Delhi hotels and restaurants to serve liquor from Sep 9 on a trial basis. Hotels, restaurants and clubs in Delhi were allowed to serve liquor on a trial basis from September 9-30, but not more than 50 per cent of their seating capacity will be allowed so that Covid-19 distancing norms are followed, officials said Thursday.
As these outlets prepare to serve liquour after over a five-month gap due to the coronavirus pandemic, an official said only asymptomatic customers and staff will be allowed and wearing a mask will be mandatory for entry. Lt Governor Anil Baijal, who is also the Chairman of Delhi Disaster Management Authority, approved the Delhi government's proposal to allow hotels, clubs and restaurants having excise license to serve liquor to their customers. An official said that no standing customer will be served liquor and all establishments will also have to ensure provision for sanitiser dispenser and thermal scanning at the entrance. However, hotels, restaurants and clubs in the Covid-19 containment zones will remain closed. Innovative therapy for coronavirus is required as much as a vaccine.
The world's leading innovator bio-pharmaceutical companies feel that while vaccines may ultimately bring an end to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, there is an urgent need for innovation in treatment options.
At present, around 300 different treatment options are being researched across the globe - while some are repurposed therapies, some are novel. Speaking at an event organised by the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), a Geneva-based trade association that represents pharma companies around the world, pharma giants said that it would be critical to have collaborations amongst rivals to ensure that manufacturing capacities can be scaled up to the extent needed during a global pandemic. In fact, Albert Bourla, chairman and CEO of Pfizer put it quite emphatically - "the only rival is the virus and the only competitor is time".
Research on antibodies that would neutralise the virus is also on. As metro is set to restart from Sept 7, here's what travelling will be like. From next week, India would be back on track with metro services restarting across the country with the exception of cities like Mumbai, where the mass rapid transit system is expected to remain suspended for now.
Pune's case count crosses 100K, Mayor says focus on increasing ventilators. There are over 1 lakh COVID-19 patients in Pune and city administration is focusing to increase oxygen beds and ventilators, said City Mayor Murlidhar Mohol on Thursday.
"Our focus is to increase oxygen beds and ventilators. We also have a shortage of specialised staff, and need to recruit staff members to operate such equipment," said the Mayor while talking to ANI. He further informed that Pune does not have a shortage of funds and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has already used Rs 300 crores towards COVID-19 infrastructure in the city. "It is true that Pune's COVID-19 mortality rate is comparatively higher than the national average, but it is comparatively lower in the state.
We are working on reducing the mortality rate," he added. Some states not using optimal capacity for conducting RT-PCR tests. The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said the optimal capacity of the RT-PCR tests for detection of COVID-19 is not being utilized in somestates and that ithas asked them to scale it up.
"There are states where the optimal capacityof RT-PCR off late is not being utilised and we have in the health ministry drawntheir attention to the fact that they do havean installed capacity of conducting more RT-PCR tests and hence they need to scale it up,"Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary in the Union Health Ministry, said at a press briefing on Thursday. Over the antigen tests beingcarried out in the country, Bhushan said thereis no uniform practicebeing followed across the states. In Tamil Nadu more than 90 per cent tests today are RT-PCR tests while there are other states where the RT-PCR testing, TrueNat and CBNAAT testing capacity is limited, he said. Therefore in those states if there are containment zones or buffer zones, one cannot be satisfied with limited testing, he stressed.
Rupani invites American firms to invest in Gujarat; pitches for cooperation. Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday pitched for close cooperation with the US in giving impetus to startups and asserted that the rich diaspora of Gujaratis in America was a testimony of growing mutual trust between the two countries.
Addressing the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum through video conferencing, Rupani said Gujarat's 'sister state' agreements with New Jersey and Delaware announced a new era of enhanced and increased collaboration between "our two countries. " He asserted that the growing investment of US industries in Gujarat and a rich diaspora of Gujaratis in the USA is a testimony of "our growing mutual trust". "I propose formalizing the startup engagement programme and appointing a nodal officer to facilitate investment by American companies in Gujarat. In 31 years of its existence, a woman to head Canada's Space Agency. For the first time in its 31-year history, the Canadian Space Agency will have a female president.
The government announced on Thursday that longtime public servant Lisa Campbell will take over as head of the agency. Campbell replaces Sylvain Laporte, who has been president since 2015. Campbell has spent the last two years as senior executive for Veteran Affairs Canada. Prior to that, she spent three years as the assistant deputy minister for defense and marine procurement where she led the organization acquiring Canada's military and marine equipment.
