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Covid TPR up: No more curbs for now; Delhi to 'wait and see'
The parameters of the GRAP prepared in the background of the April calamity itself may require to be redefined in view of the emerging situation in which the TPR is not a corresponding indicator of the severity of the pandemic as determined by hospitalisations. The DDMA meeting, adjourned without taking any further stringent measures to stem the tide of covid infections, will meet again when the situation warrants.

NEW DELHI, Dec 29: A virtual Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) meeting held under the chairmanship of Lt Governor Anil Baijal and attended by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and experts on Wednesday decided to 'wait and see' for some more time before clamping harsh restrictions on business activities in the Capital that push the economy deeper in the doldrums, simply relying on the Test Positivity Rate (TPR) as there has not been any alarming situation of a concomitant surge in serious cases of hospitalisations due to covid or Omicron in Delhi.

The Yellow Alert will stay put till the next meeting which will be held when there is any uptick in hospital admissions of serious cases of covid or Omicron. If the current covid situation continues to be less threatening, the parameters of the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP) prepared in the background of the April calamity itself may require to be redefined. It is to be seen in the coming days if the overhanging threat of an elusive third wave turns real or peters out! Or may stay on just like an Indian flu!

On Wednesday there were 923 cases which is an 86% jump from Tuesday's and the highest since May 30. The TPR climbed to 1.29 %. But no mortality was reported. There were 73 new Omicron cases in the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 238. On Tuesday there were 496 cases and the TPR was 0.89% with one fatality. However, so far there were no reports of oxygenated bed occupancy in the recent past. The TPR was 0.55% on Sunday and 0.68% on Monday, enforcing the Yellow Alert. The total deaths so far in Delhi was 25,107 and the case tally 14,45,102.

It was reported that the DDMA sounded a Yellow Alert on Tuesday in the Capital in accordance with one of the three conditions stipulated in the GRAP Level-I being fulfilled, although there was no order issued clamping the restrictions. (On two consecutive days - Sunday and Monday - the TPR was above 0.5% ). The schools and other educational institutions were closed on Wednesday and the Metro ran at 50% capacity. Shops and malls open on an odd-even plan, night curfew which was in place already under a Government order gets extended to 10 pm to 5 am instead of 11 pm to 5 am under the GRAP. Hotels are open but restaurants and bars operate at 50 per cent capacity (SEE: What is shut and what is open: Level I to Level IV)

Under any one of two other conditions too Yellow Alert falls in place: Cumulative daily positive cases (seven-day rolling average) crossing 1,500 or the average oxygenated bed occupancy (seven-day average) is above 500.

“We called upon all stakeholders for collective and concerted efforts to deal with the pandemic without lowering the guard,” Baijal tweeted. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyender Jain, Dr VK Paul of NITI Aayog, Delhi Chief Secretary, AIIMS Delhi director Dr Randeep Guleria and other senior officials were also present at the DDMA meeting.

The traders in Delhi have suggested that the colour code of the GRAP be changed to make all the three conditions of TPR, fresh cases and oxygen bed occupancy being met simultaneously to enforce the restrictions, rather than imposing curbs even when just one condition is fufilled. Till now in the new wave Delhi has not reported the stipulated 1,500 daily cases or 500 oxygen bed occupancy warranting the curbs. The Yellow Alert has been enforced based on TPR only, Chamber of Trade and Industry (CTI) chairman Brijesh Goyal said.

Covid cases surge in Mumbai

Meanwhile, there has been a sudden spurt in covid and Omicron cases in several other States too. There were 2,510 cases on Wednesday in Mumbai city alone, that is an 82% jump over Tuesday's. There were 20 deaths in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours. All public places will be shut on Decenber 31. December 31. Gatherings of over five people have been barred between 9 pm and 6 am in the State. All air passengers arriving from the UAE will have to undergo a 7-day mandatory home quarantine and also undergo RT-PCR test. Since last week the rule is in force for those coming from Dubai also.

Uttar Pradesh has reimposed night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am from December 25. Gatherings of over 200 people are also banned. Kerala will have night curfew from December 30 to January 2 in order to curb gatherings on New Year's Eve. Karnataka has a 10-day night curfew since Monday. In Assam the curfew is from 11:30 pm to 6 am. Night curfew is also in force in Gujarat, Haryana and Odisha.

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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.

The irony lies in her illustration of her experiences in the country she has been living in for the last four years. What it really is!

ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

  • The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
  • The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
  • The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

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