The second wave took all businesses by surprise but preparedness on the part of real estate and construction industry has made sure that the impact on the stakeholders is minimal.

Measures like planning of supply chain, procurement of materials in advance, adapting to digital tools for sales, keeping costs under control and making in situ arrangements for construction workers have helped the industry in coping with the current situation.

In situ labourers:

The biggest issue which has been plaguing the construction industry in the last one year has been labour exodus and this hit the industry the hardest. What the industry learnt as a lesson was to stop this exodus by retaining labourers. This time around the state government has also cooperated and permitted construction activity if the labourers are at site. Hence civil construction work is progressing unhindered.

“We have invested in basic equipment and oxy meters, thermal thermometers and oxygen concentrators.  We have also made a quarantine quarter for any one showing symptoms.  Besides, CREDAI has Helpline Number which our members can call to obtain ambulance services, doctor on call and a medical kit. CREDAI in co-ordination with the Labour department has also organized vaccination camps on site,” explains Errol Fernandes, Secretary, CREDAI Bengaluru.

Even individual real estate and construction companies are ensuring good facilities for labourers at site. “We have provided them good sheds at our sites with basic amenities of water and electricity. Even if there is no work at site, our inhouse team of project managers and site engineers visit the sites and make sure they have enough food, mask and medicines. We also started tracking their payment which used to come from their contractors and started ensuring they get the same by cash or online,” explains Priyadarshi Mishra, CEO & Founder, Design& Construct, a prop-tech company offering end to end construction solutions.

Another advantage of keeping labourers in situ is that it will prevent them from going to their hometowns which will in turn prevent the spread the Covid.

Planned procurements:

Another issue during the last lockdown was shortage of construction materials. This time industry players have been smartly procuring weeks in advance anticipating any eventuality.

“We planned our supply chain and procured materials in advance that would last about 6 – 7 weeks. This will ensure that there are no delays and we stick to our construction timelines,” avers C N Govindaraju, Chairman & Managing Director, Vaishnavi Group, a leading construction company based in Bengaluru.

Going digital:

The pandemic also accelerated the digital shift.  Real estate and construction companies have been investing heavily in going digital for the past 1 year and therefore were better prepared when the second wave caught them unawares.

“We have developed our website during the pandemic to provide relevant information to our prospects and to enable them to reach us in a seamless manner. We have also been posting regularly about our business updates on our social media handles to keep our customers informed, and to receive feedback or concerns. For the primary customers, we have developed an app in-house for smooth order processing and making information related to SKUs readily available,” explains Dr Prashanth Reddy, Managing Director, Fundermax India, a subsidiary of Austrian company into sustainable facades for buildings.

Concurs Govindaraju, “A majority of our projects cater to young, first home buyers. Therefore, we have actively invested in our digital presence. Today we are able to close on sales entirely on digital platforms. From marketing to a potential customer on digital assets, to taking them on a virtual tour and finally close a sale and receive the payments – everything is done virtually. What has also changed this time around along with preparedness from our end is a shift in customer behavior and openness to explore homes virtually.

Digital tools make customers happy too. “Digital tools are also making our business development team more efficient as we can now track-develop-and close sales better than ever and customers are happy since they get live updates,” concludes Priyadarshi.

Holding a strong foundation of over ten years in the development profession, Alokesh Sharma has manifested a strong foothold crediting his endeavors with Teach for India and his work with three state Governments in the realm of education. Moving to Uganda he explored the field of finding classroom solutions and strong teaching networks and grew his skills as an educator across the seas. With his most prized venture of ‘Kayantar Foundation’, Alokesh has set the blueprint to refine the quality of living in remote and marginalized areas and communities by focusing on improving the aspect of education, livelihood, and health.

With a visionary approach to do something for his country, Alokesh came back to India. Catering to his love for the villages, he decided to visit them and contribute to the development of these rural and marginalized areas. His expeditions started at Mandwa, Rajasthan where he co-created an entity to design programs that led the people native of the place to grow, learn and work according to the dynamics of the society. Being satisfied with the work in progress at one place, Alokesh moves to another state, another district to procure his services. This way he has been to areas in Kihar Valley in Salooni Block, one of the most remote blocks in Himachal Pradesh , improving the quality of education in those areas.

