Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting her second Budget in the Lok Sabha on Saturday had to stop abruptly with two more pages yet to be readout. Her Budget speech of 2020-21 was the longest so far, continuing for two hours and 40 minutes but had to stop as she felt unwell while hurtling towards the conclusion.
She sought permission of the Speaker Om Birla to take the remaining part of her Budget speech as having read. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh who was seated next to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the front row bench was seen advising her to stop her speech. Her Cabinet colleague Harsimrat Kaur Badal rushed to the Finance Minister and was seen advising her to take rest. Ms. Sitharaman appeared to be feeling uneasy and perspiring.
After introducing the Finance Bill 2020-21, Ms. Sitharaman took her seat and the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.
Last year, Ms. Sitharaman’s speech had lasted for nearly two hours, 17 minutes.
Both the treasury and the opposition benches were packed. Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav were not present in the Lok Sabha. On at least half a dozen occasions during the Budget speech, Opposition members raised their voices in protest when references to security, happiness, and ease of living came as well as when a reference to Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao was being readout. 

The Union Cabinet has approved the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 to amend the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971. This will allow termination pregnancy of 20-24 weeks of gestation.
In order to increase access of women to safe abortion services and taking into account the advances in medical technology, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare proposed amendments after extensive consultation with various stakeholders and several ministries.
The Bill will be introduced in the ensuing session of the Parliament.
Termination of pregnancy of 20-24 weeks of gestation will require the opinion of two service providers. The opinion of one provider for termination of pregnancy, up to 20 weeks of gestation is mandatory.
The upper gestation limit from 20 to 24 weeks has been enhanced for special categories of women which will be defined in the amendments to the MTP Rules and would include ‘vulnerable women including survivors of rape, victims of incest and other vulnerable women (like differently-abled women, Minors) etc.
The upper gestation limit will not apply in cases of substantial foetal abnormalities diagnosed by the Medical Board. The composition, functions and other details of Medical Board to be prescribed subsequently in Rules under the Act.
Name and other particulars of a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated shall not be revealed except to a person authorized in any law for the time being in force.
The Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill, 2020 is for expanding access of women to safe and legal abortion services on therapeutic, eugenic, humanitarian or social grounds. The proposed amendments include substitution of certain sub-sections, insertion of certain new clauses under some sections in the existing Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, with a view to increase upper gestation limit for termination of pregnancy under certain conditions and to strengthen access to comprehensive abortion care, under strict conditions, without compromising service and quality of safe abortion.
It is a step towards the safety and well-being of the women and many women will be benefitted from this. Recently several petitions were received by the Courts seeking permission for aborting pregnancies at a gestational age beyond the present permissible limit on grounds of foetal abnormalities or pregnancies due to sexual violence faced by women. The proposed increase in gestational age will ensure dignity, autonomy, confidentiality and justice for women who need to terminate the pregnancy.

