Month: October 2021

The FIH Odisha men’s Hockey Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021 scheduled to begin on November 24, will be a telecast-only affair as Hockey India and FIH jointly decided to hold the marquee quadrennial tournament without the presence of spectators as part of precautions against COVID-19.

“With the sheer popularity of the sport in this region and expected crowds in the stadium, the organisers believe it would not be possible to control that number of people and yet follow all the necessary COVID guidelines and protocols laid out by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW), Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, State Government, FIH and Hockey India,” Hockey India said in a statement.
According to organisers, social distancing is a priority due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation and the safety of the fans and athletes needs to be prioritised.

Hockey India said for the organisers, it is imperative to hold the tournament in an environment where the health and safety of the participating teams are of paramount importance.

While the stadium will only be open to accredited personnel and the participants of the tournament, the fans can tune in and cheer for their favourite teams and players, across platforms around the world for all games.

The FIH Odisha men’s Hockey Junior World Cup Bhubaneswar 2021 will see 16 teams in the fray.

The participating teams include defending champions and hosts India, Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Egypt, France, Germany, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Poland, South Africa, Spain, The Netherlands and the United States.

After five days of pool stage matches, the classification matches will be held from November 30 with the quarter-finals to be played on December 1, semi-finals on December 3 and the title clash will be held on December 5. (ANI)

Bombay High Court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on the bail application of Aryan Khan, accused in the drugs on cruise case, till tomorrow.

Former Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi was appearing for Aryan Khan today.
A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday refused to grant bail to Aryan and two others in connection with the seizure of drugs. Following this, Aryan Khan moved a bail application in the Bombay High Court against the NDPS court order on his bail rejection.

Bombay High Court on October 21 said that it would hear Aryan Khan’s bail application on October 26.

An NCB team busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2. A total of 20 people, including two Nigerian nationals, have been arrested so far in the case. (ANI)

Former India captain Rahul Dravid on Tuesday applied for the position of head coach of the Men in Blue senior team.

Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments confirmed the National Cricket Academy (NCA) head has applied for the position of Team India head coach.
The source also pointed that former India batter VVS Laxman is in the race to take over from Dravid as the NCA head.

“Yes, Dravid has applied for the position of Team India head coach and Laxman is definitely in the race to take over as NCA head. Talks are on and we have to see how it goes,” the source said.

Earlier, in what came as the biggest positive for Indian cricket in recent times, former India skipper Rahul Dravid had agreed to take over as the head coach of the national team. The development took place on the sidelines of the final of the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League.

Speaking to ANI, sources in the know of developments had confirmed that the NCA head is ready to take over as the national team coach. “Dravid has agreed and it cannot get better. The other positions will now be looked into while Vikram stays as the batting coach. The Indian team is in a state of transition with youngsters coming in and they have all worked with Dravid and it will be all the more easier for Indian cricket to continue on its path to becoming world-beaters on the pitch,” the source said.

Dravid was always the preferred choice for the BCCI but it looks like it took Secretary Jay Shah and President Sourav Ganguly to sit down and talk with the former captain before he agreed to wear the cap full-time after travelling to Sri Lanka with the team for the limited-overs series recently during the main team’s tour of England.

“Jay and Sourav spoke to him and it was about Dravid being convinced because it does need a lot of time as you need to be on the go constantly. But things went well and Dravid has always kept the interest of the Indian cricket on the top so it made things easier as the team would do well to have someone like him guiding the boys,” the source had said.

Current coach Ravi Shastri’s contract ends with the T20 World Cup. After the upcoming T20 World Cup, Virat Kohli will also be stepping down as the side’s captain in the shortest format. (ANI)

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday said that approval for Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin will be given on the basis of the meeting which will be convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) today.

“WHO has a system in which there is a technical committee which has approved it (Covaxin) while the other committee is meeting today. The approval for Covaxin will be given on the basis of today’s meeting,” said Union Health Minister during a press briefing here.
Earlier this month, WHO chief scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan had said that WHO’s technical advisory group will meet on October 26 to consider emergency use listing (EUL) for Covaxin.

