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Kerala to start MSP for vegetables from Nov 1

By
Jyoti B
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The Kerala government is set to introduce a minimum support price (MSP) for 16 vegetables, starting from November 1.

As per the cabinet decision on Wednesday, the state Agriculture Department will implement the scheme with the support of local self-governing bodies and the Cooperative Department.

MSP will be determined based on the cost of production and productivity. A government source said that this will ensure price stability and good returns for farmers, as well as help, protect farmers from market price fluctuations.

Crops, which will come under MSP include tapioca, banana, pineapple, cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, beans, beetroot and garlic. The government hopes that this will lead to a significant increase in vegetable production in the state.

State Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar said the move will encourage farmers to cultivate the vegetables which have been included in the scheme and would help increase vegetable production in Kerala. The rate has been already fixed after factoring in the cost of production and productivity, he said.

In the first phase, 1600 –odd primary agricultural credit co-operative societies will collect the listed products from farmers through the state-run HORTICORP, Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council Kerala (VFPCK) and other wholesale markets. Local self-governing bodies will provide the gap in funds for the cooperative societies if required. The amount would be credited to the accounts of the farmers enrolled in the scheme.

Covid-19 update: India’s tally reaches past 7.7 million

By
Shivani Negi
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India reported 55,838 new cases of covid-19 and 702 fresh fatalities. With new additions, the total case toll stands at 77,06,946 while the fatality toll has mounted to 1,16,616.

As per the fresh data released by govt, With 79,415 new discharges, total cured cases have now reached 68,74,518. The data also stated that on global scale, India has reported lowest cases per million population. With consistently falling case fatality rate (1.51% presently), it also has one of the lowest Covid-19 mortality, data added.

Total 9,86,70,363 samples tested for Covid-19 up to 21st October. Of these, 14,69,984 samples were tested yesterday: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

Here’s more updates related to covid-19:

*Pakistan government is eyeing another lockdown as authorities are failing to enforce the standard operating procedure(SOP) to curb the virus spread.

*China’s Shaoxing city will offer covid-19 experimental vaccine to its citiznes. Two doses of the vaccine will be available for 400 yuan($60).

*Germany, in a record high, reported 11,287 cases in last 24-hour.

*Argentina has confirmed 18,326 new cases of the coronavirus across the country in the 24-hours. It is country’s highest daily number since the outbreak.

*The number of people, who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 in France, has surpassed 1 million.

*Madhya Pradesh High Court has ordered cases against Union Minister Nanrendra Singh Tomar and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath for violating covid-19 protocols.

*The coronavirus pandemic has emerged as a learning curve for us to be better prepared for the future, said Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan.

*Brazil’s Covid-19 death toll surpassed 155,000 after 566 more patients died of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The current fatality tally of the country stands at 155,403.

*South Korea has 121 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus, its first triple-digit daily jump in a week .

*Spain has reported more than one million cases of coronavirus, becoming the first western European country to pass that landmark figure, officials said.

Meanwhile, the number of global coronavirus cases has increased to 41.1 million, John Hopkins University said. The death toll have soared high to 1,130,400, it added.

Covid-19 vaccine update: Oxford’s vaccine trial volunteer dies in Brazil

By
Shivani Negi
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A volunteer who participated in covid-19 vaccine trial developed by Oxford with AstraZeneca has died in Brazil, the Brazilian health authority Anvisa informed on Wednesday. The authority said that the trial for vaccine would continue.

Oxford also confirmed that the incident will not affect the process of testing vaccine and said that safety of clinical trials is not to be doubted.

“All significant medical incidents, whether participants are in the control group or the coronavirus vaccine group, are independently reviewed. Following a careful assessment of this case in Brazil, there have been no concerns about the safety of the clinical trial and the independent review in addition to the Brazilian regulator has recommended that the trial should continue,” Oxford University told CNN.

The Brazilian health authority have declined to provide more details into the matter, citing the privacy of the volunteers involved in the trials.

