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?=BQ =4F34;78
Extremely severe cyclonic
storm “Amphan” made a
landfall at Digha in West
Bengal on Wednesday, leaving
a trail of destruction which led
to the death of three persons in
the State. The cyclone claimed
three lives in Odisha also.
The cyclone with wind
speed of 160-170 kmph, gust-
ing to 190 kmph coupled with
heavy rain hit the Digha coast
in East Medinipur district
around 2.30 pm, officials said.
The cyclone barreled
through coastal districts of
West Bengal, unleashing copi-
ous rain and windstorm, blow-
ing away thatched houses,
uprooting trees, electric poles
and swamping low lying towns
and villages, officials said.
High velocity wind speed
up to 120 km per hour uproot-
ed hundreds of tree, electric
poles and telecom infrastruc-
ture and flattening fragile struc-
ture. Amphan reached Kolkata
with wind speed up to 120 km
per hour at 7 pm on
Wednesday evening, damaging
several buildings.
As per reports, three deaths
have been reported from
Balasore, Bhadrak and
Kendrapara districts while
three person, including two
women were killed in Howrah
district and Minakhan area of
North 24 Parganas district due
to uprooting of trees.
Reports arriving in Kolkata
from North and South 24
Parganas and East Midnapore
said roofs of thatched houses
were blown away, and twisted
electric poles and broken and
uprooted trees bore testimony
to the devastation. Streets and
homes in low lying areas of
Kolkata were swamped with
rainwater. A wall collapsed in
Howrah near Union Minister
Babul Supriyo’s residence and
damaged several vehicle parked
there.
The muddy Hooghly river
was rising under dark skies,
while in the coastal resort of
Digha, large waves were
pounding the shore. Three
coastal districts — South and
North 24 Parganas and East
Midnapore — will be the worst
affected, besides, vast swathes
of South Bengal districts such
as Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly,
West Midnapore were the
worst affected. Areas such as
Sagar Island, Kakdwip and
Diamond Harbour in South 24
Parganas and Digha and Haldia
in East Midnapore were bat-
tered by the storm, uprooting
trees and electric poles and
destroying many shacks.
Despite losing its force a
bit since Tuesday, the storm,
which was categorised as
super cyclone at one point of
time, has left the two States on
edge as it hollered on its
destructive path over the Bay
of Bengal.
India Meteorological
Department (IMD) Director
General Mrityunjay
Mohapatra, who jointly
addressed the media with
NDRF director general SN
Pradhan, said the eye of
Amphan, which is 30 km in
diameter, has made landfall at
around 2.30 pm between
Digha in West Bengal and
Hatiya Island in Bangladesh.
?=BQ =4F34;78
In further relaxation of lock-
down rules, the Ministry of
Civil Aviation is all set to start
domestic flight operations from
May 25 in a calibrated manner.
Currently, only cargo and
evacuation flight services are
allowed. The Ministry will
soon be announcing the stan-
dard operating procedures
(SOPs) for domestic air travel.
In a tweet, Union Minister
for Civil Aviation Hardeep
Puri said all airports and air
carriers are being informed to
be ready for operations from
May 25. The standard operat-
ing procedures for passenger
movement will be separately
issued by the Ministry,
Puri said.
The Minister said only a
small percentage of the total
number of domestic flights
will be operated at first and the
number of flights will be
increased later, depending on
the initial experience. He said
the option of keeping the mid-
dle seats on flights vacant is not
a viable one.
“Even if you keep the mid-
dle seat vacant, you’ll still have
a situation where the pre-
scribed distance for social dis-
tancing isn’t followed. If you
were to do it then you’d have to
hike up the price of airline tick-
ets by 33 per cent,” Puri said.
The announcement came
amid the fourth phase of the
lockdown which was imposed
by the Government on March
25 in order to combat the
novel coronavirus outbreak in
the country.
The AAI on Sunday had
also issued guidelines for pas-
sengers once the flight services
resume that include making
mandatorily downloading of
Aarogya Setu app on mobile
phones for travelling by air, do
a web-check in and carry a
print out of their boarding
pass before heading to the air-
port to catch a flight.
It also stated that air trav-
elers must maintain a distance
of four feet from co-passengers,
wear a mask and other protec-
tive gear, wash or sanitise their
hands frequently and carry a
350 ml bottle of sanitiser all the
time.
The aviation sector has
been hit hard by the pandem-
ic as various countries, includ-
ing India, decided to suspend
commercial flights completely
to curb the spread of the virus.
Since March 25, Indian
airlines have taken steps like fir-
ing expat pilots, announcing
pay cuts and leave without pay
for employees to conserve cash.
The first, second and third
phase of lockdown were
between March 25-April 14,
April 15-May 3 and May 4-May
17, respectively. The fourth
phase started from May 18 and
would end on May 31.
Cargo flights, medical
evacuation flights, offshore
helicopter operations and spe-
cial flights approved by the avi-
ation regulator DGCA have
been allowed to operate as
usual during the lockdown
period.
?=BQ =4F34;78
With Maharashtra witness-
ing 2,250 new Covid-19
cases and 65 deaths on
Wednesday, the country regis-
tered total of 5,249 new cases
128 deaths. The total cases in
India stood at 1,11,730 and
3,430 death with Uttar Pradesh
yet to report till 11 pm on
Wednesday night. Mumbai city
alone witnessed 1,372 more
cases with 41 deaths.
Meanwhile coronavirus
has infected more than 5 mil-
lion people across the world.
After Maharashtra, Tamil
Nadu witnessed 743 cases, fol-
lowed by Delhi 534 new cases
and Gujarat 398 confirmed
cases. Gujarat and Delhi had 30
and 10 deaths respectively.
This was the biggest single
day spike for Delhi.
Apart from these States,
out of the total around 5,249
new Covid-cases, 270 new
cases were reported from
Madhya Pradesh, 142 cases
from West Bengal, 107 from
Rajasthan. Andhra Pradesh
witnessed 71 new cases. After
registering low numbers for the
last few days Kerala saw 24 new
cases on Wednesday while
Bihar reported 60 new cases.
As per the latest data out of
a total of 1,11,730 confirmed
cases, 62,871 are active cases
and 45,422 people have recov-
ered till date. Out of the total
3,426 deaths in India, more
than 40 per cent deaths (1,390)
are from Maharashtra alone.
After Maharashtra, Gujarat has
witnessed the maximum num-
ber of deaths with a total of 749.
Madhya Pradesh has reported
267 deaths with 9 on
Wednesday.
West Bengal has seen total
of 253 deaths, followed by
Delhi 176 deaths and Rajasthan
143 deaths and Uttar Pradesh
143 deaths. Among the double
digit deaths, Tamil Nadu’s tally
reached 88 with three more
deaths on Wednesday. Andhra
Pradesh has a total death count
of 53 and Telangana 38 and
neighbouring Karnataka 41.
Meanwhile situation is
North Eastern region is in
control with new 13 cases in
Assam and 11 new patients in
Manipur. Himachal Pradesh
and Uttarakhand have 12 and
11 new patients on Wednesday.
Jammu Kashmir also have 73
new patients tested as positive
with one death, taking the
total death tally to 18.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Taking into consideration
the academic interest of
large number of students, the
Centre has decided to grant
lockdown exemption to con-
duct Board Examinations for
Classes 10th and 12th.
Home Minister Amit Shah
said that the pending CBSE
Class 10 and Class 12 board
exams can be conducted dur-
ing the nationwide lockdown in
place to contain the spread of
the coronavirus.
Two days ago, the HRD
Ministry announced the sched-
ule of pending examination of
the CBSE board exams for
Class 10 and 12. The exami-
nations will be conducted
between July 1 to July 15 for 29
major subjects - including six
exams for Class 10 students for
North-East Delhi and 12 sub-
jects for students of Class 12 to
be held across the country.
While wearing of face
masks by teachers, staff and
students will be mandatory,
there shall be provision of
thermal screening and sanitiz-
er at the centres and social dis-
tancing in all the examination
centres.
Taking to Twitter, Shah
also said that the examination
process has been exempted
from the lockdown measures
with few conditions like social
distancing, wearing of face
mask among others for the
safety of the students and
teachers.
?C8 Q :0C70=3D
Nepal Prime Minister KP
Sharma Oli has said the
coronavirus coming from India
is “more lethal” than those
from China and Italy and
blamed the rising number of
Covid-19 cases in the
Himalayan nation on those
sneaking into the country from
India, as the total number of
Covid-19 cases jumped to 427
on Wednesday.
Speaking about the pan-
demic in Parliament on
Tuesday, Oli said it has become
very difficult for Nepal to con-
tain the spread of the deadly
virus due to the flow of people
from outside.
“Many coronavirus infect-
ed patients have entered Nepal.
The virus came from outside,
as we did not have here before.
We could not stop infiltration
of people from outside the
border,” he said.
Oli said that the biggest
challenge facing the country
today is the rising number of
coronavirus cases and blamed
the rising number of coron-
avirus cases on individuals
breaking the nationwide lock-
down, especially those sneak-
ing into Nepal from India.
“The coronavirus coming
from India are more lethal
than those from China and
Italy,” he said.
“Those who are coming
from India through illegal
channels are spreading the
virus in the country and some
local representatives and party
leaders are responsible for
bringing in people from India
without proper testing,” Oli
was quoted as saying by the
Kathmandu Post.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Local commanders of Indian
and Chinese Armies are
holding talks to defuse sim-
mering tension in some pock-
ets of the Line of Actual
Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
While the face-off on the
“Finger Five” area of Pangong
lake in eastern Ladakh on May
5 and 6 leading to a brawl
between troops of both sides
has more or less ended with
personnel moving back, the
Chinese have now started
bringing in more troops in an
area near Galwan river.
The Chinese have pitched
tents some distance away from
the Indian positions leading to
tension. This region in
Ladakh has seen stand-offs in
the past besides the two armies
fighting the 1962 war there too.
Not willing to take any
chances and getting caught
off-guard, the Indian side too
has bolstered its troops and is
maintaining a close vigil on the
Chinese activities. However,
the Chinese, so far, have not
tried to transgress into the
Indian territory, sources said
here on Wednesday.
Sources here said the
Chinese enhanced their activ-
ities by bringing in more troops
and pitching tents almost ten
days back in the strategically
important Galwan valley. This
build up leading to more con-
struction activities, including
roads and permanent structure,
may also start in the disputed
region, sources said.
However, the Chinese
claim the Indians entered its
territory and built
fortifications.
?=BQ =4F34;78
Locked in bitter war of
words with Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Adityanath
Yogi on the issue of running
buses to ferry migrants
home, Congress general sec-
retary Priyanka Gandhi
Vadra on Wednesday recalled
the buses she had arranged
for migrants after the
Congress waited till 4 pm for
Uttar Pradesh to allow them
in.
The Congress said it had
lined up hundreds of buses at
Delhi’s border since morning.
However, the UP
Government found fault in
the list of buses as many were
found to be autos and ambu-
lances.
“If you want to use it then
please do so and use the BJP
flags, otherwise, they will be
sent back but the Congress
and its workers will contin-
ue to help the migrants with
food and all possible help,”
she said, speaking shortly
before the “4 pm deadline”.
?=B Q 270=3860A7
Police have continued to
bear the brunt of lock-
down. In a new case on
Wednesday, five Haryana
police personnel were injured
when some people from Delhi’s
Kapashera allegedly pelted
stones at them after trying to
forcibly enter the State’s terri-
tory, officials said.
There were reports that
some people, stated to be work-
ers, wanted to travel to Udyog
Vihar in Gurugram but were
stopped by the Haryana Police
at the Delhi-Gurugram border.
However, some of them
tried to force their way despite
strict measures put in place by
Haryana on its borders and
clashed with the police. In the
incident, five policemen were
injured, the officials said.
Haryana’s Home Minister
Anil Vij said there has been a
stone pelting incident at Delhi’s
Kapashehra border with
Haryana. He said some people
tried to enter the border into
Haryana but were stopped.
“They wanted the borders
to be opened for them to cross
into Haryana. They pelted
stones at Haryana police per-
sonnel,” Vij said.
“I said under no circum-
stances will we open the bor-
der. The Delhi High Court had
given us directions to allow
inter-state movement for cer-
tain categories like doctors,
drivers of vehicles with essen-
tials, Delhi municipal com-
mittee worker staff, medical
staff etc,” he said.
