DAILY NEWS AND GK

PM Modi to undertake aerial survey of cyclone-hit areas on Friday Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake an aerial survey of "cyclone-hit" areas on Friday, official sources said.A powerful cyclone Amphan tore into West Bengal, leaving 72 people dead and thousands homeless, battering several parts of the state and washing away bridges and swamping low-lying areas.No stone will be left unturned in helping those affected by cyclone 'Amphan', PM Narendra Modi said on Thursday. The cyclone has left at least 12 people dead. "In this challenging hour, the entire nation stands in solidarity with West Bengal. Praying for the well-being of the people of the state. Efforts are on to ensure normalcy," he tweeted. Ticket reservation counters to open at select railway stations from May 22 The railways will open its reservation counters at select stations for booking of only reserved tickets from May 22, the Railway Board said in an order on Thu

Lockdown 4.0: States freed to fix zones, make everyday life easier In the most significant easing of the national lockdown yet, the Centre gave states considerable leeway in reopening market places in addition to standalone shops, allowed intra-state and inter-state passenger vehicle and bus travel and did away with the 33% staffing restriction for businesses to provide a fillip to the economy. The Ministry of Home Affairs stated the “zones can be a district, or a municipal corporation/municipality or even smaller administrative units such as sub-divisions, etc, as decided by states and UTs. The Centre also made it clear that all shops, except those in containment zones and malls, will be allowed to open from Monday with staggered timings during lockdown 4.0 which also includes barber shops and parlour except in containment zones. Cyclone Amphan to hit the central parts of south Bay of Bengal: IMD The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday warned that

Govt tries to ease cash crunch, help small businesses restart Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman spelt out plans to provide liquidity to small and medium enterprises and also initiate reforms that would redefine the sector. The package focused largely on providing cash for the MSME sector, NBFCs, housing finance firms and micro finance companies. While the Rs 3-lakh-crore automatic loan for businesses and MSMEs is backed by government guarantee, the burden will be felt by PSBs. Similarly, the Rs 90,000-crore liquidity infusion for distribution companies will be handled by entities such as Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation. Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday announced Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free automatic loan for businesses, including MSMEs. This will benefit 45 lakh small businesses, she said detailing parts of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic stimulus package. The loan will have 4-year tenure and a 12-month moratorium. Rs 20K cr subordin

30,000 tickets for 54,000 rail passengers booked in 3 hours The railways is set to resume a limited number of passenger services on May 12 after a nearly 50-day hiatus and has started taking online bookings on IRCTC. However, to ensure strict compliance of social distancing norms, not all seats will be made available for booking on these trains. These trains will run from New Delhi railway station.Officials said till Monday 9 pm, the overall revenue generated from sale of tickets for these AC trains was around Rs 10 crore. They said there was brisk booking of tickets in trains coming from Howrah and the ones leaving Delhi. Booking for trains from Chennai started after 9 pm, sources said. 'Balanced strategy' needed for path ahead: PM Modi to CMs India will have to devise and implement a "balanced strategy" to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, and the biggest challenge for the country will be to ensure that the infection does not spread to v

Testing capacity for Covid-19 scaled up to 95,000 per day: Union Health Minister The testing capacity for Covid-19 has been scaled up to around 95,000 tests per day and a total of 15,25,631 tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday. The minister reviewed the status of Covid-19 in the northeastern states along with the measures taken for its containment. Govt sends teams to 10 states with high number of Covid cases The health ministry has decided to deploy central teams in 10 states that have witnessed or are witnessing high Covid-19 cases to assist their health departments to facilitate management of the outbreak. These are besides the 20 central teams of public health experts sent earlier to 20 high case load districts on May 3. ICMR teams up with Bharat Biotech to develop Covid-19 vaccine The Indian Council of Medical Research has partnered with B