Culture ministry files FIR against the Rad Fort incidents

The Department of Expenditure of Ministry of Finance has released an amount of over Rs 12,351 crore to 18 States for providing grants to the Rural Local Bodies. This amount is the 2nd instalment of basic grants released in this financial year.The grant has been released to 18 States which have provided the Utilisation Certificate for the first instalment and on the recommendation of the  Ministry of Panchayati Raj. The grants to Rural Local Bodies  are released as per the recommendations of the 15th Finance Commission to create community assets and improve financial viability of the Rural Local Bodies.The States are required to transfer the grants to the Rural Local Bodies within 10 working days of receipt from the Central Government. So far a total grant of Rs 45,738 crore has been released to Rural Local bodies in 2020-21.

-The Ministry of Culture will file an FIR against those who vendalized the Red Fort. Cuture Minister Prahlad Patel visited the Fort on Wednesday and took stock of the situation and assessed the damage caused in the violence during the Tractor rally on Republic Day.  Later talking to reporters Mr Patel said, he has asked the officials to prepare a report in this regard so that it can be sent to the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

-One among the four army soldiers, who were injured in an Improvised Explosive Device blast in Shamsipora area of Kulgam district 0n Wednesday morning, has succumbed to his injuries at Army’s 92 Base hospitals in Srinagar.As per police reports the IED was planted by terrorists inside an abandoned building within a school premises probably during the night hours. He said that preliminary investigation revealed that a rudimentary IED with a low powered explosive and ball bearings was planted in an abandoned building inside the school premises, where the jawans used to visit on a routine basis.

-Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the State government has provided houses to over 40 lakh people in the State under PM Aawas Yojana - Rural and Urban till now. He said that the state is performing well in achieving the milestone of providing houses to all by the year 2022.The Chief Minister was addressing the beneficiaries of PM Aawas Yojana - Urban virtually, in an event held in Gorakhpur, after transferring Rs. 2409 crore to 3,42,322 beneficiaries of the scheme across the State. The Chief Minister hailed the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in fighting COVID pandemic.Earlier in the day, the Chief Minister visited the Chauri Chaura martyrium and took stock of the preparations going on for the centenary celebration of the historical event that took place in 1922. State government has announced to celebrate the completion of 100 years of Chauri Chaura incident in a grand manner from 4th February next month and will go on for a year.

-Indian Council of Medical Research has said that COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin has equivalent immunogenicity against the UK-variant and circulating strains of SARS-Cov2 in India. Covaxin is developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR. The UK-variant of SARS-Cov-2 with its all signature mutations were isolated and cultured in the world successfully for the first time at ICMR-NIV which was used for testing.

-The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the introduction of the ICC Player of the Month awards. The award will recognise and celebrate the best performances of both male and female cricketers across all forms of international cricket throughout the year.In a statement, ICC said, an independent ICC Voting Academy comprising former players, broadcasters, and journalists from around the world, will team up with fans to vote for the ICC Men’s Player of the Month and ICC Women’s Player of the Month.From performances by youngsters such as Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar, T. Natarajan, Rishabh Pant and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (Afghanistan) to established players such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Joe Root (England), Steve Smith (Australia), Marizanne Kapp and Nadine de Klerk of South Africa and Nida Dar (Pakistan), there will be no shortage of candidates for the month of January.