On media reports quoting some Maharashtra government officials that vaccines in the state are "finished" and adversely impacting the vaccination drive, the ministry said a balance of 7,49,960 vaccine doses is still available with the state for administration to eligible population groups.
A notice issued to the foreign journalists on Wednesday said they can get the Inactivated SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, developed by Sinopharm's China National Biotec Group. Sinopharm's COVID-19 vaccine has been granted conditional market approval by China's National Medical Products Administration.
India has entered a 'demographic sweet spot' with half of its population being under the age of 29. This 'demographic dividend' is likely to last for 2-3 decades and provides the government a unique opportunity to harness the vast potential of India's youth, points out Raj Kishore Mishra, the former civil servant turned development professional.
'From March 2020 to November 2021, the combined wealth of the billionaires of this country has doubled.'
The first two special flights that will operate from Thursday to evacuate Indians stranded in the UAE due to the coronavirus pandemic
Here's the full text of President's Ram Nath Kovind's address to the joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on the first of Budget Session 2022.
The government has no plan to print currency notes to tide over the current economic crisis triggered by the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed Parliament on Monday. To a question on whether there is any plan to print currency to tide over the crisis, the finance minister said, "No Sir". Many economists and experts have suggested to the government to print more currency notes to tide over the difficult economic situation with a view to support the economy ravaged by the spread of COVID-19, and protect jobs.
There should have been a focus on sanitation and not on littering or garbage. Absence of sanitation affects the health of children, explains Aakar Patel.
All spacecraft parameters are normal, the Bengaluru headquartered space agency said after the maneuver on the spacecraft.
There will be two more orbit manoeuvres to make the spacecraft enter into its final orbit passing over the lunar poles at a distance of about 100 km from the Moon's surface.
All spacecraft parameters are normal, the Bengaluru headquartered space agency said after the maneuver.
'India's acts of goodwill fully demonstrate its friendship with China'
Born on 8 August 1896 in Sylhet district (now in Bangladesh) of undivided India, Swami Sivananda lost his mother and father at the age of six. Due to abject poverty, his beggar parents could feed him mainly boiled rice water during his childhood days.
ShareChat on Thursday said it has raised $502 million (about Rs 3,725 crore) in funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Tiger Global, valuing the homegrown social media platform at over $2.1 billion. Snap Inc (which owns photo-messaging app Snapchat) and existing investors Twitter and India Quotient, among others, also participated in the funding round in Mohalla Tech, the parent company of ShareChat and short video app, Moj. Founded in 2015, Mohalla Tech has raised over $766 million across six fundraising rounds.
This step by the Modi government is in the right direction and will go a long way in safeguarding the interests of socially and economically backward communities, asserts Professor T V Kattimani, Vice-Chancellor, Central Tribal University, Andhra Pradesh, Vizianagaram.
India's COVID-19 caseload went past 66 lakh, while the number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 55,86,703, pushing the recovery rate to 84.34 per cent, according to Union health ministry data updated on Monday.
Top officers across various ministries participate in the meeting that started at 8 pm on Saturday. The meeting is currently underway. The country is currently witnessing a second and more severe wave of the pandemic.
Modi tweeted that the meeting discussed important issues related to the progress of vaccine development, regulatory approvals and procurement.
Arghyam Foundation on Monday said Rohini Nilekani has decided to retire from the foundation as Chairperson and member of the board on September 30, 2021. She will be succeeded by Sunita Nadhamuni, currently a member of the board at Arghyam and Head of Digital LifeCare, Dell Giving and Social Innovation at Dell Technologies. Rohini Nilekani, the wife of Infosys co-founder and chairman Nandan Nilekani, had set up the foundation in 2001 as a vehicle for her personal philanthropy.
88,600 fresh infections were reported on Sunday. The total coronavirus cases mounted to 59,92,532, while the death toll climbed to 94,503 with 1,124 people succumbing to the disease in a span of 24 hours, data updated at 8 am showed.
"The idea came when one of the family members of our staff got infected from Covid and they needed medication. As you know the medicines can be expensive. At that time there were a few people who had recovered from Covid, so we decided to take their medicines and donate them," said Dr Raina.
Mumbai's recovery rate is nearly 15 per cent more than that of Maharashtra, which is 55.62 per cent.
"I have been the chief minister twice with your blessings. I have decided that the 2023 assembly election will be my last fight. It is not for me to come to power or become the chief minister," he said.
The drive has begun with Biological E's Corbevax vaccine to be administered 28 days apart. As of March 1, 2021, there were 4.7 crore children aged 12 and 13 years in the country.
Unified junior welterweight world champion Jose Ramirez's mandatory title defence against Ukrainian Viktor Postol has been postponed due to the concerns about an outbreak of the coronavirus in China, promoters Top Rank said on Friday. China has stepped up measures to contain the virus that has killed 25 people and infected more than 800, with public transport suspended in 10 cities.
Both manufacturers have sought funds in excess of Rs 150 crore under the department of biotechnology's Mission Covid Suraksha scheme. Announced last November, the scheme has an outlay of Rs 900 crore to help develop Covid vaccines, from the clinical development stage to setting up production sites.
"As of now, there are no norms and regulations under the National Medical Commission to accommodate medical students, who were studying abroad and had to return to India midway, in Indian medical colleges in between an academic session," a health ministry official told PTI, on the condition of anonymity.
A dipstick survey covering 30 villages in Rajasthan threw up some worrisome numbers. About 250 children missed their regular vaccination schedule in March alone. These numbers are alarming, since India has around 600,000 villages according to the 2011 census. Sohini Das reports.
'Here we're exploring a different relationship which is better, cooler.'
Behind the state's success in containing coronavirus positive cases is one novel initiative -- Active Case Finding or ACF, which even Prime Minister Narendra Modi endorsed for the bigger states to follow. The ACF campaign began in April with 16,000 basic health personnel, ASHA, anganwadi workers and auxiliary nurse midwives (ANM) out on foot trekking to most mountain valleys, snow-bound districts and remote passes of the state, reports Ashwani Sharma.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said one of the major reasons for the surge in cases was people becoming lax towards following COVID-appropriate behaviour and urged them take up mass awareness campaigns to re-instill the importance of such measures among the masses.
Vikram (with rover 'Pragyan' housed inside) is expected to touch down on the lunar surface on September 7, between 1.30 am and 2.30 am.
The Centre has started the process of identifying around 30 crore priority beneficiaries who will be given vaccine in the initial phase. The Centre will procure the vaccine directly and make it available free-of-cost for the priority beneficiaries.
The Indian government on Wednesday said it was focusing on bringing back Indians stranded in coronavirus-hit Italy and Iran after screening them.
'Leela Devi, aged 65, has been shown to have sired eight girls in 14 months and for every so-called childbirth Rs 1,400 were transferred into her purported account'
The aviation ministry stated it has decided to review the on-board meal services in domestic flights considering "the increasing threat of COVID-19 and its variants".
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the Union Jal Shakti Ministry, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, after receiving complaints about several bodies found floating in the Ganga river in the two states.
Two de-orbit manoeuvres of Vikram Lander, to bring it further down, have been planned to prepare for its landing in the south polar region of the moon.
'The roadmap ahead seems very difficult especially in the rural areas where there is very poor infrastructure, vaccine reach and hesitancy.' 'These are a deadly cocktail for the next wave.'
In further easing of restrictions, the government on Wednesday permitted Indian airlines to increase the number of domestic passenger flights to 60 per cent of their pre-Covid services, according to an official order.