The Government today said that it has approved financial assistance of 5 lakh rupees each in respect of death cases of journalists due to Covid-19.

In a written reply to an unstarred question in RAJYA SABHA, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar said that his ministry has carried out a special drive for financial assistance under the Journalist Welfare Scheme.

Mr. Javadekar said his ministry had issued an advisory on 22nd April, 2020 advising all media persons to take due health related precaution and requesting media houses to take necessary care of their field staff as well as office staff.

The Minister asserted that the ministry of labour and employment through its advisory to all chief secretaries of states and union territories and all employers’ association has advised all the employers of public and private establishment to extend their coordination by not terminating their employees, particularly casual or contractual workers from job or reduce their wages.

He further said, the ministry of Home while issuing consolidated guidelines for containment of Covid-19 epidemic in the country from time to time, kept print and electronic media under exceptions from closing down directions issued for commercial and private establishment.

India has administered nearly three crore vaccination doses in the country so far.  Union Health Ministry said that more than one lakh 40 thousand people have been inoculated with Covid-19 doses in the last 24 hours.

The country’s COVID-19 recovery rate reached 96.68 per cent with the total recovery of more than 17 thousand patients in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that more than one crore ten lakh patients have  recovered from this disease. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is over two lakh 19 thousand which comprises only 1.93 per cent of the total positive cases.

A total number of 26 thousand 291 new cases have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative positive cases to over one crore 13 lakh.

In Cricket, India beat England by seven wickets in the second T-20 International match to level five match series 1-1 at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad last night. Ishan Kishan’s 32-ball 56 on debut and his 94-run partnership for the second wicket with skipper Virat Kohli helped India thrash England. Ishan Kishan was named player of the match.

Put into bat first, England scored 164 runs for the loss of six wickets in the stipulated 20 overs with the help of Jason Roy 46 runs off 35 balls. For India, Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur took two wickets each.

In reply, India chased down the target for the loss of 3 wickets in 17.5 overs. India made 166 runs. Skipper Virat  Kohli  made 73 runs not out, while Ishan Kishan made 56 of 32 balls. For England, Sam Curran, Chris Jordan  and Adil Rashid took a wicket each. Earlier, India won the toss and elected to field.

The two teams will now take on each other in the third T20 International tomorrow.

India has administered nearly three crore vaccination doses in the country so far.  Union Health Ministry said that more than one lakh 40 thousand people have been inoculated with Covid-19 doses in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate reached 96.68 per cent with the total recovery of more than 17 thousand patients in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that more than one crore ten lakh patients have already been recovered from this disease. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is over two lakh 19 thousand which comprises only 1.93 per cent of the total positive cases.

A total number of 26 thousand 291 new cases have been reported in the country in the past 24 hours taking the cumulative positive cases to over one crore 13 lakh. The Health Ministry said 118 deaths have been reported during the last 24 hour taking the toll to over one lakh 58 thousand across the country.

The Indian Council of Medical Research said that various laboratories have conducted more than seven lakh three thousand tests of coronavirus samples during the last 24 hours and more than 22 crore 74 lakh tests have been done in the country so far.

Jammu and Kashmir government has approved a proposal to provide interest-free loan up to 2 lakh rupees to the urban homeless economically weaker section beneficiaries under Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC) component of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U). J&K Administrative Council, which met under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, approved the proposal of the Housing and Urban Development Department. The beneficiaries under the BLC component of PMAY-U have experienced the difficulty in mobilising their contribution as they come from economically weaker sections. As a result of which the construction of dwelling units under this component of PMAY-U could not achieve the desired targets. The beneficiaries of this component have demanded enhancement of assistance in their favour so that they can complete their houses within the targeted date of the mission. 

In view of practical difficulties faced by the beneficiaries in arranging financial resources, the government agreed to provide interest subsidy to all the eligible beneficiaries. The interest-free loan will be an additional benefit, over and above the financial assistance of 1.66 lakh rupees which is already being provided to the beneficiaries under the PMAY-U. With this the beneficiaries can now avail 3.66 lakh rupees for construction of their dwelling units. The tenure of the BLC interest-free loan has been fixed at 10 years and includes a moratorium of six months, repayable through monthly installment of 2,500 rupees. At present the scheme will benefit 41,992 beneficiaries under this component. The decision is a part of the government’s resolve to provide affordable housing to the economically weaker section of the society and provide supplementary financial assistance so as to realise the vision of the Prime Minister by providing Housing For All by 2022.