The WHO last week had said a vaccine recommended by it for emergency use must be evaluated thoroughly.

“We are aware that many people are waiting for WHO’s recommendation for Covaxin to be included in the COVID19 Emergency Use Listing, but we cannot cut corners – before recommending a product for emergency use, we must evaluate it thoroughly to make sure it is safe and effective,” the organisation had said.

The WHO had said that the timeframe for the WHO Emergency Use Listing procedure depends on how quickly a company producing the vaccine is able to provide the required data.

“The timeframe for the WHO Emergency Use Listing procedure is dependent on how quickly a company producing the vaccine is able to provide the data required for WHO to evaluate the vaccine’s quality, safety, efficacy and its suitability for low- and middle-income countries,” it said.

Bharat Biotech has been submitting data to WHO on a rolling basis and submitted additional information at WHO’s request on September 27.

Covaxin, India’s first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). (ANI)

In a significant development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a serving Indian Navy officer along with two retired ones in connection with the leakage of confidential information related to the modernisation of a Kilo-class submarine going.
Top government sources told ANI that after the developments took place last month, the Indian Navy also ordered a high-level probe under a Vice Admiral and a Rear Admiral to probe the leakage of information and look for ways to prevent any such incident in the future.

“After getting inputs from agencies concerned, the CBI arrested a serving Navy officer of the rank of Commander (Lt Col equivalent in Army) who is currently posted in Mumbai for passing on unauthorised information related to the Kilo-class submarine modernisation project to retired officers,” said sources.

The CBI has been questioning a number of other serving officers who were in touch with the arrested officers, they said.

The Indian Navy has been providing assistance in the ongoing investigations by the Central agency and providing its men for questioning by investigating officers, defence sources said.

The top brass of the government including the agencies looking after national security has also been given a briefing on the status of the investigations.

Sources said as soon as the matter was brought to the notice of the top Naval brass, they formed a five-member team headed by a Vice Admiral also started a parallel probe to investigate the matter and plug any other possible information leaks in the force and suggest ways to prevent them in future, they said.

Sources said the probe agencies have been monitoring the activities of a large number of ex-servicemen officers from all three services which lead to the arrests in the case. More arrests are possible as some more inputs have been received by them, they said.

Sources said the central agency is also checking the hardware and date accessed by the arrested officer in his official capacity and the possibility of it getting leaked to and external agencies.

A number of cases in the recent past have come up where defence personnel have been found compromised for leaking information to the suspected Pakistani agencies virtually. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the setting up of 157 new medical colleges to ensure that the people of the country get affordable treatment, said Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Tuesday.

“PM approved 157 new medical colleges…seats for medical students almost doubled…We worked with a total approach to ensure people are given affordable treatment,” said Mandaviya while briefing the media today.
The Union Health Minister further stated that the Government of India has set up 1,50,000 Ayushman health and wellness centres to provide affordable treatment of diseases like cancer, diabetes etc and check-up at the primary level.

“For treatment of diseases like cancer, diabetes…and check-up at the primary level we took a decision to set up 1,50,000 health and wellness centres. About 79,000 above have been inaugurated in the country,” said Mandaviya.

He further said that to ensure the availability of cost-effective medicine medicines, the Government of India is 8000 Jan Aushadhi centres and more than 20 lakh people are availing benefits from such stores.

Mandaviya stated that the Rs 5,000 crore-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday will focus on preventive care.

To fill in the lapses present in the current health infrastructure, Rs 64,000 crore will be spent on Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, added Mandaviya. (ANI)

Assam government on Tuesday issued new Covid-19 guidelines relaxing curfew timing in the state with night curfew time between 11 pm to 5 am instead of beginning at 10 pm.

Commercial establishments can remain open till 10 pm and restaurants and eateries can serve only with 50 per cent seating arrangements till 10 pm, reads the order issued by Assam State Disaster Management Authority.
“Takeaways and food items from restaurants, dhabas and other eateries will also be not allowed after 10 pm,” it said.

