Heena Sharma Blog

  NITI Aayog member Dr V. K. Paul on Tuesday said thwarting the third wave of Covid-19 pandemic is in the hands of the people as "it can be stopped if Covid appropriate behaviour is followed, and majority of the people get vaccinated". Paul's remarks came a day after a record 85 lakh Covid vaccination doses were administered across the country till Monday midnight with the beginning of the implementation of the revised Covid-19 vaccination policy, in which the Centre is procuring 75 per cent of domestically available vaccines for free jabs to the 18-plus population. He said the day one vaccination figures demonstrate India's ability to carry out vaccination on a large-scale for days and weeks together. "All this was possible because of planning and coordination between the Central and state governments and taking up the task work in a mission mode," Paul said. Read More

The computing code of Aaroyga Setu , India’s coronavirus-tracing app , will be opened up for independent developers to check and make suggestions, said the government on Tuesday after privacy activists flagged their worries about its safety and use. The app's Android version will be made open source first and other makes later, said the government. “This is a unique thing to be done. No other government product anywhere in the world has been open sourced at this scale. Today its scale and size is 115 million. It cuts across phones, IVRS. Only product available in 12 languages. All Covid-19 related apps put together, Aarogya Setu is bigger than all of them," Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of Niti Aayog, was quoted as saying in a LiveMint report. 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

Seven central ministries and departments have not earmarked funds for tribal welfare schemes in their budget for 2019-20 and 12 have "kept the provision below the level stipulated by the Niti Aayog", officials said Wednesday. In 2017, the Niti Aayog developed new guidelines obligating 41 central ministries and departments to earmark funds for "Development Action Plan for Scheduled Tribes" (DAPST), earlier known as Tribal Sub-Plan. An official said the guidelines were finalized in January 2019, which means complete adherence cannot be ensured this financial year. "Since the ministries decide their allocations for various schemes by November-December and the guidelines were finalised in January, any corrective action is possible next year only," the official said. The guidelines state that the 41 identified ministries and departments have to earmark at least 4.3 per cent funds for DAPST. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard