Char Dham yatra deaths cross 200

India is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and it is expected to reach $30 trillion in the coming 30 years, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said on Sunday. If India grows at 8% every year on a compounded annual growth, the economy will double in about nine years, he said. The country’s economy at present is about $3.2 trillion and in nine years from today, he said, it will be about $6.5 trillion. “Another nine years, that is 18 years from now, we will be about $13 trillion economy. And then another nine years after that, that is 27 years from now, we will be a $26 trillion economy… Then 30 years from today, confidently we can all expect that the Indian economy will be a $30 trillion economy,” he said. He added that the country’s economy is growing at a healthy pace even in the current challenging times because of the war between Ukraine and Russia and Covid-19 pandemic.

A total of 201 people have so far died among the more than 2.5 million people who have embarked on the ongoing Char Dham yatra in Uttarakhand, data released by the state government shows. The predominant causes of deaths are medical aliments among elderly pilgrims, the data shows. The yatra, which started on May 3, is scheduled to end in the later part of October. A total of 95 pilgrims have died on the Kedarnath yatra route, 51 in Badrinath Dham, 13 in Gangotri and 42 in Yamunotri. Uttarakhand director general (health), Shailja Bhatt, said, “For the first time, we are conducting health screening of passengers at nine places and health advisories are being issued regularly through pamphlets and other means. Pilgrims, especially the elderly, are being made aware of the risks.”