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#ACCIDENT: Big accident in Chhattisgarh
thebharatexpress · 1 year
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ACCIDENT: छत्तीसगढ़ में बड़ा हादसा, बेकाबू डंपर ने 6 बच्चियों को कुचला, नहाने के लिए तालाब जाने निकली थीं
ACCIDENT/ रायगढ़। सारंगढ़ में एक बड़ा सड़क हादसा सुबह के समय हुआ। तेज गति आ रही डंपर ने छह मासूम बच्चियों को अपने चपेट में ले लिया। इस दिल दहला देने चाली दर्दनाक हादसे में मौके पर ही दो बच्चियों की मौत हो गई है। मिली जानकारी के मुताबिक एक गंभीर रूप से घायल हुई जिससे तुरंत रायगढ़ रिफर किया गया है। तो वहीं तीन बालिकाओं को चोटें लगी हैं। अभी तीनों बालिका खतरे से बाहर है। सारंगढ़ थाना क्षेत्र की घटना…
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shut-up-rabert · 2 years
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I posted 263 times in 2022
That's 263 more posts than 2021!
139 posts created (53%)
124 posts reblogged (47%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@pulihora
@suvarnarekha
@navaratna
@ramayantika
@shanti-ashant-hai
I tagged 256 of my posts in 2022
Only 3% of my posts had no tags
#desiblr - 173 posts
#hindublr - 21 posts
#hinduphobia - 10 posts
#hinduism - 8 posts
#kashmir - 7 posts
#jammu and kashmir - 6 posts
#kashmiri hindus - 5 posts
#kashmir genocide - 5 posts
#kanhaiya lal - 5 posts
#pakistan - 5 posts
Longest Tag: 123 characters
#won’t even be surprised if kashmir genocide is represented as “a dark time when young kashmiri girls couldn’t go to school”
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
Movie concept: students from pan India living together in a hostel but instead we get less represented states like 7 sisters(+sikkim), Odisha, Karnataka, MP, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Goa in lead along with correct representation of states like Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Kerela, Andhra, Bihar, J&K&Ladakh in the background
46 notes - Posted November 20, 2022
#4
Just read a comic where UK and Canada were referred to as North Punjab and West Punjab and I haven’t been okay since
49 notes - Posted September 21, 2022
#3
Why isn’t mass media more neutral?
Disclaimer: I’m not taking any sides here, nor am I provoking any of you to say it, but this has been on my mind quite a bit and I feel like saying it now: Honestly saying, I’ve always felt like the media favours Palestine over Israel way to much even tho media is supposed to be neutral.
Essays in exams, front pages of newspaper, stars on social media always talk about Palestine but seem to be painting a rather black and white “Palestine good Israel bad” picture but never seem to be willing to dwell deeper into the topic, and when they they go somewhat below the surface it’s always from Palestine’s perispective only, nothing explaining Israel’s side of story as passionately even if at all. Even in India vs Pakistan wars, you’ll find motives and aggressions from both sides easily enough if you looked.
“Stars” like Bela Hadid raise slogans demanding Israel’s dissolve under the ruse of Palestine’s independence and no one bats an eye. The founder of Human rights watch left the organisation saying that it was being biased towards Palestine and has forgotten its original purpose. A lot of funding of these pro palestine news channels comes from Pro Islamic nations organisations, most of the said countries being Palestine supporters.
Palestine is suffering, yes, but it’s not just Israel that’s making it suffer. Hamas has a major role to play too. It kills its own civilians more than Israel does. Palestine has seen some serious bloodshed since Hamas came into power but no one seems to focus on that. There’s little to no discussion about how Palestine is bleeding internally due to hamas, but only the stuff that can be used against Israel.
You’ll hear about how Israel “attacked” Gaza and most of the times it turns out to be some retaliation. We always hear about civilian deaths whose names are never revealed but no one ever wonders what civilians were doing around militant bases. We talk about how palestinians are being thrown out of Israel to show them as big aggressors and it turns out that the land was originally Israel’s territory to begin with.
I’m not being pro-Israel here, And I very well admit that it can have its fair share of violations, such as killing of the one Al-Jazeera reporter , accident or not (look, I fucking hate that platform but that doesn’t mean I condone killing of someone who didn’t do anything) but this is something that has always made me curious. It can’t be as simple as “Israel evil”, can it?
53 notes - Posted August 29, 2022
#2
Hassi to ye sochkar aati h ki mera hone waala abhi kisi aur ke saath jeeney-marne ki kasme kha rha hoga
62 notes - Posted August 5, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
What you see:
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What Desi kids see:
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156 notes - Posted November 11, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
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howtrending · 3 years
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लोगों को कुचलती हुई गई कार छत्तीसगढ़ के जशपुर में लखीमपुर भी जैसी घटना एक की मृत्यु 15 लोग घायल और अभी भी इलाके के लोगों में भारी तनाव...Read More
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orbemnews · 3 years
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India's second Covid wave hits like a 'tsunami' as hospitals buckle under weight Graveyards are running out of space, hospitals are turning away patients, and desperate families are pleading for help on social media for beds and medicine. India reported 295,041 cases of coronavirus and 2,023 deaths Wednesday, its highest rise in cases and highest death increase recorded in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a CNN tally of figures from the Indian Ministry of Health. “The volume is humongous,” said Jalil Parkar, a senior pulmonary consultant at the Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai, which had to convert its lobby into an additional Covid ward. “It’s just like a tsunami.” “Things are out of control,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy in New Delhi. “There’s no oxygen. A hospital bed is hard to find. It’s impossible to get a test. You have to wait over a week. And pretty much every system that could break down in the health care system has broken down,” he said. To prove his point, at least 22 Covid-19 patients who were on ventilator support died Wednesday waiting for oxygen supplies that were lost in an accident, a senior official from the Nashik district in the Indian state of Maharashtra said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on Tuesday, acknowledging the country’s “very big battle” against Covid-19. He appealed to states to “use a lockdown as their last option,” even as the capital New Delhi entered its first full day of a week-long lockdown. On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal warned that failing to halt movement in the city could lead to “tragedy.” “We don’t want to take Delhi to a place where patients are lying in hospital corridors and people are dying on roads,” Kejriwal said. On Tuesday, he warned that some Delhi hospitals were “left with just a few hours of oxygen,” as authorities scrambled to convert sports complexes, banquet halls, hotels and schools into much-needed treatment centers, with the goal to add 6,000 additional beds within days. “Our healthcare system has reached its limit. It is now in a state of distress. It has not collapsed yet but it is in distress,” Kejriwal said. “Every healthcare system has its limits. No system can accommodate unlimited patients.” With shortages being reported across the country, local and state leaders appealed to the federal government for more oxygen and medicine. Modi appeared to answer those calls on Tuesday, announcing plans for the delivery of 100,000 cylinders of oxygen nationwide, new oxygen production plants, and hospitals dedicated to Covid patients. But experts fear it’s too little, too late, as positive patients compete for limited resources and mass gatherings threaten to spread the virus even further. In Wednesday’s incident in which the 22 people died in the Indian state of