Daily Current Affairs

Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 30 Haryana withdraws lockdown order The Haryana Government has withdrawn the orders to keep shops and shopping malls, except those dealing in essential goods and services, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays after the Centre issued the guidelines for Unlock 4.0, said state Home Minister Anil Vij on Sunday. The country's Covid-19 caseload today topped 3.5 million, barely eight days after crossing 3 million infections. Setting a global record for the highest single-day surge for the second consecutive day —- with 78,761 cases on Sunday —- the Covid load has reached 35,42,733 while 27,13,933 persons have been cured. The daily cases stood at 76,472 on Saturday. The death toll has reached 63,498 with 948 people dying in the past 24 hours. In a positive sign, the case fatality rate dropped below 1.8 per cent to 1.79 per cent today with recoveries surging to 76.61 per cent. The active cases now stand at 7,65,302, which is 21.60 per cent...

Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 30 The Covid-19 outbreak has left the government with no option but to defer the completion date for conducting the first phase of the Census-2021 and the exercise to update the National Population Register (NPR). Sources said the first phase of both exercises was scheduled to be over by September 30, but now, it might be delayed by a year. They said though a final decision on new dates had not been taken yet, it was for certain that these could not be undertaken in 2020 in view of the increasing number of Covid-19 cases in the country. A senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official, however, said: "At present, the government's priority is not Census. The entire machinery is involved in containing the pandemic. The delay by even a year in conducting Census and NPR would not have any adverse impact." The Indian Census is one of the largest administrative and statistical exercises in the world, with the involvement of more than ...

M Aamir Khan Tribune News Service Srinagar, August 30 Involved in attacks, radicalising youth As per police records, the killed terrorists were part of groups involved in planning and executing several terror attacks in Kashmir LeT commander Saqib Bashir, one of the slain ultras, was involved in radicalising youth and luring them into the terror fold Three militants of the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit (LeT) and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the counter-insurgency unit of the police were killed during a nightlong encounter in the Pantha Chowk area on the outskirts of the city. One of the three slain militants was an LeT commander, who was active for the past year and a half. According to the police, he was involved in several attacks on the security forces besides weapon-snatching and luring youth to join militant ranks. "All three were from the LeT. One of them was their commander and he was involved in terror activities for the past year and a half," Di...

Tribune News Service Jammu, August 30 A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) was today killed in fresh shelling by Pakistan troops along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera sector of Rajouri district. According to official sources, Pakistan resorted to unprovoked ceasefire violation using small arms at Khanger, Kalsian and Bhawani along the LoC. "Our troops responded to the enemy fire. In the incident, a Naib Subedar was critically injured and later succumbed to his injuries," said Lt Col Devender Anand, PRO (Defence), Jammu. The deceased soldier was identified as Naib Subedar Rajwinder Singh, a resident of Goindwal Sahib village in Amritsar's Khadoor Sahib tehsil. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter. This is the eighth casualty due to shelling in Poonch and Rajouri over the past three months. Source:- The Tribune https://ift.tt/2YOyTNQ

New Delhi, August 30 Reacting sharply to Pakistan hailing the recent Gupkar Declaration in which six political parties of Jammu and Kashmir vowed to fight collectively against the abrogation of Article 370, National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah today asserted: "We are not anyone's puppet." He said Pakistan had always abused mainstream political parties of Jammu and Kashmir, "but now suddenly they like us". The former CM was replying to a query on Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's statement that the declaration issued by the NC, PDP, Congress and three other parties was not an "ordinary" occurrence. "Let me make it clear that we are not anyone's puppet, neither New Delhi's nor of anyone across the border. We are answerable to the people of Jammu and Kashmir and will work for them," he said. To a question on cross-border terrorism, he said, "I would urge Pakistan to stop sending armed men into Ka...

