Issue 360 - 31/07/2020

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NEWS LITERATURE POLITICS FASHION ART & CULTURE KIDS RELIGION FILMS
31/07/2020
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Plasma to be provided free of cost: Punjab CM
Chandigarh : With the main opposition
AAP announcing statewide protests
against the decision to sell 'donated'
plasma to private hospitals, Punjab
Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on
Thursday said it would be provided free
of cost to all the Covid patients who
need it. An official statement quoting
Singh said he has directed authorities to
strictly ensure Covid patients are not
charged for plasma therapy and that
nobody is allowed to buy or sell plasma.
The Chief Minister also appealed to
the recovered patients to come forward
to save the lives of others. He urged the
Deputy Commissioners and health
department officials, during a Covid
management virtual review meeting, to
motivate such patients to donate plasma.
Currently, there are around 10,000
recovered virus patients in the state, he
said, adding that his government's priority
was to save each and every life in
Punjab. Contrary to the Chief Minister,
state AAP president Bhagwant Mann
said the party would not allow the government
to sell the adonated' plasma to
private hospitals for Rs 20,000 per unit.
"We strongly oppose the open aloot'
by the government allowing sale of adonated'
plasma at a price. We will hold
peaceful and symbolic protests against
this decision on Friday all across
NASA Perseverance rover on way
to Mars to find signs of life
Washington : NASA
on Thursday launched
the Mars 2020
Perseverance rover that
will seek, as a primary
goal, to answer one of the
key questions of astrobiology:
Are there potential
signs of past microbial
life, or biosignatures on
the Red Planet?
Launched on a United
Launch Alliance Atlas V
rocket from Space
Launch Complex 41 at
Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station in Florida,
the rover will also test new technologies
to benefit future robotic
and human exploration of Mars.
"Today's final critical milestone
- acquisition of signal - has
been achieved. In essence,
Perseverance has phoned home
to let us know it's officially on
the way to Mars," the US space
agency said in a statement. The
rover will land at Mars' Jezero
Crater on February 18, 2021.
"This signifies that JPL's
(NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory) deep space network
has locked on to the spacecraft,
which is on its journey to Mars,"
said NASA Launch Manager
Srinagar, July 30 (IANS) The Jammu
and Kashmir Police have been put on
high alert for the ensuing fortnight after
intelligence reports said that subversive
elements were planning to disrupt peace
during the next 15 days.
Director General of Police (DGP)
Dilbag Singh took a meeting of senior
officers on Thursday and directed the
security forces to remain on high alert
for the ensuing fortnight.
The DGP directed the security forces
to ensure that Eid celebrations and
events connected with the country's
Independence Day pass off peacefully.
Omar Baez, from the agency's
Launch Services Programme.
"Everything appears to be
going nominally. Today's count
went beautifully."
The mission -- designed to
better understand the geology
and climate of Mars and seek
signs of ancient life on the Red
Planet -- will use the robotic scientist,
which weighs just under
1,043 kgs and is the size of a
small car, to collect and store a
set of rock and soil samples that
could be returned to Earth by
future Mars sample return missions.
Perseverance will also
ferry a separate technology
Security forces are facing an additional
challenge in J&K this year
because the first anniversary of the
abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and
bifurcation of the state into two Union
Territories fall on August 5. The DGP
directed the supervisory officers to regularly
inspect the security forces
deployed on operations, on static guard
and other duties.
The police chief said the security
forces have been doing a commendable
job by carrying out operations against
militants and maintaining the law and
order. "We cannot afford to lower the
Punjab, strictly observing
the essential safety corona
stipulations," Mann said in
a statement.
Meanwhile, the Chief
Minister asked the Health
Department to expedite setting
up of two new plasma
banks at Amritsar and
Faridkot towns to supplement
the one already operational
in Patiala. He was
informed by Minister O.P.
Soni that the approvals for
the new banks had already
been received and tenders
were being floated for procurement
of equipment. Expressing
concern over the increasing number of
cases in the state, Amarinder Singh also
asked Health Minister Balbir Sidhu to
send a viable proposal for earmarking
10 beds in all district hospitals for treatment
and care of mild or minor cases of
infection.
experiment to the surface of
Mars -- a helicopter named
Ingenuity, the first aircraft to
fly in a controlled way on
another planet.