Maharashtra, senior official Suraj Mandhare told reporters the oxygen was lost due to a leakage from a tanker at the Zakir Hussain hospital. “There was a valves leakage in tankers in Nashik, it was a large scale leakage, definitely this would impact the hospital where the tankers were headed,” Maharashtra’s health minister Rajesh Tope told reporters Wednesday. The district administration is coordinating with hospital officials to make oxygen available to patients who need it at the earliest, Mandhare said. The patients who died required oxygen as their “pressure” was low and the leakage from this shipment meant that they did not receive the supply in time, Mandhare added. India’s Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah tweeted about the event saying: “I am distressed to hear the news of the accident of oxygen leak in a hospital in Nashik. I express my deepest condolences on this irreparable loss of those who have lost their loved ones in this accident. I pray to God for the health of all the other patients.” In Maharashtra there is currently a daily demand for 1,550 metric tons of oxygen for Covid-19 patients but the state manufactures 1,250 metric tons of oxygen which is being used entirely for medical purposes. The remaining 300 metric tons are being supplied by other states, Tope told reporters Wednesday. Maharashtra has 3,343,359 cases of coronavirus including 685,552 active cases and 61,343 deaths according to the Indian Ministry of Health on Wednesday. Pleading for help online With few official options available, families are turning to social media for help. Mumbai resident Anil Tiwari, 34, lost his father to Covid-19 in November last year. Last week, his 58-year-old mother tested positive. She was admitted to hospital but needed an intensive care unit (ICU) bed, Tiwari said. “I’m crying, running to get ICU bed for my mother,” Tiwari tweeted on Monday. “Kindly help to save my mother I love her more than anything.” After days of effort, including calling the municipal authorities to get on a waitlist, Tiwari’s mother was finally given an ICU bed, Tiwari said on Tuesday. But now, she needs oxygen, which the hospital is in short supply of. She is still able to walk, but is having difficulty breathing, Tiwari said. Demand for the drug Remdesivir and its active pharmaceutical ingredients has spiked during the second wave, prompting the government to temporarily ban the export of the medication to increase its supply in the domestic market. The Indian government has approved the drug for emergency use within hospitals, though the World Health Organization (WHO) says evidence does not suggest the drug lessens the risk of dying from Covid-19 or needing mechanical ventilation. Abhijeet Kumar, a 20-year-old college student, took to Twitter to raise money to pay for Remdesivir injections for his 51-year-old uncle. Kumar said his uncle had been in hospital in Raipur, in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, since April 9 after testing positive for Covid. “The injections are very expensive,” Kumar said. “They are saying it costs between 12,000 to 15,000 rupees (about $160-200). He has gotten two doses of the injection but he needs a third and we can’t afford it … my uncle works as a plumber.” Seven major manufacturers of Remdesivir have slashed prices to between 899 rupees and 3,490 rupees (about $12-47) due to “the intervention of the government,” according to a government memorandum on April 17. But several states have acknowledged that high demand and low supply has created a black market for Remdesivir and similar medications. Even many doctors and nurses, too, are frantically searching for open beds and treatment options for their own loved ones, said Parkar, the pulmonary specialist in Mumbai. “Everybody is sick,” he said. “A time has come that we don’t have beds for our own colleagues, for our own parents, for our own extended family.” Complacency and public gatherings The second wave, which has long surpassed the first wave in both new cases and infection rate, was “a situation that was created by complacency,” said Laxminarayan, from the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy. After the first wave ended in the winter, the government and public relaxed too much, due to a mix of Covid fatigue and a false sense of security, experts say. In early March, weeks before cases began climbing again, the federal health minister declared that India was “in the endgame” of the pandemic. This kind of triumphant rhetoric meant residents relaxed their Covid-safe behavior, such as social distancing or wearing face masks, experts say. And, despite warnings of Covid risks, large gatherings continued to take place — sports matches resumed, elaborate weddings went ahead, and movie cinemas reopened. The biggest gathering by far is the Kumbh Mela, an important Hindu festival and one of the biggest pilgrimages on Earth. Millions of Indians are traveling from across the country to Haridwar, an ancient city in Uttarakhand state, to attend ceremonies and prayers and take holy dips in the Ganges River. The festival officially began on April 1 and ends later this month. There are Covid-safe guidelines in place — visitors must register online and provide a negative Covid-19 test to participate in the holy baths, and thousands of officers are conducting surveillance — but experts worry it won’t be enough to contain the risk, given the sheer number of attendees. Several million are expected to visit on “auspicious” days. “The Kumbh Mela could go down as one of the largest mass super spreading events ever, simply because of the size of the number of people who show up there for the ritual bathing in the Ganges,” said Laxminarayan. For weeks, Modi, who has a significant Hindu base, refrained from commenting on the Kumbh Mela and its Covid risks. But earlier this week, he finally appealed to pilgrims to avoid congregating in Haridwar. “Now Kumbh should be carried out symbolically amid the ongoing corona crisis,” Modi tweeted on Saturday. But for some, Modi’s message rang hollow, as the prime minister continued to hold massive political rallies ahead of parliamentary and local council elections in four states and one union territory. Videos from Modi’s rallies, including one in Tamulpur in Assam state on April 3, show him speaking before massive crowds, packed tightly together and cheering. In West Bengal state, a significant election ground, tens of thousands attended rallies by Modi’s Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) and the ruling Trinamool Congress Party. Modi’s rallies have attracted sharp criticism from several other political figures, including a former finance minister who called the mass rallies “completely insensitive” given the Covid crisis. In the face of surging cases, the Indian National Congress, India’s main opposition party, has suspended all public rallies in West Bengal. And on Monday, the BJP said it would only hold “small public gatherings” with a cap of 500 people in the state due to “the difficult phase of the pandemic.” Meanwhile, the Kumbh Mela hasn’t been ordered to stop, nor have any new rules been imposed. Uttarakhand state has issued a series of new restrictions including a night curfew and cap on public gatherings — but the festival is exempt. Haridwar has seen a spike in infections, with more than 6,500 new cases reported since the Kumbh Mela began. Several religious sub-groups, including Juna Akhara and Niranjani Akhara, have since asked their followers from out of state to return home and follow guidelines. Some states and cities are requiring festival returnees to be tested and quarantined. But medical workers fear it’s too late. “It’s already gone on for a couple of weeks. Now, of course, they are dispersing, but they may be carrying the virus back to their homes at this point,” said Laxminarayan.”It’s truly a terrible situation at this point.” CNN’s Esha Mitra contributed to this report. Source link Orbem News #buckle #Covid #hits #hospitals #Indias #tsunami #wave #weight
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ladystylestores · 4 years
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India’s coronavirus lockdown: One man’s agonizing 1,250-mile journey home … on foot
But he didn’t stop walking. He couldn’t.
