Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will inaugurate the country’s first smog tower on August 23, 2021, at Baba Kharak Singh Marg, Connaught Place, said Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday.
Talking to ANI, Gopal Rai said the smog tower will clean 1,000 cubic metres of air every second and reduce PM 2.5 and PM 10 levels in Delhi. Rai added, “I am certain that the smog-tower built at the cost of Rs 20 crores will contribute immensely towards this cause. The smog tower will work with full force after the monsoon season. The scientists of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee will accordingly assess the performance of the tower and present a monthly report.”
Environment Minister further added, “If the performance of the smog tower is found to be satisfactory, then we will replicate similar smog towers throughout Delhi.”
“I am confident that the smog-tower will yield positive results for us. It must be noted that Central Government is also constructing one such tower at Anand Vihar. This is being done after Supreme Court ordered both Delhi and Central Government to immediately install smog towers in the national capital,” stated the Environment Minister.
Rai thoroughly inspected the progress of the project on the ground on Thursday. (ANI)
Amid the continuous surge in COVID-19 cases, Kerala Health Minister Veena George on Thursday said the state government is taking the best possible measures to contain the disease.
Briefing mediapersons, George said, “We are ramping up the testing to identify every single case. Our system is already on high alert and we are taking the best possible measures to contain the disease. Kerala Government has already started talks regarding vaccine production in the state. We are trying to introduce fill-finish units. We have discussed the issue with the Union Health Minister and the Centre’s response is very positive.” Asked about her meeting with Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, George said, “It was a very positive meeting. We asked for 1.11 crore more doses of COVID vaccines by September end. He agreed to it. We are thankful to the central government.”
She further said the state government’s aim is to innoculate all citizens above 18 years by the end of September. She urged people to remain cautious during the Onam festival keeping in mind the COVID cases surge in the state.
Kerala reported 21,427 fresh COVID cases and 179 deaths on Wednesday. The new cases pushed the cumulative COVID cases in the state to 37,45,457. With the new fatalities, the COVID death toll mounted to 19,049.
As many as 18,731 people recovered from the disease on Wednesday taking the total recoveries to 35,48,196. Meanwhile, the active number of COVID cases stands at 1,77,697. The positivity rate in Kerala on Wednesday remained at 15.5 per cent. (ANI)
The Biden administration on Wednesday (local time) suspended all arms sales to the government of Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country.
In a notice to defense contractors posted, the State Department’s Political/Military Affairs Bureau said pending or undelivered arms transfers to Afghanistan had been put under review, reported ABC News. “In light of rapidly evolving circumstances in Afghanistan, the Directorate of Defense Sales Controls is reviewing all pending and issued export licenses and other approvals to determine their suitability in furthering world peace, national security and the foreign policy of the United States,” it said.
The notice said it would issue updates for defense equipment exporters in the coming days.
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden said he is committed to keeping US troops in Afghanistan until every American is evacuated, even if that means maintaining a military presence there beyond his August 31 deadline for withdrawal.
Up to 15,000 Americans remain in Afghanistan after the Taliban took full control of the nation, reported ABC News.
The Biden administration has received criticism for the scenes of violence and disorder in recent days as thousands attempted to flee while the Taliban advanced.
Moreover, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the new Taliban government in Afghanistan will not at the current time be allowed to access loans or other resources from the 190-nation lending organization.
In a statement on Wednesday, the IMF said it would be guided by the views of the international community.
The statement said, “There is currently a lack of clarity within the international community regarding recognition of a government in Afghanistan, as a consequence of which the country cannot access SDRs or other IMF resources.”
SDRs are special drawing rights that serve as a reserve that IMF member countries can tap into to meet payment obligations.
After the fall of Kabul on Sunday, the Taliban have now got hold of “sophisticated weapons” and currency of the western superpower, according to videos that have surfaced on social media, a viral video showed.
In one such video, a man can be seen displaying hundreds of USD bundles stored in a room. He is also seen opening one of the bundles and showing the US currency.
In another clip, several purported Taliban members are seen strolling inside a room filled with ammunition. They were displaying weapons and seem to be proud to have captured them.
Meanwhile, according to local media reports Taliban have also captured the US military’s biometric devices compromising crucial data of the US army and the local Afghans who played crucial roles during the war. (ANI)
The Niti Border road connecting the India-China border in Joshimath in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand has been blocked for a week in view of the recurring landslides hitting the area.
