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Signs of farm ‘revolution’ in India as coronavirus prompts change

India is the world’s biggest exporter of rice and the world’s second-biggest producer after China. Across the country’s grain bowl states of Haryana and neighbouring Punjab, thousands of farmers like Kajal have been forced by the coronavirus to mechanise planting.

They are still wary of the technology and overturning the time-honoured use of manual labour.

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U.S.companies fear workplace coronavirus precautions do not address airborne risk

Neal Mills,chief medical officer at healthcare benefits group Aon, began fielding questions last week about the WHO’s decision to investigate aerosol transmission, and said employers were slowing the return of remote workers back to their offices.

“They are doing due diligence around how are you going to reduce the transmission of the virus in light of the proposed aerosol nature of COVID-19,” Mills said.

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People are more likely to contract COVID-19 at home, study finds

A study published in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on July 16 looked in detail at 5,706 “index patients” who had tested positive for the coronavirus and more than 59,000 people who came into contact with them.

The findings showed just two out of 100 infected people had caught the virus from non-household contacts, while one in 10 had contracted the disease from their own families.

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Number of registered cos reaches 20.14 lakh at June-end; over 7.4 lakh closed: Official data

The data showed that there were 20,14,969 registered companies as on June 30.

“Of them,7,46,278 companies were closed. 2,242 companies were assigned dormant status as per the Companies Act, 2013; 6,706 were under liquidation; 43,770 companies were in the process of being struck-off… there were 12,15,973 active companies as on June 30, 2020,” it said.

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COVID crisis: Survey says 55.1% households had only two meals a day

“Women and children are usually the worst affected in any disaster. The COVID-19 crisis is proving to be no different. It is causing cascading damage to poor and vulnerable children — through stretched health services, inadequate medical supplies, higher risk of violence & exploitation, minimal access to education and lower intake of nutritious food stemming from the severe drop in income levels in families,” said Cherian Thomas, Regional Leader, World Vision International, South Asia and Pacific region.

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NGT junks plea seeking alternative methods of cremation to reduce air pollution

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Delhi resident Parmod Kumar Bhatia and others seeking alternative methods of cremation to reduce air pollution.

The plea, filed through advocate Rahul Choudhary, said there are several reports published over the years which show that wood based cremation contributes significantly towards the air pollution.

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Airports Authority of India to procure 198 body scanners for 63 airports

“The process for procurement of body scanners started earlier this year before the COVID-19 pandemic. It has become important to get these scanners as soon as possible as frisking of passengers by security personnel has already been minimised since March due to the pandemic,” the AAI officials noted.

Out of these 198 scanners, 19 will be for the Chennai airport, 17 for the Kolkata airport and 12 for the Pune airport, the officials told PTI.

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