More than 5 crore tests have been conducted so far, which take India to the second highest position in terms of testing. More than 10 lakh tests have been conducted daily in this week. At the same time, the number of recovered patients is more than 33 lakhs now, and, the highest single day recovery of 73,642 patients has also been recorded in the last 24 hours. This has been stated by the Union Health Secretary Shri Rajesh Bhushan, in course of a media briefing on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on COVID-19, held at New Media Centre today. The Case Fatality Rate of the country is also continuously declining, added the Health Secretary.

Although the cases are on the rise in terms of absolute numbers, India still has 3,102 cases per million, which is one of the lowest in the world. Within a span of two weeks, the national average figure of tests per million has increased from 26,016 to 36,703. More than 10 lakhs 47 thousand 471 tests have been conducted in average on a daily basis, while more than 11 lakh tests have been conducted on the 3rd and 4th September. With the rise in testing capacity and also of recoveries, the gap between active and recovered cases is continuously widening. As on today, while there are around 8 lakhs 83 thousand active cases, the number of recoveries have crossed 33 lakhs. India’s death per million is 53, which falls amongst the lowest in the world. Along with this, the case fatality rate in the country is continuously declining and stands at 1.70% as on date. The Health Secretary gave full credit to the healthcare workers, including doctors, paramedics, treating clinicians, hospital support staff among others. Government of India has issued a standard treatment protocol for the benefit of health care workers and it is being followed in most of the states, stated the Health Secretary.

Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are the five states which account for 62% of the active cases. Maharashtra’s share is around 27% of the total active cases, which in terms of absolute numbers is 2.37 lakhs. On the other hand, there are 14 states and UTs which have less than 5,000 active cases at present. There are also 20 states and UTs where the number of active cases are between 2,000-5,000. This apart, nearly 70% of the COVID-19 related deaths are also being reported from 5 states, that is, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. “The states where active cases are mostly concentrated are also, more or less, accounting for most of the deaths”, stated the Health Secretary. Hence, from the perspective of public health, it is important to take targeted actions in these states, both by the state and Central Governments. “That is why we specially remain in touch with these states. A detailed interaction through video conferencing was held on last Saturday with these states where the Health Secretaries and District Chief Medical Officers of the highly affected districts participated. Certain successful strategies for fighting against COVID-19 were shared with them”, stated the Health Secretary. This apart, 28 States & UTs have a Case Fatality Rate which is lower than the national average, further stated Shri Bhushan.

Dr. V.K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said, our COVID-19 case numbers are looking big since we are testing in a very liberal manner, which has in turn helped us to reduce mortality rate. He further said, we should create an environment where no one is afraid of testing, it is dangerous to the individual and also to the system if one does not test despite experiencing symptoms. “We should be afraid of the virus, not of testing; we should create a culture where everyone who experiences symptoms proceeds to get oneself tested”, appealed Dr. V.K. Paul.

The Member (Health), NITI Aayog further said, as economy has been opened, if we adopt lax behaviour and do not practise discipline, it makes it easier for COVID-19 virus to spread; hence, we all should wear masks, maintain social distancing, avoid large gatherings and take immunity boosting measures all the more. These still remain the key of slowing and controlling a pandemic.  “We are getting complaints from State governments that people have become lax in following COVID-appropriate behaviours”, he informed. It is even more important today that we continue to follow precautionary behaviours against COVID-19, cautioned Dr. Paul. He added, it is primarily an individual’s responsibility to keep the virus away from one’s self, while the system’s responsibility is to carry out containment measures, contact tracing, surveillance and so on. He further said, “Our treatment protocols have been evolved in a very good manner, based on our progressive understanding of the pandemic; we have now become confident of our protocol; hence, we appeal that the treatment protocol is followed meticulously by everyone. Especially for people residing in rural areas, it is more important that the patient and family take prompt action to do testing, on appearance of symptoms”. Dr. Paul also appealed to the media persons to spread this message further.

In reply to a media query, Dr. Paul said, Russia has requested India’s help in manufacturing of vaccine by Indian companies and conduct of Phase-III studies in India. India attaches high importance to the request from a special friend and on both fronts, there has been considerable progress. “We are working with this vaccine candidate for manufacture as well as trial and regulatory facilitation, in the spirit of partnership and science for humanity”, he said.  The outreach has been extended to the vaccine manufacturers in India. About four of them have already come forward, the others are in talks with the Russian counterparts and the Government is facilitating that process of creating a connect. There may be specific outcomes very soon in that regard. This is a win-win situation for India and the world, indeed. India can manufacture that vaccine in large and significant quantities. On the regulatory front, Indian scientists have looked at the data. There would be a need for Phase III trials in normal course of things, stated Dr. Paul.

