Thiruvananthapuram: The Covid review meeting has decided to discontinue antigen testing in private labs as the first dose of vaccination in the state has reached 90 percent.
A special drive will be conducted to identify and vaccinate those who are over 65 years of age and have not been vaccinated yet, as soon as possible. Public awareness campaigns will be strengthened as the mortality rate is higher among those who do not receive the vaccine.
The CM suggested that a contact ban should be ensured through RRTs and neighborhood committees.
New Delhi: CBSE has decided to conduct first term examinations in Class X and XII in November. The CBSE has divided this academic year into two terms. The second term examination will be held in March-April 2022.
The examination will be conducted using Multiple Choice Optical Mark Recognition (MCQ-OMR) question papers. The duration of the exam will be 90 minutes. The CBSE had earlier said that the online exam was not possible. There will be objective-type questions in the first term. Meanwhile, the CBSE has asked schools to submit a list of candidates for Class X and Class XII board examinations. The list can be submitted on the e-Examination Portal at cbse.gov.in.
New Delhi: The Central government has issued a warning against the dangerous dengue fever. Eleven states, including Kerala, have been warned about the spread of the dengue virus.
Apart from Kerala, Serotype-II dengue has been reported in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. In the wake of this, the Center has warned that the number of Serotype-II dengue cases is on the rise in the country and states should take necessary precautions.
The Union Health Secretary warned against the dengue virus during a review meeting held by the Center with various states. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that Serotype-II dengue cases are more dangerous than other diseases.
At the same time, covid positive rates are still high in 15 states of the country. In 70 districts, the positive rate is still more than 5%. In 34 districts, the positivity rate has crossed 10%, the health secretary said.
Thiruvananthapuram: There is a possibility of heavy rain in isolated places in Kerala today. A yellow alert was declared in Pathanamthitta and Idukki districts. The Central Meteorological Department has warned of heavy rains of up to 115.5 mm in 24 hours.
The Met Department has forecast isolated thundershowers in Kerala on Wednesday and Thursday. The Central Meteorological Department said the chances of thunderstorms were high between 2 pm and 10 pm.
Thiruvananthapuram: Schools in the state will open in November. Schools will reopen in the state after a year and a half. Classes one to seven and classes 10 and 12 will start from November 1.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was directed to make preparations for the commencement of all classes from November 15 and to complete the preparations 15 days in advance. The Department of Education and the Department of Health should hold a joint meeting to make the necessary preparations for the reopening of schools. It is also advisable to ensure that children with weakened immune systems do not have to attend school. The arrangements to be made when transporting children in vehicles need to be discussed.
Steps should be taken to restore the school health program. Precautions should be taken to prevent the spread of the disease when opening schools. Special masks should be prepared for children. Masks should be worn in schools as well. The CM also said that all classes of students who have been vaccinated at the college level will start from October 18.
Thiruvananthapuram: It has been decided to conduct the Plus One examination from the 24th of this month. The decision was taken at a high-level meeting of the education department. The examination will start on September 24 and end on October 18. The examination will be held in the morning. There will be an interval of one to five days between each examination. The examination will be conducted in compliance with the Kovid protocol.
The Supreme Court had yesterday granted permission to conduct the Plus One examination. The important intervention of the Supreme Court is in accepting the assurances given by the government. The apex court had also rejected the petitions seeking non-conduct of the examinations. Based on this, the government decided to conduct the examination.
Kochi: Veteran journalist KM Roy has passed away. He was 82 years old. He was at rest for a long time due to illness. He was a versatile journalist, novelist, and teacher. His wife is late Leela. Adv. Mau Roy, Swapna Leslie are children.
He was born in 1939 in Karithara, Ernakulam to KR Mathew and Luthina. He started his media career in 1961 as an MA student at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, as co-editor of Kerala Prakasam. After that, he worked in Deshabandhu and Kerala Bhushanam newspapers. He also worked for the Economic Times, The Hindu, and the UNI news agency. He retired from the field of active journalism as the General Editor of the Mangalam daily. He wrote the biography of Matthew Manjuran, three novels, and 2 travelogues. He was twice the State President of the Kerala Journalists’ Union and was the Secretary-General of the Indian Federation of Working Journalists.
