Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced the formation of Delhi Board of School Education.

Mr Kejriwal said that the establishment of 'Delhi Board of School Education' will take the revolutionary changes occurring in the education system of Delhi to new heights.

Important Details:-

1. There are around 1,000 government schools and 1,700 private schools in the national capital of which all government schools and most private schools are affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). In academic session 2021-22, the government will include 20-25 schools in the new Delhi Board and the school's CBSE affiliation will be scrapped and they will be affiliated to Delhi Board of School Education.
2. The Board will have a governing body chaired by the education minister.
3. It will also have an executive body for its day-to-day functioning which will be headed by a CEO.
4. Both these bodies will have experts from the industry, education sector, principals of government and private schools and bureaucrats.

Scientists have custom-made a platform to detect the effect of prolonged alcohol exposure on Red Blood Cells (RBC) through high-resolution measurements of their size.

The high-resolution platform that shows the reduction in the size of RBCs on alcohol exposure can be tuned for a point-of-care screening of multiple conditions that alter the size and count of RBCs in the blood.

Although it is known that alcohol affects RBCs, the exact physiological changes are very subtle and difficult to measure. In order to overcome this challenge, scientists from Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous institution funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India led by Professor Gautam Soni, have developed a custom-made electro-fluidic platform that can detect the change by measuring the cell size in enhanced resolution.

The device made in RRI relies on the resistive pulse sensing principle. The team first developed techniques for making tiny micron (1/1000th of a millimetre) sized holes or micro-pores at the tip of a glass capillary with careful fabrication, flame polishing, and image verification. Cells passing through the pore created very tiny electrical pulses, which give direct and most sensitive information of cell count and volume. These results may also be used to explain the lack of oxygen-carrying capability of RBC under alcohol exposure leading to blurred vision, muscular incoordination, and altered mental states from alcohol abuse. 

This research work, recently published in ACS Sensors journal of the American Chemical Society, was carried out by researchers Saurabh Kaushik, Manohara M., and K.D Murugan under the guidance of Dr Soni and Dr V. Sundaramurthy from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore.

"Our lab had been working on building nanofluidic single-molecule detectors for the last few years. We found that some of the ideas used in the nanofluidic field may also be used in microfluidics in general and cell-biology in particular. We were pleasantly surprised with the reproducibility and resolution of our devices," said Professor Soni. Cell volume changes are an important biomarker for multiple diseases, especially blood-related conditions. Accurate measurement of volume changes of RBCs has applications in detection as well as mechanistic studies of diseases such as sickle cell anemia and malaria. Similarly, small volume changes of RBCs could also be indicators of malnutrition states in a cell. With this work, the RRI team envisages that the high-resolution platform can be tuned for a point-of-care screening of several other blood-related conditions.

India won the 4th test match against England in Ahmedabad by an innings and 25 runs. With this win, India has sealed the series victory against the visitors by 3-1. 

Score Card

India - 365
England - 205 & 135 (54.5)

Man of the Match - Rishab Pant

Man of the Series - Ravichandran Ashwin

By securing this series victory, India has qualifed for the Test Champioship finals which is scheduled later this year.

The Union Government has rushed high level multi-disciplinary public health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab in view of the rise in the number of daily new COVID-19 cases being consistently reported by these States.

They are being deployed to aid the State Health Departments in COVID-19 surveillance, control and containment measures.

The high-level team to Maharashtra will be led by Dr P Ravindran, Sr CMO, Disaster Management Cell, MOHFW and the public health team to Punjab will be led by Dr S K Singh, Director, National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), New Delhi.

The teams visit the States immediately and will visit the hotspot areas in the States and ascertain the reasons for the surge. They will also brief the Chief Secretary/Secretary (H) on their observations and remedial measures to be undertaken by the State Health authorities.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, according to approval received from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for the purpose of usage of digital platforms to ensure good governance has notified the following:- 

