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Dexamethasone gets the nod from the Union Ministry for use as a COVID-19 treatment

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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The Union Health Ministry has given the green signal for dexamethasone to be used as a treatment drug for coronavirus patients with mild to moderate symptoms of the infection. Notably, it is the first proven drug to treat COVID-19 infection.

News agency ANI tweeted about the same. The tweet read, “Union Health Ministry revises clinical management protocol for #COVID19. Glucocorticosteroid dexamethasone now allowed as an alternative to methylprednisolone for moderate & severe #COVID19 patients in need of oxygen support who experience excessive inflammatory response: Statement.”

This comes after a recent Oxford University research study proved that this was found to reduce the risk of death in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory illness. Following this, WHO supported these research findings, since, the treatment was shown to reduce mortality by about one-third, and for patients requiring only oxygen, mortality was cut by about one-fifth. They also recommended giving Hydroxychloroquine to those patients having mild symptoms.

The Health Ministry on June 13 had also approved the use of Gilead Sciences’ antiviral drug Remdesivir for restricted emergency use and off-label application of tocilizumab, a drug that modifies the immune system or its functioning, and convalescent plasma for treating Covid-19 patients in the moderate stage of the illness as an investigational therapy.

This comes as a huge relief, as India’s coronavirus record had an all-time high on Friday with 18,552 cases while the death toll climbed to 15,685 with 384 fatalities

Locust storm to shift base from Gurugram to Uttar Pradesh via Faridabad

By
Vaibavi Jayakumar
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The locust storm that was tormenting Gurugram is expected to shift its base to Faridabad on Saturday morning and was later headed towards Uttar Pradesh. They were spotted at DLF phase one and on MG road in Gurugram.

Thankfully, it did not affect the New Delhi region due to a change in wind direction. The Delhi government convened on Saturday for an emergency meeting to discuss this issue. The Development Secretary, Divisional Commissioner, Agricultural Director, as well as the District Magistrates attended this meeting so as to discuss the measures that could possibly be implemented to avert the disaster.

The Gurugram district administration issued a warning and instructed its residents to make loud noises and play music as loud as possible in order to drive away these insects if ever in their vicinity.

“An advisory has been issued by the Gurugram district administration for all residents to keep the windows and doors of their houses closed and gather together in the event of a locust attack to make loud noises by beating on tin cans, plates, and drums,” said a spokesperson of the District Administration.

These locusts have been posing a huge threat to farmers all over the country ever since their entry. They have the capacity to fly up to 150 kilometres per day and have the capacity to eat a quantity that is equal to their weight. All those single stings of those locusts do not cause fatal harm, multiple locust bites might potentially kill a full-grown human being.

Indiarath’s virtual incubator programme for startups

By
The Commune
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The Indiarath incubator is the largest borderless incubator in India starting from July 2020. It aims to enable talented entrepreneurs to create, sustain, and scale their ventures in the developing and dynamic world of entrepreneurship.

It is founded by Yatin Thakur, Arjita Sethi, and Upasna Dash. The trio of entrepreneurs has worked with more than 5000 startups and 10 think tanks across the world.

Entrepreneurs can participate in the virtual incubator programme which will run for a period of six months to boost their entrepreneurial skillset and access global markets. The programme will work with more than 150 startups under the guidance of more than 80 global mentors. Firms interested to take part in this programme will be matched with 50 mentors across companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Silicon Valley Bank, Morgan Stanley, and much more.

“We will be backing companies with a minimum viable product and let them define the goal for the next 24 weeks as part of the programme. Since it is a virtual program, we are using online tools so that mentors or coaches can access information on financials and other details of the company,” Yakin Thakur, the founder said to a source.

The goal is to train developers to handle real-world challenges using the tools of business remodeling, branding strategy, and product design. The programme includes masterclasses and personalized mentorship by experts to help firms and entrepreneurs achieve their goals.

The team of Indiarath ultimately wants to create an environment for learning beyond boundaries to create a skilled generation of entrepreneurs.

Pakistan MP says eating locusts can cure corona

By
The Commune
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A Pakistan MP gave a weird solution to help the country address the issues of locusts and coronavirus. Riyaz Fatyana, the MP from NA-113 constituency claimed that eating locusts can cure coronavirus.