The 26-year-old migrant worker was in the heart of India and only halfway home.
With no way to survive in the cities, and India’s vast railway network mostly shut down, many made the extraordinary decision to walk thousands of miles back to their families.
Many didn’t make it. In one incident, 16 laborers were run over by a freight train as they slept on rail tracks. Roadside accidents took the lives of others. Some died from exhaustion, dehydration or hunger. Those picked up by police were often sent back to the cities they had tried to leave.
Chouhan knew the risks. But on May 12, he decided to defy India’s strict lockdown laws and begin the 1,250-mile (2,000-kilometer) walk from the tech hub of Bengaluru, formerly known as Bangalore, to his village in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
He’d hoped to hitchhike much of the way, but with police checking trucks for stowaways, drivers were demanding fees beyond Chouhan’s budget. For 10 days, he’d have to dodge police check points, survive on tea and biscuits, and walk on aching feet.
“I don’t think I can forget this journey through my life,” he says. “It’ll always carry memories of sadness and anxiety.”
A 3 a.m. getaway
Chouhan moved to Bengaluru last December to work as a mason on a construction site.
In his home village of Tribhuvan Nagar, on India’s border with Nepal, he earned 250 rupees ($3.30) a day. In Bengaluru, he could double that.
He and his brother, who worked in another state, sent home about 14,000 rupees ($185) a month — enough to sustain their family of 11, including Chouhan’s two young children and his elderly parents, living in a thatched roof house set amid sugarcane and wheat fields. His nephew Arvind Thakur joined Chouhan in the city as soon as he turned 14, the legal age to work in India.
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A video of Rajesh Chouhan’s house. 11 people share this space. “When it rains, we get wet even inside the house”
By the time Chouhan, his nephew and nine other migrants from their hometown had decided to leave Bengaluru, the country had been shut down for weeks. Some rail services resumed on May 3, allowing interstate travel — but only subject to a laborious approval process.
Migrants were told to register their travel plans at police stations. By May 5, more than 214,000 people had registered to leave Karnataka state, of which Bengaluru is the capital. However, barely 10,000 people got tickets as there was limited train service.
Normally Chouhan pays 300 rupees ($4) for the 48-hour trip home in the lowest carriage class, but during the pandemic that price soared to 1,200 rupees ($15.90). State police were assigned to sell tickets and keep order at police stations packed with travelers desperate to get home.
Police in Bengalore told CNN they resorted to using batons to clear the crowds when sales for the day ended. “We were beaten many times. Just because we are poor, doesn’t mean we can’t feel pain,” says Chouhan.
After spending five days outside a police station trying to get a ticket, Chouhan and his fellow villagers decided to walk. They didn’t dare tell their families.
“We were beaten many times. Just because we are poor, doesn’t mean we can’t feel pain.”Rajesh Chouhan
“My father is severely diabetic and it would take a toll on him and my mother if they found out that we were walking home with no money,” Chouhan says. “They’d cry until our return. All of us decided to tell our families that we were waiting for a train.”
He packed four shirts, a towel and a bed sheet in his backpack, along with a couple of water bottles. In his wallet was 170 rupees ($2.25).
At 3 a.m. on May 12, Chouhan slipped out of the single-room tin shed he shared with 10 other people and took his first step towards home.
Getting out
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By the time Chouhan left, police checkpoints had been erected across the city. Authorities had not anticipated the rush of migrants wanting to leave and clarified that registration applied only to those “stranded” — not migrant workers. Unauthorized interstate travel was banned.
As Chouhan’s group walked across the city, they were picked up by police and taken to the station where their boss — who never wanted them to leave — would pick them up. While migrant workers have rights under Indian law, often they are unaware of them and exploited by employers.
At noon, police officers changed shifts and the group was left unattended. “We ran out of there,” Chouhan says. “We ran for two kilometers or so until we felt we were safe.”
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Following railway tracks to avoid police on the roads, the group walked through the night, with other migrants, until they entered Andhra Pradesh at 1 a.m.
After 46 hours, they had crossed the first of the five state borders they would encounter. They had traveled just 74 miles (120 kilometers).
Hope, solidarity and hunger
Chouhan’s group of 11 migrants had nine smartphones between them, and they used Google Maps to navigate their route. They used the flashing blue dot to see if they were roughly walking in the right direction.
To conserve battery power, only one person would have their phone switched on at a time, and they took turns sharing GPS. There were few places along the way where they could charge their phones.
The first part of their journey traced National Highway 44 — a long, open road that slices India neatly in two, running the length of the country from Tamil Nadu in the south to Srinagar in the north.
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This road would take them to Hyderabad, the city of 10 million people that was to be the first big landmark of their journey — and where they’d heard it would be possible to hitchhike the rest of the way home.
As temperatures topped 40 degree Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), Chouhan walked about 5 miles (8 kilometers) an hour, taking a brief rest every two hours. He aimed to complete about 68 miles (110 kilometers) a day. “There was temptation to rest or to nap,” he says. “But we were aware that it became more difficult to walk each time we sat down.”
Along the way, they’d see other groups of migrants heading for the impoverished western states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which supply India’s cities with much of their migrant labor force.
On the road, Chouhan says traditional divisions of caste and religion — deeply entrenched fault lines in India’s rural hinterlands — disappeared. His group of 11 spanned various castes from the same village. There were Brahmins and Thakurs, who are considered upper castes, and Chamars, who are among the lowest. On the long walk home, it didn’t make a difference.
When Chouhan’s slipper broke on the second day, the group pooled their funds to buy him a new shoe.
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Rajesh Chouhan and his friends wait on the divider hoping for a truck to drop them across the border.
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After asking locals about ways to bypass the upcoming police checkpost, Rajesh’s 11-member group heading to Gonda join a 17-member group heading to Chattisgarh state. The group peeled off the highway and walked through fields and forests to avoid the police.
But by day three, they had not had a full meal since they left Bengaluru. Each person had started out with between 150 rupees ($2) and 300 rupees ($4). Instead, they’d buy 20 biscuits for 100 rupees ($1.32) and ration them through the day. “We had to save every rupee in case we needed it later during the journey,” says Chouhan.
