Category: National

Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry unveils new proposal to permanently solve the Moon sighting issue in Pakistan.

Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry said Sunday that two moon observatories will be set up by next year to “permanently resolve” moon-sighting conflicts.

Speaking to the media here in the city, Chaudhry said the plan was to set up moon observatories in Islamabad and Gwadar where anyone would be able to go and see the moon for themselves.

“Given the debate we observed over moon [sighting] this year, we intend to set up a moon observatory in Islamabad next year and we’re also trying to set one up in Gwadar too,” the federal minister explained.

“The issue of moon-sighting will be permanently resolved after the moon observatories” are established, he noted. “A common person will be able to go and see the moon and decide for themselves,” he added.

The minister also thanked Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairperson Mufti Muneeb-ur-Rahman and other members, as well as religious scholars of Pakistan, for their contributions to the country.

“This Eid was not possible without them. I thank them all,” he mentioned.

With inputs from Times of Islamabad

A day before Baba Ramdev told Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan that ayurvedic medicines had given “very good results” on COVID-19 patients, the research wing of his firm Patanjali had given a proposal to a government medical college to conduct clinical trials.

On May 19, Anurag Varshney, vice-president, Patanjali Research Institute, Haridwar, made the request to the dean of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Indore, the city worst hit by the outbreak. In the proposal, he pointed out that ayurvedic medications could be given along with the treatment regime advised by the Indian Council of Medical Research or the Ministry of Health on the patient’s consent.

“This letter is to request you to allow these ayurvedic medicines to be given to the COVID-19 positive patients in Indore and other places in Madhya Pradesh, under controlled clinical trials,” he wrote in the proposal. To combat COVID-19 with ayurveda, “we have worked at the Patanjali Research Institute and have conducted in-depth research. These findings and recommendations have been shared with you earlier. These research-driven recommendations are based on our ancient knowledge of safe and effective herbal medicinal science,” he said.

Mr. Varshney referred to a discussion between Baba Ramdev and Mr. Chouhan and the Health Minister, wherein Patanjali showed its readiness to provide these ayurvedic medications free of cost to those in need.

Although he claimed that “our medicines kits have reached Indore already,” Chief Medical and Health Officer of Indore Pravin Jadia told The Hindu: “I have not received any such letter.”

Jyoti Bindal, the dean, has sent the proposal to the governmentto begin the ayurvedic treatment regime. She said the permission was necessary as an order dated October 25,2016, restricted new drug trials of any kind at government universities.“We can’t start any such therapy until we get a word from the government. There is a defined protocol to seek clearance,” said Dr. Bindal. .

Although Patanjali has evinced interest in conducting trials in other parts of the State too, AYUSH department commissioner M. K. Agrawal said, “I am not aware about any such interest shown by Patanjali. They have not applied with us.”

Striking a word of caution, Anand Rai, who exposed unethical drug trials in Indore a decade ago, said there should be informed consent of patients in case of trials. “If anyone wants to conduct research, we shouldn’t oppose it for the sake of it. Otherwise how can we understand the efficacy of a proposed treatment.”

With inputs from The Hindu

It left for Delhi at 6.35 a.m. with 116 passengers

With 116 passengers the first flight to Delhi departed from Chennai airport on Monday, as domestic flight services resumed in the State after two months of lockdown. The flight left the city airport at 6.35 a.m.

The first flight from Delhi too arrived at 8.15 a.m.

Chennai airport will handle only 35 flights on Monday, as against 500 movements that it would usually have before the lockdown. There will be 16 flights arriving and 19 departing from the city airport. The State government had fixed limitations on the arrivals and announced that only 25 flights can land here.

For those arriving in the State, since TN e-pass will be mandatory, a counter has been set up to issue these passes in the arrival hall which will function for a couple days alone. After that, passengers have to register only through TN e-pass portal to get a pass and enter the State.

On Sunday night, after a long wait, the State government finally allowed the domestic operations to begin in the city airport. It instructed that asymptomatic passengers who arrive will have to be on a 14-day home quarantine. If a passenger is found to have symptoms on arrival, then they would be taken to the hospital for further testing procedures.

With inputs from The Hindu

A video explaining the rules laid down by the Ministry of Civil Aviation for domestic air travel

Domestic flights will start operating in India on May 25. Airlines will operate 33% of their flights. But passengers will have to brace themselves for a completely new airport experience.

Watch Video:

Before entering the airport

• Passengers should get to the airport two hours ahead of their flights. 
• They will have to wear masks at all times. It is mandatory for web check-in before reaching the airport.
• They will “compulsorily” undergo thermal screening before entering the airport.
• Passengers, except children under the age of 14, will have to show officials that they are marked as “safe” on the Aarogya Setu app or produce a self-declaration form.

