Month: September 2021

Olympic gold medallist Neeraj Chopra appreciated Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh for hosting a dinner for Olympic medallists and participants and expressed gratitude for giving the highest levels of respect to sportspersons.

“I am feeling happy that for the first time any chief minister is taking out time like this for sportspersons. This shows how much he loves sports and sportspersons. I thank him for giving us so much respect,” said Chopra while speaking to reporters in Chandigarh about the dinner hosted by the Chief Minister at his farmhouse in Mohali on Wednesday.
The Chief Minister was seen serving his guests personally, straight out of the ‘patilas’ in which he had cooked his choicest dishes earlier during the day.

“I started at 11 in the morning. Most of it was done by around 5 pm., and then it was time for some final touches. But I loved every minute of it,” said the Chief Minister in an official statement.

“They (the sportspersons) worked so hard to win us glory, what I have done for them is nothing in comparison,” he added.

Besides Olympic Javelin Throw gold medalist Neeraj Chopra, the special guests for the evening included Olympics bronze medalist hockey players Manpreet Singh (Captain), Harmanpreet Singh (Vice Captain), Mandeep Singh, Hardik Singh, Rupinder Pal Singh, Shamsher Singh, Dilpreet Singh, Gurjant Singh, Varun Kumar and Simranjit Singh.

“Privileged to have hosted our Olympians for dinner tonight. Thoroughly enjoyed cooking for them. May you continue to bring great laurels to the country,” the Chief Minster tweeted yesterday.

Speaking to the media, Chopra also said that after the Tokyo Olympics 2020, the perspective towards sports has changed in a positive manner.

“I am sure that the Indian government will work towards creating better infrastructure for sports and provide facilities to sportspersons,” said Chopra. (ANI)

Actor Yami Gautam is all set to enchant the viewers with her innocence and charm yet again with her role as ‘Maya’ in the upcoming horror-comedy film ‘Bhoot Police’.

The ‘Vicky Donor’ actor will be seen in a never seen before character, in the forthcoming movie ‘Bhoot Police’ sharing the screen space for the first time with Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, and Jacqueline Fernandez.

Talking about her character in the movie Yami said, “As an actor, you are always looking for a challenging and diverse role. In Bhoot police I got to do something that I haven’t done before and it allowed me to expand my range as an artist. It can’t be talked about right now but I hope I get to surprise my audience with it”.

‘Bhoot Police’ stars Saif-Arjun as ghost hunters where Vibhooti (Saif) is a non-believer and Chiraunji (Arjun) is a believer of evil spirit. The duo brothers set off on a mission with Maya (Yami) and Kanika (Jacqueline) to ward off a notorious spirit living in a small town in the mountains.

She further shares her experience working with the co-actors adds, “Saif, Arjun and Jacqueline were really good to work with. As a team, we all could bounce off each other’s energy, and that reflects on the screen. We all had a blast shooting the film. We celebrated Diwali together and I introduced them to my ‘Pahadi Dhaam’ food and they all relished it. It felt nice and special”.

‘Bhoot Police’ stars actor Saif Ali Khan, Arjun Kapoor, Jacqueline Fernandez, Yami Gautam, Jaaved Jaafri, and Jamie Lever in pivotal roles.

Tips Industries Ltd in association with 12th Street Entertainment presents ‘Bhoot Police’, directed by Pavan Kirpalani. Produced by Ramesh Taurani, Akshai Puri, and co-produced by Jaya Taurani. The movie is all set to release on 10 September 2021 on Disney plus Hotstar. (ANI)

A total of 43,263 new COVID-19 cases and 338 deaths were reported across the country in the last 24 hours, informed the Union Health Ministry.

Of these, Kerala recorded 30,196 cases and 181 deaths.
The Health Ministry said that India’s active caseload now stands at 3,93,614. The active cases account for 1.19 per cent of total cases, while the recovery rate is 97.48 per cent.

With 40,567 recoveries recorded in the last 24 hours, the cumulative recoveries have climbed to 3,23,04,618.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the country has reached 3,31,39,981.

The weekly positivity rate at 2.43 per cent remains less than 3 per cent for the last 76 days now. The daily positivity rate is reported to be 2.38 per cent. It has been less than 3 per cent for the last 10 days.

