jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad will be shifted to AIIMS-Delhi after his health condition deteriorated while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Ranchi, officials said on Saturday. Prasad (72), convicted in fodder scam cases, is undergoing treatment at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) for multiple ailments. "Lalu Prasad is having trouble breathing for the last two days. On Friday, he was found to be having pneumonia. Considering his age, we have decided to shift him to AIIMS-Delhi on the advice of doctors for better treatment," RIMS Director Dr Kameshwar Prasad told PTI . "He is likely to be shifted to AIIMS today. We have already spoken to the experts at AIIMS," he added. Dr Kameshwar further said that the authorities and his family are arranging for an air ambulance to shift him to AIIMS-Delhi. An eight-member medical board is examining Prasad's health and he is likely to be shifted to AIIMS as soon as the experts submit their repo

Noida: In the run-up to Republic Day, at least six hoax bomb threats have been reported in Uttar Pradesh's Noida, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, and Allahabad this week. The miscreants behind these hoax threats, which even prompted evacuations in hospitals and shopping malls, are yet to be identified. FIRs have been lodged in connection with some of the incidents, according to officials. Panic gripped a busy neighbourhood in Noida's Sector 63 on Friday morning as heavy security was deployed and the area cordoned off following an alert that a bomb-like device was found on a road. "The device was checked by a bomb disposal squad which found that it had no detonator or explosive attached to it. It turned out to be a suspicious-looking item with a watch strapped to its front portion and placed there by some miscreant," a police spokesperson said. On Thursday, an unidentified caller informed a prominent private hospital in Noida's Sector 27 that a bomb was placed in its basemen

The Indian Institute of Management Raipur (IIM Raipur), which is the conducting body of the Common Admission Process (CAP) 2021, is going to close the application window for admission today (23 January). Candidates who wish to register for the Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) course or the Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in the participating IIMs must visit cap2021.iimraipur.edu.in before the deadline. According to a report by NDTV , the authority will be taking the CAT 2021 percentile into account along with the results of the personal interview (PI) conducted by the IIM Raipur as part of CAP 2021 to shortlist the candidates. Once the registration period is over, the PIs will be held in three phases. As per the report, the first phase is set to begin from 15 February and go on till 20 February. Thereafter, the second phase will continue from 22 February to 27 February, followed by the third phase in between 8 and 13 March. Some rounds might also include

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has declared the results for the Indian Economic Services (IES) and the Indian Statistical Services (ISS) written exams on its official website on Friday (22 January) . Candidates who appeared in the recruitment exams are advised to visit upsc.gov.in to check their scores. The results are being published with respect to the written exams held in October last year . All those who have cleared the written test will need to appear for the interview round or a personality test. In order to sit for the next round of screening, candidates will have to register themselves afresh. Those who qualified will have to fill in a Detailed Application Form (DAF) online by visiting upsconline.nic.in . The window to submit the form is from 2 February and it can be filled in the online mode till 6 pm on 12 February. Applicants must also upload the documents and scanned certificates as part of the form. The commission will be releasing the schedule for the

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) released the final answer key for SSC CHSL 2019 tier 1 exam on its official website on 22 January (Friday). Candidates who have appeared in the recruitment exam can visit ssc.nic.in to check the final answer key and match it with their own responses. According to Hindustan Times ,  the commission wanted to maintain transparency in the recruitment procedure and hence released the final answer key, about 10 days after the result for the SSC CHSL 2019 was declared on 15 January The report added that candidates will be able to download and go through the question paper, answer key and the response sheet from 22 January till 21 February. “In order to ensure greater transparency in the examination system, and in the interest of the candidates, the Final Answer Keys alongwith Question Paper (s) are being uploaded on the website of the Commission on 22.01.2021,” the portal quoted an official notice. The notification  further specified the download link

Elections, our festival of democracy, are around the corner in Tamil Nadu. A good indicator of election season of late has been the flurry of activity by the civic body across the city. Roads that citizens have complained about for years with no response get a facelift, potholes are fixed, pavements are laid and any and all grievance is addressed with a swiftness that makes one wish election season lasted longer. Several infrastructure development projects which had been put on the back burner over the past five years will now be taken up on a war footing and completed in a very short period of time. This is the time when citizens like us need to keep our eyes and ears open and ensure that the work being done is of good quality and will actually benefit citizens. I would like to highlight a few examples from my neighbourhood, where all our unheeded complaints are being answered with a swiftness not seen before. Milling of roads I had been regularly writing to the local administrat

