Air India plane suffers tyre burst, some passengers injured

New Delhi, June 27: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union government of India is not ready to stop all imports from aggressive China in spite of mount calls to boycott Chinese products in India.

The Centre is reportedly considering to stop only non-essential imports from the neighbouring country.

However, the Inward shipment in sectors such as automobiles, pharmaceuticals, certain electronics and others will continue until a domestic alternative is found.

“India will gradually move towards import substitution. It will not happen overnight. In the meantime, attention has to be paid on production and job creation. We cannot throttle our industry. There are certain absolutely essential imports. Needless to say, those will keep going,” official sources said.

Sources said that both the government and the industry are in the process of identifying products that can be domestically manufactured in the medium term. There are certain chemicals, automotive components, handicrafts, cosmetics, agriculture items and certain consumer electronics, which can be manufactured domestically in the short to medium term. The government is doing all it can to raise the capacity of domestic industries.

However, there are certain other imports in the automobile and the pharmaceutical sectors which cannot be done away within the short to medium term. Their domestic production at the moment may not be that cost-effective.

The six-crore strong traders’ body CAIT has been at the forefront of such a demand and has launched a campaign to celebrate Indian Diwali this year with a total absence of Chinese goods.

“Ease of doing business, capital availability at lower rates and globally competitive logistics and energy costs are some of the prerequisites that the government should look into to ensure the growth of the domestic auto component industry,” according to Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA) Director General Vinnie Mehta.

Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava said, “People who are boycotting Chinese goods have to remember that in some cases it may lead to their being asked to pay more for the same product."

Meanwhile, domestic rating agency Acuite Ratings & Research has analysed the current import portfolio from China and found 40 sub-sectors have the potential to lower their import dependency on China. These sectors contribute to $33.6 billion worth of imports from China and about 25% of these imports can be substituted by local manufacturing without any significant additional investments.

Mangaluru, Apr 6: Three more COVID-19 positive cases in the Dakshina Kannada district have been recovered and discharged on Monday.

All three are Kasargod residents and were being treated in the city’s Wenlock hospital.

A 22-year-old man Bhatkal was discharged on Monday after recovering fully from the infection.

A total of 12 cases have been found COVID-19 positive in Mangaluru till now, said B Rupesh, Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate's Office, Dakshina Kannada, on Monday.

"So far, 4 positive cases have recovered in Mangaluru, of which 3 COVID-19 positive patients have recovered and have been discharged today," said Rupesh.

He further said, "A total of 12 positive cases have been reported in the city till now."

As per the latest update by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of confirmed cases in the country is 4281. 151 cases are from Karnataka.

Bengaluru, Apr 25: With 26 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in the past 24 hours, the total number of positive cases in Karnataka reached 500 on Saturday.

This includes 158 patients who have been cured and discharged following treatment while 18 deaths have been reported so far due to the infection in the State, according to a media bulletin issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday evening.

A total of 324 COVID-19 cases are currently active in the State as of Saturday evening 5 pm.
According to the bulletin, Bengaluru Urban with 133 positive cases, including 49 discharged and four deaths, is the worst-affected district in the State, followed by Mysuru and Belagavi, with 89 and 54 confirmed cases, respectively.