Category: National

Will review panels’ recommendations

Panels set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) have submitted recommendations on the revised academic calendar and suggestions for holding examinations at a time when the country is under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Commission’s members are likely to discuss the recommendations via video-conferencing on Monday and issue advisory guidelines for institutions of higher education by the middle of next week, according to UGC officials.

Meanwhile, Press Trust of India reported that a panel headed by Central University of Haryana Vice-Chancellor R.C. Kuhad had recommended that the new academic year begin in September instead of July. Another recommendation was that universities conduct their year-end examinations online if they had the resources to do so. If not, they should wait until the lockdown is lifted to set a date for the hand-written examinations.

No semester exams yet

Most colleges and universities have not yet held their semester examinations to close out the current academic year.

Apart from Dr. Kuhad’s panel, another panel headed by Indira Gandhi National Open University Vice Chancellor Nageshwar Rao also submitted its report on improving online education in the midst of the lockdown.

While UGC secretary Rajnish Jain would not confirm these reports, he noted that any guidelines on these matters issued by the Commission would “not be binding, but only advisory in nature”.

“The situation in every State is different, including the rate of COVID-19 infections. Also, some universities may be small and be able to provide online facilities to all students. Others have thousands of students and fewer resources. We cannot mandate one standard solution for all. There will be flexibility in the guidelines,” said Dr. Jain.

The vice chancellors of State universities also felt that the decisions of State governments would play a key role in decisions regarding a revised academic calendar.

“The role of UGC is only as a facilitator,” said the vice chancellor of a law university, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It may have more control over central universities. Most States have set up their own advisory panels similar to UGC’s panel, which will make their own recommendations,” the vice chancellor added. “Supposing a university is located in a hotspot area, which still has high infection rates late in the year… Ultimately, each university will have to make its own decisions based on the needs of its students.”

Another vice chancellor, who was consulted by the Kuhad panel, agreed that each institution would have to make its own decisions, but felt that the UGC guidelines would provide a valuable indicator. “There has to be some coordination, so that students do not suffer because of wildly differing calendars,” said the vice chancellor, adding that the major challenge was that many State and central education boards — including the CBSE — have not completed their Class 12 examinations.

“Those exams cannot be conducted online, so they will only be held once the lockdown is fully lifted. Only after that, major entrance exams can be held and then we can talk about starting the university academic session for those students,” added the senior academic.

With inputs from PTI

Former Prime Minister opposes government’s decision to roll back hike in allowance

PTI

Opposing the government’s decision to cut back on hike in dearness allowance (DA) for government employees and pensioners, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he did not think that at “this stage” such cuts were “necessary”.

The government, in an announcement on Friday, rolled back the hike in DA announced for 1.14 crore government employees and pensioners, with an aim of saving up to ₹21,000 crore.

In a two-minute video clip released by the Congress, showing the meeting of the party’s consultative group via video-conference, the party slammed the BJP government for continuing with construction of “vanity projects” such as the new Parliament building and the central vista, bullet train and so on while cutting into the allowances of government servants.

“We should be on the side of the people whose DA is being cut. I sincerely believe that it is not necessary at this stage to impose hardship on the government servants and the armed forces personnel,” Dr. Singh said.

At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, with many struggling for bare necessities, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the government was not cutting back on extraneous expenditure.

“I see the problem is that you are building your central vista at the same time. You are taking money from the middle class, not giving money to the poor people and spending it on central vista,” Mr. Gandhi said.

Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari opined that before the government went around cutting everyone’s allowances and salaries, it should first set up an “expenditure rationalisation commission”.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said if projects such as the reconstruction of central vista were halted, the government could easily save up to ₹2-2.5 lakh crore.

ICRA list names 328 such entities

Several large industrial houses, including groups like Tata and Jindal, have sought moratorium on loan repayment from their banks.

Rating agency ICRA has compiled a list of 328 entities that have sought to defer loan repayment for three months.

The list includes Tata Power, Jindal Power, Jindal Steel and Power, JSW Steel, Tata Power Renewable Energy, Piramal Enterprise, Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals, Kalyan Jewellers, TV Sundaram Iyengar and Sons, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd., Jay Shree Tea, Bharat Aluminium and Indian Terrain Fashions, among others.

ICRA said the list was not a comprehensive one, as information about some rated entities was not readily available as of now.

“It may be noted that for the entities that are yet to receive an approval for the moratorium from their lending institutions, if the same is not received in due course, ICRA would review its stance on default recognition,” ICRA said.

Following the nationwide economic lockdown, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed banks to extend the repayment moratorium for three months on term loans. Banks are not allowed to change the asset classification status of the loan even if a customer had applied for loan moratorium. However, it is the discretion of banks whether to allow the moratorium to their customers.