The Ministry of Tourism’s DekhoApnaDesh Webinar series titled “Punjab- A historic perspective” on 05^th September 2020 took the participants on a journey through the history and prominent tourist places in the state with focus on Virasat-e- Khalsa Museum, an architectural marvel commemorating the 550-years of culture and tradition of Punjab and Sikhism and the Partition Museum-world’s first museum on the largest human migration. DekhoApnaDesh Webinar Series is an effort to showcase India’s rich diversity under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat programme.

Presented by Mr. Harjap Singh Aujila, Civil Engineer with extensive experience in Town Planning, Dr.Lipika Kaur Guliani, Assistant Professor, University Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management, Punjab University, Ms. Kishwar Desai, Chairperson, The Partition Museum/ The Arts and Cultural Heritage trust and Mr. Jaswinder Singh, Assistant Professor, the webinar showcased the charming Cities and towns of Punjab dotted with numerous ancient monuments, gurudwaras, temples, ashrams, serene lakes, sacred shrines, museums and wildlife sanctuaries.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, in a path breaking reform, has approved monetisation of assets of POWERGRID, a  Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under Ministry of Power, through Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) model. This is the first time any PSU in Power Sector will undertake asset recycling by monetising its assets through theInvITmodel and using the proceeds to fund the new and under-construction capital projects.

This approval would help POWERGRID to monetise in the first lot, assets with gross block value of more than 7000 crore. These assets, which are mainly High Voltage Transmission lines and substations, are held by POWERGRID in form of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs). The proceeds from the asset monetization would be deployedby POWERGRID in their new and under-construction projects.

Background

POWERGRID, a public limited company under the administrative control of the Ministry of Power, Government of India, started its commercial operation in the year 1992-93 and is today, a Maharatna company, engaged in the business of power transmission. The Company, along with its wholly owned subsidiaries acquired through the Tariff Based Competitive Bidding (TBCB)process,owns and operates a pan India transmission network. The Company meets its fund requirement for its Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) through its internal accruals and debt.

The Budget 2019-20 emphasized investment led growth and indicated that new and innovative financial instruments including Infrastructure Investment Trusts (lnvITs), have been launched as part of the brown field asset monetization strategy for augmenting infrastructure investment.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has accorded approval to the POWERGRID to monetise transmission assets held in SPVs through InvIT model. The asset monetisation through InvIT by POWERGRID is a first for the Power Sector PSU.The proceeds from the asset monetization would be utilized by POWERGRID for its CAPEX and the premium generated would augment the net worth of POWERGRID.

In the first block, POWERGRID would monetize assets with gross block of more than Rs7000 crore. Based on the experience gained, further monetization shall be carried out in future.

Asset recycling is a key strategy of the Government of India to release the capital invested in operational assets and the proposed InvIT of POWERGRID would attract both domestic as well as global investors including Sovereign Wealth Funds. Sale of assets to InvITs is a way of accessing long term, relatively cheap finance required to fund infrastructure projects in Transmission Sector. The CAPEX plan of POWERGRID for next two years (2020-21 and 2021-22) is Rs. 20,500 cr. The Government of India has enacted an enabling regulatory and taxation framework for InvITs and the proposed InvIT by POWERGRID would deepen this market.

The InvIT would provide an opportunity to the general public and institutional investors such as Pension Funds, Mutual Funds, to benefit from this investment opportunity and participate in the growth of Indian Infrastructure Sector.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in a message at the inaugural session of First World Solar Technology Summit read out by Shri R.K. Singh, the President, International Solar Alliance (ISA) Assembly and Minister of State (I/C) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, said, today, that technology holds the key to scale up the use of solar energy. Technological achievements have already brought about a significant reduction in the price of solar power. A further reduction in the cost will provide a major boost to the use and expansion of renewable energy. He expressed confidence that the summit will help in help in developing new technologies and ensure that they become available to all.

World Solar Technology Summit (WSTS) organised by ISA and FICCI today aims to bring together key stakeholders – leading academic scientists, technology developers, researchers and innovators to present and discuss the recent highlights of solar technologies, cost-wise; technology-wise, technology transfers, challenges and concerns in the field. The main objective of WSTS is to showcase to member countries the state of the art and next-generation solar technologies worldwide and to give an opportunity to decision-makers and stakeholders to meet, and discuss their own priorities and strategic agenda towards a larger integration.

