Headlines at a Glance – 10th June

First virtual Trade Fair of India starts off

Amid various lockdown related curbs and a demand slump, India’s first virtual business-to-business trade fair kicked of this week to a somewhat promising start. Constrained by various lockdown measures to hold a physical fair, an annual ritual for over a decade, the Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH) used its database of overseas buyers and domestic sellers to design a virtual platform as an alternative marketing strategy to promote outbound shipments. This platform hosted stalls of around 200 Indian exporters of fashion jewellery and accessories, to be accessed by the importers in key markets like the US and Europe, and elsewhere. The four-day fair, which got over on Thursday, generated business opportunities of Rs 153 crore, down from the usual Rs 300-350 crore, but greater than initial expectations. Importantly, each seller got a virtual stall to showcase their product for just about Rs 10,000, against the Rs 1.5-2 lakh they would pay for obtaining a physical stall earlier.

SOURCE: Financial Express 

ANANYA: Disinfectant Spray developed by Defence Institute

The Defence Institute of Advanced Technology in Pune has developed a nano-technology based disinfectant spray to combat Covid-19. The formulation, which has been named Ananya, is effective in disinfecting all types of surfaces, developers said. Dr Sangeeta Kale, professor of Physics and Dean of DIAT said, “The material has been developed by synthesizing silver nanoparticles and a commercially available drug, Ampicillin. Properties of this material have been tested by two methods – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Infrared Spectroscopy.” Developers said the ‘nano-technology assisted formulation’ has abilities to stop the coronavirus from entering the human body, and neutralize the virus when it comes in contact with this formulation layer.

SOURCE: The Indian Express

Decline in Self-Employed households: Periodic Labour Force Survey

While the Government has been promoting self-reliance through schemes like MUDRA loans, percentage of households who declared themselves self-employed with their own enterprise, declines in both rural and urban areas in FY19. According to the recent Periodic Labor Force Survey Report released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), percentage of households that are self-employed declined in rural India from 52.2% in FY18 to 51.7% in FY19. The same came down in the urban areas from 32.4% to 31.8% during the same period. In FY18, self-employed households had saw an increase both in rural and urban areas in India when compared with the earlier 68^th round NSSO survey conducted in FY12.

SOURCE: Livemint

18th Bench of CAT in UTs of Ladakh and J&K inaugurated

Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the 18^th bench of Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) for Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh through video conferencing. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Singh said, the setting up of CAT bench of Jammu to deal exclusively with the service matters of government employees would go a long way in not only reducing the burden of various courts but also provide to the persons covered by the Administrative Tribunals speedy relief in connection to their grievances and service matters. He added that more than 800 Central laws, which were not applicable to Jammu and Kashmir, have been applicable since the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A on 5^th August last year. The Minister said that all three important agencies of DoPT- CAT, Central Information Commission and Central Vigilance Commission are now operational in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

SOURCE: The Hindu

COVID BEEP, India’s first physiological parameters monitoring system for COVID-19 patients launched

Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region, Dr. Jitendra Singh today said ‘awareness’ and not ‘anxiety’ is the key to fighting COVID-19. Launching COVID BEEP, India’s first indigenous, cost effective, wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for COVID-19 patients, Dr Singh said COVID BEEP is to emerge as an antidote to the original COVID. COVID BEEP (Continuous Oxygenation & Vital Information Detection Biomed ECIL ESIC Pod) is India’s first indigenous, cost effective, wireless physiological parameters monitoring system for COVID-19 patients, developed by ESIC Medical College Hyderabad in collaboration with IIT Hyderabad and Department Of Atomic Energy. Dr Singh stressed on the importance of prevention and awareness in dealing with this pandemic effectively, now that the process of unlock has started in a phased manner after an effective and timely lockdown for close to two months.

SOURCE: The Statesman

Download as PDF