Delhi: Institutional quarantine for people arriving from UK

As flight services to United Kingdom (UK) resume, an Air India flight comprising of 246 members landed in Delhi on 8th January 2021. Earlier, the government imposed a ban on flights from India and UK due to a new COVID-19 mutant virus found to be present in the UK.

As per the new order, only 30 flights a week will be allowed to operate till 28th January 2021. The Delhi airport has advised passengers to keep a gap of at least 10 hours between their flight from the UK and the connecting one to their respective cities.

In the meantime, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal informed that a 7-day institutional quarantine will be mandatory for those arriving in Delhi from Britain and testing negative for COVID-19.

This decision however led to considerable displeasure among those arriving on the flight on January 8th, many of whom were caught unawares. According to guidelines from the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s guidelines, all passengers arriving from the UK were to undergo mandatory RT-PCR testing for Covid19 at airports and those testing negative could proceed for a 14-day home quarantine.

Source: NDTV | Indian Express

Second COVID-19 dry run conducted across 33 States/Union Territories

The second nationwide drill for COVID-19 vaccine distribution was held on 8th January 2021. 736 districts across 33 States/Union Territories participated in the dry run. As per the plan, more than 25 health workers will get dummy vaccines at each selected site in a district to test the mechanisms and reveal possible gaps. States of Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana did not participate in the dry run as they already conducted the first dry run which was held on 2nd January 2021.

The day-long exercise tested the operational feasibility of the Covid Vaccine Intelligence Network (CoWIN) application in a field environment. Health Ministry has asked the states to submit their inputs and reports after the dry run gets completed.

Source: NDTV

Farmers continue protest, Supreme Court unhappy with govt effort

While hearing a petition challenging new farm laws, the Supreme Court has expressed its disappointment over the situation. The court’s intention was to encourage talks between government and trade unions and there is no improvement at all, said the Supreme Court. Attorney General KK Venugopal told the court that there are chances of understanding between the government and protesting farmers and that the deadlock will be resolved soon. Solicitor General also stated that talks are going on in a healthy manner.

Source: NDTV

Punjab launches special mission to help startups in the state

Punjab government has recently cleared the establishment of Punjab Innovation Mission and Punjab Innovation Fund of a total corpus of Rs. 150 crores. The fund will be used to invest in early-stage startups in Punjab. The Punjab Government will contribute only 10 percent i.e. Rs. 15 crores of the total fund. It has also capped its return to 10 percent.

The creation of an innovation fund was one of the recommendations made by the Group of Experts (GoE) under the chairmanship of Former Deputy Chairperson, Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The fund will be majorly used for investment in startups in agriculture, food processing, technology, gaming and arts.

The objective of the mission is to create a vibrant culture of entrepreneurship in the state. It also talks about creating industry collaborations, outreach events, hackathons, mentors pool etc. to target the active youth in the state.

Source: The Indian Express

Rajasthan MP expresses concerns over deteriorating health of pink city

Rajasthan MP Divya Kumari from Rajsamand has written to CM Ashok Gehlot over the need to conserve the city of Jaipur. Roaming cows, crumbling heritage buildings and a vanishing city wall has made the situation critical for the city. Hailing from the royal family of Jaipur, the MP emphasised the need to have a robust action plan to conserve and uplift the heritage status of the city allotted by UNESCO in 2019.

Lack of parking facilities for tourists, stray animals, illegal constructions have given a big blow to the heritage status of the city, said the MP.  She urged that appropriate action be taken to maintain the honour Jaipur has received from UNESCO.

Source: Times Now

Compiled by Rishabh Shrivastava