Aug 13: India reported nearly 16,000 new Covid cases and 68 fatalities, including 24 reconciled by Kerala, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.
The 8-am data also showed active cases came down by 4,271 in a span of 24 hours to stand at 1,19,264, constituting 0.27 per cent of the total infections.
The new 15,815 coronavirus infections and 68 deaths pushed the overall figures to 4,42,39,372 cases and 5,26,996 deaths, according to the data.
The national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.54 per cent, the health ministry said.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.36 per cent, while the weekly rate was 4.79 per cent. The case fatality rate stands at 1.19 per cent.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease has risen to 4,35,93,112, according to the ministry.
It also said 207.71 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19 that year. It crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4, 2021, three crore on June 23, and four crore on January 25 this year. (Agencies)

NEW DELHI, August 12 : India ranks globally 3rd in StartUp ecosystem and also in terms of number of Unicorns. As per the latest data, there are currently 105 unicorns, out of which 44 were born in 2021 and 19 in 2022.
This was stated today by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh while delivering keynote address at “StartUp Utsav” organised by the Department of Science & Technology (DST) at Ambedkar International Centre here.
The Minister said, the decade 2021-30 is expected to bring transformational changes for Indian Science, Technology and Innovation (STI).
Dr Jitendra Singh said, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has increased the Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) more than three times in the last few years. He said, as per the latest data, India has over 5 lakh R&D personnel, the number that has shown a 40-50% increase in the last 8 years.
In the last 8 years, Dr Jitendra Singh said, women’s participation in extramural R&D has also doubled and now India occupies 3rd rank in terms of number of PhDs awarded in Science and Engineering (S&E) after the USA and China. With the shifting global powers and technology becoming the epicentre of international engagements and rulemaking, India under Modi is living up to global benchmarks.
Referring to Prime Minister Modi’s launch of StartUp India from the ramparts of Red Fort in 2015, Dr Jitendra Singh said, India in its 75th year of Independence is now home to as many as 75,000 StartUps. He said, India ranks 3rd globally in terms of StartUp ecosystem and also in terms of number of Unicorns. He said, as per the latest data, there are 105 unicorns, out of which 44 were born in 2021 and 19 in 2022.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, Modi’s special focus on Science, Technology and Innovation has fired the imagination of the youth in the country to innovate and solve problems with new ideas. He also pointed out that India’s startups today are not limited to only metros or big cities and added that 49 per cent of the start-ups are from tier-2 and tier-3 cities. The Minister said, we have startups emerging in the fields like IT, agriculture, aviation, education, energy, health and space sectors.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, India ranks third among the most attractive investment destinations for technology transactions in the world as it has a strong focus on science and technology. He said, India is among the topmost countries in the world in the field of scientific research, positioned as one of the top five nations in the field for space exploration and also actively engaged in emerging technologies such as quantum technologies, artificial intelligence etc.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, that the Centre for Augmenting WAR with COVID-19 Health Crisis (CAWACH) program carved out in a record time by DST just when Covid hit, was the first program by any department of Government of India to support Startups working on Covid products and solutions. He said, overall, the impact and outcome of DST’s program on innovation and entrepreneurship has been significant: promoting 160 incubators, nurturing 12,000 startups including 1627 women led Startups, generating 1,31, 648 jobs.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed that India has created a massive jump in its global ranking of Global Innovation Index (GII) from 81st in the year 2015 to 46th in 2021 among 130 economies of the world. India ranks 2nd among 34 lower middle-income economies and 1st among 10 Central and Southern Asian economies in terms of GII. The consistent improvement in the GII ranking is owing to the immense knowledge capital, the vibrant start-up ecosystem, and some outstanding work done by the public and private research organisations, the Minister added.
Secretary, DST, Dr. S. Chandrasekhar said, India in recent 7-8 years made some unprecedented progress in STI areas and there has been a significant rise in the country’s overall performance in terms of a number of publications (globally ranked 3rd now from 6th in 2013 based on National Science Foundation database), patents (globally ranked 9th in terms of resident patent filing) and quality of research publications (globally ranked 9th now from 13th in 2013) during the last 7 years. He pointed out that the NIDHI program of DST has swiftly processed the much-needed support to start-ups, catalysing the active support of Business Incubators and other business support providers.
Dr Jitendra Singh also inaugurated an exhibition of products of Startups in DST Utsav, as solutions to many of the pressing problems, many of which have been commercialised and are already in the market.
Dr Jitendra Singh congratulated the organisers, Team DST, Champions of innovation from all over the country – Startups, Incubators, Incubator Association ISBA and wish them a grand success for their ongoing efforts to catalyse the growth story of our great country and making the DST Startup Utsav a great success.