Authors caution that given the lack of a robust and detailed timeline of records of suspected, probable, and confirmed cases and close contacts, the true size of the epidemic and its pandemic potential remains unclear.
New modelling research, published in The Lancet, estimates that up to 75,800 individuals in the Chinese city of Wuhan may have been infected with 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) as of January 25, 2020.
Senior author Professor Gabriel Leung from the University of Hong Kong highlights: “Not everyone who is infected with 2019-nCoV would require or seek medical attention. During the urgent demands of a rapidly expanding epidemic of a completely new virus, especially when system capacity is getting overwhelmed, some of those infected may be undercounted in the official register.
He explains: “The apparent discrepancy between our modelled estimates of 2019-nCoV infections and the actual number of confirmed cases in Wuhan could also be due to several other factors. These include that there is a time lag between infection and symptom onset, delays in infected persons coming to medical attention, and time taken to confirm cases by laboratory testing, which could all affect overall recording and reporting.”
The new estimates also suggest that multiple major Chinese cities might have already imported dozens of cases of 2019-nCoV infection from Wuhan, in numbers sufficient to initiate local epidemics.
The early estimates underscore that it will likely take rapid and immediate scale-up of substantial public health control measures to prevent large epidemics in areas outside Wuhan. Further analyses suggest that if transmissibility of 2019-nCoV could be reduced, both the growth rate and size of local epidemics in all cities across China could be reduced.
“If the transmissibility of 2019-nCoV is similar nationally and over time, it is possible that epidemics could be already growing in multiple major Chinese cities, with a time lag of one to two weeks behind the Wuhan outbreak,” says lead author Professor Joseph Wu from the University of Hong Kong. “Large cities overseas with close transport links to China could potentially also become outbreak epicentres because of substantial spread of pre-symptomatic cases unless substantial public health interventions at both the population and personal levels are implemented immediately.” 
According to Professor Gabriel Leung: “Based on our estimates, we would strongly urge authorities worldwide that preparedness plans and mitigation interventions should be readied for quick deployment, including securing supplies of test reagents, drugs, personal protective equipment, hospital supplies, and above all human resources, especially in cities with close ties with Wuhan and other major Chinese cities.” 
In the study, researchers used mathematical modelling to estimate the size of the epidemic based on officially reported 2019-nCoV case data and domestic and international travel (i.e., train, air, road) data. They assumed that the serial interval estimate (the time it takes for infected individuals to infect other people) for 2019-nCoV was the same as for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS: table 1). The researchers also modelled potential future spread of 2019-nCoV in China and internationally, accounting for the potential impact of various public health interventions that were implemented in January 2020 including use of face masks and increased personal hygiene, and the quarantine measures introduced in Wuhan on January 23.
The researchers estimate that in the early stages of the Wuhan outbreak (from December 1, 2019 to January 25, 2020) each person infected with 2019-nCoV could have infected up to 2-3 other individuals on average, and that the epidemic doubled in size every 6.4 days. During this period, up to 75,815 individuals could have been infected in Wuhan.
Additionally, estimates suggest that cases of 2019-nCoV infection may have spread from Wuhan to multiple other major Chinese cities as of January 25, including Guangzhou (111 cases), Beijing (113), Shanghai (98), and Shenzhen (80; figure 3). Together these cities account for over half of all outbound international air travel from China.
While the estimates suggest that the quarantine in Wuhan may not have the intended effect of completely halting the epidemic, further analyses suggest that if transmissibility of 2019-nCoV could be reduced by 25% in all cities nationally with expanded control efforts, both the growth rate and size of local epidemics could be substantially reduced. Moreover, a 50% reduction in transmissibility could shift the current 2019-nCoV epidemic from one that is expanding rapidly, to one that is slowly growing .
“It might be possible to reduce local transmissibility and contain local epidemics if substantial, even draconian, measures that limit population mobility in all affected areas are immediately considered. Precisely what and how much should be done is highly contextually specific and there is no one-size-fits-all set of prescriptive interventions that would be appropriate across all settings,” says co-author Dr Kathy Leung from the University of Hong Kong. “On top of that, strategies to drastically reduce within-population contact by cancelling mass gatherings, school closures, and introducing work-from-home arrangements could contain the spread of infection so that the first imported cases, or even early local transmission, does not result in large epidemics outside Wuhan.”
The authors point to several limitations of their study, including that the accuracy of their estimates depend on their assumption about the zoonotic source of infection in Wuhan. They also highlight that the models assume travel behaviour was not affected by disease status and that all infections eventually have symptoms—so it is possible that milder cases have gone undetected which could underestimate the size of the outbreak. Lastly, they note that their epidemic forecast was based on inter-city mobility data from 2019, and might not reflect mobility patterns in 2020, particularly in light of the health threat posed by 2019-nCoV.

Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad claims to have developed an essential-oil-based drug delivery systems to treat fungal infections without running the risk of inducing drug resistance. This medication can even counter fungi that have developed resistance to conventional antifungal drugs.  
Microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi have a remarkable capacity to evolve resistance to antimicrobial agents used to destroy them, a statement issued by the Institute has said.
The research was led by Dr. Mudrika Khandelwal, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, and supported with funds by the Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Grants from the American multinational conglomerate AT&T.
The research paper, co-authored with her Ph.D. Student Ms. Shivakalyani Adepu, was published in the international peer-reviewed journal Materialia.
With the results of this work, the researchers are developing prototype antifungal hygiene products with the financial support from the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), set up by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, as an Interface Agency to strengthen and empower emerging Biotech enterprises.
Highlighting the need for developing alternate, non-resistance inducing treatment options for fungal diseases, Dr. Mudrika Khandelwal, Associate Professor, Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, said, “Given the prevalence of fungal infections such as vaginal infections, diaper rash, athlete’s foot, and nail fungus, caused by the Candida family of fungi, drug resistance can become life-threatening.”
The Institute turned to natural products to solve this problem. The idea of using carriers for controlled release of drugs has been around and various types of carriers including polymeric microcapsules, nanoemulsions/colloids and hydrogels have been developed for various drugs.
Elaborating on this research, Ms. Shivakalyani Adepu, Ph.D. Student, Department of Materials Science And Metallurgical Engineering, said, “Herbal essential oils and their ingredients are a promising class of effective antimicrobials Thymol found in oregano oils, carvacrol found in thyme and eugenol found in clove oil, have excellent antimicrobial action against all types of Candida fungi. The problem with essential oils and their components is that they are sensitive to temperature, light, and pH, and decompose easily.”
A way to overcome this problem is to design a suitable carrier system that can protect the oils/active principles from these factors, and yet, release them in a controlled manner so that the antifungal action can be fully harnessed.
“Currently we are developing antifungal panty liners for mitigating vaginal candidiasis. The developed formulation can also be used as a transdermal patch /mucoadhesive patch to treat skin and mucocutaneous infections without inducing resistance in the fungal species,” added Dr. Khandelwal.
The team chose polylactic acid microcapsules to encapsulate the essential oil ingredients. Polylactic acid polymers are biocompatible and biodegradable and are already widely used in the medical field. The researchers found that using the microcapsules alone as the carrier could cause uncontrolled, burst release of the ingredients.
To delay the release of the active principles, the researches designed another level of protection. The polylactic acid microcapsules that contained the active substances were further incorporated into a secondary barrier made of nanofibrous bacterial cellulose. In addition to designing the double-barrier carrier system, the researchers also enhanced the anti-fungal activity of their formulation by using synergistic mixtures of thymol, carvacrol, and eugenol.
The researchers compared their double-barrier, triple-ingredient formulation with simple colloids of the ingredients and found that the latter suffered from a far more rapid decrease in activity compared to their design.  Furthermore, their controlled-release design achieved 99.9% fungistatic action within 12 hours, with only half the concentration of thymol, carvacrol, and eugenol as the colloidal samples, thus enabling small dosages for treatment.

Monalisa Bagal is a popular Actor. Latest movies in which Monalisa Bagal has acted are Ganu, Perfume, Dry Day, Sobat and Prem Sankat.
In 2016, Monalisa was first seen in the movie Prem Sankat. Later, she was seen in the movie Zhala Bobhata directed by Anup Jagdale in the role of Priya. Her co-star in the movie was the young actor Mayuresh Prem. The movie received very good reviews, especially since Bollywood director Rohit Shetty decided to make a remake of it, soon as it was released.
Monalisa’s role of Priya comes from a small village, who falls in love with a young boy. However, she has a lot of difficulty mentioning about this love to her family, who is conservative. This movie starred the Marathi acting stalwart Dilip Prabhavalkar and comedy actor Bhau Kadam.
As per her Facebook profile, Bagal originally comes from Lonavala.
After teasing the audience with a little sneak peek photos from the film, first time director, Karan Tandale has finally dropped the trailer of ‘Perfume’ which gives us a look at Omkar Dixit and Monalisa Bagal’s unusual love story.
The trailer begins with lead actress Monalisa getting carried away by the perfume in the air and meeting Omkar, the lead in the film. The trailer traces their love story that blossoms because of their common love for perfumes. Veteran stars, Chinmay Mandlekar and Sayaji Shinde are playing the prominent roles in the film.

They say, don’t dream your life, live your dreams and one young entrepreneur, Kriti Ds lived hers. She climbs up the success escalators by being the topmost in-demand make-up artist and studio popular throughout the social media. 

Once in a while, in the middle of an ordinary life, just one moment gives us a magical fairytale. And in that one moment, we want to feel and look our most gorgeous self. From being a bride to getting dolled up for a photoshoot to hitting the ramp for ace designers, a single stroke of a brush can enhance your inner beauty and unleash your self-confidence. Swearing by this mantra since 2010, Kriti Ds is one such makeup artist who makes young women dazzle in their little fairytales. 

