‘First-of-its-kind Safety station’ in Sangrur district

Context:The Sangrur district administration has set up a Covid ‘safety station’ at an administrative complex to control the spread of the deadly virus.

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It’s the first-of-its-kind project in the state. It sanitises each person visiting the administrative complex in four steps.

• First, an infrared thermal scanner will record the temperature at the entrance.
• Second, if the person’s body temperature is more than the normal, he will be sent to a flu centre established in the civil hospital here. If not, the person will be asked to wash his hands and feet from the wash basin installed therein.
• Third, concentrated sodium hypochlorite solution will be sprayed on the body.
• Fourth, the person will proceed to a booth where he can dry his hands and feet with the help of newly installed dryers.

Source- Tribune

Padma Shri awardee and Former ‘HazooriRaagi’ Bhai Nirmal Singh passed away at 62

Context: Padma Shri awardee and former “HazooriRaagi” at the GoldenTemple,Bhai Nirmal Singh Khalsa passed away at the age of 62 in Amritsar, Punjab.

About Bhai Nirmal Singh

• He was born on April 12, 1952 in Ferozepur, Punjab.
• He has the knowledge of all 31 “raags” in the Gurbani of the Guru Granth Sahib
• He received the Padma Shri award from the Government of India in 2009 for his contribution ofservices in the field of arts
• He was the first HazooriRaagi to receive the Padma Shriaward.

Cova App

Context:Punjab citizens can now use the government’s unique COVA App to request for delivery of essential goods and grocery amid the COVID-19 clampdown. This is an additional feature in the App which was already providing solutions to help citizens access authentic information, report gatherings, access medical advice from doctors. It may be recalled that the interactive citizen mobile application was launched by the Punjab Government through its innovative Digital Punjab Team.

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• Under this initiative, the App, available on Android PlayStore and iOS AppStore, will facilitate delivery of grocery and essential goods, as notified by the government, through local vendors.
• The move is aimed at helping citizens access essential services during the lockdown easily, while also enabling vendors maintain the supply and deliver to people’s homes with appropriate passes.
• This module shall enable the vendors register themselves as suppliers and enlist their delivery executives for passes. This shall also empower the district administration to approve/reject the vendor, and also act as a monitoring authority if a complaint is registered by the citizen on the grounds of overpricing or adulteration.
• The citizen shall only need to select his/her location and the App shall populate the nearby vendors. The citizen can place an order on the App itself and pay post-delivery of the items.

About COVA App

Punjab Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh on Monday launched ‘COVA Punjab” mobile application. COVA stands for Corona Virus Alert and has been developed by the Department of Government Reforms and Public Grievances in consultation with the Health and Family Welfare Department to spread awareness by sharing various travelling and preventive care advisories.

Source- Tribune

90% waste segregation target achieved in Punjab

Context: Amid the fear of Covid-19 pandemic has helped the Local Government Department achieve a daunting task of convincing the residents to segregate dry and wet garbage.

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• Since lockdown, the door-to-door collection of segregated dry and wet garbage has jumped from 67 per cent to 90 per cent. 

• From densely populated to the posh areas in urban local bodies, mainly in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and other large cities, more and more people are cooperating with the sanitation workers
• Nearly 4,100 metric tonnes of garbageis being collected from more than 21 lakh households in the state daily.
• Aggressive campaign on social media and otherwise regarding the significance of hygiene in view of the pandemic has resulted in visible change in the way people handle their waste and in their attitude towards sanitation workers.
• At some places, residents are even honouring the frontline soldiers in the battle against coronavirus.
• Apart from announcing an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for the sanitation workers, the retirement age has been increased for the workers who were to retire on March 31. The department has started night sweeping in 17 ULBs.

New mandis for procurement

Context:  The Cabinet authorised Deputy Commissioners to declare new mandis in their respective districts to ensure social distancing during wheat procurement. These will be in addition to the 3,800 mandis already notified this year.

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• The Cabinet took stock of the preparations for harvesting and procurement of wheat, scheduled to begin on April 15.

• It was decided that the procurement arrangements should be finalised and notified by April 11 so that every grain was procured in a staggered manner.

• ACS (Development) Vishwajit Khanna said rules had been amended to make payments to farmers through arhtiyas instead of direct bank transfer that was to be introduced this year.

• The Mandi Board has already extended the validity of licences of arhtiyas, which were to expire on March 31, till the wheat procurement is over. They will be paid within 48 hours of procurement and required to pay farmers in the next 48 hours. The ACS told the Cabinet that 3,718 purchase centres set up in the state included 153 main yards, 283 sub yards, 1,430 purchase centres and rice mills.

• ACS (Development) Vishwajit Khanna said the Centre had fixed the MSP of wheat at Rs 1,925 per quintal for the current RMS. A farmer will be entitled to take multiple coupons each day or on different days, depending on space in order to avoid rush in the mandis. About 27 lakh coupons will be issued. Farmers will be allowed to bring one trolley having 50 quintals of wheat.

Amid Covid-19 Jallianwala facelift project stalled

Context:The restoration and renovation work of Jallianwala Bagh has been stalled for some time in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak and the authorities have pushed the deadline of the project to June 15.

