There are moments throughout our lives, and they happen almost every day, where we catch a glimpse of what we are capable of, a flicker of what we are destined to be, or a hint of what we desire to become.It could be a burst of inspiration for that book we always wanted to write. Or the yearning to finally lose the extra weight. Or the feeling of dissatisfaction with our job and an urge to build something of our own.

These are important desires and they call to us all the time. But right before we answer their call, the urgency of life tends to get in the way. Your phone rings. Your car is low on gas. Your boss drops a tight deadline on you. And so we delay our dreams one more day for the sake of putting out another fire.How do we get past this? How do we start living the life that’s important to us instead of just responding to the everyday emergencies?

The Next 10 Years of Your Life

Think about this: you’re going to spend the next 10 years doing something.Too often that something is responding to what is urgent instead of pursuing what is important.

Too often the need to make money (urgent) wins out over the desire to build something we’re proud of (important). Too often the urge to find a way to lose twenty pounds in six weeks (urgent) wins out over becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts (important). Too often the craving to be noticed or appreciated (urgent) wins out over the ability to be present and satisfied (important).

Sure, we all need money. And yes, there are times when the world requires us to put important things on hold so that we can get the rest of our crazy lives under control. Handling responsibilities is part of life. But how long will you delay what’s important to you just so that you can handle the next urgent thing in front of you? How long will you put off what you’re capable of doing just to maintain what you’re currently doing?

Will you wait a year? Five years? Your whole life?Too often we live our lives based on what is urgent for us and not what is important to us. It’s dangerously easy to spend years constantly chasing the next urgent thing and never setting aside time to do what we know we should.

How to Overcome the Urgency of Everyday Life

If you want to start living an important life, then choose a clear direction for yourself. When you have the courage to say, “This is important to me and I’m going after it,” you don’t fall into the trap of living the life that other people expect you to live.

For example…If I know that my unwavering goal is to finish this article, then that goal gives me direction and purpose. Whenever I have a free moment, I write another sentence. Whenever I get a new idea, I automatically think about how it relates to accomplishing my goal of finishing this article. My life is organized around accomplishing this specific, important task.

We all have urgent tasks each day — a phone call we have to take, an email we need to respond to, a sick friend we have to help — but having a clear purpose and a specific goal allows you to get right back to what is important after you respond to the everyday emergencies. A specific goal gives you direction and prevents you from being sucked into a whirlwind of time–consuming, unimportant tasks.

A specific goal is different than a desire, and that’s crucial to understand. Wanting to get in shape is a desire, doing 100 pushups in a row is a specific goal. Wanting to start your own business is a desire, securing three paying clients is a specific goal. Wanting to write a book is a desire, finishing the first chapter is a specific goal.

Live an Important Life

Nothing worth working for will ever seem urgent. That’s the nature of important goals. They don’t demand attention right now. They require a sense of purpose, a clear direction, and consistency over the long haul.I propose that we stop letting the seeds of greatness slip through our fingers. I say that we abandon the frantic rush towards mediocre and start the slow march towards greatness.Pick one thing that’s important to you, set a specific goal for yourself, and get started today.

Never leave your dreams unfulfilled.

Nearly all great ideas follow a similar creative process and this article explains how this process works. Understanding this is important because creative thinking is one of the most useful skills you can possess. Nearly every problem you face in work and in life can benefit from innovative solutions, lateral thinking, and creative ideas.

Anyone can learn to be creative by using these five steps. That’s not to say being creative is easy. Uncovering your creative genius requires courage and tons of practice. However, this five-step approach should help demystify the creative process and illuminate the path to more innovative thinking.

To explain how this process works, let me tell you a short story.

A Problem in Need of a Creative Solution

In the 1870s, newspapers and printers faced a very specific and very costly problem. Photography was a new and exciting medium at the time. Readers wanted to see more pictures, but nobody could figure out how to print images quickly and cheaply.

For example, if a newspaper wanted to print an image in the 1870s, they had to commission an engraver to etch a copy of the photograph onto a steel plate by hand. These plates were used to press the image onto the page, but they often broke after just a few uses. This process of photoengraving, you can imagine, was remarkably time consuming and expensive.

