Russian President Vladimir Putin along with several other world leaders will participate in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on maritime security conducted at the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. PM Modi will preside over the meeting being convened under India’s presidency.

Other dignitaries who are expected to participate in Monday’s event to be held via video conferencing are the President of Niger Mohamed Bazoum, the President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, Prime Minister of Vietnam Pham Minh Chinh, the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Felix Tshisekedi and the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

PM Modi will chair the high-level open debate on ‘Enhancing Maritime Security—A Case for International Cooperation’ on 9 August at UNSC, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Sunday.

PM Modi would be the first Indian Prime Minister to preside over a UN Security Council Open Debate, the statement added. The is expected to be attended by several Heads of State and Government of member states of the UNSC, and high-level briefers from the UN System and key regional organisations.

The UN Security Council has discussed and passed resolutions on different aspects of maritime security and maritime crime. However, this will be the first time that maritime security will be discussed in a holistic manner as an exclusive agenda item in such a high-level open debate.

“Given that no country alone can address the diverse aspects of maritime security, it is important to consider this subject in a holistic manner in the United Nations Security Council. A comprehensive approach to Maritime Security should protect and support legitimate maritime activities while countering traditional and non-traditional threats in the maritime domain,” the MEA said.

Delhi on Sunday reported 66 new Covid-19 cases, with the positivity rate in the last 24 hours being 0.10 per cent. As many as 95 people have recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, as compared to Saturday when 22 people were discharged post-recovery. With this, the total recoveries have gone up to 14,11,159. As per the Delhi health bulletin, no death was recorded in the past 24 hours.

Meanwhile, after a meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) was held to discuss whether schools in the capital should be reopened and an expert committee was formed to examine the issue, many principals and students felt that schools should be reopened as Covid-19 cases have dropped.

Speaking to ANI, Mahendra Pal Sharma, principal of ASVJ School, Daryaganj said, “Students are willing to come to school but their parents are against it as most of the students have not received Covid-19 vaccination.” He added, “Parents and students should mentally prepare themselves as it has been almost a year. Students are taking online classes and things need to be normal now with precautions against Covid-19.”

Pavitra, a class 11th student living in East Delhi’s Priya Enclave said, “Schools should open now because we have been at home for a long time. Online classes become difficult to understand at times. So studying in class makes more sense.”

Samyak, a student in 8th standard, also believes that schools should be opened now. “The continuous closure of schools is affecting our mental health. The result of this is that neither we are able to meet friends nor are we able to discuss anything. Not only students but parents also say that schools should be opened now,” he added.

Earlier, on 1 August, the Education Department of the state had issued the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the reopening of schools from 2 August for classes 9th to 12th, and 16 August for classes 6th to 8th.

With Covid-19 cases now dropping, Delhi has relaxed most restrictions on public movement and outdoor activities. The number of active cases in Delhi now stands at 536 while the cumulative caseload has mounted to 14,36,761. As many as 67,316 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours including 47,021 RT-PCR tests and 20,295 Rapid Antigen tests, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 2,42,22,336.

Delhi at present has 269 containment zones, as per the data provided by the state government. WITH ANI INPUTS

Mumbai’s suburban train network will be open from 15 August to fully vaccinated people 14 days after their second jab, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced on Sunday.

“We are providing some relaxations now but if cases go up, we will have to resort to lockdown again. So I appeal to you to not invite another wave of Covid,” CM Thackeray said in a televised address to the state.

“Local trains in Mumbai will start from 15 August for those who have been vaccinated with both the shots. We will launch an app where people can update if they have taken both doses and when they took their second dose. People can take passes either from the app or from the offices,” he said.

Passengers who have a smartphone can download the train pass through the mobile app. Passengers who do not have a smartphone can take photo passes from municipal ward offices in the city as well as suburban railway stations. Most importantly, these passes for local travel will have QR codes so that the railway administration can verify its authenticity.

“I urge you not to allow anyone to obtain passes illegally. Take two doses of the vaccine and travel,” the CM said.

CM Thackeray also said, “Gradually, as the number of passes issued increases, it will indicate that more people are getting vaccinated. Accordingly, we will start opening up everything.”

He also informed that decisions on opening of religious places are likely in a week, based on the Task Force recommendations. “The days of the festival are coming… There should not be a crowd in it, take care of it,” he said.

After the meeting of the task force tomorrow, it will be decided how long restaurants, hotels, malls and religious places can be kept open.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday announced relaxations in Covid restrictions in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. The relaxations will come into effect from 9 August.

