In yet another mining accident in South West China on Tuesday, four miners are missing after an accident happened due to excess levels of carbon monoxide in a coal mine in Bijie, southwest China’s Guizhou Province. The accident took place in Ruifeng coal mine in Dafang county at 7:20 am on Tuesday, the state television reported. A total of 47 miners were working when the accident happened and 43 of them have been evacuated safely. 

Two carbon monoxide overload accidents have been reported in the past few months in Southwest China, resulting in 39 deaths. 

Meanwhile, rescuers are still trying to reach the 22 trapped miners in East China’s Shandong Province who got trapped due to an explosion in a gold mine on January 10. As reported by state media, rescue teams have established contact with 12 of the miners. Contact has not yet been made with the other 10 miners.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju has been assigned the additional charge of the Ministry of AYUSH. In a Press Communique, President’s Secretariat said, during the hospitalization and treatment of AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik following a road accident, his portfolio related to the Ministry of AYUSH has been temporarily assigned to Mr Rijiju in addition to his existing portfolios. 

The President has directed that this arrangement may continue till Mr Naik resumes his work related to the Ministry of AYUSH. 

India’s regular skipper Virat Kohli will return to the team for next month’s four-test series against England after Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced the official squad for the first two Tests for the home series against England.

Surprisingly, in view of COVID-19, BCCI has named a 18-member squad instead of the regular 16-member squad.

The first test is scheduled for February 5th to 9th followed by the second from February 13th to 17th, with both games to be played in Chennai.

The third and fourth tests will be played at Ahmedabad on February 24th to 28th and  March 4th to 8th.

US President-elect Joe Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris will be sworn in as the 46th President and 49th Vice-President of the United States today. Ms Harris will make history as America’s first woman, first Black and first person with south Asian roots to take the office of the Vice President.

Joe Biden, 78, will take the oath on his 127-year-old family Bible, which will be held by his wife, Dr Jill Biden.  

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be sworn in on the West front of the US Capitol building.

Meanwhile, the security has been beefed up at the US Capitol building in view of recent clashes between Trump supporters and Police.

Inaugurations are designated a “National Special Security Event”, meaning the US Secret Service has overall command, but this time they will be supported by an increased mix of forces, including the DC Metropolitan Police Department and the National Guard.

National Guardsmen began arriving at the Capitol last week and eventually around 25,000 are expected to be involved in security efforts.  

The Pentagon has given its approval for some of those troops to be armed, with many stationed around the Capital being pictured with handguns or rifles.

Travel restrictions stepped up one of the main roles for those personnel will be manning dozens of road blocks across the centre of the city, including on several key bridges that cross the Potomac River.

Access will be closely guarded, with only residents or businesses allowed to move around the outer “green zone” while the “red zone” will be limited to just authorised vehicles.

More than a dozen subway stations have also been closed.

The tenth round of talks between Centre and farmers representatives will be held in New Delhi today. The meeting was earlier scheduled for yesterday but had been postponed by a day.

The ninth round of talks held on the 15th of January had remained inconclusive. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said the unions have been asked to form informal groups among themselves and submit a draft to the government regarding their demands.

Mr Tomar had said the government is concerned about the farmers protesting in cold conditions. He had asserted that the Centre is positive that a solution will soon be reached through talks.

India will start supplying COVID-19 vaccines from today, paving the way for many mid- and lower-income countries to get supplies of the easy-to-store vaccine.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi  in a tweet,  said, India is deeply honoured to be a long-trusted partner in meeting the healthcare needs of the global community.

In a statement, Ministry of External Affairs said, Government of India has received several requests for the supply of Indian manufactured vaccines from neighbouring and key partner countries.

In response to these requests, and in keeping with India’s stated commitment to use India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity to help all of humanity fight the Covid pandemic, supplies under grant assistance to Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar and Seychelles will begin from today.

The Ministry said, in respect of Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Mauritius, India is awaiting their confirmation of necessary regulatory clearances.

The Ministry said, the immunization programme is being implemented in India, as in other countries, in a phased manner to cover the healthcare providers, frontline workers and the most vulnerable.

Keeping in view the domestic requirements of the phased rollout, India will continue to supply COVID-19 vaccines to partner countries over the coming weeks and months in a phased manner.

