Some states have flagged the shortage of vaccines and expressed their inability to start vaccination of people above 18 years from Saturday
A day after being sworn-in, the new ministers took charge of their portfolios. Here's a look at the various new ministers on their first day at work.
'This pandemic has given him a new platform to perform,' says a member of the government. 'He should feel lucky that he has got an opportunity now to demonstrate to the world his original talent.' 'He needs a visionary script to perform.' Sheela Bhatt reports on the politics of the pandemic.
The death toll in China's coronavirus rose sharply to 425 with 64 deaths on Monday and the number of those infected with the deadly disease rose to 20,438, Chinese health authorities said on Tuesday.
Some of the popular brands that would be impacted include Phensedyl (Abbott), Tixylix (Abbott), Gluconorm PG (Lupin), Ascoril D (Glenmark), Solvin Cold (Ipca), D Cold Total (Paras Pharma).
The appointments committee of the Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared Bhalla's appointment as OSD in the ministry with immediate effect.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain DoPT, Atomic Energy as well as all important policy issues and portfolios not allocated.
India should take 'measured approach' with stimulus packages to deal with COVID-19 by limiting interventions to the provision of food, shelter and basic necessities of life for all; forbearance on payments of outstanding loans; and extra provision of working capital including what will be necessary to cover outstanding wages from lockdown period to enterprises.
In a statement, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it has issued fresh guidelines for surveillance with regard to COVID-19 that will remain in force till January 31, as it asked the states and union territories to keep a strict vigil to prevent any rise in cases during the New Year celebrations and the winter season.
This was the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country have increased by more than 26,000.
The ISSF said there will no ranking points in the tournament scheduled to be held from March 15 to 26 as the organisers are not in a position to guarantee participation of all athletes owing to the extraordinary situation.
Rs 100 crore funds have been allocated towards genetic disorders.
In a communication to all states and union territories, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla asked them to strictly ensure prohibition of all non-essential activities between 7 pm and 7 am, saying the night curfew imposed to contain the coronavirus spread is an 'important element of the home ministry guidelines'.
Sarma's eyes, according to those close to him, were always set on the top job in Assam. However, the leader who owed his early rise to two former chief ministers from the Congress had to toil for many years with dogged determination to achieve his goal.
With COVID-19 cases declining, Karnataka government on Monday permitted re-opening of schools for students of classes 1 to 5 from October 25 by strictly adhering to precautions and guidelines against the coronavirus.
'Until the case load starts dropping, we will have to keep up the current level of prevention activities.'
As cases of 'black fungus' among COVID-19 patients in the country rise to cross 7,000, the Centre on Thursday urged all states and union territories to declare it as a notifiable disease under the Epidemic Diseases Act to ensure mandatory surveillance to tackle the 'new challenge'.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.
Replying to the notice issued, the Central government said that ex-gratia amount cannot be paid due to financial constraints and other factors.
The industry chamber is in favour of reopening schools and educational institutions, allowing foreign carriers to operate, permitting usage of restaurants and eateries in hotels, opening up of cinemas and multiplexes, and reopening metro rail services.
The new cabinet, predictably, has a sizeable number of Yadavs and Muslims, though members of other sections of the society also find a place.
A model being considered is to have a combined cold chain approach - where the agricultural cold chain would be combined with vaccine cold chains.
The RSS will hold the meeting of Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha on March 19 and 20 keeping in mind COVID-19 protocols. This meeting was scheduled to take place in Bengaluru last year but had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 onset and the ensuing lockdown. The agenda, however, was passed and circulated.
As many as 150 applications are stuck at evaluation stage, says official.
At $37 per dose, the Pfizer vaccine is much more expensive compared to $3 per dose for the Covishield.
Amarinder would hold the portfolios of General Administration, Personnel, Home Affairs and Justice, Vigilance and other departments not assigned to any other minister.
The border guarding force has the maximum confirmed cases of the disease among the Central Armed Police Forces, also known as paramilitary forces.
Fresh guidelines issued by the Union home ministry on Wednesday permit industries operating in rural areas to run from April 30 with strict social distancing norms.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said the session has been "more productive and satisfactory" than the previous Budget Session and last year's monsoon session.
Issuing a travel advisory, the health ministry also called for passengers with travel history to China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, Iran, Malaysia, France, Spain and Germany to undergo self-imposed quarantine for a period of 14 days from the date of their arrival, and their employers to facilitate work-from-home for such employees during this period.
Ushering in a big wave of reforms by implementing the four labour codes, setting up the national social security fund to cover over 38 crore informal sector workers and improving the ease of doing business will top the agenda of the labour ministry in the New Year. In a major move, the ministry launched the e-Shram portal on August 26, 2021 for creating a national database of over 38 crore informal sector workers. It will help the government to ensure last-mile delivery of benefits of various social security schemes to the informal-sector workers.
Currently, 40 per cent of the front and back panel of cigarette packs is covered with warnings.
The bench said the Union Cabinet Secretary will be the convenor of the task force and may nominate an officer not below the rank of Additional Secretary to depute for him, when necessary.
In the looking glass world of India's governance, banning something is a good way to promote it
The Delhi high court on Wednesday issued notice to Union Health Minister J P Nadda on a petition seeking a CBI inquiry into various cases of alleged irregularities and corruption in AIIMS raised by then Chief Vigilance Officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.
At a video conference with chief ministers and representatives of these 10 states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Modi said the recovery rate has gone up which, he added, meant that government efforts have proved to be effective.
Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare A H Khan Chowdhury was allegedly attacked during a Congress rally at Kaliachak in West Bengal's Malda district on Tuesday.
As voting begins in Bihar in the first phase of assembly elections on Wednesday, the fate of political leaders depends on how the electorate perceives they can solve ground-level issues from reverse migration to tackling the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an interim order, the Bombay High Court has stayed a government decision to ban surrogacy for foreign couples who have already reached the end of the process or are in the crucial stage of treatment.
International air travel of passengers has been permitted in a limited manner under the Vande Bharat mission. Further opening-up will take place in a calibrated manner.
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