Her experience in defense procurement will hold her in good stead as she takes over some of the most important procurements for the space sector, Navdeep Bains, federal minister of innovation, science and industry, said in a release. PM Modi's donations from his savings, gift auction exceed Rs 103 cr: Report. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's donations to a number of public causes, ranging from girl child education to the cleaning of Ganga, from his savings and the proceeds of auctions of the gifts he received exceed Rs 103 crore, sources said on Thursday.
The latest among his donations was the initial corpus of Rs 2.25 lakh to the PM CARES Fund, which was set up in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak to support relief of any kind relating to a public health emergency or any other kind of emergency, calamity or distress. The Fund, set up in March, received Rs 3,076.62 crore in just five days of its formation, as per an account statement made public on Wednesday. Amid growing tension with China, India to host Quad meet later this year.
India will hosting the Quad foreign ministers meet later this year, the external affairs ministry has confirmed.
"We look forward to holding QUAD meet later this year and details are being worked out," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday. Foreign ministers of the group had met last year in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). Along with India, Quad Quad or the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue includes Australia, Japan and the United States.
Apart from the Quad meeting, details are also being worked out for the India-US 2+2 dialogue. Both of these meetings are taking place at a time when China is facing the global ire for trampling democracy in Hong Kong, human rights violations in Xinjiang, alleged breach of internet privacy in various countries and attempting to unilaterally change the status quo at the India China border violating all bilateral agreements and protocols. CM Vijayan warns of possibility of new Covid clusters in Kerala after Onam.
With the culmination of Onam in Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has warned about the possibility of the formation of "Covid clusters" amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"The next two weeks period is crucial as we may see Onam clusters being formed in the State due to increased outdoor public activity and travel during the festival time. We can expect a hike in the Covid cases," he said. US to allow Air India to conduct ground handling at airports: Official. The United States has announced that it plans to restore Air India's ability to self-conduct its ground handling operations at American airports.
Issuing an order in this regard, US Department of Transportation reversed its previous order of July 2019 that had suspended the right of Air India to self-handle at US airports. The Department and other US government agencies have continued to work with the government of India towards satisfactory resolution of this matter. In that connection, recent positive developments have led the department to tentatively determine that the public interest now calls for removal of the permit condition we had imposed in order 2019-7-9, said the order issued by Joel Szabat, Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Aviation and International Affairs. PM Modi to interact with Indian Police Service probationers today. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Indian Police Service (IPS) probationers during the 'Dikshant Parade' event at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad at 11 am on Friday.
As many as 131 IPS probationers including 28 lady probationers have completed 42 weeks of basic course phase-I training at the academy, according to a release by PMO. "They joined the Academy on December 17, 2018, after completing their foundation course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie and at Dr Marri Channa Reddy HRD Institute of Telangana, Hyderabad with other services like IAS, IFS, etc," it said.
Meanwhile, passing out parade of IPS probationers is underway at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) Female poverty rate in South Asia projected to rise due to Covid-19: UN. The female poverty rate in South Asia will increase in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more women than men in the 25-34 age group will be poorer in the next decade, according to new data released by the UN. The UN Women and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said that the COVID-19 pandemic will disproportionately affect women and push 47 million more women and girls into extreme poverty by 2021, reversing decades of progress to lift this demographic above the poverty line.
The report, 'From Insights to Action: Gender Equality in the wake of COVID-19', said that the gender poverty gap will worsen further still in South Asia. Central and Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, home to 87 per cent of the world's extreme poor, will see the largest increases in extreme poverty, with an additional 54 million and 24 million people, respectively, living below the international poverty line as a result of the pandemic.
Los Angeles City Council declares fiscal emergency, 15,000 jobs at risk. United Airlines plans to furlough 16,000 workers, fewer than expected. United Airlines said Wednesday it plans to furlough 16,370 employees in October, a smaller number than the airline predicted in July because thousands of workers agreed to leave with the travel industry facing a slow recovery from the pandemic. Airline officials had outlined 36,000 potential furloughs in July. Since then, thousands of workers took early retirement, buyouts, or long-term leaves of absence. United officials said the forced job cuts will begin Oct. 1, when a prohibition on furloughs ends. They said the furloughs would be postponed if Washington approves another USD 25 billion to help passenger airlines cover payroll costs. Why Indo-Pacific countries will miss 'Abe Model' more than Japan. A month before he ended his first stint as Japan’s prime minister in 2007, Shinzo Abe addressed the Indian Parliament in New Delhi.