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Noida: The Noida-Delhi bor-
der will remain sealed except
for movement of people asso-
ciated with exempted services,
the Gautam Buddh Nagar
administration said on
Wednesday in new guideline-
sissued for the lockdown till
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New Delhi: The date for this
year’s civil services prelimi-
nary examination is likely to be
decided on June 5, the Union
Public Service Commission
(UPSC) has said. The test,
which was scheduled to be held
on May 31, has been deferred
due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
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New Delhi: The US on Tuesday
said border disputes with
China — be it in Ladakh or in
the South China Sea — are a
“reminder of the threat by
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The education Minister
Arvind Pandey has direct-
ed the Uttarakhand Vidhyalayi
Shiksha Parishad (UVSP) to
start the process of evaluation
of answer sheets of class X and
XII board examination. In a
programme organised at the
state education directorate here
on Wednesday the minister
said that the pending process of
the evaluation of board exam-
ination should start. He said
that the department officers
and officials of UVSP should
act in association with the dis-
trict magistrates for the evalu-
ation centres. In another
important decision, the minis-
ter directed the UVSP that the
time table of the remaining
examinations should be
declared in such a way that the
students get a time period of 15
days for necessary prepara-
tion.
It is pertinent to mention
here that the class X and XII
examination of Uttarakhand
board scheduled on March 23,
24 and 25 were suspended by
the UVSP after the lockdown to
break infection cycle of novel
Coronavirus was enforced by
the Government.
The examination of class X
started on March 2 while the
examinations of Class XII com-
menced on March 3. A total of
1,50,279 candidates are
enrolled for class X while
121126 students are registered
for class XII examination this
year. The decision of the min-
ister regarding start of evalua-
tion process is important since
the entire process of board
examination is already late by
more than one month. With
the UVSP yet to take a decision
on holding the remaining
examinations, it is very likely
that the whole process may get
delayed by at least one more
month.
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In view of the crisis precipi-
tated by the novel
Coronavirus and the necessi-
ty to bring changes in the
existing system of imparting
education so that the norms of
social distancing are followed,
the higher education depart-
ment of Uttarakhand is
emphasising on strengthen-
ing the networking system in
all the Government degree
colleges. The intention of the
department is to ensure imple-
mentation of smooth e -learn-
ing system in the colleges.
On Wednesday, the State
minister for higher education
and cooperatives, Dhan Singh
Rawat held a meeting with
senior officials of higher edu-
cation and Information
Technology (IT) departments
at his Vidhan Sabha office on
the subject. He said that in all
the 105 government degree
colleges, ‘ e- Granthalayas’
would be established with the
help of National Informatics
Centre (NIC). He said that the
higher education department
would deposit a sum of Rs
21000 per Degree College to
the NIC for a period of five
years. The minster also asked
the BSNL to conduct survey
for strengthening networking
in the colleges. Initially 18 col-
leges located in the district
headquarters would be taken
up as pilot project by BSNL to
provide internet and network-
ing. The minister said that in
view of the current scenario all
the colleges should have good
internet facility, smart classes,
e library and system of bio
metric system of attendance of
students.
The meeting was attended
by principal secretary, Anand
Vardhan, secretary IT, R K
Sudhanshu, director ITDA,
Amit Sinha and director high-
er education Ashok Kumar.
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?=BQ 347A03D=
The city buses federation of
Dehradun has demanded
that it should be allowed to
charge double fare from the
passengers as long as the norms
of social distancing are
enforced in the operation of
buses. The president of the fed-
eration, Vijay Vardhan
Dandariyal met the ARTO
administration, Dwarka Prasad
at his office on Wednesday and
submitted a memorandum. In
the memo, the federation
demanded that the insurance of
the vehicles should be extend-
ed for six more months and the
insurance premium of only
those passengers should be
charged which are allowed by
the department to board the
buses to implement social dis-
tancing norms. It would be
beneficial for the passengers
also. Dandariyal said that if the
insurance companies charge
the premium on old system (
full seating capacity), then the
federation would be forced to
knock the doors of court for
justice. He also said that the
State Government should pro-
vide compensation to bus
operators if they are forced to
the operate buses at 50 percent
of capacity.
2XchQdb^_TaPc^abSTP]S
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To help Punjabis coming
back on special flights from
abroad to return to their
respective districts in the State
where they will have to remain
in institutional quarantine,
Punjab Government has set up
a Facilitation Centre at the
Indira Gandhi International
Airport (IGIA), New Delhi.
“The transport facility has
been arranged by the Centre to
ensure comfortable return of
stranded Punjabis and NRIs to
their home districts, where
they will be required to stay in
quarantine for 14 days and will
also be tested for COVID,”
said the Chief Minister Capt
Amarinder Singh.
Those found negative
would be sent home for anoth-
er two weeks of self-quarantine
while those who test positive
will be shifted to isolation cen-
tres for care or treatment, he
added.
With 20,000 stranded
Punjabis and NRIs expected to
return home under the ‘Vande
Bharat Mission’, many of them
by flights arriving in New
Delhi, the Facilitation Centre
would ensure seamless coordi-
nation, without chaos or con-
fusion, said the Chief Minister.
Coordinators have also
been appointed in various
countries to ensure safe return
of those who had registered for
return to their native place in
Punjab, on the lines of the
Nodal Officers appointed by
his government to facilitate
the to and fro movement of
migrants via the special
Shramik Trains, he added.
Elaborate arrangements
have been made to quarantine
these people in hotels in con-
cerned districts, and free quar-
antine facility would be given
to those students or immi-
grants who cannot afford the
cost of hotels, said Punjab
NRIs Affairs Minister Rana
Gurmit Singh Sodhi.
The state NRIs Affairs sec-
retary Rahul Bhandari said that
the Facilitation Centre at IGIA
is working 24 hours a day.
While one flight arrived in
Amritsar from USA a day
before, several more are expect-
ed to bring Punjabis or NRIs at
New Delhi and Amritsar next
week.
“The Facilitation Centre is
coordinating with the State
Transport Department to
enable smooth and timely ser-
vices for taking the returnees
back to their home districts in
Punjab,” he said.
?=BQ 270=3860A7
Intensifying its frontline bat-
tle against Covid-19, Punjab
Government on Wednesday
notified an Ordinance to bring
private clinical establishments
into the ambit of its fight
against the pandemic.
The notification, under
sub section (3) of section 1 of
the Punjab Clinical
Establishments (Registration
and Regulation) Ordinance,
2020, will bring all clinical
establishments having capaci-
ty of more than 50 beds under
the provisions of the said ordi-
nance.
This is in line with the
decision taken by the Council
of Ministers at its meeting on
April 10.
“The Ordinance would
provide a mechanism for reg-
istration and regulation of clin-
ical establishments in a pro-
fessional manner, to ensure
compliance of minimum stan-
dards of facilities and services,
as well as transparency in the
functioning of these establish-
ments for fair and proper deliv-
ery of health services to the
common man,” said a
spokesperson of the Chief
Minister’s Office.
To implement the provi-
sions of the Ordinance, a
Punjab State Council for
Clinical Establishments will
be set up under the chairman-
ship of Administrative
Secretary (Health and Family
Welfare) with Director (Health
and Family Welfare) as mem-
ber secretary.
Members will include
Director, Health Service
(Family Welfare); Director,
Health Service (Social
Insurance), along with
Directors of various recog-
nized systems of medicine of
the State Government, includ-
ing but not limited to the
Director Ayurveda, Head of
Homeopathic Department;
President of Punjab Medical
Council; President of Punjab
Dental Council; Registrar of
Punjab Nurses Registration
Council; and Registrar Punjab
State Pharmacy Council.
Other members of the
Council will include one rep-
resentative each elected by the
executive of the Board of
Ayurvedic and Unani Systems
of Medicine, one representative
from State Branch of Indian
Medical Association, one from
field of paramedical systems to
be nominated by the State
Government, two representa-
tives from amongst the state
level consumer groups or
reputed Non-Government
Organisations working in the
field of healthcare, to be nom-
inated by the state govern-
ment, and one Law Officer to
be nominated by the State
Government as its
members.
As per the Ordinance, the
Punjab State Council for
Clinical Establishments has
been mandated to maintain the
Punjab State Master Register,
besides sending monthly
returns for updating the
National Register and repre-
senting Punjab in the National
Council, as required by the
Central Government or
National Council established
under Clinical Establishments
(Registration and Regulation)
Act, 2010.
In addition, a State
Registration Authority has also
been constituted, with Director
(Health and Family Welfare) as
chairperson, along with a
Deputy Director (Health and
Family Welfare), Law Officer,
to be nominated by the State
Government, and Nodal
Officer of Director Health and
Family Welfare as members,
for registration of clinical
establishments with 100 or
more beds.
Similarly, District
Registration Authority in every
district would consist of the
concerned Civil Surgeon as
chairperson while District
Family Welfare Officer, one
representative of the District
Attorney and District Nodal
Officer of the respective dis-
trict as its Members to dis-
charge functions namely; reg-
istration of all clinical estab-
lishments of the respective
district, except the clinical
establishments having 100 or
more beds.
The Ordinance also pro-
vides for Punjab State
Appellate Authority headed
by the Administrative
Secretary (Health and Family
Welfare) as chairperson besides
Director Health Services
(Family Welfare) and one Law
Officer to be nominated by the
state government as members.
The Appellate Authority
has been mandated to hear
appeals against the orders of
State Registration Authority
and District Registration
Authority and perform such
other functions, as may be
determined by the state gov-
ernment.
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Public bus services resumed
in Punjab on Wednesday
almost two months after their
suspension in the wake of the
Covid-19 outbreak.
Buses of the state-owned
Punjab Roadways and Pepsu
Road Transport Corporation
(PRTC) plied on select routes
in non-containment zones
within the state.
Punjab Transport Minister
Razia Sultana had on May 18
announced resumption of
point-to-point bus services
between major cities and dis-
trict headquarters from May 20
with 50 per cent occupancy.
The state government has said
inter-state bus services will not
resume till May 31.
The central government
has allowed buses to be plied in
the fourth phase of the coun-
trywide lockdown (from May
18 to May 31) to combat the
spread of the novel coron-
avirus.
Before the start of opera-
tions, all buses were sanitised.
Passengers had to undergo
temperature screening at bus
stands before being allowed to
board buses, officials said.
Social distancing norms were
followed and it was ensured
that passengers wore masks
and their hands sanitised, they
said.
There was no rush of pas-
sengers at most bus stands in
the morning hours, but many
people expressed relief at the
resumption of bus services. At
a few places, including
Jalandhar and Amritsar, pas-
sengers came to bus stands as
early as 5 am and complained
of not getting buses despite
waiting for long. Many pas-
sengers complained that they
were made to wait till the bus
had 50 per cent occupancy and
started running.
At Hoshiarpur bus stand,
Punjab Roadways duty inspec-
tor Madan Lal said the bus ser-
vices on five routes --
Hoshiarpur to Mohali,
Jalandhar, Ludhiana; Tanda-
Batala; and Mukerian-
Pathankot-Gurdaspur - were
resumed. Officials said the
buses will not stop midway.
At Amritsar, the bus ser-
vices resumed on three routes
-- Amritsar to Dera Baba
Nanak, Amritsar to Pathankot,
and Amritsar to Jalandhar. At
Patiala, the PRTC plied its
buses on 10 routes which
included Patiala, Samana,
Patran, Nabha, Malerkotla and
Jalandhar.
HARYANA TAKES BACK
DECISION TO PLY INTER-
STATE BUSES
Haryana government on
Wednesday took back its deci-
sion of plying inter-state buses,
but said its buses will contin-
ue to run within the state.
The decision came after
state Home Minister Anil Vij
apprised Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar that it
would be difficult to prevent
the spread of Covid-19 once
people start travelling freely
from one state to the other.
I met the chief minister
here and I also wrote to him on
Tuesday stating that we are not
prepared for running inter-
state buses, Vij, who is also the
Health Minister, said.
He told the CM that it
would not be possible to con-
duct tests of so many people
and also cited the high number
of Covid-19 cases in some
neighbouring states. In Delhi
alone, there are so many cases.
How can we manage and pre-
vent infection? He agreed to my
suggestion and now Haryana
will not run inter-state buses.
The chief minister also gave
necessary instructions to the
state's Transport Department in
this regard, Vij said.
However, Haryana
Roadways buses will continue
to run within the state, he said.
The move to resume bus trav-
el to various states came after
Khattar's announcement on
Monday. After this, the
Haryana government had writ-
ten to the transport depart-
ments of at least six states and
two Union territories, seeking
their consent to start interstate
bus services on 12 select routes.