“Our stomachs would rumble. We’d eat a biscuit to keep it quiet. We were hungry, but we had no choice. We had to save every rupee in case of an emergency.”
Around 8 a.m. that day, they stopped on the side of National Highway 44, thinking they’d rest for an hour. They slept for eight, oblivious to the din of highway noises and blaring trucks.
When they woke up at 4 p.m. Hyderabad was 250 miles (400 kilometers) and one state border away.
Crossing borders
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With Hyderabad in his sights, Chouhan walked through the night. But when his group reached the town of Kurnool at about 10 a.m. on day four, a police checkpoint blocked the bridge they had to cross to reach the city.
Chouhan saw a stream of migrants following a winding path along the river and followed them. About 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away, hundreds were crossing the river on foot.
Chouhan and the others hesitated — they didn’t know how to swim. “Men, women, children, the elderly were crossing the river,” he says. “(We thought) if they can do it, why can’t we.”
After a long, hot summer, the river was only 3 feet (1 meter) deep. Chouhan held his bag over his head, and one of the tallest men in their group carried his 14-year-old nephew.
“We were so scared we’d be washed away. But we kept telling ourselves this was the only way home. This 100-meter stretch was perhaps the most scared we’ve been on this journey,” says Chouhan.
Back on the highway, truckers were asking as much as 2,500 rupees ($33) per person to take them towards Uttar Pradesh. “They told us that if the police caught them, they would have to pay big penalties. They didn’t want to take the risk without getting paid in return. We had no option but to walk,” says Chouhan.
But others were more charitable. One old man offered them their first full meal in four days. A truck driver took pity on their blistered feet and offered them a lift. He was transporting rice across the border and they slept between the gunny sacks, as he drove them around the outskirts of Hyderabad.
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After they passed the Telangana-Maharashtra border, they had another stroke of luck — a villager took them to a school where NGOs were giving food and water to migrant workers.
More than 300 migrants were eating when the police arrived.
“They started to abuse us,” Chouhan says. “They said we were not following social distancing and we should sit 10 feet from each other. They attempted to disperse the crowd and told the organizers to stop giving out food.”
But the migrants outnumbered the police. “We started to shout back. Some migrant workers even started to push the police, and the police retreated towards their jeep,” he says. “We were angry. They (police) don’t help us at all — they don’t help people help us.”
Pandemic and death on roads
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When Chouhan was in Bengaluru, he had heard about the pandemic that had brought India to a halt. But he says his understanding of it was poor. When he left on May 12, Bengaluru had just 186 confirmed cases. As he walked home, Chouhan chatted to other migrants, huddled in trucks and tractors, and ate meals in close quarters, breaking social distancing regulations.
There is little data on how the migration of urban workers has impacted the spread of coronavirus in India. Returning migrants have tested positive for the disease in large numbers in many states, but it is not known if they contracted Covid-19 in the city or picked it up along the way.
In Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, more than 807,000 interstate migrants were being quarantined by May 24. Of the more than 50,000 tested, 1,569 were diagnosed with Covid-19.
On day five of their journey, the group had a health scare as they approached the central Indian city of Nagpur.
Rajesh’s nephew Arvind Thakur had a fever. “I did get scared,” Thakur says. “I do not understand anything about coronavirus. But the adults told me it cannot be coronavirus as it comes first as a cold and cough. I only had fever. They gave me tablets and I felt better.”
On the highway, the pandemic was a low priority — there were more pressing health concerns: hunger, thirst, exhaustion and pain.
There is no official data on deaths due to India’s lockdown, but a volunteer-driven database set up by a group of Indian academics has been tracking local media reports of fatalities as a consequence of the policy.
By May 24, it had recorded 667 deaths, of which 244 were migrant workers who died while walking home: either through starvation, exhaustion or in rail and road accidents.
“In Bengaluru, I was scared of this illness,” says Chouhan. “Now, all we wanted to do was go home. It was not in our hands if we fell sick during this journey.
“The moment we left Bengaluru, we’d left our fate to the gods.”
The home run
Under the black night sky and thick canopies of the forested areas of Central India that once inspired Rudyard Kipling to write “The Jungle Book,” Chouhan crossed the Maharasthra-Madhya Pradesh border. It was day six.
In Madhya Pradesh, tractors, buses and trucks helped the group along during the day, and hillside villagers provided them with food and even a tanker to bathe in.
Two days later, they reached the border of their home state, Uttar Pradesh. Home was just 217 miles (350 kilometers) away. “We forgot our pain. It felt like we were already home,” says Chouhan.
As they passed Prayagraj, a site central to Hindu spiritualism where the rivers Ganges, Yamuna and Sarasvati converge, Chouhan allowed himself a rare moment of joy.
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Joining thousands of Hindus, he took a dip in the cool waters, and said a prayer for the group to reach home early.
One day later, their ninth of walking, they reached the state capital, Lucknow.
Home was just 80 miles (128 kilometers) away. Chouhan bought a meal for the first time since their journey began and called his family. “We told them we had come by train to Uttar Pradesh. We would be home in a day,” he says.
The closer they came home, the more tired Chouhan says they felt.
On day 10, at Gonda, 18 miles (30 kilometers) from their village, Thakur’s body gave up. He fell face first into the asphalt. The group revived him by pouring water on his face.
Then, just 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) from home, they ran into the police. Too weak to run, they allowed officers to place them quarantine.
Finally, they were home.
Home and scarred
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The scars of walking up the spine of India took its toll on their bodies.
Chouhan says he has lost 10 kilograms (22 pounds) throughout the journey. He says his feet have swollen so much it’s a struggle to walk to the bathroom in the school where he is meant to be quarantined for 14 days.
However, in Uttar Pradesh the quarantine is badly enforced.
On May 24, Chouhan says his family was allowed to visit him in quarantine.
His children lunged towards him. And when they hugged tightly, Chouhan says he forgot his pain. He has been allowed to visit his family at their home, and go to the pharmacy to buy medicine, which he took out loans to pay for.
Seeing his thatched-roof house, where his big family sleeps, he says, reminds him how his work in Bengaluru has sustained his family.
Yet on May 25, tragedy struck. Thirty-year-old Salman, one of the 11 who walked from Bengaluru, was bitten by a snake just days after arriving home and leaving quarantine.
He died on the way to the hospital.
More than 45,000 people die of snake bites in India annually. More than 200 people attended Salman’s funeral, including some of the group Chouhan walked with, who were meant to be in quarantine.
Chouhan is mourning the tragedy. Yet he realizes that the poverty in his village, the hunger of his family, and the mounting debt from their medical treatment mean he must eventually return to the city to work.