Having worked in these places, Alokesh moved to Nuh, an aspirational district, and laid the ground for Kayantar Foundation, a Not for Profit Company to support communities for acquiring conducive living conditions through an integrated development approach by focussing on Sustainable Development Goals. Stating his vision behind Kayantar, Alokesh Sharma says, “It has been established that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. An integrated development approach is needed to address all the themes in a community for holistic development. We intend to work in remote and marginalized places of the country through committed development professionals and bring about this transformation.”

Kayantar Foundation leads two major aspects of change:

1)      The integrated development approach addresses the social issues in a systematic manner.

2)      Development Learning model to bring in aspiring and motivated development professionals.

The program focuses on taking aspiring and motivated development professionals through a one-year-long on-ground journey in the rural setup. The model is called Development Leaders For India (DLFI) and is a  Field-Based Development Learning Program. The program brings in motivated and passionate learners who will act as changemakers in partnership with the promising local champions. “We work on the themes of livelihood, education, and health together with the cadre of youth who benefit from peer learning”, says Alokesh.

Vision to uplift the society

During the pandemic, his foundation has started a scholarship program for students and has set up centers with oxygen concentrators in the Nuh to provide support to the people in need.

The intervention through the medium of Kayantar Foundation will create a self-governed structure for the community that would be sustainable and ensures that the community is able to generate revenue for its members.

Alokesh Sharma aspires to co-create autonomous and self-sustainable communities. His idea is to co-establish organizations that will be owned and led by locals will account to enable and support quality education, livelihood and health yielding better life opportunities for the community members.

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?One of the popular institutions in Mumbai is Dwarakamai Charity Sanstha. It plays a vital role in the social, academic, and cultural fields and looks after the needs of the poor people who have lost their job in the pandemic.

During this corona period and lockdown all over the world, the economic situation has got worse at every pace. A heart-breaking news was brought to attention that most of the journalists were facing tough times.The president of the organization, Gaurishankar Chaubey took a quick initiative to help them. He transferred money directly to them from his bank account. Most of the journalists from Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh have been given this benefit by the institution.

Gaurishankar Chaubey is a young & enthusiastic entrepreneur, social activist, and philanthropist.He was born on August 12, 1986 in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh. Gaurishankar is the eldest son of the family. As a child, he took part in many plays like Ramayana & Mahabharata. He started the Dwarakamai organization to help out the needy people.

In reality, the big businessmen or the politicians who promise to help these needy people and say that they will stay by their side when the worst arrives, actually do no work except being good at delivering speeches which are always filled with fake hopes.Gaurishankar Chaubey turned out to be exactly opposite of them, when no one took care of the journalists, Mr. Chaubey made sure to look after their needs. Due to his help, there was relief and happiness among the journalists.Journalists were thankful to Gaurishankar Chaubey due to his great work. They said “when someone is not taking care, then you have taken care of us at such a time, you are eligible for piety.”

Dwarkamai Charity Sanstha is continuing their service even in this pandemic. Every day the office bearers of the institution went to the slums of the suburbs Malad, Kandivali, Goregaon and sanitized each house. Not only this much but they also distribute masks and other safety materials. The Dwarakamai Charity Sanstha has made huge contributions till now. The organization has also started an awareness campaign about all the disease but now specifically about Corona. They always receive positive responses and blessings from the public to keep up the good work.  

Gaurishankar’s success can be measured by the awards he has won so far but for him the real success is to see one happy, healthy and grow in their lives. He has a beautiful family. No matter what, he loves and protects his family. He and his wife are blessed with two sons and one daughter, together they live in Mumbai. Gaurishankar is a self-made man who started his journey with an aim to change his life, but as he reached closer to success he motivated and helped a lot of people, he touched the hearts of each and every individual he came across in his life. Due to his work, he earned the title of “People’s Person”. He was also appreciated by the Governor of India and is in close touch with him. Gaurishankar’s journeyinspires and motivates many aspiring young people who are struggling to have their ends meet.