Prime Minister re-iterated that Five years ago, world leaders had taken a pledge to restrict the rise in global temperature through a gradual reduction in the dependence on fossil fuels. Underlining India’s commitment lowering carbon footprints, he stressed that India has lowest per-capita carbon emissions in the world but we have still pressed ahead with deployment of renewable energy at a frenetic pace.”

Speaking on fast growth of Renewables in India, he further informed that India has enhanced its installed renewable capacity by 2.5 times and increased our solar installed capacity by more than 13 times. “Globally India now ranks 4th in terms of Renewable power,” Shri Modi said.

Prime Minister also informed that we have scaled our non-fossil fuel-based power generations to 134GW, which is about 35 % of our total power generation. We are confident of increasing it to 220 GW by 2022. “We want to take renewable energy to every village of our country. Our government has implemented a scheme named KUSUM that aims to replace the use of diesel in our farm sector with solar energy. Under this scheme, we have targeted the solarisation of 2.8 million irrigation pumps. Such schemes will not only benefit the environment, but also increase the income of our farmers.” he said.

Referring to India’s support to ISA member countries the Prime Minister said ”India is providing capacity building support to ISA member countries through its ITEC training programme. We have also set up a Project Preparation Facility to develop bankable Solar Energy projects in ISA member countries with the help of EXIM Bank of India.” He said that in 2018, our Government had announced about US $1.4 Billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) for covering 27 solar projects across 15 countries. These projects are in various stages of implementation.

The Prime Minister also said, “The ISA is a part of “One Word One Sun One Grid” project, I firmly believe that this project can bring transformational benefits for the entire humanity.

Ministers from several of ISA’s member countries will be joined by high-Level dignitaries, National Focal Points and senior government functionaries; Representatives of  diplomatic missions, ISA Partners, business and industry leaders, solar project developers, solar manufacturers, R&D institutions, academia and think tanks, civil society, international organizations and donors, representatives of non-governmental and community-based organizations, academics, research and training institutes, international media, multilateral and bilateral agencies.

Nobel Laureate, Dr M Stanley Whittingham, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (jointly with John B Goodenough & Akira Yoshino) in 2019 for the revolutionizing discovery of the lithium ion batteries and Mr Bernard Piccard, Founder and Chairman of Solar Impulse Foundation, Switzerland also joined the summit virtually.

India’s Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Dharmendra Pradhan also addressed the inaugural.Shri Pradhan announced that five Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry will be joining International Solar Alliance (ISA)’s Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (ISA-CSCA) as Corporate Partners. He said that Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and GAIL (India) Limited will be contributing to ISA’s Corpus Fund.

Lauding the role of the ISA for making rapid strides since its launch at the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris on 30 November 2015 by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the then French President, Shri Pradhan said that as the latest inter-governmental international organization with its headquarters in India, ISA is not only a testament to India’s unwavering faith in multilateralism but also a commitment to a better, sustainable and greener future. He said that the Alliance reflects the vision and the firm belief that the beneficence of the Sun could be used to bring together the peoples of this planet for a shared solution to our energy needs.

The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a treaty-based international intergovernmental organization. ISA was jointly launched by India and France in the presence of Secretary General of the UN during CoP21. The Paris Declaration establishes ISA as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its Member Countries. The major objectives of the organization include deployment of 1000 GW of solar capacity and mobilization of US$ 1000 billion of investment in solar energy sector by 2030. As an action-oriented organization, ISA intends to bring together member countries to aggregate demand and realise economies of scale, resulting in reduction of costs of solar applications, facilitating deployment of existing solar technologies at scale, and promoting collaborative solar R&D and capacity. As on June 26 2020, the ISA Framework Agreement has been signed by 86 countries, with 68 having also deposited instruments of ratification. The ISA is headquartered at Gurugram in Haryana, India. Mr. UpendraTripathy is the Director General.

Total no. of cases in Pune crosses tally of 2 lakh mark with total of 2,04,037 with active cases of 61,363 and recovered cases with 1,34,527. Pune is now top of the list in whole India. Pune has surpassed Delhi in recent days. As India as country is still not able to deal with the Corona Virus, in fact it is somehow struggling badly which has put India in leading no. is terms of cases in top with 1 other countries. These countries are trying everything to control the spread and reduce it somehow. India has surpassed Brazil with 67,007 new cases last day.

India is too giving many advices and steps to increase the effective check-ups and trials to get more hold on cases and minimize it by making every little effort. Now check-ups are happening at more faster rates. Daily tests conducted is reaching 4-5 lakhs in numbers.

Doctors have now called for more tests across the state’s rural areas and non-metropolitan zones to reduce patient load on hospitals in the major cities. There have been several instances of critical patients from rural areas being rushed to hospitals in the major cities after initial delays in treatment.

