Month: April 2022

No major global problem can be solved without India and the country is an important partner of Germany, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office Dr Tobias Lindner has said.

Speaking to ANI on the sidelines of an event here, he said India and Germany will boost their cooperation in technology, education, security and climate change.

“We want to have cooperation in technology, education, security and climate change with India. No major problem can be solved without India. India is such an important partner. Looking forward to deepening Germany-India relations,” Linder said.

The remarks of the German leader come days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Germany.

Apart from Germany, the Prime Minister will also visit Demark and France during his first foreign visit this year from May 2 to 4.

In Berlin, Prime Minister will hold bilateral talks with Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany, and the two leaders will co-chair the sixth edition of the India-Germany Inter-Governmental Consultations (IGC).

The biennial IGC is a unique dialogue format that also sees the participation of several ministers from both sides. This will be Prime Minister’s first IGC with Chancellor Scholz, and also the first such government-to-government consultations of the new German government, which assumed office in December 2021.

During the visit, Prime Minister and Chancellor Scholz would also jointly address a Business Event. Prime Minister will also address and interact with the Indian community in Germany. (ANI)

The death of 11 persons due to electrocution during a temple festival in Thanjavur district of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday morning has left everyone saddened. The entire nation, including members of the Indian film fraternity, including Kamal Haasan and R. Madhavan, has paid their heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.

“Oh God .. Deeply saddened and heart broken. This is so tragic. Heartfelt condolences to the families of the bereaved. Cannot imagine what they are going thru,” Madhavan tweeted.

11 people were killed after a temple chariot came in contact with a high voltage electric wire during the chariot procession, police said adding that 15 people were injured in the incident.

Kamal Haasan also expressed his grief over the unfortunate accident on Twitter, urging the district administration, police, and local staff to be extra careful while organising events.

“I extend my condolences to the families of the victims. Also, events like these have to be properly organised by the district administration, police department, local staff…so that mishaps could be prevented,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of victims who died due to the Thanjavur accident. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called upon opposition-ruled states to follow the Centre’s decision by reducing taxes on petrol and diesel to provide relief to the people from the price hike.

“In order to reduce the burden of rising petrol and diesel prices, the central government reduced the excise duty last November. We had urged the states too to reduce their taxes. Some states reduced the tax and provided benefits to the consumers but some didn’t do so,” said PM Modi.
Naming opposition parties ruled states, PM Modi said, “Maharashtra, West Bengal, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu did not follow the advice of Central Government and people in these states are burdened with price rise.”

“I request these states to do now what they should have done in November. By reducing the VAT you can lower the burden faced by the residents,” he added.

PM Modi made the following comments during his interactions with Chief Ministers of several states over rising cases of COVID-19.

The Central government in November had reduced excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 5 and Rs 10 respectively. Following the Center’s decision, 25 states and Union Territories, mostly ruled by BJP or their allies had reduced VAT on petrol and diesel to give relief to consumers. (ANI)

A massive fire broke out at North Delhi’s Bhalswa landfill on Tuesday.

Over 10 fire tenders are at the spot to douse the flames. According to Delhi Fire Service officials, smoke was reported around 5 PM that later spread into a massive fire.

“We received a call at around 5.47 pm. Initially, there was only smoke but later due to wind fire erupted. 12 fire tenders are present at the spot. Our aim is to ensure that fire does not spread to residential areas,” said, CL Meena, Assistant Divisional Officer, Delhi Fire Service.

Further details are awaited. (ANI)

Following Delhi High Court’s order, nurses of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) called off the strike on Tuesday night.

“We are accepting the decision of the Delhi High Court. We have been asked to appear in court on Wednesday. We will do so and based on the decision of the court, we will chalk our future course of action,” said a representative of the AIIMS nurses union.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed the AIIMS nurses union to ensure that the employees including nurses who are on strike join duties immediately.

On Tuesday AIIMS moved Delhi HC seeking direction to the Nurses Union and any staff of AIIMS to desist from resorting to strike or in any manner disrupting the general functioning of the petitioner’s institute and hospital.

The bench of Justice Yashwant Varma on Tuesday directed Nurses Union to ensure that its workers including nursing officers immediately start working and issued notice to the nurses union. The court listed the matter for a detailed hearing on Wednesday morning while hearing a petition moved by the AIIMS administration against the ongoing strike by nurses.

In response to the suspension of the President of AIIMS Nurses Union, Harish Kajila, the nursing staff of the hospital on Tuesday went on an indefinite strike. The nurses union has demanded the immediate revocation of Kajla’s suspension.

In a letter addressed to the AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria, the Union wrote, “In response to your unilateral decision to suspend Harish Kajila, president of AllMS Nurses Union, without even citing proper reasons, the union called an emergency executive meeting and took the decision to go on indefinite strike from 8 AM on April 26 demanding immediate revocation of suspension of Harish Kumar Kajla and stopping of all kinds of retaliative measures against union executives and Union members of main operation theatre (OT).”

“The union has always been receptive and open to expressing our genuine concerns and version throughout this issue. But unfortunately, we were neither called, nor contacted via any communication which forced us to go on an indefinite strike to safeguard the basic rights of our members. We would like to remind you that the undemocratic AllMS administration will be solely responsible for the consequences if any,” the letter read.