The majority of Haryana's 970
coronavirus cases come from
four districts bordering Delhi.
These are Gurgaon, Faridabad,
Sonipat and Jhajjar.
2eccUbfYSUc
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?=BQ 270=3860A7
Haryana Chief Minister,
Manohar Lal Khatar on
Wednesday announced sever-
al new initiatives like paying
three months’ interest on stu-
dent loans by the State
Government.
Addressing the people of
the state today during the
'Haryana Aaj' programme,
Khattar said there are many
students who have taken loan
for their education. Haryana
Government will pay the inter-
est of three months of all those
students who are completing
their education this year or who
have already completed their
education in the previous year,
but have not been able to start
their jobs or business due to
this epidemic, he said, adding
that 36,000 students will be
benefitted with an amount of
about Rs 40 crore.
Similarly, Haryana
Government will bear two per-
cent of the total interest on
loans of up to C50,000 under
'Shishu Yojana' of Mudra Loan
Scheme of the Central
Government. They will not be
required to give any type of col-
lateral for this loan. Under this
scheme, loan will be provided
to 5 lakh persons of the state.
The Chief Minister said
that Haryana Government will
provide loans of up to C 15,000
to 3 lakh poor people for start-
ing their own small business at
only two percent interest.
These loans will be provided
under the Differential Rate of
Interest (DRI) scheme, in
which banks charge four per-
cent interest. Of this, two per-
cent interest will be borne by
the State Government.
Khattar said due to the
Covid-19 pandemic, econom-
ic activity has been limited for
the last three months. As a
result, not only the family
income has been affected but
the Government's revenue has
also come down drastically.
He said that, the Government
was determined that in this cri-
sis, not even a single person
should sleep hungry. Daily
need of families will not suffer
due to lack of family income.
With this resolve in mind,
financial assistance of C636
crore has been provided to
15,09,108 families in the last
three months in Haryana, he
said, adding that this amount
has been directly transferred to
the bank account of the bene-
ficiaries.
The Chief Minister said
free ration is also being made
available to more than 27 lakh
families by the State
Government. Apart from this,
3,70,925 families, who do not
have any ration card, are also
being provided free ration
through Distress Ration
Tokens. In addition, so far 2.62
crore food packets and more
than 12,22,000 dry ration pack-
ets have also been distributed.
Khattar said for lakhs of
migrant labourers who are
working in Haryana, who want
to return to their native states
due to lockdown, free of cost
arrangement of buses and trains
have been made for them. So
far, we have transported more
than 2 lakh labourers to their
destination from Haryana
through a total of 53 trains and
4257 buses, he said.
+DUDQD 0 GHFODUHV SDLQJ
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?=BQ 270=3860A7
Haryana Government on
Wednesday launched
three health-related programs,
including H1N1 Vaccination
Campaign for Health Care
workers, Hepatitis-B Control
Program under National Viral
Hepatitis Control Program and
Eye donation centres in 21
District hospitals of the State.
With this, free of cost
Hepatitis-B screening, diag-
nosis, and treatment will now
be available to the people of the
State.
Afterinauguratingthethree
programmes, Additional Chief
Secretary, Health and Family
Welfare Department, Rajeev
Arora, addressed the civil sur-
geons and representatives of
various hospitals from different
districts of the state through
video conferencing and said
thatthepercentageofpopulation
sufferingfromHepatitisBshould
be ascertained and directed
them to prepare a work plan to
deal with it.
Arora said in the first phase
of Hepatitis-B control program,
newborns,pregnantwomenand
inmates in state jails should be
covered.Also,itshouldbeimple-
mented in districts like Sirsa,
Hisar, Fatehabad, Gurugram
and Faridabad, he added. He
directed the concerned officers
to increase the Hepatitis-B
screeningfacilityinthestateand
check maximum number of
people in the affected districts.
The official said that after
preparing a detailed action plan
of Hepatitis B control program
and National Program for
Control of Blindness and Visual
Impairment, both the pro-
grammes will be duly imple-
mented from the month of
August.
He said that due to Covid-
19 pandemic as the Health
Departmenthascomeintofocus
due to which there has been
mobilization of health workers
across the State and public
awareness regarding health has
alsoincreasedsothistimeshould
be used productively to achieve
the goals of these programs.
Arora said that in India,
since 2016 about 85000 persons
are being infected by the H1N1
virus and 4900 deaths have
occurred in the last few years.
India usually witnesses two
peaks, one during January to
Marchandanotherinpostmon-
soon between August and
October, he added. He said that
thisinfectionisprimarilyspread
through respiratory droplets
acquired through coughing,
sneezing or touching an object
having droplets on it. H1N1
infection can affect any age and
gender, he added.
The Additional Chief
Secretary, Health said health
workers fall in the high-risk
category and require special
attention.Around13,000health
workers across the state will be
vaccinated as a campaign. For
this, the vaccine that is planned
to be used is a single dose vac-
cine and is effective for a period
ofone year. Heinformed thatall
the 22 districts in the state are
being provided free H1N1 test-
ing, diagnosis and treatment
servicesalready.Healsostressed
on the safety of health workers
dealing with infections like
H1N1 and Covid-19, etc.
Arora said under the
NVHCPprogram,hepatitis-Cis
alreadybeingprovidedfreetreat-
ment, diagnosis and treatment
facilitiesinallthe22districtcivil
hospitals and all the jails of the
state which are designated as
treatment centres. He said that
now the Hepatitis-B patients in
thestatewillalsobeprovidedthe
same facilities.
He said that three new 'Eye
banks' will be started soon in
Karnal, Khanpur and Mewat
medical colleges, stating that all
the 68 eye assistants in the state
have been trained in cornea
collectiontoovercometheshort-
age of doctors.
Mission Director, National
HealthMission,PrabhjotSingh,
Director General Health
Services,SurajBhanKambojand
Director, Health Services, Usha
Gupta and other senior officers
ofthedepartmentwerealsopre-
sent.
8biQe^SXUc
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BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78
Following the movement of
migrant labourers, who wish
to go at their native homes, the
Delhi Police on Wednesday
said that the Screening Centres
for migrant labourers have
started full scale operations all
over Delhi for speedy facilita-
tion of transit of migrant
labourers going through trains.
According to police, the
Government planned 25
Shramik Trains departing from
three different railway stations
( New Delhi, Old Delhi and
Anand Vihar Railway Station).
Thirteen (13) trains are leaving
for UP and eleven (11) for
Bihar apart from those for
Trivandrum and other places.
To ease migrants distress,
the government further creat-
ed 30 screening centres for
proper screening of migrant
labourers in all the 11 Revenue
Districts of Delhi Government.
This gave a systematic platform
for speedy screening of pas-
sengers for different destina-
tions, said police.
All these Screening Centres
for migrant labourers have start-
ed full scale operations all over
Delhi for speedy facilitation of
transit of migrant labourers.
Migrant labourers already reg-
istered are being called for
screening at the centers,' said a
seniors police official.
Adequate police arrange-
ment has been made at each
screening centre which is being
supervised by senior officers
including Addl. DCsP and
ACsP. Few centres were inspect-
ed by Joint CP/Ranges to ensure
that the entire process is
smooth and proper care is
being provided. It is being
ensured that the entire process
is completed in an orderly
manner with least hardship to
the migrant labourers. Proper
queue management and social
distancing is being ensured at
all these centres,' said the senior
police official.
Adequate facilities like
food and water have been pro-
vided. After proper screening,
the migrants are being taken to
dedicated buses in terms of
destinations and further trans-
ported to railway station. Local
police alongwith staff of
DCP/Railways are assisting
the entire process' he added.
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- 1. !1B590F0=B0ACHA43 8=C4AAA8BC0CC02: BaX]PVPa) Cf^1B5_Tab^]]T[ fTaTZX[[TSfWT]cTaa^aXbcbUXaTS d_^]cWTX]6P]STaQP[SXbcaXRc ^U9:^]FTS]TbSPh^UUXRXP[b bPXS^c^aRhR[TQ^a]TcTaa^aXbcb UXaTSd_^]cWT1B5YPfP]bPcP _XRZTcX]?P]SPRWPaTP 2018=4C:´BC :2A 5A82A53D=8CB =Tf3T[WX) CWTD]X^]2PQX]Tc WTPSTSQh?aXTX]XbcTa =PaT]SaP^SX^]FTS]TbSPh VPeTP__a^eP[U^aP]TfRT]caP[ bRWTTfXcWP]^dc[Ph^U C Ra^aTU^a_a^eXSX]V RaTSXc[X]ZTSbdQbXShc^![PZW XRa^U^^S_a^RTbbX]Vd]Xcb DB10B4358A;403B 2E83 (E0228=4A024 =Tf3T[WX) 0bbRXT]cXbcbPRa^bb cWTf^a[Sf^aZUaP]cXRP[[h c^UX]SPePRRX]TPVPX]bc2^eXS (fWXRWR^]cX]dTbXcbaP_XS V[^QP[b_aTPSP[[ThTbPaT^] DBQPbTSR^_P]h^STa]P³b T]R^daPVX]VTPa[haTbd[cb^]P bP[[Va^d_^Ue^[d]cTTab 20?BD;4 ?=BQ =4F34;78 Extremely severe cyclonic storm “Amphan” made a landfall at Digha in West Bengal on Wednesday, leaving a trail of destruction which led to the death of three persons in the State. The cyclone claimed three lives in Odisha also. The cyclone with wind speed of 160-170 kmph, gust- ing to 190 kmph coupled with heavy rain hit the Digha coast in East Medinipur district around 2.30 pm, officials said. The cyclone barreled through coastal districts of West Bengal, unleashing copi- ous rain and windstorm, blow- ing away thatched houses, uprooting trees, electric poles and swamping low lying towns and villages, officials said. High velocity wind speed up to 120 km per hour uproot- ed hundreds of tree, electric poles and telecom infrastruc- ture and flattening fragile struc- ture. Amphan reached Kolkata with wind speed up to 120 km per hour at 7 pm on Wednesday evening, damaging several buildings. As per reports, three deaths have been reported from Balasore, Bhadrak and Kendrapara districts while three person, including two women were killed in Howrah district and Minakhan area of North 24 Parganas district due to uprooting of trees. Reports arriving in Kolkata from North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore said roofs of thatched houses were blown away, and twisted electric poles and broken and uprooted trees bore testimony to the devastation. Streets and homes in low lying areas of Kolkata were swamped with rainwater. A wall collapsed in Howrah near Union Minister Babul Supriyo’s residence and damaged several vehicle parked there. The muddy Hooghly river was rising under dark skies, while in the coastal resort of Digha, large waves were pounding the shore. Three coastal districts — South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore — will be the worst affected, besides, vast swathes of South Bengal districts such as Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, West Midnapore were the worst affected. Areas such as Sagar Island, Kakdwip and Diamond Harbour in South 24 Parganas and Digha and Haldia in East Midnapore were bat- tered by the storm, uprooting trees and electric poles and destroying many shacks. Despite losing its force a bit since Tuesday, the storm, which was categorised as super cyclone at one point of time, has left the two States on edge as it hollered on its destructive path over the Bay of Bengal. India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrityunjay Mohapatra, who jointly addressed the media with NDRF director general SN Pradhan, said the eye of Amphan, which is 30 km in diameter, has made landfall at around 2.30 pm between Digha in West Bengal and Hatiya Island in Bangladesh. ?=BQ =4F34;78 In further relaxation of lock- down rules, the Ministry of Civil Aviation is all set to start domestic flight operations from May 25 in a calibrated manner. Currently, only cargo and evacuation flight services are allowed. The Ministry will soon be announcing the stan- dard operating procedures (SOPs) for domestic air travel. In a tweet, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Puri said all airports and air carriers are being informed to be ready for operations from May 25. The standard operat- ing procedures for passenger movement will be separately issued by the Ministry, Puri said. The Minister said only a small percentage of the total number of domestic flights will be operated at first and the number of flights will be increased later, depending on the initial experience. He said the option of keeping the mid- dle seats on flights vacant is not a viable one. “Even if you keep the mid- dle seat vacant, you’ll still have a situation where the pre- scribed distance for social dis- tancing isn’t followed. If you were to do it then you’d have to hike up the price of airline tick- ets by 33 per cent,” Puri said. The announcement came amid the fourth phase of the lockdown which was imposed by the Government on March 25 in order to combat the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country. The AAI on Sunday had also issued guidelines for pas- sengers once the flight services resume that include making mandatorily downloading of Aarogya Setu app on mobile phones for travelling by air, do a web-check in and carry a print out of their boarding pass before heading to the air- port to catch a flight. It also stated that air trav- elers must maintain a distance of four feet from co-passengers, wear a mask and other protec- tive gear, wash or sanitise their hands frequently and carry a 350 ml bottle of sanitiser all the time. The aviation sector has been hit hard by the pandem- ic as various countries, includ- ing India, decided to suspend commercial flights completely to curb the spread of the virus. Since March 25, Indian airlines have taken steps like fir- ing expat pilots, announcing pay cuts and leave without pay for employees to conserve cash. The first, second and third phase of lockdown were between March 25-April 14, April 15-May 3 and May 4-May 17, respectively. The fourth phase started from May 18 and would end on May 31. Cargo flights, medical evacuation flights, offshore helicopter operations and spe- cial flights approved by the avi- ation regulator DGCA have been allowed to operate as usual during the lockdown period. ?