Archives for August 2020

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday said that states and universities cannot promote students without holding final year exams by September 30.

Upholding the UGC decision to hold final year exams, a bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said if any state feels they can’t conduct exams by that date, they must approach the UGC for new dates to hold the exam.

Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, is one of the petitioners in the apex court and has questioned the UGC’s directive to hold examinations amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The UGC had earlier said that the July 6 guidelines are based on recommendations of experts and have been made after due deliberation and it is wrong to claim that it will not be possible to conduct the final examinations in terms of the guidelines.

Assailing the decisions of some states like Maharashtra and Delhi to cancel final year examinations, the UGC had said that such decisions directly affect standards of higher education and will be an encroachment on the legislative field of coordinating and determining the standards of higher education that is exclusively reserved for Parliament under Schedule VII of the Constitution.

New Delhi: The government has permitted the airlines to serve pre-packed snacks, meals and beverages on domestic flights and hot meals on international flights, according to an official order.

Moreover, any passenger who refuses to wear a face mask in a flight can be put on the no-fly list by the airline, said a senior official of the aviation regulator DGCA.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, in-flight meal service was not permitted on domestic flights since their resumption on May 25. On international flights, only pre-packed cold meals and snacks were being served depending on the flight duration since May this year.

In an order issued on Thursday, the Civil Aviation Ministry said, “Airlines may serve pre-packed snacks/meals/pre-packed beverages on domestic flights depending on the duration of flight.”

Airlines and charter flight operators can “serve hot meals and limited beverages” on international flights “as per the standard practices”, it added.

The ministry said only single-use disposable trays, plates and cutlery should be used while serving food or beverages in domestic and international flights.

“Crew shall wear a fresh set of gloves for every meal/beverage service,” it noted.

The ministry also permitted the aircraft operators to let passengers use the in-flight entertainment system on international as well as domestic flights wherever available.

“Disposable earphones or cleaned and disinfected headphones will be provided to passengers at the start of the journey,” it noted.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said, “A passenger who refuses to wear a face mask can be put on no-fly list by the airline.”

The official said no new order has been passed in this regard as the airline and its cabin crew are sufficiently empowered under the existing DGCA rules to take action.

As per the DGCA rules, an airline can choose to put an unruly passenger on its no-fly list after internal deliberations. Subsequently, other airlines may follow suit in putting that passenger on their no-fly lists.

Scheduled international passenger flights continue to remain suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international flights have been operating under the ‘Vande Bharat Mission’ and bilateral air bubble arrangements that have been signed with various countries.

Domestic flights resumed in India on May 25 after a gap of two months in view of the pandemic. However, airlines are allowed to operate 45 per cent of their pre-COVID domestic flights.

New Delhi: Marking the sixth anniversary of the ‘Jan Dhan’ scheme, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that the initiative has been a “game-changer” and served as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives.

After he led the BJP to power in 2014, this was one of his government’s first major projects under which bank accounts of crores of people, mostly poor, were opened.

“Today, six years ago, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched with an ambitious aim of banking the unbanked. This initiative has been a game-changer, serving as the foundation for many poverty alleviation initiatives, benefitting crores of people,” the prime minister tweeted.

“Thanks to the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the future of several families has become secure. A high proportion of beneficiaries are from rural areas and are women. I also applaud all those who have worked tirelessly to make PM-JDY a success. #6Years Of JanDhan Yojana,” he added.

The graphics shared by him showed that more than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened so far with more than 63 per cent of the beneficiaries belonging to rural areas. Over 55 per cent of them are women.

The government has said that it has been able to directly transfer welfare benefits to the needy due to the scheme.

New Delhi: A record single-day spike of 77,266 COVID-19 cases pushed India’s virus tally to 33,87,500, while the recoveries surged to 25,83,948 on Friday, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

The death toll climbed to 61,529 with 1,057 people succumbing to the diseases in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The recovery rate was recorded at 76.28 per cent, while the COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.82 per cent.

There are 7,42,023 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 21.90 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and went past 30 lakh on August 23.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 3,94,77,848 samples have been tested up to August 27 with 9,01,338 samples being tested on Thursday.

New Delhi: A 43-year-old woman’s SOS to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the Indian Embassy in London, the Ministry of External Affairs here and the Delhi Police swing into action and prevent her from killing herself.

“If help is not met in next two hours, would commit suicide” was the message emailed on Wednesday night by the woman, who is apparently suffering from some psychotic disorders due to breakdown of her marriage, police said.

The Indian Embassy in London was immediately informed, which contacted the Ministry of External Affairs officials here and sought quick response as the life of the woman appeared to be at risk, a senior police officer said.

The matter was reported at Rohini’s Aman Vihar police station following which police launched an intense exercise late night to locate her with house-to-house search in the area as she did not mention her complete address in the email and also was not receiving phone calls.

The officer said the women had sent the email to the Prime Minister of United Kingdom apparently seeking help, sounding to be in an extremely distressful state of mind.

The police officer said that the woman has a huge financial burden due to loans and lives in a rented accommodation in Delhi’s Rohini area.

“The information reached Aman Vihar police station in Rohini area. The woman did not write her full address in the mail. Police reached area, but failed to locate her as her complete address was not mentioned,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) P K Mishra said.

Starting around 1 am, the police checked each house in the locality and managed to locate her house after two hours of search, the DCP said.

Initially, the woman did not open the door despite repeated persuasions, raising alarm bells among the police who called the fire brigade to break open the door, the DCP said.

Just after two-three minutes of fire brigade operating on the door, the woman came outside, looking fraught with anxiety and fear, the police officer said.

The woman said she was ok and requested the fire brigade and the police to go back, following which most staff left the spot, Mishra said, adding some staff went inside her house on her request.

Around 16 to 18 cats were roaming around and the entire house was stinking, suggesting that it was not cleaned for years, he said.

The woman herself was smelling so foul that it was almost impossible to stand next to her, police said.

She said she used to be a teacher in an MCD school, but left the job due to some personal reasons. She is a divorcee and had incurred some loans a few years ago but failed to pay EMIs for some reasons, the DCP said.

The woman refused to give details about her relatives, police said.

Two psychologists and a doctor were called in immediately to address her problems or to advise if the police should obtain the requisite assent of the magistrate concerned to shift her in the Institute of Human Behaviour & Allied Sciences (IBHAS) for further treatment, police added.

She was allowed to stay at her home and is being counselled, they said.

New Delhi: As many as 1,095 look out circulars have been deleted and 630 foreign members of the Tablighi Jamaat have left India, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday.

On the issue of foreign Tablighi Jamaat members stuck in India for violating visa rules and pandemic restrictions, MEA Spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said the ministry has been actively facilitating their consular access, deletion of LOCs and smooth repatriation to their respective countries.

“We have kept the respective foreign embassies informed through the entire process,” he said.

“As of August 24, 1,095 look out circulars (LOCs) were deleted and 630 foreign members of the Tablighi Jamaat have left India,” he said at an online media briefing.

These members of the Tablighi Jamaat were charged under the Foreigners Act for indulging in activities that were incompatible with their visa status, he said.

Therefore, for such activities, appropriate category of visa has to be sought, Srivastava said.

To a separate question on whether External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting next month, Srivastava said the minister has received an invitation for the meeting to be held in Moscow and a decision on his participation would be made known once it is taken.

On whether the Kerala government had sought MEA’s approval for signing an MoU with the UAE Red Crescent Authority – an NGO — for a project, Srivastava said no such approval had been taken.

The dairy sector which provides livelihood to lakhs of dairy farmers in the State is reeling under a severe loss due to the Covid-19 crisis.

cow, cattle, cow slaughter, dairy For representational purposes (Photo | PTI)By Subhash Chandra N SExpress News Service
KARWAR: The dairy sector which provides livelihood to lakhs of dairy farmers in the State is reeling under a severe loss due to the Covid-19 crisis. The milk unions have reduced their payment to the farmers by about Rs 4-6 per litre. Despite surplus production, the marketing of milk and byproducts has hit badly, according to the milk unions.

The closure of hotels, restaurants, schools and colleges and cafeterias in software firms and postponement of marriages has hit the Karnataka Milk Federation hard, which is now hoping that Covid-19 ends soon. “Earlier the hotel, restaurant and cafeteria segment consumed up to 4 lakh litres. They would buy our jumbo packets (6 litre packet of milk and 25 litres curd).

The cafeterias of the software companies consumed over one lakh litres of milk. All this has stopped ever since the pandemic outbreak.” B C Satish, Managing Director, Karnataka Milk, told TNIE. Nelligere Balu, Director, Mandya Milk Union, said that all the milk unions in the State have reduced the payment to the farmers based on the availability of cash.

Accordingly, Bangalore Milk Union Limited (BAMUL) and Mangalore Milk Union are paying Rs 26 per litre of milk – a reduction of Rs 4 per litre. “Our Mandya Milk Union used to pay Rs 30 per litre,then it reduced it by Rs 2.76. It has again reduced it to Rs 24,” said Balu. “This is all due to the Covid-19 situation where the demand for milk has reduced sharply. We are in a severe crisis and wondering how to pay the farmers from next month,” Balu said.

However, the milk producers of North Karnataka are still in the safe zone.“ We are producing about 3 lakh litres of milk, of which 2.9 lakh litres is our consumption, the remaining is converted into powder. We have always been paying Rs 23.50 per litre. Only those who paid Rs 30 have now reduced the payment,”said Guru Siddanagouda, former president, Raichur, Ballari, Koppal Milk Union Limited.
When contacted, B C Satish, Managing Director, KMF, only said the milk producers are being paid by taking a working capital of Rs 750 crore as announced by the Prime Minister.