Category:

Eco/Invest/Demography

Latest

Final analysis of Covaxin efficacy out; vaccine 65.2 percent effective against Delta variant

Director-General of ICMR, Balram Bhargava said, ”I am delighted to note that Covaxin developed by ICMR and BBIL under an effective public private partnership, has demonstrated an overall efficacy of 77.8 percent in Indias largest COVID phase 3 clinical trial thus far.
He further said Covaxin will not only benefit the Indian citizens but would also immensely contribute to protecting the global community against the deadly SARS-CoV-2 virus.

read more

Special drive launched to bring more farmers under PM crop cover scheme

A week-long drive, starting July 1, will cover all notified areas under the kharif 2021 season with special focus on 75 aspirational districts where crop insurance penetration is low.
Launching the special drive, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said so far 29.16 crore farmers have insured their crops under the PMFBY.

More than Rs 95,000 crore worth of claims have been provided to farmers since the launch of the scheme, against the total premium of Rs 17,000 crore paid by them, he said.

read more

Centre rushes teams to six states reporting high number of Covid cases

The teams will visit the states,Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur immediately and monitor the overall implementation of COVID-19 management, especially in testing, including surveillance and containment operations; Covid Appropriate Behaviour and its enforcement; availability of hospital beds, sufficient logistics including ambulances, ventilators, medical oxygen etc., and COVID-19 vaccination progress.

read more

Big Tech’s push into India’s financial sector raises concerns, says central bank

The RBI said concerns included operational risks, too-big-to fail issues, challenges for antitrust rules, cybersecurity and data privacy. But it added that positive outcomes could include efficiency gains and more access to financial services.
The central bank’s warnings come at a time of much tension between the Indian government and U.S. tech giants over issues that range from e-commerce rules to data privacy and content posted on their platforms. Amazon, Facebook, Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Twitter have all been caught up in disputes with New Delhi.

read more

Delhi’s cloud-based health project likely to be out by March next year: CM

Under one of the most ambitious health projects of the Delhi government, health cards will be issued in the names of all the residents of Delhi, for which special surveys will be conducted by the government. This will ensure the availability of the benefits of the government healthcare services to every resident of Delhi. Post the issuing, the e-health card will be integrated with the HIMS.

The system seeks to target the healthcare delivery process. All the patient care services, hospital administration, budgeting and planning, supply chain management, and backend services and processes will be brought under the system.

read more

People in states with high PM2.5 levels more likely to get COVID-19: Study

Sixteen major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, Varanasi, Lucknow and Surat, reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases, and PM2.5 emissions are also higher in these areas due to fossil fuel-based anthropogenic activities, it said.

PM2.5 refers to fine particles which penetrate deep into the body and fuel inflammation in the lungs and respiratory tract, leading to the risk of having cardiovascular and respiratory problems, including a weak immune system.

read more

Why Mukesh Ambani’s gigafactory for hydrogen could be a game-changer

Zero-carbon electricity will be instrumental in decarbonizing, but it can only go so far, and we’re still quite a ways away from there. Power sector emissions flattened out early last decade, and almost certainly peaked for good in 2018.
Greater demand for renewable power will drive that curve down further, which will in turn incentivize its use in any process that can substitute electricity for something that creates greenhouse gas emissions.

read more