The man who invented a solution to this problem was named Frederic Eugene Ives. He went on to become a trailblazer in the field of photography and held over 70 patents by the end of his career. His story of creativity and innovation, which I will share now, is a useful case study for understanding the 5 key steps of the creative process.

A Flash of Insight

Ives got his start as a printer’s apprentice in Ithaca, New York. After two years of learning the ins and outs of the printing process, he began managing the photographic laboratory at nearby Cornell University. He spent the rest of the decade experimenting with new photography techniques and learning about cameras, printers, and optics.

In 1881, Ives had a flash of insight regarding a better printing technique.

“While operating my photostereotype process in Ithaca, I studied the problem of halftone process,” Ives said. “I went to bed one night in a state of brain fog over the problem, and the instant I woke in the morning saw before me, apparently projected on the ceiling, the completely worked out process and equipment in operation.”

Ives quickly translated his vision into reality and patented his printing approach in 1881. He spent the remainder of the decade improving upon it. By 1885, he had developed a simplified process that delivered even better results. The Ives Process, as it came to be known, reduced the cost of printing images by 15x and remained the standard printing technique for the next 80 years.

The 5 Stages of the Creative Process

In 1940, an advertising executive named James Webb Young published a short guide titled, A Technique for producing Ideas. In this guide, he made a simple, but profound statement about generating creative ideas.

According to Young, innovative ideas happen when you develop new combinations of old elements. In other words, creative thinking is not about generating something new from a blank slate, but rather about taking what is already present and combining those bits in a way that has not been done previously.

Most important, the ability to generate new combinations hinges upon your ability to see the relationship between concepts. If you can form a new link between two old ideas, you have done something creative.

Young believed this process of creative connection always occurred in five steps.

1. Gather new material. At first, you learn. During this stage you focus on 1) learning specific material directly related to your task and 2) learning general material by becoming fascinated with a wide range of concepts.
2. Thoroughly work over the materials in your mind. During this stage, you examine what you have learned by looking at the facts from different angles and experimenting with fitting various ideas together.
3. Step away from the problem. Next, you put the problem completely out of your mind and go do something else that excites you and energizes you.
4. Let your idea return to you. At some point, but only after you have stopped thinking about it, your idea will come back to you with a flash of insight and renewed energy.
5. Shape and develop your idea based on feedback. For any idea to succeed, you must release it out into the world, submit it to criticism, and adapt it as needed.

taking what is already present and combining those bits and pieces in a way that has not been done previously.

There are many benefits to reading more books, but perhaps my favorite is this: A good book can give you a new way to interpret your past experiences.

Whenever you learn a new mental model or idea, it’s like the “software” in your brain gets updated. Suddenly, you can run all of your old data points through a new program. You can learn new lessons from old moments. As Patrick O’Shaughnessy says, “Reading changes the past.”

Of course, this is only true if you internalize and remember insights from the books you read. Knowledge will only compound if it is retained. In other words, what matters is not simply reading more books, but getting more out of each book you read.

Gaining knowledge is not the only reason to read, of course. Reading for pleasure or entertainment can be a wonderful use of time, but this article is about reading to learn. With that in mind, I’d like to share some of the best reading comprehension strategies I’ve found.

1. Quit More Books

It doesn’t take long to figure out if something is worth reading. Skilled writing and high-quality ideas stick out.

As a result, most people should probably start more books than they do. This doesn’t mean you need to read each book page-by-page. You can skim the table of contents, chapter titles, and subheadings. Pick an interesting section and dive in for a few pages. Maybe flip through the book and glance at any bolded points or tables. In ten minutes, you’ll have a reasonable idea of how good it is.

Then comes the crucial step: Quit books quickly and without guilt or shame.

Life is too short to waste it on average books. The opportunity cost is too high. There are so many amazing things to read. I think Patrick Collison, the founder of Stripe, put it nicely when he said, “Life is too short to not read the very best book you know of right now.”

Here’s recommendation:

Start more books. Quit most of them. Read the great ones twice.

2. Choose Books You Can Use Instantly

One way to improve reading comprehension is to choose books you can immediately apply. Putting the ideas you read into action is one of the best ways to secure them in your mind. Practice is a very effective form of learning.

Choosing a book that you can use also provides a strong incentive to pay attention and remember the material. That’s particularly true when something important hangs in the balance. If you’re starting a business, for example, then you have a lot of motivation to get everything you can out of the sales book you’re reading. Similarly, someone who works in biology might read The Origin of Species more carefully than a random reader because it connects directly to their daily work.

