Govt releases draft drone rules; here are key changes proposed

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Thursday released the updated Drone Rules, 2021 for public consultation.

‘The Drone Rules, 2021’ will replace the UAS Rules 2021 (released on March 12, 2021). The last date for receipt of public comments is August 5, 2021, MoCA said in a statement.

Here are key takeaways from the Draft Drone Rules, 2021:

1. Approvals abolished: Unique authorisation number, unique prototype identification number, certificate of conformance, certificate of maintenance, import clearance, acceptance of existing drones, operator permit, authorisation of R&D organisation, student remote pilot licence, remote pilot instructor authorisation, drone port authorisation etc.

2. Number of forms reduced from 25 to 6.

3. Fee reduced to nominal levels. No linkage with the size of the drone.

4. Safety features like ‘No permission – no take-off’ (NPNT), real-time tracking beacon, geo-fencing etc. to be notified in future. A six-month lead time will be provided for compliance.

5. Digital sky platform shall be developed as a business-friendly single-window online system.

6. There will be a minimal human interface on the digital sky platform and most permissions will be self-generated.

7. Interactive airspace map with green, yellow, and red zones will be displayed on the digital sky platform.

8. Yellow zone reduced from 45 km to 12 km from the airport perimeter.

9. No flight permission required up to 400 feet in green zones and up to 200 feet in the area between 8 and 12 km from the airport perimeter.

10. No pilot licence required for micro drones (for non-commercial use), nano drone and for R&D organisations.

11. No restriction on drone operations by foreign-owned companies registered in India.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

COVID-19: Rishabh Pant tests positive in UK

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has tested positive for COVID-19 in the ongoing tour of England and will not travel with the team to Durham as it reassembles for next month’s Test series against the hosts.

A BCCI source confirmed that it was Pant who tested positive and was in isolation for the past eight days. He is, according to the source, asymptomatic at this point.

“He is in quarantine at an acquaintance’s place and won’t be travelling with the team to Durham on Thursday,” he said without divulging when the 23-year-old will join the squad.

The development comes close on the heels of BCCI secretary Jay Shah sending an e-mail to the Indian contingent, warning it about the rising cases of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom.

The break was given to the players after the World Test Championship against New Zealand, which the team lost last month.

“Yes, one player has tested positive but he has been in isolation for the last eight days. He was not staying in any hotel with the team, so no other player has been affected,” BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla told PTI.

“As of now no other player has tested positive. Also you must be aware our secretary Jay Shah has written a letter to all players to maintain protocols,” Shukla added.

It is understood that Pant has been afflicted by the Delta variant which has led to rising number of cases in England. He was seen attending a REuro championship match last month and had even posted pictures on his social media accounts.

Shah, in his letter, told the players to “avoid” crowded places as Covishield, the vaccine which has been given to the team, only provides protection, not full immunity against the virus.

In fact, Shah’s letter had specifically stated that players should avoid going to the Wimbledon and Euro Championships, both of which recently concluded there.

The Indian team is due to take on England in a five-match Test series starting August 4. It will play a practice game starting July 20 as a build-up to the high-intensity series.

The India-England showdown marks the beginning of the second cycle of the World Test Championship.

Recently, the England team too was hit by the virus and was forced to field ab altogether different XI in a limited-overs match against Pakistan.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

BLS International Services shares rise 8% on partnering with Flipkart for last-mile services

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The share price of BLS International Services soared 8.2 percent to Rs 144.65 on Thursday after the firm partnered with Flipkart to provide last-mile services across the country.

The stock has rallied over 200 percent in the last 1 year and over 50 percent YTD.

BLS works with over 46 client governments including Diplomatic Missions, Embassies & Consulates and leverages technology and processes that ensure data security. The company now has an extensive network of more than 12,000 centres globally with a robust strength of over 15,000 employees and associates that provide consular, biometrics and citizen services. BLS has processed over 52 million applications till date globally, it said.

As per experts, with a lot of countries opening up and others expected to lift their travel-related restrictions in the coming months, this company will certainly continue to be in focus.

For the March quarter, the firm posted a 162 percent surge in its net profit at Rs 23.51 crore as against Rs 8.96 crore in the year-ago quarter. Sales, however, declined 4.42 percent to Rs 144.56 crore in the quarter under review versus Rs 151.24 crore during the quarter ended March 2020.

For the full year FY21, its net profit declined 4.35 percent to Rs 50.15 crore as against Rs 52.43 crore in FY20. Sales also declined 39.15 percent to Rs 478.37 crore in FY21 versus Rs 786.14 crore in FY20.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Delhi: COVID containment zones falls below 500 from over 58,000 in two months

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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With the second wave of COVID-19 subsiding, the number of containment zones in Delhi has gone down from over 58,000 to less than 500 in the last two months, according to official data. Containment zones are residential areas with three or more active COVID-19 cases, entailing complete restrictions on entry and exit from such places and special measures such as mass testing, tracing and tracking.

According to the latest figures of the revenue department, the total number of containment zones across the 11 districts of Delhi is 472. The districts with lower numbers of such zones are South East Delhi (zero), East Delhi (six), Central Delhi (eight), and North East Delhi (10).

New Delhi district has the highest number of 176 containment zones. Other districts with a higher number of such areas are North Delhi (86), South Delhi (64), West Delhi (35), Shahdara (34), North West (30), and South West (23). With the number of Covid cases rising exponentially during the second wave of the pandemic in the third week of March, the number of containment zones in the city went up rapidly with over 1,500 added every day by the second half of April, the figures show.

