分类： bharat

India celebrated its 71st Republic Day with a grand parade, showcasing the nation’s military might, history and cultural diversity, with visiting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro as the guest of honor.
Before the parade kicked off down the iconic Rajpath boulevard in downtown Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid a wreath at the newly built National War Memorial for the first time instead of doing so at the Amar Jawan Jyoti memorial, dedicated to the heroes of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Top Indian government officials have reviewed safeguards already in place and potential crisis response measures, in case the rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak, which has already killed 56 in China, spills across the border.
On Saturday, Health Ministry officials briefed top cabinet members, including the home, foreign, defense and civil aviation secretaries, about the screening and other preventative measures being undertaken as more countries report 2019-nCoV infections.
While nobody in India has tested positive for the new coronavirus yet, authorities routinely take samples from all travelers who show any respiratory disease symptoms. Over 20,000 passengers on 115 flights at seven international airports across India have been screened in recent days.
In addition to thermal scanners set up earlier, several multidisciplinary teams comprising public health experts, clinicians and microbiologists were sent to airports in New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi on Sunday. According to Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, screening measures have also been increased at the border with Nepal, which reported the first coronavirus case on Friday.

The Health Ministry also issued a fresh advisory for travelers going to or returning from China, urging them to avoid close contacts and promptly seek medical attention, and report to the Indian Embassy, if they feel sick and have symptoms like fever and cough.

Internet services will be partly restored in Indian Kashmir from Saturday, ending a five-and-a half-month government-imposed blackout in the troubled region, but social media will stay offline, local authorities said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed a communications blackout in early August when it stripped the portion of Kashmir it controls – the country’s only Muslim-majority region – of its partial autonomy.

India also imposed a curfew, sent in tens of thousands of extra troops and detained dozens of Kashmiri political leaders and others, many of whom remain in detention, drawing criticism abroad.

Internet access will be restored later Saturday but only to 301 government-approved websites that include international news publications and platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.