BJP President J P Nadda has  tested positive for COVID-19. In a tweet, Mr Nadda informed that after seeing the early symptoms of Corona, he got the test done. The report was found positive. 

Mr Nadda said, his health is fine and he is following all the guidelines in home isolation on the advice of doctors. He has requested all those who came in contact with him in the last few days to isolate themselves and get themselves tested.

The Directorate General of GST Intelligence, DGGI in its nationwide drive against fake invoice frauds has so far arrested 140 unscrupulous persons. Sources in the Department of Revenue said, the drive against fake invoice frauds since the second week of November, have also unearthed cases of GST evasion by way of transporting under-valued and unaccounted goods. It has registered 1,488 cases against four thousand 839 fake entities.

The sources revealed that some companies of Delhi and Himachal are under investigation for under-valuation of goods and its transportation through transporters of Ludhiana and Jalandhar. Searches were conducted at the transporters’ premises in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Delhi and also simultaneously at the premises of the suppliers of these goods in Delhi and Himachal Pradesh at various locations. The Goods mainly involved were footwear, plastic sleepers, tobacco and shaving.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 94.98 per cent, in the past 24 hours. With 30 thousand 6 hundred 5 new discharges the total discharged cases reached 93 lakh 88 thousand 1 hundred 59.

With 27 thousand 71 new COVID19 cases in 24 hours, India’s total cases have gone up to 98 lakh 84 thousand 100. Health Ministry said, with 336 new deaths in 24 hours, death toll has reached to 1 lakh 43 thousand 3 hundred 55. Total active cases are now at 3 lakh 52 thousand 5 hundred 86.

ICMR said,  upto yesterday 15 crore 45 lakh 66 thousand 990 samples were tested. Out of these, 8 lakh 55 thousand 1 hundred 57 samples were tested yesterday.

International Bank has applauded India’s efforts towards river rejuvenation and cleanliness. Xavier Chauvet De Beauchene, Senior Water and Sanitation Specialist, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development said the bank is very proud of all the work done in India who would have thought 5 years ago that 550 million people will stop defecating in the open in the country. He added that there is a massive shift in the Indian Government’s approach from focusing only on infrastructure development to working with people and bringing about behaviourial change.

Director General of National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) Rajiv Ranjan Mishra attributed the success of the Namami Gange Mission to his team, volunteers, academicians and many self-help organisations who are working continuously towards the cause of cleaning Ganga.

The first Trilateral Working Group Meeting between India, Iran and Uzbekistan on joint use of Chabahar Port will be held virtually today.

In a statement, Ministry of External Affairs said, India welcomes the interest of Uzbekistan to use the Chabahar port as a transit port. It said, this will open up economic opportunities for the traders and business community of the region. Besides Uzbekistan, other Central Asian countries have also shown interest in using this port. The Ministry said, India wants to cooperate closely with regional countries on this issue.

Reserve Bank of India has made Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) money transfer facility operational round-the-clock. The announcement to this effect was made by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. In a tweet, he said it has been decided to make RTGS available round the clock on all days of the year from last night. RBI Governor said, India has become one of the few countries in the world to operate its RTGS system round the clock throughout the year. The move is aimed at giving a push to digital payments in the country. Earlier, RTGS transaction facility was available for customers from 7 am to 6 pm on all working days of a week, except the second and fourth Saturdays.

The RTGS system is meant for high-value transactions, on a real-time basis. The minimum amount that can be remitted through RTGS is 2 lakh rupees and there is no maximum limit. The beneficiary bank receives instructions to transfer the funds immediately after the transaction is carried out, and the transfer is instantaneous. On the other hand, NEFT handles fund transfers up to 2 lakh rupees and such transactions are usually executed in a couple of hours.

RBI has also decided to increase the limit for contactless card transactions to 5,000 rupees from 2,000 at Point of Sale (PoS) terminals from January 1 in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and feedback from stakeholders.

Railway Ministry has quashed media reports about issuance of unreserved tickets and informed that all trains are plying on reservations only. In a statement, the ministry clarified that there has been no change in policy to run all express trains including festival specials and clone specials as fully reserved train only.

The ministry said, the permission given to Zonal Railways to issue unreserved tickets is meant only for suburban and limited number of local passenger trains operating in few zones. It said, running of trains, norms of travel and reservations are constantly evolving under Covid times. Further changes, as and when they happen, will be informed to all concerned accordingly, the ministry said.

Currently, Railways is operating 736 special trains.

A delegation of farmers from Uttarakhand met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in New Delhi yesterday and extended their support to the newly enacted three farm laws. Mr Tomar thanked the farmers for supporting the laws. Talking to media persons, Agriculture Minister said, farmers have understood the laws, expressed their views, and supported it.

Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Kailash Choudhary and Uttarakhand Education Minister Arvind Pandey were also present at the meeting.

This was the third group of farmers that met Mr Tomar and extended support to the farm laws. Earlier, two delegation of farmers from Haryana met Mr Tomar and extended their support to the new farm laws. The delegation, led by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Mann) Haryana state leader Guni Prakash submitted a letter of support to Mr Tomar on the farm laws and demanded the government to continue with these legislations. They also threatened to start protest if new farm laws are repealed. Mr Guni Prakash said that the ongoing farmers’ agitation is no longer a peasant movement.