It will be ensured that domestic manufacturers will have adequate stocks to meet domestic requirements while supplying abroad.

Prior to the delivery of vaccines, a two day training programme, covering administrative and operational aspects began today for immunization managers, cold chain officers, communication officers and data managers of the recipient countries, both at national and provincial levels.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release financial assistance of around 2,691 crore rupees to over 6 lakh beneficiaries in Uttar Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri aawas yojna – gramin (PMAY-G) today through video conferencing. He is also likely to speak to some beneficiaries on the occasion.

Union Rural Development Minister and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh will also be present in the function. The assistance would include release of first installment to 5.30 lakh beneficiaries and second installment to 80 thousand beneficiaries who have already availed first installment of assistance under PMAY-G.

AIR  correspondent reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to speak to a woman named Rajkumari of Khoh village of Chitrakoot district of Bundelkhand area in the state. With a click by Prime Minister, 5044 beneficiaries will be financially benefited in Chitrakoot district.

Uttar Pradesh bagged 9 national awards, which was the highest last year in different categories, for the excellent implementation of the scheme by the Union rural development ministry. So far 1.26 crore houses have already been built across the country under PMAY-G, which was launched on 20th November, 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Along with the financial grant, the beneficiaries will also be provided unskilled labour wages, under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and will also be getting an assistance of Rs. 12,000 for the construction of toilets, through Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin.

Ministry of Education has said that National Education Policy- (NEP) 2020 covers wider spectrum of school education from pre-primary to senior secondary. The Ministry in a statement said that the recommendations given have varied timelines as the policy is made for next 20 years and therefore, the implementation of NEP is being carried out in a phased manner. It said, a series of National Workshops on Implementation of NEP-2020 and revision of Samagra Shiksha was held under the chairpersonship of Secretary, School Education and Literacy last year. The document is being finalised and will be released shortly.
 
The Ministry said, the major portions of NEP will be covered under the new National Curriculum Framework (NCF) and centrally sponsored schemes. It said, the groundwork for NCF is initiated and it is likely to be developed in the next academic session, 2021-22. The Ministry said, the Department has initiated implementation of NEP by undertaking various activities in accordance with the recommendations of the policy.
 
The Ministry said, in-principle approval has been given for setting up the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Mission and a Committee has been formed. It said, MoU has been signed between Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre and the National Council of Educational Research and Training, NCERT to develop Indian Sign Language dictionary for school education.
 
The Ministry said, Central Board of Secondary Education exam reforms have been initiated and the Board will introduce improvement examination from the year 2021. It will introduce English and Sanskrit in 2 levels from the session 2021-22.
 
The Ministry further said, learning outcomes upto Secondary level have been notified and draft of learning outcomes for senior secondary level have been released for inviting suggestions.

In Cricket, India were 83 for 1 against Australia on the concluding day of the fourth and final Test at The Gabba in Brisbane.
 
Earlier, the visitors resumed their second innings this morning with all wickets intact. Chasing 328 runs for victory, India had scored four for no loss after bowling Australia out for 294 after tea on day four yesterday. Steve Smith with 55 runs was the top scorer for Australia in their second innings.
 
For India, right-arm fast bowler Mohammed Siraj picked up his maiden five-wicket haul. Shardul Thakur also picked four wickets while debutant off-spinner Washington Sundar scalped the remaining one.
 
India had posted 336 in reply to Australia’s first inning score of 369, conceding a 33-run lead.
 
A draw in the game would be sufficient for India to retain the coveted Border-Gavaskar trophy.
 
The four-match series is tied at 1-1 with Australia winning the first Test in Adelaide and India winning the second in Melbourne. The third Test in Sydney had ended in a draw.

North India will continue to reel under the grip of an intense cold wave for few more days. Senior scientist in India Meteorological Department (IMD), RK Jenamani said, the warning for the cold wave in Northern part of the country has been extended till 22nd of this month.

Earlier, the IMD had issued a cold wave warning for between 13th and 15th January and later extended it till 18th of this month.  Mr Jenamani however said, the dense fog spread across northern plains in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will begin lifting from today.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held pre-budget consultations with the Finance Ministers of States and Union Territories yesterday.

The meeting was held through video conference and was attended by Chief Ministers, Deputy Chief Ministers, State Finance Ministers and Senior Officers from the States and Union Territories.

