Month: April 2022

Bollywood’s fashion queen Sonam Kapoor Ahuja, who’s going to be a mother soon, was back on sets on Wednesday, said the actor in her latest social media post.

On Wednesday, the ‘Raanjhanaa’ star took to her Instagram handle and shared a stunning selfie of her getting back to the working mode. In her Instagram story, she wrote, “Back on set……”

In the picture, the 36-year-old star looked radiant, as she flaunted her pregnancy glow. She could be seen donning a neutral-shade printed outfit; her long wavy hairs were clipped. Sonam’s bronze nude makeup look complimented the entire look.

On March 21, in a social media post, Sonam announced that she and her husband Anand Ahuja will be welcoming their first child this fall.

She also shared a few images in which she could be seen cradling her baby bump while lying on the couch with Anand.

For the unversed, the duo had tied the knot back in 2018, in a traditional wedding ceremony, in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, on the work front, Sonam has a crime thriller titled ‘Blind’ in her kitty. (ANI)

The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday said that it has released Rs 2.78 lakh crore GST compensation to the states for the year 2020-21 and “nothing is pending for the year”.

Further, the Ministry, in a press release, said that the Centre has released Rs 7.35 lakh crore and compensation of Rs 78,704 crore pending only for the year 2021-22.

“At the time of the introduction of GST, the Constitution amendment provided that the Parliament, by law shall provide compensation to States for a period of five years for loss of revenue due to introduction of GST,” the release stated.

Accordingly, the GST Compensation to States Act was legislated which provides for the release of compensation against 14 per cent year-on-year growth over revenues in 2015-16 from taxes subsumed in GST.

This compensation cess is credited to the compensation fund and as per the Act, all compensation is paid out of the fund. Presently, cess is levied on items like pan masala, tobacco, coal and cars.

Compensation of about Rs 49,000 crore has been released for 2017-18 from the fund, which increased to Rs 83,000 crore for 2018-19 and further to Rs 1.65 lakh crore in 2019-20. For these three years, almost Rs 3 lakh crore compensation was released to States.

However, the compensation requirement increased substantially during 2020-21 due to impact of Covid on revenues.

To ensure that States have adequate and timely resources to combat Covid and related issues, Centre borrowed Rs 1.1 lakh crore in 2020-21 and Rs 1.59 lakh crore in 2021-22 and passed it on to States on a back-to-back basis.

During 2021-22, Centre ensured that the release of this amount of Rs 1.59 lakh crore was front loaded to ensure that States have adequate resources in the earlier part of the year.

Taking into account this loan, Rs 2.78 lakh crore of compensation has been released to States for the year 2020-21 itself and nothing is pending for the year.

Including the assistance released on back-to-back basis, Rs 7.35 lakh crore has been released to States till now and, currently, only for the year 2021-22, compensation of Rs 78,704 crore is pending due to inadequate balance in the fund, which is equivalent to compensation of four months.

Normally, compensation for ten months of April-January of any financial year is released during that year and the compensation of February-March is released only in the next financial year. As explained earlier, compensation of eight out of ten months of 2021-22 has already been released to States.

The pending amount will also be released as and when the amount from cess accrues in the compensation fund. (ANI)

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh released Rs 4.36 crore in favour of 20 Police District heads of UT for conducting Bharat Darshan tour programme.

Police Headquarters Jammu and Kashmir under the leadership of the Director General of Police, J&K Dilbag Singh is continuously providing funds for organizing various Civic Action Programmes at UT, Zone, Range and Districts Levels for conducting different social, sports, and cultural activities for general public particularly for the youth of J&K.

As a part of this effort, the DGP J&K vide Police Headquarters Order No. 1492 of 2022 has released an amount of Rs 4.36 crore in favour of 20 Police District heads of UT for conducting Bharat Darshan tour programme.

Under this initiative, a group of 100 youth from each district of J&K will be sent to different cities of the country and the tour will be covered by air. The programme is aimed to enrich the knowledge of youth by visiting historical places and other modern marvels of India, read a statement from Police Media Centre PHQ, J&K.

Under this tour programme, a group of youth from Jammu, Samba will be visiting Delhi and Bengaluru and the group from Kathua, Ramban will be visiting Delhi and Mumbai. Similarly, a group of youth from Udhampur and Reasi will be visiting Delhi and Kolkata, and the group from Rajouri and Poonch will be visiting Delhi and Hyderabad, a group of youth from Doda and Kishtwar will be visiting Delhi and Chennai.

A group from Srinagar and Ganderbal will be visiting Delhi and Kolkata, and from Budgam and Bandipora will be visiting Delhi and Mumbai. A group of youth from Baramulla including PD Sopore and Kupwara including PD Handwara will be visiting Delhi and Chennai, the group from Anantnag and Pulwama including PD Awantipora will be visiting Delhi and Bangalore and a group of youth from Shopian and Kulgam will be visiting Delhi and Hyderabad.

