Day: February 1, 2021

1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Allocation Of Rs 24,435 crore Hike in WCD budget, Mission Poshan 2.0 launched

The Ministry of Women and Child Development has received a 16 per cent increase in its budget allocation this year with a sum of Rs 24,435 crore announced Monday. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman further announced that supplementary nutrition schemes were being merged with the Poshan Abhiyan to launch Mission Poshan 2.0. In 2020-21, the ministry was allocated a sum of Rs 30,007.09 crore, which was revised to Rs 21,008.31 crore. Out of the allocation for the ministry this year, the highest amount has been allocated to Mission Poshan 2.0 and Saksham Anganwadi scheme — Rs 20,105 crore. Poshan 2.0 now combines the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS), Anganwadi services, Poshan Abhiyan, Scheme For Adolescent Girls and National Creche Scheme. The allocation for social...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Focus on clean air, govt earmarks Rs 2,217 cr for 42 urban centres

The budget has focused primarily on clean air in the environment sector – with its objectives spanning across ministries and sectors, from National Clean Air Programme under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to the ministries of Power, New and Renewable Energy and Urban Affairs. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government has earmarked Rs 2,217 crore for 42 urban centres with a million-plus population to focus on clean air. The minister had made a similar announcement, with an allocation of Rs 4,400 crore for cities above one million population. But hit by Covid-19, disbursement only started in the later part of this year, say experts. “It is important to focus on urban centres so this announcement is welcome, but as we know from o...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Easing credit: To fund growth cycle, a bad bank and a DFI

WITH NON-PERFORMING assets (NPAs) set to rise in the wake of the economic slowdown induced by the pandemic, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday announced the creation of an asset reconstruction company/ asset management company (ARC/AMC) — popularly known as a “bad bank” — to clean up the books of banks. Sitharaman also proposed a development financial institution (DFI) to enable long term funding worth Rs 5 lakh crore in 3 years for infrastructure projects. The purpose of a “bad bank” is to park the bad assets of commercial banks and later sell those assets at a discounted price in the market. This will help clean up the balance sheets of commercial banks. A good chunk of gross NPAs totalling Rs 899,803 crore as of March 2020 is expected to be transferred to t...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Insurance sector thrown open: FDI hike to 74% sets stage for its takeoff

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s Budget announcement of increasing the FDI limit in insurance from 49 per cent to 74 per cent could lead to an unprecedented expansion of the insurance sector, its penetration, its level of competition, and value for customers in terms of better products at lower cost. Foreign inflows in insurance companies will also enable them to become more effective vehicles for household savings, creating long-term assets in the economy. “I propose to amend the Insurance Act, 1938 to increase the permissible FDI limit from 49% to 74% in Insurance Companies and allow foreign ownership and control with safeguards,” said Sitharaman. While this may bring in an initial thrust of foreign capital within the industry, participants in financial services se...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

South Africa Covid Vaccine: Consignments of made-in-India vaccines reach Algeria, South Africa | World News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Consignments of made-in-India vaccines have reached Algeria and South Africa. "Arrival in Algeria. A trusted partnership stands renewed," external affairs minister S Jaishankar tweeted on Monday, using the hashtag 'Vaccine Maitri'. "In it together. Made in India vaccines land in Johannesburg, South Africa," he said in another tweet. India has already sent Covid-19 vaccines to many countries such as Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Brazil and Nepal, among others. India is one of the world's biggest drugmakers, and an increasing number of countries have already approached it for procuring the coronavirus vaccines. India has already rolled out a massive coronavirus vaccination drive under which two vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin, are being administered to frontline health worker...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Sports

Looking to play all 3 formats regularly: Natarajan | Cricket News – Times of India

CHENNAI: Having been on the field for the past over 5 months, T Natarajan is currently having a breather. The 29-year left-arm TN pacer, who featured in the IPL before having a memorable trip to Australia, spoke to selected journalists on Monday on how life has changed in the last few months, being part of the Indian team, managing workload in future and more. Excerpts: With the first two India-England happening in Chennai, do you miss being part of the squad?Definitely, especially after being with the team for the last few months. But I do understand that it's important to take a break. Given that I did not spend time with the family in the last six months, I am fine with it. But undoubtedly, I will feel bad that I'm not able to be with the national team when they are playing in Chenna...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Bangladesh Corona Cases: Bangladesh’s Covid-19 cases rise to 535,582 | World News – Times of India