Quoting the Mughal scholar-prince Dara Shikoh, Abe spoke of the “confluence of the two seas” — the Indian and Pacific Oceans — that were undergoing a “dynamic coupling as seas of freedom and of prosperity.” India and Japan, said Abe, shared an interest in and responsibility for securing these seas “by joining forces with like-minded countries.” In the years since, it has become commonplace to speak of the “Indo-Pacific.” Tanker loaded with 2 million barrels of oil catches fire off Sri Lanka. An oil tanker loaded with two million barrels of Kuwati crude sailing toward Odisha's Paradip refinery caught fire Thursday morning off Sri Lanka’s coast, raising concerns about an oil spill. The fire in the engine room of New Diamond, a very large crude carrier, was caused by an explosion, said Sri Lanka Navy spokesman Indika de Silva. China opposes India banning mobile apps, asks for 'correction of mistakes'
Maharashtra realtors waive stamp duty for home buyers in bid to spur market. Following a recent cut in stamp duty on and other levies by Maharashtra Government on buying and selling of properties, the local unit of Naredco (National Real Estate Development Council) has waived off stamp duty for residential property transactions in the state. The offer is available on its portal HousigforAll.com also and will be applicable till October 31.
The Maharashtra Government recently announced slashing the stamp duty on the purchase of new houses by 3 per cent from September 1 to December 31, 2020 and by 2 per cent from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021 to provide an impetus to market sentiment. Rajan Bandelkar, president, Naredco–West, and Convener, HousingForAll.com said, “This unprecedented decision to charge no stamp duty on housing sales will bring a new wave of home buying in the short run and change the demand-supply dynamics positively. It will also result in a substantial savings and reduction in transaction costs for the end user. SC protects loans not declared NPAs till Aug 31 from such action for now. The Supreme Court on Thursday said those accounts that had not been declared non-performing assets (NPAs) as on August 31 should not be declared bad loans until the case was disposed of, the Live Law reported.
The decision was taken by a Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and M R Shah, who were hearing pleas seeking an extension of the moratorium on loan repayments in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Court will continue its hearing in the case on September 10. Three file applications before NIA court pleading guilty in 2014 blast case. Three persons accused in the 2014. NBCC signs MoU with Election Commission to build office building at Dwarka. Students complain DU not issuing digital degrees, HC calls for data. The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi University to submit the data relating to number of students who have applied online for seeking digital degree certificates and figures of such certificates which have been issued.
The high court's direction came on being informed that despite judicial order, students have not been issued digital degrees by the varsity. Exercising caution on reopening places of worship: Maharashtra CM. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav. 'Provocative military maneuvers', says India on Chinese actions in Pangong. PM to address Leadership Summit of US India Strategic and Partnership Forum. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver key note address to the third leadership summit of US India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF) on Thursday, organisers announced on Tuesday.
"We are honored that Prime Minister Modi has taken time to address USISPF annual event. UN Security Council reform talks being held hostage by some nations: India. The intergovernmental negotiations on Security Council reform are being "held hostage" and used as a "convenient smokescreen" by countries that do not wish to see any changes in the most powerful UN organ, India has said, demanding tangible action to achieve the long-delayed reforms. India also underlined that it will take steps to see how the goal can be realised in the next session of the UN General Assembly.
India's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador K Nagaraj Naidu, on Monday wrote a letter to President of the 74th Session of the General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, expressing New Delhi's strong disappointment over the decision regarding roll-over of the intergovernmental negotiations (IGN) on UNSC reforms into the next session of the General Assembly that begins this month. JDU cancels app launch, CM Nirish Kumar to address virtual rally on Sept 7. NASA congratulates Indian astronomers on Star Galaxy discovery. Jamia professor appointed consultant architect for mosque in Ayodhya's.
Worried about probable bird-hits, IAF concerned over security of Rafale. Indian envoy in Bangladesh meets BAF chief, discusses defence cooperation. No question hour in monsoon session of Parliament due to coronavirus. Cloud cover, patchy rains to keep mercury in check in Delhi: Met Dept. What's holding coronavirus vaccine front-runner back: A China-Canada spat. UN Secretary General Guterres condoles death of former Prez Mukherjee. Now, a tracker that tells you about progress of Covid-19 vaccine, treatment. Centre decides to again close canteens at govt departments due to Covid-19. E-passes not required for inter-district travel in Maharashtra from Sep 2. UP power looms on indefinite strike over new electricity tariff. India, China should take concrete measures to safeguard peace: Beijing. More special trains being planned, states being consulted: Rail Ministry.