=BQ =4F34;78 With Maharashtra witness- ing 2,250 new Covid-19 cases and 65 deaths on Wednesday, the country regis- tered total of 5,249 new cases 128 deaths. The total cases in India stood at 1,11,730 and 3,430 death with Uttar Pradesh yet to report till 11 pm on Wednesday night. Mumbai city alone witnessed 1,372 more cases with 41 deaths. Meanwhile coronavirus has infected more than 5 mil- lion people across the world. After Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu witnessed 743 cases, fol- lowed by Delhi 534 new cases and Gujarat 398 confirmed cases. Gujarat and Delhi had 30 and 10 deaths respectively. This was the biggest single day spike for Delhi. Apart from these States, out of the total around 5,249 new Covid-cases, 270 new cases were reported from Madhya Pradesh, 142 cases from West Bengal, 107 from Rajasthan. Andhra Pradesh witnessed 71 new cases. After registering low numbers for the last few days Kerala saw 24 new cases on Wednesday while Bihar reported 60 new cases. As per the latest data out of a total of 1,11,730 confirmed cases, 62,871 are active cases and 45,422 people have recov- ered till date. Out of the total 3,426 deaths in India, more than 40 per cent deaths (1,390) are from Maharashtra alone. After Maharashtra, Gujarat has witnessed the maximum num- ber of deaths with a total of 749. Madhya Pradesh has reported 267 deaths with 9 on Wednesday. West Bengal has seen total of 253 deaths, followed by Delhi 176 deaths and Rajasthan 143 deaths and Uttar Pradesh 143 deaths. Among the double digit deaths, Tamil Nadu’s tally reached 88 with three more deaths on Wednesday. Andhra Pradesh has a total death count of 53 and Telangana 38 and neighbouring Karnataka 41. Meanwhile situation is North Eastern region is in control with new 13 cases in Assam and 11 new patients in Manipur. Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have 12 and 11 new patients on Wednesday. Jammu Kashmir also have 73 new patients tested as positive with one death, taking the total death tally to 18. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Taking into consideration the academic interest of large number of students, the Centre has decided to grant lockdown exemption to con- duct Board Examinations for Classes 10th and 12th. Home Minister Amit Shah said that the pending CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 board exams can be conducted dur- ing the nationwide lockdown in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Two days ago, the HRD Ministry announced the sched- ule of pending examination of the CBSE board exams for Class 10 and 12. The exami- nations will be conducted between July 1 to July 15 for 29 major subjects - including six exams for Class 10 students for North-East Delhi and 12 sub- jects for students of Class 12 to be held across the country. While wearing of face masks by teachers, staff and students will be mandatory, there shall be provision of thermal screening and sanitiz- er at the centres and social dis- tancing in all the examination centres. Taking to Twitter, Shah also said that the examination process has been exempted from the lockdown measures with few conditions like social distancing, wearing of face mask among others for the safety of the students and teachers. ?C8 Q :0C70=3D Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has said the coronavirus coming from India is “more lethal” than those from China and Italy and blamed the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the Himalayan nation on those sneaking into the country from India, as the total number of Covid-19 cases jumped to 427 on Wednesday. Speaking about the pan- demic in Parliament on Tuesday, Oli said it has become very difficult for Nepal to con- tain the spread of the deadly virus due to the flow of people from outside. “Many coronavirus infect- ed patients have entered Nepal. The virus came from outside, as we did not have here before. We could not stop infiltration of people from outside the border,” he said. Oli said that the biggest challenge facing the country today is the rising number of coronavirus cases and blamed the rising number of coron- avirus cases on individuals breaking the nationwide lock- down, especially those sneak- ing into Nepal from India. “The coronavirus coming from India are more lethal than those from China and Italy,” he said. “Those who are coming from India through illegal channels are spreading the virus in the country and some local representatives and party leaders are responsible for bringing in people from India without proper testing,” Oli was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Local commanders of Indian and Chinese Armies are holding talks to defuse sim- mering tension in some pock- ets of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. While the face-off on the “Finger Five” area of Pangong lake in eastern Ladakh on May 5 and 6 leading to a brawl between troops of both sides has more or less ended with personnel moving back, the Chinese have now started bringing in more troops in an area near Galwan river. The Chinese have pitched tents some distance away from the Indian positions leading to tension. This region in Ladakh has seen stand-offs in the past besides the two armies fighting the 1962 war there too. Not willing to take any chances and getting caught off-guard, the Indian side too has bolstered its troops and is maintaining a close vigil on the Chinese activities. However, the Chinese, so far, have not tried to transgress into the Indian territory, sources said here on Wednesday. Sources here said the Chinese enhanced their activ- ities by bringing in more troops and pitching tents almost ten days back in the strategically important Galwan valley. This build up leading to more con- struction activities, including roads and permanent structure, may also start in the disputed region, sources said. However, the Chinese claim the Indians entered its territory and built fortifications. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Locked in bitter war of words with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath Yogi on the issue of running buses to ferry migrants home, Congress general sec- retary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday recalled the buses she had arranged for migrants after the Congress waited till 4 pm for Uttar Pradesh to allow them in. The Congress said it had lined up hundreds of buses at Delhi’s border since morning. However, the UP Government found fault in the list of buses as many were found to be autos and ambu- lances. “If you want to use it then please do so and use the BJP flags, otherwise, they will be sent back but the Congress and its workers will contin- ue to help the migrants with food and all possible help,” she said, speaking shortly before the “4 pm deadline”. ?=B Q 270=3860A7 Police have continued to bear the brunt of lock- down. In a new case on Wednesday, five Haryana police personnel were injured when some people from Delhi’s Kapashera allegedly pelted stones at them after trying to forcibly enter the State’s terri- tory, officials said. There were reports that some people, stated to be work- ers, wanted to travel to Udyog Vihar in Gurugram but were stopped by the Haryana Police at the Delhi-Gurugram border. However, some of them tried to force their way despite strict measures put in place by Haryana on its borders and clashed with the police. In the incident, five policemen were injured, the officials said. Haryana’s Home Minister Anil Vij said there has been a stone pelting incident at Delhi’s Kapashehra border with Haryana. He said some people tried to enter the border into Haryana but were stopped. “They wanted the borders to be opened for them to cross into Haryana. They pelted stones at Haryana police per- sonnel,” Vij said. “I said under no circum- stances will we open the bor- der. The Delhi High Court had given us directions to allow inter-state movement for cer- tain categories like doctors, drivers of vehicles with essen- tials, Delhi municipal com- mittee worker staff, medical staff etc,” he said. 2^aYR_SReeVcd3V_XR]@UZdYR FORQH PDNHV ODQGIDOO LQ 'LJKD NLOOV LQ 6WDWHV 5`^VdeZTW]ZXYede` cVdf^V`aVcReZ`_Z_ TR]ZScReVU^R__Vc RWeVc'!URjd QHZ FDVHV GHDWKV RQ :HG Noida: The Noida-Delhi bor- der will remain sealed except for movement of people asso- ciated with exempted services, the Gautam Buddh Nagar administration said on Wednesday in new guideline- sissued for the lockdown till May 31. More details for move- ment between Noida and Delhi have been sought from the UP Government and till then the status quo shall be in place,” the guidelines stated. ?`ZUR5V]YZS`cUVc e`cV^RZ_dVR]VU 70VaP]cbTgT_cX^] c^R^]SdRc21B41^PaS TgPbU^a2[PbbGG88 New Delhi: The date for this year’s civil services prelimi- nary examination is likely to be decided on June 5, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has said. The test, which was scheduled to be held on May 31, has been deferred due to the Covid-19 lockdown. 836 WR GHFLGH RQ -XQH GDWH RI FLYLO VHUYLFHV SUHOLPV H[DP 4`c`_RT`^Z_XWc`^:_UZR µ^`cV]VeYR]¶eYR_eY`dV Wc`^4YZ_R+?VaR]A@]Z RQJ UHFDOOV LWV EXVHV VODPV %-3 IRU ILDVFR :_UZR4YZ_RT`^^R_UVcdZ_ eR]de`UVWfdV=24eV_dZ`_ KLQHVH VWDUW EULQJLQJ PRUH WURRSV LQ DUHD QHDU *DOZDQ New Delhi: The US on Tuesday said border disputes with China — be it in Ladakh or in the South China Sea — are a “reminder of the threat by China”. The strong statement by Alice Wells, outgoing Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, came days after several instances of Chinese incur- sion by land and air, one of which led to a face-off between Indian and Chinese troops. KLQD¶V EHKDYLRXU RQ DOO ERUGHUV GLVWXUELQJ 86 +DUDQD FRSV KXUW LQ VWRQH SHOWLQJ QHDU .DSDVKHUD ERUGHU 0P]R^eTabWXbT[UfXcWP_[PbcXRbWTTcP]SfP[ZbX]cWTaPX]PWTPS^U2hR[^]T0_WP][P]SUP[[Pc1WPSaPZSXbcaXRcX]SXbWP^]FTS]TbSPh 0? RX FDQ IO DJDLQ LQ ,QGLD IURP 0D 4`gZU* 20B4B) $ 340C7B) ## A42E4A43) #$#!! CC0; BC0C4B CC0;20B4B340C7BA42E4A43 PWPaPbWcaP (!( ( ' CPX[=PSd ( ''$''! 6dYPaPc !$( #($! ( 3T[WX '' %$ (! APYPbcWP] % $ ### PSWhP?aPSTbW $$ !%!# DccPa?aPSTbW $ $ !%% FTbc1T]VP[ !$ % 0]SWaP?PSTbW !$% $ %%# ?d]YPQ !$ ' (# RYRcRdYecRhZe_VddVd##!_Vh4`gZU*TRdVdR_U'UVReYd /CWT3PX[h?X^]TTa UPRTQ^^ZR^SPX[h_X^]TTa7`]]`hfd`_+ fffSPX[h_X^]TTaR^ X]bcPVaPR^SPX[h_X^]TTa ;PcT2Xch E^[ #8bbdT ( 0XaBdaRWPaVT4gcaPXU0__[XRPQ[T ?dQ[XbWTS5a^ 34;78;D2:=F 17?0;17D10=4BF0A A0=278A08?DA 270=3860A7 347A03D= 7H34A0103E890HF030 4bcPQ[XbWTS '%# 51, 1R 5HJQ 877(1* 5(*' 1R 8$'2''1 347A03D=C7DAB30H0H! !!*?064B !C! m @A:?:@?' 1D6;45A A4A45AB @?6J* B4=B4G1D8;3B= 608=B9D?B%!!?CB BE2IB?C5 AE9DC 21DG?=1 ! F9F139DI m DA@CE# =4D4A4GC4=3B 10H4A=BC0H
- 2. ]PcX^]!347A03D=k C7DAB30H k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·V ZLOO QRW EH KHOG UHVSRQVLEOH IRU DQ NLQG RI FODLP PDGH E WKH DGYHUWLVHUV RI WKH SURGXFWV VHUYLFHV DQG VKDOO QRW EH PDGH UHVSRQVLEOH IRU DQ NLQG RI ORVV FRQVHTXHQFHV DQG IXUWKHU SURGXFWUHODWHG GDPDJHV RQ VXFK DGYHUWLVHPHQWV ?=BQ 347A03D= The education Minister Arvind Pandey has direct- ed the Uttarakhand Vidhyalayi Shiksha Parishad (UVSP) to start the process of evaluation of answer sheets of class X and XII board examination. In a programme organised at the state education directorate here on Wednesday the minister said that the pending process of the evaluation of board exam- ination should start. He said that the department officers and officials of UVSP should act in association with the dis- trict magistrates for the evalu- ation centres. In another important decision, the minis- ter directed the UVSP that the time table of the remaining examinations should be declared in such a way that the students get a time period of 15 days for necessary prepara- tion. It is pertinent to mention here that the class X and XII examination of Uttarakhand board scheduled on March 23, 24 and 25 were suspended by the UVSP after the lockdown to break infection cycle of novel Coronavirus was enforced by the Government. The examination of class X started on March 2 while the examinations of Class XII com- menced on March 3. A total of 1,50,279 candidates are enrolled for class X while 121126 students are registered for class XII examination this year. The decision of the min- ister regarding start of evalua- tion process is important since the entire process of board examination is already late by more than one month. With the UVSP yet to take a decision on holding the remaining examinations, it is very likely that the whole process may get delayed by at least one more month. F¶YR_US`RcUe`deRce VgR]fReZ`_ac`TVdd 4SdX]XbcTa SXaTRcbcWTQ^PaS c^VXeTPcXT^U $SPhbU^a W^[SX]VaTPX]X]V TgPb^UR[PbbG P]SG88 ?=BQ 347A03D= In view of the crisis precipi- tated by the novel Coronavirus and the necessi- ty to bring changes in the existing system of imparting education so that the norms of social distancing are followed, the higher education depart- ment of Uttarakhand is emphasising on strengthen- ing the networking system in all the Government degree colleges. The intention of the department is to ensure imple- mentation of smooth e -learn- ing system in the colleges. On Wednesday, the State minister for higher education and cooperatives, Dhan Singh Rawat held a meeting with senior officials of higher edu- cation and Information Technology (IT) departments at his Vidhan Sabha office on the subject. He said that in all the 105 government degree colleges, ‘ e- Granthalayas’ would be established with the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC). He said that the higher education department would deposit a sum of Rs 21000 per Degree College to the NIC for a period of five years. The minster also asked the BSNL to conduct survey for strengthening networking in the colleges. Initially 18 col- leges located in the district headquarters would be taken up as pilot project by BSNL to provide internet and network- ing. The minister said that in view of the current scenario all the colleges should have good internet facility, smart classes, e library and system of bio metric system of attendance of students. The meeting was attended by principal secretary, Anand Vardhan, secretary IT, R K Sudhanshu, director ITDA, Amit Sinha and director high- er education Ashok Kumar. 