NASA's Mars 2020
Perseverance is part of
America's larger Moon to Mars
exploration approach that
includes missions to the Moon
as a way to prepare for human
exploration of the Red Planet.
NASA said its Perseverance
rover builds on the lessons of
other Mars rovers.
The US space agency's first
rover on Mars was modest:
Sojourner, the size of a
microwave oven, demonstrated
in 1997 that a robot could rove
on the Red Planet.
NASA's next Mars rovers,
Spirit and Opportunity, were
each the size of a golf cart. After
landing in 2004, they discovered
evidence that the planet once
hosted running water before
becoming a frozen desert. The
car-sized Curiosity rover landed
in 2012. Curiosity discovered
that its landing site, Gale Crater,
hosted a lake billions of years
ago and an environment that
could have supported microbial
life.
Kathmandu : Nepal has
opened Mount Everest and other
Himalayan peaks from Thursday
after a a nearly 5-month closure
due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
according to a Tourism
Department official. All spring
season expeditions that usually
last from March to May were
suspended in the wake of the
pandemic, reports Xinhua news
agency.
The government had halted
the issuance of climbing permits
for expeditions and cancelled
issued permits for the spring season
2020 on March 13.
An expedition to Everest usually
takes 45 to 90 days, a short
climbing window, depending on
favourable weather, and generally
falls after mid-May.
"The mountains are now open
for mountaineers and the department
has started issuing climbing
permits starting today
(Thursday)," said Mira Acharya,
director at the Department of
Tourism (DoT).
The country has opened 414
peaks for mountaineering purposes.
In line with the relaxation on
Punjab CM launches
immunity boosting milk
Chandigarh : Punjab Chief
Minister Amarinder Singh on
Thursday launched a nutritional drink
'Verka haldi' or turmeric milk, produced
by Milkfed to boost people's
immunity amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Describing it as an appropriate time
to launch this versatile product, packed
with the rich medicinal properties of
turmeric (haldi) as an immunity booster
and a natural healer, the Chief
Minister hoped the milk would soon
emerge as a popular drink among consumers,
who were now looking for
alternate ways to stay healthy and
boost their immunity in the fight
against coronavirus. On the occasion,
guard since the gains made during the
last few months have to be consolidated,"
he said. Effects of collective fight
against Covid-19 by the police, Central
armed police forces and the civil administration
were also discussed at the
meeting, a police spokesman said.
The DGP said that all efforts must be
put in place to enhance the security of
vulnerable people and places. He said
officers can take decisions keeping in
view the local requirements.
He said logistics such as bullet-proof
bunkers fitted with CCTV cameras have
been provided and advised the officers
Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder
Singh Randhawa said the Verka milk
had been prepared by using a unique
'haldi' formulation, that had been
developed and patented by Department
of Biotechnology of Punjabi
University in Patiala. It offers 10 times
higher absorption for the human body
than normal 'haldi', he said. Verka
Haldi Dudh has been launched, as part
of Mission Fateh, at a price of Rs 25
for 200 ml which is within the reach of
all sections of society and will be beneficial
for health of young and old
alike. The product will be available at
all major retail outlets and Verka
booths, said Randhawa.
Nepal opens Mt. Everest
after nearly 5 months
economic activities, the government
has allowed hotels, restaurants,
trekking and mountaineering
services to resume operations
from Thursday.
Nepal bags more than $4 million
as royalty from climbers
annually.
The DoT collects $5,500 as
climbing permit fee for Mount
Everest's normal route and
$5,000 for the other route uring
autumn.
As the country is gearing up
to resume international flights, it
is expecting tourists for the
autumn season. "The quarantine
modality is still under discussion
because of which we are unable
to project the flow of climbers
into the country," Acharya told
Xinhua. The Himalayan nation
has so far reported 19,273 coronavirus
cases, with 49 deaths.
J&K Police put on high alert for the ensuing forthnight
that these resources must be made good
use of. He advised that incidents of sensitive
law and order nature must be
recorded and later analysed.
He said plasma donations by police
personnel, an initiative under the supervision
of Additional Director General
(ADG), Coordination, S.J.M. Gillani,
has been appreciated by the civilians as
precious lives are being saved through
this attempt. He said a list of police personnel
who can be screened for plasma
donation should be prepared at the district
and other levels in the police
department.