465 flights operated under Lifeline Udan to deliver critical medical supplies across the country

465 flights have been operated under Lifeline Udan by Air India, Alliance Air, IAF and private carriers. 278 of these flights have been operated by Air India and Alliance Air. Cargo transported till date is around 835.94 tons.  Aerial distance covered by Lifeline Udan flights till date is over 4,51,038 km. ‘Lifeline Udan’ flights are being operated by MoCA to transport essential medical cargo to all parts of the country including remote and hilly areas to support India’s war against COVID-19.

Helicopter services including Pawan Hans Ltd have been operating in J&K, Ladakh, Islands and North East region transporting critical medical cargo and patients. Pawan Hans till 5th May 2020 have carried 2.27 tons of cargo covering 7,729 kms.  Special focus has been on the North East Region, island territories and the hill states. Air India and IAF collaborated primarily for J&K, Ladakh, North-East and other island regions.

Domestic Cargo Operators SpiceJet, Blue Dart, Indigo and Vistara are operating cargo flights on a commercial basis. Spicejet operated 819 cargo flights covering 13,83,854 km and carrying 5,946 tons of cargo. Out of these, 294 were international cargo flights. Blue Dart operated 278 cargo flights covering 3,09,272 km and carrying 4,683 tons of cargo. Out of these, 14 were international cargo flights. Indigo has operated 95 cargo flights covering 1,59,158 km and carrying around 470 tons of cargo and including 38 international flights.  This also includes medical supplies carried free of cost for the government.

Vistara has operated 23 cargo flights covering 32,321 km and carrying around 150 tons of cargo. 

A cargo air-bridge was established with East Asia for transportation of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and COVID-19 relief material. The quantity of medical cargo brought in by Air India is 972 tons. Blue Dart has uplifted medical supplies of around 114 tons from Guangzhou and Shanghai and 24 tons from Hong Kong, starting 14th April up to 5th May 2020. Spicejet has also uplifted 204 tons of medical supplies from Shanghai and Guangzhou up to 5th May 2020 and 16 tons medical supplies from Hong Kong and Singapore up to 5th May 2020.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the virtual 'Vesak Global Celebrations' on Buddha Purnima today

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the virtual Vesak Global Celebrations on Buddha Purnima today. Minister of State for Culture(I/C) and Minister of State for Tourism(I/C), Shri Prahlad Singh Patel and Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports(I/C) and Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju also participated in the event held virtually.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his keynote said that the life, teachings and message of Lord Buddha have continued to enrich the lives of people across the globe. His message is not limited to any one circumstance, or to any one subject. Time changed, the situation changed, the functioning of society changed, but the message of Lord Buddha has been continuously flowing in our lives.  Buddha is not just a name, but also a sacred thought, a thought that beats in every human heart and guides humanity.

Prime Minister further said that Friends, each and every word, each and every discourse of Lord Buddha reinforce India's commitment to serve humanity. Buddha symbolizes both the Enlightenment of India and the Self-Realization of India. With this self-realization, India is and will continue to work for the benefit of entire humanity, the whole world. India's progress will always be helpful in the progress of the world. 

Kindly click the link below for full speech of Shri Narendra Modi

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Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Culture(I/C) and Minister of State for Tourism (I/C) Shri Prahlad Singh Patel congratulated  everyone on the Buddha Purnima and expressed his gratitude towards Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji who had taken the initiative to observe Buddha Purnima as national celebration in 2015. Shri Patel said that Lord Buddha shows us the power of love and nonviolence. Lord Buddha teaches the whole word that non-violence is the language of knowledge. He said that Lord Buddha teaches the power of love to the world. Shri Patel also shared examples of Lord Buddha’s preaching during his address.

Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports(I/C) and Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Shri KirenRijiju said that  "I am feeling great that people from all over the word gathered virtually just like a family to celebrate the Buddha Purnima in the time of Covid-19 . I believe this is the best example of VasudhaivaKutumbakam, which means the world is one family."

Ministry of Culture, Government of India in collaboration with the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC), a global Buddhist umbrella organised the Virtual Prayer Event with the participation of  heads of  Buddhist Sanghas from around the world. Buddha Purnima celebrations are being held through a virtual congregation owing to the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic across the globe. It is also being dedicated as Global Prayer Week  in honour of the Victims and the frontline warriors of COVID-19.

