states | Business Upturn

India, World Bank signs $250 million project for safety of existing dams

Aayushi Singh — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 13:57:28 +0000

The Central Water Commission, the Government of India representatives from 10 states and the World Bank, had signed a $250 million project today, the project is for a long term dam safety program and for improving the safety and performance of the existing dams across various states of India.

This Second Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project would strengthen the dam safety, the DRIP-2 would be building dam safety guidelines, bring in global experience, and would also introduce innovative technologies. The dam safety management would be transformed by another major innovation of the project which would introduce a risk-based approach to it which would help to effectively allocate financial resources towards the importance of dam safety needs.

DRIP-2 would be implemented in over 120 states and at a national level through the CWC. The states where the project would be implemented are Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Odisha, Meghalaya, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya. During the project implementation, other states might be added.

The Department of Economic Affairs, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance on behalf of Government of India, and the representatives of the State Governments and Mr Junaid Ahmad, Country Director of India on behalf of World bank signed the agreement.

The recently closed DRIP-1 is also included in the World Bank support to dam safety in India which would improve the safety and sustainable performance of 223 dams in six states of India and a central agency.

The other important measure that would be supported by DRIP-2 also includes flood forecasting systems and integrated reservoir operations which would contribute to building climate resilience, the DRIP-2 also supports the preparation and implementation of Emergency Action Plans to enable vulnerable downstream communities for the preparation and enhancement of resilience against the possible negative impacts and the risks of climate change, and it would also support the piloting of supplemental revenue generation schemes like the floating solar panels.

India records 3.92 lakh fresh COVID-19 cases, 3689 deaths in last 24 hours

Nitin Anand — Sun, 02 May 2021 04:23:09 +0000

On Sunday, May 2, Union Health Ministry released the data of new COVID-19 cases in India, there is decrease in new cases from previous day.

Report released by the Union Health Ministry states that in the last 24 hours, India reported 3,92,488 new COVID-19 cases and 3,07,865 patients got discharge, while 3689 people died of this deadly virus. Total active cases in India is now around 33.49 lakhs. The total death toll in India reached to 2,15,542.

India reports 3,92,488 new #COVID19 cases, 3689 deaths and 3,07,865 discharges in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry

Total cases: 1,95,57,457
Total recoveries: 1,59,92,271
Death toll: 2,15,542
Active cases: 33,49,644

Total vaccination: 15,68,16,031 pic.twitter.com/5xytqvn2K0

— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2021

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also released a data that shows 29,01,42,339 samples were tested up to May 1, including 18,04,954 samples tested yesterday.

The Government of India along with States/UTs through a ‘Whole of Government’ approach has embarked on a five-point strategy for prevention, containment, and management of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Vaccination forms an integral component of the five-point strategy including Test, Track, Treat, and COVID Appropriate Behaviour.

The Liberalised and Accelerated Phase-3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination has come into force from today (1st May 2021). Registration for the newly eligible population groups has commenced on 28th April. 84,599 beneficiaries of the age group 18-44 years received their first dose of COVID vaccine.

The total vaccination across the country has crossed more than 15.66 Cr mark. The country has administered more than 16 lakh vaccine doses till 8 pm on May 1.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 15,66,37,825.

The Liberalised and Accelerated Phase 3 Strategy of Covid-19 Vaccination implemented from 1st May 2021. Registration for the new eligible population groups has commenced since 28^th April. Potential beneficiaries can either register directly on CoWIN portal (cowin.gov.in) or through the Aarogya Setu app.

Government of India has so far provided nearly 16.37 crore vaccine doses (16,37,62,300) to States/UTs Free of Cost. Of this, the total consumption including wastages is15,58,48,782doses (as per data available at 8 am today).

India records 2.6 lakh fresh COVID-19 cases, 1501 deaths in last 24 hours

Nitin Anand — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 06:29:57 +0000

On Sunday, April 18, Union Health Ministry released the data of new COVID-19 cases in India, after that India reached the milestone of highest single day surge.

