India bans 54 Chinese Apps posing threat to national security

With a view to provide further relief to consumers and to keep in check any further rise in the prices of domestic edible oils, the Centre has reduced the agri-cess for Crude Palm Oil from 7.5 percent to 5 percent. The cess has been reduced with effect from February12.  Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution in a statement said that after the reduction of the agri-cess, the import tax gap between Crude Palm Oil and  Refined Palm Oil has increased to 8.25 percent which will benefit the domestic refining industry to import Crude Oil. To check the prices of edible oils, the government has also extended the current basic rate of import duty of zero percent on Crude Palm Oil, Crude Soyabean oil, and Crude Sunflower Oil upto 30th of September this year. The Ministry said that the rate of import duty on Refined Palm Oil which is at 12.5 percent and Refined Soyabean and Refined Sunflower Oil at 17.5 percent will also remain in force up to 30th September. This measure will help in cooling down the prices of edible oils which are witnessing an upward trend in the international market due to lower availability and other international factors. Besides, the government had specified the stock limit quantities on edible oils and oilseeds for a period upto  June 30 under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The Ministry said that Oil industry is being called for a meeting tomorrow to do their best in passing on the benefit to consumers. State Governments have also been requested to enforce stock limit orders strictly.

-The Government has banned 54 Chinese apps posing threat to national security. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued the list of banned apps.  These include Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera - Selfie Camera, Equalizer & Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Chess, Onmyoji Arena, AppLock, and Dual Space Lite to name a few. The list of 54 apps includes some of those that been had been banned by the government earlier but were rebranded and relaunched under new names. Upon official confirmation and after establishing the country of origin, orders have once again been issued to ban the apps. Several of these apps have been known to either run malicious software or directly send user information to China-based data centres without user consent.

-Export of Shallots has seen a boom with a growth of 487 percent since 2013. Exports rose from 2 Million dollars in April-December 2013 to 11.6 million in April-December 2021. Major export destinations during April-December 2021 were Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, UAE, and Singapore. Union Minister Piyush Goyal said in a series of tweets that India’s export of Pineapple also rose by almost 100 percent to 3.26 million during April-December 2021 compared to 1.63 Million during April-December 2013. Major export destinations for Pineapple during April-December 2021 were UAE, Nepal, Qatar, Maldives, and US. 

-Maharashtra government has issued new guidelines for hospitals to prevent fire incidence, making it mandatory for round the clock presence of doctors and nurses in the ICU wards. The guidelines issued on Monday, will be applicable to all the hospitals that come under the ambit of state's public health department. It says, where the patients are unable to move on their own there the hospital officials have to mandate the work, and should also ensure that doctors and other staff are always available. Besides, the hospitals have also been asked to check the CCTV footage and to conduct mock drills to prevent any unforeseeable situation. The guidelines have also made it mandatory for action that needs to be taken as suggested in the fire safety audit reports, regular maintenance of equipment among others. It has also pressed for the installation of smoke detectors and water sprinklers in the hospitals.

-In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress is set to win big in the civic polls in all four municipal corporations which went to the polls last Saturday. The ruling party already bagged three municipal corporations- Siliguri, Bidhannagar and Chandannagar and leading in Asansol. In Siliguri, the ruling party has won 37 wards out of 47, BJP in 5, left in 4 and Congress in 1 ward. Out of 41 wards in Bidhannagar, TMC bagged 39 while Congress and independent candidates got 1 each. In Chandannagar, out of 32 wards TMC won 31 wards as CPI-M got 1 seat. In Asansol, out of 106 wards, TMC candidates won in 48 and leading in another 1 as reports last came in. BJP won 4 wards while CPIM and Congress won 2 seats each.