As per the order Rs 20.40 lakh each have been released for Jammu and Samba, Rs 21.90 lakh each have been released for Kathua and Ramban, Rs 23.40 lakh each have been released for Udhampur and Reasi.

Similarly, Rs 17.50 lakh each have been released for Rajouri and Poonch, and Rs 20 lakh each for Doda and Kishtwar. Rs 22.30 lakh each have been released for Srinagar and Ganderbal and Rs 22.70 lakh each for Budgam and Bandipora.

An amount of Rs 24.20 lakh each has been released for Baramulla including PD Sopore, Kupwara including PD Handwara, Anantnag and Pulwama including Awantipora. Rs 21.40 lakh each have been released for Shopian and Kulgam under this order.

Pertinent to mention here that Jammu and Kashmir Police under its Civic Action Programme has sent around 3000 youth from across the J&K on Bharat Darshan Tours from 2017 to 2021 to different stations and cities. (ANI)

The India Meteorological Department on Wednesday predicted heatwave conditions in large parts of the country for at least the next five days. A ‘yellow alert’ has also been sounded for Delhi.

“Heatwave conditions over East, Central and Northwest India during next five days,” IMD said.
The national capital recorded the highest temperature of 44.2 degrees Celsius at Siri Fort Complex on Wednesday.

Speaking to ANI, IMD scientist RK Jenamani said that northern India will likely experience dust storm on April 29, causing a drop in temperature from May 1 onwards.

“Yellow alert in Delhi for the heatwave. There is a possibility of a dust storm in North India on April 29. The temperature will drop from 1st-2nd May. The eastern region will not see heatwave conditions from April 30,” he said.

As per the IMD, heatwave conditions in isolated pockets are very likely over Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar,

Jharkhand, interior Gangetic West Bengal, interior Odisha and northern parts of Gujarat State.

“Rise by about 2 degrees Celsius in maximum temperatures very likely over most parts of Northwest India during next three days and fall by about 2 degrees Celsius thereafter,” it added.

Notably, Northwest India this year recorded the hottest March in 122 years, with an average maximum temperature surpassing the previous record of 30.67 degrees Celsius in 2004. (ANI)

A day after Pakistan’s Karachi University witnessed a horrific blast, Habitan Bashir Baloch, the husband of suicide bomber Shari Baloch, was arrested by the security personnel.

This comes after three Chinese nationals, among the four persons were killed in a car explosion, carried out by a female suicide bomber Shari Baloch, inside the premises of the University of Pakistan in Karachi on Tuesday.

Following his arrest, Habitan Bashir Baloch is being interrogated. This is the first arrest in the blast case and was made after the scope of the investigation into the Karachi blast was expanded, reported ARY News on Wednesday.

According to the sources cited by the Pakistani media outlet, the Chinese ambassador to Pakistan was informed regarding the arrest of Habitan Bashir Baloch. In a session chaired by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah at Chief Minister’s House in Karachi, the Chinese envoy was briefed on the latest developments in regard to the blast.

Rana Sanaullah said in a statement that the federal government assured the Chinese embassy regarding full cooperation in the investigation into the KU suicide blast. As per him, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will summon a session to make National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) functional.

He also made comments on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and termed the project the future of Pakistan.

The investigators have found the association of some relatives of the Karachi University’s (KU) female suicide bomber Shari Baloch with the banned Baloch Students Organization (BSO).

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for this incident, has repeatedly threatened to launch attacks on Chinese companies and citizens in Pakistan, the newspaper said.

The BLA attacked the Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018 and staged a suicide attack near the Gwadar Port in August 2021, injuring a Chinese national. “It can be said that several serious terrorist attacks against Chinese citizens are linked to this group,” the editorial said.

According to the Chinese Communist party-backed daily, Pakistan has strengthened the protection of Chinese nationals but failed to address the root causes of the problem. (ANI)

To incorporate the changes due to birth, death and migration, there is a need to update the National Population Register (NPR) again, according to the 2020-21 annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) released on Wednesday.
The report read that the government decided to update the NPR database in the entire country except the state of Assam along with the Houselisting Phase of Census 2021, from April to September 2020, as per the convenience of the State/UT governments.

Due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the work of NPR updation and other related field activities have been postponed until further orders.

The government prepared an NPR of all the ‘usual residents’ in the country in 2010 by collecting specific information about each resident. The NPR is prepared under various provisions of the Citizenship Rules, 2003, framed under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the report read.

For updating the NPR database, a three-pronged approach would be adopted which includes self-updating wherein it is proposed to allow residents to update their own data fields after following some authentication protocols on a web portal. The approach also includes updating NPR data in paper format and mobile mode.

A pre-test on NPR update was undertaken in the selected areas of all the states/UTs except Assam along with the pre-test of Census. The demographic and other particulars of each family and individual are to be collected/updated during the updation exercise of NPR. No documents or biometrics would be collected during the updation, the report read.