New Delhi, August 30 Eighty years after the first unit of the Army Air Defence (AAD) was raised during the British rule in Mumbai, the Corps of the AAD has decided to change its Raising Day to match it with the date the unit was raised by the British. The AAD will now observe its Raising Day on September 15, instead of January 10. It was on January 10, 1989, that the Corps AAD was bifurcated from the Corps Artillery and was formed as a separate unit. In July 1940, Sir Claude Auchinleck, commander-in-chief of the British Indian Armed Forces, took a decision to raise anti-aircraft units in India with Indian troops. On 15 September, 1940, a group of British officers under Major RA Ronald raised the 1st Technical Training Battery. This group formed the nucleus of the 1st Indian anti-air regiment at Colaba, Mumbai. Immediately, a unit was dispatched to defend oilfields in Digboi, Assam. The remaining troops sailed to Malaya and Singapore to protect assets against the anticipated Japane...

Sukhmeet Bhasin Tribune News Service Bathinda, August 30 Modus operandi Money was charged from the beneficiary patients, whose e-cards were generated by these hospitals Two files were made — one for treatment on cash payment and the other for making claim under the scheme Also, dummy entries were made to bungle funds After Adesh Hospital, Bathinda, was delisted last week, five more hospitals have been de-empanelled for allegedly embezzling funds under the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme. Even while charging patients, these hospitals had been wrongly claiming insurance from the government. Besides, dummy entries were made to bungle funds. The hospitals delisted are Astha Hospital (Bathinda), Akashdeep Hospital (Amritsar), Jindal Ortho Hospital (Mansa), Verma Hospital (Amritsar) and Garg Nursing Home (Moga). More hospitals are under the scanner, say sources. A notice issued to Adesh Hospital on August 22 said money was charged from a beneficiary patient, whose e...

Tribune News Service New Delhi, August 30 Advocating increased use of local products as a way to "Atmanirbhar Bharat", Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested people utilise a new crop of apps developed in the country and also purchase locally manufactured toys. Recalling a recent app innovative challenge, the PM in his Mann Ki Baat address said it was a good sign for self-reliance. From around 7,000 entries, some two-thirds of them were made by youth of tier 2 and tier 3 cities. "This is a very auspicious indication for self-reliant India, for future of the country. You will definitely be impressed on seeing the results of the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" app innovation challenge. After a lot of scrutiny, awards have been given to around two dozen apps in different categories," he added. Stating that the global toy industry is worth over Rs 7 lakh crore, PM Modi said, "India's share is meagre and asked the toy manufacturers to go vocal for ...

New Delhi, August 30 Students and alumni of various Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have launched a portal to help JEE and NEET candidates with transportation facility, officials said. Travelling concerns have been raised by students on social media amid the Covid-19 risk. Besides, many candidates have moved to different cities during lockdown and hence are at far off locations from the examination centres. "During the Covid-19 crisis, one of the major concerns among students is regarding difficulty in reaching the exam centres. Students and alumni of IITs have promptly come forward and launched a dedicated portal to connect with good samaritans who may want to help the needy candidates. The portal called "Eduride" will ease burden of commuting for the candidates, especially from remote locations and poorly connected areas," IIT Delhi Director V Ramgopal Rao said. "After registration of alumni, volunteers and candidates, the portal will connect appro...

Chennai, August 30 India and Russia were today declared joint winners of the 2020 Online Chess Olympiad as the final was marred by Internet disconnection and server malfunction. Initially, Russia were declared winners after two Indian players (Nihal Sarin and Divya Deshmukh) lost out on time in the final after suffering a disconnection with the server. India lodged a protest against the controversial decision that was then reviewed and gold medals awarded to both teams. This was the first time the FIDE, the international chess federation, was holding the Olympiad online, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In an official statement, FIDE President Arkady Dvorkovich said the global Internet outage severely affected several countries, including India, so a decision was made only after a careful examination. Legendary Indian chess player Viswanathan Anand shared his excitement by tweeting: "We are the champions!! Congrats Russia!" Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju congratulated the In...