NEW DELHI, Aug 12: The Government on August 12, 2022 said GST will not be applicable on residential units if they are rented out to private persons for personal use.
The government dismissed media reports which claimed that there is an 18% Goods and Services Tax (GST) on house rent paid by tenants.
In a tweet, the government said GST would be levied only when the residential unit is rented out to a business entity.
“No GST when it is rented to private person for personal use. No GST even if proprietor or partner of firm rents residence for personal use,” it said.
KPMG in India Partner Indirect Tax Abhishek Jain said the clarification provides relief to GST-registered proprietors or partners in GST-registered firms who take on rent immovable property for their personal use such as renting of a house for family accommodation. (Agencies)

Srinagar, Aug 12: Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Friday said that 3.65 pilgrims performed the annual pilgrimage of Amarnath this year and the figure is the highest in the past five years.
“The annual pilgrimage has concluded with the Samapan Pooja of Chadi Mubarak. In total, 3.65 pilgrims performed darshan at the cave shrine of Amarnath. The figure is highest in the past five years,” Sinha said addressing a press conference here. He said that due to the cloudburst, yatra remained suspended for three days and due to the efforts of security forces, NDRF and SDRF ensured early resumption of the pilgrimage.
The LG said that pilgrims from all over India came to the cave shrine and performed darsh of Shiv Lingum.
Sinha said that during the 44 day Yatra period, weather remained erratic for 20 days and the Shrine Board besides SDRF and NDRF teams had to issue weather advisories for pilgrims.
He said that this year the capacity to accommodate Yatri at Yatra Niwas facilities was increased from 70,000 to 125,000. “RFID chips played a great role to keep track of pilgrims. A female child was lost who was tracked within a few minutes through RFID,” the LG said.
He said overall the Yatra remained peaceful and the pilgrims at both base camps Baltal in Sonmarg and Chandanwari in Pahalgam expressed their satisfaction to the arrangements through various surveys conducted by the administration. The LG thanked the security forces including police, army, CRPF and other Central forces in general and particularly the locals of Pahalgam and Baltal for extending whole hearted support to the pilgrims. “I am thankful to the people of entire Kashmir for welcoming pilgrims with open arms,” the LG said, adding that security forces provided fool-proof security cover to the pilgrims and ensured peaceful pilgrimage.
Asked if tourist flow decreased due to Amarnath pilgrimage, the LG said that Yatra didn’t affect tourism in Kashmir. “If we compare figures of past three years during the pilgrimage, this year, tourist figures were much higher during the pilgrimage,” he said, adding that tourism shouldn’t be correlated with the pilgrimage. “In future, there will be much better yatra given the nature of feedback we have received from people across India,” he said. (KNO)

New Delhi, August 12: The Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for 2022 was awarded to 151 Police personnel on Friday.
Among those receiving the awards, 15 are from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), 11 from Maharashtra Police, 10 each from Madhya Pradesh Police and Uttar Pradesh Police, eight each from Kerala Police, Rajasthan Police and West Bengal Police and the remaining from other states and Union Territory organizations. These awardees also include 28 women police officers.
The Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation was constituted in 2018 with the objective to promote high professional standards of investigation of crime and to recognize such Excellence in Investigation. It is announced every year on the 12th of August.
The medal is given on the grounds of excellence in an investigation to the members of Central Investigation Agencies, states or UTs Police Force in recognition of the outstanding service in the investigation.
The recommendations of the eligible officials of the rank– ranging from Head Constable to Superintendent of Police– is asked to be submitted online.
The Union Home Minister’s Medal for Excellence in Investigation for the year 2021 was awarded to 152 police personnel. Among the personnel who received these awards in 2021 included 15 from CBI, 11 each from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra Police, 10 from Uttar Pradesh, nine from Kerala and Rajasthan Police, eight from Tamil Nadu Police, seven from Bihar, six each from Gujarat, Karnataka and Delhi Police and the remaining from the other states and UTs. (Agencies)