Prayer ceremonies on the occasion were streamed live from the Mahabodhi Temple, Bodhgaya , Mulgandha Kuti Vihara, Sarnath, India, Parinirvana Stupa, Kushinagar ,India ; Sacred Garden Lumbini, Nepal; Pirith Chanting from Ruwanweli Maha Seya in the sacred and historic Anuradhapura stupa premises, Sri Lanka;  Boudhanath, Swayambhu, Namo Stupas, Nepal apart from other popular Buddhist sites.

The program was live streamed on FB live, YouTube from IBC social media handles as well as on Mandala mobile app.

It was viewed by large audiences in India ,Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, S. Korea,  Myanmar, Mongolia, Malaysia, Nepal, Russia, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam among others. 

Vesak- Buddha Poornima, is considered the Triple Blessed Day as it celebrates Tathagata Gautam Buddha's Birth, Enlightenment and Maha Parnirvana.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Progress so far; Around 39 crore poor people received financial assistance of Rs 34,800 crore under the PMGKP

Using the digital payment infrastructure, around 39 crore poor people received financial assistance of Rs 34,800 crore (US$ 4.94 billion) under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) as on 5th May, 2020, announced by Union Finance Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on 26th March, 2020 to protect them from the impact of the lockdown due to COVID 19.

As part of the PMGKP, the Government announced free food grains and cash payment to women and poor senior citizens and farmers. The swift implementation of the package is being continuously monitored by Central and State governments. Finance Ministry, the concerned Ministries, Cabinet Secretariat and PMO are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the relief measures reach the needy swiftly and in line with the intent of the lock down.

Fintech and digital technology have been employed for swift and efficient transfer to the beneficiary. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), i.e. transfer that ensures that the amount is directly credited into the account of the beneficiary, eliminates leakage and improves efficiency has been employed. This has also ensured credit to the beneficiary’s account without the need for the beneficiary to physically go to the branch.

The progress achieved so far, under various components of PMGKP is as follows:

• Rs 16,394 crore (US$ 2.33 billion) front loaded towards payment of the first instalment of PM-KISAN to 8.19 crore beneficiaries.
• Rs 10,025 crore (US$ 1.42 billion) credited to 20.05 crore (98.33 per cent) women Jan Dhan account holders as first instalment. The number of women PMJDY accounts holders whose accounts have been debited by customer induced transaction is 8.72 crore (44 per cent). Rs 2,785 crore (US$ 395.09 million) credited to 5.57 crore women Jan Dhan account holders with second instalment as on 5 May, 2020.
• Rs 1,405 crore (US$ 199.32 million) disbursed to about 2.82 crore old age persons, widows and disabled persons. Benefits transferred to all 2.812 crore beneficiaries.
• 2.20 crore Building & Construction Workers received financial support amounting to Rs 3,492.57 crore (US$ 495.97 million).
• So far 67.65 lakh MT of food grains have been lifted by 36 States/UTs for April. 30.16 LMT of foodgrains have been distributed, covering 60.33 crore beneficiaries by 36 States/UTs for April 2020. 6.19 LMT of food grains have been distributed, covering 12.39 crore beneficiaries by 22 States/UTs for May 2020. 2.42 LMT of Pulses have also been dispatched to various states/UTs. Pulses have been distributed so far to 5.21 crore household beneficiaries out of 19.4 crore such beneficiaries.
• Total 5.09 crore Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) cylinders have been booked under this scheme so far and 4.82 crore PMUY free cylinders already delivered to beneficiaries.
• 9.6 Lakh members of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has taken benefit of online withdrawal of non-refundable advance from EPFO account amounting to 2,985 crore. 24 per cent EPF contribution transferred to 44.97 Lakh employees account amounting to Rs 698 crore (US$ 99.02 million).
• Increased rate of MGNREGA has been notified w.e.f 01-04-2020. In the current financial year, 5.97 crore person’s man-days of work generated. Further, Rs 21,032 crore (US$ 2.98 billion) released to States to liquidate pending dues of both wage and material.

