Month: March 2022

After two years, the Government of India revoked provisions of the Disaster Management Act for COVID containment measures, as per the order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday.

The order copy signed by Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla reads that after taking into consideration the overall improvement in the situation and preparedness of the Government to deal with the pandemic, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has taken a decision that there may not be any further need to invoke the provisions of the DM Act for COVID containment measures.

Accordingly, after the expiry of the existing Ministry of Home Affairs orders dated February 25, 2022, no further order may be issued by the MHA.

However, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) advisories on COVID containment measures, including the use of face masks and hand hygiene, will continue to guide the overall national response to the pandemic.

“I would like to mention that in view of the nature of the disease, we still need to remain watchful of the situation. Wherever any surge in the number of cases is observed, the States/UTs may consider taking prompt and proactive action at the local level, as advised by MOHFW from time to time,” the Home Secretary said in the order.

He also advised States and UTs to discontinue the issue of orders and guidelines under the DM Act.

“I would, therefore, advise all the States/UTs to consider appropriately discontinuing issue of orders and guidelines under the DM Act, 2005 for COVID containment measures. The States/UTs may continue to follow the SoPs/advisories that have been or are being issued by the MoHFW from time to time for COVID containment measures, vaccination and other related aspects, including observing COVID Appropriate Behaviour,” he said in the order.

Since March 24, 2020, on the direction of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the Ministry of Home Affairs has been issuing Orders and Guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, (DM Act) 2005, for the containment of COVID-19 in the country.

The Central Government, in close coordination with the State Governments and Union Territory Administrations (UTS), has taken various proactive measures to deal with the unprecedented global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The MHA order further reads that over the last 24 months, significant capacities have been developed for various aspects of management of the pandemic, such as diagnostics, surveillance, contact tracing, treatment and vaccination, hospital infrastructure and the general public has a much higher level of awareness on the COVID appropriate behaviour.

States and UTs have also developed their own capacities and systems and implemented their detailed State/UT specific plans for managing the pandemic, over the last seven weeks or so there has been a steep decline in the number of cases, it said.

The total caseload in the country stands at 23,913 only and the daily positivity rate has declined to 0.28 per cent. It is also worth mentioning that with the combined efforts, a total of 181.56 Cr vaccine doses have been administered. (ANI)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on Wednesday expressed condolences over the death of four children who allegedly died after eating toffees in Kushinagar.

According to Adityanath’s Office, the Chief Minister has given instructions for immediate assistance to the families of the victims and ordered a probe.

Four children died allegedly after eating toffees in Uttar Pradesh’s Kushinagar on Wednesday. After consuming the toffees, all four children had immediately fallen sick and were rushed to the district hospital where they died.

A police probe has been initiated and the cause of death is being investigated.

“The whole matter is being investigated. The guilty will not be spared at any cost. Further investigations will only clear out the doubt of witchcraft in the matter,” said Superintendent of Police, Sachindra Patel. (ANI)

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned till noon on Wednesday following a ruckus created by the Opposition parties against the rising cooking gas and fuel prices in the country.

This was the second consecutive day when the Upper House faced similar protest leading to adjournment.
The House was adjourned twice on Tuesday too in the first half of the day over rising prices of fuel across the country.

A ioint Opposition including Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena and Congress created pandemonium as the Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu rejected their plea to hold discussion over rising prices of cooking gas and petroleum products under Rule 267.

The Opposition party members raised slogans against the government and showed placards written as “Mahgai Ki Maar” (impact of inflation).

Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav said that “everything has become expensive”.

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said, “I gave a note under 267 to conduct a debate over rising prices of cooking gas and petroleum products”.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha Chairman said he cannot allow discussion during Zero Hour as he has already accepted 24 important submissions linked to it.

Naidu said that the discussion sought by the Opposition party members can be allowed later in the day.

As the Opposition party MPs did not consider Chairman’s request to allow the functioning of the House and begin the Zero Hour, Naidu adjourned the House till 12.

The ruckus started soon after the papers were laid on the table.

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise per litre for the second consecutive day across the country on Wednesday.

Petrol and diesel prices were increased by 80 paise a litre in the national capital. The petrol will be sold at Rs 97.01 per litre while it would be Rs Rs 88.27 for diesel today.

It was in November when the country saw the last fuel price surge. (ANI)

The construction of the road leading to the China border in the Lipulekh area of Dharchula in Uttarakhand is in the final stages, said the Border Road Organisation (BRO) on Tuesday.

The construction work of the road was inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in 2020 through virtual mode.
Colonel NK Sharma of the BRO told ANI, “The BRO is constantly focusing on last-mile connectivity. The road will reach the foothills of Kailash Mansarovar.”

Dharchula is a town in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. It is situated at an elevation of 940 metres above sea level.

In 2021, the BRO had said that it has constructed 24 bridges and three roads in four states and two Union Territories, including the road construction in Dharchula.

Dharchula was badly affected due to the cloud burst in Uttarakhand last year.

In August 2021, a motorway connecting Dharchula to the China border in Uttarakhand was closed for 20 days due to damage, causing a lot of trouble to locals as well as Army personnel.

The Central government in recent years has accorded priority to the infrastructure development in the areas near the international borders. (ANI)

In view of a proposed protest march by the Ahir community, the security measures were strengthened by the police from Kherki Dhaulla toll to Hero Honda chowk of National Highway 48 on Wednesday.

The Delhi to Gurugram route was diverted because of the protest. The protestors will hit the roads with their demand to introduce Ahir Regiment in the Indian Army.
Indian Army has several caste-based regiments, and the protestors are demanding a separate regiment for their representation. Sanyukt Ahir Regiment Morcha, which includes Ahir community leaders from south Haryana, has organised the protests.

