16 deaths not related to the apparent Covid mock drill in UP
A private hospital in Uttar Pradesh's Agra, whose owner was allegedly caught on audio bragging about how they shut off oxygen supply on April 27 for five minutes in a "mock drill" amid the Covid crisis, has been cleared of allegations that the exercise led to the deaths of 16 patients. The UP government had ordered an inquiry into the incident at Agra's Shree Paras Hospital after the outrage.
Source - NDTV
Third wave in 6-8 weeks if Covid-appropriate behaviour not followed, warns AIIMS chief
If Covid-appropriate behaviour is not followed and crowding not prevented, the next wave of the viral infection can strike the country in the next 6-8 weeks, AIIMS Director Randeep Guleria warned on Saturday.
Until a sizable number of the population is vaccinated, Covid-appropriate behaviour needs to be followed aggressively, he said and stressed on the need for stricter surveillance and area-specific lockdowns in the case of a significant surge. Coronavirus-related deaths worldwide passed a grim milestone of 4 million on Thursday, according to a tally maintained by Reuters.
Source - The Hindu
Centre’s transgender ID portal now available in regional languages
The Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry’s portal, available here, for application of certificates of identity for transgender persons was made available in 10 languages this week including Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, apart from English.
Source - The Hindu
Hard-line judiciary head Ebrahim Raisi wins Iran presidency
Iran’s hard-line judiciary chief won the country’s presidential election in a landslide victory on June 19, propelling the Supreme Leader’s protege into Tehran’s highest civilian position in a vote that appeared to see the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history.
Initial results showed Ebrahim Raisi won 17.8 million votes in the contest, dwarfing those of the race’s sole moderate candidate. However, Mr. Raisi dominated the election only after a panel under the watch of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei disqualified his strongest competition.
Source - The Hindu
Human inspired DNA storage system
A team of researchers at MIT are working on a storage system that can hold massive amounts of data, without taking much space. The system under development is inspired by human DNA. A coffee mug full of DNA could store all of the world’s data, said Mark Bathe, professor of Biological Engineering at MIT.
The research team and the Broad Institute estimate that there are about 10 trillion gigabytes of digital data on the Earth right now, and every day, humans are adding another 2.5 million gigabytes of data.
Source - The Hindu
Centre's tax revenues grew despite stringent lockdown on the back of excise duties
In FY21, despite a stringent lockdown and a raging Covid-19 first wave, the gross tax revenue collected by the Centre elevated over FY20. However, the increase was made possible by a sharp rise in contributions from union excise duties. This compensated for the sharp drop in the share of corporate tax collection.
The shift in tax burden from the corporates to the masses has come at a time when the pandemic has led to many job losses and reduced income levels, thereby pushing more people into poverty.
Source - The Hindu
53% of jabs during May-June were in rural India, says govt
Around 71% of Covid vaccination centres in the public sector are in rural areas which accounted for 53% of jabs given during the six-week period in May-June, the government said, seeking to counter reports that rural and remote areas were being neglected in the vaccination drive.
Source - Times of India
'Can't proceed in the manner you like': HC raps Bengal over post-poll violence, urges NHRC to help
Pulling up police for ‘inaction against violence and failure to register complaints,’ the Calcutta High Court has urged the chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to set up a committee to examine allegations of post-poll violence in Bengal.
The HC observed that violence was not limited to one place or constituency. “Cases of threat to life and property of the residents of the state should be taken seriously," the court said, adding that Bengal cannot be allowed to proceed in the manner it likes.
Supreme Court judge Indira Banerjee, on Friday, rescued herself from a plea pertaining to the alleged post-poll violence in West Bengal citing some difficulty in hearing the matter.
Source - News18
Bodies buried along Ganga: Plea seeking cremations dismissed
A bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Yadav and Justice Prakash Padia turned down the argument of a petitioner that it is the responsibility of the state to perform cremation according to religious rites and dispose of the bodies buried near the Ganga at different ghats in Allahabad.
The court observed, "Having gone through the entire petition, we are of the view that the petitioner has not done much research work in respect of rites and customs which are prevalent among various communities living along the bank of the river Ganga."
Source - NDTV
Like what you read? Share this article with your friends and follow us on:
Instagram | Medium | LinkedIn