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Uttarakhand forest fire enters 4th day; 51.34 hectares of land affected

The forest fire in Uttarakhand entered 4th day today incurring a loss of Rs 1.32 lakhs.

With rise in mercury levels, Uttarakhand’s forest fire has now reached at its peak. For the past four days, the state has been burning up as wildfires break out in different regions. So far, the state has reported 46 wildfires which have affected over 51.34 hectares of forest land in the state putting to danger the wildlife species residing in the forests.

A total of 21 wildfires have been reported from Kumaon region of the state alone, making it one of the most hard-hit regions in the state. The Garhwal region has witnessed 16 incidents of forest fires and the reserve forest area has witnessed 9 incidents of forest fires.

According to the forest department, a forest fire first broke out in Srinagar district on May 23 and it winds made it difficult to control it.

Meanwhile, twitterati is furious over the fact that why the news is not being covered much by the national media.

People online are outraged with how the Australian bushfires were given full coverage but the ones in Uttarakhand right now are being ignored for some bizarre reason.


Meanwhile, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat while responding to the soaring cases said that the COVID-19 cases have risen in Uttarakhand after the return of migrants but the government was fully prepared to deal with the situation. The chief minister held a meeting with senior officials in Haldwani to review the situation in the state, especially in Nainital district, which has reported 117 cases so far.

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North-India sizzles: Take these measures to cope with heat wave

The northern part of India, primarily Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, are reeling under intense heat wave with temperatures soaring as much as to 46 degree Celsius in some parts of the cities.

The heatwave conditions are expected to reach the peak intensity on Tuesday in the northwest, central and some interior parts of eastern India, the India Meteorological Department has said.

The India Meteorological Department has issued an ‘orange’ warning for parts of Delhi on Tuesday. An ‘orange’ warning is issued for a heat wave, while a ‘red’ warning is issued for a severe heat wave.

The Safdarjung Observatory recorded a high of 44 degrees Celsius, four notches above normal. The weather stations at Palam, Lodhi Road and Aya Nagar recorded their respective maximums at 46.2 degrees, 44 degrees and 45.6 degrees Celsius respectively.

So as the country faces scorching heat, here are few steps that you should follow to cope with the harsh weather and be safe:

Keep windows that are exposed to the sun closed during the day, and open windows at night when the temperature has dropped.

Wear light, loose-fitting cotton clothes.

have cool baths or showers, and splash yourself with cool water
Drink plenty of fluids and avoid excess alcohol.

Water, lower-fat milks and tea and coffee are good options.

Avoid alcoholic beverages and caffeine, as both of these substances can act as diuretics and promote dehydration.

Don’t eat large, protein-rich meals that can increase metabolic heat and warm the body.

If you have to go out in the heat, walk in the shade, apply sunscreen and wear a hat and light scarf.

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Visuals of helpless workers gave me sleepless nights: Sonu Sood

He might have played villain in few films on the big screen, but, cut to off screen, actor Sonu Sood is no less than a superhero. The Dabangg star is acting like a messiah for all the stranded migrant workers by helping them reach their homes safely.

The actor is arranging buses that can carry migrants, who have been impacted the most due to COVID-19 lockdown, back to their homes. For the past two months, the actor, along with his childhood friend Niti Goel, has been actively involved in helping the workers who have been left with no option but to walk miles to their state homes.

“It gave me sleepless nights when I saw visuals of people walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their villages,” the actor told the media.

He is the first B-town celebrity to arrange hundreds of buses and food for daily wage workers amid the lockdown.

“I thought how could we be so ungrateful to the people who built our homes, our roads. In fact, they are the ones who run the whole country. They are the real heartbeat of the nation. So, how can we let them walk on the roads and just ignore it thinking that if it is not affecting me, why should I bother. So, I spoke to a few migrant labourers and requested them to give me one or two days so that I can get all permissions to send them back home. I assured them that I will make their journey back home as peaceful as possible,” he shared in ana interview.

