Heena Sharma Blog

The Delhi Government on Wednesday confirmed that no new locations were added in the list of Covid-19 containment zones here as till Tuesday 100 containment zones were declared across the national capital. A part of Shaheen Bagh was added into the list of containment zones on Tuesday. The step of declaring containment zones is aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus, which has swept across continents- from China to USA, killing thousands and crippling economies besides putting millions under lockdown and in quarantine. The containment zones are the areas where cases of Covid-19 have been detected. The containment operation includes sealing off the area with police barricades and shutting the entry and exit with tin walls. Read More

Rajasthan Health Department on Wednesday confirmed that 74 new cases of Covid-19 and three new deaths have been reported in the State, taking the total number of cases to 2438 including 55 deaths. As many as 814 patients have recovered from the disease till date. Out of the total number of Covid-19 positive cases in the State, Jaipur has reported the maximum number of cases standing at 22. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot took to Twitter and backed the decision taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), allowing the movement of migrant labourers. Read More

TikTok has surpassed two billion downloads worldwide on the App Store and Google Play. The latest milestone comes just five months after TikTok surpassed 1.5 billion downloads. In Q1 2020, it generated the most downloads for any app ever in a quarter, accumulating more than 315 million installs across the App Store and Google Play. TikTok's latest surge comes amid the global Covid-19 pandemic, which has seen consumers drawn to their mobile devices more than ever as they look for new ways to shop, work, and connect with others. In India, the short video making app leads the chart with more than 600 million downloads or about 30.3 per cent of all unique installs. China is the second leading country for installs, accumulating 196.6 million to date, or 9.7 per cent of all downloads, for its version of the app, known as Douyin, reported mobile intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Read More

" Bhag jaldi Dilli pagal ," were the words of veteran actor Rishi Kapoor to Union minister Smriti Irani in 2014 when he came to know that she had been summoned to the national capital take oath after formation of a new government. Paying a moving tribute to Kapoor, Irani remembered her last meeting with the actor on a movie set. "In 2014 he told me 'bhag jaldi Dilli pagal ' for he knew I've been summoned to take oath. The last I saw him was on a set and that's how I will remember him. Prodding you to do your best, caring for the little things, teaching you the craft no matter how old you were on the job," she said in a tweet. Read More

From Indian politicians to Bollywood celebrities, condolences poured in from all sides as veteran actor Rishi Kapoor died on Thursday morning at the age of 67 in a Mumbai hospital. Rishi was hospitalised on Wednesday morning after complaining that he was not feeling well. The actor was admitted to Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai. Wife Neetu Kapoor was at his side. Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter expressing the loss and sent condolences to Kapoor's family and fans. "Multifaceted, endearing and lively...this was Rishi Kapoor Ji. He was a powerhouse of talent. I will always recall our interactions, even on social media. He was passionate about films and India’s progress. Anguished by his demise. Condolences to his family and fans. Om Shanti," PM Modi said. Read More

Coronavirus India update: With 1,718 new cases and 67 deaths in the past 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 33,062 on Thursday. So far, 1,079 people have died due to Covid-19 in the country. Indian states hit with most cases are Maharashtra (9,915), Gujarat (4,082), Delhi (3,439), Madhya Pradesh (2,561), Rajasthan (2,438), Tamil Nadu (2,162), and Uttar Pradesh (2,134). In a significant development, the Centre has now allowed migrant labourers, students, pilgrims and tourists who do not have any symptoms of coronavirus to go back to their home states. It issued a set of guidelines to this effect on Wednesday. Coronavirus world update: Nations hit with most coronavirus cases at present are the US (1,064,194) Spain (236,899), Italy (203,505), France (165,911) and UK (165,145). Globally, 3,221,617 people have been infected by coronavirus and the total number of deaths from the disease stands at 228,263. Read More