6^ecc^bcaT]VcWT] ]Tcf^aZX]VX]R^[[TVTb X]XbcTaSXaTRcbbTccX]Vd_^U ²T6aP]cWP[PhPb³X]P[[cWT $ 6^eTa]T]cSTVaTTR^[[TVTb^UBcPcT ?=BQ 347A03D= The city buses federation of Dehradun has demanded that it should be allowed to charge double fare from the passengers as long as the norms of social distancing are enforced in the operation of buses. The president of the fed- eration, Vijay Vardhan Dandariyal met the ARTO administration, Dwarka Prasad at his office on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum. In the memo, the federation demanded that the insurance of the vehicles should be extend- ed for six more months and the insurance premium of only those passengers should be charged which are allowed by the department to board the buses to implement social dis- tancing norms. It would be beneficial for the passengers also. Dandariyal said that if the insurance companies charge the premium on old system ( full seating capacity), then the federation would be forced to knock the doors of court for justice. He also said that the State Government should pro- vide compensation to bus operators if they are forced to the operate buses at 50 percent of capacity. 2XchQdb^_TaPc^abSTP]S R^_T]bPcX^]Ua^6^eTa]T]c ?=BQ 270=3860A7 To help Punjabis coming back on special flights from abroad to return to their respective districts in the State where they will have to remain in institutional quarantine, Punjab Government has set up a Facilitation Centre at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), New Delhi. “The transport facility has been arranged by the Centre to ensure comfortable return of stranded Punjabis and NRIs to their home districts, where they will be required to stay in quarantine for 14 days and will also be tested for COVID,” said the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh. Those found negative would be sent home for anoth- er two weeks of self-quarantine while those who test positive will be shifted to isolation cen- tres for care or treatment, he added. With 20,000 stranded Punjabis and NRIs expected to return home under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’, many of them by flights arriving in New Delhi, the Facilitation Centre would ensure seamless coordi- nation, without chaos or con- fusion, said the Chief Minister. Coordinators have also been appointed in various countries to ensure safe return of those who had registered for return to their native place in Punjab, on the lines of the Nodal Officers appointed by his government to facilitate the to and fro movement of migrants via the special Shramik Trains, he added. Elaborate arrangements have been made to quarantine these people in hotels in con- cerned districts, and free quar- antine facility would be given to those students or immi- grants who cannot afford the cost of hotels, said Punjab NRIs Affairs Minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi. The state NRIs Affairs sec- retary Rahul Bhandari said that the Facilitation Centre at IGIA is working 24 hours a day. While one flight arrived in Amritsar from USA a day before, several more are expect- ed to bring Punjabis or NRIs at New Delhi and Amritsar next week. “The Facilitation Centre is coordinating with the State Transport Department to enable smooth and timely ser- vices for taking the returnees back to their home districts in Punjab,” he said. ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Intensifying its frontline bat- tle against Covid-19, Punjab Government on Wednesday notified an Ordinance to bring private clinical establishments into the ambit of its fight against the pandemic. The notification, under sub section (3) of section 1 of the Punjab Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Ordinance, 2020, will bring all clinical establishments having capaci- ty of more than 50 beds under the provisions of the said ordi- nance. This is in line with the decision taken by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on April 10. “The Ordinance would provide a mechanism for reg- istration and regulation of clin- ical establishments in a pro- fessional manner, to ensure compliance of minimum stan- dards of facilities and services, as well as transparency in the functioning of these establish- ments for fair and proper deliv- ery of health services to the common man,” said a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office. To implement the provi- sions of the Ordinance, a Punjab State Council for Clinical Establishments will be set up under the chairman- ship of Administrative Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) with Director (Health and Family Welfare) as mem- ber secretary. Members will include Director, Health Service (Family Welfare); Director, Health Service (Social Insurance), along with Directors of various recog- nized systems of medicine of the State Government, includ- ing but not limited to the Director Ayurveda, Head of Homeopathic Department; President of Punjab Medical Council; President of Punjab Dental Council; Registrar of Punjab Nurses Registration Council; and Registrar Punjab State Pharmacy Council. Other members of the Council will include one rep- resentative each elected by the executive of the Board of Ayurvedic and Unani Systems of Medicine, one representative from State Branch of Indian Medical Association, one from field of paramedical systems to be nominated by the State Government, two representa- tives from amongst the state level consumer groups or reputed Non-Government Organisations working in the field of healthcare, to be nom- inated by the state govern- ment, and one Law Officer to be nominated by the State Government as its members. As per the Ordinance, the Punjab State Council for Clinical Establishments has been mandated to maintain the Punjab State Master Register, besides sending monthly returns for updating the National Register and repre- senting Punjab in the National Council, as required by the Central Government or National Council established under Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010. In addition, a State Registration Authority has also been constituted, with Director (Health and Family Welfare) as chairperson, along with a Deputy Director (Health and Family Welfare), Law Officer, to be nominated by the State Government, and Nodal Officer of Director Health and Family Welfare as members, for registration of clinical establishments with 100 or more beds. Similarly, District Registration Authority in every district would consist of the concerned Civil Surgeon as chairperson while District Family Welfare Officer, one representative of the District Attorney and District Nodal Officer of the respective dis- trict as its Members to dis- charge functions namely; reg- istration of all clinical estab- lishments of the respective district, except the clinical establishments having 100 or more beds. The Ordinance also pro- vides for Punjab State Appellate Authority headed by the Administrative Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) as chairperson besides Director Health Services (Family Welfare) and one Law Officer to be nominated by the state government as members. The Appellate Authority has been mandated to hear appeals against the orders of State Registration Authority and District Registration Authority and perform such other functions, as may be determined by the state gov- ernment. ?d]YPQc^QaX]V_ecW^b_b X]c^UXVWcPVPX]bc2^eXS ?d]YPQbTcbd_UPRX[XcPcX^]RT]caTPc8680 U^ab^^cWaTcda]^U?d]YPQXb=A8b CWTcaP]b_^ac UPRX[XchWPbQTT] PaaP]VTSQhcWT 2T]caTc^T]bdaT R^U^acPQ[T aTcda]^U bcaP]STS ?d]YPQXbP]S =A8bc^cWTXa W^TSXbcaXRcb fWTaTcWThfX[[ QTaT`dXaTSc^ bcPhX] `dPaP]cX]TU^a # SPhbP]SfX[[P[b^ QTcTbcTSU^a 2^eXS ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Public bus services resumed in Punjab on Wednesday almost two months after their suspension in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak. Buses of the state-owned Punjab Roadways and Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) plied on select routes in non-containment zones within the state. Punjab Transport Minister Razia Sultana had on May 18 announced resumption of point-to-point bus services between major cities and dis- trict headquarters from May 20 with 50 per cent occupancy. The state government has said inter-state bus services will not resume till May 31. The central government has allowed buses to be plied in the fourth phase of the coun- trywide lockdown (from May 18 to May 31) to combat the spread of the novel coron- avirus. Before the start of opera- tions, all buses were sanitised. Passengers had to undergo temperature screening at bus stands before being allowed to board buses, officials said. Social distancing norms were followed and it was ensured that passengers wore masks and their hands sanitised, they said. There was no rush of pas- sengers at most bus stands in the morning hours, but many people expressed relief at the resumption of bus services. At a few places, including Jalandhar and Amritsar, pas- sengers came to bus stands as early as 5 am and complained of not getting buses despite waiting for long. Many pas- sengers complained that they were made to wait till the bus had 50 per cent occupancy and started running. At Hoshiarpur bus stand, Punjab Roadways duty inspec- tor Madan Lal said the bus ser- vices on five routes -- Hoshiarpur to Mohali, Jalandhar, Ludhiana; Tanda- Batala; and Mukerian- Pathankot-Gurdaspur - were resumed. Officials said the buses will not stop midway. At Amritsar, the bus ser- vices resumed on three routes -- Amritsar to Dera Baba Nanak, Amritsar to Pathankot, and Amritsar to Jalandhar. At Patiala, the PRTC plied its buses on 10 routes which included Patiala, Samana, Patran, Nabha, Malerkotla and Jalandhar. HARYANA TAKES BACK DECISION TO PLY INTER- STATE BUSES Haryana government on Wednesday took back its deci- sion of plying inter-state buses, but said its buses will contin- ue to run within the state. The decision came after state Home Minister Anil Vij apprised Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar that it would be difficult to prevent the spread of Covid-19 once people start travelling freely from one state to the other. I met the chief minister here and I also wrote to him on Tuesday stating that we are not prepared for running inter- state buses, Vij, who is also the Health Minister, said. He told the CM that it would not be possible to con- duct tests of so many people and also cited the high number of Covid-19 cases in some neighbouring states. In Delhi alone, there are so many cases. How can we manage and pre- vent infection? He agreed to my suggestion and now Haryana will not run inter-state buses. The chief minister also gave necessary instructions to the state's Transport Department in this regard, Vij said. However, Haryana Roadways buses will continue to run within the state, he said. The move to resume bus trav- el to various states came after Khattar's announcement on Monday. After this, the Haryana government had writ- ten to the transport depart- ments of at least six states and two Union territories, seeking their consent to start interstate bus services on 12 select routes. The majority of Haryana's 970 coronavirus cases come from four districts bordering Delhi. These are Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonipat and Jhajjar. 2eccUbfYSUc gYdXY^dXUCdQdU cdQbdcY^@R8bi ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khatar on Wednesday announced sever- al new initiatives like paying three months’ interest on stu- dent loans by the State Government. Addressing the people of the state today during the 'Haryana Aaj' programme, Khattar said there are many students who have taken loan for their education. Haryana Government will pay the inter- est of three months of all those students who are completing their education this year or who have already completed their education in the previous year, but have not been able to start their jobs or business due to this epidemic, he said, adding that 36,000 students will be benefitted with an amount of about Rs 40 crore. Similarly, Haryana Government will bear two per- cent of the total interest on loans of up to C50,000 under 'Shishu Yojana' of Mudra Loan Scheme of the Central Government. They will not be required to give any type of col- lateral for this loan. Under this scheme, loan will be provided to 5 lakh persons of the state. The Chief Minister said that Haryana Government will provide loans of up to C 15,000 to 3 lakh poor people for start- ing their own small business at only two percent interest. These loans will be provided under the Differential Rate of Interest (DRI) scheme, in which banks charge four per- cent interest. Of this, two per- cent interest will be borne by the State Government. Khattar said due to the Covid-19 pandemic, econom- ic activity has been limited for the last three months. As a result, not only the family income has been affected but the Government's revenue has also come down drastically. He said that, the Government was determined that in this cri- sis, not even a single person should sleep hungry. Daily need of families will not suffer due to lack of family income. With this resolve in mind, financial assistance of C636 crore has been provided to 15,09,108 families in the last three months in Haryana, he said, adding that this amount has been directly transferred to the bank account of the bene- ficiaries. The Chief Minister said free ration is also being made available to more than 27 lakh families by the State Government. Apart from this, 3,70,925 families, who do not have any ration card, are also being provided free ration through Distress Ration Tokens. In addition, so far 2.62 crore food packets and more than 12,22,000 dry ration pack- ets have also been distributed. Khattar said for lakhs of migrant labourers who are working in Haryana, who want to return to their native states due to lockdown, free of cost arrangement of buses and trains have been made for them. So far, we have transported more than 2 lakh labourers to their destination from Haryana through a total of 53 trains and 4257 buses, he said. +DUDQD 0 GHFODUHV SDLQJ PRQWKV LQWHUHVW RQ VWXGHQW ORDQV ?