DHAKA: Bangladesh recorded 443 new cases of Covid-19 and 10 deaths on Monday, bringing the total tally of cases to 535,582 with 8,137 deaths, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said. The official data showed that 12,475 samples were tested in the last 24 hours across Bangladesh. The total number of recovered patients in the country rose to 480,216 with 472 new recoveries reported on Monday, said the DGHS. According to the official data, the Covd-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh stands currently at 1.52 percent and the recovery rate is 89.66 percent. Bangladesh recorded the highest number of daily cases 4,019 on July 2 and the highest number of deaths 64 on June 30 last year. Source link

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Big spending push blended with bold financial reforms

With the economy battered by Covid-19 that has taken 1.5 lakh lives and pushed India into a recession, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Monday liberated herself from fiscal restraints to budget for a massive expenditure push to bolster the economy’s nascent recovery. What makes Budget 2021-22 probably the boldest in the last six years is her intent to privatise PSU banks and state insurers — a taboo for all governments — especially at a time when reformist farm laws, facing a backlash, have been put on effective hold. The political leadership’s call to ignore fiscal hawks and present a reform-led growth Budget buoyed market sentiments with the BSE Sensex posting a gain of 5 per cent — the sharpest surge on a Budget day since 1997. The Sensex jumped 2,315 points to ...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Twitter block to road spikes and a train diversion: bid to deter stir

From a temporary freeze on over 100 Twitter accounts seen as sympathetic to the farm protests to embedding spikes on roads, from diverting a Delhi-bound train to extending the internet ban in seven Haryana districts by another day — a slew of measures came into effect Monday in a bid to deter the protests, even as farmers announced a new nationwide ‘chakka jam’ on February 6. On Monday, around 100 Twitter accounts and 150 tweets related to the farmers’ protests went off the microblogging platform as the IT Ministry directed Twitter to remove these accounts under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. However, by late evening Monday, after a meeting between officials of the microblogging platform and the Ministry, the accounts were “unwithheld” as Twitter held that t...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Covid shadow on Budget 2021: Health gets a vaccine shot, water in new ‘well-being’ category

With covid infections crossing the 1-crore mark, and claiming nearly 1.54 lakh lives, the Government has allocatedRs 64,180 crore in the Union Budget presented Monday to upgrade public health care infrastructure under a new flagship PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat initiative over six years — and unveiled a new expenditure head called “health and well-being”. Spelling out medium and long term expenditure for the public health care system, which came under severe stress during the initial stages of the pandemic, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman pegged the total expenditure for “health and well-being” at Rs 2,23,846 crore — an increase of 137 per cent — including Rs 35,000 crore for immunisation with Covid vaccines. The Finance Minister underlined that the Government wil...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Markets may cheer but as farm laws show, test is street & House

RIGHT in the middle of a protracted stand-off over farm laws, the Budget Monday proposed a series of radical measures that could set the stage for the next round of political pushback — both on the street and in the corridors of power. How the Centre does its preparatory groundwork with stakeholders — and the Opposition — holds the key. More so when it has offered to pause the farm laws for 18 months in the wake of protests and the apex court has waded in as well. Raising the FDI limit in insurance to 74 per cent, LIC going public and privatisation of two public sector banks (PSBs) will need legislative measures and will bring the confrontation to Parliament. Others like asset monetisation across sectors, privatisation of an insurance company and disinvestment in non-strat...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Sports

Mushtaq Ali Trophy: Dinesh Karthik pleased with Tamil Nadu’s splendid show | Cricket News – Times of India

CHENNAI: The last season of the IPL may have been a disappointing one for Chennai fans with Chennai Super Kings missing out on the playoffs, but Tamil Nadu are doing their bit in the shortest format. The Dinesh Karthik-led side reclaimed the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy after a gap of 14 years on Sunday. To have remained unbeaten in the tournament despite missing key players --- such as R Ashwin, M Vijay, T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, C Varun and K Vignesh --- speaks a lot about the bench strength the side possesses. 7⃣-wicket victory 👌8⃣ wins in a row 👏M Siddharth starred with the ball as Tamil Nadu beat Baroda in the @Paytm… https://t.co/pp8GsV75K4— BCCI Domestic (@BCCIdomestic) 1612119182000Having lost in the final of the previous edition by 1 run to Karnataka, TN --- this season --...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Life Style

From Ananya Panday to Rakulpreet Singh: Here’s how Bollywood ladies are making blazers look chic and stylish | The Times of India

Women have been embracing their individuality and blazers, in specific have been the statement-making pieces of style that every woman has been running behind. You must make your own fashion rules and you can break the cliche of pants with blazers for the usual formal look. From cycling shorts to ethnic skirts, the blazer trend has evolved the fashion game and our Bollywood beauties are here to flaunt the same. Source link