As per the information shared by Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the road in the valley is blocked due to landslides and the people of the valley have been stuck inside their houses. “We are facing difficulty in opening the road because of the recurring landslides. The pedestrian movement has also been blocked. We are taking the help of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) to make an alternative way for people. The rescue operation is underway,” said BRO.
Meanwhile, the people of a dozen villages of the valley have been stuck inside their houses for a week with no supply of facilities.
“We have 12-13 villages in this valley and we are not able to communicate with the people there to know if they are fine. I would like to urge the government to take immediate action to help them,” said Lakshman Butola, the head of the village Suki Bhalgaon.
“Those people are stuck without food or health facilities. They should be provided immediate help,” he added. (ANI)
Amid the Taliban surge in different parts of Afghanistan, the Indian Air Force (IAF) had evacuated around 50 Indian consulate staffers and security personnel from Mazar-e-Sharif, a couple of days before the city was captured by the terrorist organisation.
The Indian citizens were evacuated from Mazar-e-Sharif on August 11 and 12 in a special transport aircraft of the IAF which included civilian officials working in the Indian consulate there along with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police officials(ITBP) deployed there for the security of the facility. “An Indian Air Force aircraft had taken off from the Hindan airbase near Delhi and landed in Mazar after avoiding flying over Pakistani air space. The aircraft then picked up the Indian officials and landed back safely on August 11-12,” sources told ANI.
India had earlier also picked up its consulate staff from Kandahar after the town was about to be taken over by the Taliban terrorists. The Indian officials from the Kandahar consulate had later stationed themselves in the Kabul embassy and were overseeing work from there, the sources said.
After the capture of the capital Kabul earlier this week, the Indian Air Force operated two sorties of the C-17 Globemaster after getting clearance from the US forces at the airport there and brought back around 180 officials, ITBP staffers and a few journalists.
Another Indian Air Force plane is awaiting permission from the local Afghan authorities and US security forces to land in Kabul to bring back more Indian citizens who are still stuck there.
Sources in the government said that both Air Force and commercial planes are on a stand by to bring back more Indians from Afghanistan. The Indian Air Force has already evacuated around 180 Indian passengers.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had spoken to his US counterpart Jake Sullivan in detail last evening.
Top sources told ANI that, “The US security forces are controlling the Kabul airport and after the conversation between the two NSAs, the Indian contingent was taken inside the American security zone at the airport from where they took off this morning”.
The Indian C-17 aircraft was also given clearance to land at the Kabul airstrip after coordinating the evacuation efforts with the American officials on the ground.
Sources said that due to the situation on the ground in Kabul, the Indian officials’ exit had become a bit difficult but was arranged eventually. (ANI)
Khushboo Mattoo, displaced from Kashmir in 1990, talks about the hope that abrogation of Article 370 gives to those Kashmiri Pandits who wish to return to their homeland
I can still recall the night of January 19, 1990 when my family, and thousands of other Kashmiri Pandits, packed whatever little we could carry and left for a safe roof. Our lives were at stake. Pandits were being threatened, a lot of them kidnapped and warned to leave the Valley or face consequences. Distraught families left in buses, trucks and Tata Sumos, to live in shanty camps of Jammu and beyond.
Since then, it has been a journey of struggle and survival. A community which was 100 percent literate, never imagined that they would be left in the lurch at one unholy stroke of midnight. The exodus also initiated the process of Islamization of Kashmir. Probably, that was the plan. Thus, as a Kashmiri Pandit, all I want is that my community should be able to return to their homeland and rebuild our lives without a shred of fear. Kashmir is incomplete without Kashmiri Pandits.
The abrogation of Article 370 and 35A brought hope for people throughout the country and particularly to Pandits. The regressive Article debarred women who were domiciles of J&K but got married outside the state from getting property rights. The West Pakistani refugees or the Valmikis who were staying in the state for decades could not be called as domiciles of J&K. But now that problem is resolved too.
No one can compensate Pandits fully for their loss. What the government can do is to make the process of rehabilitation comfortable for Pandits, both in terms of jobs and property. Maybe if we get on a rapid pace of development, the youth in our families will be able to find jobs in Kashmir. The common man of Jammu-Kashmir wants to see food on his plate and a corruption-free administration. It appears to me that the Centre has set the ball rolling.