Certain contactless services are being provided by the Ministry as under:-

1. Learner's License 
2. Renewal of Driving License for which test of competence to drive is not required.
3. Duplicate Driving License
4. Change of Address in Driving License and Certificate of Registration
5. Issue of International Driving Permit
6. Surrender of Class of Vehicle from License
7. Application for Temporary Registration of motor vehicle
8. Application for registration of the motor vehicle with a fully built body.
9. Application for issue of duplicate Certificate of Registration.
10. Application for Grant of NOC for Certificate of Registration.
11. Notice of Transfer of Ownership of motor vehicle
12. Application for Transfer of Ownership of motor vehicle
13. Intimation of Change of Address in Certificate of Registration
14. Application for registration for driving training from Accredited Driving training centre
15. Application for registration of motor vehicle of Diplomatic Officer
16. Application for assignment of Fresh Registration Mark of motor vehicle of Diplomatic Officer
17. Endorsement of hire-purchase agreement
18. Termination of hire-purchase agreement

Any individual desirous of availing the above contactless services, through the portal, is required to undergo Aadhaar authentication. If an individual doesn't have Aadhaar card, they can produce Aadhaar Enrolment ID slip.

A 200-feet Bailey Bridge, built by Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in Reini Village on Joshimat – Malari road, across the Rishiganga River was thrown open for the public on 3rd March 2021. With this, BRO has restored connectivity, in a record time of 26 days, to the 13 border villages of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district that were cut off due flash floods on 7th February 2021. 

DG BRO Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhry lauded the efforts of the personnel of 21 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) of Project Shivalik and the Chief Engineer Project, Shivalik and his team of Karma Yogis who worked round-the-clock to achieve this feat. He said BRO has named that bridge 'The Bridge of Compassion' as a tribute to the fallen Karma Yogis of Renie Power Plant & NTPC Power Plant. He thanked the state government for providing support and assistance to BRO in completing this difficult task. 

On the 7th of February, the Glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in Rishiganga River had washed away a 90-metre RCC Bridge near Reini Village on Joshimat – Malari road. The bridge was the only link to Niti Border in Chamoli district. The GLOF had also washed away a hydro-electric plant located at the same site. More than 200 workers of the hydro-electric plant were trapped. 

The BRO swung into action by deploying 20 small teams consisting of 200 personnel of 21 BRTF under Project Shivalik in the affected area for relief and rehabilitation work. More than 100 vehicles/equipment and plants that included 15 Heavy Earth Moving equipment/machinery like Hydraulic Excavators, Dozers, JCBs and Wheel Loaders etc were pressed into service. BRO also inducted critical equipment with the help of the Indian Air Force. 

The task was very challenging due to the steep cliff on far bank and 25-30 metres debris/muck on the home bank and the non-availability of working space on either side.

The officers of Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Commissionerate, Delhi (East) have achieved success with their investigations leading to the unearthing of a massive network of fictitious firms to generate and avail fake Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Goods and Services Tax (GST), a release issued by the Ministry of Finance informed.

The network of fictitious companies was being operated by one Naresh Dhoundiyal in connivance with one Devender Kumar Goyal, who is a Charted Accountant by profession. Both Naresh Dhoundiyal and Devender Kumar Goyal are former employees of Essel Group. Though they are presently not working with the Essel group officially, however, they are passing on inadmissible ITC to the said group. Investigations indicate that a layer of genuine looking fictitious intermediatory companies was created to pass on bogus ITC from non-existent and fake firms to the companies of Essel Group without actual supply of any goods or services. This was apparently done to enable Essel Group to avail inadmissible Input Tax Credit of GST, book expenses to evade Income Tax and inflate their turnover to push the share prices of their listed companies, the release said.

Naresh Dhoundiyal incorporated multiple fictitious intermediatory companies for Essel Group whereas, Devender Kumar Goyal, CA arranged the fake invoices of various other fictitious and non-existent firms for such fictitious intermediatory companies. The total fake Input Tax Credit passed on by such fictitious intermediatory companies is quantified to be Rs. 92.18 crore whereas, the total fake Input Tax Credit passed on by other fictitious and non-existent firms pertaining to the larger network is quantified to be more than Rs. 300 crore. The syndicate has thus defrauded the Government exchequer of more than Rs. 392 crore by issuing bogus invoices of more that Rs. 3,000 crore without actual supply of any goods or services which is likely to increase as the investigation progresses. It is pertinent to mention that M/s Vertilink Media Solutions Private Limited has admitted the evasion and have voluntarily deposited Rs 2.5 crore.