• Insurance Scheme for Health workers in Government Hospitals and Health Care Centres has been operationalised by New India Assurance covering 22.12 lakh health workers.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package

Total Direct Benefit Transfer till 05/05/2020

Scheme	Number of Beneficiaries	Amount (Rs)	Amount
Support to PMJDY women account holders	1st Ins - 20.05 crore (98.3 per cent)	1st Ins - 10,025 crore	1st Ins - US$ 1.42 billion
	2nd Ins - 5.57 crore	2nd Ins – 2,785 crore	2nd Ins – US$ 359.09 million
Support to NSAP (Aged widows, Divyang, Senior citizen)	2.82 crore (100 per cent)	1,405 crore	US$ 199.32 million
Front-loaded payments to farmers under PM-KISAN	8.19 crore	16,394 crore	US$ 2.33 billion
Support to Building & Other Construction workers	2.20 crore	3493 crore	US$ 495.97 million
24 per cent contribution to EPFO	45 crore	698 crore	US$ 99.02 million
TOTAL	39.28 crore	34,800 crore	US$ 4.94 billion

Flight from Abu Dhabi carrying 177 Indian nationals takes off for Kerala

The first of the two flights from the UAE carrying 177 Indian nationals left for Kerala on Thursday, as India began its biggest ever repatriation exercise to bring back its citizens stranded abroad amidst the international travel lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic.

The Air India Express flight IX452 took off from Abu Dhabi to Kochi, which will be followed by a Dubai-Kozhikode flight of the same airline. Meanwhile, Indian Navy’s INS Jalashwa, has also reached the Maldives to bring back stranded Indian citizens.

Nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas are expected to return on special Air India flights from 12 countries over a week, starting Thursday. The government will operate 64 flights until May 13 and use three Navy ships, as part of Phase I of an evacuation plan, named “Vande Bharat Mission”. Of the 64 flights, 15 would be to Kerala, 11 each to Delhi and Tamil Nadu, seven each to Maharashtra and Telangana, and the rest to Gujarat, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, and Uttar Prdesh. 

7 hospitalised after gas leak at paper mill in Raigadh

The incident happened last night while workers were cleaning the mill, which had been closed due to the lockdown and was expected to reopen soon.

At least seven workers were hospitalised in Chhattisgarh’s Raigadh district on Thursday after being exposed to poisonous gas while cleaning a paper mill. Of the seven, three were said to be in a serious condition and were being shifted to the capital, Raipur.

The incident happened last night while workers were cleaning the mill, which had been closed due to the lockdown and was expected to reopen soon.

“We were not informed about the incident. We got to know about it from the hospital,” Superintendent of Police (Raigadh) Santosh Singh said. “We are monitoring the situation and will take legal action on the mill owner.”

According to the mill owner Deepak Gupta, three men had gone to clean the paper pulp tank inside the mill, which was to reopen soon. “More men came in to help and all of them had to be hospitalized. Three men are being taken to Raipur, for further treatment,” he said.

Sources said that the men were affected by a carbon-heavy gas, possibly methane, which was trapped in the paper pulp tank, while cleaning.

“Two of the men are being taken to the government hospital in Raipur while one is shifted to a private hospital. All three are critical, while the other four are stable,” a Raigarh district official said.

The incident took place hours before a gas leak from a chemical plant in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam killed at least 11 people, including a child. Hundreds were said to have fallen ill due to the leak in Gopalapatnam area, where the plant is located. Close to a 1,000 people have been evacuated from the area.

Thursday’s incident evoked memories of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy, when a gas leak at a Union Carbide factory killed thousands. 

Coronavirus India LIVE Updates: Facing flak, Karnataka govt now decides to restart train services for migrants

A day after the Karnataka government’s decision to scrap trains ferrying migrants back home attracted criticism from several quarters, the BS Yeddyurappa-led government on Thursday decided to restart train services for migrant labourers. The state government has written to nodal officers of various states seeking their consent to operate trains to their states from May 8 to 15.

As far as Covid-19 numbers are concerned, the overall tally in the country has touched 52,952, including 1783 deaths. While there are 35902 active cases at present, as many as 15266 patients have recovered so far. The jump in cases came even as the Centre and state governments continued to chalk out lockdown exit strategies after May 17. As many as 64 flights and three Navy ships will be operated until May 13 to bring home nearly 15,000 Indians stranded overseas from Thursday.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked all those in the frontline of the Covid-19 war, saying their selfless work for others during the pandemic is worthy of praise. He said India is standing firmly with those facing difficult times, both in the country and abroad. “India is standing strong and selflessly in these difficult times with those facing trouble in India or abroad. India’s growth will always be aiding global growth,” he said.