Report released by the Union Health Ministry states that in the last 24 hours, India reported 2,61,500 new COVID-19 cases and reached the milestone of highest single day surge and 1,23,354 patients got discharge, while 1,501 people died of this deadly virus. Total active cases in India is now around 18.01 lakhs. Total death toll in India reached to 1,77,150.

India reports 2,61,500 new #COVID19 cases, 1,501 fatalities and 1,38,423 discharges in the last 24 hours, as per Union Health Ministry

Total cases: 1,47,88,109
Active cases: 18,01,316
Total recoveries: 1,28,09,643
Death toll: 1,77,150

Total vaccination: 12,26,22,590 pic.twitter.com/poAunmqGzW

— ANI (@ANI) April 18, 2021

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) also released a that shows 26,65,38,416 samples were tested up to April 18 including 15,66,394 samples tested yesterday. And total vaccination done till now stands at 12,26,22,590.

The total vaccinations across the country has crossed more than 12.25 crore mark with more than 25.65 lakh vaccine doses administered till 8 pm yesterday. While today, 60,057 COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs) were operational, marking a rise of more than 15,000 operational Vaccination Centres (45,000 CVCs on an average are functional on any given day). Workplace vaccinations have also enabled such a high turnout of beneficiaries.

The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 12, 25,02,790.

Earlier, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare also chaired a high-level review meeting with the Health Ministers of 11 States/UTs to review measures taken by the States/UTs for prevention, containment and management of the recent surge in COVID-19 cases. The meeting lasted for more than three hours. These States/UT including Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are reporting an unprecedented surge in new COVID cases.

Dr. Harsh Vardhan exhorted the States to plan in advance and increase COVID hospitals, oxygenated beds and other relevant infrastructure to deal with any further surge in cases. He requested the States to give special focus on the prominent 5-6 cities in their administration, map medical colleges to either these cities or adjoining 2-3 districts. The States were asked to seek out positive cases with the onset of early symptoms so that prompt and effective treatment checks the deterioration of health in the diseased.

Large containment zones for achieving community quarantine were also suggested as a strategy.

The Union Minister reminded the States to send the clinical and epidemiological pictures to assess genomic mutants of the pathogen to the coordinating INSACOG nodal officer and attempt to correlate the public health scenario with the clinical picture. Director, NCDC informed on the steps taken for genome sequencing to understand the issues related to the mutant strains.

Ease of doing business ranking for states and UTs to be released by March 2021: DPIIT

Nivedya P T — Sun, 06 Sep 2020 14:43:54 +0000

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has started the exercise for the ranking of states and Union Territories in terms of ease of doing business for the next year, according to a top government official.

DPIIT Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra said that the ease of doing business of states and UTs for next year would be released by March 2021. “We have started the exercise already. We have communicated the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) for next year with the states/UTs, which they have to implement,” he said, according to PTI.

Last year, the department had identified 181 reform points and for 2021, it has shared 301 such points with the states and UTs.

So far, rankings which started in 2015 have been released for 2015, 2016, 2017-18 and 2019 and is based on the implementation of BRAP and feedback received. The action plan covers12 business regulatory areas such as access to information, a single-window system, labour, and the environment and this exercise is expected to promote competition among states with a view to improving the business climate in order to attract domestic as well as foreign investments.

To help states which are progressing at a slower pace, Mohapatra said that “for next year, we have sent the reform agenda and we plan to engage with them in select groups, region wise. We will hold several rounds of meetings with them” thus helping them to improve the ranking.

Andhra Pradesh has topped the chart for the third time in a row as per the 2019 rankings, released on September 5. Registering a jump of 10 places in the rankings, Uttar Pradesh occupied the second position in 2019 as against 12th in 2018.

Telangana fell to the third position from second in 2018. Among the laggard states and UTs in the ranking, Bihar was at 26th, Kerala 28th place, Manipur (31), Meghalaya (32), Nagaland (33), Odisha (34), Sikkim(35) and Tripura (36).

The borrowing limit of states from 3 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 5 per cent in 2020-21have also been raised by the centre on May 17, which will make available an additional Rs 4.28 trillion.

“We are going much beyond the World Bank’s rankings. Reducing compliance burden is the major exercise we are doing now,” he added.