Month: January 2023

India's G20 Focus

G20 Sherpa Launches 5-City Water Campaign ‘Blue Initiative’

By LokMarg

India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Sunday flagged off the 5-city India chapter of the Run Blue initiative of water advocate Mina Guli.

Speaking on occasion, Kant said, “Huge amount of transformation and water. I am here, want to compliment Mina Guli for this huge initiative. PM is showing political will in driving India’s transformation as a water-consuming nation. She is driving it at a citizen level, showing that as a citizen, she is going to contribute to water. This is immense.”

He said that she runs a Thirst Foundation, and has been a great leader at WEF as a young global leader.

“To drive this citizen’s commitment for water, we are all here to support her,” he added.

“I would also like to compliment Bayer because it has to innovate and is innovating in the field and innovating through research and development so that we are able to through agricultural crops through its new seeds which are lesser water-consuming,” he said.

Therefore, its a commitment for water. This is a great partnership between a marathon runner and a private sector company Bayer and all of us from the government. It is a partnership of all responsible people for the sake of water.

“I wish Mina Guli luck and all those who are running. We fully support you and we wish you all the very best and we continue to involve you in a very big way in all our water missions,” he added.

Australian ultra-marathon runner and environmental activist Mina Guli wants to run 200 marathons around the world until the start of the UN Water Conference in March 2023. Bayer wants to help tackle the water crisis and is joining her campaign RUN BLUE as a campaign partner. (ANI)

Ganga Vilas To Culminate Cruise On Feb 28 In Assam

Modi To Flag Off ‘World’s Longest River Cruise’ In Varanasi

By LokMarg

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the world’s longest river cruise with MV Ganga Vilas on January 13 from Varanasi, Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said.

According to the Minister, the luxury cruise will cover a distance of more than 3,200 kms across 27 river systems in 5 states in India and Bangladesh.

“Under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we are exploring the immense wealth that our rich river system has to offer. This avenue of sustainable development via inland waterways has received a tremendous boost as efforts to augment cargo traffic as well as passenger tourism has borne fruit with encouraging results. The MV Ganga Vilas cruise is a step towards unlocking the huge potential river tourism in the country has to offer,” Sonowal said.

The Minister exuded confidence that the country’s rich heritage will get further transcended in the global stage as tourists will be able to experience the spiritual, the educational, the well-being, the cultural as well as the richness of the biodiversity of India.

“From Kashi to Sarnath, from Majuli to Mayong, from Sunderbans to Kaziranga, this cruise packs an experience of a lifetime. I believe that this wonderful initiative, under the guidance of Prime Minister Modi ji, is the beginning of a new era in river cruise tourism in India and strengthening our government’s commitment to enabling Act East, both through policy and practice,” he said.

According to an official statement, the 51 days cruise is planned with visits to 50 tourist spots including World Heritage Sights, National Parks, river Ghats, and major cities like Patna in Bihar, Sahibganj in Jharkhand, Kolkata in West Bengal, Dhaka in Bangladesh and Guwahati in Assam.

“The MV Ganga Vilas vessel is 62 meters in length, 12 meters in width and comfortably sails with a draft of 1.4 meters. It has three decks, 18 suites on board with a capacity of 36 tourists, with all the amenities to provide a memorable and luxurious experience for the tourists,” the statement said.

“The ship follows sustainable principles at its core as it is equipped with pollution-free mechanisms and noise control technologies. The maiden voyage of MV Ganga Vilas will witness 32 tourists from Switzerland relishing the Varanasi to Dibrugarh journey. The expected date of arrival of MV Ganga Vilas in Dibrugarh is on 1st March, 2023,” it added.

The itinerary of MV Ganga Vilas has been curated to showcase the rich heritage of India with stopovers in spots of historical, cultural and religious importance.

The statement further said that the MV Ganga Vilas will stop at Sarnath from the famous “Ganga Arti” in Varanasi.

“It will also cover Mayong, known for its Tantric craft, and Majuli, the largest river island and hub of Vaishnavite culture in Assam. The travelers will also visit the Bihar School of Yoga and Vikramshila University, allowing them to soak in the rich Indian heritage in spirituality and knowledge. The cruise will also traverse through the biodiversity-rich World Heritage Sites of Sunderbans in Bay of Bengal delta, famous for Royal Bengal Tigers, as well as Kaziranga National Park, famous for one horn rhino,” the statement said.

