Bhubaneswar (Odisha) , February 27,2021: The Odisha government on Friday approved the proposal of the Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes to conduct a survey of the social and education condition of people belonging to the backward classes in the state.
“In exercise of power conferred by the sub section of 1 (a) of Section 9 of OSCBC (Amendment Act 2020, the government of Odisha have been pleased to approve the proposal of Odisha State Commission for Backward Classes to conduct a survey of social and education condition of people belonging to the backward classes in Odisha,” read a notification issued by the state government.
New Delhi, Feb 25,2021: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday said that people aged over 60 and those above 45 years with co-morbidities will be inoculated at 10,000 government and over 20,000 private vaccination centres from March 1.
The Minister apprised that the proposal was approved at a meeting of the Union Cabinet which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
People will receive the COVID vaccine jab free of cost at government centres.
New Delhi, Feb 25,2021: Amid another surge in COVID-19 cases, the Centre has rushed the high-level teams to nine states and one Union Territory, to help them in tackling the pandemic effectively.
The Centre has also reminded the States/UTs that any laxity in implementing stringent measures to curb the virus could worsen the situation.
The Centre has deputed high-level multi-disciplinary teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for supporting them in public health measures for targeted COVID response and management, and effectively tackling the pandemic.
The three-member multidisciplinary teams are headed by Joint Secretary level officers in the Health Ministry, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement on Wednesday.
These teams will work closely with the States/UT administration and ascertain reasons for recent surge in the number of COVID19 cases. They will also coordinate with health authorities of the States/UT for requisite COVID19 control measures to break the chain of transmission. The States/UT has been advised for regular critical review of the emerging situation with concerned District officials to ensure that gains made so far in COVID management are not lost.
The Centre has also written to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir which have been witnessing a rise in daily COVID cases, along with decreasing proportion of RT-PCR tests and rise in positivity in some districts.
In the letter written by the Union Health Secretary, he has exhorted Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and to ensure that RT-PCR testing is amplified to flush out hitherto undetected cases from the population.
These States/UT have been advised to increase testing in a focussed manner in the affected districts with the appropriate split of RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests and to also ensure that all symptomatic negatives of antigen tests are compulsorily tested via RT-PCR tests. The positive persons must be promptly isolated/hospitalised, all their close contacts be traced and also tested without delay.
The Centre has reminded the States/UTs that any laxity in implementing stringent measures to curb the spread, especially in view of new strain of virus observed in certain countries, could compound the situation. The Union Health Secretary has separately requested the Chief Secretaries of these 10 States and UTs to provide time to these High Level Central teams to debrief the respective Chief Secretaries at the conclusion of their State visits, the statement added.
These measures are in line with Centre’s graded and proactive approach to contain COVID across the country. The Health Ministry has been regularly engaging with States and UTs that have been exhibiting either a sudden surge in COVID cases, high caseload or reporting a higher mortality in some districts. The teams interact with the field authorities to get a first hand understanding of the challenges and issues being faced by them, it concluded.
Puducherry, Feb 23,2021: The four-year-nine-month-old Congress-DMK-led government in Puducherry toppled on Monday after Chief Minister V Narayanasamy failed to prove a majority on the floor of the territorial Assembly.
A confidence motion moved by Mr Narayanasamy was defeated as entire members in the treasury bench, including the chief minister, staged a walkout before the voting could begin. They were against the voting rights of three nominated members, presently all from the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Following the walkout, Speaker V P Sivakolunthu announced that the confidence motion was defeated and adjourned the House sine die.
Mr Narayanasamy later called on newly-appointed Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and tendered his resignation along with his Council of Ministers.
Resignation of five members of Congress and one of DMK from the Assembly, and disqualification of one Congress legislator last year, had reduced the strength of the ruling alliance to 12 in the 33-member Assembly.
Addressing the House after moving the motion, Mr Narayanasamy squarely blamed the ‘BJP’ for bringing down his government and said that what they did in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Goa is being ‘done in Puducherry’.
On the resignation of the legislators from his party, the Chief Minister said, “they should have been loyal to the organisation, but out of compulsion and threat, they resigned”. He termed the turmoil as ‘prostitution of democracy’.
He said the people of the UT are watching the developments and will certainly give a befitting reply in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
The term of the current Assembly expires on June 8.
It is up to the Lt Governor whether to invite the Opposition to form a government for the next three months or to impose President’s Rule in the UT.
New Delhi,Feb 22,2021: India and China have agreed to push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues, including friction points at Gogra, Hot Springs and Depsang in a steady and orderly manner after the 10th round of military talks at Moldo on the Chinese side on February 20.
In a joint effort to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas, the Corps Commanders of India and China had candidly and in-depth exchanged their views on other issues along the LAC in the eastern sector.
“The two sides positively appraised the smooth completion of disengagement of frontline troops in the Pangong Lake area noting that it was a significant step forward that provided a good basis for resolution of other remaining issues along the LAC in the eastern sector,” the India-China joint statement issued on Sunday said.
The two sides also agreed to continue their communication and dialogue, stabilize and control the situation on the ground, push for a mutually acceptable resolution of the remaining issues in a steady and orderly manner, to maintain peace and tranquillity in the border areas, the statement further said.
The 10th round of military talks followed after the two forces completed their disengagement process at Pangong Tso areas on Thursday.
India and China were locked-into border standoff since over nine months at several locations in the eastern Ladakh. The standoff had even led to violent brawl in the Galwan Valley on June 15, where 20 Indian troops were killed in the action with Chinese soldiers.
Two day ahead of the 10th round of military talks, China had announced that four of their soldiers were killed in the Galwan Valley. It took around eight months to declare the names of killed soldiers. The development came days after a Russian wire agency reported that 45 Chinese soldiers were killed in clash with Indian troops.
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) , February 22,2021: Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Uttar Pradesh will present the first paperless Budget 2021 in the Legislative Assembly on Monday.
Uttar Pradesh will be the first state in the country to table a paperless budget.
Thie year’s budget is the fifth budget of the Adityanath government in the state. State Finance Minister Suresh Khanna is slated to present the budget at 11 am today.
All members of the State Legislature have been provided iPads to view the budget highlights which will also be available on two big screens put up in the House.
The Budget Session was commenced on February 18 with an address by Governor Anandiben Patel to a joint sitting of both houses. The session will continue till March 10.
Last week, an all-party meeting was called by Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit ahead of the budget presentation. He sought cooperation from the opposition parties for the smooth functioning of the budget session.
He had informed that the budget will be paperless and the finance minister will read out the Budget paper from a tablet.
On February 16, COVID-19 tests of all MLAs and MLCs were conducted in view of the pandemic.
Puducherry , February 20,2021: Amid a political crisis in the union territory, Puducherry Legislative Assembly Secretary R Mounissamy on Friday said the Union Territory Assembly will reassemble for a special session on February 22, after Tamilisai Soundararajan ordered a floor test for the Congress government.
The ruling Congress in the UT seemingly slipped from the halfway mark in the 33-member assembly after four MLAs resigned from the cabinet recently. Now Congress has 10 MLA along with three MLAs of DMK and one independent MLA in an alliance.
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on February 18 alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to bring down a democratically elected government.
“Following the announcement of the floor test by LG Tamilisai Soundararajan, I convened a meeting of Congress MLAs at my residence. I held a meeting with MLAs and discussed the floor test. No decision has been taken in today’s meet. We will hold a meeting again on February 21. We are also consulting with our alliance partner DMK,” Narayanasamy has said.
Puducherry is scheduled to go to polls later this year.