(LiveMint) Prime Minister Narendra Modi today tweeted a video in which children are explaining the importance of of social distancing to fight coronavirus. In the video clip, two children are seen highlighting, how social distancing can play a key role in checking the spread of Covid-19 which has so far killed 414 and infected over 12,380 people in the country.”Proud of youngsters like Saibaa and Saisha Gupta. They are raising awareness on defeating coronavirus. Have a look at this video,” PM Modi tweeted. PM Modi shared another video in which a group of children use bricks to demonstrate the spread of COVID-19.”What children said…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(PTI) Over 1.5 crore free cooking gas (LPG) cylinders have been distributed in the last two weeks as part of the government’s stimulus aimed at helping poor tide over hardships of lockdown, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), several relief measures have been announced by the central government for the welfare of poor, one of them being providing three LPG cylinders (14.2 kg) free to over 8 crore beneficiaries of Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana (PMUY) between April and June. An official statement said that for the seamless implementation of the scheme, the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have been transferring an advance equal…
(PTI) Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has set up a COVID-19 testing lab at its Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) in Odisha. The lab, set up at RSP’s Ispat General Hospital (IGH), became operational from Wednesday. “SAIL has started COVID-19 testing lab lab at Rourkela. It will strengthen the state’s as well as India’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic,” Pradhan said. While all the major equipment for the testing facility have been provided by the Government of Odisha, the infrastructure has been provided by SAIL-RSP. SAIL stated that doctors and paramedics of IGH trained at RMRC and AIIMS in Bhubaneswar will carry…
(ET) Deadlines for city gas projects will be extended to avoid penalising companies for delays caused by the nationwide lockdown, the head of downstream regulator has said. This would help more than a dozen companies implementing 136 city gas distribution projects across the country. “We can on our own extend the timeline. Companies would want that,” DK Sarraf, chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board, told ET. “We have to be helpful to the industry.” The board will decide the quantum of extension after consultations with the industry. The regulator had issued about 136 new city gas distribution licences over…
(PTI) India said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) should continue to play a critical role in maintaining the stability of the global financial architecture at a time when the whole world is grappling with the coronovrius pandemic. Participating in the plenary meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) through video conferencing, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said as a responsible member of the global community, India is providing critical medicines to other nations. The IMFC is the ministerial-level committee of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). She also talked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative of creating a COVID-19 Emergency Fund…
(FE) Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the government gears up for the next round of succour for critical sectors, a senior government official told FE. However, a one-time, big-bang stimulus to blunt the pandemic impact on the economy is not on the cards. Instead, the government will come out with several rounds of relief measures, with focus on the worst-hit sectors, such as MSMEs, exports, construction, aviation and certain other labour-intensive sectors, said the official. The finance ministry will hold a meeting with top executives of state-run banks on Friday, for a second time this week,…
(NDTV) Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s wife and daughter are making masks at home for the family and for others who need, for protection from coronavirus, the minister said. Last week, the government recommended that people cover their faces with homemade, reusable masks when they step out of their homes as part of measures to stem the spread of coronavirus in the country. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has appealed to the people to wear masks and also make them at home. “We should all try and do our bit for society in these difficult times. Proud of my wife Mridula and daughter Naimisha…
(LiveMint) The Reserve Bank of India on Friday announced a change in debt money market timings from the existing 9 am-5 pm to 10 am-2 pm, in view of the lockdown. The new arrangement will come into effect on 7 April and continue till 17 April. “The resultant dislocations have adversely impacted the functioning of financial markets. Staff and IT resources have been severely affected, posing operational and logistic risks. The thinning out of activity is impacting market liquidity and increasing volatility of financial prices,” the RBI said in a press release. The new timings stand revised for all markets,…
(Steel Guru) SAIL Bhilai Steel Plant has recorded a remarkable growth of 42% in production of prime 260 metre long rail panels in 2019-20 over 2018-19. Cumulative production of UTS 90 prime rails from the new state-of-the-art Universal Rail Mill in 2019-20 has been 5.38 lakh tonnes, clocking a whopping 46% growth over production of 3.69 lakh tonnes by URM in 2018-19. Cumulative production of UTS 90 prime rails from Rail & Structural Mill in 2019-20 has been 7.47 lakh tonnes, registering an astounding growth of 21% over production of 6.16 lakh tonnes by RSM over CPLY. SAIL- Bhilai Steel…
(PTI) PSU oil firms are delivering an average over 60 lakh LPG cylinders daily to consumers during the nationwide lockdown to feed household cooking needs, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday as he pushed companies to prepare to deliver three free cylinders to over 8 crore Ujjwala beneficiaries. Pradhan interacted with dozens of district nodal officers of Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) over video-conferencing to access the distribution of LPG cylinders in districts following the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent 21-day nationwide lockdown, an official statement said here. The district nodal officers (DNOs) of oil marketing companies are…