Naresh Dhoundiyal and Devender Kumar Goyal, CA hatched a deep-rooted criminal conspiracy with the intent to defraud the Government exchequer and knowingly committed offences specified under Section 132(1)(b) and 132(1)(c) of the CGST Act, 2017 which are cognizable and non-bailable offences as per the provisions of Section 132(5) and punishable under clause (i) of subsection 1 of Section 132 of the Act. Naresh Dhoundiyal and Devender Kumar Goyal, CA have been arrested under Section 69(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 and produced before the Duty Magistrate on 4th March 2021 who remanded them to judicial custody of 14 days till 18th March 2021. Further investigation in the case is in process.

It is pertinent to mention here that since the inception of GST Central Tax, Delhi Zone has made 30 arrests in various cases involving GST evasion amounting to more than Rs 4,450.86 crore, the release added.

The Ministry of Railways today issued a statement on some reports in the media regarding the price of platform tickets.

The statement said that the hike in price of platform ticket is a temporary measure and is a field activity undertaken by the railway administration in the interest of the safety of passengers and to prevent overcrowding at stations. It stated that deterring more persons to visit the station, the platform ticket charges are increased from time to time after assessing the ground situation.

"This is in practice for many years and is used occasionally as a SHORT TERM crowd control measure. There is NOTHING new about it," the statement said.

Considering the upsurge of COVID in a few states, the Indian Railway is discouraging people from unnecessary crowding at the platforms. Rush at the platforms during the pandemic situation also needs to be regulated. The exercise is in the Public interest only, the statement informed.

In March 2020, many divisions in Railways enhanced the platform ticket price at various stations to avoid crowding. Later, this was revoked over a period of time for example Central Zone, ECR to name a few. During festivals like Chathh, Diwali or Melas etc as well in different zones it is often temporarily increased and later on rolled back.

Regulation and controlling of the crowd at stations is the responsibility of DRMs. Powers are delegated to DRMs since 2015 to raise platform ticket to regulate rush at platforms during specific requirements like mela, rally etc. The power to change charges of platform ticket has been delegated to DRM s due to field management requirement, the statement added.

NIA Special Court in Patiala House, New Delhi, today sentenced Imran Khan Pathan to seven years rigorous imprisonment and fine in ISIS Conspiracy Delhi Case.

This case was registered by NIA on 9th December 2015 under section 125 of IPC and sections 18, 18B, 38 & 39 of UA(P) Act, 1967 and pertains to larger criminal conspiracy hatched by the proscribed terrorist organisation ISIS to establish its base in India by radicalizing and recruiting Muslim youth through different social media platforms. As a result, radicalised youths expressed their solidarity, allegiance and support to ISIS and left India to join ISIS.

After completion of the investigation, NIA had filed charge-sheet and supplementary charge-sheets against 17 accused including Imran Khan Pathan@ Imran. Earlier, 16 accused persons were convicted and sentenced upto 10 years rigorous imprisonment by the NIA Special Court vide its orders on 16th October 2020 and 16th December 2020 for the conspiracy hatched by ISIS handlers based in Syria and subsequently formation of group namely "Junood-ul-Khilafa-fil-Hind" owing to its allegiance to ISIS, a proscribed terrorist organisation.

Accused Imran Khan Pathan was in direct touch with ISIS handler namely Yusuf-Al-Hindi. He had received funds to the tune of Rs 50,000 from one of the associates of Shafi Armar namely Mudabbir Mushtaq Sheikh (already convicted) for making an IED and to further the activities of ISIS in India. With this judgement, all 17 charge-sheeted accused involved in this case stand convicted by the NIA Special Court, Delhi.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully carried out a flight demonstration based on Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology from Integrated Test Range Chandipur off the coast of Odisha at around 10.30 am today.

All the subsystems, including the booster motor and nozzle-less motor, performed as expected. During the test, many new technologies were proven, including Solid Fuel based Ducted Ramjet technology, a release issued by the Ministry of Defence informed.

Successful demonstration of Solid Fuel based Ducted Ramjet technology has provided DRDO with a technological advantage that will enable it to develop long-range air-to-air missiles. Currently, such technology is available only in a handful of countries in the world. During the test, the air-launch scenario was simulated using a booster motor. Subsequently, the nozzle-less booster accelerated it to the required Mach number for Ramjet operation.

The performance of the missile was monitored using the data captured by Electro-Optical, Radar and Telemetry instruments deployed by ITR and confirmed successful demonstration of the mission objectives. The launch was monitored by senior scientists of various DRDO labs, including Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory(HEMRL).

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh congratulated the scientists of DRDO, the Indian Air Force and the Industry on the successful flight test of SFDR.