The Finance Minister highlighted the importance of the meeting as a sign of co-operative federalism and indicated the manner in which the Union Government was strongly supportive of States and Union Territories’ fight against the pandemic. The participants thanked Ms. Sitharaman for financially supporting their States and Union Territories during the worst months of pandemic, by enhancing borrowing limits and providing back to back loans to states. The participants also gave numerous suggestions to the Finance Minister for inclusion in the Budget Speech.

The tenth round of talks between the Centre government and the representatives of farmer unions, which was earlier scheduled for today, will now be held tomorrow in New Delhi.
 
In a statement issued late last evening, the Agriculture Ministry confirmed the new schedule and reiterated Centre’s commitment to resolve issues of the farmers.
 
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court-appointed panel to listen in to the grievances of the protesting farmers will hold its first meeting today.  The apex court had on 11th of this month stayed the implementation of the three farm laws, against which the farmer unions are protesting at the borders of the National Capital.  It had also appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.
 
Anil Ghanwat of Shetkari Sangathan, Agri economists Pramod Kumar Joshi and Ashok Gulati, and Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann are the four members of the committee appointed by the Supreme Court. Bhupinder Singh Mann of Bhartiya Kisan Union has already recused himself from the committee and will not be attending today’s meeting.

The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.59 per cent with over 1 crore two lakh 11 thousand cumulative recoveries so far. The rate of new daily infections has further dipped even below 15 thousand with only 13 thousand 788 cases being reported in the past 24 hours. During the same period over 14 thousand 400 people have recovered from the viral contagion. The country has fifty times more recovered cases than the current active cases.

The active caseload in the country is just 1.97 percent of total cases. Out of the nearly two lakh cases, 60 percent are under home isolation and have mild to very mild symptoms.

The Health Ministry said that the fatality rate stands at 1.44 per cent. The number of countrywide fatalities recorded in 24 hours has slipped below the 150 mark with 145 deaths being reported in 24 hour period.

The Health Ministry has said that a total of seven thousand 704 sessions of COVID-19 vaccination was conducted in 25 States and Union Territories in which one lakh 48 thousand and 266 beneficiaries were vaccinated on the third day of the launch of the world’s largest COVID-19 vaccination drive on 16th of this month. Addressing the media in New Delhi, Additional Health Secretary Dr Manohar Agnani said, with this, taking all the three days, a total of three lakh 81 thousand and 305 beneficiaries have been vaccinated so far.  

Dr. Agnani also informed that in these three days, a total of 580 Adverse Event Following Immunization (AEFIs) have been reported out of which seven required hospitalization. He said, three hospitalizations were reported in Delhi out of which two persons were discharged while the other one is under observation at a private hospital. In Uttarakhand, one person was hospitalized who is stable and under observation at AIIMS, Rishikesh. In Karnataka, two cases of hospitalizations have been reported and are under observations and in Chhatisgarh one case is under observation. Dr. Agnani said, two deaths also reported, one each from Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka. But, as per the post mortem report, the death of the resident of Uttar Pradesh is not related to vaccination. He said, post mortem is planned to know the cause of death of the second person. 

North Korea has unveiled a new submarine-launched ballistic missile described by state media as the world’s most powerful weapon. Pyongyang unveiled the missile during a military parade yesterday.

The event did not showcase North Korea’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which was unveiled at a much larger military parade in October.

The Election Commission of India, ECI has said that   State and Union Territory  governments will need its prior approval ,if any disciplinary action is initiated against the Chief Electoral Officers and other officers up to Joint Chief Electoral Officer during their tenure and also up to one year from the expiry of the last election conducted by them.

The ECI has said this in a letter marked to the Cabinet Secretary, Chief Secretaries of States,  Secretary of Department of Personnel and Training and Chief Electoral Officers of all the States. The ECI also said that many instances have come to its notice wherein Chief Electoral Officers and some other officials working directly in the office of Chief Electoral Officers have been victimised after the elections are over.

The Commission said, ironically, in most such instances the concerned officers had discharged their duties in an impartial manner in order to ensure free, fair, robust and ethical elections. After a comprehensive review of this issue and keeping in view such specific instances, the Commission has addressed a communication to all concerned. The ECI has also directed that the State and Union Territory governments will not reduce facilities such as vehicle, security and other facilities and amenities provided to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer for proper discharge of duties.