The 49th Governing Council Meeting of National Productivity Council (NPC) was held under the Chairmanship of Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal through video- conferencing. Mr Goyal suggested that adoption of technology and digital economy is going to play a vital role in not only transforming the business enterprises in the future, but also in achieving the target of a five  trillion dollar economy.

He said, productivity is always the result of commitment of excellence, intelligent planning and focused effort. Mr Goyal asked NPC to work closely with all the stakeholders and emphasised on the need to adopt the best practices from around the world. The participants endorsed the view that India can reposition itself only through productivity enhancement. Some of the suggestions  that emerged were  formulation of  sector specific action plans by NPC especially in agriculture and logistics.

Amid the economic woes created by the Coronavirus pandemic, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to extend the enhanced borrowing facility provided to the banks to meet their liquidity shortages till September 30.

The RBI, as a temporary measure, had increased the borrowing limit of scheduled banks under the marginal standing facility (MSF) scheme from 2 per cent to 3 per cent of their Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) with effect from March 27, 2020.

Under the MSF, banks can borrow overnight funds at their discretion by dipping into the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). This relaxation, which was granted till June 30, 2020, has now been extended till September 30. RBI, in its circular said that banks may continue to access overnight funds under the MSF against their excess SLR holding.

The marginal standing facility rate currently stands at 4.25 per cent. The RBI has also extended the relaxation on the minimum daily maintenance of the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 80 per cent for a further period of three months till September 25, 2020. On March 27, the minimum daily maintenance of the CRR was reduced from 90 per cent of the prescribed CRR to 80 per cent till June 26, 2020. This was done in view of the continuing of hardships faced by banks in terms of social distancing of staff and consequent strains on reporting requirements.

In Assam, flood situation remains grim as new areas have been inundated due to incessant rain. Two lakh 62 thousand people are reeling under the fury of flood in 21 districts. 18 persons lost their lives so far. The surging water caused massive damages to crop areas, roads and culverts.
 
Nearly 19 thousand people are taking shelter at temporary relief camps and administrations are disturbing food items to the flood hit people. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has instructed district administration to extend all helps to the flood affected people. 

Government has intensified Locust control operations in seven states. These are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra. In total 60 ground control teams of Locust Circle Offices and 12 Drones are being used for Locust Control operations. The Locust Warning Organization and 10 Locust Circle Offices in coordination with State governments undertake locust control operations in schedule desert areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat. The State Governments through their Agriculture Departments undertake locust control in cropped area. This year starting from 11th April, in this season 1,27,225 hectares have been controlled till 26th of this month.
 
One swarm of 2 km x 4 km size which was previously controlled in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan on 26th June moved to Rewari district in Haryana. This swarm in Rewari was controlled by the State Agriculture Department deploying 40 tractors and 4 fire brigade vehicles. Two Ground control teams and officers of Locust Circle office were also present and joined them. Control operations were carried out from midnight to early morning yesterday. The left over swarm initially moved towards Jhajjar district in the morning and thereafter turned towards east following the wind direction. This swarm split into 3 to 4 smaller swarms.
 
One moved towards Nuh in Haryana and two swarms moved over Gurugram, moving further towards U.P. Two teams deployed in Haryana are following these swarms. Five more ground control teams have been moved from Nagaur and Jaipur in Rajasthan to join the operations in U.P. Drones have also been moved from Jaisalmer to join operations. State Agriculture Departments of Haryana and U.P. have been continuously kept informed and they are making necessary arrangements for control wherever the swarm finally settles.
 
Yesterday morning, apart from control operations at Rewari, locust controls have been undertaken by ground control teams of Locust Circle offices in coordination with agriculture department officials of State Government  in Jaisalmer,  Barmer,  Jodhpur,  Bikaner, Nagaur,  Jaipur and Sikar. The control operations have also been undertaken at one location in UP. Agriculture Ministry has said that India is the first country to control locust by using drones after finalizing the protocols and getting all statutory approvals. Major operations are concentrated in Rajasthan where maximum resources are committed. State governments have deployed tractor mounted sprayers and fire tender vehicles in large numbers to undertake locust control in cropped area. Ten ground spray equipments were imported from UK to strengthen locust control capabilities in the country.
 
Additional 45 ground spray equipments will reach next month  and Locust Circle Offices have more than 100 ground control equipment by July. Presently 60 control teams and more than 200 Central Government personnel are engaged in locust control operations.For effective control of locusts on tall trees and in inaccessible areas, 5 companies with 12 drones are deployed for spraying of pesticides for locust control. 55 additional vehicles have been purchased to strengthen the control capabilities. Enough stock of pesticides is being maintained with the locust control organization and there is sufficient availability with State Governments also. Home Ministry has included admissibility of hiring of vehicles and tractors with spray equipments for spraying of plant protection chemicals for pest control.
 
Under Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanization, assistance for purchase of 800 tractors mounted spray equipments sanctioned for Rajasthan. Financial assistance of 14 Crore rupees sanctioned for the State  for hiring of vehicles, tractors and for purchase of pesticides is under sanction. A total of 1.80 crore rupees sanctioned for Gujarat  for purchase of vehicles, spray equipments, safety uniform, android application and training with regard to locust. Review meetings were organized at different levels, Video Conferences were organized for different State Governments and Locust control preparedness is being reviewed.
 
Local awareness literature, SOP of approved pesticides and awareness videos were also shared with all stakeholder States. The Ministry said no significant crop losses have been reported in  Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Haryana. However, some minor crop losses have been reported in some districts of Rajasthan.

Karnataka Government has announced to impose state wide lockdown every Sunday to contain the pandemic. A decision to this effect was taken at the high level meeting chaired by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa yesterday. This measure will start from July 5th.
 
