New Delhi, January 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced the launch of Rs 1,000-crore 'Startup India Seed Fund' to support startups and help budding entrepreneurs pursue innovative ideas. Addressing the 'Prarambh: Startup India International Summit', Modi exuded confidence that the growth of startups will help in generating jobs and improving lives of people in the region. "In order to provide initial capital for startups, the nation is

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday that the Delhi government is prepared to increase vaccination sites as and when it receives more vaccines. On the inaugural day of the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive on Saturday, vaccines were administered at 81 sites in the national capital. The Chief Minister talked about an increase in the number of vaccination sites during an inspection at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) hospit

Aurangabad, January 16 (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi should first get himself vaccinated for COVID-19 to clear doubts in the minds of people, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) leader Prakash Ambedkar said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters, Ambedkar said the VBA will hold protests across Maharashtra on January 27 in support of the ongoing agitation by farmers at borders of Delhi for the repeal of three new farm laws. "The prime minister and CM (Maharashtra chief minister Ud

New Delhi, January 16 (PTI): Health workers who got their first shots of Covaxin at AIIMS on Saturday were made to sign a consent form that promised compensation in case of a "severe adverse event" related to the vaccine. Covaxin has demonstrated the ability to produce antibodies against COVID-19 in phase one and phase two trials. "However, the clinical efficacy is yet to be established and it is still being studied in phase 3 clinical trial," the form read.

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): Kerala and norteastern states are neck and neck when it comes to satisfaction level with the sitting Lok Sabha MPs, while people in Haryana and Puducherry have registered their satisfaction level in the negative, as per the IANS C-Voter State of the Nation 2021 survey. According to the survey, in Kerala, 37.31 per cent of the people are satisfied with the sitting Lok Sabha MPs, while 42.87 per cent are satisfied with them to some extent and merely 16.44

Srinagar, January 16 (PTI): Kashmiri-origin Sameera Fazili's parents wanted her to be a physician, but she was not quite in agreement. Fazili's plans fructified on Friday when the Biden-Harris Transition named her as the deputy director of the National Economic Council at the White House. The council coordinates the economic policy-making process and provides advice to the US president. Fazili is the second Kashmiri-origin Indian-American appointed to a key position in th

New Delhi, January 16 (PTI): WhatsApp has decided to delay the rollout of its new policy update to May 15 after massive criticism from users globally, including India, over concerns that data was being shared with its parent company Facebook. The move assumes significance for users in India given that the country is among the biggest markets for WhatsApp with over 400 million users. In a blog post, WhatsApp said it is moving back the date on which people will be asked to review a

New Delhi, Jauary 16 (PTI): Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday described the COVID-19 vaccines as 'Sanjivani' in the fight against the infectious disease as he urged people not to pay heed to hearsay and instead believe in experts and scientists. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the world's largest vaccination programme covering the entire length and breadth of the country and urged people to show patience during the COVID-19 immunisation drive as they

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): Amid the rollout of the world's largest Covid-19 vaccination programme by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, here are a few things that you need to know about the two vaccines -- 'Covaxin' and 'Covishield' -- selected by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). So far, the government has procured 1.1 crore Covishield and 55 lakh Covaxin vaccines at a cost of Rs 200 and Rs 206 per dose, respectively. Covaxin, developed by Hyderabad

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): AIIMS Director Dr Randeep Guleria on Saturday joined scores of healthcare workers across the country who were administered Covid-19 vaccine shots on the first day of the nationwide vaccination drive. Dr Guleria said mild infection or adverse reaction after vaccination is a good sign because it shows the immune system of the body is reacting to the vaccine and creating antibodies. Moments after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the vaccination drive

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): With 15,158 new coronavirus infections reported in the last 24 hours, India on Saturday continued with its low streak of single-day cases, posting an overall tally of 1,05,42,841, according to the Union Health Ministry. On Tuesday, India had recorded 12,584 new cases, the lowest single-day figure in over seven months. The country has been recording less than 20,000 daily new cases from the past eight days. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare sa

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): India began the world's largest Covid-19 vaccination programme on Saturday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi launching the drive aimed at ending the pandemic which so far has killed 1,52,093 people in the country and ravaged the economy. Addressing the country digitally, the Prime Minister said that India managed to make two 'Made-in-India' vaccines in a very short period which usually takes years. Lauding the efforts of scientists who ar

United Nations, January 16 (IANS): India has the world's largest diaspora with about 18 million people born there now living abroad, according to John Wilmoth, the director of UN's Population Division at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Presenting the International Migration Report 2020 on Friday, he said that the US was the top host country for migrants with 51 million of them or 18 per cent of the world's total living there. The report said that betwee

New Delhi, January 16 (IANS): Facing intense criticism worldwide and now a court case in India, WhatsApp has deferred its new data privacy policy and no one will lose his or her account from February 8 for not accepting the updated terms of service, the Facebook-owned platform said on Saturday. WhatsApp said they are moving back the date on which people will be asked to review and accept the terms. "No one will have their account suspended or deleted on February 8. We're

New Delhi, January 15 (IANS): Almost a year after reporting the first case of deadly coronavirus, which has claimed over 1.5 lakh lives in India till now, the country is set to witness a historic moment on Saturday with the commencement of the eagerly-awaited vaccination drive against the dreaded disease. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually launch the world's largest vaccination programme at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday and almost three lakh beneficiaries, belonging to the pri

New Delhi, January 15 (PTI): The year 2020 was one of the three warmest years on record and rivalled 2016 for the top spot, indicating the pace of the "human-induced" climate change which is now as powerful as the force of nature, the United Nations weather agency has said. All five datasets surveyed by the World Meteorological Organisation concur that 2011-2020 was the warmest decade on record, in a persistent long-term climate change trend. The warmest six years have

January 15 (IANS): Around 300 to 400 Pakistan-based terrorists are waiting in launchpads across the Line of Control to infiltrate into the Indian side, said Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Friday, adding that forces at forward locations are keeping an eye on their activities. The Army Chief also said that the forces deployed at Line of Control are giving a befitting reply to Pakistan's Ceasefire violations. "There has been a around 44 per cent inc

New Delhi, January 15 (IANS): A day ahead of the commencement of the world's biggest immunization exercise, the national capital has completed all the preparations to innoculate its priority groups, with healthcare workers, who will be the first to receive the silver bullet, clearly excited. The vaccination drive is slated to kick off on Saturday. The rollout is expected to cover three lakh frontline healthcare workers at 3,006 sites across India on the first day. The Central

New Delhi, January 15 (IANS): Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi and former party chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday joined a protest march here to show solidarity with the protesting farmers, and walked towards Raj Niwas which houses the residence and office of Delhi's Lt. Governor. Later, both went to Jantar Mantar and joined the ongoing protest of the Punjab MPs against the newly passed farm laws. Speaking on the occasion, Rahul Gandhi said: "Prime Minister Narendra

New Delhi, January 15 (IANS): The ninth round of talks between the government and the agitating farmers ended inconclusively on Friday. The next round of meeting has been scheduled for January 19. The meeting of the farmer leaders with the government, which started at 12 noon on Friday and went on for around five hours, over the three contentious farm laws and the demand for minimum support price (MSP) ended in a stalemate. Speaking to the media after the meeting, Bharatiya Kisan