CSIR IGIB and TATA Sons sign an MoU for licensing KNOWHOW related to development of a kit for rapid and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19

CSIR’s constituent lab, Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB) and TATA Sons signed a MoU for licensing of KNOWHOW for FNCAS9 Editor Linked Uniform Detection Assay (FELUDA) for rapid diagnosis of COVID-19.

The license shall include transfer of the knowledge for scaling up the KNOWHOW in the form of a kit that can be deployed for COVID-19 testing on ground as early as end of May. A completely indigenous scientific invention, FELUDA for COVID-19 has been designed for mitigating the ongoing COVID-19 situation and cater to mass testing. Its main advantages are its affordability, relative ease of use and non-dependency on expensive Q-PCR machines. CSIR IGIB and TATA Sons will now work together to bring it for widespread use at the earliest.

Commenting on the agreement, Mr Banmali Agrawala, President - Infrastructure and Defence & Aerospace, Tata Sons said, “we are happy to enter into a partnership with Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology of CSIR (Council of Scientific & Industrial Research) for further development and commercialisation of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) based technology for COVID-19 detection. This innovative CRISPR ‘Feluda’ test uses cutting edge CRISPR technology for detection of genomic sequence of novel coronavirus. It uses a test protocol that is simple to administer and easy to interpret enabling results to be made available to the medical fraternity in relatively lesser time, as compared to other test protocols.  We believe that CRISPR is futuristic technology that can also be configured for detection of multiple other pathogens in the future.

DG-CSIR, Dr Shekhar C Mande commented that “CSIR labs such as CSIR-IGIB have been working on deep science and developing cutting edge technology and I am happy to see that leading Industry TATA Group is partnering towards its deployment. The strong partnership with industry in tackling COVID-19 has been the hallmark of CSIRs strategy in mitigation of COVID-19.  

Dr Anurag Agrawal, Director-IGIB highlighted that the technology was conceived and developed at CSIR IGIB under sickle cell mission and utilizes an indigenously developed cutting edge CRISPR Cas9 technology to specifically recognize COVID-19 sequence in a sample. A combination of CRISPR biology and paper-strip chemistry leads to a visible signal readout on a paper strip that can be rapidly assessed for establishing the presence of viral infection in a sample.

IIT Bombay Professor receives Young Career Award in Nano Science & Technology 2020 for Advanced Transistor Technologies

Professor Saurabh Lodha from Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, has received the Young Career Award in Nano Science & Technology for the year 2020 instituted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India. This award recognises his pioneering contributions in the development of logic transistor technologies beyond silicon and nanoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional Van der Waals materials.

Prof Lodha’s recent work in the area of advanced transistors has been driven by strong industry partnerships. He has worked closely with Applied Materials Inc., the world’s largest semiconductor equipment manufacturer, for the last eight years on technological challenges plaguing beyond-silicon transistors- the workhorse device that fuels over 90 per cent of all electronics. Specifically, he has developed new materials and processes to improve the thermal stability and reliability of the heart of the transistor- its thin (1-2 nm) gate dielectric, to lower the resistance of metal contacts to the transistor and also to achieve higher levels of electrical impurities while keeping leakage currents under check.

These advances help future electronic devices such as mobile phones, servers, desktops and laptops, to perform tasks faster, consume less power, and last longer with lower failure rates. Prof Lodha’s work has not only been presented at top device conferences across the globe but has also been incorporated in semiconductor equipment for advanced transistor technologies. Working closely with industry, collaborators has helped his research group bring solutions to cutting-edge problems of practical significance with shorter time-to-market innovations and broader scale of impact.

Besides working on advanced transistors that run computing and communication electronics, Prof Lodha’s group has also been working with recently discovered ‘flat’ two-dimensional materials analogous to graphene. The ultra-thin (less than a nm thick) nature of these Van der Waals materials bestows them with extraordinary optical and electronic properties along with high mechanical flexibility. From a technological perspective, it makes them less power-hungry and ideal for Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensor networks as well as flexible and wearable electronics. At the same time, their two-dimensional nature poses unique and fundamental challenges in building electronic and optoelectronic devices such as transistors and photodetectors. Prof Lodha and his students have helped identify and solve some of these problems, e.g., the nature of their interface with metals, ways to modulate their electrical current-voltage relationship, and their response to optical switching. These insights and solutions have been published in high impact journals and are well cited.