Mattoo visited the Valley with her husband in Autumn 2020
Having said that, I know the return of Pandits to Kashmir is not easy. Returning to a homogenous Valley where 28- or 30-year-olds have never seen a Hindu in person and where the term secular is alien to public life – will be a challenge. Pandits are understandably afraid to return. Wahan darr kar rahne me kya fayda (What is the point in living under perpetual fear)? We hear news of sarpanchs, political leaders being killed every day. Pandit families will be easy targets. Who would want to return in this environment? There must be social acceptability as well. The process of reverse migration has to be gradual and the Valley citizens have to be welcoming.
In the last 30 years, Kashmir has become a milch cow. Every government and political party has milked it to their benefit. They are clueless about our struggle and how we channelised our anger, with hard work and our learning, to better our lives instead of picking up the gun. This doesn’t make us weak; it makes us stronger. The guns will fall silent, not the pen.
There are people who say that by coming out of a violent Valley, Pandits got better job opportunities and quality of life. I want to tell them that Pandits lost more than they gained. Nobody is happy when one gets uprooted from their homeland. They all remember life back there so vividly. I speak to a lot of Pandits on a daily basis and half of the time we are only talking about Kashmir. Whether a Kashmiri Pandit is staying in America or Australia, he knows everything about Kashmir. He knows when it snows in Kashmir. He celebrates ‘Nausheen’, the first snowfall of the season year after year.
Whenever I get a chance I go to Kashmir, the first thing that strikes me is that everyone is talking in my mother-tongue. It is like homecoming, connecting with the land. This cannot happen anywhere else. A lot of my friends in Kashmir often invite us but it hurts to be treated as a guest on your own land. Who knows if we were in Kashmir, how prosperous it would have been, how healthier our families would have been. Nobody can reverse the tragedy.
I have travelled extensively in the Valley in the past five years. I would like to tell the young Pandits (or youth of any community) to visit the place themselves to know what it is like to be in Kashmir. It is not as bad as one may have imagined. The hospitality and ambience are heartening. I am not saying they should get involved politically but they should at least know about their heritage and culture. It is very important.
An Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study conducted in Chennai has found that the Delta variant has the potential to infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, but it reduces mortality among the former group.
According to a study published in the Journal of Infection on August 17 and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology, Chennai indicates that the prevalence of the Delta variant or B.1.617.2 was not different between the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. “B.1.617.2 has the potential to infect both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. However, the progression of illness seems to be prevented by vaccination. Therefore, non-pharmaceutical interventions must continue to slow down the transmission. Additionally, the pace and scale of vaccination have to be increased to mitigate the further waves of the pandemic,” the report read.
“Systematic genomic surveillance must be carried out to monitor the emergence of newer variants and assess their capacity to evade infection/vaccine-induced immunity,” it added.
The report also quoted other studies that have reported a reduction in neutralisation among Covishield and Covaxin vaccine beneficiaries after infection with the Delta variant.
“India experienced a severe second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections during the months of April and May 2021. COVID-19 vaccination with BBV152 vaccine (Covaxin; Bharat Biotech) and ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (Covishield, Serum Institute of India) was started in the country in January 2021, targeting healthcare workers in the first phase and later expanded to include adult population groups. Breakthrough infections following vaccination have been reported in India,” the report said.
“Breakthrough infections could be due to the emergence of newer mutant strains capable of escaping the host immune response,” it added.
According to the report, Chennai was one of the worst affected cities during the second wave of Covid-19 in India with nearly 6000 cases reported daily during the first three weeks of May 2021, despite a high seroprevalence of around 45 per cent estimated during October-November 2020.
The study included patients from three triaging centres in Chennai.
And the findings indicate that out of the 3,790 people who visited the triage centres between the first week of May, 373 reported receiving at least one dose of vaccine 14 days prior to their Covid-19 positive diagnosis. The remaining 3,417 were unvaccinated.
However, according to the report, no deaths were reported in the fully vaccinated group, whereas three partially vaccinated (patients) and seven unvaccinated patients died.
The study enrolled 354 (94.9 per cent) of the 373 in the vaccinated group. Out of these 241 people had taken one dose or were partially vaccinated and 113 had taken two doses or were fully vaccinated.
As many as 185 (5.4 per cent) of the 3417 unvaccinated individuals were included in the study. The median age of the individuals who were unvaccinated, partially vaccinated and fully vaccinated were 47 years, 53 years and 54 years respectively.
