Thiruvananthapuram: An online system has been introduced for passengers traveling in and out of the district. Passengers can apply for the pass through the website pass.bsafe.kerala.gov.in. Applicants will get a link to their mobile phone if approved. Clicking on the link will show you the pass check.
State Police Chief Loknath Behra said the online system was introduced after it was noticed that the public had difficulty accessing the respective police stations to get a pass. Medical needs, funeral, visit family after Lockdown, the return of family members trapped in Lockdown, return to work, trapped students are allowed to travel home, etc are in the priority lists. Government employees and members of essential services are exempted from the pass. They need to show their identity cards for traveling.
Srinagar, Washington: Three Indian photojournalists based in Jammu and Kashmir are among the recipients of this year’s Pulitzer Prize. The Associated Press photographers Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan, and Dar Yasin received the award. The photos captured in the period of restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir after the repeal of Article 370 of the Constitution which guarantees the special status to the state. The award was announced via the UK in the wake of the COVID 19. Pulitzer Board Administrator Dana Kennedy announced the award. The awards announcement, to be made on April 20, was postponed due to the spread of COVID.
Dar Yasin and Mukhtar Khan is based in Srinagar and Anand are based in Jammu. The three were awarded in the Feature Photography category competition. Dar Yasin shared a thank you note to his colleagues and friends on Twitter. The pictures were taken as an adventure among the curfew.American writer Colson Whitehead won the Pulitzer Prize for his second consecutive novel. 50-year-old Coulson has received rare recognition for his novel The Nickel Boys.
Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that permission has been granted to open toddy shops in the state. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Excise Minister TP Ramakrishnan had held discussions on the opening of toddy shops.
The Chief Minister said the state does not intend to ban liquor in the state. The bar will be opened only after the lockdown lifting. The decision will be taken because of the workload of the police on the return of expatriates.
COVID has not yet been confirmed by anyone today in the state. Seven people discharged from the hospitals today. “The number of patients who are recovered from the disease is Kottayam six and Idukki one,” the chief minister said in the press meet.
Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the remaining public examinations of the 10th, Plus One and Plus Two classes that were suspended due to lockdown would be completed by May 21 and 29.
The evaluation of completed exams will begin on May 13. He said the public education department is making arrangements to complete the exams.
Meanwhile, the special education program for school children across the state in the COVID background will be broadcast on Victers channel from June 1. CM also said that these classes would be offered through the web and mobile and the special facilities would be provided for students who do not have such facilities.
New Delhi: CBSE 10th class exams abandoned due to COVID-19, Union Minister Ramesh Pokhryal said. Except CBSE 10th class students from North East Delhi, all CBSE exams have canceled, the minister said.
Although the exams abandoned, how the admission will take place for the next class has not decided yet, reports said.
Maybe the internal marks will be valued for the next class admission, reports added.
Thiruvananthapuram: Minister Thomas Isaac said that the lottery department has made arrangements to resume the lottery sale on May 18 and to begin the draw on June 1. The lottery sector has been in a state of paralysis since March 23. As part of that, eight draws have been postponed. 95 draws have been canceled, including those scheduled for June.
Tens of thousands of ordinary workers are dependent on the lottery sector. The government had already given them Rs 1,000 as emergency relief. They have also received other public assistance. Even though it is slow, they can be relieved by resuming the lottery business.
Lottery dealers are also facing the same crisis as all the small enterprises in Kerala. There are two problems. For one, there is no money to buy a new ticket. Two, during the lockdown, many of the tickets become useless that they could not be sold. The govt assured that will resolve the entire problem related to lottery selling.
Lottery sellers buy tickets in their cash. Sellers are finding it difficult to buy tickets at this time of the year. Lottery traders who are members of the welfare fund will be loaned up to a maximum of 100 tickets. Before Onam, traders have to pay back the money as in installments. In the case of repayment, the amount will be deducted from the Onam Bonus issued by the Welfare Fund Board.
Non-used tickets are sent to the Lottery Office they will be replaced and the new ticket will be issued for the same draw. The eight-ticket draw is scheduled to take place in two weekly draws starting June 1. The draw will take place on Monday and Thursday. Ticket sales are expected to start on May 18 if conditions improve.