All government servants (including contractual and fixed pay) who have taken at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine can attend the office. Also, government and private organizations rendering Essential/ Emergency Services, Law Enforcement Services and Election work will continue without any restrictions in all districts, adds the release.

The release also added that with respect to public transport, “Goods transport shall continue unhindered” and “auto-rickshaws, cycle rickshaws and taxis can operate for passengers with 100 per cent seating capacity” with Covid-19 appropriate behaviour in place.

Marriages and religious functions will be permitted with not more than 50 people in attendance and they should be at least administered with a single dose of vaccine. Also, not more than 60 people fully vaccinated per hour will be allowed at iconic religious places. 40 people fully vaccinated per hour at other religious places.

Delivery of essential commodities through e-commerce can run round the clock with Pharmacies, hospitals, animal care centres and veterinary clinics that can remain open 24 hours a day.

“Cinema halls and theatres will be allowed with 50 per cent seating capacity fully vaccinated viewers and observance of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour,” said the official statement. (ANI)

India logged 12,428 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which is the lowest in 238 days, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday.

The country’s active caseload stands at 1,63,816, which is the lowest in 241 days.
The active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases and are currently at 0.48 per cent, which is the lowest since March 2020.

With 15,951 recoveries in the last 24 hours, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.19 per cent, which is the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.

Also, the weekly positivity rate is at 1.24 per cent while the daily positivity rate remained at 1.10 per cent.

The country has so far conducted over 60.19 crore COVID tests.

Meanwhile, under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive, more than 102.94 crore vaccine doses have been administered in the country. (ANI)

Ahead of the scheduled by-election for Assembly seats in Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday said that he will be campaigning at Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur and will ensure the “visarjan” of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the ruling NDA in the state.
Yadav also informed that he will be campaigning at Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur tomorrow.

Speaking to ANI, the RJD supremo said, “I had missed two elections due to my illness and detention. The love of Bihar helped me to recover from my illness. I will be campaigning at Kusheshwar Asthan (SC) and Tarapur on October 27.”

“I know Tejashwi is campaigning in both the places and is doing really well in giving a strong fight to the (ruling) NDA. I will ensure ‘visarjan’ (immersion),” he said adding that his party will win the by-polls by a great margin.

Taking another jibe on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the veteran leader said, “Nitish Kumar has been eulogised by PM Modi and BJP. Everyone was sloganeering ‘desh ka PM kaisa ho Nitish kumar jaisa ho’ (A PM should be like Nitish). He was being touted as PM material…such arrogance and greed.”

Lalu Prasad Yadav returned to Bihar after over 3 years.

The Jharkhand High Court, earlier in April, granted bail to Yadav.

The former Bihar Chief Minister, who was undergoing treatment at Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences for two years, was shifted to All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi in January. (ANI)

Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and other Congress leaders have arrived at the Congress party headquarters for the meeting to be presided by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi to discuss the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, among other issues.

Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief Mohan Markam, Uttarakhand PCC chief Ganesh Godiyal, Jharkhand PCC chief Rajesh Thakur, Maharashtra PCC chief Nana Patole and Punjab PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu have also arrived at the party headquarters in the national capital for the meeting.
Earlier, at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on October 16, it was decided that organisation polls will be held next year and for that, a membership drive will be launched from November 1.

As per sources, the Congress party may hold the organisational election on September 6, 2022, and have its president by October.

As frontal organisations like Indian Youth Congress, NSUI, Mahila Congress and the party’s Social Media department have passed a resolution to make Rahul Gandhi as party president, it is expected chorus will be heard in the meeting on Tuesday.

In the previously held CWC meet, the chief ministers of Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh Ashok Gehlot, Charanjit Singh Channi and Bhupesh Baghel, respectively, and other leaders had requested Rahul Gandhi to take charge of the party president post. On this, Congress Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala confirmed that Gandhi had assured to consider their requests. (ANI)