Her journey from being a dreamer to a focussed professional makeup artist began by launching a chic makeup studio in New Delhi which in today’s time holds a great reputation for expert artistry and knowledge of beauty products. With more than 400k Instagram followers this Makeup Mogul is not only the most popular artist in India but has also been rated among the top 10 makeup artists in Delhi for three years consecutively by several magazines, award associations, etc. 

Creativity being her best makeup skill, Kriti Ds has never been afraid to go that extra mile and experiment to create magic on the beautiful ladies. From a natural daytime look to bold evening shenanigans, she takes pride in her makeup and her happy brides are a testimony to her skills, mastery, and dedication. Her clientele also includes top models and celebrities from the Bollywood Industry such as Kapil Sharma’s wife, Ginny Sharma. Apart from Delhi, Kriti Ds also offers her freelance services all over India and the world. 

Currently, she runs a training academight as well, which provides a hands-on learning experience in the field of makeup and styling to passionate newcomers in the industry. But, what we love the most about this artist is that she juggles many roles with utmost grace like being an entrepreneur, a trainer, a customer-focused person and most importantly a self-made, successful woman who learns every step of the way.

We wish Kriti good luck and success for all her upcoming ventures.

Fashion Influencer and a fashion icon too many, Forum Baraiya has become a name to remember in a short span. The young fashionista who took up dressing well and being presentable as a hobby is now influencing thousands of people out there. 

As a child, Forum would never appreciate repeating the same dress. And her liking for fashion took its shape since her childhood days. Forum realized this hobby can be serious when her friends started taking fashion tips from her. And in a short span of 20 months, Forum has already collaborated with 500+ brands and proved her menace as a potential influencer. 

Talking about her fashion journey she adds, “It makes me feel great when I make a difference in others’ lives. Fashion and Style are two major parts of our personalities and how we carry ourselves. Being comfortable while experimenting with our limits and possibilities is a perfect style statement. Above all, self-satisfaction is of major importance.”

We wish Forum good luck and success.

These days blogging sense deemed to be one of the excellent work ones can carry on with. Its uniqueness fibs in its plainness with quintessence. Ankita Arora is one of the prominent fashion and lifestyle influencers and a content creator is known for posting pictures of hot couture wardrobe.

Ankita Raghav Arora is a prominent fashionista, artist and a social media influencer. She wagered into the business of fashion earlier in her life, but the journey was a roller coaster ride for Ankita. She is an Economics Honours graduate from Delhi university. Subsequently finalizing her graduation, she got placed in a reputed Multinational Company and served there six years but somehow she realized that her fascination is beauty and fashion. 

So she decided to finish up her job and begin with her own blog named “ Ankita Raghav Arora” on Instagram. 

On her blog she shares a bunch of fashion and lifestyle content that her followers appreciate, presently she has a family of almost 200K followers on Instagram. She constantly shares pictures of her outfit of the day, travel and holidays selling which her followers can find relatable too.

Social media starlet who has gained fame for her eponymous Instagram account. She has risen to popularity for her gorgeous and chic fashion influencing often through lifestyle blogging. Instagrammers liked how her personality came through in her photos and as her audience grew and exploded with followers, she became an Instagram influencer. She adores working on wedding-related content from wedding outfits to wedding makeup. been loved and appreciated by my clients and audience, Being a Shopaholic, a traveler who loves to experiment with new fashion techniques and cultural lifestyle she runs a self-titled youtube channel featuring vlogs, beauty tutorials, and fashion videos. For her tremendous work, we wish her Good luck for the future.

India has stepped up the vigil at the border of Nepal in response to the confirmed case of Novel Coronavirus (nCoV).

Ms Preeti Sudan, Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary reviewed the preparedness of these bordering states along the Nepal border in terms of orientation of health and adherence of various prevention & management protocols as well as awareness regarding prevention of coronavirus among the people being screened and those transiting the border with Nepal.

The meeting discussed self-reporting by these people, preparation of isolation wards; and availability of protective gear. The States informed the Health Secretary that they had made all necessary arrangements for screening of people transiting across the border. They also informed that travel advisories, other guidelines and protocols issued by the Health Ministry have been also widely disseminated.

Orientation of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), the medical personnel, and health officials has also been conducted. Awareness drives are being undertaken through miking, distribution of leaflets and signages at the border check posts.