Sales must be done in full compliance with the COVID protocol. Mask and a bottle of sanitizer will be provided free of charge for the vendor by the Welfare Fund Board. Adjusting to two a week, sellers will have up to four days to sell tickets for each draw.
According to the existing discount slab, those who take more than 10,000 tickets will be given 25% off the highest discount rate. Reducing the number of tickets is a key requirement in this area. Agents who book tickets above 8400 will be offered a high discount rate.
The income from the sale of the lottery goes to the health sector. “We have decided to resume the lottery draw in this view,” Minister said.
Muscat: The first flight from Oman to India will depart from Muscat to Kochi on May 9 as part of its mission to repatriate Indian nationals trapped abroad due to the spread of COVID.
The first Air India flight will accommodate 250 passengers, sources close to the Indian Embassy in Oman said.
Passengers are selected based on the priority list. The priority list includes the elderly, the pregnant, the sick, the deprived; the visa has expired, and so on. Starting May 7, more than 1,90,000 people will have the opportunity to travel to the Gulf region. Accordingly, the airline will operate flights from India to Kerala 15, Tamil Nadu 11, Delhi 11, Maharashtra 7, Telangana 7 Gujarat 5, Karnataka 3 Jammu and Kashmir 3 Punjab 1 Uttar Pradesh 1.
This is the most comforting news for the expatriate community who are in distress due to COVID. There was little effort on the part of India when many other countries returned their citizens to their land. Various organizations have called for the free repatriation of expatriates who have been the economic backbone of the country.
All expatriates traveling on the Indian government’s health insurance app developed to warn about the COVID crisis and its alerts should be registered. Besides, 14 days after the medical examination, the quarantine will be subject to quarantine at the hospital or the institutions designated by the state governments.
New Delhi: NEET exam for medical entrance will be held on July 26. This was announced by Human Resources Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. The Main Entrance Examination for Engineering Entrance will be held from July 18 to 23.
The advanced exam will be held in August and the date will be decided later. Ramesh Pokhriyal said the dates of the CBSE 10th and XII exams will be decided soon.
New Delhi: The expatriates are stranded overseas after a lockdown was announced due to coronavirus. The ticket rate for their return was released. Tickets are available from Abu Dhabi-Kochi 15,000, Dubai-Kochi 15,000, Doha-Kochi 16,000, Bahrain-Kochi 17,000, Muscat-Kochi 14,000, Doha-Trivandrum 17,000, Kuala Lumpur-Kochi 15000, Bahrain-Kozhikode 16,000, and Kuwait-Kozhikode 19,000. The expatriates from the UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Malaysia, US, Singapore, UK, and Bangladesh Philippines have arrived in the country in the first week. About 30 aircraft of the Air Force and 10 Navy ships have been deployed for repatriation. In the first phase, Air India will be the only service.
Alappuzha: Trains from Kerala to Bihar with guest workers were canceled. Five trains were canceled. The trains from Alappuzha, Tirur, Kozhikode, Kannur, and Aluva stations have been canceled due to a lack of permission from the Bihar government. The district administration informed the guest workers that travel to the country is not allowed today and that they can return in the coming days.
Five thousand workers from five places were returning home today. The state government has failed to get the approval of the Bihar government, though all the procedures for transporting workers have been completed on the Kerala side. The state government has already started trying to run the train before May 8.
Five trains with 5,574 guest workers from Kannur, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Ernakulam districts left yesterday. The Saharsha nonstop train with 1140 persons left Kannur at around 7 pm. The train from Kozhikode departed for Kathihar, Bihar. A total of 1090 passengers from various labor camps in Vadakara taluk left the train on their way home.
The train from Thrissur with 1143 passengers left for Darbhanga in Bihar. As per the Labor Department, the district has 3,898 workers from Bihar. The train from Ernakulam district proceeded to Baruni, Bihar. The train was carrying 1140 passengers. The second train departed for Muzaffarpur at six o’clock.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a letter to non-stop trains to return Malayalees stranded in other states. He also demanded that trains carrying guest workers from Kerala be utilized for the return of Malayalees.
