Month: February 2022

Boeing has delivered the 12th P-8I maritime patrol aircraft to the Indian Navy on Wednesday.

“This is the fourth of four additional aircraft delivered under the options contract signed by the Ministry of Defence in 2016,” informed Boeing in its official statement today.

The P-8I aircraft is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft that Boeing developed as a replacement for the US Navy’s ageing P-3 fleet.

In May 2021, the US State Department approved the proposed sale of six P-8I patrol aircraft and related equipment, a deal estimated to cost 2.42 billion dollars.

In November 2019, the Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, approved the procurement of the long-range maritime surveillance aircraft manufactured by Boeing.

Indian Navy became the first international customer for the P-8 aircraft with the conclusion of the nearly US 2.1 billion dollars contract on January 1, 2009, for a total of eight aircraft. The first aircraft arrived in India on May 15, 2013.

Ministry of Defence informed that the P-8I aircraft is equipped for long-range anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in support of the broad area, maritime and littoral operations. Its communication and sensor suite includes indigenous equipment developed by defence PSUs and private manufacturers.

With its high speed and high endurance of about 10 hours, the aircraft is capable of thrusting a punitive response and maintaining a watch over India’s immediate and extended areas of interest. (ANI)

Kajal Aggarwal’s sister and actor Nisha Aggarwal has shared a beautiful picture with the mom-to-be on social media.

Kajal, who is currently expecting her first child with her husband Gautam Kitchlu, recently had a traditional baby shower ceremony (God Bharai).

Nisha took to Instagram on Thursday and penned a heartfelt note in which she expressed how excited she is to meet “baby no 2”.

“Yes! It’s officially official…I’m having another baby, right here in this womb I’m touching. My baby no.2 is on its way! I can’t wait to meet you little love #excitedmasitobe,” she wrote alongside a snap of her and Kajal from the baby shower.

The note added, “@Kajalaggarwalofficial @Kitchlug I wish you’ll good health and good strength forever! Wishing you both the bestest as you’ll take on new roles and begin this beautiful journey of parenting.”

The ‘Singham’ actor also reacted to the post. She wrote, “I love you so much! baby can’t wait to be in your arms dearest masi.”

In the photograph, Nisha looks pretty in a plain sea green saree with an embroidered blouse and beautiful jewellery. Kajal looked graceful in a traditional Banarasi red saree with ethnic jewellery.

The duo announced the news of Kajal’s pregnancy on New Year 2022. They tied the knot in October 2020. (ANI)

Union Minister of Coal, Mines, and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi launched the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system of Coal India Limited (CIL) on Wednesday.

Inaugurating the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation of Coal India Ltd (CIL) in a function here yesterday, Joshi said that together with the introduction of the latest IT-enabled technologies, the overall approach towards implementing the same in a sustained and efficient manner is the key to further enhancing coal production and supply.

Joshi also pointed out that technology can ensure transparency and bring down corruption. He said, “42 coal blocks have been successfully auctioned so far by the Ministry of Coal under commercial auctioning of coal mines.”

He also complimented CIL for successfully overcoming the recent challenges by ensuring sustained coal supply to the nation and urged CIL to attain coal production targets set for this and the next fiscal.

Emphasizing the unique advantages of the ERP system he said, “the primary objective of the project is to position CIL as a global player in the energy sector. ERP will establish best business practices, standardize and unify business processes across CIL and its subsidiaries. Implementation of ERP will give a boost to government endeavor towards Digital and New India.”

Joshi along with Minister of State for Coal, Mines, and Railways Raosaheb Patil Danve and Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain released the book titled “Fueling India’s Energy Needs,” which depicts the story of sustainable efforts made by the world’s largest coal mining company, CIL.

A statement released by the Ministry of Coal stated that ERP is a great tool of information technology intervention, which will help CIL improve its business performance and growth with enhanced data integrity and cost-effectiveness. This will in turn help the national miner evolve as a global player. SAP ERP at CIL comprises of seven modules namely Human Capital Management (HCM), Sales and Distribution (SD), Production and Planning (PP), Plant Maintenance (PM), Project System (PS), Material Management (MM), and Finance and Control (FICO).