=BQ 270=3860A7 Haryana Government on Wednesday launched three health-related programs, including H1N1 Vaccination Campaign for Health Care workers, Hepatitis-B Control Program under National Viral Hepatitis Control Program and Eye donation centres in 21 District hospitals of the State. With this, free of cost Hepatitis-B screening, diag- nosis, and treatment will now be available to the people of the State. Afterinauguratingthethree programmes, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Rajeev Arora, addressed the civil sur- geons and representatives of various hospitals from different districts of the state through video conferencing and said thatthepercentageofpopulation sufferingfromHepatitisBshould be ascertained and directed them to prepare a work plan to deal with it. Arora said in the first phase of Hepatitis-B control program, newborns,pregnantwomenand inmates in state jails should be covered.Also,itshouldbeimple- mented in districts like Sirsa, Hisar, Fatehabad, Gurugram and Faridabad, he added. He directed the concerned officers to increase the Hepatitis-B screeningfacilityinthestateand check maximum number of people in the affected districts. The official said that after preparing a detailed action plan of Hepatitis B control program and National Program for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment, both the pro- grammes will be duly imple- mented from the month of August. He said that due to Covid- 19 pandemic as the Health Departmenthascomeintofocus due to which there has been mobilization of health workers across the State and public awareness regarding health has alsoincreasedsothistimeshould be used productively to achieve the goals of these programs. Arora said that in India, since 2016 about 85000 persons are being infected by the H1N1 virus and 4900 deaths have occurred in the last few years. India usually witnesses two peaks, one during January to Marchandanotherinpostmon- soon between August and October, he added. He said that thisinfectionisprimarilyspread through respiratory droplets acquired through coughing, sneezing or touching an object having droplets on it. H1N1 infection can affect any age and gender, he added. The Additional Chief Secretary, Health said health workers fall in the high-risk category and require special attention.Around13,000health workers across the state will be vaccinated as a campaign. For this, the vaccine that is planned to be used is a single dose vac- cine and is effective for a period ofone year. Heinformed thatall the 22 districts in the state are being provided free H1N1 test- ing, diagnosis and treatment servicesalready.Healsostressed on the safety of health workers dealing with infections like H1N1 and Covid-19, etc. Arora said under the NVHCPprogram,hepatitis-Cis alreadybeingprovidedfreetreat- ment, diagnosis and treatment facilitiesinallthe22districtcivil hospitals and all the jails of the state which are designated as treatment centres. He said that now the Hepatitis-B patients in thestatewillalsobeprovidedthe same facilities. He said that three new 'Eye banks' will be started soon in Karnal, Khanpur and Mewat medical colleges, stating that all the 68 eye assistants in the state have been trained in cornea collectiontoovercometheshort- age of doctors. Mission Director, National HealthMission,PrabhjotSingh, Director General Health Services,SurajBhanKambojand Director, Health Services, Usha Gupta and other senior officers ofthedepartmentwerealsopre- sent. 8biQe^SXUc XUQdXbUQdUT`b_WbQ]]Uc BC055A4?AC4AQ =4F34;78 Following the movement of migrant labourers, who wish to go at their native homes, the Delhi Police on Wednesday said that the Screening Centres for migrant labourers have started full scale operations all over Delhi for speedy facilita- tion of transit of migrant labourers going through trains. According to police, the Government planned 25 Shramik Trains departing from three different railway stations ( New Delhi, Old Delhi and Anand Vihar Railway Station). Thirteen (13) trains are leaving for UP and eleven (11) for Bihar apart from those for Trivandrum and other places. To ease migrants distress, the government further creat- ed 30 screening centres for proper screening of migrant labourers in all the 11 Revenue Districts of Delhi Government. This gave a systematic platform for speedy screening of pas- sengers for different destina- tions, said police. All these Screening Centres for migrant labourers have start- ed full scale operations all over Delhi for speedy facilitation of transit of migrant labourers. Migrant labourers already reg- istered are being called for screening at the centers,' said a seniors police official. Adequate police arrange- ment has been made at each screening centre which is being supervised by senior officers including Addl. DCsP and ACsP. Few centres were inspect- ed by Joint CP/Ranges to ensure that the entire process is smooth and proper care is being provided. It is being ensured that the entire process is completed in an orderly manner with least hardship to the migrant labourers. Proper queue management and social distancing is being ensured at all these centres,' said the senior police official. Adequate facilities like food and water have been pro- vided. After proper screening, the migrants are being taken to dedicated buses in terms of destinations and further trans- ported to railway station. Local police alongwith staff of DCP/Railways are assisting the entire process' he added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
- 3. 347A03D=kC7DAB30H k0H ! !! dccPaPZWP]S ?=BQ 347A03D= The tuition culture has grown considerably in recent years with even prima- ry school students attenting private tuitions. Tuition is sup- posed to help a student learn more efficiently but during the lockdown, this myth appears to be busted. Before the lock- down, most school students could be seen attending private tuitions but since the imposi- tion of lockdown from March, the number of such students has dropped considerably. Talking to this correspon- dent, many parents stated that their children are not taking any tuition classes currently as there is no major pressure from schools yet to finish the course. “These days teachers solve one question and give a bunch of chapters for home- work to finish their course fast. We cannot help with each and every subject of our chil- dren all the time so we have to hire a tutor. But since the lock- down, teachers are teaching through videos, giving home- work through mails and have become easily approachable through Whatsapp so my chil- d r e n did not feel the need of a tutor. Of course, we also help them but they are studying happily. I guess if teachers could always be this much approachable and teach without putting the pressure of finishing the course, children will feel more involved in learning, said homemaker Suhasini Upadhyay. The children are doing really well in every subject on their own during the lock- down. Sometimes we help them and sometimes they help each other. We asked them to take tuition classes from their tuition teacher as she lives just few blocks away but they refused. I understood one thing during the lockdown that school makes education a burden for children rather than a happy learning process and that is why children do not want to make efforts to study at home on their own during regular classes, said local businessman Jagat Prasad Sharma. However, some parents stated that after the lockdown, the study of their children will depend once again on their tutors because they are neces- sary to guide their children during school. According to a local pro- fessional Gurpreet Kaur, There are about 50 students in my daughter's class and obvi- ously teacher cannot pay atten- tion to every student daily. Yes, currently children are doing fine without tuition because teachers are not pressing them to complete the course, revise it and pressurising them to get better grades rather than encouraging them to do bet- ter next time and ask for teacher's help. We spend half of our salaries for our kid's school education and still we have to hire a private tutor to make them study the same thing they probably learned in school the same day. Tuition is part of education now because we have a very disturbed edu- cation system here. Talking about decreasing number of tuitions classes dur- ing lockdown, CBSE tele coun- sellor Dr Sona Kaushal Gupta said that one of the benefits of Covid-19 disease is that it showed that tuition classes are not really necessary for chil- dren when they can study on their own with little guidance from their parents and teach- ers. Parents need to reconsid- er sending their kids to tuitions even after this lockdown ends because it will reduce super- fluous stress of children which will help them to be more pro- ductive and less tired physically and mentally, suggested Gupta. 0__a^PRWPQ[TcTPRWTabaTSdRTS[^PSWT[_ZXSbS^fXcW^dccdXcX^]bSdaX]V[^RZS^f] ?=BQ 3470A3D= Continuing its disturbing upward trend in the num- ber of the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) cases, the health department of Uttarakhand reported 11 new cases of the disease in the State on Wednesday. With them, the tally of the disease in the State has mounted to 122. On the day, four cases of the disease surfaced from Udham Singh Nagar district while two cases each were reported from Uttarkashi and Nainital dis- tricts. One case each was detected from Almora, Haridwar and Tehri districts. In Udham Singh Nagar, two 31 years old male patients were reported from Jaspur while a 35 year old male patient was found in Kichha. In Rudrapur, a 29 year old male was found positive. In Ranikhet (Almora), a 19 year old male was found positive while in Nainital a 29 year old female and 21 year old male were found positive for the dis- ease. In Haridwar district - which from last many days had not reported any case- one 32 year old male was found pos- itive on the day. This patient has travel history from Mumbai. In Uttarkashi, a 38 year old male who had recently travelled from Delhi and a 29 year old male having travel history from Mumbai were found affected with the disease. A 25 year old male who has returned from Mumbai was also found positive in Tehri dis- trict on the day. Incidentally Tehri district was free from the disease till Wednesday. The spurt in the cases of the disease has further brought down the recovery rate of the disease to 43.44 percent. Incidentally this rate was about 67 percent few days ago. The additional secretary, state health department, Yugal Kishore Pant said reports of 719 samples were found neg- ative for the disease on Wednesday while 11 were found positive. He added that reports of 1,538 samples are still awaited by the department. On Wednesday, a total of 719 samples were collected for COVID -19 testing. The authorities have so far taken swab samples of 15,503 sus- pected patients for COVID-19 test. The State now has 68 active cases in the State with Udham Singh Nagar district at top of the table with 22 active cases. With discharge of one patient on Wednesday, Dehradun now has 17 active cases while Nainital has 15 active cases. Uttarkashi district has four active cases while Pauri has three active cases. Almora and Bageshwar districts have two active cases while Tehri and Chamoli have one active case each. _VhaReZV_edafdY 4`gZU*eR]]je`## 2A=08=D´:70=3 #_PcXT]cbU^d]SX]DSWPBX]VW=PVPaSXbcaXRc!TPRWX]DccPaZPbWX P]S=PX]XcP[^]TTPRWX]0[^aP7PaXSfPaCTWaXSXbcaXRcb ?=BQ 3470A3D= Ayouth who has tested pos- itive for Covid-19 in Uttarkashi has been booked for attempt to murder by the police. The police have regis- tered the case against the Dakhyatgaon native because he had concealed his travel his- tory. Further, when the sample of the youth was being taken at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh, he had not given his correct mobile phone number. The youth had reached Badkot in Uttarkashi from Rishikesh without informing the author- ities. On reaching Badkot too, he gave incorrect information to the authorities. RYLG SDWLHQW ERRNHG IRU DWWHPSW WR PXGHU ?=BQ 3470A3D= The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State Government that those returning to Uttarakhand from Red zone States should be sent to institutional quar- antine at the State’s border. They should also be admin- istered Covid-19 test. The court has further stated that among all those who are returning from other states, if anyone displays Covid-19 symptoms they should be sent to institutional quaran- tine at the state border. Their sample should be tested and they should be allowed to go towards their homes only if the sample turns out negative. During hearing on a PIL on Wednesday, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) informed the state that test kits are being made available to the states. In another PIL, the state government informed the court that ICUs and ventila- tors have been made opera- tional in all hospitals authorised for Covid-19 treatment in accordance with earlier orders. Similar facilities will also be made available in other places soon. The State’s health secretary Nitesh Jha and health director general Dr Amita Upreti were also pre- sent during the hearing via video conferencing. The peti- tions were heard by the divi- sional bench of justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ravindra Maithani. It will be recalled that Haridwar resident Sacchidanand Dabral and advocate Dushyant Mainali had filed separate PILs in the high court on aspects related to Covid-19. Mainali had raised the issue of proper protection for medical staff and necessary facilities in hospitals for treatment of Covid-19 positive patients. Dabral has sought in his PIL that those returning to the state should be tested for Covid-19 at the state border. Necessary assis- tance and facilities should be provided for them so that the spread of the contagion can be curbed, he had stated in his PIL. The matter has been listed for hearing next on June 2. @dPaP]cX]TcW^bTaTcda]X]V Ua^ATSi^]TbPcQ^aSTa)72 2^dacSXaTRcbBcPcT c^R^]SdRccTbcbPc Q^aSTac^RdaQ b_aTPS^UR^]cPVX^] ?