In the airport

• Floor markers in the terminal will guide passengers on where to stand.
• This is to maintain physical distancing.
• Self check-in kiosks will allow passengers to print boarding passes. 
• For those who prefer traditional check-in, alternate counters, enclosed in glass, will be available.
• After airline staff enter passenger details, passes can be collected from a machine.
• Only one check-in bag and one cabin bag will be allowed.
• After completing security procedures, passengers can sit in marked seats while waiting to board. 
• Stamping of boarding passes too will be done away with.
• Passengers should collect a safety kit which includes a mask and sanitiser near the boarding gate. ​

In the aircraft

• Passengers are advised to minimise the use of toilets and avoid queuing.
• Only one person will be allowed to accompany children and elderly to the toilet.
• No meal services, newspapers and magazines will be available. 
• Only water bottles will be made available. Passengers will not be allowed to consume their own eatables either. 
• On arrival, Passengers will disembark sequentially and will undergo temperature screening.
• Health protocols as prescribed by the destination States/ UTs would have to be followed by arriving passengers.

Ticket pricing

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has set a price range for seven categories of flights based on flight time.
• The lowest range is flights of less than 40 minutes and the highest is up to 210 minutes.
• The price range for the shortest journey is ₹2,000 – ₹6,000. 
• And for the longest journey is ₹6,500 – ₹18,600. 

International flights 

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri has said that commercial international flight operations could start as early as the middle of June.

With inputs from The Hindu

These include 2,000 Aadhaar cards and data of 18 million Indian job-seekers

Even as cybercrime agencies and experts are investigating the leak of millions of Indian job-seekers’ personal details on the dark web, two more similar instances have come to light in the last 12 hours.

The fresh leaks include nearly 2,000 Aadhaar cards and details of 18 million Indians, all available for free.

The leak of nearly 2.9 crore job-seekers’ details was discovered by Cyble Inc., a U.S.-based cyber intelligence firm, which has been trying to trace the source of the leak and identify the perpetrators. Cyble founder Beenu Arora said the Aadhaar cards were posted on the dark web some time in the last 12 hours.

Speaking with media personnels Mr. Arora told “We are not sure of how this leak happened. There is a known perpetrator who just decided to drop this. In terms of the leak itself, it has approximately 2,000 Aadhaar cards. A large number of files appear to have originated from 2019, and several IDs were scanned from mobile cameras, and often transferred to other parties via WhatsApp. It’s highly likely that more IDs may have been compromised, and the perpetrator decided to share only a small subset. We are still looking into this further”.

Cyble researchers said the Aadhaar cards and the job seekers’ details were posted by different entities, both with a different level of reputation on the dark net.

Second leak

“The Aadhaar leak actor also published a second leak whereby they dropped details of 18 lakh residents of Madhya Pradesh for free on May 19. We identified this leak during our investigations into the jobseeker data,” Mr. Arora said.

State and Central cybercrime agencies have also initiated their own investigations into the matter, sources confirmed.

Meanwhile, Cyble researchers have received an anonymous tip off according to which the jobseekers’ data leak was the result of an unprotected Elasticsearch instance — a tool that collects data from a wide range of locations on the Internet in accordance with the requirements of the person conducting the search, and allowing the user to analyse large troves of data in real time from all over the Internet.

“The claim made by the anonymous entity that unprotected Elasticsearch instance was the root cause behind the jobseeker data leak is unverifiable at this stage, as we haven’t been given the technical evidence yet. We are approaching other research communities to gather more facts,” Mr. Arora said.

With inputs from The Hindu

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said the recovery rate in the country stood at 41.28%.

India on Sunday reported the highest single-day spike so far of 7,097 COVID-19 cases, taking the overall tally to 1,38,526, according to reports from the State Health Departments. The number of active cases stood at 76,902, while 57,605 people have recovered. The death toll crossed 4,000, with 150 new fatalities.

Data from Johns Hopkins University show that the total number of cases in India has surpassed that of Iran (with 1,35,701 confirmed infections). India now has the 10th highest number of confirmed cases worldwide.

Maharashtra reported a surge of 3,041 cases — its highest till date — to breach the 50,000-mark. The tally touched 50,231, while 58 more deaths saw the toll surge to 1,635. The number of cases in Gujarat rose to 14,063, with 394 new infections. With 29 new fatalities, the toll rose to 858.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry said the recovery rate in the country stood at 41.28%.