A video of his address in the Parliament has gone viral on social media in which he says “Coronavirus can be cured by eating locusts. If research can be done and it is proven to  be true that eating locusts (tiddi) can generate coronavirus antibodies, then the people of Pakistan will themselves solve the issue of locusts and the government will not have to do much,”

The video has gone viral on social media. Earlier this month, another Pakistan Minister suggested an unusual cure for COVID-19.

In a viral video, Fazal-ur-Rahman the  Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), said “The more you sleep, your virus will also sleep and it won’t be able to harm you. Hence, it sleeps when you sleep and it also dies when we die.”

Google enables new features for businesses to engage with customers

By
The Commune
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Google is expanding the ‘Google My Business’ in Google Search and Maps to help businesses receive and reply to customer queries systematically through its ‘Business Messages’ feature. This feature was first used in 2017, and later expanded it to Google Maps in 2018.

As a growing number of businesses are using this platform to communicate with their customers, they are planning to install this feature on more mobile websites.

In India, MyGov was among the first to test this feature. Users could access information about food, shelter, and COVID-19 related information. They were able to answer live questions from Indian citizens regarding COVID-19 helplines and methods to volunteer and donate to night shelters across the country.

Businesses can communicate through Google’s Business Messages either via SMS (Android) or Google Maps (iOS). They can resort to welcome messages, relevant product carousels, smart replies, or a combination of three to respond to their customers. However, if a business does not reply within 24 hours, Google will restrict it from using this feature.

The messaging feature is however optional. By default, the feature is kept off.  Those who wish to receive messages can just enable in the Google My Business dashbord. Businesses that choose to not receive messages from customers or cannot keep up with them can simply turn off the feature.

Currently, Business Messages is available in English and is touted to expand its coverage in other languages soon.

Whatsapp set to become more fun

By
The Commune
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WhatsApp has been regularly testing a lot of new features. A new feature comes up with updates every now and then.

According to Mashable, a new feature was first spotted by WABetaInfo, a popular website that pushes regular updates with WhatsApp.

This new feature called ‘Animated Stickers’ will make the conversations more fun and interactive for users. WABetaInfo stated, “You need to update your WhatsApp version to the 2.20.194.7 Android beta and 2.20.70.26 iOS beta versions or newer updates, in order to view Animated Stickers. WhatsApp Business is included.”

Those who have updated to the most recent version available but are not getting the features can back up their chat history and reinstall WhatsApp to get updated features. The animated features consist of three parts: first is the possibility to view animated stickers, save, and send all animated stickers. Users can also import animated stickers from third parties that have their own animated stickers’ package. Users can also download default animated sticker packs from the WhatsApp Store.

According to WABetaInfo, the instant messaging app is currently giving the feature to specific users but only with the limited activity to view the animated stickers. Whatsapp will roll out the complete features to users after full activation of the three parts.

Hubble Space Telescope captures cosmic flapping ‘bat shadow’

By
The Commune
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A young star about 1-2 million years old (young in cosmic terms) called HBC 672, whose shadow has been nicknamed the “Bat Shadow” as it resembles a pair of wings, was captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The image was of a fledgling star’s unseen, planet-forming disk casting a huge shadow across a more distant cloud in a star-forming region.

“The shadow moves, it’s flapping like the wings of a bird”, said lead author Klaus Pontoppidan, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, Maryland. The phenomenon may be caused by a planet pulling on the disk and warping it. The team observed the flapping over 404 days.

“You have a star that is surrounded by a disk, and the disk is not like the Saturn’s rings-it’s not flat. It’s puffed up. So that means that if the light from the star goes straight up, it can continue straight up, it’s not blocked by anything. But if it tries to go along the plane of the disk, it doesn’t get out, and it casts a shadow,” explained Pontoppidan.

The disk-a circling structure of gas, dust, and rock-might be roughly saddle-shaped, with two peaks and two dips, which explains the “flapping” of the shadow. The team theorizes that a planet is embedded in the disk, with an orbit inclined to the disk’s plane. This planet may be the reason for the doubly warped shape of the orbiting disk and the resultant movement in its shadow. The scientists calculate that the planet would take at least 180 days to orbit around the star.