Elections, our festival of democracy, are around the corner in Tamil Nadu. A good indicator of election season of late has been the flurry of activity by the civic body across the city. Roads that citizens have complained about for years with no response get a facelift, potholes are fixed, pavements are laid and any and all grievance is addressed with a swiftness that makes one wish election season lasted longer. Several infrastructure development projects which had been put on the back burner over the past five years will now be taken up on a war footing and completed in a very short period of time. This is the time when citizens like us need to keep our eyes and ears open and ensure that the work being done is of good quality and will actually benefit citizens. I would like to highlight a few examples from my neighbourhood, where all our unheeded complaints are being answered with a swiftness not seen before. Milling of roads I had been regularly writing to the local administrat

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is considered to be one of the most iconic and influential leaders of the country, who played a crucial part in gaining independence from the British Rule. An influential leader, Bose was born on 23 January, 1897 in Cuttack, Odisha. He had urged the people of the nation to resort to radical forms of protest and revolution in order to oust the colonial forces. Netaji devoted his life to the cause of gaining independence and led the Azad Hind Fauj from the front as well. To pay tribute to the revolutionary leader, his birth anniversary is celebrated as Netaji Jayanti or Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti. It is even an official holiday in the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Tripura and Assam. He wrote: "May the thoughts and ideals of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose keep inspiring us to work towards building an India that he would be proud of. A strong, confident and self-reliant India, whose human-centric approach contributes to a better planet in the years to c

The National Testing Agency (NTA) is going to close the registration window for Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main 2021 on 23 January (Saturday). Candidates who are yet to register themselves for the nation-wide exams are advised to visit the official site of JEE Main at jeemain.nta.nic.in and enrol their names. The last date to pay the registration fee is 24 January, reported NDTV . The first session of the Joint Entrance Examination is going to be held from 23 to 26 February. The BTech, BArch and BPlanning candidates can also apply for the second and third session now in accordance to the JEE Main 2021 examination being conducted in four cycles this year. Follow these steps to apply for JEE Main 2021: Step 1: Visit the official site of NTA JEE Main at Step 2: Register yourselves from the link on the homepage. Enter personal information like your name, dates of birth, contact number and email address in the given spaces Step 3: Once the registration has been completed, log i

Protesting farmer leaders have alleged that a conspiracy has been hatched to kill four of them and create disturbance during their proposed tractor rally in Delhi on January 26. At a press conference at the Singhu border late on Friday night , the farmer leaders presented a person who claimed that his accomplices were allegedly asked to pose as policemen and baton-charge the crowd during the proposed tractor rally in the national capital on Republic Day. The farmer leaders claimed that they caught the man from the protest site at the Singhu border. He was subsequently handed over to the Haryana police. Farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu alleged that attempts are being made to disrupt the ongoing agitation against three farm laws. The man, who had his face covered with a scarf, claimed at the press conference that a plan was hatched to shoot four farmer leaders, who are known faces in the media, at the stage on Saturday. "On 26 January, there was a plan to create disturbance d

Guwahati: The All Assam Students Union (AASU) on Friday took out torchlight processions pressing for their demands, including scrapping of the Citizenship Amendment Act, a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah set foot in the state. The AASU is also in favour of repealing the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, and implementation of the report of the Committee on Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, which safeguards constitutional rights of indigenous people. In Guwahati, police barricaded the AASU headquarters 'Swahid Bhawan' and did not allow the protesters to move out with torchlights, but the students' body staged their protest behind the barriers. AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya and president Dipanka Kumar Nath were seen engaged in a heated argument with police officers, who said the rally would be allowed if they handed over the torchlights. "We refuse to hand over the torchlights as this was a part of our protest programm