Among non-banking finance companies, Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Limited, has applied for moratorium. A few micro- finance institutions have also applied for the moratorium.

Most banks have so far denied any loan moratorium to non-banking finance companies, including housing finance companies.

With inputs from The Hindu

(Except for the headlines, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

It has the potential to cause a food security issue, say officials

Atul Aneja

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s response to natural disasters is expected to be tested again this summer when a giant locust storm from the Horn of Africa is expected to attack farmlands in South Asia.

Official sources told The Hindu that the government was preparing for a “two-front war”— one, which was ongoing against the COVID-19 infections and another to ensure food security — in anticipation of the locust attack on farms.

“We are preparing for a worst-case scenario. Starting from the Horn of Africa, and joined by desert locusts from breeding grounds en route, one locust stream can travel over a land corridor passing over Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and India, impacting farmlands in Punjab, Haryana and the Indo-Gangetic plain. But another stream passing over the Indian Ocean can directly attack farms in peninsular India, and then head towards Bangladesh. Together, this can cause a serious food security issue,” the source said.

Destructive power

The destructive power of a typical locust swarm, which can vary from less than one square kilometre to several hundred square kilometres, is enormous, says the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) on its website. A one square kilometre swarm, containing about 40 million locusts, can in a day eat as much food as 35,000 people, assuming that each individual consumes 2.3 kg of food per day.

An FAO situation update of April 21 paints a grim picture. It spotlights that desert locusts, which are breeding this spring in East Africa, Yemen and southern Iran, will gravely heighten the threat to food security in the Afro-Asian region.

In Iran, locust swarms could be forming near Jask — a port city on the Gulf of Oman, as well the Sistan-Baluchistan province, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, opening two trajectories of movement. In Pakistan, breeding grounds have been detected in Balochistan, the Indus Valley as well as Punjab. Besides, limited breeding has also been spotted near the Indian border. “We are hoping that the Pakistani side will take active measures to contain the crisis in their country, which can minimise the impact on India and beyond,” the source said.

Most countries combating locust swarms are mainly relying on organophosphate chemicals, which are applied in small concentrated doses by vehicle-mounted and aerial sprayers.

The looming locust attack, which could undermine food security in the Afro-Asian region, follows the economic devastation, and the savaging of incomes, by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a briefing to the UN Security Council on Tuesday, David Beasley, Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme, warned that the pandemic could now be fusing into a “hunger pandemic”.

“Lockdowns and economic recession are expected to lead to a major loss of income among the working poor… The loss of tourism receipts will damage countries such as Ethiopia, where it accounts for 47% of total exports. The collapsing oil prices in lower-income countries like South Sudan will have an impact significantly, where oil accounts for 98.8% of total exports. And, of course, when donor countries’ revenues are down, how much impact will this have on life saving foreign aid?” he observed.

Mr. Beasley estimated that COVID-19 would push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation, bringing the global total of those facing extreme hunger to 265 million.

With inputs from The Hindu

(Except for the headlines, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

It is being developed by University of Oxford; clinical trials in India soon, says CEO.

City-based Serum Institute of India has said that it expects the vaccine for coronavirus (COVID-19) developed by the University of Oxford in the market by October or November provided the safety and efficacy of the product is established during trials.

The institute has partnered with the Oxford vaccine project as one of the seven global institutions that will manufacture the vaccine.

“In around two weeks, we can produce five million doses a month and scale that up to 10 million after six months while typically producing a vaccine takes a long time,” SII CEO Adar Poonawala told CNBC-TV18.

Observing that there were a lot of people who thought that they would have a vaccine in a few months, Mr. Poonawalla said there was, however, a strong caveat.

“If the vaccine works in the U.K. trial and we do another trial in India, which we are hoping to start shortly, in safety and efficacy, only then will it be available by October or November and that is only if we start producing at our personal cost in risk by the end of this month,” he said.

Further, he said the institute would be using one of the existing facilities for manufacturing the COVID-19 vaccine, “However, it will take over two years to set up new manufacturing facility for COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.

“Typically vaccines take many years but with the regulatory approvals in India that have been very carefully changed for this product development, we are very pleased to announce that we will be able to do it by the end of this year,” Mr. Poonawalla said.

SII is currently looking at 4-5 million doses monthly and would start manufacturing early to save time in the hope that the trial would be successful. “So, we hope to build up 20-40 million doses by September-October in the hope that if the trial works, then we will have this product,” he said.

Mr. Poonawalla said SII would be partnering with ICMR for the clinical trials and that he was in touch with the Department of Biotechnology.

Talking about the decision and the risks involved, Mr. Poonawala said: “We are not a listed company and we are not accountable for our actions to investors in terms of pure profits and returns. So, I was able to make this decision and take this risk on at the cost of our other vaccines that we are putting aside temporarily so that we can build up the scale here.”