Highlighting the need to develop river cruise tourism in the country, Sonowal said that the development of this sector would generate employment opportunity in the hinterland.

“The government is making capital expenditure to build capacity for the success of river cruise tourism in the country. He said the river tourism circuits will be developed and integrated with the existing tourism circuits for maximum exposure and rapid development of this sector in the country,” he said.

According to the statement, the global River cruise market has grown at ~5 per cent over the last few years and is expected to constitute ~37 per cent of cruise market by 2027. Europe has been driving growth with approx. 60 per cent share of river cruise vessels in the world.

“In India, 8 river cruise vessels are operational between Kolkata and Varanasi while cruise movement is also operation on National Waterways 2 (Brahmaputra). Tourism activities like river rafting, camping, sightseeing, kayaking and so on are operation in many spots in the country. The construction of 10 passengers terminals across NW2 are going on which will further bolster the prospect of river cruise. At present, four river cruise vessels are operational in NW2 while it is operating in limited capacity in NW3 (West Coast Canal), NW8, NW 4, NW 87, NW 97, and NW 5,” the statement said. (ANI)

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Pakistan Mehangai

Pakistan’s Poor Suffers As Prices Of Basic Food Items Surge

By LokMarg

Factors such as higher import and transportation costs, crop availability, demand and supply gap, hoarding, exchange rate issues, and the ongoing economic crisis have resulted in uncontrolled inflation in Pakistan, even on essential food items, the Dawn reported, adding that the condition was rendered far worse after the floods that hit the country last year.

According to the report, the ballooning inflation is largely down to Karachi’s zero production of food grain and dependence on Sindh’s interior areas.

The report quoted data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), pointing out that the price of 20kg flour in Karachi zoomed to a record high of PKR 2,800 to PKR 3,000. The same cost PKR 1,295 in Islamabad, Lahore, and Gujranwala and PKR 1,300 to PKR 2,880 in Larkana, Sukkur, and Hyderabad.

The country is facing a similar price spiral when it comes to pulses as well, as in Quetta, the rate of Moong is between Rs300-310 per kig as compared to Rs210-280 per kg in other cities. The price of gram has reached Rs280-290 per kg in Quetta as compared to Rs220-260 per kg in Karachi and Rs200-250 in other cities, according to the Dawn report.

Potatoes are currently priced at PKR 35 to 90 per kg, while onion prices range between PKR 180 and PKR 220 per kg. Even loose milk in Larkana is priced dearly at Rs180-200 per liter as compared to Rs180-190 in Karachi, Rs150-180 in Peshawar, Rs110-120 in Bahawalpur, Rs170-180 in Islamabad, Rs120 in Sialkot and Rs130-160 in Lahore.

The prices of essential food items have only gone further beyond the reach of the common man after the devastating floods that hit Pakistan in August, last year.

Lower quantities are arriving in the markets from producing areas, that too at higher prices, the report said, adding that governmental efforts to import onions from other countries also failed to bring the prices down.

According to the Dawn, there’s also been a rise in prices of non-vegetarian essentials in Karachi, with mutton going at Rs1,500-1,800 per kg as against Rs1,100-1,500 in Peshawar and Rs1,250 in Larkana.

The Dawn further states that a live broiler chicken is priced at Rs460 per kg in Khuzdar, as compared to Rs410-450 in Quetta and Rs390-420 in Karachi. In Peshawar and Islamabad, the going rate for a broiler chicken is Rs375 and Rs390-400, respectively.

The Dawn quoted Karachi Wholesalers Grocers Group chairman Rauf Ibrahim as saying that the port city is the hub of imported pulses, which is later transported to mills for finishing and then to various cities, thus causing a huge price difference due to transportation charges. The same happens when local crops arrive at the mills and are then distributed to various areas, with varying transportation charges.

The price spiral of wheat and flour is turning worse with every passing day, especially in Karachi, Balochistan, and Peshawar, the report said.

As fresh harvest is still two months away, the government should allow the private sector to import wheat in huge quantities to control rising flour prices, the report added, quoting Ibrahim. (ANI)

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Ananya’s Family Reunion, Check Out Pics

By LokMarg

Bollywood actor Ananya Panday on Sunday, shared a glimpse of a family dinner date.