On April 23, AIIMS witnessed a dispute between the nursing officer Harish Kajila and the Resident Doctors Association. The nursing staff were protesting over the lack of manpower and late duty hours in the main operation theatre. (ANI)

After 1,000 years, a rare and unique astronomical event will take place during the last week of April when four planets including Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will align in a straight line in the eastern sky for around one hour before the sunrise, said Subhendu Pattnaik, Deputy Director, Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar.

Speaking to ANI, Subhendu Pattnaik said, “During the last week of April 2022, a rare and unique planet alignment will occur, which is popularly known as ‘planet parade” Although there is no scientific definition for ‘planet parade’, it is being widely used in astronomy to denote an event that takes place when planets of the solar system line up in a row in the same area of the sky.”

Pattnaik further explained the three most common types of ‘planet parade’. He said

when planets line up on one side of the Sun as seen up above the plane of our solar system is termed as the first kind of planet parade. The alignment of three planets on one side of the Sun is very common and can be seen for many days in a year.

Similarly, the alignment of four planets occurs once a year while that of five planets occurs once in every nineteen years. The alignment of all eight planets occurs once in about 170 years.

“Secondly, when some planets appear in a small sector of the sky at the same time regardless of their visibility conditions, from Earth’s point of view we term the event also as a planet parade. A planet parade of this type last happened on April 18, 2002 and July 2020 when all planets of the Solar system that are visible to the naked eye lined up in a row in the evening sky,” said Pattnaik.

He said the third type of planet parade is on rare occasions where there are favourable conditions for observation of all or some of the planets. These events are also referred to as planet parades. Three planets can be simultaneously observed in the same part of the sky several times a year.

“During the last week of April 2022, a rare and unique planet parade will take place when Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn will line up in the eastern sky around one hour before sunrise. This will be a planet parade of the third kind as described above. The last such parade of these planets occurred in 947 AD around 1,000 years ago,” Pattnaik said.

“One hour before sunrise on April 26 and 27, the moon along with four planets will be visible within 30 degrees from the eastern horizon in a near-perfect straight line. If the conditions are right, one can see Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn in a line without the need for binoculars or telescopes. On April 30, the brightest planets – Venus and Jupiter – can be seen very close together. Venus will be 0.2 degrees south of Jupiter,” he added. (ANI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed his condolences over the death of 11 people due to electrocution during the chariot procession in Appar Swami Temple of Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur and also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin.

“Deeply pained by the mishap in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. My thoughts are with the bereaved families in this hour of grief. I hope that the injured recover soon,” the Prime Minister’s Office tweeted.
PM Modi announced an ex-gratia of Rs 2 lakh each to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the Thanjavur mishap and Rs 50,000 for the injured persons.

“An amount of Rs 2 lakh each from PMNRF would be given to the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to the mishap in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The injured would be given Rs 50,000,” PMO further said in a tweet.

An FIR has also been registered and an investigation has started in connection with deaths due to electrocution during the chariot procession in Tamil Nadu today.

“A total of 11 people have died. Three people died on the spot and seven died in the hospital. 15 people are injured and have been taken to Thanjavur Medical College for treatment. FIR has been filed and an investigation into the matter has started,” said V. Balakrishnan Inspector General of Police, Tiruchi Range.

The police official said that the incident occurred after the temple car came in contact with a high voltage power line and went up in flames.

“Prima facie it suggests that some high tension wire came in contact with the temple car (of chariot festival) during the annual chariot festival in the Kallimedu village,” said Balakrishnan.

“The temple car was negotiating a turn and faced some obstacle before being reversed when it came in contact with the overhead line,” he added. (ANI)

An FIR has been registered and an investigation has started in connection with deaths due to electrocution during the chariot procession in Appar Swami temple of Tamil Nadu’s Thanjavur on Wednesday.

“A total of 11 people have died. Three people died on the spot and seven died in the hospital. 15 people are injured and have been taken to Thanjavur Medical College for treatment. FIR has been filed and an investigation into the matter has started,” said V. Balakrishnan Inspector General of Police, Tiruchi Range.

The police official said that the incident occurred after the temple car came in contact with a high voltage power line and went up in flames.

“Prima facie it suggests that some high tension wire came in contact with the temple car (of chariot festival) during the annual chariot festival in the Kallimedu village,” said Balakrishnan.

“The temple car was negotiating a turn and faced some obstacle before being reversed when it came in contact with the overhead line,” he added.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

The price band for the much-awaited Initial Public Offering (IPO) of India’s largest insurance company, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), has been set at Rs 902-Rs 949 per share.

A discount of Rs 45 has been set for retail and employees, while the bid lot size has been fixed for 15 shares per lot, sources told ANI.

According to the sources, LIC has decided to give a discount to policyholders of the company. “A discount of Rs 60 per share has been set for the policyholders of LIC.”

On April 23, 2022, the LIC board gave its nod to cut down the issue size to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent due to the market condition. A proposal to reduce the size of LIC’s IPO to 3.5 per cent from 5 per cent proposed in its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP) was tabled and approved at a board meeting held on Saturday.

A total of 22.13 crore shares will be offered in this IPO. Out of the total shares, 10 per cent or 2.21 crore shares are reserved for the policyholders.

LIC’s IPO is to open on May 4 and close on May 9, sources told ANI.

Last month, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the initial public offering proposal of the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).

The company has filed the Draft Red Herring Prospectus with the market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

It has time until May 12 to launch the IPO. If it is not done by May 12, the company would be required to file fresh papers with the market regulator.

The government had initially wanted to list LIC in the last financial year that ended March 31 but had to delay the sale after the Russia-Ukraine war triggered a market rout. (ANI)