18.08.21

Mizoram’s COVID graph shows declining trend, daily infection rate dips to 3.48 pc: Official

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Mizoram’s COVID graph and infection rate are showing a declining trend in the last few days as the northeastern state registered one of its lowest single-day positivity rate of 3.48 per cent recently.

Aizawl district recorded the highest number of new cases at 356, followed by Kolasib (63) and Lawngtlai (47). The state now has 11,139 active cases, while 36,679 people have recovered from the infection so far, including 1,002. Mizoram has tested over 7.24 lakh samples for COVID-19 to date, including 15,020 in the last 24 hours. More than 6.45 lakh people have been inoculated so far.

Assam: New SOP allows fully jabbed devotees to enter temples

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The buzz of devotees is set to return to temples in Assam as the new government SOP released on Tuesday has allowed those who are fully vaccinated to enter places of worship.

The famous Kamakhya temple will see footfall after three months of closure. Other religious places are also expected to come alive with the presence of devotees.

The also withdrew the inter-district travel ban, except to and from state capital Guwahati.

The Kamakhya temple management welcomed the temple reopening decision as thousands of people across the state were rendered jobless for months due to Covid restrictions.

Paradip Port handles record cargo in current fiscal

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The 75th Independence Day was celebrated by the Paradip (PPT) with a great enthusiasm. PPT Deputy Chairman AK Bose unfurled the National Flag. Bose said the port has handled the highest-ever cargo of 114.55 Million Metric Tonne (MMT) in the last fiscal and is improving its performance year-on-year.

In March 2021, the port has also handled highest-ever monthly total of 11.64 MMT against the previous record of 11.17 MMT in January 2021 in the current fiscal. Despite Covid-19 and just three days after Cyclone Yaas, a record 30 shipping movements were carried out from May 29 to 30.

He said that till July 2021, the port has handled 39.60 MMT cargo by exhibiting a positive Growth of 14.32per cent compared to the same period of last fiscal.

The port has been discharging its commitment to the Society by taking up several CSR activities. Rs 8 crore was given to PM-CARES Fund. The PPT has signed an MoU with the Government of Odisha for a dedicated Covid Care Hospital, which is functional. The PPT has sanctioned Rs 2 crore under the CSR fund.Bose gave away Awards to the winners of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations in patriotic poem recitation and debate competitions.

Tamil Nadu gets Sipcot to establish innovation centres

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With an aim to unlock the Growth potential of Nadu by combining the manufacturing capabilities with technology, the state Industries department is establishing innovation centres in select state-owned Sipcot industrial estates in the state.

The initiative, to spawn technology startups in the industrial manufacturing space, will also seek to include the 80-odd innovation centres in leading educational institutions, but mostly remaining non-functional.

Two Sipcot Industrial Innovation Centres (SIICs) are coming up at Sriperumbudur and Hosur, the two largest industrial clusters in the state. Branded as FORT (Force of Rapid Transformation), the SIICs are envisioned as world-class incubation centres to pave the way for new-age tech-based manufacturing ventures.

The initiative is focused to achieve transformation in three areas. To achieve faster rate of GDP growth through companies engaged in translating innovation output into higher value-added goods; EMPLOYMENT generation through highly-skilled knowledge work; higher per capita income arising from value addition from skilled manpower Resources.

First Drone Forensic Lab in Kerala

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Indias first Drone Forensic Lab and Research Center has come up in Kerala. The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan used to inaugurate the State Police departments Drone Forensic Laboratory at the Kerala State Police CyberDome. Cyberdome is a technological lookup and improvement centre of the Kerala Police Department.

Highlights:

The centre will assist in maintaining a watch over unauthorized drones and also for the manufacturing of drones for the use of the police force. This lab-cum-research centre will appear into both utility and threat components of a drone.

The police have forayed strongly into the especially new discipline of drone forensics. It had these days analysed a drone brought down by way of the Border Security Force (BSF) near the global border in Kathua district in Jammu and Kashmir and helped the neighborhood enforcement zero in on its illegal operator.

Karnataka government launches drive to eradicate tuberculosis

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The Health and family welfare department has urged the over 28 lakh people in Karnataka who have recovered from Covid-19 to undergo voluntary testing to rule out tuberculosis infection. The is conducting a special TB test drive across Karnataka from August 16 to August 31.

Since 2017, a total of 75 lakh people have been mapped under a TB surveillance programme and more than 60,000 of them were tested for TB. About 3.9 % were found infected. However, TB tests have reduced during the pandemic, Sudhakar said. The central government has set a deadline of 2025 to rid the country of TB.

Only 55% parents in Telangana willing to send kids to school, says survey

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A little over 50% parents are willing to send their children to schools, subject to conditions, according to a new survey. Overall across the country, parents hesitancy has come down to 44% in August from 48% in July and 76% in June. Those willing to send children to school include parents who are unable to avail online classes or find them ineffective.

In while 42% parents were against opening of schools right now, 55% were okay with children going to school in August-September. Of those willing, 8 8% of parents from the state said that the government should consider opening schools after August 15, 23% voted for physical classes from September 1 and 24% said that offline classes should resume from September 15. About 3% opted for cant say.

The survey by LocalCircles received about 10,000 responses (2,077 from Telangana) for the specific query on school reopening. The total sample size of the survey was 40,000.

Andhra Pradesh: First of its kind Navaratnalu temple showcasing government welfare schemes built at Srikalahasti

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Navartnala Alayam, the first of its kind museum showcasing the ‘s flagship welfare schemes – Navaratnalu, is all set to be inaugurated at Srikalahasti in Chittoor district on Monday.

The unique structure has a museum, an Ayina Mahal and a Navaratnalu temple, which is artistic excellence moulded by several experts from the neighbouring States of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.

This temple dedicated to the founder of the Navaratnalu scheme – Jaganmohan Reddy will be formally inaugurated by deputy CM K Narayana Swamy along with state panchayat raj minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy.

State to e-auction over 2 million tonne iron ore on Aug 27

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The has put up over 2 million tonnes of iron Ore for the e-auction scheduled on August 27, to generate revenue for the state. This is the 26th e-auction, and will be conducted by the directorate of mines and geology.

The iron ore which has been put up is currently lying at various mines, plots and jetties including Pissurelem, Kotambi, Rivona, Navelim, Tudou, Pale, Uguem, Shigao, Sonus, Trimurthy, Cudmen, and Tollem.

At the 25th e-auction conducted in March, only 70% of the ore lying at jetties and Ports found takers. Around 1 million tonnes (of the 1.6 million tonnes) of ore was purchased.

The state government has been conducting e-auctions of iron ore to generate revenue for the state treasury, which has been facing a crisis due to the Covid pandemic. Chief minister Pramod Sawant, in his budget speech, said that the state would generate revenue of around Rs 500 crore from mining.

85,000 self-test kits used in Maharashtra since June: Officials

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Maharashtra Health officials say nearly 85,010 self-test kits have been used in the state from June to mid-August for the confirmation of Covid positivity.

The data on the use of the Mylab test kits (Coviself) were uploaded on the Indian Council of Medical Research (Icmr) web portal, as the company was considered as a laboratory and mandated the task of records update, like other laboratories.