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J&K to get Ola, Uber type radio taxi service soon

Representational Image (Twitter)

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir government today said that radio taxi service on patterns of Ola and Uber will soon be started across the Union Territory, in order to strengthen the public transport system in the UT.

Unlike the rest of the country, there are no radio taxi services like Ola and Uber in J&K.

The decision to introduce radio taxis in UT was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by the Principal Secretary Transport, Asgar Samoon here.

“He stated that radio taxi service shall ensure better transport facility with safety of passengers besides creating employment avenues for locals. Samoon said that technocrats, drivers, owners of taxis and auto-rickshaws will be roped in this service, which will be operated through a Google-enabled app on patterns of Ula and Uber services,” an official spokesman said.

Samoon, according to the official spokesman said that Taxi service rules have been notified already and all related work is in progress to launch it soon in J&K.

The spokesman said that directions were also passed by the Principal Secretary to the management of SRTC to ensure early procurement of new buses including electric-ones.

“Samoon asked them to deploy bus services on various routes including Gurez, Ladakh and other remote areas to ensure better transport facility to the travelers,” an official statement read.

At the outset, the Principal Secretary while taking a detailed review of Road Safety Funds emphasized on the deployment of all safety equipment including 110 bikes procured last year.

“This year with the delay in the tendering process, Samoon said that an amount of Rs. 10 crore as Road Safety Fund will be released to DCs Rs 50 lakh each for road safety management in their districts.  He instructed for use of radons, identification of black sports, installation of cameras and other necessary equipment to avoid the occurrence of accidents across the J&K,” the official statement said.

Lockdown 4.0: List of activities allowed and not allowed till May 31

(Source: Twitter @DCPSouthDelhi)

New Delhi (NVI): With the Centre extending lockdown for two more weeks till May 31 to curb the spread of coronavirus, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has laid new guidelines for the activities permitted and prohibited across the country.

Only “essential services” will be permitted in containment zones but for the rest of India, regardless of the colour classification of districts, all activities other than those specifically prohibited will now be allowed, subject to physical distancing norms.

MHA has also said that the onus is on the state governments to decide various zones, taking into consideration parameters shared by the Health Ministry.

List of activities permitted with restrictions, except in containment zones:

  • Inter-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses, with mutual consent of the state(s)/UT(s) involved.
  • Intra-state movement of passenger vehicles and buses, as decided by the states and UTs.
  • Movement of stranded people including migrants, students allowed
  • Movement of stranded Indians abroad to continue
  • Shops and markets to open with staggered timings, so as to ensure social distancing
  • Opening up of sports activities only for sportsperson – spectators will not be allowed in these complexes

List of activities that will remain prohibited throughout the lockdown:

  • All domestic and international air travel of passengers, except for domestic medical services, domestic air ambulance and for security purposes or purposes as permitted by MHA.
  • Metro rail services
  • Schools, colleges, educational/training/coaching institutions etc will remain closed. Online/distance learning shall continue to be permitted and shall be encouraged.
  • Hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services, except those meant for housing health/police/ government officials/healthcare workers/stranded persons including tourists and for quarantine facilities and running of canteens at bus depots, railway stations and airports. Restaurants shall be permitted to operate kitchens for home delivery of food items.
  • All cinema halls, shopping malls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theaters, bars and auditoriums, assembly halls and similar places. Sports complexes and stadiums will be permitted to open; however, spectators will not be allowed.
  • All social/political/sports/entertainment/academic/cultural/religious functions/other gatherings and large congregations.
  • All religious places/places of worship shall be closed for public. The religious congregation are strictly prohibited.

Night curfew:

The movement of individuals shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am, except for essential activities.

Cyclone Amphan: PM reviews preparations; 25 NDRF teams deployed

(Updating earlier copy)

New Delhi (NVI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a high-level meeting with MHA and NDRF to review the response measures against cyclone ‘Amphan’ developing in the Bay of Bengal.

“Prime Minister took full stock of the situation and reviewed the response preparedness as well as the evacuation plan presented by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF),” the PMO said in a statement.

During the presentation of the response plan, DG NDRF informed that 25 NDRF teams have been deployed on the ground while 12 others are ready in reserve. 24 other NDRF teams are also on standby in different parts of the country, PMO said.

The meeting was attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Principal Advisor to Prime Minister- PK Sinha, Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, besides other senior officers from the Government.