In Assam, scrutiny of nominations will take place today for the assembly elections. A total of 408 candidates have filed their nominations for the 2nd phase. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is 17th of this month. Polling for this phase will be held on April 1. Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly will be held in three phases on 27th March and 1st and 6th April. Counting of votes will be taken up on the 2nd of May.

In West Bengal, scrutiny of nominations will be done today for the second phase of assembly elections. 177 nominations have been filed for 30 seats in this phase. BJP and TMC have fielded candidates for all the seats whereas CPIM in 16, Congress in 9, DSP in 7, CPI in 2 and Forward Block has fielded candidates for 2 seats. 47 candidates from other parties and 34 Independents have also submitted nominations.

Elections will be held on 1st of April for 9 seats each in East and West Medinipur, 8 seats in Bankura and 4 seats in South 24 Parganas. Nandigram seat will also go for polls in this phase.

More than ten lakh 32 thousand students have registered for Prime Minister’s interactive academic programme Pariksha Pe Charcha. Over two lakh 60 thousand teachers and more than 92 thousand parents have also registered for the programme. Pariksha Pe Charcha is part of the larger movement – Exam Warriors – led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to create a stress-free atmosphere for youngsters. Through this programme, the Prime Minister will hold a brainstorming session with school students, teachers and parents in connection with the upcoming examinations. Yesterday was the last date for the registration to take part in the event. The Students, teachers and parents registered through the official site of My Gov. Our correspondent reports that this year’s Pariksha Pe Charcha is the 4th edition and will be held this month virtually.

About two thousand school students, teachers and parents from all across the country will be selected as winners. The selected participants will take part in the programme online from their State and Union Territories headquarters and will be presented with a special Pariksha Pe Charcha kit. Each winner will also get a specially designed Certificate of Appreciation. A small group of students from among the winners, will get the opportunity to directly interact with the Prime Minister and ask him questions. Each of these special winners will also get a digital souvenir of their autographed photograph along with the Prime Minister.

Both Houses of Parliament will resume proceedings today after a break of four days. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will make statements in both houses of Parliament today on the recent developments pertaining to the welfare of Indians abroad, Non-Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin in the COVID situation.

Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to introduce the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Lok Sabha today. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2021, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021, The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Amendment Bill, 2021 and the Marine Aids to Navigation Bill, 2021 is also scheduled to be introduced in the lower house. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2021 will come up for discussion in the Lok Sabha. Apart from this, discussion and voting will be held on the demands for Grants of Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for 2021-22.

The Rajya Sabha is scheduled to take up the National Institutes of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management Bill, 2019 today. Discussions will be held on the working of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Tourism in the upper house.

In Myanmar, at least 12 people were killed in firing by the security forces as the protests against the military government continued for the 42nd day yesterday. According to media reports, 5 people were killed and several others injured when police opened fire on a sit-in protest in Mandalay. One person was killed in Pyay and two in Yangon where three were also killed overnight in police firing on the protestors. A truck driver in Chauk died in a police firing.
 
Assistance Association for Political Prisoners advocacy group has said that more than 70 people have been killed during widespread protests against the military seizure in Myanmar on February 1. Meanwhile, the acting leader of the country’s ousted civilian government Mahn Win Khaing Than addressed the public for the first time yesterday and vowed to pursue a revolution to overturn the junta.

Director General of Civil Aviation, DGCA has asked airlines to deboard passengers who do not wear their masks properly despite repeated warnings. The aviation regulator said, there must be strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols by air travellers. DGCA said it has been noticed that some travelers undertaking air journey do not adhere to COVID 19 protocols and do not wear masks properly or maintain social distancing after entering airport premises.

The DGCA has also directed that passengers shall wear masks and maintain social distancing norms at all times during the air travel. The mask shall not be moved below the nose except under exceptional circumstances.

Jammu and Kashmir Police has released a list of nine wanted terrorists and terrorist associates who are active in and around Srinagar. The police have announced the reward for anyone providing information about them.
 
