The United Kingdom has confirmed that Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be the chief guest at Republic Day Parade in January 2021.
 
During talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, visiting UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab confirmed that PM Johnson has accepted India’s invite to be the chief guest at the Republic Day Parade next month. 

The country’s COVID-19 recovery rate has reached around 95.12 per cent. During the last 24 hours, 34 thousand 477 people recovered from COVID-19. The Health Ministry said, the total number of recoveries has gone up to over 94 lakh 22 thousand.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has said that India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is amongst the lowest in the world. He said, at present India’s CFR is 1.45 per cent, whereas globally it is 2.26 per cent. Mr Bhushan ssaid, a Multi-Level Governance Mechanism have been set up in the nation to monitor the work related to COVID19 vaccination. He added that 23 Ministries and Departments of Government and States have been identified and assigned roles for vaccine-roll out.

The Health Secretary said, guidelines for estimation of electrical and non-electrical cold chain equipment and their strengthening has been issued.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi reiterated that the Central Government is always committed to the welfare of farmers and it will keep assuring the farmers and addressing their concerns.

The Prime Minister was speaking after laying foundation stones of various developmental projects at Dhordo in Kutch district of Gujarat yesterday.

The projects unveiled by the Prime Minister include, a desalination plant, a hybrid renewable energy park, and a fully automated milk processing and packing plant.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Modi said, farmers gathered near Delhi are being misled about the agriculture reforms as part of a conspiracy.

The Prime Minister accused the opposition parties of misguiding the farmers. He pointed out that the agriculture reforms that have taken place is exactly what farmer bodies and even opposition parties have been asking over the years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will light up ‘Swarnim Vijay Mashaal today and begin 50th anniversary celebrations of Indo-Pak War. In December 1971, the Indian Armed Forces secured a decisive and historic Victory over Pakistan Army, which led to creation of a Nation- Bangladesh and also resulted in the largest Military Surrender after the World War-II.

Defence Ministry said that various commemorative events are planned across the nation and the inaugural event will be held at the National War Memorial in New Delhi. Four Victory Mashaals will be lit from the Eternal Flame of National War Memorial. These Mashaals will be carried to various parts of the country including to villages of Param Vir Chakra and MahaVir Chakra Awardees of 1971 War. The Ministry said, Soil from the villages of these Awardees and from areas where major battles were fought in 1971 are being brought to the memorial in New Delhi.

Defence Ministry said, Prime Minister, Chief of Defence Staff and Tri-Service Chiefs will lay wreath and pay homage to the fallen soldiers at National War Memorial today. Various commemorative events will be conducted pan-India wherein war Veterans and Veer Naris will be felicitated. It said, the events like band displays, seminars, exhibitions, equipment displays, film festivals, conclaves and adventure activities are also planned.

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.