Month: April 2020

Senior diplomat Anurag Shrivastava is chaired as the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), replacing Raveesh Kumar. Srivastava, a 1999 batch Indian Foreign Service officer.   Anurag in his tweet wrote, “Feeling honoured and proud to be the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs of India. I look forward to working with everyone to fulfil my responsibilities in this new role.”   In the Ministry of External Affairs, he will be commanded by the Publicity Department of the Ministry.   Before his appointment as India’s ambassador…

An estimated 1.5 billion people around the world have been asked to practice social distancing amid the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) that has caused the deaths of more than 69,000 people. The rapid spread of the disease, escalation of pulmonary symptoms, financial disruption, travel restrictions and social isolation have been cited as a catalyst for increased prevalence of mental disorders such as depression across a variety of age groups, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.   Magdalene Crabbe, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Sales of drugs for psychiatric…

Starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the salaries of Central ministers and Members of parliament will be slashed by 30 per cent for the coming year in view of the coronavirus outbreak and the expected downturn in the economy, the Union cabinet has decided. Making the announcement this evening, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and all state Governors have voluntarily decided to take a 30% salary cut.   The money will go to the country’s consolidated fund, the minister said after the cabinet approved the Ordinance amending the Salary, Allowances and Pension…

A tiger at the Bronx Zoo in New York City has tested positive for the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in the first known case of a human infecting an animal and making it sick.   Nadia, the 4-year-old Malayan tiger that tested positive, was screened for the COVID-19 disease after developing a dry cough along with three other tigers and three lions, said the Wildlife Conservation Society, which manages the zoo. All of the cats are expected to recover, it said.   The virus that causes COVID-19…

Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia said that he has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman asking for a disaster fund for the national capital amid coronavirus spread. “Centre released ₹17,000 crore to the states to fight coronavirus, but didn’t give even a single rupee to Delhi,” said Sisodia. “Such discrimination is unfortunate,” he added.   “The whole world is suffering from COVID-19, Delhi government and people of Delhi are working collectively with the center to fight the battle against it. On Friday, the central government provided emergency disaster management…

Fenexa Technology Private Limited, (ftpl) new delhi in collaboration with Est group based at cic, mit, boston is soon launching the digital exchange in india in may 2020 as situation improves after the corona pandemic. It is the precursor to the launch of crypto trading league (ctl), a big incentive to crypto traders of the region.   Amalendu mukherjee ( founder, fourth dimension solution limited) , the chairman of ftpl stated that the recent surge in the popularity of crypto currency had led to dramatic increase in trading volumes on many…

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the need for N95 respirator masks will surge in the US. According to GlobalData analysis, around 5.6bn N95 respirator masks are in demand due to the COVID19 outbreak, and up to 7.3bn will be required in the severe scenario.   Tina Deng, Senior Medical Devices at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view on respirators shortage:   “Providing these numbers of N95 respirator masks in a short time represents an intractable challenge for manufacturers. The major manufacturer, 3M Co, expects to ramp up monthly production of N95…