News Analysis India

Tag: Amrit Mahotsav

  • Free Covid booster doses free for all adults from today till next 75 days

    By Agencies

    NEW DELHI: The Centre will provide free booster doses of Covid vaccines for the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive from July 15, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on July 13.

    The free booster dose drive will be held for the next 75 days as part of the government’s Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence and to boost the uptake of Covid precaution doses, he said.

    “Under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi, a 75-day free vaccination campaign will be conducted from July 15, in which all citizens above the age of 18 years will be given free vaccination doses at government centres”, Mandaviya said in a tweet.

    Urging eligible population to get the precaution doses, he said in a subsequent tweet: “With this decision, India’s fight against Covid will be strengthened and additional security of citizens will also be ensured. I urge that all adult citizens must get the prevention dose.”

    Less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77 crore in the 18-59 age group have been administered the precaution dose, as per a source. The initiative has been undertaken to increase the uptake of the precautions doses.

    However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose.

    To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government also initiated the second round of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0’ across states and UTs on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.

    ALSO READ | Har Ghar Dastak: 9 lakh houses visited in Delhi, only 1.75 lakh say yes to Covid booster shots

    According to government data, 96 per cent of India’s population has been administered the first dose of Covid vaccine, while 87 per cent of people have taken both doses.

    On April 10 this year, India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with health care workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

    On March 1 last year, COVID-19 vaccination began for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

    Vaccination for all people aged above 45 years began on April 1 last year.

    The government then decided to expand the ambit of the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against Covid from May 1 last year.

    Inoculation of those in the age group of 15-18 started on January 3 this year.

    The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16.

    READ HERE | Covaxin booster dose generates 25-fold rise in antibodies: ICMR study

    (Register for precaution dose at cowin.gov.in or in the Aarogya Setu app, go to the Cowin tab, and tap on the vaccination tab.)

    (With PTI and IANS inputs)

    NEW DELHI: The Centre will provide free booster doses of Covid vaccines for the 18-59 age group at government vaccination centres under a 75-day special drive from July 15, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced on July 13.

    The free booster dose drive will be held for the next 75 days as part of the government’s Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence and to boost the uptake of Covid precaution doses, he said.

    “Under the Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi, a 75-day free vaccination campaign will be conducted from July 15, in which all citizens above the age of 18 years will be given free vaccination doses at government centres”, Mandaviya said in a tweet.

    Urging eligible population to get the precaution doses, he said in a subsequent tweet: “With this decision, India’s fight against Covid will be strengthened and additional security of citizens will also be ensured. I urge that all adult citizens must get the prevention dose.”

    Less than 1 per cent of the target population of 77 crore in the 18-59 age group have been administered the precaution dose, as per a source. The initiative has been undertaken to increase the uptake of the precautions doses.

    However, around 26 per cent of the estimated 16 crore eligible population aged 60 and above as well as healthcare and frontline workers have received the booster dose.

    To accelerate the pace of vaccination and encourage booster shots, the government also initiated the second round of the ‘Har Ghar Dastak campaign 2.0’ across states and UTs on June 1. The two-month programme is currently underway.

    ALSO READ | Har Ghar Dastak: 9 lakh houses visited in Delhi, only 1.75 lakh say yes to Covid booster shots

    According to government data, 96 per cent of India’s population has been administered the first dose of Covid vaccine, while 87 per cent of people have taken both doses.

    On April 10 this year, India began administering precaution doses of COVID-19 vaccines to all aged above 18 years.

    The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 last year with health care workers getting inoculated in the first phase.

    Vaccination of frontline workers started from February 2 last year.

    On March 1 last year, COVID-19 vaccination began for people over 60 years of age and those aged 45 and above with specified comorbid conditions.

    Vaccination for all people aged above 45 years began on April 1 last year.

    The government then decided to expand the ambit of the vaccination drive by allowing everyone above 18 years to be inoculated against Covid from May 1 last year.

    Inoculation of those in the age group of 15-18 started on January 3 this year.

    The country began inoculating children aged 12-14 on March 16.

    READ HERE | Covaxin booster dose generates 25-fold rise in antibodies: ICMR study

    (Register for precaution dose at cowin.gov.in or in the Aarogya Setu app, go to the Cowin tab, and tap on the vaccination tab.)

    (With PTI and IANS inputs)

  • Opt for challenges over comforts, PM Modi to IIT-Kanpur techies

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Claiming that getting admitted to as prestigious an institution as IIT-Kanpur might have given them the confidence to explore the world, beating the fear of the unknown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted the students to opt for challenges whenever they were faced with making a choice between the challenges and the comfort.