=BQ 3470A3D= Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has directed that strict action be taken against those violating home quarantine. He said this while chairing a video conference with officials to review of the status of Covid-19 in the State on Wednesday. Rawat said that complaints made by Pradhans, Asha work- ers and Anganwadi workers should be taken seriously. He stressed on the need for con- sistently making the public aware of the use of mask, sani- tisation, physical distancing and other precautionary mea- sures. Communication should be maintained with social workers, public representa- tives, media and prominent cit- izens. Stating that those who want to return to Uttarakhand have to be brought back, he said that those returning home have to be psychologically strengthened and kept busy. The CM said that in recent days, the number of positive cases has increased compared to the past. However, the prepa- rations of the State Government are better. The patient care record of the state has also been better. The responsibilities have been han- dled in a better way so far and now there is a new challenge. This challenge has to be over- come with practicality and efficiency. Stating that the fight against Covid-19 will be long, Rawat said that one also has to be psychologically prepared for this. He also stressed on the need to focus on livelihoods, farmers and ensuring that cit- izens benefit from the schemes announced by the State and Central governments. Chief secretary Utpal Kumar Singh stressed on the need for constant monitoring of those returning to the state from outside. District magis- trates should use health work- ers for this in rural areas. He said that those returning from Red zones are to be kept under institutional quarantine.He said that like the support of Gram Pradhans is being taken in rural areas, local bodies will also be authorised similarly for urban areas. Councillors can have an important role in this. The director general of police, Anil Kumar Raturi said that action has to be taken against those violating quar- antine, not wearing mask in public places and those not observing social distancing. Health secretary Nitesh Jha informed that positive cases have increased with the return of people from outside the state.Of the total 120 positive cases so far, 53 have recovered and 66 are active cases. Of all the active cases, there is no seri- ous case. The state has adequate number of ICU beds, ventila- tors, PPE kits, N95 masks and hospital/facility centres. Secretary Shailesh Bagauli informed that of the more than 2.33 lakh people who had registered for returning to Uttarakhand, 1.29 lakh people had returned to the state. Ten trains have so far arrived with returning migrants while two trains are en route. 3=TYbUSdccdbYSdQSdY_^ QWQY^cddX_cUfY_QdY^W X_]UaeQbQ^dY^U ?^bXcXeTRPbTb aXbX]VQdcBcPcT´b _aT_PaPcX^]b QTccTa)APfPc ?=BQ 347A03D= The odd-even system for operation of private four- wheelers in seven cities of the State has been withdrawn on the directions of the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. Earlier on Monday evening, the State Government had decided that since all shops and commercial establishments (except those prohibited) will be allowed to open on all days in Green and Orange zones, the odd-even formula would be implemented for private four- wheelers in the cities with municipal corporations- Dehradun, Haridwar, Roorkee, Haldwani, Rudrapur, Kashipur and Kotdwar. This formula was applied on the basis of the license plate number and the date on Wednesday. However, later during the day, the CM directed that this system be withdrawn due to the practical problems being faced by the citizens. Officials con- cerned were issued directions regarding this. SSTeT]U^ad[P fXcWSaPf]PUcTa X_[TT]cPcX^] 7^fTeTa[PcTa SdaX]VcWTSPhcWT 2SXaTRcTScWPc cWXbbhbcTQT fXcWSaPf]SdTc^ cWT_aPRcXRP[ _a^Q[TbQTX]V UPRTSQhcWT RXcXiT]bUUXRXP[b R^]RTa]TSfTaT XbbdTSSXaTRcX^]b aTVPaSX]VcWXb ?=BQ 3470A3D= The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presi- dent Pritam Singh has slammed the Uttarakhand Government for not paying a single rupee to the village Pradhans as promised by it for quarantine and care of the returning migrants. Addressing media persons here on Wednesday, the PCC presi- dent said that the state gov- ernment had announced that a sum of C10,000 would be paid to every village Pradhan for making necessary arrange- ments for quarantining the returning migrants. “I have personally visited many villages recently and talked to the Pradhans and all of them denied receiving any kind of financial help from the State Government. The condition of Pradhans is very pathetic and they are not in a position to discharge the task handed over to them. When a congress delegation met the Chief Secretary on Tuesday, he accepted that no money is paid to Pradhans. The CS said that the money would be reimbursed to the Pradhans. The Congress demands that the money should be paid in advance as people have no faith in the assurance of this government,’’ he said. The PCC president said that instead of keeping the returning migrants at base camps, the state government adopted a faulty system send- ing all migrants back to their villages after thermally scan- ning the returnees. The Government should have made arrangements at base camps and when the capacity of these camps was achieved, the state govern- ment should have quarantined the returnees at district, tehsil and block headquarters. Singh claimed that by sending the returnee to their villages, the state government has increased the threat of Covid-19 in the villages. The general secretary organisation, Vijay Saraswat, former MLA Rajkumar and spokesperson Garima Dassauni were present on the occasion. @D0A0=C8=8=686A0=CB ?a^XbTSQdSVTc]^c_PXSc^?aPSWP]b)?22_aTbXST]c 6DV WKDW WKH FRQGLWLRQ RI 3UDGKDQV LV YHU SDWKHWLF DQG WKH DUH QRW LQ D SRVLWLRQ WR GLVFKDUJH WKH WDVN KDQGHG RYHU WR WKHP ?=BQ 3470A3D= The Congress appears pre- tending to be concerned only for 500 Uttarakhandi migrants in other States while the State Government and the Bharatiya Janata Party are con- cerned about more than two lakh such migrants. Stating this, the BJP State vice presi- dent Devendra Bhasin expressed surprise at the mem- orandum submitted by Congress to the chief secretary. He said that under chief min- ister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the state government is work- ing on war footing to facilitate the return of all Uttarakhandis willing to return from various states. Of those migrants who have registered, about 1.15 lakh have returned so far. The Government has facilitated two-month ration free for them, efforts are underway for their employ- ment and arrangements have been made for their treat- ment. Apart from this, most of the migrants from other states who were in Uttarakhand have been sent to their home states. On the other hand, the Congress leaders are display- ing narrow mentality by mis- informing the public instead of cooperating in the govern- mental efforts. Congress leaders have limited their work to making statements against the Government and submitting memoranda, said Bhasin. In the fight against Covid-19, instead of working for relief, such leaders have done more to create obstacles. The BJP state vice presi- dent further said that there is a competition in the Congress for making statements as the party is riddled with faction- alism. 2^]VUPZX]VR^]RTa]XbX]U^aX]V_dQ[XR)19? ?=BQ 347A03D= In view of the crisis gener- ated by the novel Coronavirus (Covid-19), the Uttarakhand Government has decided to suspend the process of transfer of its employees this year. The chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had recently announced that the state gov- ernment has decided to declare the current year as ‘Zero year for the transfers’. On Wednesday, the addition- al chief secretary, Radha Raturi released the Government Order (GO) in accordance with the announcement of CM. In the order, Raturi said that in Uttarakhand state is current- ly under lockdown in view of the Covid-19 contagion due which the economic activities in the state are ceased. She said that the Covid-19 has been declared as pandemic due to which the threat of spread of infection prevails when the transferred employ- ees shift from one place to another. Raturi in the order said that the year 2020-21 would be a zero year for trans- fers in the services where the transfer act of 2017 is applic- able. The employee associa- tions have expressed satisfac- tion on the release of GO for making the current year Zero Transfer year. The officiating general secretary of the state employees joint federation, Arun Pandey said the federa- tion welcomes the decision of the state government. He said that the GO also mentions that the cases of such employees which are needed to be trans- ferred for medical and other reasons would be brought before a committee headed by chief secretary (CS) under rule 27 of the transfer act. Pandey said that the process of mutual transfers and those needed to be done on medical grounds should start imme- diately. The applications for these transfers would be given to the department heads con- cerned who in turn would put it before the committee head- ed by the CS. 4_[^hTT ^aVP]XbPcX^]b fT[R^TcWT STRXbX^] D³ZWP]S]^cc^caP]bUTaT_[^hTTbcWXbhTPaSdTc^R^a^]P ?=BQ 70A83F0A Two prison guards in Roorkee have been sent to jail for allegedly indulging in extortion on behalf of a noto- rious inmate. The two guards of Roorkee sub-jail allegedly demanded money from a busi- nessman in Roorkee. The police investigated the com- plaint made by the business- men and then sent the duo to the jail they were earlier guard- ing. A man who runs a mobile shop in Lalkurti area of Roorkee complained to the police that two personnel working as guards in Roorkee sub-jail- Nitin Nagar and Satinder Rana visited the shop and threatened him in the name of notorious criminal Sabir who is currently in Roorkee jail. The duo alleged- ly demanded money from the complainant and threatened him with dire consequences on failing to pay. Sabir is a hench- man of the infamous Pravin Valmiki. Superintendent of Police (Rural) Swapan Kishore Singh informed that both the accused prison guards have been arrest- ed and sent to jail. Further investigation regrading Sabir is underway, he added. ?aXb^]VdPaSbbT]cc^YPX[U^a P[[TVTSTgc^acX^]PccT_c
- 4. ]PcX^]#347A03D=kC7DAB30H k0H ! !! ?=BQ =4F34;78 With over 1,08,000 Covid- 19 cases, India is the 11th worst-affected country in the world. But since more than 39.6 per cent of the confirmed infection cases have recovered, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday said it shows that clinical management pro- tocols adopted by the country are effective. Compared to the global scale, where there are 62.3 cases per one lakh population, India still has only 7.9 cases/lakh population. Similarly, for mor- tality rate per lakh population, while the global average is 4.2, India’’s figure is pegged at 0.2, said the Ministry. Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan addressing the Non-Aligned Movement Health Ministers’ meeting on Wednesday, said India’s response of “micro-identifica- tion, mass isolation and quick treatment” prevented “large scale deaths and spread of Covid-19.” Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary at the Health Ministry at a Press conference here, said Covid-19 recovery rate has been on continuous upwards climb and is more than 39.62 per cent. “When the first phase of lockdown started, the recovery rate was around 7.1 per cent. During the second phase of lockdown, it was 11.42 per cent and rose to 26.59 per cent. Today, the recovery rate is 39.62 per cent.” The efforts for early iden- tification of Covid-19 cases had helped in having a better recovery rate, he said. “The focus on clinical management and recovery has resulted in the improvement in the recovery rate. More than 39.6 per cent of the confirmed cases have recovered, bringing the total to 42,298 recoveries as of today. This is a reminder that the disease is curable and the clinical man- agement protocols adopted by India are effective.” Only 6.39 per cent Covid- 19 cases need hospitalisation, which includes oxygen, venti- lator or ICU support, he said. Giving a breakup, he said that 2.9 per cent of all the active cases under treatment require oxygen support, about 3 per cent of the active cases require ICU support and 0.45 per cent of the active cases require ven- tilator support. India has been concur- rently focusing on upgrading the Covid dedicated health infrastructure. Agarwal stated that India has been relatively able to decelerate the pace of Covid-19 spread and the impact can be seen in the data of cases. ?=B Q =4F34;78 In a ‘Make-in-India’ initiative, Kerala- based Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), an institute of national importance under the Union Science and Technology Ministry, has devel- oped an innovative technology to iso- late RNA from swab samples and enhance the chances of identifying Covid-19 positive cases. Presently, a majority of RNA iso- lation kits is being imported. The Thiruvananthapuram based institute has filed for patent for this technology which is simpler than imported ones. Developed by Dr Anoop Thekkuveettil and his team, the kit Known as “Chitra Magna”, uses magnetic nano-particle to capture and concentrate the ribo-nucleic acid (RNA) from the patient’s swab sample and can be deployed for both PCR and Chitra Gene LAMP-N, the much cheaper and faster diagnostic kit devel- oped by the institute recently, for tests to detect the virus. The same team had developed Chitra Gene LAMP-N, said a scientist in a statement here. The SARS-COV-2, the causative virus of coronavirus pandemic, is a virus that uses RNA, a long single stranded polymeric substance present in all living cells and carries the genet- ic information of the organism neces- sary for life, explained the scientist. One of the critical steps in detect- ing this virus is by confirming the pres- ence of the RNA of the virus in the sample taken from the throat or nose. In the lab, the RNA of Covid-19 is extracted, converted into DNA and amplified using the PCR technique or LAMP technique. “Chitra Magna” would give a sig- nificant advantage in the extraction as even if some viral RNA disintegrates during storage and transportation of the samples, all of it is captured by the magnetic bead-based extraction tech- nology, said the scientist. The magnetic nano-particle beads bind to the viral RNA and when exposed to a magnetic field gives a highly purified and concentrated level of RNA. As the yield of PCR or LAMP test is dependent on getting adequate quantity of viral RNA, this innovation enhances the chances of identifying positive cases, the scientist added. ‘Chitra Magna’ can be used to extract high purity RNA from patient samples not only for LAMP testing, but also for RT-PCR test, he said. The technology of ‘Chitra Magna’ has already been transferred to a pri- vate firm, Agappe Diagnostics Ltd at Kochi. The company has already taken the Chitra GeneLamp for identification of the N gene of SARS-COV-2, a potential confirmatory test with accu- racy matching RT-PCR in its initial validation at National Institute of Virology by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). ?