After a long wait of 500 years, Jhulanostav will be celebrated on the fifth (Panchami) day of Shukla Paksha in the Shravan month of Hindu calendar at Ram Mandir premises in Ayodhya.

The Shri Ram Janmbhoomi Teerath Kshetra trust on Thursday tweeted from the official Twitter handle saying: “In Ayodhya, there is a tradition of Shravan Jhula Utsav. From Shravan Shukla Tritiya till Purnima, Bhagwan Shri Ram gives darshans on a jhula. Now this 21 kg silver jhula has been put in the seva of Bhagwan.”

Nag Panchami is also known as Sawan Ki Panchami and on this day Ram Lalla, along with all his brothers, will come to Jhulan in the Ram Janmabhoomi complex. In Ayodhya, there is a tradition that on the fifth day of Shukla Paksha in Shravan month every year, Jhulanoutsav is celebrated in all math temples. Acharya Satyendra Das, the head priest of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi, said that Jhulanotsav will be celebrated in every temple from the fifth of Sawan. Silver swing is ready for Ram Lalla. This year, Lord will enjoy Jhulanotsav on a silver swing. On the occasion of Nag Panchami, Ram Lalla will be seated on a silver swing. devotees will have darshan of Ram Lalla’s seated on a silver swing. The devotees will have to follow the guidelines of the administration.

NEW DELHI: Noting that the world appreciates the resolve shown by India in dealing with the surge of cases in the second wave of Covid-19, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday that demand for medical oxygen went up eight-nine times and “we have come through test of fire”.

Addressing CII Annual Meeting 2021, Jaishankar said the scale, intensity, seriousness of the second wave of the pandemic was something very difficult to anticipate.

ANI

The Ashraf Ghani-led Afghanistan government on Thursday offered to share power with the Taliban in a bid to stop the escalating violence in the war-torn country where the insurgent group has captured 11 provincial capitals so far, local media reported.

ARY News reported that the government had offered a power-sharing deal in which it has also asked the Taliban to end attacks on civilians. The development came soon after Taliban spokesperson Qari Yousaf Ahmadi said the group had captured Ghazni city, the capital of the eponymous province in Afghanistan’s southeast.

The Afghanistan government, during the extended Troika meetingin Qatar’s Doha has raised grave concerns over the Taliban’s brutal attacks on cities, which have led to war crimes and blatant human rights violations and humanitarian catastrophe in the country, Afghan foreign ministry said.

The extended Doha Troika meeting, comprising the US, Russia, China, and Pakistan, was aimed at resuming meaningful intra-Afghan peace negotiations even as US-led foreign troops finalised their withdrawal from the region.

The Taliban on Thursday claimed to have seized Herat, Afghanistan’s third-largest city amid US troop withdrawal from the country. Heart is 11th Afghan provincial capital to be captured by the Taliban. Buildings in the province, including the police headquarters, came under Taliban control, and government forces “laid down their arms,” it added.

Local media and journalists posted images and videos of Afghan forces fleeing from the city in the western part of Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reported that Taliban have entered Kandahar city. Some local residents told the media outlet that the situation in Afghanistan’s second-largest city was “dire”, as intense fighting rages between rebels and government forces inside the city limits.

Afghanistan is witnessing a surge in violence as the Taliban has intensified its offensive against Afghan forces and civilians with the complete pullback of foreign forces just a few weeks away.

Due to rising violence in the country by the Taliban, the situation is deteriorating badly as the terror group has been looting people and killing civilians after capturing multiple areas from the government.

The Taliban escalated its offensive against the Afghan forces soon after the US forces started leaving Afghanistan in large numbers after the peace deal signed between Washington and the Taliban in February last year.

On Wednesday, President Ashraf Ghani appointed a new chief of army staff in an attempt to give a robust response to the terror group on the ground. Haibatullah Alizai replaced Wali Mohammad Ahmadzai, as the new chief of army staff. Alizai previously worked as commander of the Afghan National Army Commando.

WITH ANI INPUTS

The disengagement between India and China in the Gogra Heights area of eastern Ladakh has been completed and both sides are back to their permanent bases, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

During the 12th round of military talks, India and China had agreed to disengage troops from patrolling point 17A, also known as Gogra Heights, one of the friction points between the two countries in the eastern Ladakh region.

Addressing a press conference, the MEA spokesperson said that the landform in the Gogra Heights area has been “restored by both sides to pre-standoff period”.

“You would have seen the detailed press releases issued regarding the 12th round of Corps Commander-level talks and on disengagement in the area of Gogra. The disengagement process at that area has been completed and troops of both sides are now in their respective permanent bases,” the spokesperson added.

According to the MEA, India and China have expressed commitment to take the talks forward and resolve remaining issues along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Western Sector. “As you know, India has always maintained that disengagement, followed by de-escalation, would help our overall bilateral relations move forward,” the spokesperson said.

As per the agreement reached during corpus commander talks, both sides have ceased forward deployments in PP-17 in a phased, coordinated and verified manner. The disengagement process was carried out over two days on 4-5 August and troops of both sides are now in their respective permanent bases.

