Medical experts have welcomed the government’s decision to approve two Corona virus vaccines for emergency use in the country.  

All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Director Dr Randeep Singh Guleria has lauded the work done by Indian laboratories in making indigenous vaccines. He said, the research has been done in the country and it’s truly an Indian vaccine. Dr Guleria said, these vaccines are cost-effective and easy to administer as they can be stored at temperatures between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius.

Lieutenant General Ved Chaturvedi of Sir Gangaram Hospital, Delhi has said that the Corona vaccines approved by government are fully safe.

Dr. Naresh Trehan of Medanta Medicity has said that the vaccine will be fully effective after its two dosages.

World Health Organisation has welcomed India’s decision to allow the use of two COVID-19 vaccines. Its Regional Director Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said, WHO welcomes the first emergency use authorization given to COVID-19 vaccine in the WHO South-East Asia Region. It will help intensify and strengthen the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the Region.

Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has given its approval for restricted use of two Covid-19 vaccines – Serum Institute of India’s, Covishield and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin in emergency situation. The announcement for granting permission to these two vaccines was made by the Drug Controller General of India VG Somani during a press conference yesterday. 

Government has said that the Covid-19 vaccines introduced in India will be as effective as any vaccine developed by other countries.

The Health Ministry has come out with a series of frequently asked questions about COVID-19 vaccine on various aspects. The Ministry said, various phases of vaccine trials are undertaken to ensure its safety and efficacy. In the initial phase Covid vaccine will be provided to the selected priority groups as they are at higher risk.

The first group who will be vaccinated includes healthcare and frontline workers. The second group to receive COVID 19 vaccine will be persons, over 50 years of age and persons under 50 years with comorbid conditions. The Ministry has said that vaccination for COVID-19 is voluntary. However, it has advised to receive the complete schedule of COVID-19 vaccine for protecting one-self against this disease. This will also limit the spread of this disease to the close contacts including family members, friends, relatives and co-workers.

The next round of talks between the Central Government and farmer unions will be held in New Delhi today. Earlier, 6th round of talks between Government and Farmer Unions was held on 30th of last month.
 
During the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had assured the Farmer leaders that the government is committed to solving their problems and both sides need to take steps forward to arrive at an amicable solution. He said, consensus on two out of four issues was reached during the meeting. Mr Tomar said the first issue was an ordinance related to the Environment and the second was on Electricity Act.
 
Mr Tomar had assured the Farmer Unions that MSP and the Mandi system will continue like before. The demand of the Farmer Unions for an MSP law and the difference between MSP and market rates for agricultural produce will be referred to a committee when it is constituted.
 
On the Unions’ demand for the repeal of Farm Laws the Minister had said that this too can be referred to a committee which will study the constitutional validity and propriety keeping in mind the welfare of farmers. Mr Tomar had assured the farmers that government has an open mind and is willing to resolve all issues with clear intentions. Agriculture Minister asked the Union leaders to put forward their proposals which the government will study and discuss. He complimented the Farmer Unions for keeping the agitation disciplined and peaceful. The Minister had assured that the government is taking all possible steps for the welfare of farmers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the National Metrology Conclave today through video conferencing.

He will also dedicate National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya to the nation and lay the foundation stone of the National Environmental Standards Laboratory. Science and Technology Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan will also be present on the occasion.

The National Atomic Timescale generates Indian Standard Time with an accuracy of 2.8 nanosecond. Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya is supporting testing and calibration of laboratories for quality assurance, at par with international standards.

The National Environmental Standards Laboratory will aid self-reliance in the certification of ambient air and industrial emission monitoring equipment.

National Metrology Conclave 2021 is being organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi which is entering into its 75th year of inception. The theme of the conclave is Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will deliver the inaugural address at the National Metrology Conclave tomorrow through video conferencing. He will also dedicate National Atomic Timescale and Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya to the nation and lay the foundation stone of the National Environmental Standards Laboratory.

Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan will also be present on the occasion.

The National Atomic Timescale generates Indian Standard Time with an accuracy of 2.8 nanosecond. Bhartiya Nirdeshak Dravya is supporting testing and calibration of laboratories for quality assurance, at par with international standards.

The National Environmental Standards Laboratory will aid self-reliance in the certification of ambient air and industrial emission monitoring equipment.

National Metrology Conclave 2021 is being organised by Council of Scientific and Industrial Research-National Physical Laboratory, CSIR-NPL New Delhi which is entering into its 75th year of inception.

The theme of the conclave is Metrology for the Inclusive Growth of the Nation.

51st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will open on 16th January, with the Indian premiere of the movie ‘Another Round’ by Thomas Vinterberg.