The meeting was held at 4 PM today in view of the approaching cyclone ‘Amphan’, which may highly affect coastal areas in West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

At this time, when the country is already under an extended lockdown to tackle the spread of Covid-19, it will be a challenging task for the government in these states as well as NDMA, to evacuate people from coastal areas.

The cyclone had already intensified into a ‘Super Cyclonic Storm’ at 11:30 am today. “The Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘AMPHAN’ (pronounced as UM-PUN) intensified into Super Cyclonic Storm at 1130 IST of today, the 18th May, 2020,” IMD tweeted earlier today.


Apart from this, IMD has issued a weather warning for West Bengal and north Odisha coasts. The cyclonic storm is expected to make landfall in Bengal on Wednesday.

Earlier, MHA also issued a warning, saying that the cyclone will hit West Bengal and Bangladesh coasts as a ‘very severe cyclone’ with wind speed up to 185km per hour on Wednesday.

IMD had issued a yellow alert yesterday. The cyclone is likely to cross West Bengal and Bangladesh by May 20 evening, IMD said. Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal are likely to be affected while Odisha also braces for a severe storm. IMD has also predicted heavy rainfall in these areas and 12 coastal districts are on alert.

Twelve coastal districts in Odisha— Ganjam, Gajapti, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Bhadrak, Balasore, Mayurbhanj, Jajpur, Cuttack, Khurda and Nayagarh—are on high alert.

Police officer among 49 cops tested positive for Covid-19 in J&K’s Anantnag

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): At least 49 policemen, including an officer, were tested positive for coronavirus today in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district today, officials said.

All the policemen belong to the 11th Armed Battalion of J&K police. “At least 49 cops from the 11th battalion of armed police posted in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district were tested positive for the Covid-19,” a police official said, adding that aggressive testing was done by the battalion in Anantnag.

“In total, 113 samples were tested, of which 49 have come as positive,” he said. “All the positive cases belong to 11th battalion of Armed Police which includes deputy commandant of the 11th battalion.”

Police sources said massive contact tracing has been started after the development and quarantine facilities set up to ensure the virus doesn’t spread further. “There is a possibility that some more policemen may test positive as reports of many are still awaited,” they said.

Police in Anantnag is busy setting up a quarantine facility for the cops who tested positive today, sources said.

Covid-19: J&K reports 2nd death today, 3rd in 24 hours

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): Hours after a 75-year-old man from south Kashmir succumbed to Covid-19 at Chest Diseases Hospital in Srinagar today, a 65-year-old woman from Kulgam district died of the disease at the same hospital, officials said.

This is the third Covid death in the past 24 hours in J&K and second since this morning.

With this, the total number of people who have died of Covid-19 infection in the J&K UT so far has reached 15; two in Jammu region and 13 in Kashmir.

Nodal officer for Covid-19 at Government Medical College Srinagar Dr Salim Khan said that that a 65-year-old female from Kulgam district who was tested positive for Covid-19 died due to cardiac arrest at CD Hospital.

He said that the patient was admitted in Surgical ICU in SMHS Hospital earlier as a case of Sub Dural Haemorrhage (SDH) and was shifted to CD Hospital after her reports came positive today.

The 75-year-old man who died earlier today was from Hillar village of Kokernag in South Kashmir’s Anantnag district, the nodal officer said.

“Patient was admitted in SMHS earlier, where he was tested positive and was later shifted to CD hospital where his latest report also came as positive for Covid,” the doctor said.

Yesterday, Covid had claimed the life of a 29-year-old woman from Srinagar, who underwent multiple ENT related surgeries after being tested positive for the deadly virus.

Bangladesh reports 1,602 new COVID-19 cases, 21 deaths

Bangladesh lockdown

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of deaths from coronavirus in Bangladesh reached 349 after 21 more people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, according to United News of Bangladesh.

The total number of coronavirus infections rose to 23,870 after 1,602 new infections were reported during this period.

In addition to this, police have further strengthened their monitoring by setting up check-posts on different highways to strictly restrict the movement of people ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Check-posts have been set up at four important points for checking the movement of people and vehicles, according to media reports.

So far, a total of 4,575 people have recovered of the coronavirus in the country with cases of recovery in the last hours.