Of course, not every book is a practical, how-to guide that you can apply immediately, and that’s fine. You can find wisdom in many different books. But I do find that I’m more likely to remember books that are relevant to my daily life.

3. Create Searchable Notes

Keep notes on what you read. You can do this however you like. It doesn’t need to be a big production or a complicated system. Just do something to emphasize the important points and passages.

I do this in different ways depending on the format I’m consuming. I highlight passages when reading on Kindle. I type out interesting quotes as I listen to audiobooks. I dog-ear pages and transcribe notes when reading a print book.

But here’s the real key: store your notes in a searchable format.

I. Audiobook: I create a new Evernote file for each book and then type my notes directly into that file as I listen.

II. Ebook: I highlight passages on my Kindle and use a program called Clippings to export all of my Kindle highlights directly into Evernote.

III. Print: Similar to my audiobook strategy, I type my notes as I read. If I come across a longer passage I want to transcribe, I place the book on a as I type. (Typing notes while reading a print book can be annoying because you are always putting the book down and picking it back up, but this is the best solution I’ve found.)

Of course, your notes don’t have to be digital to be “searchable.” For example, you can use Post-It Notes to tag certain pages for future reference.

The core idea is the same: Keeping searchable notes is essential for returning to ideas easily. An idea is only useful if you can find it when you need it.

4. Combine Knowledge Trees

One way to imagine a book is like a knowledge tree with a few fundamental concepts forming the trunk and the details forming the branches. You can learn more and improve reading comprehension by “linking branches” and integrating your current book with other knowledge trees.

Connections like these help you remember what you read by “hooking” new information onto concepts and ideas you already understand. As Charlie Munger says, “If you get into the mental habit of relating what you’re reading to the basic structure of the underlying ideas being demonstrated, you gradually accumulate some wisdom.”

When you read something that reminds you of another topic or immediately sparks a connection or idea, don’t allow that thought to come and go without notice. Write about what you’ve learned and how it connects to other ideas.

5. Write a Short Summary

As soon as I finish a book, I challenge myself to summarize the entire text in just three sentences. This constraint is just a game, of course, but it forces me to consider what was really important about the book.

Some questions I consider when summarizing a book include:

• What are the main ideas?
• If I implemented one idea from this book right now, which one would it be?
• How would I describe the book to a friend?

In many cases, I find that I can usually get just as much useful information from reading my one-paragraph summary and reviewing my notes as I would if I read the entire book again.

If you feel like you can’t squeeze the whole book into three sentences, consider using the Feynman Technique.

The Feynman Technique is a note-taking strategy named after the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman. It’s pretty simple: Write the name of the book at the top of a blank sheet of paper, then write down how you’d explain the book to someone who had never heard of it.

If you find yourself stuck or if you see that there are holes in your understanding, review your notes or go back to the text and try again. Keep writing it out until you have a good handle on the main ideas and feel confident in your explanation.

I’ve found that almost nothing reveals gaps in my thinking better than writing about an idea as if I am explaining it to a beginner. Ben Carlson, a financial analyst, says something similar, “I find the best way to figure out what I’ve learned from a book is to write something about it.”

6. Surround the Topic

I often think of the quote by Thomas Aquinas, “Beware the man of a single book.”

If you only read one book on a topic and use that as the basis for your beliefs for an entire category of life, well, how sound are those beliefs? How accurate and complete is your knowledge?

Reading a book takes effort, but too often, people use one book or one article as the basis for an entire belief system. This is even more true (and more difficult to overcome) when it comes to using our one, individual experience as the basis for our beliefs. As Morgan Housel noted, “Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world but maybe 80% of how you think the world works. We’re all biased to our own personal history.”

One way to attack this problem is to read a variety of books on the same topic. Dig in from different angles, look at the same problem through the eyes of various authors, and try to transcend the boundary of your own experience.

7. Read It Twice

I’d like to finish by returning to an idea I mentioned near the beginning of this article: read the great books twice. The philosopher Karl Popper explained the benefits nicely, “Anything worth reading is not only worth reading twice, but worth reading again and again. If a book is worthwhile, then you will always be able to make new discoveries in it and find things in it that you didn’t notice before, even though you have read it many times.”

