DK Shivakumar is now front runner for Karnataka Cong chief post

New Delhi, Feb 12: Cooking gas LPG price on Wednesday was hiked by a steep Rs 144.5 per cylinder due to spurt in benchmark global rates of the fuel.

But to insulate domestic users, the government almost doubled the subsidy it provides on the fuel to keep per cylinder outgo almost unchanged.

LPG price was increased to Rs 858.50 per 14.2 kg cylinder from Rs 714 previously, according to a price notification of state-owned oil firms.

This is the steepest hike in rates since January 2014 when prices had gone up by Rs 220 per cylinder to Rs 1,241.

Domestic LPG users, who are entitled to buy 12 bottles of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rates in a year, will get more subsidy.

The government subsidy payout to domestic users has been increased from Rs 153.86 per cylinder to Rs 291.48, industry officials said.

For Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) beneficiaries, the subsidy has increased from Rs 174.86 to Rs 312.48 per cylinder.

After accounting for the subsidy that is paid directly into the bank accounts of LPG users, a 14.2-kg cylinder would cost Rs 567.02 for domestic users and Rs 546.02 for PMUY users.

The government gave out 8 crore free LPG connections to poor women under PMUY to increase coverage of environment-friendly fuel in kitchens.

Normally, LPG rates are revised on 1st of every month but this time it took almost two weeks for the revision to take place - a phenomenon which industry officials said was due to approvals needed for such a big jump in subsidy outgo.

Others said the decision to defer the increase could have been because of assembly elections in Delhi. Delhi voted on February 8.

Bengaluru, Jul 16: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Thursday paid a surprise visit to the C V Raman Hospital in Bengaluru and urged the administration to follow COVID-19 guidelines properly. He also took stock of the hospital's preparedness to fight the deadly virus.

The minister noticed a number of flaws and warned the hospital to go strictly by the guidelines. He saw that despite 15 high-flow oxygen beds lay vacant, only two patients were admitted. He then asked the hospital to send asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients to COVID-19 care centres so that beds were available to those who need these.

"Doctors' profession is a noble one and in a situation like this everyone should perform their duty with utmost humanity and compassion. During this crisis, we should all be kind and empathetic," the minister said. He also ordered the suspension of two officials for not following the guidelines and not giving the right treatment to patients.

He noticed that the hospital lab collected less number of swabs and instructed them to collect a minimum of 500 swabs per day. Pointing out the under-utilised beds and ICUs, he observed that because of such negligence by officials, the government is being blamed despite working day and night for the past four-five months.
During this visit, the minister also interacted with the patients through video call and enquired about the services provided to them by the hospital.

"Surprise visits will continue. I will be in touch with every lab and get the right number of tests done on a daily basis," the minister said while speaking to the media.

He also urged the people who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate their plasma to save other lives, adding that donors will receive a reward of Rs 5000 as a token of appreciation.

Mangaluru, May 4: In order to protect the frontline coronavirus fighters from the pathogen, students at Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management has developed face shields that will help the front-line healthcare workers.

Mr Johnson Tellis - Chief Innovation Officer, Mr Gautham Nayak - Design Engineer and DreamWorks Makerspacerun by determined students, supported by Sahyadri Start-up ecosystem, at Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management has headed the team.

The team took the initiative along with other maker communities in Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi and the likes, with a pledge to produce and deliver 1 Million face shields across India. In three weeks, the team has contributed to the cause and delivered more than3500 face shields and a ventilator splitter for the Dakshina Kannada and Shimoga region.