Taking to Instagram, Ananya treated fans with new pictures.
Sharing the pictures, she wrote, “There’s no renion without U (my friend had written this for our class reunion and I found it damn funny don’t come @ me for the bad joke.”

In the first picture, Ananya was seen posing with her sister Rysa and her mother Bhavana.

The Panday sisters were seen enjoying a dinner date. In the picture, Ananya struck pose for the camera while her little sis seemed busy on her phone.

Then comes the adorable family picture. Chunky Panday was spotted smiling and wearing printed shirt.

As soon as the pictures were uploaded, the actor’s fans and industry friends dropped their comments.

Ananya’s mom Bhavana reacted with heart and amulet emojis.

The ‘Pati Patni Aur Woh’ actor celebrated New Year with her girl gang in Phuket, Thailand.

On the work front, Ananya was last seen action film ‘Liger’ alongside south superstar Vijay Deverakonda in a pan-India release. Produced by Karan Johar, the film though failed to impress the audience at the box office.

She will be next seen in the comedy film ‘Dream Girl 2’ alongside Ayushmann Khurrana. The film also stars Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav, Annu Kapoor, Manoj Joshi and Vijay Raaz in prominent roles and is all set to hit the theatres on July 7, 2023.

Apart from this, she also has Farhan Akhtar’s ‘Kho Gaye Hum Kahan’ opposite actors Siddhant Chaturvedi and Adarsh Gourav in her kitty. Helmed by the debutant director Arjun Varain, the official release date of the film is still awaited. (ANI)

Samantha Reveals Toughest Part Of Shooting For 'Shakuntalam' | Lokmarg

Samantha Reveals Toughest Part Of Shooting For ‘Shakuntalam’

By LokMarg

Actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu revealed the toughest part of shooting for ‘Shakuntalam’ and shared pictures from the training session.

Taking to Instagram, the ‘Oo Antava’ star treated fans with a video of her pet dog and behind-the-scenes picture from her upcoming movie sets.
Samantha was seen posing gracefully as her character in ‘Shakuntalam’ and flaunted her curves in the picture from a training session.

In the video, her pet dog Sasha could be seen lying on a couch.

Along with a post, she wrote a hilarious caption mentioning how grace is not either hers or Sasha’s thing.

The caption read, “The toughest part of #Shakuntalam was maintaining grace and posture while walking, talking, running… even crying! And grace is sooo not my thing. Had to take training sessions for it! Should have taken Sasha along… clearly so not her thing either! #LikeMotherLikeDaughter.”

Based on Kalidasa’s acclaimed Sanskrit play Abhijnana Shakuntalam, the film is written and directed by award-winning director Gunasekhar (Rudhramadevi) and produced by Neelima Guna and Dil Raju under the banner of Gunna Teamworks and Dil Raju Productions respectively. The film also features Dev Mohan as Dushyanta, the king of the Puru Dynasty.

‘Shaakuntalam’ revolves around the epic love story of Shakuntala and King Dushyant, portrayed by Yashoda star Samantha and Dev Mohan of Sufiyum Sujatayum fame, respectively. It will be out in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada.

The film will hit the theatres on February 17, 2023.

Samantha has been keeping a low profile ever since she was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Myositis.

A few months ago, Samantha revealed that she is diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called ‘Myositis’.

The 35-year-old diva broke the silence on her health update via her latest social media post.

She took to her Instagram handle and shared a picture of herself, sitting on a couch with an IV drip connected to her wrist.

She captioned the picture, “Your response to the ‘Yashodha’ trailer was overwhelming. It is this love and connection that I share with all of you, that gives me the strength to deal with the seemingly unending challenges that life throws at me. A few months back I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called Myositis. I was hoping to share this after it had gone into remission. But it is taking a little longer than I hoped. I am slowly realizing that we don’t always need to put up a strong front.” (ANI)

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ISYF Terrorist Lakhbir Planned 2021 Ludhiana Blast: NIA