“When I left Bengaluru, I resolved never to return,” he says. “The best I can do is wait for a few weeks to see if the lockdown is relaxed before heading out again for work.”
Design and graphics by Jason Kwok. Edited by Jenni Marsh and Hilary Whiteman.
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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years
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Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: Karnataka permits liquor sale; bars and hotels can sell stock at MRP till 17 May but only as takeaway
08:43 (IST)
Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates
Karnataka permits liquor sale; bars and hotels can sell stock at MRP till 17 May
The Karnataka government has permitted the sale of liquor in standalone clubs, boarding hotels and bars, where the existing stock of alcohol can be sold at MRP, reported News18.
The alcohol can be bought only as takeaways from 9 am to 7 pm from Saturday till 17 May.
Karnataka has been among the few states that has wanted to restart economic activities and have the revenue come in for the state.   
08:16 (IST)
Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates
WHO to launch COVID-19 app with Bluetooth-based contact tracing
The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to launch an app this month to enable people in under-resourced countries to assess whether they may have the novel coronavirus, and is considering a Bluetooth-based contact tracing feature too, an official told Reuters on Friday.
The app will ask people about their symptoms and offer guidance on whether they may have Covid-19, the potentially lethal illness caused by the coronavirus, said Bernardo Mariano, chief information officer for the WHO. Other information, such as how to get tested, will be personalized according to the user’s country.
Though the WHO will release a version on app stores globally, any government will be able to take the app’s underlying technology, add features and release its own version on app stores, Mariano said in a phone interview.
08:07 (IST)
Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates
Uber lays off 14% of its workforce, says French hacker 
The latest findings of French hacker Robert Baptiste, who goes by Elliot Alderson on Twitter, revealed that Uber has laid of 3,700 employees. In the wee hours of Saturday, Baptiste tweeted that the cab service providers have decided to lay off close to 14 percent of its workforce. 
Uber has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which has crushed the travel industry because of lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus. 
The stocks fell fell as much as 4 percent on Wednesday but ended the trading day down 0.9 percent
NEW: Uber lays off 3,700 workers due to coronavirus, nearly 14% of its workforce.
— Norbert Elekes (@NorbertElekes) May 8, 2020
07:56 (IST)
Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates
NHRC takes suo motu cognisance of Aurangabad rail accident that killed over 16 migrant workers
The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued notices to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary and the District Magistrate of Aurangabad over 16 migrant workers being mowed down by a goods train. The incident happened between Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded Division.
The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about mowing down of 16 migrant workers by the goods train in the early hours of Friday, it said in a statement.
The officers have been directed to submit a detailed report within four weeks. "It should also include details of the steps taken by the state and the district authorities to provide food, shelter and other basic amenities to the poor people, especially migrant labourers, who are facing extreme difficulties from every angle during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown," it said.
Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: The Karnataka government has permitted the sale of liquor in standalone clubs, boarding hotels and bars, where the existing stock of alcohol can be sold at MRP, reported News18.
The alcohol can be bought only as takeaways from 9 am to 7 pm from Saturday till 17 May.
Karnataka has been among the few states that has wanted to restart economic activities and have the revenue come in for the state.
The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued notices to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary and the District Magistrate of Aurangabad over 16 migrant workers being mowed down by a goods train. The incident happened between Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded Division.
The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about mowing down of 16 migrant workers by the goods train in the early hours of Friday, it said in a statement.
The officers have been directed to submit a detailed report within four weeks. "It should also include details of the steps taken by the state and the district authorities to provide food, shelter and other basic amenities to the poor people, especially migrant labourers, who are facing extreme difficulties from every angle during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown," it said.
The nationwide tally of COVID-19 cases reached 56,342 on Friday  with more people testing positive for the deadly virus infection in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan among other states.
India registered an increase of 103 fatalities and 3,390 infections in the last 24 hours, on Friday while the number of those having recovered from the infection crossedg the 16,000 mark and the toll neared 1,900.
Meanwhile, the situation in Maharashtra's Mumbai and Pune remained worrisome with both cities reporting 748 and 111 cases, respectively. The massive spike in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region was reported along with the news that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief was replaced by the Maharashtra government on Friday.
BMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi will swap offices with Iqbal S Chahal, currently additional chief secretary (urban development).
Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad emerged as other  major hotspots in the country, with the National Capital reporting 338 new cases, while the other two cities registered 399 and 269 cases, respectively.
Spike in cases continue despite extended lockdown
A large number of new cases were reported during the day from various cities in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha also reported rise in their tallies.
The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 37,916. While 16,539 people have recovered, one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 29.35 percent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said. The total cases include 111 foreign nationals.
The total of 103 deaths reported since Thursday morning include 43 in Maharashtra; 29 in Gujarat; eight in Madhya Pradesh; seven in West Bengal; five in Rajasthan; two each in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh; and one each in Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.
Of the 1,886 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 694 patients dying of COVID-19, Gujarat comes second with 425 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 193, West Bengal at 151, Rajasthan at 97, Delhi at 66, Uttar Pradesh at 62 and Andhra Pradesh at 38.
The death toll reached 37 in Tamil Nadu, 30 in Karnataka while Telangana has reported 29 fatalities. Punjab has registered 28 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir nine, Haryana seven, Bihar five and Kerala four.
Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities. Odisha and Himachal Pradesh have reported two deaths each. Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data.
According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 17,974 followed by Gujarat at 7,012, Delhi at 5,980, Tamil Nadu at 5,409, Rajasthan at 3,427, Madhya Pradesh at 3,252 and Uttar Pradesh at 3,071.
The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,847 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,644 in Punjab.
The tally has risen to 1,548 in West Bengal, 1,123 in Telangana, 793 in Jammu and Kashmir, 705 in Karnataka, 625 in Haryana and 550 in Bihar.
Kerala has reported 503 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has 219. A total of 135 people have been infected with the virus in Chandigarh and 132 in Jharkhand.
Tripura has reported 65 cases, Uttarakhand has 61, Chhattisgarh has 59, Assam has 54, Himachal Pradesh has 46 and Ladakh has 42.
Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Meghalaya has registered 12 cases, Puducherry has nine, while Goa has seven. Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported one case each.
"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)," the ministry said on its website.
State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.
MHA says 'learn to live with virus'
During a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, "As we talk of relaxations to the lockdown and of migrant workers returning back to their respective homes, there is a big challenge in front of us that we also have to learn to live with the virus."
"And when we are talking about learning to live with the virus then it is very important that the guidelines that are there on saving oneself from the virus are adopted in the community as a behavioural change," he added.
It is a big challenge and the government needs the community support for it, Agarwal added.