In order to detect the presence of the virus in people, as many as 53.68 crore tests have been conducted so far.

Meanwhile, in the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive, 71,65,97,428 vaccine doses have been administered to eligible beneficiaries, out of which 86,51,701 doses were administered in the last 24 hours. (ANI)

The Indian Air Force’s C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria onboard landed at Emergency Field Landing at the National Highway in Jalore, Rajasthan on Thursday.

Defence Minister and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister will today inaugurate the Emergency Landing Facility on Satta-Gandhav stretch of National Highway (NH) 925A in Rajasthan’s Barmer.
This is the first time that the National Highway will be used for emergency landing of aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had developed a three kilometers section of the Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925A from Km. 41/430 to Km. 44/430 as an Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) for the Indian Air Force, which is part of the newly developed two-lane paved shoulder of Gagariya-Bakhasar and Satta-Gandhav Section having a total length of 196.97 kilometers and costing of Rs 765.52 crores under Bharatmala Pariyojana.

“This project will improve connectivity between villages of Barmer and Jalore districts located on the international borders. The stretch is located in the western border area will facilitate the vigilance of the Indian Army as well as strengthen the basic infrastructure of the country,” said the official statement.

Apart from this Emergency Landing Strip, 3 helipads (size 100 x 30 meters each) have been constructed in Kundanpura, Singhania and Bakhasar villages in this project according to the requirements of the Air Force/Indian Army, which will be the basis for strengthening the Indian Army and security network on the western international border of the country.

The ELF was constructed in a time span of 19 months. The work for this ELF was commenced in July 2019 and was completed in January 2021. The work was carried out by GHV India Pvt. Ltd under the supervision of IAF and NHAI.

“During the normal time, the ELF will be used for smooth flow of road traffic. But during the operations of ELF for Indian Air Force orders, the service road will be used for smooth flow of road traffic. It has been constructed in 3.5 Km length. This landing strip will be able to facilitate the landing of all types of aircraft of IAF,” said the ministry.

The development of roadways as key infrastructure has led to the construction of high-quality highways and expressways that could be utilised as runways along with some modifications and construction of limited additional infrastructure for the operation of various types of aircraft during emergencies. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met with Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, during which they reaffirmed their intention to strengthen coordination in the field of enhancing regional stability, including on Afghanistan.

According to the Russian Embassy here, the two discussed a wide range of issues of the Russian-Indian cooperation, as well as a number of topics of the international agenda, were touched upon.
“The two sides reaffirmed their intention to strengthen coordination in the field of enhancing the regional stability, including on the Afghan direction,” the statement read.

The embassy said that the opportunities for further development of special and privileged strategic partnership between Russia and India, “including deepening political dialogue at the highest and high levels, were discussed”.

They also spoke about the prospects for strengthening interaction in multilateral formats, including the SCO and BRICS, as well as the development of the Russian-Indian cooperation in the trade and economic sphere.

Earlier in the day, Patrushev, who is on a two-day visit to India, had meetings with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Doval and Patrushev held high-level Inter-Governmental Consultations on Afghanistan. It was India and Russia first detailed and extensive review of the situation in Afghanistan involving the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence and security agencies after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban, sources said.

According to sources, both sides expressed deep concerns over developments in Afghanistan.

There was a convergence of views between the two sides on all majors issues and common threats including the need for the Taliban to adhere to promises; the presence of international terrorist groups in Afghanistan and threats from terrorism to Central Asia and India; Islamic radicalisation and extremism; on the flow of weapons to terrorist groups and smuggling across Afghan borders and the high chances of Afghanistan becoming a hub of opium production and trafficking, the sources said.

India emphasised Pakistan’s links with the Taliban and other international terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, and the special responsibility that Pakistan bears to ensure that Afghanistan soil is not used to spread terrorism. (ANI)

India’s cumulative vaccination coverage crossed 71 crores till date, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

In the country, more than 73 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday till 7 pm.

“In a landmark achievement, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 71 Crore landmark milestone (71,52,54,153) today. More than 73 lakh (73,80,510) Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight,” read the official ministry release.

The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.