By LokMarg

Lakhbir Singh Rode, a Pakistan-based International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) and Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) terrorist handler, had planned to execute Improvised Explosive Device blasts at various locations in Punjab including December 23, 2021, Ludhiana court complex blast case which claimed one person and injuries to six others, said NIA chargesheet.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet also states that Rode, in association with Pakistan-based smugglers, recruited India-based operatives to smuggle IEDs and to carry out blasts to cause maximum casualties and to strike terror among the general public in order to execute these plans.
In furtherance of the conspiracy to carry out IED blasts in Punjab, it further said, Rode, with the help of Zulfikar alias Pehalwan, a Pakistan based Cross-border Arms-Explosives-Narcotics smuggler, Harpreet Singh alias Happy Malaysia, Surmukh Singh alias Sammu, Dilbagh Singh and Rajanpreet Singh, formed a terror gang to carry out blasts and smuggle weapons into India.

Rode used the smuggling channels of Pakistan-based smuggler Zulfikar and his associates – Surmukh Singh and Harpreet Singh to deliver the IED to Gagandeep Singh who planted it to cause the blast in Ludhiana Court Complex and lost his life in the process.

The NIA filed the chargesheet against five accused in the Ludhiana court complex blast case on Saturday before a special NIA Court in Punjab’s Mohali.

Those named in the chargesheet are Gagandeep Singh, Surmukh Singh, Dilbag Singh, Rajanpreet Singh, and Zulfikar.

The accused persons chargesheeted under sections 120-B and 113 r/w 307,326, 436, 109 r/w 302 r/w 301 of Indian Penal Code, Sections 6 r/w 3, 4 Explosive Substance Act 1908, Sections 16, 18, 20 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Sections 4 Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984.

The case was initially registered on December 23, 2021, at Division -5 Police Station in Ludhiana Commissionerate, Punjab and re-registered by the NIA on January 13 last year. (ANI)

Experts Warn Of Covid Spike In Japan Amid Rise In Daily Cases

By LokMarg

Amid the rapid surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, a Japanese health expert has issued a stark warning and said the daily new coronavirus cases could spike after mid-January, possibly surpassing the previous record, NHK World reported.

Daily Covid tally could reach the Japanese government’s earlier projection of 4,50,000 nationwide, according to Toho University Professor Tateda Kazuhiro, who is on the government’s coronavirus advisory panel.
The Japanese broadcaster NHK said the figure is much higher than the country’s highest number in the seventh wave last summer.

Kazuhiro said frontline healthcare facilities are under increasing strain to prevent in-hospital infections, as many patients who had been hospitalized for other illnesses like strokes later tested positive for COVID-19.

On Friday, the Japanese health ministry confirmed 456 coronavirus-related deaths nationwide, the highest single-day toll in the country since the start of the pandemic. The earlier record was 420 on December 29, 2022.

Moreover, the Japanese professor warned that more people may die given the overburdened hospital situation unless the rise in infections is curbed. Additionally, Kazuhiro said that a simultaneous seasonal influenza outbreak is likely.

In the weekly epidemiological update released on January 4, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said globally, more than 3 million new cases and 10, 000 deaths have been reported in the week of December 26, 2022, to January 1, 2023.

“This represents a reduction in weekly cases and deaths of 22 percent and 12 percent, respectively,” WHO said.

Over the past month, more than 14.5 million cases and over 46 000 new fatalities were reported globally – an increase of 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively, compared to the previous period.

As of January 1, 2023, over 656 million confirmed cases and over 6.6 million deaths have been reported globally. (ANI)

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Delhi cold

Cold Wave, Dense Fog To Abate From Jan 10: IMD

By LokMarg

Delhiites will get a respite from the icy grip of winter as dense fog and cold wave, holding sway on Delhi-NCR and parts of north India, will abate from upcoming Tuesday, January 10, IMD said on Sunday.

“Tonight there will be a cold to severe cold wave over Delhi and the temperature will be around 3-4 degrees, some stations may record it as 2 degrees but from January 10 there will be no dense fog, no cold wave, maybe isolated fog will prevail but the cold wave will go,” India Meteorological Department senior scientist RK Jenamani told ANI.
Talking of the record-breaking biting cold, prevailing in Delhi-NCR, the Met scientist said, “Safdarjung temperature recorded the lowest temperature at 1.9 degrees Celcius, which is the lowest of the season. A severe cold wave is still prevailing in most places of Delhi, and it is recording very low temperatures for the last four days in the area.”