Govt buses start operations, temples reopen for public in Tamil Nadu. BCCI set to spend around Rs 10 crore for 20,000 plus tests during IPL. Goa govt done away with Covid-19 negative certificate rule on arrival. ICAI to set standards for forensic investigations and accounting. 43.3 mn Covid-19 tests conducted so far, 12.2 mn done in last 2 wks: Centre. Proceedings over, judge to start writing Babri demolition case verdict. Sony takes PlayStation 5 registration through invite-only system: Know more. States can provide PG admissions quota to govt doctors in remote areas: SC. Chinese troops violate agreement in Pangong Tso, Indian Army pre-empts move. Over 3,000 evacuated from flood-hit Bhandara, Chandrapur in Maharashtra.
Scheduled international passenger flights suspension extended till Sept 30. Treat PIL as representation on preventing waterlogging in Delhi: HC. Plea for 60 days to respond to translated EIA 2020: HC seeks Govt stand. Selective abortion in India may cause 6.8 mn less girls born by 2030: Study. Fine of Re 1 for Bhushan in contempt case, failing which 3-month in jail. Safety norms not followed by many people reason for rise in cases in Delhi. Aveek Sarkar of ABP group elected new Press Trust of India chairman. Coronavirus surge not a worry as serious cases, deaths in control: Experts. Chhattisgarh CM urges PM to reconsider Nagarnar steel plant privatisation. Delhi HC rejects Choksi's plea for pre-screening of 'Bad Boy Billionaires' NASA's Hubble telescope maps giant Halo around Andromeda galaxy. Bihar Police to review performance of personnel above 50 years of age. Top court clears 'quota within quota' to help disadvantaged communities. SC to examine if assets can be considered for liquidation to settle dues.
Delhi can't take loan from RBI, govt should borrow and give to us: Sisodia. Not legally possible to allow Indian lawyer to represent Jadhav: Pakistan. India can be 'global superpower' in fighting climate change: Guterres. All you need to know about the New Delhi Railway Station redevelopment plan. Varsities cannot promote students without final year exams by Sept 30: SC. Mount Everest summit success rates doubled over last 30 years, study finds. India's self-reliance in defence sector to boost global standing: PM Modi. Apple iOS 14 to severely hit our online advertising, says Facebook. Alphabet's Google is not in race to acquire China's TikTok: Sundar Pichai.
Soon, Twitter will replace 'Retweets and comments' to 'Quotes' button. Congress should revive itself as country needs strong oppn: Sanjay Raut. Punjab to collectively move apex court for NEET, JEE exams deferment. Many cricketers experiencing pay issues in T20 leagues: FICA report. Govt taking multiple steps to reduce high logistics cost: Minister. Zydus Wellness board approves fund-raising of up to Rs 1,100 crore. Over a decade later, Rohtang Tunnel ready for opening next month. Bombay HC dismisses PIL seeking declaration of PM CARES funds. Delay in JEE and NEET exams will lead to 'zero year', say IIT heads. India's bond market is so hot even Yoga guru Ramdev is selling debt.
Digital payments in India likely to grow threefold by 2025, says report. Public procurement: Bidders from neighbours to require security clearance. India will need to find jobs for additional 90 mn, says McKinsey report. Gujarat tops Niti Aayog's Export Preparedness Index, Maharashtra second. Microsoft adds English (India), Hindi to speech service Neural TTS. Facebook introduces new shopping tab on its platform to help promote biz. New Facebook Reality Labs to develop next-generation AR/VR products. Google launches fast loading tabs, cool features in Chrome browser. Russia in touch with India to manufacture Sputnik V: Health Ministry. Reinfection & immunity: Why catching Covid-19 twice is no reason for panic. Covid-19 can cause entire spectrum of heart diseases, says cardiologist. Pune: Phase 2 human trial of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine may start tomorrow.
Karnataka CM's relief fund mops up Rs 306 crore for Covid-19 care. Russia seeks India's collaboration for manufacturing Covid vaccine: Report. JeM chief Masood Azhar among 19 in NIA chargesheet on Pulwama attack.