The movie starring Cannes Best Actor Award winner Mads Mikkelsen is among a star-studded line up of movies being showcased at IFFI. The movie is also Denmark’s official entry to the Oscars.

The festival will also witness the World Premier of ‘Mehrunisa’. The film by Sandeep Kumar will premier mid-fest.

The festival will close on 24th January with the India Premier of the historical drama ‘Wife of a Spy’ by Kiyoshi Kurosawa.

51st IFFI is being organised from 16th to 24th January in Goa.

This edition is being organised in a hybrid mode for the first time and will comprise both online and in-person experience. The festival will be loaded with a line-up of famous movies with a total of 224 films from across the globe.

This includes 21 non-feature films and 26 feature films under the Indian Panorama section. Media registration for the festival has opened recently and is available till 10th January.

In yet another matter of pride for India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been rated as the most popular head of state by an American research firm.

According to research firm, Morning Consult, over 75 per cent people approved Mr Modi, while 20 per cent disapproved, putting his net approval rating at 55 per cent. This is higher than any other world leader.

The survey was conducted by the American firm in 13 countries including the US, Japan and Brazil.

Home minister Amit Shah has hailed the Prime Minister for the global praise he is receiving in the backdrop of the Covid-19 fight that Mr Modi led in India. Mr Shah said, entire world is praising Mr Modi for the way he is handling COVID-19 global pandemic, taking care of Indians and helping the world community in such challenging times.

BJP President JP Nadda said, the latest rating is a testimony of the Prime Minister’s able leadership and hard work and is a thing of pride for all citizens of the country.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar also congratulated the Prime Minister and said that it is a matter of pride for the country.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister has shared a poem written by him, along with a video. The poem is titled “Abhi toh Suraj Uga Hai (The Sun has just Risen)”. Let’s listen to the poem:

India continues to scale several peaks in its fight against the COVID19 pandemic. As the country readies for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been pro-actively involved in the preparations for this roll-out over the past couple of months to ensure that the preparations for roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine are on track, in close collaboration with the States, UTs and other stakeholders.

In a massive nation-wide exercise yesterday, an end-to-end mock drill on the vaccine administration was conducted in all States and UTs at 286 session sites spread across 125 districts. Each District conducted the dry run at three sites or more which included a public health facility District Hospital or Medical College, Private Health Facility and rural or urban outreach sites.

All the State and District officials were trained on the Operational Guidelines and  for conducting the dry-run. This dry run was aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system and to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in the field environment for planning, implementation and reporting at the block, district and state level.

The dry run was also conducted to familiarize the State, District, Block and Hospital level officers on all aspects of COVID-19 roll out.

The States and UTs conducted the dry run from 9 am across the country, in a seamless manner. The activities starting from beneficiary data upload, session site allocation and micro planning, vaccine allocation, session site management with test beneficiaries, reporting mechanism etc were covered in this one day dry run to execute the nearest possible simulation of the actual day.

The preparation to handle any Adverse Events Following Immunization at all session sites and functionality of the Call Centers was also tested.

The dry run was supervised by the District collectors. This dry run ended with debriefing meetings at district and the state level to discuss the issues and challenges encountered during the day. The Health Ministry was in constant touch with the States throughout the day to seek feedback on their experience.

The States and UTs have expressed complete satisfaction on the successful conduct of the dry run which included the operational process and its linkages with the Co-WIN Software.

The Co-WIN software has been developed by Health Ministry for real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine.

This software will assist the programme managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and a digital certificate will be generated upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule.  More than 75 lakh beneficiaries have been registered on Co-WIN software till date.

The cold chain infrastructure is sufficient to ensure last mile delivery of COVID-19 vaccine in a temperature controlled environment across the country. Sufficient supplies of syringes and other logistics have also been ensured to begin COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Around 1 lakh 14 thousand one hundred vaccinators have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites which includes beneficiary verification, vaccination, cold chain and logistics management, Bio-Medical Waste management, Adverse Events Following Immunization  management and uploading the information on Co-WIN software.

The entire operational planning and IT platform has been field tested in four states which include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat on 28th and 29th December 2020 and on the basis of feedback received, minor enhancements have been made in the IT system.

India continues to scale several peaks in its fight against the COVID19 pandemic. As the country readies for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been pro-actively involved in the preparations for this roll-out over the past couple of months to ensure that the preparations for roll-out of COVID-19 vaccine are on track, in close collaboration with the States, UTs and other stakeholders.

In a massive nation-wide exercise yesterday, an end-to-end mock drill on the vaccine administration was conducted in all States and UTs at 286 session sites spread across 125 districts. Each District conducted the dry run at three sites or more which included a public health facility District Hospital or Medical College, Private Health Facility and rural or urban outreach sites.