ERP in Coal India has been implemented in two phases. In the first phase, it was implemented at CIL Headquarters and two subsidiaries WCL and MCL, the Phase II implementation was in the remaining six Subsidiaries SECL, NCL, CCL, ECL, BCCL, and CMPDI. M/s Tech Mahindra was the implementation partner for Phase – I whereas M/s Accenture is the implementation partner for Phase – II. The project was scheduled to GO LIVE in 51 months while it has been completed 14.5 months earlier, the statement added. (ANI)

With the administration of more than 30.49 lakh (30,49,988) COVID-19 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s COVID-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded 176.52 crore (1,76,52,31,385) as per provisional reports till 7 am today, informed the Union Health Ministry on Thursday.

This has been achieved through 2,01,49,530 sessions, stated the ministry. As per the ministry, of the total doses administered so far to the health care workers (HLW’s), 1,04,01,131 have received the first dose, 99,60,537 have received the second vaccine dose and 41,13,480 have been administered the precaution doses.

According to the ministry, 1,84,08,724 frontline workers were administered the first dose, 1,74,30,375 with the second dose and 60,92,569 with the precaution doses.

5,42,63,490 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 2,47,48,744 vaccine doses were given as the second dose in the age group 15-18 years.

55,10,97,609 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose and 43,99,93,963 vaccine doses were given as the second dose in the age group 18-44 years.

Similarly, for the age group of 45-59 years, 20,21,57,669 have received the first dose and 17,92,34,856 have received the second dose whereas, 12,63,13,709 vaccine doses were administered as the first dose, 11,16,53,849 as second and 93,60,680 as precaution doses to the people over 60 years.

30,009 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours and the cumulative tally of recovered patients since the beginning of the pandemic is now at 4,22,19,896. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.46 per cent, the Ministry stated.

14,148 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, bringing India’s Active Caseload presently at 1,48,359. The active cases constitute 0.35 per cent of the country’s total Positive Cases.

The Ministry further added the testing capacity across the country continues to be expanded. The last 24 hours saw a total of 11,55,147 tests being conducted. India has so far conducted over 76.35 Cr (76,35,69,165) cumulative tests.

While testing capacity has been enhanced across the country, the weekly positivity rate in the country currently stands at 1.60 per cent and the daily positivity rate is reported to be 1.22 per cent. (ANI)

After Hrithik Roshan, the makers of ‘Vikram Vedha’ unveiled the first look of Saif Ali Khan from the upcoming film, which is the Hindi remake of the 2017 Tamil-language hit film starring Vijay Sethupathy and R Madhavan.

In the film, Saif will be seen essaying the role of a police officer. His first look image portrays him in macho and buff avatar. In the picture, Saif is seen dressed in a white t-shirt paired with blue denim pants.

Giving us a glimpse of Saif’s look, his wife Kareena Kapoor Khan took to Instagram account and heaped praises on him.

“Husband hotter than ever. Can’t wait for this one,” she captioned the post.

Hrithik, too, shared the same image and expressed his excitement on working with Saif in the film, which is scheduled to release on September 30.

“Vikram…. P.s : working with one of the finest actors and a colleague I have admired for years is going to be an experience I’m going to cherish. Can’t wait,” he wrote.

For the unversed, ‘Vikram Vedha’ is being helmed by writer-directors Pushkar and Gayatri, who helmed the original film. Radhika Apte is also a part of the Hindi version. (ANI)

With Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing a special “military operation” in eastern Ukraine, equity indices opened in red on Thursday with the Sensex down by 1432.50 points and Nifty down by 410.70 points.

The 30-scrip BSE Sensex was down by 1432.50 points or 2.50 per cent at 55,799.56 at 9.15 am. Similarly, 50-scrip NSE Nifty was trading at 16652.60 at 9.15 am, down by 410.70 points or 2.41 per cent.