A source familiar with the matter told Reuters that the only condition in which trial would have been paused was if the volunteer had died after receiving covid-19 vaccine shot.

Brazilian newspaper O Globo had cited a source as saying that the deceased volunteer had received a placebo and not AstraZeneca’s vaccine shot.

Meanwhile, afrer the reports of ovid-19 vaccine volunteer’s death surfaced on the internet, AstraZeneca’s shares turned went down 1.7 per cent.

AstraZeneca is yet to comment on the matter.

So far, 8,000 of the planned 10,000 volunteers in the trial have been recruited and given the first dose in six cities in Brazil, and many have already received the second shot, said a university spokesman.

Oxford’s covid-19 vaccine in collaboration with AstraZenca has made the most significant progress among all the candidates being developed across the world. As of now, 8,000 of the planned 10,000 volunteers in the trial have received the vaccine shot in the six cities of Brazil.

Brazil is the second-worst country hit by the covid-19 pandemic, only behind the United States. Out of 5.2 million infected with the virus, 1,54,000 have lost their lives in the country.

Union Cabinet has approved the Bonus for the FY 2019-20

By
Neha Kumari
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In the cabinet meeting, it was decided to give bonus to 30.67 lakh employees. The Union Cabinet has approved the Productivity Linked Bonus and Non-Productivity Linked Bonus for the FY 2019-20. The government has taken this decision to boost spending by the people during the festive season.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar briefed the cabinet decision. He said that it has been decided to give a bonus of Rs 3,737 crore to 30.67 lakh non-gazetted employees before Dussehra-Diwali. The amount will be transferred directly to the account of the employees.

After the cabinet meeting, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar informed the reporters that before the Vijayadashami or Durga Puja, the payment of bonus of Rs 3737 crore to 30 lakh central government employees will start immediately.

Prior to this, the government has also announced to provide LTA facility for the central employees to roam for two years. Millions of central employees will also benefit from this. Through LTA, central employees can go to many parts of the country including Jammu and Kashmir and have fun with the family.

IPL 2020, RCB VS KKR MATCH HIGHLIGHT –

By
Neha Kumari
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IPL Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Match: Royal against Kolkata Knight Riders in the 39th match played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday in the 13th season of Indian Premier League.

Royal Challengers Bangalore registered an easy win by eight wickets. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won the toss and decided to bat first and set a target of 85 runs to win in front of Bangalore, which Bangalore achieved by losing two wickets with 6.3 overs remaining.

Kolkata were able to score 84 runs in their 20 overs losing 8 wickets. RCB got off to a brilliant start with Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana bowling two back-to-back deliveries. Siraj however missed a hat-trick and Tom Banton did not lose a wicket off a hat-trick ball. In the very next over, Navdeep Saini gave Shubman Gill a third blow to KKR.

Siraj then brought on RCB’s fourth success as Tom Banton. Only captain Eoin Morgan was able to play a little at the crease. He scored the innings of 30 runs in 34 balls. For Bangalore, Mohammed Siraj sent 3, while Yuzvendra Chahal two and Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini sent one player each.

RCB’s team has reached second place in the score table with 14 points.

Fast bowler Mohammad Siraj, who played a key role in the victory of Royal Challengers Bangalore, was declared as ‘Man of the Match’. He sent three players to the pavilion for just eight runs with two maidens in his scheduled four overs.

AFCAT 2020 RESULT IS DECLARE

By
Neha Kumari
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The Indian Air Force has declared the result of the AFCAT 02/2020 exam on its official website. All the candidates who have appeared in this examination can check their results by going to the official website afcat.cdac.in.

Candidates declared successful in the examination will now have to go through the interview. Window has been opened to choose the date and the venue for the AFSB interview. From 11 am on October 21 to 11 am on October 25, candidates can choose the interview date and venue. For this, candidates have to use the Candidate Login tab on the official website.