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Income Tax department to refund within four weeks Rs 733 crore to Vodafone Idea Ltd for assessment year (AY) 2014-15. Vodafone Idea, formerly known as Vodafone Mobile Services Ltd, had sought Rs 4,759.07 crore in tax refund from for AYs 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, but the court refused for other years. "Insofar as AY 2014-15 is concerned, final assessment order passed under Section 143(3) of the (Income Tax) Act indicates that the appellant (telecom firm) is entitled to refund of Rs 733 Crores; while for AY 2015-16 there is a demand of Rs.582 Crores," a bench comprising Justices U U Lalit and Vineet Saran said in the judgement. Read More

The Kerala government will bring an ordinance to defer up to 25 per cent salaries of its employees after the High Court order barred it from taking a tougher cost-cutting measure during the coronavirus outbreak , said a minister on Monday. Soon after the weekly cabinet meeting, State Finance Minister Thomas Issac told the media that the government has decided to come out with Disaster and Public Emergency Special Provisions Act which will give it the power to defer payment of salaries, up to 25 per cent of all state government employees. "This is not against yesterday's high court order, instead we have abided by it. We are not going to go in appeal against stay order. The State government is using the provisions in the Act. The provision in the Act is clear as it says this can be done when a health emergency or a disaster strikes. Read More

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to Twitter on Wednesday to condoled the death of actor Irrfan Khan , saying he will be remembered for his versatile performances across different mediums. Khan's demise is a loss to the world of cinema and theatre, Modi said on Twitter. "He will be remembered for his versatile performances across different mediums. My thoughts are with his family, friends and admirers. May his soul rest in peace," the prime minister said. Read More

Hitting out at the Congress party, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that wilful defaulters were beneficiaries of 'phone banking' under the UPA regime and the Modi government was chasing them to recover the dues. She was responding to the opposition's allegations of loan waivers worth Rs 68,607 crore in the form of write-offs of top 50 wilful defaulters during the first half of the financial year ended March 2020. The Finance Minister, through a series of tweets on Tuesday, said that the Congress has attempted to mislead people, and former Congress President Rahul Gandhi should introspect why his party fails to play a constructive role in cleaning up the system. Read More

Low cost airline SpiceJet has told its pilots that most of them will not get paid for the months of April and May. The airline instead will roster its pilots in a way that most get chances to operate the company's cargo aircraft in order to get minimal pay. Pilots who are operating cargo aircraft are getting paid according to the hours they fly. SpiceJet has five freighter aircraft which are ferrying cargo like medical and food supplies within India and abroad. Additionally, it has also deployed passenger aircraft Boeing 737 and Q400 for carrying cargo. “We will not be getting any salary for April and May 2020. Over the coming weeks we intend to increase the number of aircraft carrying cargo. Our rostering team will ensure that all of us get to fly the aircraft. Flying will be limited but it will ensure that all our training requirements are current and skills stay intact,” Gurcharan Arora, the airline’s Chief of flight Operations said in a message to the pilots. Read More

The Indian automotive sector was already struggling in FY20. before the Covid-19 crisis . It saw an overall degrowth of nearly 18 per cent. This situation was worsened by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing lockdowns across India and the rest of the world. These two years (FY20 and FY21) are challenging times for the Indian automotive sector on account of slow economic growth, negative consumer sentiment, BS-VI transition, changes to the axle load norms, liquidity crunch, low capacity utilisation and potential bankruptcies. Post-Covid-19 world: When will that be? The return of daily life and manufacturing activity to near normalcy in China and South Korea, along with extended lockdown in India, gives hope for a U-shaped economic recovery. Our analysis indicates that the Indian automotive sector will start to see recovery in the third quarter of FY21. We expect the industry demand to be down 15-25 per cent in FY21. With such degrowth, OEMs, dealers and suppliers...