“The testing capacity has been ramped up in both, and as on date, around 1,50,000 tests can be conducted every day,” said the Ministry release.

Centre seeks efficacy of Ayurveda

The Union Health Ministry on Sunday sought results of COVID-19 treatment using Ayurvedic medicines.

This was following a visit by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan to a dedicated COVID-19 health centre at the Chaudhary Brahm Prakash Ayurved Charak Sansthan (CBPACS), Najafgarh.

Huge potential

“Ayurveda is a traditional medicinal knowledge source from India and there is huge potential in it. Its inherent strength in holistic healing and wellbeing is being put to good use in treatment of the patients at this centre,” said the Minister.

He said this knowledge and experience would surely prove beneficial to people all over the world, especially in combating the battle against COVID-19.

‘No casualty’

According to figures released by the Ministry, till date 201 patients have been admitted to the CBPACS Centre.

“Of these, 37 have been cured and 100 patients have been advised home isolation. Nineteen patients have been shifted to speciality hospitals on review of their medical condition. There has been no casualty in this centre,” noted the Health Ministry.

With inputs from The Hindu

Reports had spoken of Indian patrols being prevented in Eastern Ladakh

The Indian Army on Sunday “categorically denied” reports that Indian patrol teams had been detained by PLA troops along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, during the current standoff between the Indian and Chinese armies.

“There has been no detention of Indian soldiers at the borders. We categorically deny this,” Army spokesperson Col. Aman Anand said, a day after reports referred to the alleged detention of Indian soldiers in three separate incidents. The spokesperson said the reports hurt “national interests”.

Soldiers injured

Tensions between India and China along the LAC have been rising for the past month, since PLA troops tried to disrupt road construction in the Ladakh sector; dozens of soldiers have been injured in incidents of jostling and pushing in at least four points of conflict. Thus far, officials have explained that the skirmishes have been caused by “differing perceptions” of the LAC, which is not fully demarcated.

In three statements last week, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs alleged that Indian troops had carried out what it called “infringement activities”, “trespassing” into Chinese-claimed territory in Sikkim and Ladakh, and even accused India of “attempting to unilaterally change the status of border control”.

The Ministry of External Affairs had termed the Chinese claims as “inaccurate” and countered that it was the PLA that had “undertaken activity hindering India’s normal patrolling patterns”, also indicating that “established mechanisms” of talks by military commanders were working to resolve the situation.

Satellite images

Both the Army and ITBP operate along the LAC in Ladakh. While there have been no incidents of firing across the LAC in decades, particularly after the agreements on the Maintenance of Peace and Tranquillity signed in 1993, skirmishes in recent years have seen soldiers throwing rocks, violently pushing and punching one another.

In the current standoff, incidents have been reported from three points on the LAC in Ladakh — Pangong Tso (lake), Galwan Nalah and Demchok, and one at Nakula Pass in Sikkim.

According to an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, an independent think tank based in Canberra, satellite images made available on Twitter showed that the Chinese build up in Ladakh included the Galwan area inside territory patrolled by the Indian Army. The satellite images of May 22 show about 80 tents set by Chinese soldiers along the Galwan river and also show vehicles and other structures.

India too has increased infrastructure in the area, as it completes the construction and refurbishment of the 255 km Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DSDBO) road near the river valley. The Indian Army has mobilised additional troops and equipment and dug into positions close to the Chinese troops as tensions continue at the three points, sources told The Hindu.

With inputs from The Hindu

Kiran Kumar went to the hospital for a medical check-up on May 14, where the Covid-19 test was mandatory. His test result came out positive. The actor is asymptomatic and is home-quarantining.

PTI

Veteran film and TV actor Kiran Kumar has tested positive for coronavirus and is currently under home quarantine.

The 74-year-old actor said he is asymptomatic and is doing “absolutely fine”.

“I am asymptomatic. On May 14, I went to the hospital for a medical check-up, where the Covid-19 test was mandatory. So I got myself tested and the result was positive.

“But I had no symptoms then, nor do I have any now. There’s no fever, no cough, I’m fine and have self quarantined at home,” Kumar told PTI.

The actor, who had featured in films like Dhadkan, Mujhse Dosti Karoge, among others, said it has been ten days since the test happened and he still hasn’t developed any symptoms

“My family lives on the second floor of the building and I’m currently on the third floor. On May 26 or May 27, I am going to get my second test done. At the moment I’m absolutely fine,” he added.

As of Saturday, Maharashtra recorded total 47,190 coronavirus cases, with 1,577 death toll, according to the state health department.

Dated: 31-May-2020

Confirmed Cases: 181969
Total Deaths: 5181
Active Cases: 90001