Talking to the mediapersons, he said, “Even though some relaxations have been given for now, if the positivity rate goes above 7 percent in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad area, the restrictions will be imposed like earlier. Hence everyone must follow the guidelines so that cases do not increase.”

The Deputy CM informed all the shops can remain open till 8 pm in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. “They will have one day off as per their previous schedule. All Hotels and Restaurants too can open till 10 pm on all days with 50 percent of capacity. Indoor and outdoor activities areas to remain open on all days,” he said. Shopping Malls will remain open till 8 pm on all days but entry will be only allowed to those who’re fully vaccinated.

On the last day of the Tokyo Olympics, the United States won three gold medals to once again top the tally with a total of 113 medals, including 38 Gold medals. China was leading 38-36 as the action headed to the final day but with 3 gold medals, the US piped China in one of the closest races for the Olympic top spot in the history of the Games. As for India, it ended up surpassing their previous best tally at an Olympics of six medals, which the contingent achieved at the 2012 London Olympics, with Neeraj’s gold being their seventh medal.

The Tokyo Olympics started with a bang for India with weightlifter Mirabai Chanu becoming the second individual silver medallist at the Games from the country. And, after a lull in the middle as the shooters and archers failed to live up to expectations, India made a good comeback towards the end with the performances of the men›s and women›s hockey teams and P.V. Sindhu›s bronze medal victory. And the icing on the cake was Neeraj Chopra winning a historic javelin throw gold in the last event of the Tokyo Games that featured an Indian.

India headed to the Tokyo Games with their biggest-ever medal contingent and finished with their biggest-ever medal tally.

As the Tokyo Olympics 2020 came to an end on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the Indian contingent for showing the best-ever performance at the Games.

“As #Tokyo2020 draws to a close, I would like to congratulate the Indian contingent for their stupendous performance at the games. They personified the best of skill, teamwork, and dedication. Every athlete who represented India is a champion,” tweeted PM Modi.

In another tweet, the Prime Minister said: “The medals India has won has certainly made our nation proud and elated. At the same time, this is the time to keep working to further popularise sports at the grassroots so that new talent emerges and gets the opportunity to represent India in the times to come. #Tokyo2020.”

India won seven medals in the multi-sporting event, its best-ever performance. In the ongoing Tokyo 2020, Neeraj Chopra (gold), Bajrang Punia (bronze), Mirabai Chanu (silver), P.V. Sindhu (bronze), Lovlina Borgohain (bronze), men’s hockey team ( bronze), and Ravi Kumar Dahiya (silver) won medals.

PM Modi also lauded the Government of Japan for successfully hosting the Tokyo Olympics even when the world continues to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic. “A special thank you to the Government and people of Japan, especially Tokyo for hosting the well-organised games. To host it so successfully, in such times, gave out a strong message of resilience. It also demonstrated how sports is a great unifier,” he tweeted.

Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Sunday said that the Tokyo Games were held successfully and it gave hope to the entire world. “I think we can already now say with confidence that we have experienced a very successful Olympic Games,” Kyodo News quoted Bach as saying.

“I think we can say with confidence that these Olympic Games happened at the right time and that the athletes for whom we did it really appreciated it and considered it also to be the right moment in time to come together again and give hope and confidence not only to the Olympic community but for the entire world,” he added.

About 11,000 athletes from over 200 countries competed in the Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has revealed in its study that the combination of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines conducted on 18 people, has elicited better safety and immunogenicity results. The study results came on the day India registered 39,070 fresh Covid-19 cases, of which Kerala saw 18,607 new infections.

In the study, ICMR compared the safety and immunogenicity profile with those individuals who received either Covaxin or Covishield and it showed better results. The study conducted on individuals in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh in India received Covishield as the first dose followed by inadvertent administration of Covaxin as the second dose at an interval of six weeks.

As per Dr Samiran Panda, Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases, ICMR, “It was like a natural experiment when second time these individuals inoculated with different doses inadvertently.” He said that ICMR decided to conduct the study so that people would not get anxiety or vaccine hesitancy. “We went to the place and collected samples of individuals,” he added.

A total of 18 participants were in the heterologous group. However, two participants were unwilling and were excluded. Among them, 11 were male, and seven were female with a median age of 62 years.

“A comorbid condition (hypertension) was reported in one (5.5 per cent) individual. In both the homologous groups, 40 individuals were included,” the study said. “We compared the safety and immunogenicity profile of them against that of individuals receiving either Covishield or Covaxin (n=40 in each group). Lower and similar adverse events following immunization in all three groups underlined the safety of the combination vaccine regime. The immunogenicity profile against Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants in the heterologous group was superior; IgG antibody and neutralising antibody response of the participants was also significantly higher compared to that in the homologous groups,” the study said.