Awards
Nirbhaya’s Sahodaran Ayyappan Award (1999), Sivaram Award for Best Columnist (1997), All India Catholic Union Lifetime Achievement Award (1994), Focona Award from the United States (1992) (1993), Chicago Kerala Express Writers’ Award (1998), Kerala Catholic Bishop Conference Award (2000), First Kesari Political Award (2006), CP Sreedharan Memorial Journalist Award (2006), Rehim Mecheri Award by Muslim Youth League (2005), Akshara Pratibha Award (2007), the Rotary International Lifetime Achievement Award (2012), the Telegraph Daily’s KV Daniel Award (2012) and the Frame Media Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award (2012).
Swapna Ente Dukham, Moham Enna PakshiManasil Ennum Manjukalam, Pravukalude Marmaram (novel), Thuranna Manasode Puthiya Chinayil, Athos Malayil Ninnu, Meghmelappiloode Neenda Yathrakal, etc are his major works.
Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the door-to-door service scheme will be implemented in the state in December. He was talking about the beginning of the door-to-door service project. Initially, the scheme will be implemented in 50 local bodies.
The main beneficiaries of the scheme are the elderly, the handicapped, the disabled, and the inpatients. All of these will be given a card. This will include the name of the local body, ward number, ward member, Asha worker, Kudumbasree worker, and volunteer name and phone number. You can call them on the phone and ask for help when you need the service.
There should not be a situation where people go to government offices for services. The CM said that the door-to-door service scheme is the first step to avoid this. As the scheme expands to the state level in December, training will be imparted to all concerned. A comprehensive training program is being prepared for this. Asha workers are the mainstay of the project. They are the ones who have to make the key intervention and guide in the implementation of the project. In addition, the joint efforts of the people and institutions involved with the people, such as Anganwadi, Kudumbasree workers, ward members, local bodies, primary health centers, and community volunteers, are essential for the success of the project.
In the first phase, services like life certificate, mustering, application to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund, life-saving medicines, and social security pension will be available at the doorstep. Gradually all services will become part of it. In the first phase, the project will be implemented in 26 and 24 other local bodies in Azhikode, Pattambi, Kattakada, and Changanassery constituencies.
At the Covid stage, online services are mainly relied upon. Steps have been expedited to make most government services available online. As part of this, service centers and Akshaya centers will be strengthened. The Chief Minister said that with the advent of laptops and the internet in all homes, government services will be at the fingertips of the people.
Chandigarh: Capt. Amarinder Singh resigned as Punjab Chief Minister following a split in Congress. He went to the Raj Bhavan at 4.30 pm and submitted his resignation to the Governor. The resignation came just before the party convened a meeting of MLAs.
Navjot Singh Sidhu’s faction and Amarinder faction have been fighting in Punjab for months. The rift escalated when Sidhu became the PCC president. Sidhu’s MLAs had repeatedly demanded the removal of the Chief Minister.
Amarinder Singh had informed the High Command that he would not continue as the Chief Minister due to embarrassment. Punjab is the main Congress-ruled state in the country.
New Delhi: The Central Government has extended the deadline for linking the PAN card with the Aadhaar card. The new deadline is March 2022. This was announced by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
The deadline for completion of statutory fines has been extended from September 30, 2021, to March 31, 2022. The last date for connecting the PAN Aadhaar card was September 30. Authorities said services would be disrupted if the PAN-Aadhaar card was not connected.
This is the fourth time this year that the government has extended the deadline for Aadhaar-PAN linking. The Income Tax Department has decided to extend the linking period by another six months in view of the challenges faced by the taxpayers. Currently, a PAN card is mandatory for more than 50,000 financial transactions. It was suggested that PAN-Aadhaar cards should be linked to open bank accounts and avail benefits.
Individuals can link Aadhaar-PAN cards through the website www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. In this, select the ‘Link Adhar’ option. Clicking on this link will open a new page on the screen. There you have to enter your Aadhaar number, PAN card number, and personal details and then click on the ‘Submit’ button to link to your PAN Aadhaar card.
