Here are the top 5 news of January 13, 2021:
Farmers in Punjab today burnt copies of the Centre's three new farm laws at several places on the festival of Lohri as a mark of protest against the legislations. Protesting farmers owing allegiance to different farm bodies held protest at many places in the state and burnt copies of new agriculture laws. Farmers also shouted slogans against the BJP-led Centre and slammed the government for not acceding to their demands. They demanded that the new farm laws should be repealed.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court had on Tuesday stayed the implementation of controversial new farm laws till further orders and has set up a 4-member committee to resolve the impasse between the Centre and farmers' unions protesting at Delhi borders. However, the farmers' unions have disapproved the panel saying they are "pro-government".
The Delhi government today allowed all schools in the national capital to reopen for Classes 10 and 12 from January 18 in view of board exams, according to officials of the Directorate of Education. Students will attend schools only with consent of parents and physical attendance is not compulsory, while schools will follow all COVID-19 guidelines, they said.
"In order to conduct activities pertaining to pre-board preparations and practical work, the head of government, aided and unaided recognised schools may call students of Classes 10 and 12 only to school with effect from January 18, 2021," a senior official at the Directorate of Education (DoE) said. However, a child should be called to school only with the consent of parents and following standard operating procedures, he said. Records of children coming to school will be maintained and the same should not be used for attendance purposes as sending a child to school is completely optional for parents, the official said.
Ahead of COVID-19 vaccination drive, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) today said that during the first phase of vaccination frontline workers will need to carry identity proof with them. "During vaccination in 1st phase, the frontline workers must carry either Aadhaar card, Voter ID card, Pan card or passbook with their photo printed on it as an identity proof. One must first get registered on CoWIN app and then carry these IDs," BMC Additional Commissioner told news agency ANI.
Meanwhile, Mumbai received over 1.39 lakh doses of the Oxford COVID-19 vaccine, Covishield, from the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) early morning today, the BMC said. This first batch of doses will be delivered across the city at designated vaccination centers for the inoculation drive set to begin on January 16, the BMC said in a statement. Also, nearly 1.30 lakh health workers from Mumbai have so far registered for vaccination, according to BMC officials.
American electric car maker Tesla has registered its Indian arm amid indications that the company is set to enter the country's automobile market. According to a regulatory filing, the firm has registered Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd with RoC Bangalore. The company has been registered as an unlisted private entity with a paid up capital of Rs 1 lakh.
Vaibhav Taneja, Venkatrangam Sreeram and David Jon Feinstein have been appointed as directors of Tesla India, as per the Registrar of Companies (RoC) filing. Reportedly, the company is also in touch with four more state governments (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu) to set up operations in the country.
In a poll conducted on the International Cricket Council's (ICC) official Twitter handle, netizens were asked to rate the best among four 'giants' - Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, Meg Lanning, and Imran Khan. The ICC shared averages of the four 'pacesetters' before and after they were appointed as captains of their respective national teams.
With over 500,000 votes cast, it boiled down to Virat Kohli and Imran Khan. As the poll ended, the results appeared to be shocking as Khan was rated higher than Kohli by 1.1 per cent. Virat Kohli had 46 percent of the vote while Imran Khan had 47 percent. AB de Villiers received only seven percent of the vote while Meg Lanning unfortunately received only one percent.
(With input from agencies)