Meanwhile, India reported 39,070 fresh Covid-19 cases, while 43,910 people recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. The active cases of Covid-19 in the country now stands at 4,06,822.

Of these, Kerala recorded 18,607 new infections on Sunday, the state health department said in a bulletin. With 93 more deaths, the Covid death toll of the state rose to 17,747. At present, there are 176,572 active cases in Kerala.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday launched a major offensive against banned organisation Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) by carrying out raids at 56 locations spread over 14 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

Houses, offices, work places and trusts run by JeI in the districts of Srinagar, Budgam, Ganderbal, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora, Anantnag, Shopian, Pulwama, Kulgam in Kashmir valley and Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar and Rajouri of Jammu region were raided simultaneously by a large team of NIA sleuths assisted by Jammu and Kashmir Police and CRPF. A DIG-level officer had flown from Delhi to Kashmir especially to lead the crackdown.

The case in which the raids were conducted on Sunday was registered by NIA on 5 February 2021 in pursuance to order from the Ministry of Home Affairs relating to “separatist and secessionist activities of JeI”.

Jamaat-e-Islami was banned by the Union Home Ministry, under the UA(P) Act on 28 February 2019, exactly two weeks after the Pulwama terror attack of 14 February 2019 in which more than 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives. The attack had also triggered a major arrest spree of JeI cadres.

According to sources, Sunday’s raids were triggered by the inputs that the members of the organisation have been collecting funds domestically and abroad through donations particularly in the form of Zakat, Mowda and Bait-ul-Mal purportedly to further charity and other welfare activities. “But these funds are instead being used for violent and secessionist activities. The funds raised by JeI are also being channelised to proscribed terrorist organisations such as Hizbul Mujahideen (HM), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and others through well organised networks of JeI cadres. JeI has also been motivating impressionable youth of Kashmir and recruiting new members (Rukuns) in J&K to participate in disruptive secessionist activities,” a spokesperson of NIA said. 

Searches conducted on Sunday included the premises of office bearers of the JeI, its members and also offices of trusts run by JeI. During the searches, various incriminating documents and electronic devices were seized from the premises of the suspects. 

In Srinagar searches are carried out at the residence of Gazi Moin-ul Islam, a resident of Soura and Falah-e-Aam Trust Nowgam, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, son of Mohammad Jaffar Bhat at present HIG Colony Bemina, Bashir Ahmad Lone at Harwan and Faheem Ramzan at Lal Bazar.

Sources said that in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, houses of Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, Nazir Ahmad Raina, Farooq Ahmad Khan, all residents of Kokernag, Aftaq Ahmad Mir, resident of Badoora Achabal, and Ahmadullah Parrey, resident of Khiram Bijbehara, were raided and searched.

In Bandipora, former Jamaat president Mohammad Sikander Malik’s residence at Gundpora was searched by the NIA. In Ganderbal, the NIA raided the residences of Gul Mohammad war, Zahoor Ahmad Reshi and Mehraj ud din Reshi. It also raided the houses of Mohammad Yousuf Sheikh, son of Gulam Hassan Sheikh, Riyaz Ahmad Ganie in Shopian. In adjacent Kulgam, the NIA searched residences of Ghulam Hassan Sheikh and Mohammad Yosuf Rather. In the Jammu region, the agency raided many places in Ramban, Doda, Kishtwar and Rajouri districts.

The Centre had banned the Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 for five years under anti-terror law on grounds that it was “in close touch” with terrorist outfits and is expected to “escalate secessionist movement” in the state.

In the notification issued by the Union Home Ministry, the Jamaat was charged with “unlawful association”, for being in “close touch with militant outfits and supporting extremism and militancy in Jammu and Kashmir”. The decision was taken after a high-level meeting on security chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.  

The cadre-based organisation is perceived to be the ideological parent of the Hizbul Mujahideen, the largest terrorist outfit in the Valley.

Just before and soon after the abrogation of Article 370 on 5 August 2019, the Jammu and Kashmir Police along with other security agencies launched a major crackdown on JeI cadres and picked and detained hundreds of them. Many of its leaders are still languishing in jails in and outside Jammu and Kashmir. Though the organisation has denounced militancy publicly more than once, security and intelligence agencies believe that it is still funneling funds for Hizbul Mujahideen led by Syed Salahudin.

Recently the administration in J&K terminated the services of two sons of Syed Salahudin along with many others for “working against the national interest.”