The candidate’s call letter will be available soon after selecting the interview date and venue. At the same time, the date and place will be allotted by the system for the candidates who will not be able to select the interview date and the venue on the scheduled date. For more information, you can see the notification on the website.

The Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT 02/2020) was conducted by the Indian Air Force on 3, 4 and 5 October 2020 at various centers across the country. The exam was conducted in online mode.

Girls will also be able to study at the Sainik School

By
Neha Kumari
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Girls will also be able to study at the prestigious Sainik School in Balachadi in Jamnagar, Gujarat. As part of the ongoing efforts for the participation of women in the armed forces, the Ministry of Defense has now decided to enroll girls in this military school. The only Sainik school in Gujarat will have a school for girls from the academic year 2021-22.

Efforts are on to enroll girls from the sixth grade initially in the school from the next academic session. Ten percent of the total seats or minimum ten seats will be reserved for girls. The online nomination process, which started on Tuesday, will run till the next 19 November.

Later the number of seats for girls will be increased. Also, 67 percent of these seats will be reserved for school girls in Gujarat.

Two years ago, the ministry gave permission
About two years ago, the Defense Ministry decided to allow five out of the 33 military schools in the country to admit girls. These include Sainik Schools at Chandrapur (Maharashtra), Bijapur (Karnataka), Kodagu (Karnataka), Kalikiri (Andhra Pradesh) and Ghorakhal (Uttarakhand).

Earlier only boys were admitted in military schools, but now the way has also been cleared for girls. The daughters who dreamed of serving the country as military officers, will be able to fulfill their dreams by enrolling after the decision of the Ministry of Defense.

Vietnam- India ASEAN virtual summit to be in November

By
Neha Kumari
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Vietnam has invited India to take part in the ASEAN virtual summit that will take place from November 13-15.

According to report, Hanoi, which is the chair of the ASEAN 2020, has invited all 10 dialogue partners for the annual summit. 10 dialogue partners of ASEAN are Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia, the United States, and the European Union.

India has increased its engagement with ASEAN and earlier this year, the new ASEAN-India Plan of Action (2021-2025) was adopted.


The summit which happens in the backdrop of COVID-19 crisis and Chinese aggressiveness is bound to be the main focus. This especially since, the Quad foreign ministers in recent meet had reaffirmed ASEAN centrality in the Indo pacific construct.

Last year Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had travelled to Thailand in November for the ASEAN summit.

Sindh Police vs Pakistan army 

By
Jyoti B
-

 A major crisis is brewing in Pakistan, with the police in the Sindh province putting up a determined fight against the all-powerful military for “abducting” its chief, Inspector General Mushtaq Mahar, and forcibly getting his signature on the arrest warrant of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s son-in-law Captain Safdar Awan (retd).

Last week, opposition parties under the banner—Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)—kicked off nationwide protests against the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan and accused the military of interference in Pakistani politics.

Following the rally, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Maryam Nawaz’s husband Safdar Awan was arrested from his hotel room in Karachi. Safdar, the son-in-law of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was among those leading the protests.

Murmurs about a “civil war” have spread across Pakistan after reports suggested that Pakistan army troops had kidnapped the Sindh police chief.

Following the reports, Army Chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa has ordered an inquiry. At the same time, visuals shared on social media suggest that violent clashes have broken out in some areas.

A blast in a building opposite Karachi University on Wednesday has only intensified the confusion on Twitter. At least three people have been killed and several others injured in the explosion.

While the nature and reasons behind the blast is yet to be ascertained, many have begun linking the two, further intensifying the Twitter outcry.

“Civil war in Pakistan. Reported clashes between Karachi Police & Pak Army,” The International Herald tweeted as it also posted a video. The report, however, haven’t been confirmed by reliable sources so far.

“Heavy fire between Pak Army and Sindh Police in Karachi after Pak Army tried to take custody of a Superintendent of Sindh Police Md Aftab Anwar. 5 Pak Army officers died in firing,” another tweet read.

