Anganwadi workers in Delhi on Monday.Delhi News Live: Hundreds of anganwadi workers and helpers on Monday gathered near Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence to demand a hike in their salary. Their primary demands include that the honorarium of workers be increased from Rs 10,000 to 25,000, and of helpers from Rs 5,000 to 20,000 to account for increased workload and inflation. Their pay had last been increased in 2017.
Maintaining a declining trend, Delhi reported 3,674 Covid-19 cases on Sunday at a positivity rate of 6.37 per cent, a drop from 7.41 per cent on Saturday. The number of daily cases in Delhi has been on the decline after the record high of 28,867 on January 13. Delhi government officials said that the case trajectory over the past week has made it clear that the worst is over in the capital for now.
From Monday, children in the age bracket of 15 to 18 years will start receiving their second dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. Delhi has around 10.14 lakh beneficiaries in the age group.
On the weather front, the maximum temperature on Monday is likely to be 23 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature could be 6 degrees Celsius, along with clear skies, according to the India Meteorological Department. The cold day conditions of last week, when maximum temperatures remained below normal, have abated. Rainfall is on the forecast for Delhi on February 3 and 4.
Anganwadi workers and helpers on Monday gathered near Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence to demand a hike in their salary. Their primary demands include that the honorarium of workers be increased from Rs 10,000 to 25,000, and of helpers from Rs 5,000 to 20,000 to account for increased workload and inflation. Their pay had last been increased in 2017.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) in Delhi is likely to remain in the ‘poor’ category on Monday, the Air Quality Early Warning System indicates. The AQI on Sunday was 278 in the ‘poor’ category. The rainfall and winds on February 3 could lead to an improvement in the AQI, according to the SAFAR forecasting system.
The 24-hour average AQI at most monitoring stations was in the ‘very poor’ or ‘poor’ categories on Monday morning. In R K Puram, the AQI was 318, while it was 306 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. Both are in the ‘very poor’ category. In Anand Vihar, the air quality was in the ‘severe’ category, with an AQI of 445.
A western disturbance is likely to affect parts of northwest India from February 2 onwards. Consequently, rainfall is on the forecast for Delhi on February 3 and 4. Over the rest of the week, the minimum temperature is likely to range from 7 degrees to 10 degrees Celsius, and the maximum temperature could range from 19 degrees to 23 degrees Celsius.
The maximum temperature on Monday in Delhi is likely to be 23 degrees Celsius and the minimum temperature could be 6 degrees Celsius, along with clear skies, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast for the day.
The cold day conditions of last week, when maximum temperatures remained below normal, have abated. Over the past 24 hours, the maximum temperature recorded was 22.2 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year.
The minimum temperature recorded in the early hours of Monday was 6.4 degrees Celsius, two degrees below the normal. At 8.30 am on Monday, the temperature was 7.4 degrees Celsius, and the relative humidity at the same time was 94%.
The fitness test of auto-rickshaws and taxis is expected to get easier and less time-consuming as the Delhi government's transport department will set up 10 automated inspection and certification lanes at its Burari facility, officials said on Sunday. After mooting the proposal seven years ago, the department has now floated a tender for setting up the automated lanes at its vehicle inspection unit in Burari. The system will be in place in the next few months as the bid opens in March, a senior transport department official said.
The Delhi Police has introduced a phonetic keyboard with Hindi voice typing facility in the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) for investigating officers to verbally record their work on the electronic database. The system, as a pilot project, has been launched in all police stations of New Delhi and North districts of the force.
It will be rolled out in all the police districts soon, they said. Police also said that this is the first of its kind system innovation to have taken place in north Indian Hindi speaking states. With this technological solution, now investigating officers (IOs) will be able to speak and record their work electronically using the phonetic keyboard, dispensing the dependency on Hindi typists or the compulsion to record Hindi versions in English alphabets, Delhi Police Public Relations Officer Chinmoy Biswal said.
Beneficiaries in the age group of 15 to 18 years will start receiving their second dose of COVID-19 vaccine from Monday, officials said. The drive to inoculate the adolescents in this age group had begun on January 3. Delhi has around 10.14 lakh beneficiaries in the age group.
Till Saturday, 8,04,690 beneficiaries in the national capital have been administered the first dose. Covaxin is the only vaccine option for the 15 to 18 year age group, according to Union Health Ministry guidelines on December 27.
Maintaining a consistent decline, Delhi reported 3,674 Covid cases on Sunday at a positivity rate of 6.37%. The number of deaths, which as per experts lags around 2 weeks as compared to cases, was still high at 30.
Delhi government officials said that the case trajectory over the past week has made it clear that the worst is over in Delhi for now.
“We had seen this in South Africa as well. Cases rose very quickly and then reduced at a similar pace. Delhi reached a new peak of cases in this wave but hospitals were not overwhelmed. This is the right time to reopen things, including schools, as there is clear evidence that we are in a better position now, especially with vaccination,” said a senior government official.
School administrators have sharpened their stance on reopening schools and have requested for a delegation to discuss the issue with the Lieutenant-Governor. The Action Committee Unaided Recognised Private Schools — a large umbrella body of private schools in the city — wrote to the L-G’s office Sunday, pushing for schools to open and requesting a meeting with him.
This comes, last Wednesday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had met with a delegation of parents who had submitted a memorandum requesting that schools and anganwadi centres be the first to reopen as and when Delhi begins lifting its current set of Covid restrictions.