India crosses 75 crore mark in Covid-19 vaccination

India has crossed yet another milestone in the COVID vaccination drive with the total vaccination crossing the 75 crore mark.The cumulative figure stands at 75 crore 10 lakh 41 thousand and 391. Union Health Ministry said, more than 56 crore 95 lakh vaccine doses have been administered as first dose and over 18 crore 14 lakh vaccine doses given as second doses. The Ministry said that till 5.30 PM on Monday, more than 67 lakh  vaccine doses have been administered to the beneficiaries. It said, the country has also become home to more than 99 per cent  Healthcare workers and Frontline workers  who have been vaccinated with one shot of COVID Vaccine. On this achievement,  Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that with the mantra of Sabka Saath, Sabka Prayas, the world's largest vaccination drive  is continuously creating new dimensions. He said, in the 75th year of independence, the country has crossed the 75 crore mark in covid vaccination coverage. Regional Director, WHO South-  East Asia, Dr poonam Khetrapal Singh said that  WHO congratulates India for scaling up Covid-19 vaccination at an unprecedented pace. In a tweet, She said, while it took 85 days to administer first 100 million doses, India reached 750 million doses from 650 million in just 13 days.

-Ministry of Food Processing Industries has said that 21 food processing projects were inaugurated  during Food Processing Week" from 6th to 12th September  as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.These projects were inaugurated by Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Pashupati Kumar Paras and Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Prahlad Singh Patel.  The aim of these projects is to provide modern infrastructure facilities for Food Processing Industries along the value chain from farm to the market. The total cost of these projects is  416.59 crore rupees  and the Ministry approved a grant-in-aid of over  104 crore rupees for these projects. These projects will ensure value addition, longer shelf life for farm produce, better price realization for farmers, an excellent storage facility and an alternate market for farmers in the region. These projects will also provide direct and indirect employment to about 7 thousand 500 persons and benefit about 32 thousand  farmers.

-Union Minister for Power R.K. Singh on Monday met a delegation led by U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry in New Delhi.The purpose of the meeting was to discuss further collaboration on climate change issues and to work towards a genuine partnership between the two countries to pave the way for the rest of the world on Energy Transition. During the meeting, the US side appreciated India for its Energy Access drive and commitment to achieve 450 Giga Watt of Renewable Energy by 2030. They also lauded India for electrifying 28.02 million homes in 18 months and achieved universal household electrification. The Power Minister informed the US side about  Government's intent to move towards clean energy transition. He further informed that the biggest challenge for infusing of Renewable Energy was “Storage” which needs to be addressed immediately to make power accessible to the masses. He mentioned that huge bids for Green Hydrogen and Electrolyzers are planned in the upcoming months. Singh  requested the US side  to send their companies to participate in the bids.

-The government has said that the Minimum Support Price, MSP approved for designated Rabi Crops for 2022-23 during Rabi Marketing Season is higher or equal to 1.5 times of cost of production. Addressing the media in New Delhi, Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal said that the expected returns to farmers over their cost of production is estimated to be highest in case of Wheat and mustard. He said, the return is 100 per cent in these two crops. While in case of  lentil it is 79 per cent and for gram the expected return is 74 per cent.  Agarwal said, on 8th September, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)  approved the increase in the MSP for all designated Rabi crops for Rabi Marketing Season (RMS) 2022-23. Agriculture Secretary also informed that procurement of MSP crops has increased manifold during the recent years.

-An exhibition of law related books was inaugurated on Monday at the campus of Allahabad High court in the series of "Azadi ka Amrit mahotsav" celebrations. The 2 day exhibition is being organised by law and Justice department  Government of India. The Exhibition was inaugurated by registrar general Ashish Garg and Deputy registrar I K Shukla.Speaking on the occasion Additional secretary law and Justice department, Rita Vashisht said that the aim of the exhibition is to provide law content in Hindi to each and every citizen of the country. Many books related to notary laws, information technology, activities against the law, salient features of Indian constitution, human rights, registration, Indian penal code, minimum wages and various journals related to the decisions of High court and Supreme court are available at the exhibition.