The Army chief on Tuesday directed an inquiry into the circumstances to determine the facts and file a report as soon as possible, news agency PTI reported.

Trump cuts a ‘60 Minutes’ interview short and then taunts Lesley Stahl on Twitter

By
Jyoti B
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According to reports, US President Donald Trump abruptly cut short a solo interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes on Tuesday and failed to return for a joint appearance with US Vice President Mike Pence.

He then taunted Lesley Stahl on Twitter, posting a short behind-the-scenes video of her at the taping and noting that she had not been wearing a mask.

The bizarre events occurred after Trump had grown irritated with Stahl’s lines of questioning, according to two people familiar with the circumstances of the taping.

A 14-year-old has won $25,000 for a discovery that could provide a potential therapy to Covid-19

By
Jyoti B
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A 14-year-old Indian-American girl has won a USD 25,000 young scientist challenge for a discovery that could provide a potential treatment for Covid-19.

Anika Chebrolu, 14, of Frisco, Texas, won the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge, described by 3M as “the nation’s premier middle school science competition.”

Anika had spent the past year researching ways to fight the flu, but shifted her research this summer as the coronavirus pandemic plagued the United States.

“The last two days, I saw that there is a lot of media hype about my project since it involves the SARS-CoV-2 virus and it reflects our collective hopes to end this pandemic as I, like everyone else, wish that we go back to our normal lives soon,” Anika told CNN.

The coronavirus has killed more than 1.1 million people globally since China reported its first case to the World Health Organization (WHO) in December. The United States has more than 219,000 deaths, according to data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Chebrolu told CNN that initially, her goal was to find an effective cure for influenza disease after a severe bout of the infection last year, however, she changed directions to target SARS-CoV-2 because of the widespread impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kangana Ranaut receives rape threat from Odisha based advocate, latter says ‘my account was hacked’

By
Shivani Negi
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Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has received rape threat from an Odisha based lawyer who later claimed that his account was hacked. The Manikarnika actor is yet to respond to the threat.

The comment was dropped on a Facebook post which Kangana had shared on Navratri. In the post, Kangana has also mocked the FIR registered against her in Mumbai. “Who all are fasting on Navratris? Pictures clicked from today’s celebrations as I am also fasting, meanwhile another FIR filed against me, Pappu sena in Maharashtra seems to be obsessing over me, don’t miss me so much I will be there soon #Navratri.”

The advocate had reportedly commented on the aforementioned post.

Later, taking a complete U-turn, the lawyer said that his account was hacked. In an explanation, he had written, “Today my Facebook ID got hacked at evening and some derogatory. comments get posted. This is my not views regarding any women or any community. I am also very shocked and apologise for it. I request to all the people of kindly accept my apology and forgive me whose sentiments got hurt. I am really sorry for it.” The lawyer subsequently deleted his Facebook account.”

After posting this note, the lawyer deleted his Facebook account.

Meanwhile, Kangana has been at loggerheads with Mumbai Police over the tragic case of Sushant Singh Rajput .

She also received criticism for her anti-farmers tweet in which she reportedly compared protestors to terrorists.

Recently, a district court in Karnataka had booked the actor for her same tweet.

Talking about film front, Kangana was last seen in Ashwini Iyer directorial Panga which also stared Jassie Gill in a pivotal role. Up next, she will be seen in J. Jayalalitha’s biopic Thalaivi. She also has a war film Tejas in her kitty.

Yahoo Groups to be shut down completely on December 15

By
Shivani Negi
-

Yahoo Groups has announced that it will completely shut down in December. Due to less users accessing the web service provider, the company began slow down process last year and will completely be removed from web by December 15, 2020.

Owned by Verizon Media, the Yahoo! company was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in 1994 which was later incorporated in 1995.

The company said that the product no longer fits its long-term strategy as the company is focusing on other areas of the business.

“Yahoo Groups has seen a steady decline in usage over the last several years,” Yahoo said in a statement.