Mr. Poonawalla said that the manufacturing plant in Pune would have an investment of ₹500-600 crore.

With inputs from The Hindu

(This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed)

India records largest single-day spike of 1,752 cases; toll hits 723

PTI

Over 9 lakh persons are under active COVID-19 surveillance in India, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday, as the total number of cases reached 23,452. The death toll stood at 723.

He says their desire to be back cannot be ‘suppressed for long in the name of a lockdown’

PTI

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday asked the government to facilitate the travel of migrant workers to their hometowns under strict conditions of health and safety.

In a series of tweets, Mr. Chidambaram cautioned the government that the desire of the people to be among their own could not be ‘suppressed for long in the name of a lockdown’.

“The overwhelming mood and desire among migrant persons (and their families) is that, after May 3, they should be allowed to go back to their home states/villages. The desire to go back to their home states, to join their families, and to be among their own language-speaking people is an overpowering desire that cannot be suppressed for too long in the name of a lockdown,” the former Union Minister said.

In a resolution on Thursday, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) — the party’s highest decision-making body — urged the government to arrange for the return of the migrant workers to their hometowns.

Data | 96% migrant workers did not get rations from the government, 90% did not receive wages during lockdown: Survey

“The CWC draws the attention of the Central Government to the necessity of framing a policy under which migrant workers who wish to return to their home states/villages (1) may be allowed to travel under strict conditions of health safety, (2) be provided with adequate money and food in the interim; (3) be allowed to return to work post the lockdown (4) compensation for the families of those migrant workers who have lost their lives in this period of crisis,” the CWC resoution said.

Citing this resolution, Mr Chidambaram said, “Yesterday, CWC has rightly called upon the government to frame a humane policy that, after May 3, will allow migrant persons to travel to their home states, under strict conditions of health safety”.

The duo got into a heated fight over which actor had donated more for the COVID-19 relief fund in Tamil Nadu

PTI

A 22-year-old fan of actor Vijay died after he was allegedly attacked by a fan of actor Rajinikanth following a wordy duel at Marakkanam on Thursday.

Police have arrested A. Dinesh Babu, fan of actor Rajinikanth in connection with the murder. According to police, the deceased M. Yuvaraj and his neighbour Dinesh Babu were in an inebriated condition when the duo got into an argument over which actor had donated more for the COVID-19 relief fund in the State. The argument worsened as each fan tried to reinstate that their star had paid more.

In a fit of rage, Dinesh Babu attacked Yuvaraj who was a fan of actor Vijay, who kept saying his star had given more funds for COVID-19, and pushed him down. Yuvaraj collapsed and died on the spot.

The body was sent to a private medical college and hospital in Kalapet in Puducherry.

Further investigations are on.

Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday warned that the extension of lockdown in the present nature would be more devastating and that the Union government appears to not have a clear idea on how manage the situation once the scheduled lockdown ends on 3 May.

Gandhi’s comments came in the opening remarks at the apex meeting of Congress Working Committee (CWC) on 23 April. The meeting also saw chief ministers of Congress ruled states highlighting the need for more testing and for an immediate financial package from the Union government to deal with the crisis. This was the second virtual meeting of party’s top decision making body in the last one month, since the national lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus was announced.

“The lockdown continues and all sections of our society continue to face acute hardship and distress—particularly our kisans and khet mazdoors, migrant labour, construction workers and workers in the unorganized sector. Trade, commerce and industry have come to a virtual halt and crores of livelihoods have been destroyed,” Gandhi said in her opening remarks to CWC on Thursday.

“The central government does not appear to have a clear idea on how the situation will be managed after 3 May. A lockdown of the present nature after that date would be even more devastating,” she added.

Gandhi went on to say that since lockdown was imposed, she wrote several letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi based on suggestions by stakeholders including chief ministers from Congress ruled states. “Unfortunately, they have been acted upon only partially and in a miserly way. The compassion, large-heartedness and alacrity that should be forthcoming from the Central Government is conspicuous by its absence,” she said.

While Gandhi had criticized the Union government in the past saying that the rollout of the national lockdown was poorly implemented, the Congress party has now positioned itself as extending “constructive support” to the Centre, a point she reiterated in the meeting.

Among other issues which she raised on in the meeting included, lack of testing, poor testing kits, low resource support to state governments and need for direct cash support to the needy.

Pertinently PM Modi is scheduled to hold a meeting with all chief ministers of states and governors of It’s on 27 April to review the situation (PTK)

PTI

The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Thursday said it expects India’s economy to grow at a much slower pace, ranging from a contraction of 0.9% to a growth of 1.5%, in the current financial year, due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent nationwide lockdown.

“Given the extent of the damage to the economy from the disruption to business, the GDP growth in FY21 will likely be the lowest in many decades,” Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General at CII said.

– Yuthika Bhargava