Mav/imf

  In an effort to “neutralise” the negative narrative, a Group of Ministers (GoM) of the Union government, formed to fine-tune the “government communication”, has come out with various suggestions, including tracking “50 negative and 50 positive influencers” on the social media and to “neutralise the people who are writing against the Government without facts and set fal se narratives / spread fake news”. Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani, Information and Broadcasting (I&B)Minister Prakash Javadekar, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur and MoS in the Environment Ministry Babul Supriyo were part of the GoM, which met six times between June 14 and July 9 last year. It emerges that the decisions on capping 26% of the FDI (foreign direct investm...

  Bengaluru emerged as the best city in the government's Ease of Living Index 2020 [EoLI]. Pune bagged the second position on the list, while Ahmedabad ranked third among 111 ot her cities. " Bengaluru emerged as the top performer in the Million+ category [in category of 'population more than million], followed by Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Surat, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai," a PIB press release said. Category: Population more than million | 10 cities 1.  Bengaluru 2.  Pune 3.  Ahmedabad 4.  Chennai 5.  Surat 6.  Navi Mumbai 7.  Coimbatore 8.  Vadodara 9.  Indore 10.  Greater Mumbai In the category of 'population less than million',  Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.

  A 34-year-old PhD student of IISc ended his life by suicide at his room in the campus on Tuesday. ... A 34-year-old PhD student of IISc ended his life by suicide at his room in the campus on Tuesday. He left no suicide note and based on a complaint by college authorities, a case of unnatural death has been registered. Preliminary investigations revealed that he was under depression.A senior police officer from Sadashivanagar police station said that the deceased Ranadeer Kumar hailed from Bihar and was a final year student. He was studying nano technology and was living in the campus premises for a few years. He was supposed to submit his PhD thesis this year to complete the course. A senior police officer said Kumar's family and friends were trying to reach him over phone since Monday evening and he did not answer the calls. On Tuesday afternoon, they went his room to check and found his body hanging. The security officials called the police and alerted them about the incident. ...

  New Delhi:  President Ram Nath Kovind was on Wednesday administered the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The President was given the vaccine at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital here.

  Once a techie, always a techie. And so, when software engineer Amit Mishra was jailed in Haryana's Gurugram for 13 months in connection with his wife's suicide he got busy developing a software to make Indian jails hi-tech. A year on, when Mishra walked out of Bhondsi jail after proving his innocence, he found himself much in demand by jail authorities across Haryana after the success of his software, Phoenix — a prison management system software. On Monday, the Supreme Court acknowledged the efficacy of Mishra's software, seeking his assistance in ensuring that life convicts could exercise their legal right of early release after serving 14 years in jail.

 Forty Indians entered the billionaires'  club in the pandemic-stricken 2020 to take the number of those in the coveted list to 177 people, a report said on Tuesday. Mukesh Ambani continued to be the wealthiest Indian with a networth of $ 83 billion. The head of Reliance Industries witnessed a 24 % jump in fortunes and climbed up one spot to be the eighth richest globally, as per the Hurun Global Rich List. Gautam Adani from Gujarat, who has had a spectacular rise in fortunes in the last few years, saw his wealth almost doubling to $ 32 billion in 2020 and climbed 20 places to be the 48th richest person globally and the second wealthiest Indian. His brother Vinod's wealth grew 128 % to $ 9.8 billion. The report compiles individual or family wealth in the year to January 15. It can be noted that the Indian economy is set to contract by over 7 % because of the impact of the pandemic, which had forced governments to go for lockdowns that had a debilitating impact on the poor. Th...

  Kolkata:   West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's brother Babun met with an accident on Monday night in Chingrighata, Kolkata. No injuries were reported in the accident but a case has been filed and the police have launched an investigation. According to reports, a loaded truck rammed into the vehicle of Babun at around 9.55 pm on the EM Bypass. He came out of the accident unhurt but the truck was seized by police. Interestingly, there had been speculations for long that Babun may dump his sister and join ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). According to reports, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership has been negotiating with him for quite long.

  The Union Health Ministry on Monday said that the Co-WIN app on Play Store is meant only for the administrators to use, adding that beneficiaries will have to register and book appointments for Covid-19 vaccination through the portal   cowin.gov.in . The clarification was by the Health Ministry comes amid reported glitches in registrations as  vaccination drive for senior citizens and those aged 45  and above with comorbidities kickstarted today. "Registration and booking for appointment for #COVID19 vaccination is to be done through #CoWIN Portal: www.cowin.gov.in. There is NO #CoWIN App for beneficiary registration.The App on Play Store is for administrators only," the ministry tweeted. The government had announced last week that all those above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities will be able to get themselves vaccinated against Covid-19 from March 1  for free at government facilities and for a charge at many private hospitals . Citiz...

  Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates has a favourite kind of phone operating system. While Apple enjoys almost cult status for anyone who owns an iPhone, the software mogul recently revealed he has a personal preference for Androids. Advertisement Gates revealed his preference this week while participating in his first meeting on Clubhouse, the increasingly popular invite-only conversation app. Ironically, Clubhouse is only limited to Apple devices at the moment. Gates was interviewed by journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin, and given that the Clubhouse app is currently only available on iOS, Sorkin questioned whether Gates regularly uses an iPhone or if he prefers iOS over Android. RELATED NEWS Bill Gates Prefers an Android Device Over iPhones, and Has a Convincing Reason For it iPhone Loyalists Can't Keep Calm after Twitter User's Thread Shows Android Phones are Faster Advertisement “I actually use an Android phone,” Gates said. “Because I want to keep t...