In another decision taken, all the non essential Government offices will remain shut on every Saturdays and Sundays starting July 10th. In addition, night curfew has been extended from 8 pm to 5 am. It was also decided to increase ambulance services, and make public the information related to availability of beds and also the phone numbers of all nodal officers involved in containment of Covid-19.

Jharkhand government has decided to extend lockdown till July 31st across the state. The decision comes in the wake of increasing number of COVID19 cases in the state. 66 new cases were reported during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 2,360. The recovery rate in Jharkhand has improved to 73 percent. With the implementation of new directives issued by the Jharkhand government for enforcement of Lockdown, all movement except for essential services shall remain prohibited from 9 pm to 5 am in morning. Inter-state and intra-state bus services will also not be operational during this period.

All religious places, educational institutions, coaching classes, shopping malls, hotels, cinema halls, multiplexes, theatres, entertainment parks, bars, spa and saloons, gymnasiums and swimming pools will remain closed till July 31 across the state during the extended Lockdown orders. Relaxations provided earlier to those sectors and industries for economic activities outside the Containment Zones shall continue. Chief Minister Hemant Soren said that we have achieved success in prevention of spread of the COVID19 virus but more precautionary steps must be taken further for another period of a month to prevent the viral spread.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will share his thoughts with the people in the country and abroad in the ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme on All India Radio at 11 AM today. It will be the 66th episode of the monthly radio programme. It will be broadcast on the entire network of AIR and Doordarshan and also on AIR News website www.newsonair.com and newsonair Mobile App.
 
It will also be streamed live on the YouTube channels of AIR, DD News, PMO and Information and Broadcasting Ministry. AIR will broadcast the programme in regional languages immediately after the Hindi broadcast. The regional language versions will be repeated at eight in the evening.

The transfer of ownership, property or business from the government to the private sector is termed as privatization. The government ceases to be the owner of the entity or business.

In the privatisation process, somewhere it can be seen that a public traded company is taken over by a few people.

Here via a contract or franchise or lease or grant etc. the government keeps the ownership and the responsibility of an enterprise.

But the private company will handle the daily activities and deliver the product or service. The state will remain an active participant in this process.

Government can also hold the share but it would be a minority stackholder.

The aim of the privatisation is improve profitability and efficiency of public enterprises.

in private company employee is paid incentives on behalf of his/her service and work. Whereas the services provided in governmental control are good to an extent.

Through privatisation, government is free from most of the working resposibilities and it increases focus on administration and development of the country but some where government can keep an eye on the company.

But privatisation leads to rise in cost of the services in comparison to governmental services.

In Delhi the cases of corona patients crosses 75,000 remark. And day by day the situation is going into critical phase. For the combat through it, Delhi government announced to conduct Serological Survey. In this survey basically government tries to investigate the movement of Corona patients before their report comes. Also young citizens also traced down.

Delhi will conduct 20,000 survey from today to 10 July.This will be a comprehensive assessment of the spread of virus in the state. It also helps govt to make a strategy for draw up this stage of contamination of virus.Survey can be used on people who have already been tested positive for the virus or even those who are asymptomatic, and can reveal insights on immunity against Covid-19.

This test is conducted jointly by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and Delhi government, to get down to a comprehensive analysis of coronavirus in Delhi. This Survey ‘s plan comes after the meeting of central home Minister Amit Shah with Delhi cheif minister Arvind Kejriwal.

This type of Survey may be help in decreasing the no of corona patients and also for finding the no of hidden peoples who have this virus but they are not aware about it. This types of tactics are aimed for the control of this pandemic disease. We should support this types of plan and also follow all the guidelines related to this too……

Art thou in misery, brother? Then I pray
Be comforted. Thy grief shall pass away.
Art thou elated? Ah, be not too gay;
Temper thy joy: this, too, shall pass away.
Art thou in danger? Still let reason sway,
And cling to hope: this, too, shall pass away.
Tempted art thou? In all thine anguish lay
One truth to heart: this, too, shall pass away.
Do rays of loftier glory round the play?
Kinglike art thou? This, too, shall pass away!
Whate’er thou art, where’er thy footsteps stray,
Heed these wise words: This, too, shall pass away.

Paul Hayne’s poem won wide popularity in his own day; and it has kept circulating ever since, continuing its influence on the afflicted, the distraught, the discouraged. Every now and then it makes a tour of the newspapers, or is featured in magazines. Sometimes it appears with a different title, or with lines changed to suit the times, or with verses added or subtracted. Many other poets have used the same theme, before and since; and occasionally a hodgepodge of verses from various sources is collected and published as “anonymous” or “author unknown.” But the philosophy is always the same, and always helpful to the troubled or despairing. This, too, shall pass away.

When Ray Stannard Baker was Ill and in great pain, he remembered the famous phrase and found it comforting. He wrote in his notebook: “Nothing lasts-not even pain.”

When Stevenson was suffering bodily torment, weakened and wearied by the long struggle against tuberculosis, he kept reminding himself of the famous phrase, hoping each morning would find him better. It helped him to put his suffering out of his mind, helped him to keep writing. “A chapter a day I mean to do,” he wrote to his friend William E.Henley- a man whose brand of courage matched his own.

When Lincoln was forced to endure the hatred of millions because of his steadfast loyalty to purpose and principles, when he was bitterly reviled and condemned for refusing to consider an unjust peace, he reminded himself that this, too, would pass in time … and that with God’s help he would weather the storm.

Countless other stories could be told of this inspiring phrase, these five magic words which legend says were engraved by wise men on a monarch’s ring many centuries ago. They are comforting words for all of us to remember in times of trial or trouble in times of hardship or affliction. When nothing else helps, it is comforting to know that no pain or grief can last forever, that whatever burden may be – this, too, shall pass away.

Taken from Light from many lamps by Lillian Eichler Watson.