To stay updated about Gaurishankar Chaubey and his organisation, you can follow him on social media, the links are below:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gaurishankarchaubey

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gaurishankarchaubey?utm_medium=copy_link

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/gschaubey?lang=en

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A unique online platform for music lovers to get recognised

There are many online events and contests related to music, but only a few online events are such that are very popular among music lovers. One such online music contest is –M.I.T.A. i.e. “Musicology International Talent Awards”. Performing arts institution ‘Musicology’ conducts these Awards. Music students and music lovers from all over the world participate in MITA and the winners receive the prestigious MITA award. Music lovers whether they are school-college students, working professionals or home makers may apply for these awards. Certificates are issued to all participants and winners which can be used to enhance one’s profile.

Recently the MITA Awards for the year 2021 were announced for different categories. The awards were announced by renowned actress Delnaaz Irani along with Musicology director Manisha Dixit. Manisha Dixit said, “This year we received thousands of applications for MITA from all over the world. Out of all these applications, we shortlisted about 1,100 contestants and then picked the winners in different categories. The main categories are according to the level of the applicants such as Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Apart from this, there is a ‘junior’ category for small children.

This time MITA awards were given to winners in different categories of singing and instruments like Guitar, Piano, Drums and Keyboard etc. Some of the winners are Garima Moudgil (Vocals) – Australia, Aarushi Sharma (Vocals) – USA, Saksham Srivastava (Guitar) – Noida, Praneeth Reddy (guitar) – USA, Kavya Jain (vocals) -Sweden,Yashoman R.dixit (Keyboard) -Noida, Drishti Goel (vocals) -Agra, Ashima Ahlawat (piano) – Noida. Arvind R (Vocals) – Kerala, Suvarna Sharma (Vocals)- West Bengal, Rakshay Gupta ( Keyboard) – Ghaziabad , Neil Rastogi (Keyboards) – USA , Angad, Ashmit and Saashi ( keyboard) UAE, Aaron ( Keyboard) Oman. Gia and Samidh ( keyboard) , London U.K. and Kuhu Marwah (Vocal) – Noida.

When asked about the unique features of MITA, Director Manisha Dixit said, “In order to maintain a certain level of awards, we have fixed a course for the applications. Anyone who applies for the MITA award has to complete this special course. It becomes very easy for the students who are already learning through online courses offered by Musicology Academy. These students are already familiar with this course. Though this award is open to all and anyone can apply. They can prepare for this course and apply for awards. There are two benefits to the applicants – they get to learn quality music and also get an MITA certificate.

Full information regarding MITA can be obtained by applying on our website www.musicology.net.in or by contacting us at our phone numbers.”

When asked about the online courses offered by the academy of Musicology, Manisha says, “Musicology has been providing quality music education to the students since the year 2003 and we are proud to be recognized as one of the best music education institutes in India. We are also very grateful to our students and their parents who have always given so much love to musicology. On the request of many of our students, we started online music courses in the year 2012. For this we have prepared our new syllabus, books and app especially for online music classes. Today, more and more people are showing interest in ‘live’ online music classes. We are glad that with our experience in online music training we are able to provide quality music education to students all over the world.”

Is online music training as effective as offline? When asked, Manisha says, “At Musicology, we have made online music classes very effective by working on it a long time ago. Over the years, we have developed a method that not only makes online music education possible but in many ways makes it better than offline. This is the reason why today students of all ages from all over the world are learning with our award-winning online music courses. Not only this, Musicology is also running its training program in schools and institutions. Asked about the unique features of Musicology’s online courses, Manisha says, “These courses are specially designed for online music lessons. Students take live classes and learn with the help of online app and books. We have developed different courses for all age groups. Our founder Anurag Dixit has developed these courses with more than 20 years of experience in performing and teaching music. Apart from being one of the most popular artists in pop music, Anurag is an award winning music educator. He has trained thousands of students since 2003. His students include MTV artists and music industry professionals”.

Manisha Dixit also said “the online music school offers courses with different grades and the training is imparted through step by step method. This makes learning music much easier.

Apart from songs, all the courses include technical exercises, theory, ear training, and music language which are taught with proper methods. All the teachers of musicology are given special training by the directors and experts. They start teaching in musicology only after extensive training. All the teachers teach the students through the same curriculum and methods to ensure that the students get uniform experience.”

After completing the course in musicology, students get a certificate that is recognized by the registered institution. Students who complete courses of more than three years are also eligible for LOR (Letter of Recommendation) which helps in improving their profile. These certificates and LORs are helpful in college admissions and job interviews.