Apple Music app is now available on Samsung smart televisions. The app is available on Samsung Smart TV App store. Being a subscription-based app, the Apple Music app requires Apple account and subscription to activate and stream music on Samsung-branded televisions. Besides general features, the Apple Music app for Samsung Smart TVs comes with a dedicated section called “At Home with Apple Music”, which includes new editorial playlists as well as interviews and recorded FaceTime chats with artists at home – according to a report in tech news portal Mashable. Read More

The NITI Aayog building in the national capital was sealed for 48 hours after a director-level officer tested positive for coronavirus, a senior official said on Tuesday. "A director-level officer working at NITI Bhawan has tested positive for Covid-19. Today, at 9 am, he got his report, and then he informed authorities," Alok Kumar advisor at NITI Aayog told PTI. He further said that those who came in contact with the person had been asked to go on a self-quarantine. "We are following the necessary protocol. The health ministry has been informed and all due processes will be followed. So, we are closed for 48 hours," Kumar added. Read More

Will the coronavirus lockdown be extended in the national capital? The Delhi government will follow the Centre's guidelines, officials said on Monday. This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a video conference with chief ministers to discuss the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak and measures to deal with it. "We are preparing our submission which will be sent to the Centre soon," a senior government official said. The official said nine chief ministers spoke during the meeting with the prime minister in which they discussed a range of issues, including the possibility of extending of the lockdown, amid the rising number of coronavirus cases. Read More

A meeting was held on Monday via video conferencing at the University Grants Commission (UGC) to discuss the report of expert committee and guidelines on exams, academic calendar for universities, the report of expert committee on promoting online education and suggestive implementation plan on its recommendations in view of Covid-19. "Both reports, guidelines and implementation plan were discussed at length during the meeting and some suggestions were given by the Commission members. After appropriately incorporating all the suggestions given by them, UGC will soon issue the guidelines for universities and colleges," UGC stated. Meanwhile, the regulatory body on Saturday had said that the two committees which were earlier formed have submitted their reports and announced it will issue guidelines next week to universities and colleges regarding the measures to be taken for the current and next academic session. Read More

Samsung is now seeding a software update for its first-generation Galaxy Buds true-wireless earphones that brings new connectivity features, which the company introduced in the upgraded Galaxy Buds+ earphones. The update has a size of around 1.39MB and it is available for download though Samsung Wearable app. Here are the new features that the update brings: Adds Microsoft Swift Pair support The Galaxy Buds now support Microsoft Swift Pair feature, which allows easy and instant pairing of Bluetooth-based earbuds with Windows 10-based computers. Read More

The nationwide lockdown is all set to be extended beyond May 3, at least until the middle of the month in the red zones of the country, as many states told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video-conference meeting on Monday that it’s not the time yet to lift the curbs. This means more activities may be allowed to resume in green zones of the country. Most Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states support extending the lockdown, but will wait and abide by the Centre’s fresh guidelines. Telangana has already extended the lockdown until May 7, and will take a decision on further extension on May 5. Odisha, Meghalaya and some others support extending it by a month. Congress-led governments want the lockdown to be lifted in areas other than hotpots or containment zones. Read More

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries has started testing WhatsApp to connect customers to grocery stores, days after Facebook decided to invest $5.7 billion in digital assets controlled by the company. JioMart , an e-commerce venture of Reliance Retail, "has already started interacting with customers on WhatsApp for grocery orders" in Navi Mumbai, Thane and Kalyan, Credit Suisse said in a report. "The customer initiates the interaction on WhatsApp, checks out the grocery order on JioMart webpage, gets connected with a retail store on WhatsApp and then customer picks up the order from Kirana and pays in cash," it said, adding the model is likely on delivery and completion of the transaction on one app. Read More

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take the strictest action against the alleged profiteering in coronavirus rapid test kits procurement. "Even when the entire country is fighting COVID-19, some people do not miss out on making unfair profits. Shame, disgust at this corrupt mentality. We demand from the Prime Minister that strictest action should be taken on these profiteers soon," Gandhi tweeted in Hindi. He said that the country will "never forgive" those making an unfair profit by selling testing kits. Read More

An encounter broke out between militants and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir 's Kulgam district on Monday, police said. The militants fired on a patrol party at Lower Munda in the Qazigund area of the south Kashmir district, he said. The security forces retaliated and the gunfight is going on. The area has been cordoned off. Read More