Every week, at least a dozen patients — with serious Covid-19 — are being moved from the rural areas to units such as Sassoon General Hospital, Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital or the Aundh Chest Hospital. And specialists said it’s these cases, which have already entered the critical stages of COVID-19 infection, that are some of the most difficult to treat
For example, in June, it was estimated that 20% of all admissions at most hospitals in Pune city were from outside Pune district. In past few days, frequency of corona positives has increased gradually as cases has started to come from rural areas. Earlier most of the cases were coming out of urban areas as there were not much contact with deeper village areas. However as effective ways for corona are reaching there so it is spreading,

In August, Pune’s first Sero survey found that over 50 per cent of residents from five high-incidence areas in the city have been exposed to the COVID-19 infection. Pune is also the only district in the country which has crossed the 50,000 mark in terms of active cases. The district now has 54,760 active cases with 1,23,292 declared recovered.

The senior Pawar’s intervention, in fact, seems to have been triggered by the death of a television journalist last week after he reportedly could not find an ICU on time. Pune authorities are blamed for failing to create adequate health facilities, with instances of coronavirus patients dying because of non-availability of ICU.

The survey, which is done to detect the presence of specific antibodies and assess the prevalence of a disease in the population, was conducted by taking samples of 1,664 respondents. The main reason behind this surge in Coronavirus cases is the increase in the number of COVID19 testing. Pune is having the greatest number of coronavirus testing in Maharashtra. The number is twice that of Mumbai. Pune authorities have ordered one lakh antigen test kits in July and have ordered another one lakh recently.

Today Nalanda is an UNESCO world heritage site.Nalanda University, which was set up at Rajgir in Bihar in 413 AD during the Gupta dynasty, had emerged as a world seat of learning before it was destroyed sometime in the 11th century.According to historical studies, University of Nalanda was established during the era of the Kumaragupta. He was a famous Gupta emperor. Prajnavarman and Xuanzang, both claimed him as the laying founder of the university, which is also proved by the seal discovered at the site of ruins of the Nalanda University.Today Nalanda is an UNESCO world heritage site.It is believed that the whole University campus is spread across over 15,000,000 sq meters and only 10% of which has been excavated while the rest of the ruins still lie under the ground.At that time it was the only international university in the world. There were around 10000 students and 2700 faculties in the university who came from all over the world like Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Iran, Persia, Greece, Mongolia and many more.Nalanda was first of its kind which was a boarding university.

During the reign of Skandagupta, Huns were the first one who tried to destruct the university under Mihirakula. But the library was restored and improved with bigger building and better faculties by Skanda’s successors. The second invasion was done by the Gaudas which was again restored by Harshavardhana; the Buddhist king. Khilji was an illiterate person who was hired by some Turkish rulers due to his military skills.  But the army led by Turkish leader Bakhtiyar khilji did the most destructive attack in 1193 who tried to destroy the roots of knowledge, Buddhism and Ayurveda, from the country.

The curricula of the university offered the study Philosophy, Religion, Logic, Astronomy, Mathematics, Medicine,theology, grammar,History,Linguuistic,Literature etc.

In each classroom, there used to be 100s of students and they were not allowed to go outside until the lecture was over.To add to their facility, even a well was there in most of the classroom to quench the thirst of the students if they were thirsty and teachers used to sit on the dash and students on the ground.

At that point of time, the Library was a very prestigious and renowned repository of the Buddhist knowledge throughout the world. The library of the Nalanda University was called Dharma Gunj which meant the “Mountain of Truth”. The library constituted of three main buildings, which stood up to nine stories. It was composed of hundreds and thousands of volumes of books. This is quite evident from the fact that it took about 3-6 months for it to burn down completely, at the time when it was set aflame by the Muslim invaders. The three library buildings were called upon by their respective names that included Ratnasagara-The Sea of Jewels, Ratnarañjaka-Delighter of Jewels and Ratnodadhi-The Ocean of Jewels. The library constituted of three main buildings, which stood up to nine stories.It was composed of millions of manuscripts. This is quite evident from the fact that the library kept burning for more than 5 months when it was set aflame by the Muslim invaders.

Till today, a number of ruined structures survive at the ruins of the university. The excavated ruins are known to extend over an area of about 150,000 square foot meters. According to the report, it is believed that 90% of the remains at Nalanda University is still unexcavated.

Nalanda University certainly was one of the only Universities that was closed for around 800 years after is destruction. In recent times the University was reopened after efforts made by A.P.J Abdul kalam during his visit.

Presently, Nalanda University is also considered as one of the self-sustained campus oriented universities of the country.