The Indian government has implemented several measures to mitigate external risks, support the balance of payments, and maintain macroeconomic stability amidst the ongoing West Asia crisis, according to Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Rajya Sabha, detailing India's strategies to navigate the global energy crisis sparked by the West Asia conflict, including securing diverse energy sources and expanding strategic oil reserves.
The Indian government has convened an all-party meeting to discuss the ongoing crisis in West Asia, following Prime Minister Modi's address to Parliament on the situation and its potential impact on India.
In which area of Indian life are women not running the show?
In a double-dose bid to boost growth and employment prospects, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved a Rs 2.07 trillion outlay for a research development and innovation (RDI) Scheme to fund private sector innovations, and an employment-linked incentive (ELI) to create over 35 million new jobs over the next two years.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries on Monday announced the extension of the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Automobile and Auto Components by one year with "partial amendments". This decision has been made after receiving the approval of the Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGoS). "In pursuance of the approval of EGoS, the Ministry of Heavy Industries has made partial amendments in the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for the Automobile and Auto Component Industry and Guidelines of the Scheme.
He also said that it was wrong to suggest that India stopped foreign made vaccines like that made by Moderna and Pfizer from coming to India.
While asserting that the CoWIN portal is completely safe with adequate safeguards for data privacy, it said an internal exercise has been initiated to review the existing security measures of CoWIN.
COVID-19 is on the verge of becoming endemic but Indian scientists are keeping a close watch on each new variant and the government would continue to maintain a high alert, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has said, underlining that the virus has managed to survive and is going to stay.
In the meeting on the prevailing COVID-19 situation, Modi reviewed the availability of medical infrastructure and directed officials to ensure rapid upgradation of health facilities, the PMO said in a statement.
It will also be new Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra's first GST Council meeting. He will take charge after the incumbent Tarun Bajaj retires on November 30.
Never before has the need for creating an ambience for economic policy reforms been as critical as it is now, points out A K Bhattacharya.
Senior Congress leaders Venugopal, Ajay Maken and Ashok Gehlot had on Wednesday took stock of the preparations for the Chintan Shivir.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also decided to convene a 'Chintan Shivir', a brainstorming session from May 13-15 in Udaipur.
In a press briefing, officials said the virus outbreak is under control in the country and credited a robust surveillance network along with implementation of the lockdown and other containment measures for it.
The finance ministry is working on a second relief package for the Indian economy hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the 21-day nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the contagion, sources said. Last month, the government announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package in the form of foodgrains and cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable section of the society to help them deal with the hardships caused by the lockdown. Now, the government is working on a stimulus to be given to hard-hit sectors of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, sources said, adding that an announcement is expected in the next few days depending on the severity of the pandemic.
The meeting comes against the backdrop of rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.
NITI Aayog's attempt to bust coronavirus myths provokes a virtual storm of controversy.
Goyal added the central government did mapping in a meeting with governments of 12 states and union territories most affected by COVID-19 and 6,177 metric tonnes of oxygen will be given to these states.
Modi's last interaction with chief ministers was on March 17 during which he had expressed concern over the rise in COVID-19 cases in parts of the country and called for "quick and decisive" steps to check the "emerging second peak".
The outcome ratio of COVID-19 -- the ratio of recoveries and deaths of closed cases -- was recorded at 90:20.
Across the country, the number of patients in ICU beds is 4,88,861 while 1,70,841 patients were on ventilators and 9,02,291 patients were on oxygen support.
According to the health ministry, advance appointments for vaccination can be booked through http://cowin.gov.in, or one can visit their nearest vaccination center after 3 pm and get on-site registration done.
Addressing a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation in the country, P D Vaghela, Chairman of the Empowered Group-3, said about 19,398 ventilators are available in India and orders have been placed for 60,884 more, and of these 59,884 will be made by domestic manufacturers.
Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal -- contribute 85.5 per cent of active caseload and 87 per cent of total deaths in India.
Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said 16 districts which earlier had positive cases have not reported any new case of COVID-19 in the last 28 days.
Bhalla said the availability of adequate and uninterrupted supply of medical oxygen is an important pre-requisite for managing moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 and with the increasing cases, the medical oxygen supply will need to keep pace with the requirements of the states and union territories.
'Technology is streamliming the entire process of aid distribution and making it transparent and digital.'
If a package is announced, it would be the third major initiative by the government to tackle the challenges thrown up by the rapid spread of coronavirus.
'Supplies should start moving to the Serum Institute without any impediments.'
Home Minister P Chidambaram has taken a major share of the pie of the Empowered Group of Ministers and Group of Ministers after the exit of Pranab Mukherjee.
India will share the development story of Co-WIN, the digital platform that helped it launch and implement a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination programme, with more than 20 countries that have shown interest in adopting the portal to run their own inoculation drives.
The states and Union territories were also urged not to store, reserve, conserve or create a buffer stock of the COVID-19 vaccines, the Union health ministry said in a statement, a day after the start of the second phase of India's inoculation drive in which the coverage has been expanded to include everyone above 60 and those over 45 with specified co-morbidities.
Those intending to undertake international travel for education purposes, joining employment and as part of the Indian contingent to the Tokyo Olympics will be allowed to take the second dose of Covid vaccine Covishield prior to the prescribed time interval of 84 days after the first dose.
Asked what India did not do and China did right in restricting the number of cases, Paul said the principles that China adopted were exactly the same that India had adopted in terms of containment, social distancing and other non pharmacological measures.
Top officials, including cabinet secretary, principal secretary to the prime minister, health secretary and NITI Aayog member Vinod Paul, attended the meeting.
The urgent need to address a large number of beneficiaries waiting for second dose of vaccine was stressed in a meeting held by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Dr R S Sharma, the Chairman of Empowered Group on Technology and Data Management to Combat COVID-19, with state officials to review the status of COVID-19 vaccination on Tuesday.
While asserting that the growth of coronavirus cases in the country has been more or less linear and not exponential, it also said testing has been ramped up consistently.
The Congress leader is also being probed by ED in two separate money-laundering cases of Aircel-Maxis and INX Media.
About 50 countries, including Canada, Mexico, Nigeria and Panama, have shown interest in having a Co-WIN like system to run their vaccination drive, a senior official said on Monday, adding India is ready to share the open source software free of cost.
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