The total number of coronavirus (Covid-19) cases in India has reached 27,890 while the death toll is currently at 882, according to Worldometer data . Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Delhi accounted for a little over 50 per cent of all confirmed cases in the country. Maharashtra In Maharashtra, the Covid count breached the 8000-mark on Sunday. Mumbai, the worst affected metro city in the country, reported 324 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, taking the count of virus-infected people in the metropolis to 5,194. The toll in the city rose to 204 with 13 succumbing to the infection. In Pune district, the number of cases grew to 1,264 and the death toll stood at 77. While Thane recorded 72 new cases on Sunday taking the total positive case in the district to 687. Read More

Despite the severe strain on public health systems due to the Covid-19 pandemic , countries around the world must also focus on other health emergencies like malaria or polio, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Sunday. "Public health systems are coming under severe strain as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. Countries must also continue to focus on other health emergencies and make progress against diseases such as malaria or poliomyelitis (polio)," WHO said in its daily coronavirus situation report. The global number of those infected with coronavirus has increased by almost 85,000 in the past 24 hours, climbing to 2,804,796 Covid-19 cases. Read More

Vaccine major Serum Institute of India on Sunday said it planned to start production of the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University in the next two to three weeks and hoped to bring it to the market by October if the human clinical trials were successful. The Pune-based company has partnered with Oxford University as one of the seven global institutions manufacturing the vaccine. “Our team has been working closely with Dr Hill from Oxford University, and we are expecting to initiate production of the vaccine in 2-3 weeks and produce 5 million doses per month for the first 6 months, following which, we hope to scale up production to 10 million doses per month,” Serum Institute India chief executive Adar Poonawalla said. Read More

If there is one thing that the lockdown imposed by the government due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic brought back to life was popular soaps aired on television during 1990s. From the mythological Ramayan and Mahabharat telecast back in 1990s, cricket matches between arch rivals India and Pakistan across formats – one-day and T20 – were a silver lining for many stuck at home. A recent report by CARE Ratings has sourced and analysed the latest available data (for week between April 4 and 10) from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India on what Indians have been watching. The study, however, does not include content streamed on over-the-top (OTT) platforms in India. Read More

India had 23,077 coronavirus cases and 718 deaths from the disease till Friday noon. Maharashtra's number of patients has crossed 6,400. Madhya Pradesh has almost 1,700 infected cases, of which 1,000 are from Indore. Telangana has shown signs of recovery. Rajasthan is getting worse with more doctors and police officers getting infected. Authorities are trying hard to provide adequate and better facilities to the people. Hooch selling on the rise Amid lockdown in the country, a lot of things are not available to people. Among them, one is liquor. Taking advantage of the situation, traffickers have started selling hooch (illicit alcohol), reported Dainik Bhaskar. Villages and small towns like Jind and Sirsa, which are located near the banks of Yamuna, have become the hub of hooch manufacturing. Houses and villas have started manufacturing hooch. They are neither experts in brewing alcohol, nor do they keep up with the parameters of manufacturing alcohol. Two people have di...

Chinese smartphone brand iQOO on Friday cut the price of its flagship smartphone, the iQOO 3 . Launched earlier this year, the smartphone comes in three RAM and storage configurations: 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB. The 8GB RAM variant with 128GB and 256GB internal storage configurations was launched at Rs 38,990 and Rs 41,990, respectively. The 12GB RAM variant, one with 5G network support, was launched at Rs 46,990. Now, after the price cut, the – 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB will be available at Rs 34,990, Rs 37,990 and Rs 44,990, respectively. “In cognizance of the difficult circumstance we are all going through due to the global health pandemic, we understand that affordability will be a key concern for consumers going forward. In order to continue with our proposition of offering best-in-class features with 5G capabilities at an affordable price point, we have decided to refresh our pricing, making the iQOO the most cost-effective 5G enabled device in Indi...

The biggest lesson the Covid-19 pandemic has taught India is to become self-reliant, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said while interacting with gram panchayat members. He complimented them for describing social distancing in simple words 'Do Gaz Ki Doori' (maintaining distance of two yards) so that people can understand it easily. "The biggest lesson Covid-19 has taught us is to become self-reliant," Modi said, underlining that it is now imperative that villages also become self-reliant for their basic needs. Read More