The number of containment zones in the national capital was over 58,000. With the number of fresh Covid cases running into thousands in April and May, many districts resorted to the containment of individual buildings, where even one person was found positive for the infection, under a micro-containment strategy, officials said.

The process for opening the containment zones starts 14 days after the recovery of the last known positive case there.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Can a person contract two COVID-19 variants at once? What we know so far

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The recent death of a 90-year-old Belgian woman, who tested positive for two coronavirus variants together, has triggered concerns regarding the likelihood of a person contracting different variants at the same time.

The nonagenarian woman, who wasn’t vaccinated, was found infected with the Alpha (first detected in the United Kingdom) and Beta (first detected in South Africa) variants. She died five days after being hospitalised.

This wasn’t a standalone case. In January this year, scientists in Brazil had reported that two people had been simultaneously infected by two variants of coronavirus. Earlier, a 17-year-old in Portugal was also found infected with two COVID-19 variants.

Also Read: India’s first COVID-19 patient tests positive for coronavirus again

However, the possibility of a person contracting two different SARS-CoV-2 variants at the same time is said to be very rare but not unlikely.

According to a Reuters report, the European Congress on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, which studied the case of the Belgian woman, has confirmed that it is possible to catch two COVID-19 variants simultaneously.

The medical body said it was possible that the woman contracted the infection from two different people who had tested positive for the Alpha and Beta variants respectively.

Also Read: India’s daily COVID-19 cases outnumber recoveries for 1st time in 7 days

Medical experts say that the virus takes time to multiply and affect all cells and in the meantime, the unaffected cells can host another virus from other sources.

Is a person infected with two variants in a more critical condition?

No study has so far suggested that contracting two variants simultaneously can make a case more critical. Experts say that both variants similarly impact the body. Besides, all COVID-19 vaccines are almost equally effective against the different variants. The drugs and the treatment method for different variants are also the same.

Hence, if a drug or treatment method is helping a patient — infected with two variants — recuperate from one variant of the virus, the effect of the other variant will also reduce.

Follow latest updates on COVID-19 here 

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Rakesh Jhunjhunwala cuts stake in Titan Company by 0.25% in June quarter

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala has decreased his stake in Titan Company by 0.25 percent in the June 2021 quarter. This is for the third consecutive quarter that Jhunjhunwala has cut his stake in the jewellery-watch-to-eyewear maker.

As per the shareholding pattern posted on BSE, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala reduced his stake in Titan to 3.72 percent in June 2021, from 3.97 percent in March 2021. His wife, Rekha Jhunjhunwala’s stake remained unchanged at 1.09 percent.

Jhunjhunwala and his wife together held a 5.5 percent stake in Titan as of September 2020. They cut the stake to 5.3 percent in December 2020, and then further reduced it to 5.1 percent in March 2021.

Their combined stake in Titan as of the June 2021 quarter stands at 4.8 percent.

Meanwhile, state-owned insurance behemoth LIC of India raised its stake in Titan to 3.96 percent in June quarter from 3.91 percent in the March quarter.

At 11:45 am, the shares of Titan Company were trading 0.03 percent lower at Rs 1,710.65 apiece on the BSE.

Catch all the latest updates from the stock market here.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Knight Frank report: Home launches and sales rebound in 2021 but stay below 2019 levels

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Indian housing industry across seven top property markets registered a stellar rise in new launches and sales in the first six months of 2021, according to data released by Knight Frank India.

A total of 1,03,238 homes were launched in H1 2021, up 71 percent, year-on-year. Developers sold 99,416 homes between January and June, up 67 percent year-on-year.

While the numbers indicate a revival from the pandemic lows of 2020, sales and launches continue to stay below 2019 levels.

The 1.03 lakh homes launched between January and June this year, for instance, is 3.64 percent below the launch number of 1.07 lakh in H1 2019. Home sales this year (99,416) are still 25.42 percent below the 1,33,317 homes that were sold in the first six months of 2019, pre-pandemic.

‘Bigger developers doing better sales’

Nevertheless, the industry says it is encouraged by resilience displayed by launches and sales in 2021, a debilitating COVID second wave notwithstanding.

“The industry continues to consolidate with residential developments steadily shifting into the hands of stronger developers who have been able to weather the economic storm created by the pandemic,” said the report.

“Homebuyers have displayed a strong preference for ready inventory to hedge any execution risk by developers but have been more willing to commit to under-construction properties with a Grade A developer at the helm,” it added.

Although launches and sales may not have got back to where they were pre-pandemic, the number of unsold homes continues to see a slow but steady decline.

Unsold inventory on the decline, prices fall marginally too

A total of 4,41,742 homes remain unsold in H1 2021, down one percent year-on-year. More significantly, this statistic has shown some decline when compared to the 4,50,263 homes that were in unsold in H1 2019.

The good news for the homebuyer is that prices continue to cool off, even registering a marginal decline of 2 percent in top markets like MMR, Pune and Chennai, while Bengaluru registered a price-decline of 1 percent. Property prices in NCR remained untouched in H1 2021.

Given the impact that the pandemic has had on home sales in the past, the outlook for H2 2021, Knight Frank India said will not only depend on overall recovery but the pace of vaccination, as well.

“India’s growth trajectory will depend on the COVID situation and whether we get hit by further waves of infection. The pace of vaccination will play a critical role to avoid severe waves of infection in the future,” said the report.

“With the government working towards increasing vaccination supply, India’s growth story in this pandemic will be contingent on the speed of vaccination,” it added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow