Expressing concern over Jammu having earned the dubious distinction of recording one of the lowest COVID recovery rate of 43% in the country, Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh announced today that Centre will monitor Jammu COVID situation on daily basis and the Central team of experts will remain in touch with medical professionals in Jammu on day-to-day basis, apart from providing regular tele-consultation facility from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, till such time as the pandemic situation improves in the region.

During a meeting convened to review the alarming COVID situation in Jammu region, Dr Jitendra Singh received inputs from the Central team led by Dr S K Singh and Dr Vijay Handa, who are currently on a visit to Jammu. The meeting was attended, among others, by Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan, Addl Health Secretary Kiran Ahuja while the Union Territory was represented by Advisor Health Rajiv Bhatnagar, Financial Secretary (Health) Atal Dullu, Divisional Commissioner Jammu Sanjeev Verma, Senior faculty members of Government Medical College Jammu and Deputy Commissioners of different districts of the Jammu Division.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that instructions have been issued to the health authorities in Jammu region to provide Oximeters and Oxygen Concentrate for Home Quarantine patients.

Dr Jitendra Singh assured the people of Jammu and Kashmir that the rising cases of COVID-19 in the UT would be tackled effectively through better hospital management and containment strategy. He said that issues like shortage of oxygen cylinders, medical staff in hospitals would be resolved at the earliest.

The Union Minister appreciated the Central Ministries of Health and Home Affairs for promptly responding to his request and sending a Central Medical Team at a short notice led by Dr.Sudhir Kumar Singh to assess the ground situation in Jammu and adjoining districts. The Central Team will remain in touch with the Medics in Jammu Division for continuous support and guidance on daily basis, apart from the Tele Consultation with AIIMS twice a week, till the pandemic situation improves, he added.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said, all necessary measures would be taken on an emergency basis to reverse the trend. He also asked the hospital providers to follow the Union Health Ministry SOP judiciously to avoid infection among themselves and create awareness about the same in public. He also advised the Financial Secretary (Health) Atal Dullo to hold regular meetings with Civil Society, Eminent Persons and Religious Leaders for educating the common man about the pandemic and for taking preventive measures attached to them. He also called for a designated Helpline and Control Room for COVID care and added that they should remain in functioning mode.

Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that non-COVID patients should get all the facilities and care they need and instructed the State Health Authorities to take necessary steps in this regard. Expressing his deep concern for high rates of infection and death in Jammu Division, Dr Jitendra Singh gave directions for Aggressive and Focussed testing, Contact Tracing and isolation and delineation of Red Zones in a scientific manner.

The Minister said that all the three main issues of Oxygen cylinders, Medical Staff and Containment flagged by the Central Team would be dealt with on priority basis. He, however, expressed satisfaction that the process of hiring the nurses, para-medics and doctors on contractual basis to overcome the shortage has begun and will soon yield the results. The Union Minister also called for long term measures like dedicated infectious medical facilities and more oxygen plants in medical colleges and hospitals in due course.

To ensure availability of banking outlet (Bank branch/Business Correspondent (BC), within 5 kilometers of all inhabited villages the Government has launched a Geographic Information System (GIS) based app., namely, Jan Dhan Darshak app (JDD app) developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Banks have been provided login credentials to upload the GIS location of their branches, Business Correspondents and ATMs on the app. As per JDD app, there are 1.66 lakh branches, 4.35 lakh BCs and 2.07 lakhs ATMs mapped by the banks. Further, as per data uploaded by the banks on JDD app, out of the 5.53 lakh mapped villages on the app, 5.52 lakh (99.8%) villages are having branch or BC within 5 kilometers distance, the Minister said in a written reply.

Giving more details, Shri Thakur said that as per extant guidelines dated 18.5.2017 on rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks), to open banking outlets at any place in the country, without seeking prior approval of RBI in each case, subject to at least 25 percent of the total number of banking outlets opened during a financial year being in unbanked rural centres i.e. centres having population less than 10,000 (Tier 5 and Tier 6 centres). Further, 10 Small Finance banks and six Payment Banks have been licensed by RBI for providing banking services across the country including the rural centres.

The Minister said that under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), all villages were mapped by banks into 1.59 lakh Sub-Service Areas (SSAs) with one SSA catering to 1,000 to 1,500 households. While 0.33 lakh SSAs have been covered with bank branches, 1.26 lakh SSAs, have been covered by deployment of interoperable Business Correspondents (BCs).

In pursuance of RBI guidelines, rolling out of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process and looked after by State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC), in consultation with the concerned State Government, member banks and other stakeholders. Banks, inter-alia, consider proposals for opening banking outlets in the light of RBI’s instructions, their business plans and their commercial viability. To further assess the viability for opening a banking outlet, banks carry out survey as required.

As informed by SLBC, Haryana and SLBC Bihar, all the Gram Panchayats and Blocks in these States are covered with banking services by bank branches/ Business Correspondents, the Minster stated.

To ensure availability of banking outlet (Bank branch/Business Correspondent (BC), within 5 kilometers of all inhabited villages the Government has launched a Geographic Information System (GIS) based app., namely, Jan Dhan Darshak app (JDD app) developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC). This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Banks have been provided login credentials to upload the GIS location of their branches, Business Correspondents and ATMs on the app. As per JDD app, there are 1.66 lakh branches, 4.35 lakh BCs and 2.07 lakhs ATMs mapped by the banks. Further, as per data uploaded by the banks on JDD app, out of the 5.53 lakh mapped villages on the app, 5.52 lakh (99.8%) villages are having branch or BC within 5 kilometers distance, the Minister said in a written reply.

Giving more details, Shri Thakur said that as per extant guidelines dated 18.5.2017 on rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted general permission to domestic Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks), to open banking outlets at any place in the country, without seeking prior approval of RBI in each case, subject to at least 25 percent of the total number of banking outlets opened during a financial year being in unbanked rural centres i.e. centres having population less than 10,000 (Tier 5 and Tier 6 centres). Further, 10 Small Finance banks and six Payment Banks have been licensed by RBI for providing banking services across the country including the rural centres.

The Minister said that under Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), all villages were mapped by banks into 1.59 lakh Sub-Service Areas (SSAs) with one SSA catering to 1,000 to 1,500 households. While 0.33 lakh SSAs have been covered with bank branches, 1.26 lakh SSAs, have been covered by deployment of interoperable Business Correspondents (BCs).

In pursuance of RBI guidelines, rolling out of banking outlets in uncovered areas is a continuous process and looked after by State Level Banker’s Committee (SLBC), in consultation with the concerned State Government, member banks and other stakeholders. Banks, inter-alia, consider proposals for opening banking outlets in the light of RBI’s instructions, their business plans and their commercial viability. To further assess the viability for opening a banking outlet, banks carry out survey as required.

As informed by SLBC, Haryana and SLBC Bihar, all the Gram Panchayats and Blocks in these States are covered with banking services by bank branches/ Business Correspondents, the Minster stated.

As on 31st July, 2020, total 19,844 cases were pending before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), including 12,438 cases under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Giving more details about regular staffing positions in NCLTs, Shri Thakur said that total 320 posts of officers/staff have been created in NCLT. Recruitment Rules (RRs) for these posts have been notified on 21.01.2020 and NCLT has initiated action to appoint employees on these posts on regular basis. Presently, 40 posts are filled on regular basis.

The Minister said that e-court project is being implemented in all 16 benches of NCLT. So far, e-filing has been started in 9 benches and it will be extended to remaining benches also. During COVID-19 pandemic, all benches are hearing cases through Video Conferencing.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has notified and deployed a web-form namely ‘SPICe+’ (pronounced SPICe Plus) vide notification no. GSR 128 dated 18.02.2020 (effective from 23.02.2020) as a part of Government of India’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) initiatives.  This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Giving more details, Shri Thakur said that the said web-form offers 10 services by three Central Government Ministries and Departments (Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance), one State Government (Maharashtra) and various Banks, thereby saving procedures, time and cost for Starting a Business in India.

These 10 services are:-

1. Name reservation
2. Incorporation
3. DIN allotment
4. Mandatory issue of PAN
5. Mandatory issue of TAN
6. Mandatory issue of EPFO registration
7. Mandatory issue of ESIC registration
8. Mandatory issue of Profession Tax registration (Maharashtra)
9. Mandatory Opening of Bank Account for the Company and
10. Allotment of GSTIN (if so applied for). 

Users may either choose to submit Part-A for reserving a name first and thereafter submit Part B for incorporation & other registrations or file Part A and B together at one go for incorporating a new company and availing the bouquet of registrations as above. The new web form facilitates On-screen filing and real time data validation for seamless incorporation of companies.

Mentioning the benefits, the Minister stated in the written replt that after introduction of the aforesaid new Web Form, the number of procedures has been reduced to 3 as against 10 earlier and time has also been reduced to 4 days as against 18 days earlier for starting a Business in the Country.

Further, vide notification no. 180(E) dated 06.03.2019 effective from 18.03.2019, this Ministry has amended the Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014 whereby zero fee is being charged for incorporation of all companies with authorized capital upto Rs. 15 lakh or upto 20 members where no share capital is applicable, the Minister stated.