The Kashmir Zone Police released the names and photographs of terrorists through its official Twitter handle yesterday. The police have also shared several phone numbers on which information about these terrorists can be given. The informers have been promised suitable rewards.

India has inched closer to touch the significant milestone of administering 3 crore COVID-19 Vaccine doses. With over 15 lakh 19 thousand doses administered yesterday, the cumulative vaccination figure has surpassed the mark of 2 crore 97 lakh doses. India is one of the fastest countries in the world to achieve these figures in a short span of time.
 
The nation commenced the largest vaccination drive in the world on 16th January this year with vaccination of healthcare workers. Vaccination of front line workers began from 2nd February whereas the most recent phase began from 1st of this month encompassing vaccination of everyone aged above 60 years and above 45 years with specified co-morbidities. Health Ministry has informed that in just 13 days of the current phase over 78 lakh senior citizens above 60 years and nearly 13 lakh 86 thousand people above 45 years with co-morbidities have been administered the first shot of the COVID-19 Vaccine.
 
The Health Ministry has informed that the COVID-19 recovery rate in the country today stands at  96.75 per cent. It said, in the last 24 hours, 16 thousand 637 people were discharged after recovery. Till now, over 1 crore 9 lakh 89 thousand people have recovered from the COVID-19 infection. In the last 24 hours, 25 thousand 320 new cases were reported. The number of active cases in the country stands at nearly 2 lakh 10 thousand comprising around 1.85 per cent of the total reported cases.
 
The Health Ministry has informed that 158 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19 taking the cumulative toll to 1 lakh 58 thousand 604. Indian Council of Medical Research, ICMR has informed that over 8 lakh 64 thousand samples were tested for COVID-19 in the country yesterday. With this the cumulative testing figure has crossed the mark of 22 crore 67 lakh. As of today, two thousand 412 laboratories are engaged in the work of testing COVID samples across the country which includes one thousand 225 government and one thousand 187 private labs. 

National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze at midnight. Before arrest, he was quizzed for around 12 hrs at NIA office in Mumbai. NIA said, Waze has been arrested for his role and involvement in placing explosives laden vehicle near the house of industrialist Mukesh Ambani on 25th February. Charges under various sections of IPC including 286, 465 and 473 are levied against him.
 
NIA took over the case last Monday, after the Home Ministry’s order. Earlier, Waje had filed anticipatory bail plea in Thane sessions court. After hearing arguments from Waze’s lawyer yesterday, the court refused to grant interim protection and posted the plea for hearing on March 19. Initially Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch was investigating this case and Sachin Waze was the investigating officer.
 
The body of Mansukh Hiren, the alleged owner of the explosive laden car was found on 5th March in Thane Creek. His wife claimed that he was being pressurised for taking responsibility of car. She also claimed that during November 2020 to February 2021 Waze was using that car. Waze has denied the charges.
 
Opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis raised the issue in Maharashtra Assembly and later the case was shifted to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad. Few days ago, Waze was transferred out from the Crime Branch.

Today is the last day of registration for Prime Minister’s interactive academic programme Pariksha Pe Charcha. Pariksha Pe Charcha is part of the larger movement – ‘Exam Warriors’ – led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to create a stress-free atmosphere for youngsters. Students can register for it through the official site of My Gov on innovateindia.mygov.in. This year’s Pariksha Pe Charcha is the 4th edition and will be held virtually.
 
This time, the Prime Minister’s massively popular interaction will not only have students but also parents and teachers. To get a chance to participate, students, teachers or parents can participate in Pariksha Pe Charcha competition hosted on MyGov Innovate platform. The competition is open for school students of classes 9 to 12. Each winner will get a specially designed Certificate of Appreciation.
 
A small group of students from among the winners will get the opportunity to directly interact with the Prime Minister and ask him questions. Each of these special winners will also get a digital souvenir of their autographed photograph along with the Prime Minister. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a telephonic conversation with Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday. They reviewed topical developments and the ongoing cooperation between India and Sri Lanka in bilateral and multilateral forums.

They agreed to maintain regular contact between relevant officials, including in the context of the continuing COVID-19 challenges. Mr. Modi reiterated the importance of Sri Lanka to India’s Neighbourhood First policy.