Additionally, revisiting great books is helpful because the problems you deal with change over time. Sure, when you read a book twice maybe you’ll catch some stuff you missed the first time around, but it’s more likely that new passages and ideas will be relevant to you. It’s only natural for different sentences to leap out at you depending on the point you are at in life.

You read the same book, but you never read it the same way. As Charles Chu noted, “I always return home to the same few authors. And, no matter how many times I return, I always find they have something new to say.”

Of course, even if you didn’t get something new out of each reading, it would still be worthwhile to revisit great books because ideas need to be repeated to be remembered. The writer David Cain says, “When we only learn something once, we don’t really learn it—at least not well enough for it to change us much. It may inspire momentarily, but then becomes quickly overrun by the decades of habits and conditioning that preceded it.” Returning to great ideas cements them in your mind.

Nassim Taleb sums things up with a rule for all readers: “A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third. Any book not worth rereading isn’t worth reading.”

The ultimate productivity hack is saying no.

Not doing something will always be faster than doing it. This statement reminds me of the old computer programming saying, “Remember that there is no code faster than no code.”

The same philosophy applies in other areas of life. For example, there is no meeting that goes faster than not having a meeting at all.

This is not to say you should never attend another meeting, but the truth is that we say yes to many things we don’t actually want to do. There are many meetings held that don’t need to be held. There is a lot of code written that could be deleted.

How often do people ask you to do something and you just reply, “Sure thing.” Three days later, you’re overwhelmed by how much is on your to-do list. We become frustrated by our obligations even though we were the ones who said yes to them in the first place.

It’s worth asking if things are necessary. Many of them are not, and a simple “no” will be more productive than whatever work the most efficient person can muster.

But if the benefits of saying no are so obvious, then why do we say yes so often?

Why We Say Yes

We agree to many requests not because we want to do them, but because we don’t want to be seen as rude, arrogant, or unhelpful. Often, you have to consider saying no to someone you will interact with again in the future—your co-worker, your spouse, your family and friends.

Saying no to these people can be particularly difficult because we like them and want to support them. (Not to mention, we often need their help too.) Collaborating with others is an important element of life. The thought of straining the relationship outweighs the commitment of our time and energy.

For this reason, it can be helpful to be gracious in your response. Do whatever favors you can, and be warm-hearted and direct when you have to say no.

But even after we have accounted for these social considerations, many of us still seem to do a poor job of managing the tradeoff between yes and no. We find ourselves over-committed to things that don’t meaningfully improve or support those around us, and certainly don’t improve our own lives.

Perhaps one issue is how we think about the meaning of yes and no.

The Difference Between Yes and No

The words “yes” and “no” get used in comparison to each other so often that it feels like they carry equal weight in conversation. In reality, they are not just opposite in meaning, but of entirely different magnitudes in commitment.

When you say no, you are only saying no to one option. When you say yes, you are saying no to every other option.

I like how the economist Tim Harford put it, “Every time we say yes to a request, we are also saying no to anything else we might accomplish with the time.” Once you have committed to something, you have already decided how that future block of time will be spent.

In other words, saying no saves you time in the future. Saying yes costs you time in the future. No is a form of time credit. You retain the ability to spend your future time however you want. Yes is a form of time debt. You have to pay back your commitment at some point.

No is a decision. Yes is a responsibility.

The Role of No

Saying no is sometimes seen as a luxury that only those in power can afford. And it is true: turning down opportunities is easier when you can fall back on the safety net provided by power, money, and authority. But it is also true that saying no is not merely a privilege reserved for the successful among us. It is also a strategy that can help you become successful.

Saying no is an important skill to develop at any stage of your career because it retains the most important asset in life: your time. As the investor Pedro Sorrentino put it, “If you don’t guard your time, people will steal it from you.”

You need to say no to whatever isn’t leading you toward your goals. You need to say no to distractions. As one reader told me, “If you broaden the definition as to how you apply no, it actually is the only productivity hack (as you ultimately say no to any distraction in order to be productive).”

Nobody embodied this idea better than Steve Jobs, who said, “People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully.”