All the State and District officials were trained on the Operational Guidelines and  for conducting the dry-run. This dry run was aimed at testing the laid out mechanisms for COVID-19 vaccination roll-out in the health system and to assess operational feasibility of using Co-WIN application in the field environment for planning, implementation and reporting at the block, district and state level.

The dry run was also conducted to familiarize the State, District, Block and Hospital level officers on all aspects of COVID-19 roll out.

The States and UTs conducted the dry run from 9 am across the country, in a seamless manner. The activities starting from beneficiary data upload, session site allocation and micro planning, vaccine allocation, session site management with test beneficiaries, reporting mechanism etc were covered in this one day dry run to execute the nearest possible simulation of the actual day.

The preparation to handle any Adverse Events Following Immunization at all session sites and functionality of the Call Centers was also tested.

The dry run was supervised by the District collectors. This dry run ended with debriefing meetings at district and the state level to discuss the issues and challenges encountered during the day. The Health Ministry was in constant touch with the States throughout the day to seek feedback on their experience.

The States and UTs have expressed complete satisfaction on the successful conduct of the dry run which included the operational process and its linkages with the Co-WIN Software.

The Co-WIN software has been developed by Health Ministry for real time information of vaccine stocks, their storage temperature and individualized tracking of beneficiaries for COVID-19 vaccine.

This software will assist the programme managers across all levels through automated session allocation for pre-registered beneficiaries, their verification and a digital certificate will be generated upon successful completion of the vaccine schedule.  More than 75 lakh beneficiaries have been registered on Co-WIN software till date.

The cold chain infrastructure is sufficient to ensure last mile delivery of COVID-19 vaccine in a temperature controlled environment across the country. Sufficient supplies of syringes and other logistics have also been ensured to begin COVID-19 vaccination drive.

Around 1 lakh 14 thousand one hundred vaccinators have been trained on the process to be followed at the vaccination sites which includes beneficiary verification, vaccination, cold chain and logistics management, Bio-Medical Waste management, Adverse Events Following Immunization  management and uploading the information on Co-WIN software.

The entire operational planning and IT platform has been field tested in four states which include Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Gujarat on 28th and 29th December 2020 and on the basis of feedback received, minor enhancements have been made in the IT system.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called upon students to discover new and innovative solutions to make local products global. Addressing the students and faculty of IIM Sambalpur, Odisha, he said, IIMs can work as a bridge between local products and international collaboration for Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Mr Modi said, the vast talent pool of the IIMs both within and outside the country can help realise the goals of globalising brand India. Mr Modi said, today’s startups are the multinational companies of tomorrow.

Prime Minister yesterday laid the foundation stone of the permanent campus of IIM Sambalpur, via video conferencing.

Prime Minister said that the real task of the management is not just to manage the institutions but also to improve the lives of the people. Mr Modi said, those who are left behind in the race of development must also be included in the journey towards growth. 

We all thought this was a temporary thing. But here we are. People are already calling this the “COVID era” as if they are reading about it in a history book. But we’re still going through it. For most of my friends and family, the social distancing and handwashing aren’t that bad. We got used to that stuff quickly. The tough part about this era is that life has changed permanently for many folks. 

Rifts are created between people with different beliefs on wearing a mask. Complete industries are swept away and will probably never be the same. The world has truly changed. In this article, I’m sharing certain lessons I’ve learned from observing all these changes. Hopefully, these short reminders will make life during this era easier for all of us.