“When I was bidding them goodbye, I was moved to see the smile on their faces and tears in their eyes. I felt that these are the only 350 migrant labourers who have reached home, but there may be millions more who are struggling to reach to their villages. So, I started connecting with a lot of government offices in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand. Finally, I was able to send few more batches of migrant labourers to their homes safely. And as we are talking now, 12,000 people have already reached their native places. I have already made arrangements for another 45,000 workers. I think I was blessed by the Almighty to carry on this task of helping them reach their homes peacefully.”

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Domestic flights resume: First day full of confusion

The domestic passenger flights resumed from Monday after a hiatus of two months due to the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown. The first day, however, was full of confusion as different states imposed their own set of conditions on reopening airports.

On Sunday evening, Civil Aviation minister Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted: “It has been a long day of hard negotiations with various state govts to recommence civil aviation operations in the country. Except Andhra Pradesh which will start on 26/5 & West Bengal on 28/5, domestic flights will recommence across the country from tomorrow.”

Meanwhile, Several passengers said their flights were cancelled and complained they did not get any intimation from airlines.

Officials said nearly 80 flights to and from Delhi were cancelled due to restrictions by states, officials said.

Several passengers in Mumbai and Bengaluru also complained about cancellations.

“Only when our boarding passes were scanned at the airport entry we were told that boarding has been cancelled. We don’t know what to do now,” a passenger of an Air India Bengaluru-Hyderabad flight said to media.

Air travel resumed across India this morning, two months after the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, bringing relief to the aviation sector that was on the brink of collapse.

Of the total 45 flights, 10 flights have been listed to be operated to and from Delhi, four Kochi, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Bengaluru and Patna, two to be operated to and from Calicut, Diu, Lucknow, Nagpur, Chandigarh, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and one flight to Jaipur.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has issued guidelines that all arriving passengers would be screened for their body temperature and stamped on their hands for a mandatory 14-day home quarantine.

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Corona update: Delhi containment zones now rise to 92, India’s death toll over 3000

As the coronavirus virus is on its surge, New Delhi on Friday witnessed another 14 new containment zones. Now the total number of containment zones in the capital has increased to 92.

The national capital has observed more than 2,200 cases in the last four days.

Six new containment zones were calculated in the south-west region after 39 cases were noted from Vikaspuri, Palam and Kanganheri village.

East and North districts have the highest number of 17 zones each. The South district has 16 red zones, whereas East and West districts have only one zone each. The South West district has reported to have 10 red zones while North West and Central districts have eight zones each. The North East district has five zones while Shadhara district has six zones.

These containment areas are sealed and police personnel are deployed at the entry n exit points. In these areas the authorities is facilitating doorstep delivery of the ration and other essential items.

Since Friday, Delhi has had a total of 12,319 Covid-19 cases.

India reported 6,088 fresh cases in the last 24 hours.

The total number of coronavirus cases in India increased to 1,25,101, while the death toll climbed to 3,720. India has the 11th highest cases across the world.

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RBI reduces repo rate by 40 bps to 4%; term loan moratorium extended till 31 August

In order to counter the outgrowth from the ongoing coronavirus lockdown, RBI on Friday announced some relief measures.

Addressing a press conference RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced a cut in the repo rate by 40 basis points to 4 percent, while the reverse repo rate was reduced to 3.35 percent.

He further added that the term loan moratorium has been extended for another three months till August 31
And said that the Acquired interest for the moratorium period can be transformed into a term loan and doesn’t need to be paid instantly.

The governor also said that the GDP growth outlook for fiscal year 2020-2021 has discovered to be in negative territory.

Das said that the inflation is very uncertain as evaluated in terms of the Monetary Policy Committee during the coronavirus situation. But he also added that inflation should ease by the second half of this year.