Complete information regarding musicology online music courses can be found on its website www.musicology.net.in.

The upcoming UN general assembly president, Maldivian foreign minister Abdulla Shahid, selected Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer K Nagaraj Naidu as chef de cabinet for the duration of his one-year term to guide the world body through its return to normalcy while countries work to manage the pandemic.

“Today, I have appointed ambassador Thilmeeza Hussain as a special envoy of the PGA, and ambassador Nagaraj Naidu Kumar as my chef de cabinet. They will be instrumental in delivering my vision for the #PresidencyOfHope, “ Shahid tweeted.

Hussain is the Maldives’ permanent representative to the United Nations and also serves as the country’s ambassador to the United States and Canada.

Naidu is India’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, and he will be on loan to the UN for a role similar to the Indian prime minister’s principal secretary, who manages the cabinet bureaucracy; also similar to the US president’s chief of staff. Most likely he will be the first Indian diplomat to hold this position, and his appointment reflects India’s growing importance in the international community.

In January, India began its eighth two-year term as a non-permanent member of the United States Security Council, with the implicit objective of bolstering its claim to permanent membership in the world’s most elite club of nations.

Naidu’s leadership of the UN general assembly bureaucracy will be crucial at a time when the international body is attempting to regain its footing as Covid-19 is gradually brought under control.

S Jaishankar, India’s external affairs minister, was virtually present at the UN General Assembly’s most recent session.

According to figures issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Thursday morning, the death toll from the coronavirus illness (Covid-19) in India climbed by 6148 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 359,676. In India, this is the most number of people who have died as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic in one day.

The number of new cases decreased below 100,000 for the third day in a row, with 94,052 people testing positive during that time period. This is, however, the second consecutive increase in new cases, albeit a minor one. According to the data, India’s total Covid-19 infection count has increased to 29,183,121 in just one day.

The massive increase in daily mortality could be ascribed to the Bihar government’s altered data. Bihar first reported 20 fresh deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to 5,478. Later, a backlog of 3,951 deaths was added, bringing the total number of deaths to 9429.

According to the latest figures released on Thursday, 151,367 additional people have recovered from the sickness, bringing the total number of cases to 27,655,493, with a recovery rate of 94.76 per cent. Active cases have dropped to 1,167,952, a decrease of 63,463 instances, and now account for 4% of all positive cases.

On Thursday, the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reported that 2,004,690 samples were tested for Covid-19 on June 9, compared to 1,985,967 on June 8. According to the ICMR, a total of 372,198253 samples have been tested for the illness.

The Union health ministry recorded 86,498 new infections in the previous 24 hours on June 8, the first time the country’s Covid-19 tally had seen an increase of less than 100,000 new cases in a single day since April 6. The number of new cases increased slightly the next day, to 92,596. On the two days, there were 2219 and 2123 daily fatalities, respectively.

After the United States, India has the second-highest total Covid-19 instances in the world. It ranks third in terms of linked deaths, after the United States and Brazil, respectively.

Deriving ingredients from the Middle East, CEO and Founder Ayesha Ziya set to launch Ayesha Ziya Fragrances in Dubai with fusions of British and French botanicals. Running a business for six years, she has made time to curate all her fragrances from scratch. Calculating the best launch strategies, Ayesha went global with her second headquarters in the opulent city of Dubai before introducing Ayesha Ziya Fragrances to the world.

Within the past few weeks, Ayesha Ziya has secured a new stockist to her ever-growing retailer list. www.OUNASS.com is now stocking Ayesha’s entire fragrance collection which is available for delivery to customers in the areas of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. This expansion has opened many doors for Ayesha Ziya Fragrances to introduce its gorgeously created products to new, interested customers.

Furthermore, www.goldenscent.com also became a stockist for the brand this year so customers within the UAE Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, and Oman can now get their hands on the products easily. Ayesha would also be launching her online store specifically targeting the UAE market, so direct sales are an option for those looking to try out the luxury scents.

To take her fragrance brand all over the world, Ayesha is taking it one step at a time.

Presently Preston and Dubai are the proud parts of her business. But, very soon, the whole of the Middle East and European markets will be a major market for Ayesha Ziya Fragrances. Many big companies are showing their interest in collaborating with the brand, making it an outstanding contribution to the global economy. The upcoming online stores will let her enter the global market full-fledged. The young entrepreneur is seriously overwhelmed by the reaction of the interested customers.

