Category: Breaking News

The Ministry of electronics and IT (MeitY) has issued a seven days’ notice to Facebook-owned company to withdraw its new Privacy Policy, which came on effect from May 15. Failure to do so, the ministry warned, will prompt lawful measures.   With over 450 million users, India is WhatsApp’s biggest market by users. “In fulfilment of its sovereign responsibility to protect the rights and interests of Indian citizens, the government of India will consider various options available to it under laws in India,” the letter says.   WhatsApp had earlier…

FISME Secretary General Anil Bhardwaj said that at least 50% of MSMEs have slipped to SMA 1 & SMA 2 categories and may turn into NPAs if lockdowns persist under the second wave of Covid-19.   On May 5, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das announced additional relief measures in light of the second wave. The announcements included loan restructuring facilities for individuals, small businesses and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).   But, industry voices believe that a lot more needs to be done to save these…

The announcement come after the Goa government announcement to vaccinate the Journalists.   The Delhi Government on Friday announced that it will organise a COVID-19 vaccination drive for all the media houses-electronic, digital and print, in the national capital.   It added that the vaccination drive will be conducted at the offices of media houses and the Delhi government will bear its cost.   The Supreme Court order has come as a relief for Delhi as for over several weeks hospitals in the national capital have been facing a shortage of critical supply.   Delhi…

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced a term liquidity facility of ₹50,000 crore for access to emergency health security till March 2022.   Under this facility, banks will be able to provide fresh lending support to vaccine manufacturers, vaccine importers, suppliers of oxygen cylinders and ventilators, and others. Banks can classify these loans as priority sector lending, Das said.   The RBI will continue to monitor the emerging situation and deploy all instruments at its command,” said Das at an unscheduled briefing where he listed measures the central bank will take…

The Aviation Ministry has granted permission to conduct experimental drone flight operations beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) to 20 entities, including Swiggy and Dunzo.   The Ministry has granted a conditional exemption from the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021 for conducting the BVLOS experimental flights. The exemption will be valid for a year or until further orders.   This means that an exclusion has been granted to these 20 companies for experimentation. The list of companies granted permission include Swiggy, Dunzo, and SpiceJet along with 17 others including Skylark Drones, Virginia Tech India, ShopX…

Media cannot be stopped from reporting oral remarks made by judges during a court hearing. The honest and full reportage of these comments gives the public an insight into whether judges are genuinely applying their minds to resolve a crisis, the Supreme Court told a “hurt” Election Commission of India (ECI) today.   The ECI had complained to the Supreme Court about certain oral comments made by a Division Bench of the Madras High Court. The HC judges had accused the ECI of being solely responsible for the super-spread of Covid-19…

AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria said in mild/asymptomatic COVID-19 cases, the virus dies after 7th or 8th day and can’t be transmitted. “It may be detected in RT-PCR tests till 2-3 weeks but it’s dead,” said Guleria.   Patient can end isolation after at least 10 days from onset of symptoms and he /she has had no fever for three days.   The centre said, in its new guidelines for COVID-19 treatment under home isolation, has specified that the isolation can be ended after 10 days given the patient does…

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday imposed new travel restrictions on India in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, barring most non-U.S. citizens from entering the United States.   The new restrictions, which take effect on Tuesday, May 4 are on the advice of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and were imposed because the magnitude and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic in India was surging, as per the White House.   Biden on Friday signed a proclamation implementing the restrictions. The proclamation said India “accounts for over…

Tata Sons, the holding company of Tata Group has quoted a higher price than SpiceJet promoter Ajay Singh for Air India Ltd in the preliminary bidding round.  According to people aware of the development.   The government hopes to privatize India’s flag carrier by the end of the current fiscal year. Tata Sons is in the driver’s seat in the proposed disinvestment process, with the second wave of covid resulting in reduced load factor and suspension of air travel, constricting the cash flows of Air India and lowering its valuation.   The…

Work-from-home became the new normal, and most of the technology companies had adopted to this new system. Google employees were not travelling as much as they would normally on the company’s dime, and that, in addition to expenses from company promotions and entertainment, led to savings of $268 million during the first quarter this year, as compared to the same period last year.   With this Google saved a lot of money last year and that is when the company reported a 34 per cent boost in revenues. According to a…