Prof Lodha, an alumnus of IIT Bombay and Purdue University, USA, plans to leverage the capabilities and expertise in his group for developing power electronic transistors based on wide bandgap semiconductors such as silicon carbide and gallium oxide. These transistors can alleviate efficiency and reliability bottlenecks in diverse applications ranging from high voltage power grids, electric trains, renewable power conversion and storage to strategic defense, medical and industrial instrumentation. Wide bandgap power electronics has seen tremendous progress worldwide, but national efforts are lacking. Prof Lodha hopes to provide critically needed momentum for power transistor research in the country.

Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Kendras accepting orders on WhatsApp and e-mail to facilitate medicine procurement during lockdown

Amid lockdown many Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Janaushadhi Kendras (PMBJK) under the Union Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers are accepting the orders for medicines on WhatsApp and e-mail, where on the basis of uploaded prescriptions medicines are delivered at the doorsteps of the patients. This novel move is ensuring use of technology for facilitating easier procurement of medicines by the users.  Complementing PMBJKs for this initiative Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Shri DV Sadananda Gowda said, " it is heartening to note that many PMBJKs are using modern communication tools including social media plataforms like Whatsapp to provide better services in effecting faster delivery of essential medicines to the needy."

PMBJKs are working under the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP). At present threre are over 6300 PMBJKs functioning in 726 districts of the country ensuring supply of quality medicines at affordable prices. These medicines are cheaper by about 50 per cent to 90 per cent on an average. In April 2020 around Rs 52 crore (US$ 7.38 million) worth of medicine have been supplied throughout the country.

In addition, supply arrangements with India Post has also been made for supply to remotely located stores.

Moreover, Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI) under Department of Pharmaceuticals, Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, has paid its vendors within due date for solving their working capital issues for raw material & logistics.

Dedicated Team has been created of BPPI Officers for every State to sort out bottlenecks in supply due to lockdown.

Jan Aushadhi warehouses are working at full capacity and inhouse residential arrangements have been made for staff.

Helpline numbers of BPPI is working to resolve any issues of consumers and store owners.

For maintaining supply of essential Medicines during lock down period, BPPI has issued purchase orders for 178 fast moving medicines in the month of April having MRP of Rs 186.52 crore (US$ 26.46 million).

Wheat production may cross 113 million tonnes: Skymet

According to estimates released by private weather forecasting firm Skymet, during the current rabi season, wheat production could be at a record 113.66 million tonnes (mt), nearly 10 per cent more than the 103.6 mt output in the previous year, whereas, gram output could be 8 per cent higher at 10.74 mt.

The estimate for wheat production of Skymet are much higher than the 106 mt projected by the second advance estimates of the Agriculture Ministry.

Although, there will be marginal increase of 2.7 per cent at 9.5 mt in the production of mustard and rapeseed as against 9.25 mt in the previous rabi season.

The Skymet report also added that due to the nationwide lockdown, agricultural activities and supply chain were disrupted. Harvesting activities were disturbed due to the non-availability of migrant labour.

The report added, “Though the government is trying to normalise the situation, even till date the situation is dismal as farmers and their produce are unable to reach the market due to the lockdown”. As a result, producer is struggling to sell the produce at appropriate prices, it added.

According to Skymet, the worst-hit are horticulture farmers. There have been disruptions in supply chains because of transportation problems and other issues. Farmers are not able to bring the produce to mandis. Those who have storage facilities have stored the produce while the rest have sold it at whatever prices they could get.

Consumers ended up paying more, although the prices declined for vegetables and other crops. Farmers were also affected badly by the temporary closing down of restaurants and eateries.

“The future also looks bleak as the supply of agri-inputs for the upcoming kharif season – especially seeds may get affected by this lockdown. Unavailability of seeds and other agricultural input may lead to the delayed sowing or no sowing at all,” the report said.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture data, the report said wheat sowing was up by 12.3 per cent this year over last year, with most of increase in acreage coming from Maharashtra (89 per cent more), Gujarat (73 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (nearly 33 per cent) and Rajasthan (17 per cent). Skymet said it expected the national average yield to be 3.38 tonnes per hectare.

Likewise, there is 11.5 per cent increase in the area of gram cultivation which is on account higher acreages reported from Maharashtra (58 per cent more) and Rajasthan (42 per cent), which adequately compensated for the 20 per cent drop in gram area in Madhya Pradesh.

The report added that the area under mustard and rapeseed was more or less the same this year, even though Rajasthan and Haryana planted marginal more than last year, but there was a nearly 10 per cent drop in mustard cultivation in Madhya Pradesh.