Polling peaceful in West Bengal’s Bhabanipur, Over 53 p c turnout

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday urged people to come forward and enroll themselves with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission and get benefited from the historic reform. Describing Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission a revolutionary step in the history of India’s public health, Mr. Naidu said that it will provide Indian citizens with unique health IDs and digitized health records with identifiers for doctors and health facilities.The Vice President was speaking at the launch of UBF HELP, the first of its kind National dedicated Breast Cancer and Benign Breast Disease Helpline in India set up by Ushalakshmi Breast Cancer Foundation. Appreciating the inclusion of trained counselors in the helpline for one-on-one confidential support to the callers, Mr. Naidu said that counseling is an inseparable part of the entire cancer treatment protocol or any other life-threatening medical condition. He said that cancer not only affects the physical health of a patient, but takes a big toll on the mental health too.

-Health Ministry has appealed to people to avoid crowds and maintain physical distancing and use face mask during the upcoming festival season. Briefing media on Thursady in New Delhi, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan asked people to celebrate festivals maintaining COVID Appropriate Behaviour. He said, Kerala has highest active cases amounting to one lakh 44 thousand which is 52 per cent of total active cases of the country. Maharashtra has 40 thousand active cases, Tamil Nadu has 17 thousand and Mizoram has 16 thousand 800 cases. Karnataka has 12 thousand cases and Andhra Pradesh has a little more than 11 thousand active cases.
The Health Secretary said, absolute number of cases is declining in Kerala, but it still contributes a substantial number of total cases in the country. Active cases are going down across the country and cumulative recovery rate rising. Bhushan said, country has a recovery rate of almost 98 per cent. He said, 18 districts in India are reporting a weekly positivity between five per cent to 10 per cent.

-Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman appreciated the efforts of the Income Tax Department in keeping up the momentum of tax collections even in this difficult year. The Minister had an interaction with the young officers of the departments of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Income Tax and other departments of the Finance Ministry in Chennai. She urged the Income tax Department to continue to work to ensure that post-COVID economic growth is maintained. The Minister emphasised that tax officers must act as agents of change to facilitate the transformation of tax administration. Ms. Sitharaman on Thursday inaugurated a 19-storeyed residential quarters for the Income Tax officials at Aayakar Bhawan. The multi-storeyed quarters was built at a cost of 65 crore rupees. The special features of the building include multi-level mechanised car parking facility in stacks of 120 cars and roof top power facility and a 25 thousand litres capacity sewage treatment plant.

-In West Bengal, barring a few stray incidents, polling was by and large peaceful in the three Assembly Constituencies on Thursday. Heavy security arrangements were in place to conduct the by-poll at Bhabanipur and Polling in Jangipur and Shamshergunj in a free, fair and peaceful manner. Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress candidate Mamata Banerjee is contesting with Priyanka Tibrewal of BJP and Srijib Biswas of the CPIM in the triangular contest at Bhabanipur. Till 5 p.m., 53.32 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the seat while 76.12 per cent voter turnout was recorded at Jangipur and 78.60 per cent at Shamshergunj in Murshidabad district. Counting of votes will be taken up on 3rd of October.

-The first-ever native female Chief Secretary was appointed by Meghalaya Government. Ms. Rebecca Vanessa Suchiang, a 1989 batch officer of Indian Administrative Service has taken over as the State Chief Secretary. The outgoing Chief Secretary M.S. Rao handed over the charge in the presence of top officials of various departments. He retired on Thursday.Speaking to reporters, the newly appointed Chief Secretary said, it is an honour to get the opportunity and hoped that she would be able to push the agenda of good governance. She further said that as the state needs to improve on education sector and sanction has been made for up-gradation of infrastructure for 200 government schools across the state.Talking about improving the debt-ridden Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited, she said, reforms must be brought both in distribution and integration of the company. She also mentioned improving the budget in the health sector so as to improve human capital.

-In Maharashtra, BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation has not allowed Garba, Dandiya during upcoming Navratri festivals. In the new set of guidelines, BMC has said, instead of Garba and Dandiya Health Awareness Programmes and Blood Donation Camps should be organised. All attempts should be made to avoid crowds during Aarti and other rituals. A gathering of more than five people is not allowed during welcoming and bidding adieu to the processions of goddess. The height of the household idols should not be more than two feet and for those to be installed in public pandals the height of the idol should be four feet.