The study, however, could not follow up around 5 per cent of the study participants. (ANI)
eepa Malik, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) President, and Deputy Chef de Mission Arhan Bagati on Thursday arrived in Tokyo for the Paralympic Games which gets underway from August 24.
54 para-athletes from across nine sports disciplines will be featuring in the showpiece event. This is India’s biggest ever contingent to the Paralympic Games. Deepa said the check-in at Tokyo was very smooth and the volunteers made sure the arrival at the airport wasn’t complicated.
“Very smooth check in and just not complicated at all as it seemed in briefings regards to apps n Covid protocols. Lots of booths n volunteers to assist at the airport. Or shud I say we were very well prepared through our webinars back home #Tokyo2020 @Media_SAI @ParalympicIndia,” Deepa tweeted.
Meanwhile, Arhan Bagati shared a video in which the Indian contingent can be seen going to Paralympic village after their arrival in Tokyo.
Deepa and the Deputy Chef de Mission had departed for Tokyo on Wednesday. They were accompanied by Founder Member of PCI J. Chandrashekhar, PCI Treasurer M. Mahadeva, and India’s para table tennis players Bhavina Hasmukhbhai Patel and Sonal Patel.
Malik on Wednesday told ANI that the Indian team looks in great shape.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sports Minister, Anurag Thakur have sent their wishes. I’m delighted. I’m in a different role as I’m not playing this year but it is a different feeling to work alongside para-athletes. The team looks in great shape. I wish them all the best for the games,” the PCI chief said.
The first batch of Indian para-athletes had arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday.
The Tokyo Paralympic Games is scheduled to be held between August 24 and September 5. India will start its campaign on August 25 with paddlers Bhavina and Sonal locking horns in table tennis events.
Thangavelu Mariyappan, Rio 2016 Gold Medal winner, will be the flag bearer of India while Gursharan Singh will be the Chef de Mission of the team. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that India is following the events in Afghanistan “very carefully” and the focus is on ensuring the security and safe return of its nationals who are still in the war-torn country.
“At this point of time, we are looking at the evolving situation in Kabul… as Taliban and its representatives have come to Kabul and I think we need to take it from there,” he said at a press conference after attending the UNSC meeting in New York on Wednesday (local time). Being asked whether India will continue its investments and engagement in Afghanistan, the minister said the “historical relationship with the Afghan people continues.”
“That will guide our approach in the coming days. I think at this time, these are early days and our focus on safety and security of the Indian nationals who are there,” he said.
He also said that the situation in Afghanistan is “really what has been very much the focus of my own engagements here, talking to the UN Secretary General, the US Secretary of State and other colleagues who are here.”
“At the moment we are, like everybody else, very carefully following developments in Afghanistan. I think our focus is on ensuring the security in Afghanistan and the safe return of Indian nationals who are there,” he added.
India is the president of the Security Council for the month of August. (ANI)
Pentagon on Wednesday said that the Taliban are not interfering with evacuation operations by US troops and said the terror group is guaranteeing safe passage to the airport for American citizens.
In a press briefing at the Pentagon, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told reporters that, “the Taliban are in and around the Kabul right now but they are not interfering with our operations.” “Through the State Department, the Taliban are guaranteeing safe passage to the airport for American citizens, that is, US passport holders,” Milley said.
When asked if the military had the capability to enter Kabul and extract people, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “We don’t have the capability to go out and collect the large numbers of people out.”
Miley’s remarks is in sharp contrast with State Department’s statement on the matter.
The US embassy in Kabul issued an advisory, saying that the US government cannot ensure safe passage to the Hamid Karzai international Airport.
A few hours later, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman told reporters at the State Department today that, “we have seen reports that the Taliban, contrary to their public statements and their commitments to our government are blocking Afghans who wish to leave the country from reaching the airport.”
Sherman said that the State Department’s team in Doha, Qatar, is meeting with Taliban officials, and “our military partners on the ground in Kabul are engaging directly with the Taliban to make clear that we expect them to allow all American citizens all third-country nationals and all Afghans who wish to leave to do so safely and without harassment.”
The US has so far evacuated “approximately 5,000 people” from Afghanistan and its military intends to increase the number of evacuees.
On Sunday, the Taliban declared victory after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled abroad and his government collapsed.
Like many other countries, the US started evacuating its nationals and some Afghans with links to foreign governments and organisations. (ANI)
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