There is an important balance to strike here. Saying no doesn’t mean you’ll never do anything interesting or innovative or spontaneous. It just means that you say yes in a focused way. Once you have knocked out the distractions, it can make sense to say yes to any opportunity that could potentially move you in the right direction. You may have to try many things to discover what works and what you enjoy. This period of exploration can be particularly important at the beginning of a project, job, or career.

Upgrading Your No

Over time, as you continue to improve and succeed, your strategy needs to change.

The opportunity cost of your time increases as you become more successful. At first, you just eliminate the obvious distractions and explore the rest. As your skills improve and you learn to separate what works from what doesn’t, you have to continually increase your threshold for saying yes.

You still need to say no to distractions, but you also need to learn to say no to opportunities that were previously good uses of time, so you can make space for great uses of time. It’s a good problem to have, but it can be a tough skill to master.

In other words, you have to upgrade your “no’s” over time.

Upgrading your no doesn’t mean you’ll never say yes. It just means you default to saying no and only say yes when it really makes sense. To quote the investor Brent Beshore, “Saying no is so powerful because it preserves the opportunity to say yes.”

The general trend seems to be something like this: If you can learn to say no to bad distractions, then eventually you’ll earn the right to say no to good opportunities.

How to Say No

Most of us are probably too quick to say yes and too slow to say no. It’s worth asking yourself where you fall on that spectrum.

If you have trouble saying no, you may find the following strategy by the British economist I mentioned earlier, to be helpful. He writes, “One trick is to ask, “If I had to do this today, would I agree to it?” It’s not a bad rule of thumb, since any future commitment, no matter how far away it might be, will eventually become an imminent problem.”

If an opportunity is exciting enough to drop whatever you’re doing right now, then it’s a yes. If it’s not, then perhaps you should think twice.

This is similar to the well-known “Hell Yeah or No” method from Derek Sivers. If someone asks you to do something and your first reaction is “Hell Yeah!”, then do it. If it doesn’t excite you, then say no.

It’s impossible to remember to ask yourself these questions each time you face a decision, but it’s still a useful exercise to revisit from time to time. Saying no can be difficult, but it is often easier than the alternative. As writer Mike Dariano has pointed out, “It’s easier to avoid commitments than get out of commitments. Saying no keeps you toward the easier end of this spectrum.”

What is true about health is also true about productivity: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The Power of No

More effort is wasted doing things that don’t matter than is wasted doing things inefficiently. And if that is the case, elimination is a more useful skill than optimization.

I am reminded of the famous Peter Drucker quote, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

Diplomatic Adviser to the President of France Emmanuel Bonne today called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed wide-ranging bilateral and global issues. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, he had a productive meeting with Mr Bonne. Mr Modi expressed joy at the progress in India-France Strategic Partnership, a force for global good in the post-COVID world. The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction on the progress both countries have made on key aspects of the India-France Strategic Partnership, including counter-terrorism, cyber-security, defence and strategic cooperation.

Mr. Bonne also briefed the Prime Minister on India-France cooperation on various regional and global issues, including maritime and multilateral cooperation.

The Prime Minister fondly recalled his recent exchanges with President Macron and conveyed his best wishes for his health. He also reiterated his invitation to President Macron to visit India as soon as conditions permit.

India and France held their Annual Strategic Dialogue yesterday in New Delhi. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval led the Indian delegation while the French delegation was led by Mr Bonne. The two sides held discussions on wide-ranging bilateral and global issues.

The cumulative COVID-19 testing in the country has crossed the 18 crore mark today and the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate has reached 96.41 per cent. During the last 24 hours, more than nine lakh 16 thousand samples were tested and more than 19 thousand patients have recovered.

The Health Ministry said, during the last 24 hours,  The total number of recoveries has gone up to over one crore 56 thousand. The actual caseload currently comprises only 2.15 per cent of the total positive cases. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is around two lakh 24 thousand.

During the past 24 hours, 18 thousand 222 new cases were reported taking the total number of positive cases in the country to over one crore four lakh. The Ministry said, currently, India’s Case Fatality Rate is 1.45 per cent, which is one of the lowest globally. During the last 24 hours, 228 deaths were reported taking the toll to one lakh 50 thousand 798.

In Cricket, Australia were 39 for 2 in the third test at Sydney, a short while ago.  Earlier India, which resumed its first innings from the overnight score of 96 for 2, were dismissed for 244 on the third day today.