Ayesha garners a large fanbase of followers across her social media channels from the Middle East, who admire the CEO and Founder fondly, so the decision to open an office in Dubai, had everything in place for the opening.

By starting the operations digitally, Ayesha will now be reaching multiple households simultaneously. The fragrances are going to the main attractive feature for the brand. So, are you eagerly waiting for the new online availability for Ayesha Ziya Fragrances in your country? Don’t forget to keep an eye on the website.Www.Ayeshaziya.com

The Finance Act, 2020 has established a new Section 194-O that elaborates on levying 1 percent on TDS payments made to e-commerce operators. Section 194-O is applicable when Residents or Non-Resident e-commerce operators make payments to e-commerce platforms in relation to the sale of goods and services. 

An e-commerce operator is defined as a person who holds, manages or operates a digital or electronic facility for the sale of goods and services. Also, e-commerce operators are responsible for making payments to any e-commerce participant on sale of such products or services. These products or services include sale of digital goods and services such as podcasting, blogs etc.

Who is excluded?

A threshold limit of Rs. 5 lakhs is applicable for only resident individuals and Hindu Undivided Family (HUF). What this means is that an e-commerce operator does not need to deduct TDS if the amount (paid or credited) to individuals or HUF during the financial year does not exceed Rs. 5 lakhs.

Non-resident e-commerce participants are excluded or exempted from Section 194-O.

Scope of TDS on E-commerce under Section 194-O

The responsibility of payment of TDS lies with an escrow account between the buyer and seller. In other words, TDS is to be handled by e-commerce providers for the facilitation service of selling provision or goods of service furnished by it through its digital or automated facility or platform.

E-commerce providers are expected to deduct TDS during the credit or return period, whichever is faster.

Moreover, this section provides that if a purchaser of goods or service has earned the payment immediately to the e-commerce associate, it shall be assumed that an adjustment has been performed by the e-commerce executive or that the account has been charged by the e-commerce operator and the same shall be calculated in the entire amount for deduction of tax.

If the e-commerce participant does not publish their Aadhaar or PAN card, TDS has to be deducted at the rate of 5 per cent, according to the provisions of section 206AA.

What if the e-commerce participant is a non-resident?

Let us take an example. An e-commerce participant firm called Trader Ltd, sells its products through Amazon. Ms. Lina purchased this product online from Trader for Rs. 10,000 on the 1st of April, 2020.

Amazon credits Trader’s account on the 1st of April, 2020, but the customer directly makes the payment to Trader on the 15th of April, 2020.

Here, Amazon is needed to deduct TDS @1 percent on Rs. 10000 at the time of credit to the party or make the payment, whichever comes first. In such a scenario, TDS has to be deducted on the 1st of April, 2020.

Other provisions of Section 194-O on e-commerce transactions

All other left-out provisions of the chapter TDS of the Act are applicable. This includes submission of TDS form, provision surrounding the payment of TDS, other provisions related to non-deduction or lower deduction/non-submission of return/non-payment post deduction would be applicable as stated in the Act. The introduction of section 194-O would result in the upliftment of revenue for the government by minimizing tax evasion.

Rare Planet, a Kolkata-based handicraft products brand, offering products hand-created by rural craftsmen from across the nation, has raised a seed round of financing from Venture Catalysts. The startup, which aims at curating an independent self-sufficient community of craftsmen of over 1,000,000 by 2024, will use the newly gained funding to add up to and reinforce its community and transform Rare Planet into a brand with a very Indian personality. 

Begun in 2015 by Ranodeep Saha, then in 2019, Vijaya Kumar Thalanki Rajgopal joined Rare Planet as a cofounder is working on-hands with karigars from far-off regions to adjust existing customary things. It consolidates the innate range of abilities of Indian craftsmen with the edge and mastery of trendy planners to make items. The startup is right now present across 50+ clustersin the nation including travel retail stores like WH Smith, Relay in air terminals, and book shop chains like Crossword to name a few.

Although in the beginning, the pandemic and ensuing lockdowns came as a disappointment, eventually it turned out to be a boon in disguise. During the pandemic itself, Rare Planet raised another round of funding and is currently valued at around INR 100 crore!

