Aug 13: The CUET-UG for more than 11,000 candidates who were scheduled to appear in the fourth phases has been deferred to August 30 to accommodate their choice of city for exam centre, officials said Saturday.
The fourth phase of the Central Universities Entrance Test-Undergraduate was scheduled from August 17-20 and a total of 3.72 lakh candidates were set to appear.
The National testing Agency (NTA), which is responsible for conducting the exam, had announced earlier all phases of the exam will conclude on August 28.
“The exam for over 11,000 out of 3.72 lakh candidates has been postponed to August 30 accommodate their choice of city for exam centre. NTA has increased the capacity at centres and also added more exam centres besides making efforts to ensure that the quality of the centres is enhanced,” UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar said.
“It has also been decided to station additional technical manpower by deploying the facility of Associate Professor level as technical observor at every centre to ensure smooth conduct of examination,” he added.
The second phase of Common University Entrance Test (CUET) was marred with glitches prompting the agency to cancel exams at various centres.
Kumar had last week said the exam was cancelled at various centres following indications and reports of “sabotage”. (AGENCIES)

Aug 13: rime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called the Tiranga Shikara rally at the Dal Lake in Srinagar a “Wonderful collective effort”.
On Friday, the Youth Services and Sports Department of Jammu and Kashmir organised a Tiranga Shikara rally at Dal Lake.
Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, “Wonderful collective effort on the Dal Lake! #HarGharTiranga.”
‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ is a campaign under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav to encourage people to bring the Tiranga home and to hoist it to mark the 75th year of India’s independence.
The rally was flagged off by the Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory, Manoj Sinha under the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.
As India celebrates its 75th year of Independence this year, Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav has brought a wave of celebration to the country. ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ is the campaign launched by the Government of India to encourage every citizen of our great nation to bring home the tricolour and hoist it with pride.
The ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign’ under the aegis of Azadi ka Amrit Mohatsav is a big hit in Jammu and Kashmir with a large number of people joining the celebrations to mark the 75 years of India’s Independence.
Various activities are being conducted by different departments and schools across the Kashmir Valley as part of this initiative.
Women and young girls in the Baramulla district of North Kashmir are contributing to this initiative. Women from self-help groups established by the Indian Army in far-flung villages of Trikanjan and Bernate in Boniyar Tehsil close to the Line of Control (LoC) have volunteered to stitch Tiranga for the houses of these inaccessible villages. This effort by women of Kashmir will facilitate in providing Tiranga to every household.
A large number of students recently took part in a painting competition held under the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign organized by Hamdaniya Mission High School Pampore in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Earlier on August 5, J-K LG Sinha flagged off ‘The Great India Run’ from the iconic Lal Chowk Srinagar, where the marathoners were supposed to cover a distance of more than 800 kilometres from Srinagar to New Delhi with the message of peace and national integration. This run was also dedicated to the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign to mark ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
Earlier on Wednesday, PM Modi had said the Indian national flag does not contain only three colours in itself but is a reflection of the pride of our past, our commitment to the present and our dreams of the future.
Addressing a Tiranga Rally in Surat via video conferencing, PM Modi recalled that in a few days’ time, India is completing 75 years of its independence and said that all of us are preparing for this historic Independence Day as the Tricolour is hoisted in every corner of the country.
The Prime Minister expressed happiness that the Tiranga Yatras being held across the country are a reflection of the power and devotion of the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan.
“From August 13 to 15, the Tricolour will be hoisted in every house of India. People from every section of society, every caste and creed are spontaneously joining with only one identity. This is the identity of the conscientious citizen of India,” he said. (Agencies)

 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)