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• A board has been put up restricting the entry of visitors till June 15.
• Earlier, the first phase of the project was targeted to be completed by the first week of April ahead of the commemoration of 101th year of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre on April 13 in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to be the chief guest.
• The work of restoration is being carried out by the Union Ministry of Culture under the supervision of Archaeological Survey of India.
• t is being executed by National Buildings Construction Corporation (India) Ltd.

E-tokens to ensure staggered arrival

Context:About 17 lakh farmers and 27,000 arhtiyas will get e-tokens issued from e-PMB app developed by the Punjab Mandi Board.

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• The number of e-tokens to be issued will be calculated each day, keeping in mind a 72-hour margin from the day the first set of produce reaches the mandis.
• It is only after the 30 ft by 30 ft space created for a 50 tonne pile of grain is cleared, other trolleys laden with grains will be issued e-tokens. It is for this reason that the procurement process has been spread out to 45 days.
• Commission agents will submit phone numbers of farmers on e-PMB app, which will send messages to farmers. Farmers will have to click on the link in the message and the e-token or pass will be validated One pass will be valid for one trolley, which can carry 50 tonnes of produce

Wildlife Department to study lockdown impact on ecology

Context:In a letter to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), Environment and Climate Change Department director Kahan Singh Pannu stated that the board wanted “to conduct a detailed study of the current pollution level scenario, status of various pollutants and their impact in reducing the pollution load”.

Positive Impacts of Lockdown

• The lockdown has resulted in a drop in the pollution levels across the world
• The load of plastic and non-biodegradable waste has reduced
• Punjab Air Quality Index with an average of around 50 is one the longest stretch of days witnessed in the recent past.Before the lockdown, the average daily AQI reading was between 120 and 140. An AQI of under 50 is considered to be in the “good category”, which means the air pollution poses little or no risk. While the quality index between 51 and 100 is satisfactory, 101 and 200 is moderate, 201 and 300 is poor, 301 and 400 is very poor and 401 and above is severe.

A new permanent bridge on the river Ravi 

Context: Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed and opened a new permanent bridge on the river Ravi connecting Kasowalenclave in Punjab to the rest of the country much ahead of its schedule. 

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• The 484-meter bridge was built by 141 Drain Maintenance Coy of 49 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) of Project Chetak
• The bridge costing Rs 17.89 crore excluding the approaches, consist of 16 cells of 30.25-metre length each.
• Border Roads Organisation had planned to open the Kasowal bridge in time for Vaisakhi so that the farmers could transport their harvest to the market comfortably.

‘Jeevan’: Indian Railways low-cost ventilator

Context: The Indian Railways has developed a low-cost ventilator, Jeevan at its Kapurthala Rail Coal Factory that could save thousands of lives at a time the country is grappling with a shortage of the medical equipment in its fight against coronavirus.

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• It will cost around Rs 10,000 without the compressor
• The machine provides control on breathing rate, expiratory ratio, and tidal volume – all key parameters for any ventilator and has a microprocessor-based controlling system.
• The prototype has been made from materials found in the factory, the portable compressor is made from an air cooling machine, the body from coach components, the argon flow metre is taken from a laser welding machine and the microprocessor from the coach information system.
• The prototype is now awaiting ICMR clearance to go into production
• A valve has been installed to regulate breathing of the patient and the device can be optimised to more compact size. The machine is a silent operator, according to the Railways.
• The machine provides control on breathing rate, expiratory ratio, and tidal volume – all key parameters for any ventilator and has a microprocessor-based controlling system.

A ventilator is a device used to pump air and oxygen into the lungs, and it can be critical for a patient with severe COVID-19 infection which can lead to lung failure.

‘WardBot’ to deliver food, medicines to COVID-19 patients

Context:A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar in Punjab’s Rupnagar district has come up with a design of an autonomous ‘WardBot’ which can deliver medicines and food to COVID-19 patients in isolation wards without human intervention.

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• Its deployment in hospitals will help in minimising the risk of the frontline health staff getting infected with the deadly virus.
  
• WardBot, fitted with sensors, can work on a known path and can carry food items and medicines for delivery at different beds to patients in a ward.

• The ‘WardBot’ uses simple gesture sensors for a quarantined person to wave a bye to the bot, as an indication of receiving the material.
  
• WardBot also has a feature of self-sanitising on the return path and could be used for sanitising walls of the hospitals, said the researchers, adding it can also work under low-light conditions.
  
• WardBot can serve as a support structure to the healthcare sector at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on minimising human interaction with the coronavirus patients, they said

• The design of an autonomous WardBot is such that it can be instructed to receive and deliver food and medicines and necessary equipment from one room to the other from the remotely located control room.

Legendary historian Arjun Dev passes away at 81

Legendary historian Professor Arjun Devand educationist passed away at the age of 81 in Noida, Uttar Pradesh (UP).

About Arjun Dev

• He was born on November 12, 1938 in Leiah, West Punjab (now in Pakistan).
• He served as Member Secretary of the National Steering Committee on Textbook evaluation.
• He served as a historian at the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT).
• One of his books, which was discontinued by NCERT and was republished by Orient Blackswan as “History of theWorld: From the Late 19th to the Early 20th century”, has remained a widely read text.

SOURCE: INDIAN EXPRESS