On the Sensex, the sectors trading on a positive bias were consumer durables and consumer discretionary goods and services among others.

Earlier today, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special “military operation” to protect Donbas, the separatist-held region in eastern Ukraine.

Delivering an emergency address, Putin said the operation has been launched to demilitarize the country. (ANI)

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday took cognizance and directed Pithoragarh Police to register a case regarding a video posted on social media by Congress leader Harish Rawat that purportedly showed ballot tampering.

Police say a case has also been registered in the Didihat police station for a probe. According to the police, a written complaint was given to the Election Commission and the police on Tuesday on behalf of Congress candidate Pradeeppal from the Didihat assembly in the said case.

State Congress chief Ganesh Godiyal, while speaking with ANI, informed that they have lodged a complaint with Election Commission about the alleged foul play during the Uttarakhand Assembly election.

“A person has claimed impersonation, officials were scheduled to come to his house to take the vote but they didn’t arrive,” he said.

The polling for the 70-member state Assembly was held on February 14. The counting of votes would be held on March 10. (ANI)

Russia has ruled out any threat to Ukrainian civilians as it carries out military operations in the country, local media reported.

The Russian Defence Ministry has clarified that the Russian army is not carrying out any missile, aviation or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine and is not targeting civilians, Sputnik News reported.

“Military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields, aviation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being put out of action by [Russia’s] high-precision means of destruction,” the news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

The ministry added that the military action does not threaten the Ukrainian civilian population.

The ministry’s remarks come after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special “military operation to protect Donbas” in eastern Ukraine.

However, Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday said Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and added that Ukrainian cities are under strikes.

The Ukrainian ambassador to the United Nations requested the members of the UN to “stop the war.”

At an emergency meeting of the Security Council, Ukrainian envoy Sergiy Kyslytsya said, “It is the responsibility of this body to stop the war. So I call on every one of you to do everything possible to stop the war.”

Defending Russia’s decision to take military action in the Donbas region, the Russian envoy to the UN Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya said “the root of today’s crisis around Ukraine is the actions of Ukraine itself.”

Nebenzya said that the Russian operation is aimed to protect residents in eastern Ukraine. (ANI)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, announced the country’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday and added that Ukrainian cities are under strikes.

“Putin has just launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Peaceful Ukrainian cities are under strikes. This is a war of aggression. Ukraine will defend itself and will win. The world can and must stop Putin. The time to act is now,” Kuleba tweeted.

This tweet comes less than an hour after Putin announced a special “military operation” to protect Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

Defending Russia’s decision to take military action in the Donbas region, the Russian envoy to the UN Vasily Alekseevich Nebenzya, told UN Security Council “the root of today’s crisis around Ukraine is the actions of Ukraine itself.”

“The root of today’s crisis around Ukraine is the actions of Ukraine itself, who for many years were sabotaging its obligations under the (Minsk agreement),” said Nebenzya.

Nebenzya said that the Russian operation is aimed to protect residents in eastern Ukraine.

Condemning Russia’s “unprovoked and unjustified attack on Ukraine”, US President Joe Biden said that the premeditated war will bring a catastrophic loss of life.

“The prayers of the entire world are with the people of Ukraine tonight as they suffer an unprovoked and unjustified attack by Russian military forces. President Putin has chosen a premeditated war that will bring a catastrophic loss of life and human suffering,” Biden said in a White House statement.

Asserting that the US and its allies and partners will respond in a united and decisive way, Biden said that Russia alone is responsible for the death and destruction this attack will bring. The world will hold Russia accountable, he added.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres asked the Russian President to stop “attacking Ukraine” and give peace a chance,

Speaking at an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday night, the UN chief said, “The day was full of rumours and indications of an offensive against Ukraine was imminent.”

“I was wrong. And I would like not to be wrong again today,” he added. (ANI)