Earlier, the Gurugram police in an official statement released the alternatives on the said route between 7 am to 5 pm for March 23.

“Traffic from Delhi is advised to take alternate routes via Golf Course Road and Sohna Road. All heavy traffic at Hero Honda chowk would be diverted towards Subhash chowk/Pataudi road,” tweeted the Gurugram traffic police. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on Martyrs’ Day (Shaheed Diwas) today and said their passion to die for the motherland will always inspire the countrymen.

The three freedom fighters were hanged to death by Britishers on March 23, 1931, in the Lahore conspiracy case.

PM Modi tweeted in Hindi, “Tributes to the immortal sons of Mother India, Veer Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru on Martyrs’ Day. Their passion to die for the motherland will always inspire the countrymen. Long live India!”

March 23 is observed as Shaheed Diwas to pay tribute to Indian revolutionaries Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who were hanged by the British Government in 1931. The trio was found guilty of the murder of deputy police superintendent JP Saunders in 1928, to avenge the death of Lala Lajpat Rai. Bhagat Singh was 23, Rajguru was 22 and Sukhdev was 23 when they were hanged to death at Lahore Central Jail.

On the occasion of Shaheed Diwas, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate Biplobi Bharat Gallery at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata at 6 PM via video conferencing,

Meanwhile, the newly-elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab has declared Bhagat Singh’s death anniversary on March 23 as a state holiday. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had declared about the state holiday in the Assembly and requested people to visit his ancestral village Khatkar Kalan in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district. It may be noted that the swearing-in ceremony of CM Mann took place at Khatkar Kalan on March 16.

After an unprecedented win in the recently concluded Punjab elections, Bhagwant Mann had said that in all the government offices in the state, there will be only portraits of Bhagat Singh and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. (ANI)

An Air Vice Marshal from the Air Force headquarters is carrying out a detailed investigation into the accidental firing of the tactical BrahMos supersonic cruise missile which landed in Pakistan on March 9.

Government sources told ANI that the detailed probe by the Air Force officer (equivalent to Major General in the Army) is still going on but prima facie, a Group Captain-rank officer is being seen as blameworthy.
The officer was in-charge of the mobile command post of the missile system when the accidental firing happened during a Command Air Staff Inspection (CASI) at its home base.

However, the sources said the probe would be finalised in a time-bound manner and final details would be known only after that.

The sources said the AVM probing the incident is highly qualified and is in-charge of operations in the Air Force headquarters.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on March 15 had stated in Parliament that a high-level probe has been ordered into the incident involving the accidental launch of a missile that landed in Pakistan.

“A missile was unfortunately accidentally launched on March 9. The incident occurred during a routine inspection. We later came to know that it had landed in Pakistan,” he had informed Rajya Sabha.

Making it clear that the Indian missile system is extremely trustworthy and secure, the Defence Minister had stated that Indian armed forces are experienced in handling such systems.

Pakistan has been trying to rake up the issue of accidental missile firing at the international stage without realising that the BrahMos missile is just a tactical system and was unarmed at the time of the incident.

The missile also did not cause any major damage to property or any loss of life in the Mian Channu town of Pakistan. India has also regretted the incident. (ANI)

With 1,778 fresh COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, active cases in India declined further to 23,087 said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

For the fourth consecutive day, the daily cases were below the 2000-mark. The country’s active cases now comprise 0.06 per cent of the total infections. The cumulative COVID-19 tally in the country is now at 4,30,12,749.

The death toll has climbed to 5,16,543, with 33 daily fatalities, while the recoveries have surged to 4,24,70,515 with 2,542 recoveries in the last 24 hours.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.74 per cent and the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent.

The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.28 per cent while the weekly positivity rate was at 0.39 per cent, the health ministry said.

A total of 5,68,471 COVID-19 tests were conducted in India in the last 24 hours. India has so far conducted over 78.36 crore cumulative tests.

The cumulative doses administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive have exceeded 181.56 crore. (ANI)

The 21-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal on Tuesday announced that he has suffered a stress fracture in one of his ribs.

The Spaniard further said that he will be out of action for four to six weeks due to the fracture.

Nadal enjoyed a personal-best start to the season, going 20-0 before suffering his first loss, which came in the Indian Wells final on Sunday against Taylor Fritz.

“Hi everyone, I wanted to let you know that I’m back in Spain and I went straight to see my medical team for tests after the Indian Wells final, which I played in discomfort,” Nadal tweeted in Spanish. “I have a stress fracture in one of my ribs and I will be out for 4 to 6 weeks. It’s not good news and I didn’t expect this. I am devastated and sad because after such a good start to the season I have had.”

“Now is a very important time of the year for me and I had a very good feeling and good results. Well, I have always had that spirit of fighting and overcoming and what I will do is be patient and work hard after my recovery. Once again I would like to thank everyone for their support,” he added.

The lefty has won three titles this season, including his record 21st Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open. On Monday, he moved up to No. 3 in the ATP Rankings. (ANI)

At least eleven people were killed after a fire broke out in a scrap shop in Hyderabad’s Bhoiguda on Wednesday.

As per Gandhi Nagar Station House Officer (SHO) Mohan Rao, out of the 12 people, one person survived.

“A total of 12 members were inside the scrap shop. Bodies of 11 labourers have been shifted to Gandhi hospital,” he said.

The deceased labourers hail from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the police said.

Rao further informed that although the reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained, “a short circuit could be the reason for the fire.”

The fire has been doused. “DRF reached the spot to douse the fire,” he added.

The investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI)