A day after the University Grants Commission-National Eligibility Test was cancelled, Education Ministry officials Thursday said no complaints were received about the exam but a suo motu action was taken on the basis of inputs available with them to protect students' interest.
In a letter to the principal health secretary of Maharashtra that was also marked to all states and Union Territories (UTs), the Union Health Ministry said this surge is of particular concern from the public health point of view.
The government on Friday said 25 cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India so far and that mostly mild symptoms have been noted in all the cases.
The government on Tuesday stressed on avoiding large gatherings for a couple of months and following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour to avert any future wave, even as it noted that there has been a continued and sharp decline in daily new coronavirus cases in the country.
Asserting repeatedly that the second wave of the pandemic is not over, the government said that though the situation is plateauing, the country is still reporting as high as 20,000-odd new infections every day.
The government on Monday signed the share purchase agreement with Tata Sons for the sale of national carrier Air India for Rs 18,000 crore. Earlier this month, the government had accepted an offer by Talace Pvt Ltd, a unit of the holding company of the salt-to-software conglomerate, to pay Rs 2,700 crore cash and take over Rs 15,300 crore of the airline's debt. Following that, on October 11 a Letter of Intenet (LoI) was issued to the Tata Group confirming the government's willingness to sell its 100 per cent stake in the airline.
Addressing a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, P D Vaghela, Chairman of the Empowered Group-3, said about 19,398 ventilators are available in India and orders have been placed for 60,884 more, and of these 59,884 will be made by domestic manufacturers.
Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said 16 districts which earlier had positive cases have not reported any new case of COVID-19 in the last 28 days.
In a letter to 40 union leaders, Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal said the Centre is making all efforts with "an open heart" to find an appropriate solution to resolve all the concerns raised by farmers.
The Centre has asked all states to set up special search committees to find out talented people who could be nominated for Padma awards but so far have been left out of consideration despite their exceptional contributions.
Currently, the country is using two 'made-in India' jabs -- Covishield and Covaxin -- to inoculate its billion-plus population and has administered 20 crore doses since launching the world's largest vaccination drive in mid-January. A third vaccine, Russian-made Sputnik V, has been approved by the government and is being used on a smaller scale at present.
The disengagement plan was discussed between the two sides during the 8th Corps Commander-level talks which were held on November 6 in Chushul.
The ministry had sent the six previous teams to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal to review the implementation of the lockdown measures after the assessment of ground situation in identified select districts.
The government said it had been evaluating the implementation of the decentralised model of vaccination since its launch on May 1 and that the decision to centralise it again was taken after detailed deliberations and following requests by some states, amid claims by the Opposition that the policy change was due to the Supreme Court's intervention.
A steady decline in new COVID-19 cases has been recorded in India for the last 20 days, with 24 states witnessing a dip in active cases since the last week, the Union health ministry said.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said that the government, in its letter, mentioned that it wants to hold talks over its earlier proposal of amendments in the new agri laws.
'There is no data to show this virus is more deadlier.'
The districts are Gondia (Maharashtra), Raj Nand Gaon (Chhattisgarh), Davangiri (Karnataka), South Goa, Wayanad and Kottayam (Kerala), West Imphal (Manipur), Rajouri (J&K), Aizwal West (Mizoram), Mahe in Puducherry, SBS Nagar in Punjab, Patna, Nalanda and Munger in Bihar, Pratapgarh in Rajasthan, Panipat, Rohtak and Sirsa in Haryana, Pauri Garhwal in Uttrakhand and Bhadradari Kothagudem in Telangana.
The two sides have also agreed for a joint mechanism to verify the progress in the disengagement process through delegation meetings as well as using unmanned aerial vehicles.
Operation Sankat Mochan, aimed at evacuating over 500 Indians stuck in the war-torn South Sudan, got underway on Thursday.
While asserting that the growth of coronavirus cases in the country has been more or less linear and not exponential, it also said testing has been ramped up consistently.
Addressing the daily press briefing on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on COVID-19, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Health Lav Agarwal said 92 new cases and four deaths due to coronavirus have been reported in India since Sunday, taking total cases to 1,071 and the number of deaths to 29.
Out of the 12 deaths reported in the last 24 hours some are related to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said in a daily media briefing.
The inquiry ordered by the government into the allegations of the Delhi gangrape victim's friend of tardy police response will also go into the role of Safdarjung hospital staff in the treatment of the two.
A panel, set up to probe alleged non-responsive behaviour of Police Control Room vans in helping the Delhi gang-rape victim, is learnt to have found fault in the police's response to the distress call and also failure to stop the bus from plying after being fined several times.
The historic tripartite agreement for the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was on Monday signed to resolve the vexed Darjeeling problem amidst protests and bandhs in the Terai and Dooars areas.
As per the ministry's updated data on coronavirus cases Saturday morning, six fresh deaths were reported -- three from Maharahtra, two from Delhi and one from Gujarat.
Engineering exports grew by 61 per cent to $38.80 billion during the April-December period this fiscal from $24.08 billion in the same period last year.
Concern is growing among healthcare experts who believe that if people do not follow the lockdown or social distancing seriously, the situation can quickly go out of control.
The Union home ministry barred journalists from meeting senior officials other than the spokesperson and came out with a set of guidelines on dissemination of information to the media.
Four people have died including one each in Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Maharashtra.
India is currently under the 21-day lockdown since March 25, with only essential services exempted to contain the fast-spreading virus.
However, the number of confirmed cases reported by states rose by over 500 to cross 3,000 with at least 90 dead. While Maharashtra, Telangana and Delhi disclosed several new cases of the deadly virus infection, government officials said the numbers have risen in last few days mostly due to one event -- referring to the Tablighi Jamaat's religious gathering in the national capital attended by thousands of people last month.
The Union health ministry officials also said India was at the second stage as there is still no 'hard evidence' to say that there has been community transmission of the fast-spreading coronavirus, remarks which may provide anxious citizens with much needed assurance and hope.
If the precautions are not taken and guidelines are not followed properly, there can be chances of spike in cases, the government said.
AI's chairman and managing director, Arvind Jadhav, and the ministry's joint secretary and airline board member Prashant Sukul, along with other senior officials, met half the unions today in Delhi. The meeting will continue on Friday and they will also meet the rest of the 14 unions.
While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 7,409, as many as 764 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. Of the total 273 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 127 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.
Talks on an India-European Union Free Trade Agreement started in 2007. Six rounds of negotiations have been held but the two sides have not been able to arrive at a consensus on the level of trade to be covered under the FTA that will eventually eliminate duties on goods traded.
The government has asked the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to begin parking three to five per cent of its subscribers' retirement funds in stocks for better returns -- a move that would also increase flow of funds to capital markets by up to Rs 13,000 crore (Rs 130 billion).
Seeking cooperation from the public to fight the pandemic, the Union health ministry officials said there was no need to panic. They also said not everyone needs to wear masks and that following social distancing is more important to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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