The spokesperson said that all temporary structures and other allied infrastructure created in the area by both sides have been dismantled and mutually verified. The landform in the area has been restored by both sides to the pre-stand off period.

The last disengagement agreed and acted upon by both sides was in February this year when they disengaged from the banks of Pangong Lake.

Delhiites will now have their own health card on the lines of foreign countries. The Delhi government will implement Health Information Management System (HIMS) early next year. For this, the process of vendor selection and financial bidding has been completed, and preparations are on to keep it in the cabinet to implement it.

This will be a separate and only system of its kind in the country, under which every citizen of Delhi will get a health card, which will contain all the information related to their health. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal directed officers that while working on a war-footing, this project should be completed within the stipulated time frame, so that hassle-free health facilities can be provided to the people as soon as possible.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal reviewed the progress of the Health Information Management System (HIMS) project by meeting at the Delhi Secretariat on Thursday. Health Minister Satyendar Jain and senior officials of the Health Department were present in the review meeting. Officials said that a lot of progress has been made in this project. The process of vendor selection and financial bidding has been completed. Technical Appraisal Approval of Technical Appraisal including clarifications is completed. After the approval of the Health Minister, the draft of the cabinet note was sent for inter-departmental consultations. Officials informed that the work of the first phase will be completed by the end of the year and it will be implemented by the beginning of next year.

Expressing satisfaction over the progress made in the HIMS project, CM Arvind Kejriwal said that “our government is very serious about providing modern health facilities to residents of Delhi. The HIMS project is an important step in this direction. Delhiites will get a lot of convenience with HIMS and health cards.”

“Therefore, utmost seriousness should be taken to complete this project on time and it should be completed within the stipulated time frame. After the implementation of the Health Information Management System, people will not have to stand in long lines in hospitals and they will be freed from standing in lines. Whenever he needs to see a doctor, he will be able to make an appointment to meet him through online medium while sitting at home. A time will be given to meet the doctor and at that time you will be able to consult him.”

The Delhi government’s plan is that people do not have to make rounds of hospitals or offices to get health cards made. To rid the people of this problem, the government will conduct a survey in the whole of Delhi, so that everyone’s health card can be made. Along with this, health cards will also be made at hospitals and other designated places. Health cards will be distributed after door-to-door verification. The health card will contain the complete medical history of the person and with the help of the card, he will be able to get treatment in any hospital attached to HIMS.

After the health card is generated, there will be no need to carry medical reports etc. The Delhi government is trying to implement HIMS in all government hospitals of Delhi as soon as possible. Also, private hospitals will also be connected to it in a phased manner. All patient care related services like hospital administration, budgeting and planning, supply chain management, back end service and processes etc. will be brought under this system.

The health cards will be issued through this system and will be available online for access. This will help the people of Delhi to get all the information and emergency cases under one roof. After its implementation, Delhi will become the only state in the country to have a cloud-based health management system. Currently, such a system is available in some developed countries like Sweden, Uganda and Germany.

With many states still not decided on reopening schools owing to Covid infection apprehensions, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has advised parents not to be scared with isolated cases of children getting infected since latest serosurvey has showed that 55 percent children had already contracted coronavirus and possess anti-bodies.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Guardian, Dr Samiran Panda, Head Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, ICMR, said even children got infected during the second disastrous Covid wave, but a majority were asymptotic and didn’t develop health complications. “There is absolutely no reason to be panic. Several children who have been found infected recently after reopening of schools, how one can be sure that they got virus in schools and not at home? The children have less lungs receptors and better immunity levels,” Dr Panda said as he advocated scientific approach towards reopening of schools.

Underlining the importance of micromanagement in containing the epidemic, Dr Panda said that states must identify areas with low transmission rate of virus and areas where people got infected in large numbers during the second wave as they are unlikely to be hit by the third wave. National and state level management would do more harm than good. A local level scientific approach must be developed where local serosurveys and data related to virus should be collected and then a decision should be made about reopening of schools, he added.

Counting pointers parents and governments must keep in mind before getting children backs to schools, the ICMR scientist said not just teachers, but entire support staff of schools such as peons, bus drivers and guards must be fully vaccinated and an odd-even sort of formula must be engineered to avoid crowding of classrooms. Parents must ask schools about vaccination details of school staff before sending children. They themselves must get jabbed and ensure that people around children are inoculated. Covid appropriate behavior will always be the priority, Dr Panda said, adding that 11-17 years old children have strong immunity, while less than six-year-old children have less chance of getting infected.

Meanwhile, India reported 41,195 new cases in the last 24 hours. As per the data shared by the Union Health Ministry, India’s active caseload now stands at 3,87,987, while active cases now constitute only 1.21% of the country’s total positive cases, which is the lowest since March 2020. India’s Cumulative Covid Vaccination Coverage has exceeded 52.89 crore (52,89,27,844), as per the 7 pm provisional report on Thursday. More than 50 lakh (50,77,491) vaccine doses were administered on Thursday, the data further read.