To ramp up the inoculation drive, the new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.

The recovery of 39,114 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,22,64,051.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.48 per cent.

Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the states/UTs continue the trend as less than 50,000 daily new cases that is being reported for 73 consecutive days now. 37,875 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

The active caseload is at present at 3,91,256. Active cases presently constitute 1.18 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 17,53,745 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 53.49 crore (53,49,43,093) cumulative tests.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate is at 2.49 per cent that remains less than 3 per cent for the last 75 days now. The daily positivity rate dips to 2.16 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 3 per cent for the last nine days and below 5 per cent for 93 consecutive days now. (ANI)

India’s cumulative vaccination coverage crossed 71 crores till date, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

In the country, more than 73 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday till 7 pm.
“In a landmark achievement, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 71 Crore landmark milestone (71,52,54,153) today. More than 73 lakh (73,80,510) Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight,” read the official ministry release.

The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.

To ramp up the inoculation drive, the new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.

The recovery of 39,114 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,22,64,051.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.48 per cent.

Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the states/UTs continue the trend as less than 50,000 daily new cases that is being reported for 73 consecutive days now. 37,875 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

The active caseload is at present at 3,91,256. Active cases presently constitute 1.18 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 17,53,745 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 53.49 crore (53,49,43,093) cumulative tests.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate is at 2.49 per cent that remains less than 3 per cent for the last 75 days now. The daily positivity rate dips to 2.16 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 3 per cent for the last nine days and below 5 per cent for 93 consecutive days now. (ANI)

India’s cumulative vaccination coverage crossed 71 crores till date, as per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

In the country, more than 73 lakh vaccine doses were administered on Wednesday till 7 pm.
“In a landmark achievement, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 71 Crore landmark milestone (71,52,54,153) today. More than 73 lakh (73,80,510) Vaccine Doses have been administered till 7 pm today. The daily vaccination tally is expected to increase with the compilation of the final reports for the day by late tonight,” read the official ministry release.

The vaccination exercise as a tool to protect the most vulnerable population groups in the country from COVID-19 continues to be regularly reviewed and monitored at the highest level.

To ramp up the inoculation drive, the new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.

The recovery of 39,114 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,22,64,051.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.48 per cent.

Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the states/UTs continue the trend as less than 50,000 daily new cases that is being reported for 73 consecutive days now. 37,875 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

The active caseload is at present at 3,91,256. Active cases presently constitute 1.18 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 17,53,745 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 53.49 crore (53,49,43,093) cumulative tests.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate is at 2.49 per cent that remains less than 3 per cent for the last 75 days now. The daily positivity rate dips to 2.16 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 3 per cent for the last nine days and below 5 per cent for 93 consecutive days now. (ANI)

India’s cumulative COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 70.75 crores till date, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

“With the administration of 78,47,625 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, country’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage surpassed the cumulative figure of 70.75 crores (70,75,43,018) as per provisional reports till 7 am today. This has been achieved through 72, 81,305 sessions,” read the release by the health ministry.
India commenced its nationwide vaccination drive on January 16 this year. The Union Government is committed to accelerating the pace and expanding the scope of COVID-19 vaccination throughout the country.

To ramp up the innoculation drive, the new phase of universalization of COVID-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, 2021. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through the availability of more vaccines, advanced visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs for enabling better planning by them and streamlining the vaccine supply chain.

The recovery of 39,114 patients in the last 24 hours has increased the cumulative tally of recovered patients (since the beginning of the pandemic) to 3,22,64,051.

Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 97.48 per cent.

Sustained and collaborative efforts by the Centre and the states/UTs continue the trend as less than 50,000 daily new cases that is being reported for 73 consecutive days now. 37,875 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

The active caseload is at present at 3,91,256. Active cases presently constitute 1.18 per cent of the country’s total positive cases.

The testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 17,53,745 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 53.49 crore (53,49,43,093) cumulative tests.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate is at 2.49 per cent that remains less than 3 per cent for the last 75 days now. The daily positivity rate dips to 2.16 per cent. The daily positivity rate has remained below 3 per cent for the last nine days and below 5 per cent for 93 consecutive days now. (ANI)

As many as 203 Indian Nationals and 31 NORI (no obligation to return to India) visa holders are set to return to India through the Wagah-Attari border, the High Commission of India in Pakistan informed on Wednesday.

