India has received 11 Rafale fighters so far

Lok Sabha has taken up discussion on Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address to the Joint Sitting of both the houses of the Parliament.Participating in the discussion, senior Congress leader, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised several questions over the government’s response towards the farmers’ agitation against the farm laws. He alleged that the government is at war with the farmers and is trying to malign the farmers’ agitation.Referring to farmers’ protest on 26th of January, he demanded constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee to find out the real conspirators. Chowdhury said, the country's image is getting worse due to the way the government has been dealing with the matter. He said, Indian civilization is a celebration of plurality which accommodates differences. He added, one should not be afraid of debate and dialogue as Indian civilization has always encouraged these. He also alleged that secret information pertaining to Balakot strike has been leaked and critical information was shared with a media person which is a cause of concern from the security point of view. DMK leader T.R. Baalu said, farming community must not be disturbed at any cost but unfortunately the poor farmers are suffering at the outskirts of Delhi. Mr. Baalu said, all the three farms laws should be withdrawn without any delay. Earlier, resuming her speech, BJP member Locket Chatterjee praised the Narendra Modi Government for its leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said, the government has taken several landmark steps like demonetization, introduction of GST and bringing farms laws for the welfare of the people. She said, the death rate due to Corona is very low in a country which has such a huge population. She termed the low death rate and high recovery rate as a victory of the government.

-Union Health Ministry has said, in the last 24 days, India has become the fastest country to reach six million vaccinations in the world. Addressing media in New Delhi, Additional Secretary in the Health Ministry Dr Manohar Agnani said that USA took 26 days to reach the mark while UK took 46 days to reach six million vaccinations.He also informed that so far 60 lakh 35 thousand and 660 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for COVID-19 since the launch of the vaccination drive on 16th of January. Out of them, 54 lakh 12 thousand 270 are Health care workers and six lakh 23 and 390 beneficiaries are Frontline workers.Dr Agnani also informed that today vaccinations sessions were organised in 35 States and Union Territories in which two lakh 23 thousand 298 beneficiaries were vaccinated.

-In Himachal Pradesh, the State Government has proposed an outlay of 9,405.41 crore rupees under the developmental budget for the year 2021-22. This was disclosed by the Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while presiding over the MLA’s priority meeting for the financial year 2021-22 in Shimla on Monday.Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the meeting was of utmost importance as the elected representatives got an opportunity to underline their developmental priorities. He said that the present government has completed three years of it's tenure and these years have been full of achievements and accomplishments despite Corona pandemic.

-Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that the government is committed to boost indigenisation in the Defence forces. Replying to a question in Rajya Sabha, Singh said that decision regarding complete self-reliance in terms of production of 101 defence items have already been taken. He asserted that these items will no longer be imported from foreign countries and ensured of their production within the country. In reply to another question, the Defence Minister informed that the country has so far received 11 Rafale fighter jets from France. He added that the number will increase to 17 by March this year. Mr. Singh informed that by April next year, the country will receive the consignment of all the 36 Rafale fighter jets from France.

-A total of 41.75 crore accounts have been opened so far under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) out of which 35.96 crore accounts are operative. This was stated by Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha. He said, Under PMJDY, a bank account can be opened with any bank branch or Business Correspondent (BC) including those of Private Sector Banks.The Minister further stated that total number of PMJDY accounts opened by Public Sector Banks is 40.48 crore while the number of those with 14 major Private Sector Banks is 1.27 crore. He also stated that accounts opened under PMJDY are Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD) accounts.