Every Budget proposes change in tax policy, procedures, tax rates and compliance. Albeit every change is not beneficial to the taxpayers in general but as a Greek philosopher, Heraclitus said, ‘Change is the only constant in life’. It is a very apt quote especially for Goods and Services Tax (GST) where a taxpayer has to constantly deal with changing regulation. Even after three years of GST introduction, the taxpayers are still facing challenges in coping up with the ever-changing nuances of GST law. Therefore, taxpayers expect the government to ‘make changes’ in the GST law with an aim to ‘ease compliance burden’. There are some key challenges which the industry expects the government to address in the upcoming Budget. During the introduction of GST in July 2017, certain petroleum products and electricity were kept outside GST with intent to bring them into the GST regime later. However, even after a lapse of 3.5 years, there is no clarity on their inclusion in the GST regime. The

Mumbai: The Budget must redirect the government focus in resolving demand-side issues by moving away from fixing supply side problem which has been the focus since March when the pandemic began to pummel the economy, says a report. The pandemic induced lockdown resulted in the economy tanking 23.9 percent in the June quarter but made a dramatic recovery with the contraction improving to just 7.5 percent in Q2 and is likely to re-enter the green zone in the second half which may help the economy close FY21 with a contraction of 7.5-8 percent. "It is high time to change gears and focus on the demand side as well, lest the ongoing recovery begins to lose steam. There is nothing wrong in addressing the supply-side issues, as it was necessary to restore/augment the broken supply chains. But, lack of adequate demand may jeopardise the recovery and may even lead to a second-round impact," Sunil Kumar Sinha of India Ratings warned in a note on Friday. It can be noted that since 2

The pandemic has thrown many traditional fiscal management measures to the wind and challenged the regulators to the hilt. Never has there been more anticipation for the Union Budget as this year. It is going to be a daunting task for the government and the finance minister is expected to take some crucial steps to kickstart the economy and bring the demand back to the pre-COVID-19 levels. We have seen a series of measures to ease the burden on people and industry since the start of the pandemic. Now there is a better perspective on how we have fared, where we are heading and that should give the finance minister better manoeuvring capabilities to consolidate all the measures announced till now and go in for some big bang reforms. As India looks to recover from the devastating COVID-19 blow, the financial sector, the backbone of the economy that holds it all together, should get special attention. Here are some of the key suggestions which Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman could

New Delhi: "Presumption of innocence" should not be destroyed at the very threshold of justice process through media trial, a court said here on Friday on a plea moved by former JNU student leader Umar Khalid alleging vicious media campaign against him in a north-east Delhi riots case. The court said it hoped that the media would follow "self regulation techniques" while reporting on a case pending investigation or trail. "Self regulation is the best mode of regulation," Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Dinesh Kumar said. "While the press and the news media was described as the Fourth Estate in a democratic society, there existed a risk of prejudice being caused if they failed to do their duty with care and caution and one of such risks was that of 'media trial'," he said. The plea moved by Khalid has claimed that the media reports have quoted from his alleged disclosure statement to show that he has confessed to his involvement in the

Pune: Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said that whether the fire at the Serum Institute of India (SII) was an accident or sabotage will be known only after the probe gets over. Five men died in the fire that broke out in a five-storeyed under-construction building in the SII's Manjari premises in Pune on Thursday. Addressing a press conference after visiting the site of the fire, Thackeray said, "Let the investigation get completed. It is not correct to say anything now. After the probe gets over, we will know whether it was an accident or sabotage." Adar Poonawalla, CEO of SII said there was no damage to the Covishield vaccine production, but other facilities involved in the production of Rotavirus and BCG vaccines were damaged. "The financial losses (due to the fire) are to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore," he said. The Manjari facility is where Covishield, the SII vaccine against COVID-19 which is being used in the nationwide inoculatio

The cumulative number of vaccinated healthcare workers across the country has surpassed 12.7 lakh through 24,397 sessions as of Friday 6 pm, the Union Health Ministry said. In a span of 24 hours, 2,37,050 people were vaccinated across 4,049 sessions. On the testing front too, India continues to register growing numbers, the ministry said. In a separate but related development, a study published in Lancet found Bharat Biotech's Covaxin showing enhanced immune response without any serious side effects in phase 1 testing. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with vaccine recipients in his Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi, and sought to allay any hesitancy towards the vaccine's efficacy and safety during the interaction. In other news, India has been reaching out to several countries with free vaccine dozes in the neighbourhood. It is also emerging as a steady supplier of the COVID-19 vaccine in the world. India expands testing infrastructure, active caseload fal