=BQ =4F34;78 Ascientist from Tripura University has developed a robot from locally available and scrap materials to take care of the Covid-19 infected patients from a distant place, an innovation which would come handy for the frontline healthcare professionals working in the highly contagious environment. The remote-controlled robot ‘Covid-19 Warbot’ can carry 10-15 kilograms of materials, has an operational range of 15-20 metres, and can deliver food, medicines and other essential items to the viral infected patients. The robot, regulated by a trans- mitter and a receiver, can work for around 90 minutes after the lead acid rechargeable battery is given five hour’s charge. “I have just spent Rs 25,000 and took a week’s time to make the robot. Due to the ongoing lock- down, I could not collect the latest and modern devices and tools from outside Tripura, hence I have to depend on the local and scrap materials. I used the vital receiver of the robot from an old toy of the son of my relative,” said scientist Harjeet Nath, holder of the prestigious young scientist award in 2018. He said that the robot can be of enormous help to the doctors, nurses and other health workers to deal with the patients of the high- ly contagious novel coronavirus. In the robot, Nath has installed a two-way communication device of a Wi-Fi-controlled camera with inbuilt microphone and speaker to help both the doctors or nurses and patients to communicate directly with each other maintaining a safest distance. Presently, frontline health workers including the doctors and nurses are at the risk of getting infected with the highly infectious virus as they have to closely take care of the Covid-19 patients. Nath palns to add many more skills including thermal screening of suspected patients, sanitising the hospital floors to the existing robot to make the machine many more other health related jobs besides purposeful. ?=BQ =4F34;78 Noting that the initiative has had a positive impact on several lives, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the number of people who have benefited from the “Ayushman Bharat” scheme has crossed the one crore-mark. In September 2018, PM Modi had launched the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Ayushman Bharat. It has been termed as the biggest Government-sponsored healthcare scheme in the world. “It would make every Indian proud that the number of Ayushman Bharat benefi- ciaries has crossed 1 crore. In less than two years, this initia- tive has had a positive impact on so many lives,” the Prime Minister wrote on Twitter. He said during his official tours, he would interact with Ayushman Bharat bene- ficiaries. “Sadly, that is not possible these days but I did have a great telephone interac- tion with Pooja Thapa from Meghalaya, the 1 croreth ben- eficiary,” he said. The Prime Minister shared the audio clip of the conversa- tion in which Ms Thapa, a sol- dier’s wife, explains about the surgery she underwent in Shillong using the Ayushman Bharat facility. Her husband is posted in Manipur and could not be with her due to the coronavirus lockdown. Her two small chil- dren are being taken care of by the neighbours. ?C8Q =4F34;78 Aplea has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a mechanism to check Twitter content and advertisements spreading hatred through fake news and instigative messages via bogus accounts. The petition, filed by BJP leader Vinit Goenka, also a member of the Governing Council (CRIS), said that there are hun- dreds of fake Twitter handles and bogus Facebook accounts in the name of emi- nent people and high dignitaries. “These fake Twitter handles and Facebook accounts use real photo of con- stitutional authorities and eminent citi- zens. “Therefore, common man relies upon the messages published from these Twitter handles and Facebook accounts,” said the plea filed through advocate Ashwani Kumar Dubey. The PIL said that fake news is the root cause of many riots, including the one in Delhi earlier this year, and bogus accounts are used to promote casteism and communalism which endangers fraternity and unity of the country. “It is submitted that presently total number of twitter handles in India are around 35 million and total number of Facebook accounts are 350 million and experts says that around 10 per cent twit- ter handles (3.5 million) and 10 per cent Facebook accounts (35 million) are duplicate/bogus/fake,” the plea said. Political parties use fake social media accounts for self-promotion and image building and to tarnish the image of opponents and contesting candidates, especially during the elections, the plea said. The plea has also sought directions to make a law as per which an action can be initiated against Twitter and their rep- resentatives in India for willfully abetting and promoting anti India tweets and penalize them. The petition further said that a rep- resentation to the concerned authority to act in accordance with the law of the country against social media giant Twitter was filed but no action has been taken so far by the concerned authorities. ?=BQ =4F34;78 The NIA has arrested the key con- spirator Rustam Ali of Kishtwar, Jammu Kashmir in the case relat- ing to murder of BJP State Secretary Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet. Ali, 56, is an accused in the Parihar brothers killing case. Parihar brothers were killed at Kishtwar on November 1, 2018, by Hizbul Mujahideen terorrists. “Accused Rustam Ali was also wanted in another terror case of Kishtwar registered by NIA which related to robbery of Insas rifle from PSO of Advocate Nasir Hussain. The Parihars murder cases was taken over by NIA ON November 28, 2018. The agency chargesheeted seven accused persons including three killed terrorists Osama bin Javid, Haroon Abbas Wani and Zahid Hussain besides three arrested accused –Nisar AhmedSheikh, Nishad hmed Butt and AzadHussain. Ali was also named in the chargehseet filed at a designated court at Jammu on May 15 this year “Investigation of both the cases unearthed the larger conspiracy of these terrorists and thre over ground workers (OGWs) of Hizbul Mujahideen who attempting to revive terrorism in the region of Chenab val- ley i.e. districts of Doda, Kishtwr and Ramban,” the NIA said in a statement Accused Rustam Ali had been absconding since long and investiga- tion revealed that Rustam Ali had con- structed a hideout in the house of accused Nishad Ahmed Buttfor safe hiding of accused pesons, the agency added. New Delhi: All due transfers in the 1.62 lakh personnel-strong Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have been can- celled till March next year in view of the Covid-19 outbreak, an order issued by the para- military force said on Wednesday. The measure will affect about 12,000-13,000 personnel and is aimed at “minimising” their “hardship” and saving transfer allowance worth a few crore of rupees that is given to the under-transfer staffers to join the new place of their post- ing. An order issued by the force has been accessed by PTI. It said, “Director General CISF has issued the direction in order to minimise the hardhip of personnel and to control the financial commitment on account of transfer allowance.” It added that all transfers due this year have been “deferred till March 31 next year”. The force had earlier postponed all transfer orders and movements for its per- sonnel, issued till March this year, in view of the ongoing nationwide lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic. A final decision has now been taken. CISF chief Rajesh Ranjan confirmed the move, saying the decision has been taken “keep- ing in mind all administrative, operational and personnel wel- fare requirements in the times of coronavirus outbreak”. The order said the only exception to the latest directive will be a transfer done on the grounds of “genuine individual grievance, medical, operational and administrative require- ment with clear recommenda- tion and specific justification” by the supervisory authorities. A senior official explained that going on transfer entails a lot of human and administra- tive work and it was decided by the DG that it was important to keep the troops safe from the Covid-19 point of view. PTI New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Central govern- ment on five fresh pleas chal- lenging the constitutional valid- ity of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 on various grounds including that the “specific exclusion” of Muslims was against the right to equality and secularism under the Constitution. The CAA, which was noti- fied on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non- Muslim minorities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian — who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014, following persecution over their faith. Thetopcourt,onDecember 18 last year, had decided to examinetheconstitutionalvalid- ity of the CAA while refusing to stay its operation. A Bench comprising Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishiksh Roy, in the pro- ceedings held through video- conferencing, issued the notice on the pleas filed by Tamil Nadu Thoweed Jamath, Shalim, All Assam Law Students Union, Muslim Students Federation (Assam) and Sachin Yadav and ordered their tagging with the earlier batch of PILs filed on the issue. Indian Union Muslim League is the lead petitioner in the case. Tamil Nadu Thoweed Jamath,initsPIL,saiditwasrais- ing a “seminal important ques- tionsrelatedtothepromulgation of CAA, wherein first time reli- gionisintroducedasareference point/conditionforacquisitionof Indian Citizenship for illegal/undocumented migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.” Citizenship is being extend- ed to certain a class of migrants belonging to religion of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians and such classi- fication violates Article 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to equality) of the Constitution. “Moreover, the classifica- tion based on the religious identity of the individual offends the fundamental prin- ciple of ‘Secularism’, which is enshrined as basic structure of the Constitution,” it said, adding that the benefit was specifically denied to “Muslims by specific exclusion”. Other fresh PILs also raised similar objections to the CAA. Prior to this, Centre on March 17 had filed its response to the over 100 PILs against the CAA and had asserted that the law does not violate any funda- mental right or affect the legal, democratic and secular rights of any Indian citizens. PTI ?=B Q =4F34;78 The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a series of financial measures and policy decisions, including the changes in coal allocation methods, announced in the Prime Minister’s 20-lakh-crore package for the revival of economy hit by the Covid- 19 pandemic. The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave post-facto approval to ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ package on allocation of food grains to the migrant and stranded migrants, special liq- uidity schemes to non-banking financial and housing finance, packages on fisheries sector, additional funding of three lakh crore through emergency credit line guarantee scheme, which were recently announced by the Finance Minister in connection with the Rs 20 lakh crore package. The Cabinet meeting also approved the second set of laws in tune with Jammu Kashmir Re-Organization Act in relation to the recruitment rules for various services. “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its ex- post facto approval for waiver of interest of Rs 7.59 crore on Government of India loans of Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL), as on March 31, 2005 in addition to the ‘Waiver of penal interest and interest on interest up to March 31, 2005’ that was earlier approved by the CCEA in March, 2006 under the rehabil- itation package for HOCL,” said Government in a statement. The CCEA also approved the methodology for auction of coal and lignite mines/blocks for sale of coal/lignite on revenue sharing basis and increasing the tenure of coking coal linkage. This methodology pro- vides that bid parameter will be revenue share. The bidders would be required to bid for a percentage share of revenue payable to the Government. “The floor price shall be 4 per cent of the revenue share. Bids would be accepted in mul- tiples of 0.5 per cent of the rev- enue share till the percentage of revenue share is up to 10 per cent and thereafter bids would be accepted in multiples of 0.25 per cent of the revenue share. There shall be no restric- tion on the sale and/or utilisa- tion of coal from the coal mine. “The methodology is ori- ented to make maximum coal available in the market at the earliest and it also enables ade- quate competition which will allow discovery of market prices for the blocks and faster development of coal blocks. Higher investment will create direct and indirect employment in coal bearing areas especial- ly in mining sector and will have an impact on economic development of these regions,” Government said. 2E83 (DC1A40: 4]Z_ZTR]^R_RXV^V_eac`e`T`]dRU`aeVUSj:_UZRVWWVTeZgV+9VR]eYZ_ New Delhi: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan is set to take charge as the chair- man of the World Health Organization (WHO) Executive Board on May 22. He would succeed Dr Hiroki Nakatani of Japan, currently the Chairman. The proposal to appoint India’s nominee to the 34-member Executive Board was signed by the 194- nation World Health Assembly on Tuesday. PNS New Delhi: A coronavirus positive case was on Wednesday detected in the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) in the medical education divi- sion at the Union Health Ministry, Nirman Bhawan. “Proper protocol for saniti- sation of entire area will take place, contact tracing initiated,” the Ministry said in a statement here. 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