The shadow that extends from the star across the surrounding cloud is so huge – approximately 200 times the length of our solar system – that light from the star takes about 40-45 days to reach the edge of the shadow. The star HBC 672 is situated 1400 light years away in a stellar nursery called the Serpens Nebula.

“I am Indira Gandhi’s granddaughter”, Priyanka Gandhi dares UP Govt

By
The Commune
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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the All India Congress Committee General Secretary in charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh and daughter of Sonia Gandhi, in a tweet said that she is the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi and dared the Uttar Pradesh government to take whatever action against her.

“As a public servant my duty is towards the people of Uttar Pradesh, and that duty is to bring the truth in front of them. My duty is not to propagate the government propaganda. Uttar Pradesh government is wasting its time in trying to threaten me. Take whatever action you want to, I will keep highlighting the truth. I am the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi, not an undeclared spokesperson of the BJP like some leaders”, Mrs. Priyanka Gandhi’s tweet in Hindi read.

Her tweet came following two instances of the Uttar Pradesh government responding to the claims made by her in social media accounts.

On June 21, the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi claimed in her Facebook account citing a media report that 57 girls tested positive at a shelter home in Kanpur with two girls being “found” pregnant of which one of them was HIV positive.

She drew parallels to the sexual abuse case reported in Muzaffarpur shelter home case in Bihar.

Again on June 22, she had tweeted citing a media report that 28 patients in an Agra hospital died after being admitted in 48 hours and said that the Agra model propagated by the state government was a failure. The District Magistrate of Agra responded to her tweet saying that her claim was untrue and that the Navbharat Times report cited a death audit in relation to the deaths of total COVID positive patients reported so far and that only 1336 cases with 79 deaths were reported.

However, she went about tweeting on the same on June 23, citing the same numbers despite clarification from the DM.

On June 25, the State Child Rights Panel issued a notice to Priyanka Gandhi and asked her to file a reply within 3 days for her misleading comments on the shelter home.

Her dare to the UP government comes in light of these incidents.

Indian Navy gets an ‘Atmanirbhar’ boost

By
The Commune
-

The Indian Navy has decided to induct an indigenously developed Advanced Torpedo Decoy System Mareech and has closed a contract for the same.

The Advanced Torpedo Decoy System Maareech is capable of being fired from all frontline warships thus boosting the anti-submarine warfare capabilities of the Indian Navy.

A torpedo detection and countermeasure system to detect and divert any incoming torpedoes (sub-sea missiles).

The Defence Research and Development Organization took charge of the design and development of the anti-torpedo decoy system. The production of the system would be done by Bharat Electronics Limited, a Defence public sector undertaking. The prototype of this system had completed all user evaluation trials successfully. In addition to that, it demonstrated the features.

This is seen as a marches a towards self-reliant development of Defence technology in India. It has also added value to the Government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and the country’s determination to become ‘Atmanirbhar’ in defence.

PM Modi launches ‘Atmanirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan’ for non-resident workers of Uttar Pradesh

By
The Commune
-

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the ‘Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan’ through video conferencing today (June 26). This program is focused on generating employment to those workers who have returned to Uttar Pradesh from other states during the lockdown. This marks the initiation of the 125 day campaign to provide employment to non-resident workers of respective states under various central and state government schemes.

With the motto – “ROJGAR KA NAYA ABHIYAN, HAR SHRAMIK KO KAM”, the state government will provide employment to around 1.25 crore out of which 60 lakh will get employment in rural areas while 40 lakh would be absorbed in different MSMEs. A loan amount of ₹5900 crore will be released to 2.4 lakh units under Atmanirbhar Bharat Package. 1.11 lakh units will also get ₹3226 crore rupees as loan amount.

On this occasion, the Prime Minister interacted with villagers from six districts of states including Gonda, Sidharth Nagar, Behraich, Sant Kabir Nagar, Gorakhpur and Jalaun

Villages of all districts of the state also joined through the Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras, maintaining social distancing norms.

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TheCommune
The Commune is a news and views portal focusing on social and political issues of the southern part of India with a focus on Tamil Nadu.
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