Coronavirus cases exceed 42,000 in Pakistan; death toll nearing 1,000

(Image source: Dawn.com)

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of positive coronavirus in Pakistan has increased by more than 1,000 cases, taking the overall tally to 42,989 with at least 907 fatalities recorded so far.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh province has reported 17,241 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 15,346 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 6,061 cases, Balochistan is at 2,692, Gilgit-Baltistan at 540, Islamabad at 997 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 112 cases so far, according to Geo News.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan today launched the Emergency Ehsaas Cash Programme to help those unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to this, Chief Justice of Pakistan, Gulzar Ahmed, today issued directions to reopen shopping malls across the country amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to Dawn news.

Nepal reports 9 new coronavirus cases, total climbs to 304

New Delhi (NVI): Nine new coronavirus cases were detected in Nepal today, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the Himalayan nation to 304, local media reports said.

According to Nepal health officials, the newly identified cases belong to Bara and Rautahat districts.

Of the infected, seven males– aged between 21 and 30 years, and a 28-year-old female are from Rautahat while another male is from Bara.

The 38-year-old male from Bara district, who tested positive for the virus, has been known to be a journalist from Karaiyamai Rural Municipality-5 in Bara district and working in district headquarters Kalaiya, reports said.

Earlier, a 25-year-old male journalist of Triyuga Municipality in Udayapur district and two other journalists from Parsa were also detected with COVID-19 infection.

So far, two people have succumbed to the disease in Nepal.

A 25-year-old man from Banke passed away on Sunday while the first case, that of a 29-year-old new mother from Sindhupalchok, was reported on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Nepal government has extended the ongoing nationwide lockdown till June 2.

There are 266 active cases in Nepal, while 36 patients have recovered so far.

CBSE announces datesheet for pending Class 10 & 12 board exams 

CBSE
(File/Representational Image)

New Delhi (NVI): The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) today released the datesheet for pending board exams of Class 10 and 12 which were deferred due to Covid-19 outbreak.

The examinations will be now held from July 1 to 15.

Union HRD Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank tweeted in this regard and shared date sheets for Class 10 as well as Class 12 pending board exams.

The exams will be conducted for the remaining 29 papers of 10th and 12th standard at various centers.

While class 12 Board Exams had been affected due to coronavirus lockdown, class 10 exams were disrupted due to anti-CAA riots and protests in the northeast Delhi.

The CBSE also issued safety instructions for the students. All students would have to carry their own hand sanitiser in a transparent bottle, cover their nose and mouth with a mask or cloth and follow physical distance norms.

CBSE also suggested that parents must ensure their ward is not sick, and candidates must follow physical-distancing norms.

International Day for Biological Diversity 2020: ‘Our solutions are in nature’

(Source: Twitter @UNEP)

New Delhi (NVI): In the run-up to ‘International Day of Biodiversity 2020’ on May 22, a Biodiversity Week will be observed from May 18-22 as the global community will come together online and re-examine our relationship to the natural world.

The International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB) takes place every year on May 22. It is the United Nations-sanctioned international day for promoting awareness around biodiversity issues.

This year’s theme, “Our solutions are in nature,” reminds us that biodiversity is the basis for a sustainable future.

Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the day this year will be commemorated through its first-ever online-only campaign, according to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

“This year, IDB offers an opportunity for us as a global community to re-examine our relationship to the natural world, reflect on challenges and accomplishments, and renew our determination in overcoming the environmental challenges facing the world today,” says Global Youth Biodiversity Network (GYBN).

Biodiversity builds on a growing movement toward nature-based solutions, which harness the power of ecosystem services to mitigate effects of the climate crisis. In addition, biological diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals and microorganisms.

On December 29, 1993, the Convention on Biological Diversity came into force and each anniversary of this date was designated the International Day for Biological Diversity. From 2001 onwards the date of this celebration was moved to May 22 due to the number of holidays that fell in late December.

This year’s theme- ‘Our solutions are in nature’ emphasises hope, solidarity and the importance of working together at all levels to build a future of life in harmony with nature.

The theme will cover 3 topics during the week leading up to the observance: 18 May will cover the importance of knowledge and science; 19-21 May will raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity; and finally, the day of the observance, will issue a call to action.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a convention under the UN system, which aims its work to preserve biodiversity and ensure its sustainable use. Given the ongoing pandemic, for the first time, CBD will celebrate this day in a digital format via online-only campaign.

This year, CBD Secretariat is in the process of creating digital assets to support celebration of the International Day of Biological Diversity (IDB).

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