Indian Railways through its 21 Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) is organizing mega recruitment drive in three phases starting today for filling up about 1.4 lakh vacancies. According to the Ministry of Railways, more than 2.44 crore candidates will be appearing in different cities across the country. The Ministry said, the first phase of the Exam will commence from 15th to 18th of this month for Isolated and Ministerial categories. This will be followed by NTPC categories from 28th of December to tentatively till March, 2021 and the third phase recruitment for Level-1 from tentatively April  onwards till June, 2021.

RRBs have made extensive preparations for conducting examinations of this large scale in COVID-19 pandemic times following SOPs as laid down by Government ensuring social distancing, compulsory use of masks, sanitizers, curtailing shifts for conducting Exams to only two shifts per day.

The Ministry said, candidates will be checked for temperature at entry using thermo guns and candidates having temperature more than prescribed limits will not be allowed inside the exam venue. Intimation in this regard will also be sent to their registered email and mobile number regarding re-scheduling of such candidates. Candidate will have to produce COVID-19 self-declaration in prescribed format at the entry and in absence of the same he or she will not be allowed into the exam venue. Proper arrangement of crowd management will be made as per COVID-19 protocol from the Main Gate to the Exam Halls. After each shift the exam centre will be sanitized before starting next shift. 

Higher education institutions will open in Uttarakhand today. State government has issued the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in this regard. According to Chief Secretary Om Prakash, the students coming from outside the state will have to get an RT-PCR Covid test done. Only those will be permitted to join the institution who will test negative. Students will also have to submit consent letter from their parents. The SOP further states that nodal officers authorized by the respective institution and district authorities will ensure smooth functioning of the entire procedure.

Both students and staff will have to compulsarily put on masks, maintain 6 feet distance in the classroom. The respective institution will see if required classes could be run in additional shifts to accommodate students as per SOP.

The government has emphasized that preference should be given on conducting online mode of education. The institutes have been asked to ensure that students are provided with E resource for studying. The colleges will continue to run online mode of classes as well. 

Centre has issued guidelines for mass Covid-19 vaccination drive in the country. Health and Family Welfare Ministry is planning to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people during the first phase. Pfizer, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech have applied for market authorisation for their vaccines. The vaccination drive will start once government approves emergency use of COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine will be offered first to healthcare workers, frontline workers and to persons above 50 years of age. It will be followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities and finally to the remaining population. The priority group of above 50 years may be further subdivided into those above 60 years of age and those between 50 to 60 years of age for purposes of phasing of rollout. All together 20 ministries will be handling the entire process.

The COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network (Co-WIN) system — a digitalised platform — will be used to track enlisted beneficiaries for the vaccination and anti-coronavirus vaccines on a real-time basis. At the vaccination site, only pre-registered beneficiaries will be vaccinated in accordance with the prioritisation. There will be no provision for on the-spot registrations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Gujarat today to lay foundation stones for several development projects in the state. These projects include world’s biggest Renewable Energy Park, being set up close to Indo Pak border, near Khavda village in Kutch district, a desalination plant, a fully automated milk processing of Sarhad dairy and a packing plant.

Gujarat Tourism Minister Vasanbhai Ahir has said that Hybrid Renewable Energy Park will produce 30 Giga watt solar and wind energy on a vast expanse of waste land situated beyond India bridge from Khavda village to Vighakot, where civilian access is not permitted and area is controlled by BSF and Indian Army. He further said that Gujarat government has allotted huge parcel of barren land for this world class, one of its kind, green energy project.

Green energy generating corporates from private and public sector are being given land allotment to establish solar photovoltaic panels and wind mills. Power Grid Corporation of India would be the nodal agency to channelize electricity generated here in to power grid. 

The PM will also lay foundation stone virtually for a desalination plant coming up at Gundiyali village near Mandvi in Kutch dist. This plant aims to convert sea water for potable purposes for a  population 8 lakh of 300 villages.

Mr Ahir also said that the desalination plant assumes great importance for Kutch peninsula which is perennial rain-deficit area with no other source of water.

Prime Minister Modi will also lay foundation stone, virtually, for 130 crore rupees milk processing plant of Sarhad dairy, an apex dairy cooperative entity. This massive 2 lakh liter per day milk processing and packaging facility will come up under Rashtriya Kisan Vikas Yojna. 

Mr Ahir also informed that the Prime Minister will also interact with people from different walks of rural life in a tent city area in  Dhordo village in white desert.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the decision to open up India’s space sector has heralded a new age of public-private partnership. Mr Modi expressed confidence that Indian talent will achieve worldwide fame in space sector in the same way it did in the IT sector. Prime Minister was interacting with key industries, start-ups and academia from the space sector via video conferencing to encourage their participation in space activities yesterday. Mr Modi said, professionalism and transparency in policies as well as the decision-making process of the government will prove beneficial for the companies joining the field.

Prime Minister assured the participants of complete and wholehearted support of the government in their efforts. Mr Modi said, India is making remarkable strides in space sector which has witnessed path-breaking reforms this year. Prime minister spoke of the space sector’s significance in communication and navigation and expressed hope that the country will soon become the manufacturing hub of space assets. Taking note of the plans of companies to make rockets and satellites, Mr Modi said this marks a big change that will further strengthen India’s foray into the space sector. He said private investment in the sector will lead to the creation of hi-tech jobs, which will provide a host of opportunities to the talent pool in IITs and NITs and other technical institutions.

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.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the government is taking every step to ensure holistic development of farmers and enrichment of the agriculture sector in the country. He said, farmers in the country have started benefitting from the reforms brought by the Centre. Mr Tomar said, extending the benefits of the IT sector to the farmers, the government is utilizing modern tools of communication for dissemination of useful information.

On creation of a data bank of farmers in the country, the Agriculture Minister said its resources will be utilized to inform farmers about soil health, send forewarning of floods and even maintenance of land records of agricultural fields. Mr Tomar said, the government aims at making agriculture profitable with assured returns for the farmers.

Speaking at the inaugural session of the 10th Knowledge Exchange Summit, the Agriculture Minister said, a promising agri sector in the country will be able to attract people from the new generation towards it. He said, under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, an amount of one lakh crore rupees is being utilized to create agri oriented infrastructure in the country.

Mr Tomar said, the government has also planned investment of 10 thousand crore rupees for development of food processing units. He said, an amount of 6 thousand 850 crore rupees is being spent towards creation of 10 thousand Farmer Produce Organisations (FPOs). Mr Tomar also informed that the government has paid a sum of 87 thousand crore rupees to the farmers towards settlement of claims under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

Centre has exempted Handicraft and Geographical Indications toys from Quality Control Order. Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade mentioned this exemption in Toys (Quality Control) Second Amendment Order, 2020.

Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce and Industry has devised a comprehensive action plan to boost production and sale of indigenous toys across the country.

Quality control order was issued by the Department for standardization and quality adherence of Toys and the order will come into effect from 1st January next year. This order aims to bring forward the synergized efforts of the centre, states and the stakeholders to promote ‘Team up for toys’ vision keeping quality standards of the indigenous toys as the priority.