RK Jenamani said that the day temperature is also very low which is around 15-17 degrees Celsius in the national capital.

“Yesterday night, the dense fog also intensified in Delhi. At IGI airport severe fog remained from 2:30 am to 11:30 am, making it the longest fog of the season,” he said.

Taking note of other parts of India, Jenamani said, “the temperature marginally improved in Rajasthan, Punjab by 1-2 degrees Celsius but cold wave still remains.”

However, the IMD scientist underlined that Rajasthan’s Churu reached sub-zero temperature and settled at minus 0.5 degrees Celsius.

“North Madhya Pradesh’s Nowgong recorded 1 degree Celsius and is under the grip of severe cold wave. Uttar Pradesh witnessed severe cold waves but only in isolated places,” Jenamani said.

Notably, as per the forecast all the cold conditions prevailing will abate from January 10 night.

“The new Western Disturbances (WD), will be coming from January 10 night. All these conditions, dense fog, cold wave, and cold days, will abate from January 10 night,” the forecast expert said, adding that in response to the prevailing conditions the Met Office has issued red and orange alerts for the next 48 hours in several parts of the country.

“We have issued a red alert in Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and an Orange alert in Rajasthan, Bihar as these areas will be witnessing dense to very dense fog. He adds that people driving cars, should follow the speed limit and all the safety conditions should be followed,” he said. (ANI)

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Nepal: COVID-19 Negative Report Mandatory For All International Arrivals

By LokMarg

Nepal again has made the COVID-19 negative reports mandatory for all international passengers, the country’s national flag carrier announced on Sunday.

Issuing a notice to all the passengers, the national flag carrier Nepal Airlines said that passengers arriving from the international sector mandatorily must present COVID-19 international certificate or COVID-19 PCR negative report.
“We have come to this decision in wake of the rising COVID-19 cases worldwide,” Ganesh Kumar Ghimire, joint spokesperson at Nepal Airlines told ANI.

According to the official, the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) made this decision earlier on December 23, 2022.

“CAAN made the decision to mandatorily present the Covid-19 international certificate or PCR negative report. We have issued the notice as per the decision of the regulatory body,” Ghimire added.

Closed since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, Nepal from March 10 last year had opened the door for tourists removing all pre-arrival testing requirements for fully vaxxed travelers in a bid to recharge its moribund tourism industry.

The latest decision comes in height of rising cases of COVID-19 cases in China. The northern neighbor of the Himalayan nation has also curbed all the restrictions which is slowly but rapidly spreading the contagion globally. (ANI)

Firecracker Ban Lifted In Some Chinese Cities Ahead Of Lunar New Year

By LokMarg

Authorities in some Chinese cities have lifted the ban on fireworks amid protests, ahead of the Lunar New Year on January 22, US-based non-profit news service Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.

However, the authorities in some other Chinese cities have, in fact, doubled down on the ban, the report claimed, adding that they have been punishing residents for setting off firecrackers.
Firecrackers in Beijing were first banned in 1993 after 544 people were injured in cracker-related incidents. The crackers were also deemed to contribute to the country’s pollution.

The complete ban was, however, lifted in 2005, and people were allowed to burst crackers around the Lunar New Year. But the ban was reinforced in 2012 following a decline in the country’s air quality.

Local governments in Dongying and Binzhou cities of China have, through their official websites, announced that fireworks and firecrackers will be allowed to welcome the Year of the Rabbit, say reports.

Authorities in Beijing and the northeastern port city of Dalian will allow fireworks within limited hours until the first month of the lunar calendar, the government-backed news site The Paper reported, according to RFA.

Officials in the northern province of Hebei said the ban on firecrackers would continue.

Online news service Red Star said in the southwestern city of Ya’an alone, eight districts and counties have different regulations on fireworks around the Lunar New Year, reported RFA.

Qin Peng, a New York-based political commentator, said public defiance of the firecracker ban came three years after the enforcement of the ‘Zero Covid’ policy.

“Chinese people have so much pent-up pain and anger in them over the last three years, that they have erupted in protests in a lot of places,” the RFA quoted Qin as saying.

“The authorities know very well that they have provoked public anger, and that it’s not just among a minority group, but that it runs right through all of China’s cities and villages,” Qin added. (ANI)

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