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

Alexei Navalny: Russian prosecutors back request to imprison Navalny | World News – Times of India

MOSCOW: Russian prosecutors on Monday backed a request to imprison opposition leader Alexei Navalny for several years on old embezzlement charges, after police detained a record number of anti-Kremlin protesters across the country. On Sunday, demonstrators defied government warnings and rallied across the country -- including in Moscow and Saint Petersburg where authorities enforced unprecedented lockdowns of the city centre -- in a second weekend of mass protests over the arrest of President Vladimir Putin's most prominent opponent. The protests -- stretching from the Pacific port of Vladivostok to the northwestern city of Pskov -- came ahead of a high-profile court hearing that could see Navalny imprisoned for several years. Navalny's detention and the crackdown on protesters has spar...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Sports

India vs England: Leach hopes to recreate Monty magic | Cricket News – Times of India

CHENNAI: Whenever England off-spinner Dom Bess and left-arm spinner Jack Leach get the ball in hand during the upcoming four-Test series against India, the minds of Indian fans are going to hark back to the devastating impact that Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar had during England’s Test series win in India in 2012. "Can Bess and Leach be anywhere near as good as Swann and Panesar?" they might ask. It is an unfair question at this stage given that Swann and Panesar were skilled and experienced campaigners by the time they came to India in 2012, but it hasn’t stopped Leach and Bess – who are greenhorns in international cricket – from hoping to emulate them. "Monty and Swann are two bowlers I love to watch. I watch a lot of spin videos to try and take things from the spinners I watch. The ...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

With recovery taking roots, job scheme outlay cut to Rs 73,000 crore

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which emerged as the safety net for migrants returning to their villages in the wake of the lockdown, did not find a mention in Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s 110-minute Budget speech. However, the Finance Minister has allocated Rs 73,000 crore for NREGS in the Union Budget 2021-22. The allocation for the next financial year is 18 per cent higher than the Rs 61,500 crore provided in the budget estimates (BE) of 2020-21, but is 34 per cent lower than the revised estimates (RE) of Rs 1,11,500 for the current financial year. The current financial year has witnessed an unprecedented demand for unskilled work. Over 7 crore households have availed of NREGS, an all-time high. When the scheme saw higher demand for work ...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Entertainment

Adorable first pictures of popular star kids

Adorable first pictures of popular star kids Source link

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Sports

Qatar World Cup games will play to full stadiums, FIFA boss says | Football News – Times of India

GENEVA: World Cup matches will play to full stadiums in Qatar next year, global soccer body FIFA president Gianni Infantino said on Monday. "I am very, very confident (it) will be incredible, will have the same magic, uniting the world," he told a virtual meeting in Geneva. "We will be back to where we have to be." World Cup players were not a priority group for vaccines against COVID-19, he said. Source link

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Sports

ISL: Mobashir’s goal ends Jamshedpur’s winless run | Football News – Times of India

BAMBOLIM: Mohammad Mobashir Rahman's first half strike helped Jamshedpur FC record a morale-boosting 1-0 win over Odisha FC in the Hero Indian Super League here on Monday. Mobash scored a 41st-minute goal which proved to be the difference between the two sides, ending JFC's five-game winless streak and keeping their playoff hopes alive. Stuart Baxter made two changes from Odisha's 1-1 draw against Bengaluru, handing a start to Bradden Inman who had joined on loan from ATK Mohun Bagan. Paul Ramfangzauva was the other change in the playing XI. For Jamshedpur, center-back Peter Hartley returned from injury and Mobashir replaced Aitor Monroy. Odisha custodian Arshdeep Singh was called into action early on. Seiminlen Doungel dispossessed Rakesh Pradhan and, on entering the penalty area, forc...

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1Feb By drnakipuriaNo Comments

Politics

‘Society should learn to respect women’ | India News – Times of India

Padma Shri awardee Shanti Devi(87) has been working for the upliftment of tribal girls and destitute women since 1951. The Gandhian shares her journey with Arunika MohapatraHow does it feel to get a Padma Shri?This award from the Centre is an honour for the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. What do you teach the girls?Girls need to be empowered, made more courageous and have to be taught to raise their voice against injustice. They should be independent and educate their families as well. What prompted you to don this role?In 1951, girls were not ambitious enough to become professionals. They used to toe the family line. I was married off at the age of 17 right after two years of college. My husband had laid a pre-condition for marriage — that I would have to work for t...

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