The ministry also reeled off various datasets, including those showing a rising number of infection-free districts and an increasing recovery rate, to suggest the success of the government's strategy in the COVID-19 fight, even as it sought "a behavioural change" and everyone's support in this massive challenge.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, however, admitted there has been no success yet in breaking the virus chain, and said his government may seek deployment of central forces, if needed, to allow police personnel to take rest in phases. The state tops the nationwide tally for confirmed cases as well as deaths.
Ugly side of migrant crisis
Sixteen migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. The migrant workers, rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and desperate to go to their native places, were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape police attention.
Those killed and the four other migrant workers who survived were all male, officials said. A viral video clip from the scene of the tragedy shows the bodies of migrant workers lying on the tracks and nearby with their meagre personal belongings scattered around.
Aurangabad SP Mokshada Patil told PTI that three of the four survivors had tried in vain to wake up their colleagues who had slept on the track after an overnight walk from Jalna, around 40 kilometres from the accident spot. The workers were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna along rail tracks, while returning to their home state Madhya Pradesh, an official at the Karmad police station said.
Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh governments announced financial aid of Rs 10 lakh  to Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased.
Separately in Karnataka, hundreds of migrant workers gathered on Mangaluru station in protest.  They told the local police that they were stuck in the city without jobs, money and adequate food and that they were even willing to walk to their home states if the special trains were not operated immediately.
Meanwhile, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking a direction to the Centre to ask all district magistrates in the country to identify stranded migrant workers and provide shelter and food to them before ensuring their free transportation to native places in view of the Aurangabad tragedy.
Economic costs of lockdown causes worry
With the pandemic and the ongoing lockdown hitting the economy badly, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh urged the prime minister to spell out the way forward for the country's economic revival and an exit strategy from the third phase of the lockdown.
A nationwide lockdown has been in place since 25 March, which was first imposed for 21 days but got extended first for another 14 days till 3 May and then for further 14 days in the third phase, with considerable relaxations, till 17 May.
The economic cost of the COVID-19 fight and the ongoing nationwide lockdown also appeared rising manifold with Moody's Investors Service projecting India's economic growth at zero percent for the current fiscal. It also said that a high government debt, weak social and physical infrastructure, and a fragile financial sector face further pressures due to the coronavirus outbreak.
According to experts, industrial and other business establishments may also face a huge labour shortage once they resume operations after the lockdown, which has been in place since 25 March and is scheduled to continue till 17 May. Lakhs of migrant workers have either left for their native places or are in the process of doing so, including by trains and buses arranged by state governments.
There are also worries that the virus spread may grow further in newer areas following these movements, while a large number of Indians stranded abroad have also begun returning home in special flights.
Since its outbreak in China last December, more than 38.6 lakh people have been found to be infected with this virus, while over 2.7 lakh people have lost their lives. Nearly 13 lakh people have recovered so far, including about 2 lakh in the US.
Separately, a panel of experts, formed to suggest ways to revive Maharashtra's economy, hit by the COVID-19 crisis and the resultant lockdown, submitted its report to the government during the day.
Several states have been taking steps to shore up their resources, including by levying higher taxes on fuel and liquor. After Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and several others, Himachal Pradesh government has now decided to impose a 'corona cess' on liquor sales, while Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy also said the territorial administration was mulling imposition of special COVID-19 tax on liquor to wriggle out of the current fiscal crisis.
The Madras High Court, however, ordered closure of liquor shops in Tamil Nadu a day after they were reopened, but allowed sale of liquor through online and door delivery till the end of the lockdown.
The Supreme Court too asked states to consider non-direct contact or online sales and home delivery of liquor during the lockdown period to prevent the spread of coronavirus on account of crowding at the shops.
Liquor shops were allowed to be opened in the third phase of the lockdown, which began on 4 May, subject to compliance to social distancing and other guidelines issued by the government.
With inputs from PTI
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sarkariniti1-blog · 7 years
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Setu Bharatam launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 4 March 2016 at a budget of ₹102 billion (US$1.5 billion), with an aim to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019 covers the construction of 208 rails over and under bridges (ROBs/RUBs) at unmanned railway crossings on national highways , widening of 1,500 dilapidated British-era bridges and rehabilitation or replacement in a phased manner at a cost of ₹208 billion and ₹300 billion respectively.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi launched the Setu Bharatam programme for building bridges for safe and seamless travel on National Highways, in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion he said that a good infrastructure network is vital for the growth and development of a nation. He said that in order to satisfy the aspirations and long felt needs of people it is necessary to bring in a qualitative change and a comprehensive, integrated approach to developing infrastructure in the country.
We need a quality change in the Indian Railways and the road traveling system in general. All this is possible under a major project compiling all changes in one and planning the aims and objectives such that the output is highly efficient. This project provides all of this and all it needs is a well-planned implementation. Grading and construction of bridges is a very important point adding to the perks of Setu Bharatam. Also, till date, India did not witness such developments in the travel industry especially railways. This step is huge in itself and has some very unique objectives discussed in this article.
Highlights
·         Modernization
·         Comfortable travel
·         Safe traveling system
·         Quality
·         Strong infrastructure
·         Construction of bridges
·         Grading of bridges
Budget
The detailed Project Reports have already been acknowledged for 73 Railway Over Bridges out of which 64 are likely to be sanctioned with an estimated cost of Rs. 5600 crore. More than 1500 old and worn down bridges will also be improved by replacement in a phased manner at a cost of about Rs. 30,000 crore
Aim
The Indian Bridge Management System has been introduced to map all 1,50,000 bridges in the countrySetu Bharatam programme aims to make all National Highways free of railway level crossings by 2019. This is being done to prevent the frequent accidents and loss of lives at level crossings. 208 ROBs will be constructed at the level crossings with the budget of Rs. 20,800 crore under the programme.
The details of 208 Railway Over Bridges are as follows:
·         Andhra Pradesh – 33,
·         Assam – 12,
·         Bihar – 20,
·         Chhattisgarh – 5,
·         Gujarat – 8,
·         Haryana – 10,
·         Himachal Pradesh – 5,
·         Jharkhand – 11,
·         Karnataka – 17,
·         Kerala – 4,
·         Madhya Pradesh -6,
·         Maharashtra – 12,
·         Odisha – 4,
·         Punjab – 10,
·         Rajasthan – 9,
·         Tamil Nadu – 9,
·         Uttarakhandd – 2,
·         Uttar Pradesh – 9,
·         West Bengal – 22
What is IBMS
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has also established an Indian Bridge Management System (IBMS) at the Indian Academy for Highway Engineer in Noida, U.P.
