After a wait of almost a year, the end to the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be in sight. India launched its vaccination drive against the disease on January 16, 2021 after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation. Healthcare workers and frontline workers are part of the first phase of vaccination. Watch the full video for more.
_1610788160173_1610788206337.png "PM Modi on Covid vaccination drive")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the nationwide vaccination drive for the novel coronavirus and urged people to positively get the second dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Emphasising to follow Covid protocols, PM Modi said the start of vaccination does not mean people should stop wearing masks or violate maintaining social distancing. Billed as the world's largest vaccination programme, covering the entire length and breadth of the country, the drive aims to first inoculate millions of its healthcare and frontline workers and reach an estimated 3 crore people by the end of its first phase. A total of 3,006 session sites across all states and Union Territories were virtually connected during the launch. Around 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each session site on the inaugural day, the union health ministry has said. In the first phase government and private sector health care workers, including Integrated Child Development Services workers, will receive the vaccine.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India's vaccination drive against Covid-19 on January 16, 2021. PM said that exactly a year ago, India had taken its first step to battle Covid, by forming a high-level committee to monitor the spread of the disease. He also appealed to people to take both the doses of the vaccine on time, and not stop taking other precautions like social distancing and use of masks. He said that India had set an example for the entire world in the fight against Covid. Watch the full video for more.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched the nationwide vaccination drive for the novel coronavirus. He explained how Made-In-India vaccines are different from foreign ones. PM Modi said that the Indian vaccines are inexpensive and easy to use. Billed as the world's largest vaccination programme, covering the entire length and breadth of the country, the drive aims to first inoculate millions of its healthcare and frontline workers and reach an estimated 3 crore people by the end of its first phase. A total of 3,006 session sites across all states and Union Territories were virtually connected during the launch. The union health ministry has said that around 100 beneficiaries will be vaccinated at each session site on the inaugural day.
Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Nitin Gadkari lashed out at the Cement and Steel industry and said they are exploiting the present situation in the real estate market. Watch the full video for more.
As the India-China border tension stretches on, Dr Laxman Kumar Behera, Associate Professor, Special Centre for National Security Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University spoke on a solution to step up the defence sector. Dr Kumar said that levying additional taxes could be one of the solutions. The discussion with Mitali Mukherjee, Fellow, ORF was part of Mint's Road to Recovery series focused on the upcoming Budget. Watch the video for more.
G Mohan Kumar, former defence secretary spoke on the defence expenditure. Kumar said that if India is able to reduce redundancies, then expenditure can be saved. The discussion with Mitali Mukherjee, Fellow, ORF was part of Mint's Road to Recovery series focused on the upcoming Budget. Watch the video for more.
Ahead of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s third budget, a key question is whether India will increase defence spending and by how much in FY 2021-22. Former Chairman, National Security Advisory Board, PS Raghavan said that India needs to first see what it requires for national security and then figure out the finances for it. “Today, wars are not fought on land, sea and air. It is fought with technology, cyber, space, electronics, information and many of these may not come in the defence budget,” said Raghavan. Watch the full video for more.
Distinguished Fellow and Head, Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative, Observer Research Foundation, Dr Rajeshwari Rajagopalan said that India’s defence budget has been disappointing over the years. “From the perspective of defence modernization, the Indian defence budget has been disappointing year after year with significant implications for national security. In fact in 2018, the Army Vice-Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Chand made an unusually strong case in the parliamentary committee on defence stating the difficulty of the three services on account of the falling budget allocation,” said Rajagopalan. Watch the full video for more.
Director General, Centre for Contemporary China Studies, Lt Gen (Retd) S L Narasimhan said that it is difficult to peg the defence expenditure to a percentage of GDP. “I don’t think India has been complacent. Yes, there have been constraints on the budget, however, the budget alone is not the capability of the Indian armed forces. It has got many facets of training, experience and leadership,” said Narasimhan. He added, “Yes, we definitely need more money. There is no question about that.” Watch the full video for more details.
Rosa Abraham, senior research fellow, Centre for Sustainable Employment, Azim Premji University, commented on how the Covid-19 pandemic affected India's rural economy. The discussion with Mitali Mukherjee, Fellow, ORF was part of Mint's Road to Recovery series focused on the upcoming Budget
Ashutosh Gupta, India country manager, LinkedIn, commented on how the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown impacted the country's hospitality sector. The discussion with Mitali Mukherjee, Fellow, ORF was part of Mint's Road to Recovery series focused on the upcoming Budget.
Manish Sabharwal, Chairman, and Co-Founder of Teamlease Services spoke to Livemint on the upcoming Budget and how it can address unemployment. Sabharwal said that India needs reforms and policies for fiscal flexibilities. He added that Covid has reminded us of our problems. Watch the full video for more details.