Patrick Cummins took four wickets and Josh Hazlewood took two wickets and Cheteshwar Pujara scored one of the slowest half-centuries for India.  Australia has taken a first-innings lead of 94 runs and it would be an uphill task for India to make a comeback in this match. The hosts were all out for 338 in the first innings.

The four-match series is currently levelled at 1-1, and if India manages to win this Test, the side will retain the Border Gavaskar Trophy even if Australia goes on to win the last Test at Brisbane.

India today said that the United Nations proscribed entities and designated terrorists act as proxies for Pakistani establishment to fulfill its anti-India agenda. MEA Spokesman Anurag Srivastava today said, it is for the international community to hold Pakistan to account and ensure that it takes credible action against terror groups, terror infrastructure and individual terrorists.

On a query on Pakistan court’s 15-year jail sentence to LeT terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Mr Srivastava said, the timing of these actions clearly suggests the intention of conveying a sense of compliance ahead of the Asia Pacific Joint Group, APJG meeting and next Financial Action Task Force, FATF plenary meeting next month. He said, it has become routine for Pakistan to come up with such farcical actions prior to important meetings.

On a query on UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee, the MEA Spokesman said, India began its two-year tenure at the UN Security Council as a non-Permanent Member on the first of this month. He said, during the tenure, India will be guided by a commitment to promote responsible and inclusive solutions to international peace and security, a new orientation for a reformed multilateral system and a world view anchored in our ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Mr Srivastava said, with regard to Afghanistan, India and Afghanistan as contiguous neighbours share a natural historical relationship and the strategic partnership and long-term commitment to the development of Afghanistan reflects this time-tested partnership. He said, India has invested heavily in peace and development in Afghanistan and it support all efforts to bring peace and stability there. The Spokesman said, India’s position on the peace process has also been articulated. He said, the peace process must be Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled. Mr Srivastava said, as an an important stakeholder, India is looking forward to work towards a peaceful, prosperous, sovereign, democratic and united Afghanistan. 

On a question on Line of Actual Control, LAC, Mr Srivastava said, the latest round of Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination, WMCC was held on 18th of last month December. He said, the two sides have agreed to hold the next round of Senior Commanders meeting and are in constant communication through diplomatic and military channels in this regard. The Spokesman said, in the meantime, both sides have maintained communication at the ground level to avoid any misunderstandings and misjudgments even as discussions continue for achieving complete disengagement in all friction areas in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements to restore peace and tranquility.

On another query on the issue of Indian sailors stranded in Chinese waters, Mr Srivastava said, Indian Embassy in Beijing is continuously following up the issue with relevant Chinese authorities. He said, Indian Ambassador has again personally taken up this issue with the Chinese Vice Foreign Minister and requested early approval for crew change for Indian crew members aboard two ships M V Jag-Anand and M V Anastasia. The Ministry is also in regular contact on this issue with the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. The Spokesman said, in view of China’s strict COVID-19 pandemic control and prevention measures as well as various travel restrictions in place, the Chinese authorities have outlined detailed steps to ensure the smooth movement of new crew to China to effect crew change. He said, these steps have to be complied by the concerned shipping companies. With regard to the request of exploring alternative modes of crew change at sea, The Spokesman said, this possibility has also been taken up by with Chinese authorities, who have indicated that the details for this option are being worked out. He said, we are awaiting these details from Chinese authorities. Mr Srivastava said, we will continue to remain in touch with various relevant Chinese authorities as well as shipping companies to ensure that the humanitarian needs of the crew are taken care of and that crew changes can be effected at the earliest.

On a query on Vaccine Cooperation, the Spokesman said, India has been at the forefront of the global response in this common fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, India sees international cooperation in this field, particularly with its neighbours, as its duty. Mr Srivastava said, in our neighbourhood, we have already provided medicines and other essential supplies. He said, we have held training sessions for experts from these countries on vaccine-related issues. 

On a query on H1B Visa, Mr Srivastava said, we have taken note of the recent proclamations of the US Government extending by three more months the current suspension of entry of certain immigrants and non-immigrants to the United States of America. He said, India is engaged with the U.S. Government for increased predictability in the visa regime and to minimize inconvenience to Indian nationals in the U.S. or those proposing to travel to the U.S. for bonafide reasons, including the movement of Indian professionals. The MEA Spokesman said, people-to-people relations are a vital part of the partnership between India and the U.S. He said, there is recognition in the U.S. of the fact that Indian skilled professionals have contributed to the growth of the U.S. economy and helped the U.S. retain its competitive edge and innovation advantage.

The next round of talks between the Centre and farmer leaders will be held on 15th of this month. Briefing media after the eighth round of talks with representatives of farmers’ unions, Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, discussion on the farm laws was taken up, but no decision could be made. He said, the government urged that if farmer unions give an option other than repealing, it will consider it, but no option could be presented, so the meeting was concluded.

The Minister said, those supporting the protest are of the view that the laws be repealed and there are many others who support the laws. He said, the government is continuously talking to the unions who want these laws to be repealed and it will also give appointment to those supporting the laws, when they request the government.

In the United States, the President-elect Joe Biden has appointed two Indian-Americans to the National Security Council of the White House. Biden has named Indian-American Sumona Guha as senior director for South Asia and Tarun Chhabra as senior director for Technology and National Security.

Sumona Guha is currently serving as senior vice president at Albright Stonebridge Group. She was co-chair of the South Asia foreign policy working group during the Biden-Harris campaign. During the Obama-Biden administration, she was special advisor for national security affairs to the then Vice President Biden. She is a graduate of Johns Hopkins and Georgetown University.

Tarun Chhabra, who has been appointed senior director for Technology and National Security, is a senior fellow at the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. Chhabra had also served on the National Security Council staff as director for Strategic Planning and director for Human Rights and National Security Issues during the Obama-Biden Administration. Chhabra is an alumnus of Stanford University, Oxford University and Harvard Law School.

Biden has also named Shanthi Kalathil as Coordinator for Democracy and Human Rights in his National Security Council. She is currently senior director of the International Forum for Democratic Studies at the National Endowment for Democracy.

India has said that the United Nations proscribed entities and designated terrorists act as proxies for Pakistani establishment to fulfill its anti-India agenda. MEA Spokesman Anurag Srivastava  said, it is for the international community to hold Pakistan to account and ensure that it takes credible action against terror groups, terror infrastructure and individual terrorists.

On a query on Pakistan court’s 15-year jail sentence to LeT terrorist Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Mr Srivastava said, the timing of these actions clearly suggests the intention of conveying a sense of compliance ahead of the Asia Pacific Joint Group (APJG) meeting and next Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting next month. He said, it has become routine for Pakistan to come up with such farcical actions prior to important meetings.

On a query on UNSC Taliban Sanctions Committee, the MEA Spokesman said, India began its two-year tenure at the UN Security Council as a non-Permanent Member on the first of this month. He said, during the tenure, India will be guided by a commitment to promote responsible and inclusive solutions to international peace and security, a new orientation for a reformed multilateral system and a world view anchored in our ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.

India’s civil aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has issued guidelines to airlines and other aircraft operators for transportation of Covid-19 vaccines.

“All scheduled operators who have been currently authorized to carry dangerous goods may carry COVID19 vaccine packed in dry ice, meeting the regulatory requirements,” DGCA said in a circular.

“Non-scheduled operators, including aircraft engaged in general aviation, that are required to participate in the carriage of COVID 19 vaccines packed in dry ice shall seek specific approval before commencing such operations,” it added.

Covid-19 vaccination in India is expected to start in the next few days, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said yesterday, adding that the union government has requested the stakeholders in the process to help in its smooth rollout.

The DGCA circular said that while dry ice with temperature varying from -8C to -70C is affordable for transportation of vaccine, it added that all operators engaged in vaccine transportation would need to establish the maximum quantity of dry ice that can be loaded in cargo holds or passenger cabins if passenger aircraft is deployed for vaccine transportation.

The circular added that operators will need to prepare and ‘Dos and Don’ts’ guidance for handling of vaccines and such packages would be handled only by trained personnel.

India’s drugs regulator Drugs Controller General of India has approved AstraZeneca and Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine, manufactured by the Serum Institute in India under the Covishield brand and the indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country.

As per DGCA directives, authorised airlines can carry vaccine in dry ice in passenger cabin or cargo cabin. Passengers won’t be allowed on board if vaccines are being transported in the passenger cabin.