Not only in terms of funding received, but it expanded in terms of presence. Recently, 4 news stores were launched in Kolkata, Bangalore, and Goa  This only means that there will be a more steady income for the rural artisans who create the products by hand.

When the pandemic hit all of a sudden, the artisans behind the success of Rare Planet’s products were among the hardest hit. Rare Planet made sure their livelihoods didn’t stop, by employing them in making face masks of a variety of fabrics and colors.

Besides expanding their retail network and offering a variety of products, Rare Planet is equally focused on creating a safety net for these workmen. A bunch of facilities such as financial assistance, loan facility among many other things, was made available to this vulnerable section of the population.

After graduating in 2018, Ranodeep’s Rare Planet was doing very well and was on the path of phenomenal growth. “But things came to a grinding halt when the Covid situation arose and the nation went on lockdown,” says Ranodeep. “But that did not stop us. We ensured business continuity by selling handmade face masks, sanitizers, and other relevant items, which kept us afloat. It also ensured that the livelihoods of artisans were not disrupted.”

So what lies ahead for growth? It was from New Zealand that Rare Planet received its first international order, but now it has grown much beyond that. “We’ve recently launched our products into the international market, and it has been doing tremendously well. We plan to expand our offerings to more international markets. This way, we will also ensure better numbers for our artisans and achieve greater visibility as well. We want these India-made products to be available in all major airports the world over,” says Vijaya Kumar ThalankiRajgopal Co-founder, of Rare Planet. 

https://www.facebook.com/RarePlnt/

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar flew to Kuwait via Doha on Wednesday morning for a three-day visit to strengthen bilateral ties and express gratitude to the two countries for assisting India during the raging second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic by acting as a logistics hub for liquid medical oxygen supplies to western India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with his counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah to discuss ways to strengthen ties in the energy, trade, investment, manpower, and information technology sectors while the EAM transports Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal letter to Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.

Despite the fact that the S Jaishankar will transit through Doha on Qatar Airways, no meeting with Qatari leadership has been organized as of yet at the airport.

During the second pandemic in India, Kuwait, which has a large Indian community of over a million people, provided 5,267 oxygen cylinders, 450 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen, 66 oxygen concentrators, 11 ventilators, and other things such as medications, oximeters, masks, and gloves to India. From May 4 to June 8, Kuwait sent all of its medical assistance to India.

Qatar, which is India’s major LNG and LPG supplier, has also established itself as a major logistical and transportation hub for western India. Since August 2020, it has maintained a steady flow of passenger flights under the air bubble arrangement, particularly in recent weeks when several other Gulf airlines have shut down. In the current circumstance, Doha might become a new transit hub for Indians after the pandemic’s dust settles.

Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, called Prime Minister Modi on April 27 to express his country’s solidarity with India and to assure him that Qatar will provide all available assistance. The Indian Ambassador in Doha would liaise with the Prime Minister’s office on the topic, according to the Prime Minister. The Emir quickly gave instructions to his foreign office to find out what India needed and to aid them.

Qatar Airways, one of the world’s major cargo carriers, declared on April 29 that it would transport crucial humanitarian medical cargo to India for free. Qatar Airways played a critical role in transporting foreign medical help to India. On May 3, Qatar Airways dispatched three cargo airplanes, one to Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai, each carrying 300 MT of medical supplies sourced from around the world. It featured ventilators, CPAPs, oxygen concentrators, and personal protective equipment.

Qatar was also instrumental in supplementing India’s local production of liquid medicinal oxygen. Minister Dharmendra Pradhan met with his Qatari counterpart, Energy Minister Saad Al Kaabi, on May 1. The latter promised that Qatar Petroleum would take roughly 400 MT of liquid medical oxygen available to India every week.

The Indian community in Qatar, which numbers 700,000 people, also contributed generously, mobilizing 532 fully filled oxygen tanks and 43 oxygen concentrators. INS Kolkata delivered the first consignment of 200 completely filled oxygen cylinders and 43 oxygen concentrators on May 10, while INS Tarkash delivered the second consignment of 232 oxygen cylinders with capacities of 42 and 50 liters on May 12. Nagaland, Odisha, Bihar, and Telangana are among the states that have employed them.

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