The Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) faces a huge test when its National championship gets underway at nearby Panchkula on Tuesday. A first-hand experience of the logical challenges faced by the host Haryana Table Tennis Association (HTTA) suggests no effort is being spared in making the event a success in spite of the pandemic.A secure bio-bubble, scores of protocols, getting the players and officials to follow the instructions in ensuring smooth conduct of the ‘singles-only’ competition forms the core of the challenges over the next nine days.After doing away with the team championships and the three doubles events, the…
Author: Mike Harrison
Entrances of offices should have mandatory provisions for hand hygiene like sanitiser dispensers, thermal screening. The Union Health Ministry has issued new ‘SOPs to contain spread of COVID-19 in offices’ and according to these, if one or two cases are reported, the disinfection procedure will be limited to the areas occupied and visited by the patient in the last 48 hours.Work can resume after disinfection has been completed as per laid down protocols, the standard operating procedures (SOPs), which were issued on Saturday, stated.If a larger number of cases are reported at workplace, the whole block or building should be…
Azad’s retirement from RS, bypassing Anand Sharma for post of Leader of the Opposition are among sore points As the Congress party gets into election mode for the next round of Assembly polls in crucial States like Assam, Kerala, Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there is growing restlessness among a section of the group of 23 (G-23) dissenters for “being excluded from consultation process”.Some members of G-23, or those leaders who had written to party president Sonia Gandhi last August to seek a revamp of the party, have been given responsibility in the election-bound States — Mukul Wasnik has been made…
Govt spends ₹2 on healthcare for every rupee earned through sale of liquor, say judges Observing that a study had found that the State government loses more than ₹2 on providing healthcare for every Rs.1 earned by it through sale of liquor, the Madras High Court has made a fervent appeal to the government to implement prohibition in the State in a phased manner “to wipe out the tears of women and children.”Justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugalendhi wrote: “Though it is a difficult task, still every endeavour has to be made to discourage the people to drink and appeal…
The inordinate delay in finalising the seat sharing arrangement between the Left front and the Congress is increasing anxiety among workers of both sides as elections to the West Bengal Assembly draw close.Three rounds of meetings have already taken place and the fourth round is slated for February 16. So far, sources said, the Left parties are ready to cede 92 seats to the Congress, but the Congress has been insisting on a more “respectful” figure of 100-plus seats.The Left is eager to accommodate Furfura Sharif’s chief patron Pirzada Abbas Siddiqui’s newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF). While it is…
The paramilitary has been constantly revising its standard operation procedures in Kashmir in the last two years to ward off any attempt to repeat Pulwama-type attack, CRPF IG Deepak Ratan said on Sunday.“A lot of changes have been made in the CRPF including the SOPs, equipment and training. We have modified and amended the mode of training in such a way that if there is any contingency or a challenge from the militants, they will be given a befitting reply,” IG Ratan told the media in Srinagar on the sidelines of the memorial ceremony.He paid tributes to the 40 jawans…
The picture “captured the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, emerging into the early morning sunlight” The UAE’s “Hope” probe sent back its first image of Mars, the national space agency said on Sunday, days after the spacecraft successfully entered the Red Planet’s orbit.The picture “captured the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, emerging into the early morning sunlight,” it said in a statement.The image was taken from an altitude of 24,700 kilometres (15,300 miles) above the Martian surface on Wednesday, a day after the probe entered Mars’ orbit, it said in a statement. Sheikh Mohammed…
Japan’s Health Ministry said it had approved the vaccine co-developed and supplied by Pfizer Inc. Japan on Sunday formally approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and said it would start nationwide inoculations within days, but months behind the US and many other countries.Japan’s Health Ministry said it had approved the vaccine co-developed and supplied by Pfizer Inc.The announcement comes after a government panel on Friday confirmed that final results of clinical testing done in Japan showed that the vaccine had an efficacy similar to what overseas tests showed.Many countries began vaccinating their citizens late last year, and Pfizer’s vaccine has been…
He also said that the government must take the country and the people into confidence on restoration of status quo ante at the borders. Senior Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony on Sunday alleged that disengagement in both the Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso Lake areas and the creation of a buffer zone was a “surrender” of India’s rights.Addressing a press conference, he also said that at a time when India was facing multiple challenges at the border and was facing a two-front war-like situation, the increase in defence budget this year is meagre and insignificant and…
Mr. Modi also handed over the indigenous main battle tank Arjun Mk-1A, designed and developed by a Chennai-based DRDO unit, to the Army. Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled several key projects in Tamil Nadu in a function held in Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium here on Sunday. He also handed over the indigenous main battle tank Arjun Mk-1A, designed and developed by a Chennai-based DRDO unit, to the Army.In the presence of Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and other dignitaries, Mr. Modi inaugurated the Chennai Metro Rail Phase-I extension, which has been completed at a cost of ₹3,770…