Additionally, the return of 47 Pakistan nationals holding valid visas is also be facilitated by the Indian High Commission there.
“HCI Islamabad is facilitating the return of 203 Indian Nationals, 31 NORI visa holders through Wagah-Attari and travel of 47 Pakistan Nationals holding valid visas on 10 September 2021 (Friday),” Indian High Commission in Islamabad said in a tweet.

The names of the individuals who will be returning to India were also shared by the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. (ANI)

Actor Rana Daggubati on Wednesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate Hyderabad zonal office where he was questioned for seven hours, in connection with the 2017 Tollywood drugs case.

Earlier on September 3, Telugu film director Puri Jagannadh and Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Kaur were summoned by ED.
ED has summoned several other Tollywood film personalities in the drugs case.

According to the sources, actor Ravi Teja is summoned by ED on Thursday.

A Tollywood drug racket was busted in July 2017 in Hyderabad after the arrest of a musician and two other persons and drugs were seized from their possession. (ANI)

Tokyo 2020 Paralympic champion Pramod Bhagat’s realised his childhood dream rue after he met former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on Wednesday.

Shuttler Pramod Bhagat clinched the gold medal after defeating Great Britain’s Daniel Bethell by 2-0 in the men’s singles SL3 — final match at Yoyogi National Stadium in recently concluded Tokyo Paralympics.
“CHILDHOOD DREAM COMES TRUE! I can’t believe how happy I am today as a kid I took inspiration from Sir @sachin_rt The words you spoke to me today will stay with me forever & will keep inspiring me for life. I thank you from the bottom of my heart I will be sleepless tonight,” Pramod Bhagat tweeted.

Battling it out on Court 1, the first-seed Indian overwhelmed the second-seed Daniel Bethell in straight sets by 21-14 and 21-17 in 45 minutes in the final.

In his second event in Tokyo, Parmod paired with Palak Kohli. The duo lost by 2-0 in the mixed doubles SL3-SU5 bronze medal match. The unseeded pair of Daisuke Fujihara and Akiko Sugino of Japan defeated the Indians in straight sets by 23-21 and 21-19 in just 37 minutes.

In Tokyo 2020, India won 19 medals, finishing 24th in the overall medal tally among 162 nations competing and ranking 20th on the basis of total medals won. India had won only 12 medals until 2016 since making its Paralympic Games debut in 1968. (ANI)

Emphasising the need to prevent escalation of violence in Afghanistan, India and Russia on Tuesday agreed to coordinate their approaches in multilateral formats regarding the Afghan settlement, informed Russian Embassy here.

This was agreed upon during the high-level meeting between India and Russia on the situation in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Russian counterpart Nikolai Patrushev discussed Moscow and New Delhi joint efforts aimed at creating conditions for launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue.

According to the Russian embassy here, Doval and Patrushev touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in Afghanistan.

This was a follow-up meeting of the two countries after the telephonic talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin in August.

“As a follow-up to the telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 24, an exchange of views took place on the military, political and socio-economic situation in Afghanistan,” the Russian embassy said.

During the talks, the importance of “defining parameters of the future state structure of Afghanistan by the Afghans themselves, as well as the need to prevent the escalation of violence, social, ethnic and confessional contradictions in the country, were emphasized”.

The meeting comes a day after the Taliban, which seized the control of the war-ravaged country on August 15, announced its new caretaker government on Tuesday, consisting of hardliners, devoid of any women in the decision-making process.

Following the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan has plunged into a crisis with reports of Taliban reprisal emerging from several provinces. Afghanistan is also witnessing protests against the Taliban.

Ajit Doval and Patrushev also touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in this country.

“They also touched upon humanitarian and migration problems in this country, as well as prospects for the Russian-Indian joint efforts aimed at creating conditions for launching a peaceful settlement process on the basis of an intra-Afghan dialogue,” the embassy informed.

“In addition, the Sides agreed to coordinate the approaches of Russia and India in multilateral formats on the Afghan settlement,” it said. (ANI)