Special Gram Sabhas will be organised in coordination with the Panchayati Raj Department over this week for enhancing awareness regarding the coronavirus diseases, its symptoms, preventive measures, and reporting in the border villages. Panchayats have been asked to coordinate with the Hotels Association for wider self-reporting by travellers from Nepal visiting religious and other tourist places in these states.

Ms. Preeti Sudan, chaired a video conference (VC) with Chief Secretaries and DG (Police) of the five states bordering Nepal (Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Sikkim) and Pr. Secretary (H) of other states/UTs, to review their preparedness for prevention and management of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Mr Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Secretary, Home Affairs interacted with DGP of the States/UTs and guided them on key steps to be taken up in the bordering areas, in coordination with the Health Dept. The Shipping Ministry informed that necessary communication has been sent to the national port authorities. They were also directed to follow up with the Inland Waterways Authority of India, and coordinate with the maritime states. NDMA has been requested to share its guidelines and other relevant information with the state authorities.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization South-East Asia has urged countries in the Region to remain vigilant and strengthen readiness to rapidly detect any case of importation of the new coronavirus and prevent its spread.

“It is time to focus all efforts on readiness guided by whatever is known about the new coronavirus,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia Region in a statement issued here.

WHO is working with countries in the Region to roll out these guidelines, prioritizing reviewing and building capacities for laboratory diagnostic, including referral of specimens and diagnosis; trainings in case management, specimen collection and transportation, and infection prevention and control; logistics support and communicating risks and promoting desired behavior in the community, the statement said.

The Regional Director has been in contact with the Ministers of Health since the onset of the outbreak. Last week Dr Khetrapal Singh also took stock of the preparedness and support being extended by WHO to countries.

Globally, WHO continues to work with networks of researchers and other experts to coordinate global work on surveillance, epidemiology, modelling, diagnostics, clinical care and treatment, and other ways to identify, manage the disease and limit onward transmission.

Though the new coronavirus being called novel coronavirus-2019 was not declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) by the Emergency Committee of the International Health Regulation which met last week, its risk was assessed to be ‘high’.

WHO is keeping a close watch on the evolving situation and remains committed to work with member countries to scale up readiness and implement IHR core capacities to respond to any importation, Dr Khetrapal Singh said, emphasizing that “We should continue to be vigilant and ready to contain and prevent any further spread,” the statement added.

Karanvir Singh, a Youth Voice for a nation who incisively raises concerns on Public-Private Partnerships and its future in India during the Annual Meeting at Davos, Switzerland

Young Global Entrepreneur Karanvir Singh who is representing the nation along with a myriad Business Leaders, Union Ministers, Chief Ministers and Change Makers at Davos 2020, is the Founding Chairman of Visionum Group. 

Visionum group acts as a bridge between Government and People and is known for playing a significant role in promoting Clean Environment, Education, Safe Communities, Women Empowerment, Startup Ecosystem, AI for Good, Blockchain, Public Transportation and encouraging Youth entrepreneurship across India.

During the 4 days visit to Davos Switzerland, Singh has raised the concerns and valued points on climate action, youth empowerment, women empowerment and youth entrepreneurship among others. 

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal led the Indian delegation to the 50th World Economic Forum at Davos which has entered its last day.

Actor Deepika Padukone and spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev Sadhguru have also attended the forum this year. Numerous delegates and leaders all around the world have marked their presence and highlighting the umpteen number of remedies to the issues plighting in the world.

This year, four states from India including Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana had their representations at Davos with their contemporary problems and solutions.

Karanvir Singh has also highlighted that Visionum Group is making Indian MSME sector digitalized with the motive to entice the customers globally through the platform of Connecting Nations. 

Group Chairman Karanvir Singh is an established global business leader and thinker of high repute who has represented India at various platforms such as United Nations, World Trade Organisation, World Health Organisation, etc.

Presently handling multiple projects concurrently, Karanvir is highly educated with multiple specialization in the fields of Engineering, Mass Communication, and Social Work. He also holds a Masters’ degree in Management from Indian Institute of Management. 

Karanvir’s vision is to make India, a powerhouse of development and a Global Trade Center, which is driven by Young Entrepreneurs on a common platform “Connecting Nations” and creating jobs and contributing towards overall growth of the world.