1. It’s hard on everybody
   I know your life is hard. But so is the life of your neighbor. That puts us all in the same boat. So go easy on yourself and others.
2. Nothing is forever
   It seems like this will last forever. But everything dies. And so will pandemics.
3. Accept it as if you chose this
   This is the only form of useful lying in the world. Trick yourself into believing you wanted a more tranquil and solitary life.Simply accept everything that’s outside of your control as something you wanted. Life will be a lot rosier.
4. Make the best of your time
   Accepting circumstances doesn’t mean we give up. Make the best of it. To be clear: Worrying and thinking about stuff that’s outside of your control is NOT a good use of your time.
5. Take a breather
   Literally. Take a moment for yourself and breeeeath…. Aaaah. Yes, that’s the feeling.
6. Exercise every day
   Stay in shape. If you’re not injured or ill, it’s your duty to take care of your body. Never take this lightly. 
7. Get off social media
   It’s a waste of your time. “Always?” Pretty much.
8. Read books
   This is a better use of your time. We all have reading lists with hundreds of books on them. And we’re not going to live 200 years. That means you need to make some tough choices. Which books will you read before you die?
9. Learn new skills
   Technology is improving and changing so fast that we’re not aware what’s going on. We just learn it after the fact. But that’s too late. So stay on top of your field and keep learning new skills you need to do good work.
10. Keep a daily journal
    This will probably be one of the weirdest times of our lives. Don’t you want to document this? Even if you never read it again, it’s still worth writing because it makes you a better thinker. 
11. Inspiration comes from within
    “I need to go to Paris for inspiration.” Replace Paris with any city or place in the world. Why do we think inspiration comes from the outside? Look inside!
12. Good food improves your mood
    One of the few pleasures that you never get used to. Research new recipes, be creative, and cook food that makes you go, “Hmmmmnn.”
13. Objects will not make you happy -I had to tell myself that after a few too many useless purchases.
14. More money is not the answer
    Look, I’m not going to lie. Having a little bit of money will lighten the load. So start that online business or side-gig you’ve been thinking about. But don’t expect that money will make you happy. It just solves your money problems. Nothing else.
15. Do work you enjoy
    Just because you need to survive, don’t say yes to the first available job you encounter. And also don’t start some kind of soulless online business so you can make a few bucks. Find something you enjoy and pays the bills. 
16. Appreciate what you have
    The grass is always greener. We tend to forget. So here’s a reminder: If you’re reading this on your smartphone in the comfort of your house, your life isn’t so bad. 
17. Give back
    Do something altruistic. Talk to your elderly neighbors, hold the door for someone, share your hard-earned lessons with others. Small things that have a positive impact on people.
18. Change is good
    This is a difficult period if your industry got swept away. But remember, change is a part of life. And in the long-term, it’s good. We just don’t see the sunshine when we’re going through a storm. 
19. Stop consuming—Start creating -The world never changed for the better by doing nothing. Right now, our biggest challenge is paralysis by consumption. We’re over-consuming everything: News, food, clothes, entertainment, you name it.

To get through this era, we need more action. So stop sitting there and go create something. Without creation, there’s no progress.

Government has decided to resume flights between India and the UK from the 8th of this month. These services were suspended last month to prevent the spread of a new variant of Covid-19 discovered recently in the UK.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said only 30 flights per week will operate between India and the UK till January 23. Indian and UK carriers will each be operating 15 flights per week during this period to and from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad only.

Over 60 passenger flights per week were flying between India and the UK in December. But the Civil Aviation Ministry suspended all passenger flights connecting the two countries from December 23. Several countries had also suspended flight services to the UK in the wake of the new Covid-19 strain.

Centre has decided to extend Disability Compensation to all serving employees, if they get disabled in the line of duty while performing their service and are retained in service in spite of such disablement.

This was announced by Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh yesterday. He said, the move will particularly provide a huge relief to young Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel like CRPF, BSF and CISF since disability in performance of duties is generally reported in their case due to constraints of job requirement as well as hostile or difficult work-environment.

Dr Singh said, Narendra Modi Government is making all efforts to simplify the rules and to do away with discriminatory clauses. The ultimate objective of all these new initiatives is to provide ease of living for the government servants even after they have superannuated and become pensioners or family pensioners or elder citizens.

In another employee-friendly decision, the Ministry of Personnel recently did away with minimum qualifying service of 10 years for pension, if a government servant is incapacitated due to bodily or medical infirmity and retired from government service.

Accordingly, the rule was amended to provide Invalid Pension at 50 per cent of the last pay, even if the employee had not completed minimum qualifying service of 10 years.

In addition to these, in yet another reform in the Pension Rules, a decision was also taken to amend the rule and provide pension at enhanced rate to the family of an employee who died during service before completing the requisite service of minimum seven years.

As a result, now the family pension of 50 per cent of the last pay is also admissible to the family of employees who die even before completing seven years of service.

India crossed yet another significant milestone in its fight against COVID, as the active caseload in the country today has further decreased to stand at 2.43 per cent. With continuous decline in the number of active corona cases, the active cases in the country witnessed a decline of nearly 4 thousand cases in the past 24 hours to stand at around 2 lakh 50 thousand.

The number of new daily cases remained below 20 thousand with nearly 19 thousand fresh cases being reported in the last 24 hours.

The national cumulative recovery rate has also further improved to 96.12 per cent with the recovery of over 99 lakh people so far. With recovery of over 22 thousand 900 people in the last 24 hours, the number of daily recoveries continue to outnumber the new daily cases. The total recovered cases in the country today stands at nearly 40 times the number of active cases.

The Health Ministry has informed that enhanced countrywide medical infrastructure, implementation of the Centre’s Standard Treatment Protocol by the States and Union Territories and total dedication and commitment of doctors, paramedics and frontline workers have led to a persistent increase in the number of total recoveries in the country.

The Health Ministry has said that this has also led to a commensurate dip in the fatality rate which stands at 1.45 per cent. It informed that 224 case fatalities were reported in the past 24 hours.