“Over that same period, we’ve witnessed unprecedented levels of engagement across our properties as customers seek out premium, trustworthy content.”

Earlier, in February, Yahoo took away online access to discussions and other features apart from simple membership management. 

From December 15, users will no longer be able to create new groups. They will neither be able to send or receive emails from Yahoo groups. However, users can still access their Yahoo mail account.

“Beginning December 15, 2020, the Yahoo Groups website will shut down and members will no longer be able to send or receive emails from Yahoo Groups,” the company said.

Verizon had bought Yahoo’s tottering internet business for a mere $4.8 billion in 2017.

Yahoo Groups was launched in 2001 and by February 2020, it was declared as “world’s largest collections of online discussion boards. On Yahoo, users could subscribe to groups, read discussions and share views, photos etc. They could also create polls and get new email notifications of discussions.

India to vaccinate 30 million frontline workers in first phase

By
Shivani Negi
-

With the world touting for a potential covid-19 vaccine to be ready by next year, India will be vaccinating its 30 million frontline workers in the phirst phase of vaccination.

Among the 30 million people to be vaccinated, there will be 7 million doctors and paramedics and 20 million other frontline workers, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said on Tuesday.

“The country has the infrastructure already in place to vaccinate the 30 million. We have the cold chain, vials, syringes and everything,” Bhushan told Hindustan Times.

“If the present trials proceed according to plan and succeed, then the number of doses that would be available from January to July would be sufficient to immunise all those on the priority list,” Bhushan, who is the co-chair of the panel, said.

“The same precautions (against the disease) will have to be continued even after the Covid-19 vaccine is developed. We have to remain cautious… we have to test, treat and isolate for a good time. The requirement for this may gradually reduce over time, but there is no scope for relaxation,” HT quoted Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Dr Balram Bhargava as saying.

Union Health Minister, Harsh Vardhan, during his recent interaction, said that a vaccine will most likely be ready by 2021.

The minister said that India’s leading covid-19 vaccine manufacturers, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, will soon start late stage clinical trials of intranasal covid-10 vaccines.

In other news related to covid-19, India has seen steady decline in covid-19 daily cases.

Covid-19 update: India reports 54,044 new cases

By
Shivani Negi
-

India reported 54,044 new infections in the last 24-hour, taking total toll to 76,51,108. With 717 new fatalities, death toll has reached to 1,15,914. Total cured/migrated cases are 67,95,103 with 61,775 new discharges in last 24 hours, the health ministry said.

Total 9,72,00,379 samples tested for Covid-19 up to October 20, says Indian Council of Medical Research.

The ministry also said 64% of India’s current active cases were from six states, while nearly 50%–49.87%–were from three states: Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.

ICMR director-general Balram Bhargava said that there is a possibility of reinfection if antibodies reduce in any person in five months. “That is why it is important to wear masks and take precautions even if one was infected earlier”, he added.

Here’re more updates related to Covid-19:

*Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday said that from October 21 national transporter will allow women to travel on suburban trains in Mumba between 11 am to 3 pm and after 7 pm.

*PM pays tributes to police personnel on Police Commemoration Day for their contribution in fight against Covid.

*On occasion of Police Commemoration Day, Union home minister Amit Shah informed 343 police personnel lost lives during India’s fight against covid-19.

*China has vaccinated 60,000 people against the coronavirus and none of them have experienced any adverse reactions, a senior official informed.

*Digital health identity will not be mandatory for vaccination against Covid-19: Govt said.

*Andhra Pradesh government has said that it will conduct the online classes on alternative days for the students: ANI

*Actor-filmmaker Prithviraj has tested positive for the coronavirus.

*India has recovered the most number of covid infection and second in number of tests done.

*China recorded 11 new cases, taking total tally to 85,715.

Meanwhile, overall number of global coronavirus cases has increased to 40.7 million, while the deaths have soared to more than 1,123,960, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

As of Wednesday morning, the total number of cases stood at 40,728,371, while the death toll surged to 1,123,967, the University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.

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