The Union government has already approved the expenditure of Rs 3941.35 crore for updation of NPR.

In 2015, a few fields such as name, gender, date and place of birth, place of residence and father’s and mother’s name were updated and Aadhaar, Mobile and Ration card numbers were collected.

Notably, protests were witnessed against the National Population Register (NPR), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in different parts of the country in 2019. (ANI)

European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said on Wednesday that the European Union had delivered 34 tonnes of food and medical supplies in humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

“Today, another Humanitarian Air Bridge landed in Kabul, carrying 34 tonnes of nutritional items and medical supplies,” Lenarcic said on Twitter, as per Sputnik News Agency.
He added that it was the 15th humanitarian delivery carried out by the EU since August 2021 and called it “a sign of the EU’s continued commitment to support Afghan people in these challenging times.”

Taliban vowed to distribute the aid transparently. “The aid will be distributed through five government institutions. There will be transparency and we will distribute the aid fairly. Unfortunately, there are problems with aid distributed by international organizations,” Mujahid said, according to TOLOnews.

Highlighting the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres earlier said that nine million people are at risk of famine in the troubled country.

Taking to Twitter, Guterres said that the economy of Afghanistan has effectively collapsed and called on donors to fund the country so that the UN and its partners can continue to deliver lifesaving aid.

The situation of human rights in Afghanistan has worsened since the collapse of the Afghan government and the Taliban’s return to power in August last year.

Although the fighting in the country has ended, serious human rights violations continue unabated. (ANI)

Lebanese President Michel Aoun on Wednesday called for stronger security efforts against the risks of a deteriorating security situation amid a nationwide economic collapse.

“We have been witnessing some unacceptable attacks which warn of further deterioration in the future, so we gave directions to security forces to increase their efforts and limit any security violations,” Aoun was quoted by a presidency statement as saying.

The president added that security agencies should assume their full responsibilities in deterring any practices that jeopardize security stability in the country.

According to a report released by The Monthly, a quarterly online magazine, Lebanon has witnessed an increase in theft crimes by 306 per cent in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of the pre-crisis year 2019, as the economic crisis has plunged more than 70 per cent of the population into poverty. (ANI/Xinhua)

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved a Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) project for upgrading 2G mobile services to 4G at security sites in Left Wing Extremism areas.

The project envisages upgrading 2,343 Left Wing Extremism Phase-I sites from 2G to 4G mobile services at an estimated cost of Rs 1,884.59 crore (excluding taxes and levies). This includes Operations and Maintenance (O&M) for five years. However, BSNL will maintain the sites for another five years at its own cost. The work will be awarded to BSNL because these sites belong to BSNL, according to an official release.
The cabinet also approved funding of operations and maintenance cost of LWE Phase-I 2G sites by BSNL for an extended period beyond the contractual period of five years at an estimated cost of Rs 541.80 crore. The extension will be up to 12 months from the date of approval by the cabinet or commissioning of 4G sites, whichever is earlier.

“Government chose BSNL for a prestigious project to indigenous 4G telecom equipment so as to achieve self-reliance in the telecom gear segment to fulfil domestic market needs apart from exporting to other markets. This 4G equipment will be deployed in this project also,” the release said.

The upgrading will enable better internet and data services in these LSW areas. It meets the requirements of the Ministry of Home Affairs and the state governments and shall also fulfil the communication needs of the security personnel deployed in these areas.

The proposal is in line with the goal of providing mobile connectivity in rural areas. In addition, delivery of various e-governance services, banking services, tele-medicine; tele-education etc through mobile broadband shall be possible in these areas, the release said. (ANI)

As COVID-19 cases have shown a rising trend across the country, an expert said that though the majority of cases have mild symptoms, but one must maintain caution.
Senior Pulmonologist at Apollo Hospital in Delhi, Dr Nikhil Modi said that COVID cases increased in the last 10 days not only in the national capital but also in other cities. “But most of the cases are mild,” he added.

Suggesting taking precaution and implementing a strategy to curb the spread of the virus, Dr Modi said that masks must be worn. “If cases continuously rise, then more precautions need to be taken,” he added.

Dr Modi also said that those infected with the COVID-19 are showing digestive problems like diarrhoea.

“This time people are coming up with diarrhoea but symptoms are milder now. Very less hospitalisation has been seen. The people who come under Comorbidities are reporting hospitalisation,” he said.

Dr Modi also stressed on the ongoing vaccination of children against the virus as they might act as carriers of the virus.

“It’s a very important step because they are the ones who aren’t vaccinated. So they can act as a carrier of COVID virus in their bodies and multiplication of the virus can be fast because people weren’t vaccinated and risk of newer mutations can also increase,” he said.

India has been reporting over 2,000 daily infections for the past few days. On Wednesday, India logged 2,927 cases and 2,483 cases on Tuesday. (ANI)