    “IIT-Kanpur has given you a massive canvas to explore your dreams and the world out there. Now there is no ‘Fear of Unknown’. There is no longer the ‘Query of Unknown’, but ‘Quest for the Best’ and a dream to conquer the whole world,” PM Modi said.

    “Challenges are always there in life. Whenever you are made to choose between the challenges and the comfort, opt for challenges as you are the hunter and the challenges are the hunted,” said the PM.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the observations while addressing the 54th convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur on Tuesday.

    Suggesting the students to make their life a judicious blend of technology and emotions, the PM cautioned the budding technologist against being driven by technology alone.

    Calling the students the finest tech minds of IIT who “eat, drink and breathe technology”, he said technology had its own positives. “But never become the robot version of yourself. Keep the emotions and human sensitivities always alive in life,” advised the PM.

    He added that artificial intelligence was very good and that it should be there but not at the cost of human intelligence. “When it comes to show the emotion, the message : http/404/ … should not be there telling that the page doesnot exist,” added the PM on a lighter note.

    The Prime Minister also told the students that the training that they had received, skills and knowledge they had acquired would help them in making a mark of their own in the world.

    Modi asked the students to become impatient for a self-reliant India, follow their passion for technology. He claimed that they had the responsibility to give a direction and pace to the nation till the next 25 years. 

    “When you are stepping out with IIT’s legacy at the time of the Amrit Mahotsav, you should move out with the dream of how India would be in 2047. You have to hold the responsibility of India’s journey of development in the next 25 years.

    You’ll have to work for an India when you will have completed 50 years of your life and for that, you need to work from now.”

    The Prime Minister traced the history saying: “Today, the thinking and attitude of the country is the same as yours. Earlier, if the thinking was that of perfunctory work, then today thinking is result-oriented. Earlier, if there was an attempt to get away from the problems, then today resolutions are taken to solve the problems.”

    The PM remarked that in this 75th year of independence, India has more than 75 unicorns and more than 50,000 start-ups. Of these, 10,000 have come only in the last six months, the PM highlighted. “Today, India has emerged as the second-largest start-up hub in the world and the third largest country in Unicorns,” PM said.

  • When ‘poison of hatred’ is being spread, then what is ‘Amrit Mahotsav’: Rahul Gandhi

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said freedom does not mean anything when it is not for everyone and asked what ‘Amrit Mahotsav’ meant when the “poison of hatred” is being spread in the country.

    His remarks come in the wake of clashes between police and alleged encroachers during an eviction drive in Assam’s Darrang district on Thursday that left two persons dead and 20 injured.

    A shocking video showing a man slinging a camera and hitting an apparently dead person with a bullet wound on his chest also surfaced after the incident.

    The man was later arrested and a judicial probe has been ordered into the incident.

    “When the poison of hatred is being spread in the country then what is ‘Amrit Mahotsav’? What does freedom mean if it is not for everyone,” Gandhi asked in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtag ‘Assam’.

    Congress leaders have met Assam Governor Jagadish Mukhi urging him to stop the eviction drive at Sipajhar in Darrang till a proper rehabilitation package is announced.

    Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday asserted that discussions were held for over four months before an eviction drive was launched to clear the land at Gorukhuti village in Darrang district where police firing claimed two lives during the exercise.

    A 12-hour bandh called by various organisations to protest against the incident affected normal life in Darrang district on Friday.

  • Inauguration of crop insurance week under Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi

    “Crop Insurance Week” is being organized to bring more and more farmers under insurance cover by bringing public awareness to the farmers in the current Kharif season in areas with less insurance cover of Raipur district. Publicity for the promotion of Prime Minister’s crop insurance scheme by Collector Saurabh Kumar and Chief Executive Officer, District Panchayat Shri Mayank Chaturvedi from Collectorate Complex Raipur. The Prasar Rath was flagged off. This chariot will travel in 56 gram panchayats of the district.

    It is worth mentioning that on the 75th anniversary of independence, ‘Crop Insurance Week’ is being organized from July 1 to July 7 through ‘Amrit Mahotsav Abhiyan of India’. Agriculture Production Commissioner and Collector Raipur has asked all the 126 service cooperative societies of the district to get applications from maximum farmers and ask them to benefit from crop insurance. Similarly, the target of getting crop insurance has also been given to senior agricultural development officers of all the four development blocks.

    On the first day, Prime Minister’s crop insurance was promoted by Rath in 16 gram panchayat of Abhanpur block. The District In-charge of the Deputy Director Agriculture and Crop Insurance Company was also directed by the Collector to bring more and more farmers of the district under the purview of crop insurance.