Blog

17 Apr

IAF’s Brand New Apache Chopper Makes Emergency Landing In Punjab Field

editor0 CommentsNorth East, Sikkim

A brand new Apache attack helicopter of the Indian Air Force (IAF) made an emergency landing in a field in Punjab's Hoshiarpur today. The two pilots are safe and the district police are in touch with the IAF's base in Pathankot.Reports said there was no damage to the helicopter."An Apache helicopter of the IAF got airborne from Pathankot airbase. The helicopter, after approximately one hour of flying had indications of a critical failure and carried out a safe landing west of Indora, Punjab," the IAF said in a statement.

17 Apr

Centre Adds More To List Of What Is Allowed After April 20 Amid Lockdown

editor0 CommentsHealth, North East

The government has made new additions to the list of activities that will be allowed amid lockdown in parts of the country that are least affected by coronavirus.Non-banking finance corporations and micro-finance institutions will be marked essential services that can resume. Coconut, spice bamboo, areca nut and cocoa plantations, and forest produce by scheduled tribes have also been added to the list.Construction in rural areas of water supply and sanitation and laying of power lines and telecom optical fibres and cables will also be allowed, according to a notification put out by the home ministry.

17 Apr

HD Kumaraswamy’s Son’s Wedding Draws Scrutiny

editor0 CommentsEntertainment, Lifestyle

A VIP wedding took place in Karnataka this morning amid the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, and photos showed no social distancing, masks or any other precaution in the rituals. Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda's grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy married Revathi, the grandniece of a Congress leader and former minister, at a farmhouse about 28 km from state capital Bengaluru.The wedding involving two political families had no one from outside the family, claimed former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy -- the groom's father -- but all traditions were followed. Over 100 were at the farmhouse in Ramanagara, where the bride and groom exchanged…

17 Apr

The RBI cut its reverse repo rate by 25 basis points

editor0 CommentsBusiness

The Reserve Bank of India cut its key deposit rate for the second time in three weeks on Friday to discourage banks for parking idle funds with it and push them toward lending to revive the economy amid the coronavirus lockdown. The RBI cut its reverse repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 3.75 per cent with immediate effect, as said by governor Shaktikanta das through a video conference. The rate had already been cut by 90 bps on March 27.

16 Apr

Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Free Unlimited Data, Calls During COVID-19 Lockdown

editor0 CommentsHealth, Lifestyle

A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to ensure that free unlimited calling, data usage and DTH facilities are provided to subscribers to ease "psychological stress" during the lockdown till May 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.It has also sought a direction to the Health Ministry to take appropriate steps to deal with psychological pressure mounting on individuals due to the lockdown or being kept in quarantine.The plea sought directions to the government and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to invoke relevant terms of agreement of licenses granted to DTH…

16 Apr

India Fast-Tracks COVID-19 Fighting Drug Supplies To UAE

editor0 CommentsBusiness, Health

India is fast-tracking procedures to supply hydroxychloroquine, a drug considered to be efficient in fighting the coronavirus, to the UAE after a request from the country's government, media reports here quoted the Indian envoy as saying.India's Ambassador to the UAE Pavan Kapoor said there is a huge demand for the anti-malarial drug from many countries and India is considering it on a case to case basis."As the drug is on the restricted list, we are obviously giving exception to the UAE, given the friendly relations between the two countries," Khaleej Times quoted Kapoor as saying.

16 Apr

68 Doctors, Nurses Of Hospital In Delhi Quarantined After Patient Dies

editor0 CommentsHealth

68 doctors, nurses and staff of a government hospital in Delhi have been asked to be under home quarantine after a 25-year-old patient, who is suspected to have had coronavirus, died on Wednesday night.The woman, who was pregnant, was admitted to the Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital in north west Delhi on Monday, but allegedly did not disclose that she had travelled abroad recently and had been asked to be under home quarantine.The hospital, which can admit up to 200 patients, has said in a statement that the woman was admitted after submitting false information.

16 Apr

Centre Sets Foodgrain Production Target At Record 298.3 Million Tons For 2020-21 Crop Year

editor0 CommentsBusiness, Lifestyle

The agriculture ministry aims to increase foodgrain production by 6.35 million tonnes to record 298.3 million tonnes in the 2020-21 crop year riding high on hopes of normal monsoon.The foodgrain output in the 2019-20 crop year (July-June) is estimated at an all-time high 291.95 million tonnes, as per the second advance estimates released by the ministry in February."IMD has forecast the June to September southwest monsoon rainfall over the country as a whole is likely to be normal. This augurs well for rain-fed kharif crops," Agriculture Commissioner SK Malhota said at a national level video conference organised to plan for…

16 Apr

US says that China May Have Secretly Set Off Low-Level Nuclear Test Blasts.

editor0 CommentsLifestyle, Tech Byte

China may have secretly set off low-level underground nuclear test explosions despite claiming to observe an international pact banning such blasts, the US State Department said in a report on Wednesday that could fuel US-Chinese tensions.The finding, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, may worsen ties already strained by US charges that the global COVID-19 pandemic resulted from Beijing's mishandling of a 2019 outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Wuhan.US concerns about Beijing's possible breaches of a "zero yield" standard for test blasts have been prompted by activities at China's Lop Nur nuclear test site throughout 2019,…

16 Apr

Rahul Gandhi says to the centre that lockdown doesn’t defeat coronavirus

editor0 CommentsHealth, Lifestyle

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said today that a nationwide lockdown shall only be purposeful in pausing the deadly coronavirus, but it cannot defeat it. He recommended that the government should go for testing "aggressively and strategically". Rahul Gandhi also suggested through his statements that there should be two zones in India - hotspot and non-hotspot."In no way does a lockdown defeat the virus. It helps only to stop the virus for a short while. The only way to do this is to increase testing," the Congress MP said, addressing the media through a video app.