PM's Economic Advisory Council to hold first meeting at NITI Aayog today

Agencies
October 11, 2017

New Delhi, Oct 11: The first meeting of the newly-constituted Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister Narendra Modi (EAC-PM) will be held today at the NITI Aayog.

The council, set up with the Prime Minister's approval on September 26, 2017 and comprising reputed economists and experts, will be chaired by Dr. Bibey Debroy. Principal Adviser of NITI Aayog Ratan P. Watal will be the council'a member secretary and Dr. Surjit Bhalla, Dr. Rathin Roy and Dr. Ashima Goyal its part-time members.

With the constitution of the Council, the government has set up a unique independent institutional mechanism. This is mandated to analyse all critical issues, economic or otherwise referred to it by the Prime Minister and to advise him on the same. Members of the Council will also be expected to address issues of macro-economic importance and express their views.

The Council held a brainstorming session with stakeholders on October 9 at the NITI Aayog in the run-up to the first meeting of the Council.  The Council will address all issues of emergent importance, will engage with a broad spectrum of stakeholders and formulate advice accordingly.

In another development, former RBI Governor C Rangarajan said that he expected the economy to grow at 6.5 per cent for the year 2017-18. He also said that job opportunities and economic growth of the country were inter-related.

"Jobs (jobs creation) are not independent. They are related to growth. When the economy grows, jobs also grow. So you cannot talk of jobs separately from growth", the former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council said.

"I think the possibility is that growth will pick up in the next few quarters but one doesn't know by how much. Perhaps by the year as a whole my own estimation is the economy may grow at 6.5 per cent", the former RBI Governor noted.

NITI AAYOG WORKING ON DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION INDEX

Meanwhile, the NITI Aayhog is working on a Digital Transformation Index for start-ups in the country.

"NITI Aayog is working on a Digital Transformation Index for start-ups", its Officer on Special Duty Aalekh Sharan said,

Digital Transformation Index (DTI) is a tool used for gauging how well one helps an organisation grow and thrive in a digital world.

Steps such as measuring the spirit of cooperation and competitiveness among states and ensuring best practices are shared and replicated are being taken, he said, adding that many top innovators are engaged with multinational companies abroad.

"The challenge is to bring them back home and inspire them to contribute towards innovation in India. This is something which will create more jobs, he said at an event organised by the CII in association with USPTO-GIPA in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Sharan also underscored the need for stronger industry-academia linkages for creating a strong eco-system of innovation.

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News Network
April 19,2020

New Delhi, Apr 19: The government on Sunday prohibited the sale of non-essential items through e-commerce platforms during the ongoing lockdown, four days after allowing such companies to sale mobile phones, refrigerators and ready-made garments.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla issued an order excluding the non-essential items from sale by the e-commerce companies from the consolidated revised guidelines, which listed the exemption given to the services and people from the purview of the lockdown.

The order said the following clause "E-commerce companies. Vehicles used by e-commerce operators will be allowed to ply with necessary permissions" is excluded from the guidelines.

The previous order had said such items were allowed for sale through e-commerce platforms from April 20.

However, the reason for reversing the order is not known immediately.

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News Network
April 24,2020

New Delhi, Apr 24: The death toll due to the novel coronavirus rose to 723 with 37 fatalities reported since Thursday evening, while the number of cases saw a record jump of 1,752 to go up to 23,452 cases on Friday, according to the Union health ministry.

The previous highest single day increase was on April 20 when 1,540 cases were reported.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 17,915 as 4,813 people were cured and discharged, and one patient migrated, the ministry said.

Thus, about 20.52 per cent of the cases have recovered so far, an official of the ministry said. 

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that 23,502 samples have been confirmed positive as on April 24 at 9 am.

The health ministry's figure of 23,452 cases include 77 foreign nationals.

A total of 37 deaths were reported since Thursday evening of which 14 fatalities were reported from Maharashtra, nine from Gujarat, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Telangana and one from Karnataka, the ministry's data stated.

Of the 723 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 283 fatalities, followed by Gujarat at 112, Madhya Pradesh at 83, Delhi at 50, Andhra Pradesh at 29, Rajasthan at 27 and Telengana at 26.

The death toll reached 24 in Uttar Pradesh, 20 in Tamil Nadu while Karantaka has reported 18 deaths.

Punjab has registered 16 deaths while West Bengal has reported 15 fatalities.

The disease has claimed five lives in Jammu and Kashmir, while Kerala, Jharkhand and Haryana have recorded three COVID-19 deaths each.

Bihar has reported two deaths, while Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Assam have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.

However, a news agency tally of the figures reported by various states as on Friday showed 23,577 cases and 743 deaths in the country.

There has been a lag in the Union health ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

According to the ministry's data updated in the evening, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 6,430 followed by Gujarat at 2,624, Delhi at 2,376, Rajasthan at 1,964, Madhya Pradesh at 1,852 and Tamil Nadu at 1,683.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,604 in Uttar Pradesh, 984  in Telangana and 955 in Andhra Pradesh. The number of cases has risen to 514 in West Bengal, 448 in Kerala, 463 in Karnataka, 427 in Jammu and Kashmir,  277 in Punjab and 272 in Haryana.

Bihar has reported 176 coronavirus cases, while Odisha has 90 cases. Fifty-five people have been infected with the virus in Jharkhand and 47 in Uttarakhand. Himachal Pradesh has 40 cases, Chhattisgarh and Assam have registered 36 infections each so far.

Chandigarh has 27 COVID-19 cases, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 22 while  18 cases have been reported from Ladakh.

Meghalaya has reported 12 cases, and Goa and Puducherry have seven COVID-19 cases each.

Manipur and Tripura have two cases each, while Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh have reported a case each.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR," the ministry said on its website.

States wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

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Agencies
May 24,2020

Lucknow, May 24: The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has banned Corona patients from keeping mobile phones inside isolation wards of COVID-19 hospitals in the state.

Patients admitted in dedicated L-2 and L-3 COVID hospitals will no longer will allowed to take mobile phones along with them in the isolation wards in order to check the spread of the infection.

According to an order issued by the state government late on Saturday night, two mobile phones will now be available with the ward in-charge of the COVID care centres so that patients and talk to their family members and administration if required.

Further, the orders specify that the mobile numbers should be communicated to the family members of the patients also.

Director General Medical Education, K.K. Gupta, who issued the order, has informed all concerned officials and directors of dedicated COVID hospitals.

"To facilitate the communication between COVID-19 patients admitted in clinics, with their family members, or anyone else, ensure that two dedicated mobile phones while adhering to infection prevention norms, are kept with ward in-charge of COVID care centre," the order said.

According to the latest data available on the website of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Uttar Pradesh now has 5,735 cases of Corona positive patients and the numbers have been growing steadily since the past ten days.

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