Newsinc24 Team The 8th and final phase of DDC polls concluded smoothly across the J&K Union territory on Saturday with a voter turnout of 50.98%.
Addressing a press conference in Srinagar State Election Commissioner K.K. Sharma said that in Jammu, the voting percentage was 72.71 percent and in Kashmir Valley it was 29.91 percent. He said a total of 321694 electors exercised their franchise out of a total electorate of 6,40,443 . Poonch district topped the list with an impressive voter turnout of 83.58 % followed by Reasi district with 81.92% and Rajouri with 77.31 %. In Kashmir Valley, Kupwara district recorded the highest polling at 63.80% followed by Bandipora with 56.56% and Baramulla district recorded 44.60%. With today’s polling the fate of 168 candidates has been sealed in the ballot boxes. The first ever District Development Council polls were held in J&K in eight phases . The counting of votes will be taken up on December 22 and the results are expected later that day.
-Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan chaired the 22nd meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 by a video-conference in New Delhi on Saturday. During the meeting, Dr Vardhan informed that India’s COVID 19 Pandemic Growth has dropped to 2 per cent and Case Fatality Rate is amongst lowest in the world which is at 1.45 per cent .He said, India’s Recovery Rate has peaked to 95.46 per cent while the strategy of testing one million samples has decreased the Cumulative Positivity Rate to 6.25 per cent.The Minister observed the fact that despite festivals in the month of October and November, no new surge of cases were observed in this period due to comprehensive testing, tracking and treatment policy implemented on the ground. The Health Minister reiterated his concern and appeal to diligently maintain COVID Appropriate Behaviour even at a time when the country is at the cusp of authorizing the first set of vaccines. He also expressed the need for an expeditious vaccination drive to cover all the target populations estimated to be around 30 crores.
-Election Commission of India has issued advisory to Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry for transfer and posting of officers connected with conduct of assembly elections to be held next year. ECI has advised that government officers directly connected with the conduct of elections must not be posted in her or his home district.It said officers against whom the Commission had recommended disciplinary action in past and which is pending or which has resulted in a penalty or the officers who have been charged for any lapse in any election or election related work in the past, should not be assigned any election related duty.Further, any officer, who is due to retire within the coming six months, should not be associated with any election related duty. It also said the officers posted on recommendation of the Commission during 2019 Lok Sabha elections may be exempted from the transfer policy.
-Uttar Pradesh government has made elaborate arrangements for the covid vaccination and the safe storage and cold chain arrangements for coronavirus vaccine. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday reviewed the preparations for vaccination and gave necessary directions to the concerned officials. The Chief Minister ordered for elaborate security arrangements at the vaccine centres across the state. The Chief Minister said there should be arrangements for the stay of people at vaccination Centres. The training for vaccinators at district level also started in the state.
-Tribes India is continuing to add more new products, in the Forest Fresh and Organic range and enabling access to millions of tribal enterprises to larger market.More than 20 immunity products have been added to Tribes India range this week.A large number of immunity boosting products, produce in the Forest Fresh and Organics range and tribal arts and handicrafts have already been included by Tribes India in its range in the past two months.All the new products are available in 125 Tribes India outlets, Tribes India mobile vans and also on online platforms.Speaking on the occasion, Managing Director, TRIFED Pravir Krishna said, our endeavour has been to impact and transform tribal lives and improve their livelihoods.He said, Go Vocal for Local Go Tribal is the mantra that TRIFED believes in, as it works towards tribal empowerment.Krishna said, the recently launched Tribes India e-marketplace, aims to connect five lakh tribal enterprises to national and international markets to make them accessible to customers across the country.