Aim of IBMS
The aim of Setu Bharatam is to carry out conditions survey and invention of all bridges on National Highways in India by using Mobile Inspection Units. 11 consultancy firms have been appointed for this purpose. Till now invention of 50,000 bridges has been done. The first cycle of the survey was expected to be completed by June 2016. This data base is the largest of its kind and also helps in smoothening the movement of Over-Dimension and Over-Weight consignments on National Highways. It will play a considerable role in easing traffic issues in India and also create a map of all bridges in the country.
Objectives
·         The main objective of The Setu Bharatam Project, launched on 4 March 2016 by Narendra Modi, is to make all the national highways in India free from railway crossings by the year 2019 and has been working for the same since the launch.
·         Bridges are supposed to be constructed all across India so that vehicles plying on the national highways do not get stopped because of railway tracks.
·         Around two hundred eight new bridges (under and over railway tracks) will be built and this construction will make the use of Rs 100 crore of the budget set by the government.
·         The government is focusing in a big way on developing roads in the rural hinterlands of India.
·         Already in the 2016-17 union budgets, INR 19,000 crore has been allocated for the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Nitin Gadkari who is the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister stated that work for building the bridges has already started.
·         The government has received project reports – in detail – for 73 bridges.
·         It was also expected that 64 other bridges will receive the green signal of the government by the end of 2016 .
·         It is expected that the aggregate cost of construction at this stage would be in the region of INR 5600 crore.
·         Bridges in India are being graded – a significant step indeed. For this, space technology is being used along with information such as age, distance end to end, longitude, material , design and latitude.
·         Railways cannot function on such grounds – it needed concrete development by focusing on the way of building rail gauges and lines.
·         Administration has brought a fresh look in the railway sector and changed the ways in which the sector could be developed even further.
India needs major developments in the railway sector in the same way as mentioned in these objectives. If the plan goes as per these steps, we’llget to see a developed railway industry soon.
Conclusion
Veins give strength to our body. Similarly, infrastructure will provide speed, power, and strength to the development of the country. There will be progress if we focus on building road and railway network, optical fibre network, water, grid, and electricity connectivity along with electricity supply and the government is working in that direction.
“Earlier, the trains were announced in Parliament to please some Members of the Parliament and get applause. Many schemes were lying dormant. Railways won’t run only by applause. It requires significant development. We decided to develop rail lines and gauges. We have changed the way railway sector is looked at and how change can be brought about in that sector,” Mr. Modi said. According to the Prime Minister, nobody was paying attention to the development work initiated by the government in the Indian Railways. We hope this government to work the way stated above producing development in the railway industry . Infrastructure is an important issue and needs major attention. The Prime Minister has developed many areas of the railway industry and we expect this to be continued giving us modernized scenario.
 https://sarkariniti.com/setu-bharatam-programme/
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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years
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08:43 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates Karnataka permits liquor sale; bars and hotels can sell stock at MRP till 17 May The Karnataka government has permitted the sale of liquor in standalone clubs, boarding hotels and bars, where the existing stock of alcohol can be sold at MRP, reported News18. The alcohol can be bought only as takeaways from 9 am to 7 pm from Saturday till 17 May. Karnataka has been among the few states that has wanted to restart economic activities and have the revenue come in for the state.    08:16 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates WHO to launch COVID-19 app with Bluetooth-based contact tracing The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to launch an app this month to enable people in under-resourced countries to assess whether they may have the novel coronavirus, and is considering a Bluetooth-based contact tracing feature too, an official told Reuters on Friday. The app will ask people about their symptoms and offer guidance on whether they may have Covid-19, the potentially lethal illness caused by the coronavirus, said Bernardo Mariano, chief information officer for the WHO. Other information, such as how to get tested, will be personalized according to the user’s country. Though the WHO will release a version on app stores globally, any government will be able to take the app’s underlying technology, add features and release its own version on app stores, Mariano said in a phone interview. 08:07 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates Uber lays off 14% of its workforce, says French hacker  The latest findings of French hacker Robert Baptiste, who goes by Elliot Alderson on Twitter, revealed that Uber has laid of 3,700 employees. In the wee hours of Saturday, Baptiste tweeted that the cab service providers have decided to lay off close to 14 percent of its workforce.  Uber has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, which has crushed the travel industry because of lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus.  The stocks fell fell as much as 4 percent on Wednesday but ended the trading day down 0.9 percent NEW: Uber lays off 3,700 workers due to coronavirus, nearly 14% of its workforce. — Norbert Elekes (@NorbertElekes) May 8, 2020 07:56 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates NHRC takes suo motu cognisance of Aurangabad rail accident that killed over 16 migrant workers The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued notices to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary and the District Magistrate of Aurangabad over 16 migrant workers being mowed down by a goods train. The incident happened between Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded Division. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about mowing down of 16 migrant workers by the goods train in the early hours of Friday, it said in a statement. The officers have been directed to submit a detailed report within four weeks. "It should also include details of the steps taken by the state and the district authorities to provide food, shelter and other basic amenities to the poor people, especially migrant labourers, who are facing extreme difficulties from every angle during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown," it said. Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: The Karnataka government has permitted the sale of liquor in standalone clubs, boarding hotels and bars, where the existing stock of alcohol can be sold at MRP, reported News18. The alcohol can be bought only as takeaways from 9 am to 7 pm from Saturday till 17 May. Karnataka has been among the few states that has wanted to restart economic activities and have the revenue come in for the state. The National Human Rights Commission on Friday issued notices to the Maharashtra Chief Secretary and the District Magistrate of Aurangabad over 16 migrant workers being mowed down by a goods train. The incident happened between Badnapur and Karmad stations in Nanded Division. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of media reports about mowing down of 16 migrant workers by the goods train in the early hours of Friday, it said in a statement. The officers have been directed to submit a detailed report within four weeks. "It should also include details of the steps taken by the state and the district authorities to provide food, shelter and other basic amenities to the poor people, especially migrant labourers, who are facing extreme difficulties from every angle during the coronavirus-triggered lockdown," it said. The nationwide tally of COVID-19 cases reached 56,342 on Friday  with more people testing positive for the deadly virus infection in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan among other states. India registered an increase of 103 fatalities and 3,390 infections in the last 24 hours, on Friday while the number of those having recovered from the infection crossedg the 16,000 mark and the toll neared 1,900. Meanwhile, the situation in Maharashtra's Mumbai and Pune remained worrisome with both cities reporting 748 and 111 cases, respectively. The massive spike in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region was reported along with the news that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation chief was replaced by the Maharashtra government on Friday. BMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi will swap offices with Iqbal S Chahal, currently additional chief secretary (urban development). Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad emerged as other  major hotspots in the country, with the National Capital reporting 338 new cases, while the other two cities registered 399 and 269 cases, respectively. Spike in cases continue despite extended lockdown A large number of new cases were reported during the day from various cities in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, while Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha also reported rise in their tallies. The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 37,916. While 16,539 people have recovered, one patient has migrated, it said. "Thus, around 29.35 percent patients have recovered so far," a senior health ministry official said. The total cases include 111 foreign nationals. The total of 103 deaths reported since Thursday morning include 43 in Maharashtra; 29 in Gujarat; eight in Madhya Pradesh; seven in West Bengal; five in Rajasthan; two each in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh; and one each in Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir. Of the 1,886 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 694 patients dying of COVID-19, Gujarat comes second with 425 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 193, West Bengal at 151, Rajasthan at 97, Delhi at 66, Uttar Pradesh at 62 and Andhra Pradesh at 38. The death toll reached 37 in Tamil Nadu, 30 in Karnataka while Telangana has reported 29 fatalities. Punjab has registered 28 COVID-19 deaths, Jammu and Kashmir nine, Haryana seven, Bihar five and Kerala four. Jharkhand has recorded three COVID-19 fatalities. Odisha and Himachal Pradesh have reported two deaths each. Meghalaya, Chandigarh, Assam and Uttarakhand have reported one fatality each, according to the ministry data. According to the health ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country is from Maharashtra at 17,974 followed by Gujarat at 7,012, Delhi at 5,980, Tamil Nadu at 5,409, Rajasthan at 3,427, Madhya Pradesh at 3,252 and Uttar Pradesh at 3,071. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 1,847 in Andhra Pradesh and 1,644 in Punjab. The tally has risen to 1,548 in West Bengal, 1,123 in Telangana, 793 in Jammu and Kashmir, 705 in Karnataka, 625 in Haryana and 550 in Bihar. Kerala has reported 503 coronavirus cases so far, while Odisha has 219. A total of 135 people have been infected with the virus in Chandigarh and 132 in Jharkhand. Tripura has reported 65 cases, Uttarakhand has 61, Chhattisgarh has 59, Assam has 54, Himachal Pradesh has 46 and Ladakh has 42. Thirty-three COVID-19 cases have been reported from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Meghalaya has registered 12 cases, Puducherry has nine, while Goa has seven. Manipur has two cases. Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Dadar and Nagar Haveli have reported one case each. "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)," the ministry said on its website. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said. MHA says 'learn to live with virus' During a press briefing on the COVID-19 situation, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said, "As we talk of relaxations to the lockdown and of migrant workers returning back to their respective homes, there is a big challenge in front of us that we also have to learn to live with the virus." "And when we are talking about learning to live with the virus then it is very important that the guidelines that are there on saving oneself from the virus are adopted in the community as a behavioural change," he added. It is a big challenge and the government needs the community support for it, Agarwal added. The ministry also reeled off various datasets, including those showing a rising number of infection-free districts and an increasing recovery rate, to suggest the success of the government's strategy in the COVID-19 fight, even as it sought "a behavioural change" and everyone's support in this massive challenge. Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, however, admitted there has been no success yet in breaking the virus chain, and said his government may seek deployment of central forces, if needed, to allow police personnel to take rest in phases. The state tops the nationwide tally for confirmed cases as well as deaths. Ugly side of migrant crisis Sixteen migrant workers sleeping on rail tracks while returning to Madhya Pradesh were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra. The migrant workers, rendered jobless due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown and desperate to go to their native places, were walking along the rail tracks apparently to escape police attention. Those killed and the four other migrant workers who survived were all male, officials said. A viral video clip from the scene of the tragedy shows the bodies of migrant workers lying on the tracks and nearby with their meagre personal belongings scattered around. Aurangabad SP Mokshada Patil told PTI that three of the four survivors had tried in vain to wake up their colleagues who had slept on the track after an overnight walk from Jalna, around 40 kilometres from the accident spot. The workers were walking to Bhusawal from Jalna along rail tracks, while returning to their home state Madhya Pradesh, an official at the Karmad police station said. Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh governments announced financial aid of Rs 10 lakh  to Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased. Separately in Karnataka, hundreds of migrant workers gathered on Mangaluru station in protest.  They told the local police that they were stuck in the city without jobs, money and adequate food and that they were even willing to walk to their home states if the special trains were not operated immediately. Meanwhile, a plea has been filed in the Supreme Court on Friday seeking a direction to the Centre to ask all district magistrates in the country to identify stranded migrant workers and provide shelter and food to them before ensuring their free transportation to native places in view of the Aurangabad tragedy. Economic costs of lockdown causes worry With the pandemic and the ongoing lockdown hitting the economy badly, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh urged the prime minister to spell out the way forward for the country's economic revival and an exit strategy from the third phase of the lockdown. A nationwide lockdown has been in place since 25 March, which was first imposed for 21 days but got extended first for another 14 days till 3 May and then for further 14 days in the third phase, with considerable relaxations, till 17 May. The economic cost of the COVID-19 fight and the ongoing nationwide lockdown also appeared rising manifold with Moody's Investors Service projecting India's economic growth at zero percent for the current fiscal. It also said that a high government debt, weak social and physical infrastructure, and a fragile financial sector face further pressures due to the coronavirus outbreak. According to experts, industrial and other business establishments may also face a huge labour shortage once they resume operations after the lockdown, which has been in place since 25 March and is scheduled to continue till 17 May. Lakhs of migrant workers have either left for their native places or are in the process of doing so, including by trains and buses arranged by state governments. There are also worries that the virus spread may grow further in newer areas following these movements, while a large number of Indians stranded abroad have also begun returning home in special flights. Since its outbreak in China last December, more than 38.6 lakh people have been found to be infected with this virus, while over 2.7 lakh people have lost their lives. Nearly 13 lakh people have recovered so far, including about 2 lakh in the US. Separately, a panel of experts, formed to suggest ways to revive Maharashtra's economy, hit by the COVID-19 crisis and the resultant lockdown, submitted its report to the government during the day. Several states have been taking steps to shore up their resources, including by levying higher taxes on fuel and liquor. After Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and several others, Himachal Pradesh government has now decided to impose a 'corona cess' on liquor sales, while Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy also said the territorial administration was mulling imposition of special COVID-19 tax on liquor to wriggle out of the current fiscal crisis. The Madras High Court, however, ordered closure of liquor shops in Tamil Nadu a day after they were reopened, but allowed sale of liquor through online and door delivery till the end of the lockdown. The Supreme Court too asked states to consider non-direct contact or online sales and home delivery of liquor during the lockdown period to prevent the spread of coronavirus on account of crowding at the shops. Liquor shops were allowed to be opened in the third phase of the lockdown, which began on 4 May, subject to compliance to social distancing and other guidelines issued by the government. With inputs from PTI
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