The Tata CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) test, powered by CSIR-IGIB(Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology) FELUDA, received regulatory approvals today from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for commercial launch, as per ICMR guidelines, meeting high quality benchmarks with 96% sensitivity and 98% specificity for detecting the novel coronavirus. This test uses an indigenously developed, cutting-edge CRISPR technology for detection of the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2 virus.CRISPR is a genome editing technology to diagnosing diseases.

The Tata CRISPR test is the world’s first diagnostic test to deploy a speciallyadapted Cas9 protein to successfully detect the virus causing Covid-19. This marks a significant achievement for the Indian scientific community, moving from R&D to a high-accuracy, scalable and reliable test in less than 100 days. The Tata CRISPR test achieves accuracy levels oftraditional RT-PCR tests, with quicker turnaround time, less expensive equipment, and better ease of use. Moreover, CRISPR is a futuristic technology that can also be configured for detection of multiple other pathogens in the future.

The effort is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the scientific community and industry. The Tata Group has worked closely with CSIR-IGIB and ICMR to create a high-quality test that will help the nation ramp up Covid-19 testing quickly and economically, with a ‘Made in India’ product that is safe, reliable, affordable, and accessible. 

Commenting on the development, Girish Krishnamurthy, CEO, TATA Medical and Diagnostics Ltd, said, “The approval for the Tata CRISPR test for COVID-19 will give a boost to the country’s efforts in fighting the global pandemic. The commercialization of the Tata CRISPR test reflects the tremendous R&D talent in the country, which can collaborate to transform India’s contributions to the global healthcare and scientific research world.”

Dr Shekhar C Mande, DG-CSIR complimented the CSIR-IGIB team of scientists and students, TATA Sons and DCGI for the exemplary work and collaboration carried out during the current pandemic leading to the approval of the novel diagnostic kit and paving the path for further innovations towards making India self-reliant.   

Dr Anurag Agrawal, Director CSIR-IGIB expressed delight that work started by CSIR under the sickle cell mission for genome diagnostics and therapeutics led to new knowledge that could be harnessed to quickly develop new diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2. He emphasized that this shows the interconnectedness of scientific knowledge and technology and the innovation of the young research team led by Dr Debojyoti Chakraborty and Dr SouvikMaiti.

Priya Yadav,

Food is the need of every person, which gives us energy. Food must be balanced for energy. A balanced diet means a meal that contains the right amount of protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, fat, and fiber. A balanced diet is very important for us to be healthy. A balanced diet includes rice, roti, lentils, green vegetables, milk, and curd, etc. We should all eat healthy food every day. Healthy food gives us a happy life. We should also eat fruits daily in a balanced.

Make fruits and vegetables the largest part of your meal – half a plate quantity:
Try to eat many colors and many types of fruits and vegetables. And remember that potato is not considered a vegetable in a healthy food plate, because eating potatoes has a negative effect on blood sugar, or ‘blood glucose’.

Eat most of the whole grain, or whole grains – one fourth plate volume:
Whole and Whole Grains – Whole Wheat, Barley, Millet, Juvar, Jai, ‘Brown Rice’ or Unprocessed Rice, and foods made from them, such as bread made from whole wheat – made from plain flour, ‘White Rice’, And other processed grains have less effect on blood sugar and insulin.

Protein strength – one fourth plate volume
Fish, chicken, lentils, and walnuts are sources of healthy and versatile protein – they can be added to a salad, and go well with vegetables. Red meat should be eaten less, and stay away from processed meat, such as bacon and sausages.

Healthy plant oil or vegetable oil – in moderate amounts:
Choose healthy vegetable oils, such as olive or ‘olive’, canola, soybean, sunflower, peanut, mustard, etc. oils, and stay away from ‘parsley hydrogenated’ oils, as they contain unhealthy ‘trans fats’. Remember, foods do not become “healthy” simply because they are low or zero fat.

Drink water, tea, or coffee:
Stay away from sweet pies, eat only one or two servings of milk and other milk-based foods a day, and drink at least a small glass of fruit juice a day.

Be active:
The red color on the placement of the healthy food plate is to remind you that being active is also essential for weight balance.

The main message of a healthy food plate is about “dietary quality”, or the quality of the diet.

It is more important to think about what types of carbohydrates we eat in our diet than by paying attention to the number of carbohydrates because some sources of carbohydrates – such as vegetables (other than potatoes), fruits, whole grains, and lentils – are higher than other sources Are healthy
A plate of healthy food also tells people to stay away from sweet pies, which are full of ush, or “calories” – and usually have little nutrition.
A plate of healthy food encourages people to eat healthy “vegetable oil”, and there is no upper limit on the consumption of “fats” from healthy sources.