RBI’s announcement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announced Rs 20 lakh crore economic package in order to deal with the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

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India preps up as Cyclone Amphan heads towards West Bengal

Cyclone Amphan, known to be one of the most severe storms of the Bay of Bengal is likely to hit this evening. Causing strong winds and heavy rains in various parts of Odisha and West Bengal, the storm is expected to cross West Bengal-Bangladesh coasts between Digha and Hatiya Islands.

Lakhs of people in Odisha and West Bengal were evacuated and shifted to safer locations.

According to Indian meteorological officials, Cyclone Amphan has now weakened from Super Cyclone to an Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm and will have a wind speed varying between 155–165 km/hr when it landfall on Wednesday.

How India is prepared for the cyclone Amphan:

According to Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) officials, a total of 37 teams have been deployed by NDRF in West Bengal and Odisha, out of which 20 teams are actively deployed and 17 are on standby in the two states.

Around 4.5 lakh people have been evacuated from vulnerable areas in West Bengal and Odisha ahead of cyclonic storm.

The cyclone comes as thousands of migrant workers flee cities for their villages during India’s lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus. Therefore extra precautions of social distancing are being followed. The government has also distributed more than two lakhs of masks to the people.

Civic schools and community centres have been used as emergency shelters for the evacuees.

Indian railways have diverted all it’s trains away from the regions that are supposed to be affected by the Amphan.

Shramik special trains in West Bengal and Odisha have been cancelled.

Hundreds of police officials have been kept for backup in order to deal with any emergency.

Cyclone Amphan will be the first super-cyclonic storm that will hit the region after almost 20 years. In 1999, a super-cyclone hit the coast of Odisha, killing more than 9,000 people.

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Uddhav Thackeray makes his debut as a legislator

With Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray taking oath as a member of legislative council on Monday, the Shiv Sena chief has made his debut as a legislator. He was sworn-in as chief minister on November 28 last year but was not a member of either house in the state legislature.

The oath ceremony was held at Vidhan Bhawan in south Mumbai. Along with the sena chief, eight other newly-elected MLCs also took oath as Members of Legislative Council.They include Council Deputy Chairperson and Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe, four candidates of BJP Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad, NCPs Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Rajesh Rathod of the Congress.

These nine candidates were elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council.

The poll results were declared as only nine nominations were filed for nine seats. Since May 14 was the last date to withdraw from the nomination and except these nine candidates there was no one else in row, all of them were declared elected unopposed.

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Delhi during Lockdown 4.0: Full guidelines announced by CM Arvind Kejriwal

As the country entered the fourth phase of lockdown fighting coronavirus, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal announced a slew of relaxations saying that the city has to slowly move towards opening of economy amid the pandemic.

“We used lockdown period to make arrangements to deal with Covid-19,” he said.

Here are the new rules for the capital as part of Lockdown 4.0:

  • Barber shops, spas and saloons will remain closed for now.
  • Stepping out of homes between 7 pm to 7 am, except for essential services will be prohibited.
  • Taxis and cabs will be allowed but only two passengers at a time in a car.
  • Auto rickshaw and e-rickshaw with one passenger each, buses with 20 passengers to be allowed.
  • Metro trains, schools, colleges, shopping malls and swimming pools to remain closed.
  • Private offices can open at full strength but they should try that most of the staff works from home.
  • Markets can open but shops will open on odd-even basis.
  • Sports complexes & stadiums can open but without spectators.
  • Religious gatherings not allowed in Delhi till May 31.
  • Restaurants can open only for home-delivery.

The massive relaxations in the national capital come at a time when Kejriwal has been saying that a total lockdown has led to a debilitating revenue loss for Delhi government.

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Coronavirus: Lockdown 4.0 begins with fresh guidelines; India sees highest surge in cases

The fourth version of Coronavirus Lockdown began today, with more relaxations and changes from the past three versions.

The Lockdown 4.0 began as the country crossed the 90,000-mark in the number of coronavirus cases as it recorded the biggest single-day jump of 4,987 new patients, bringing the total to 90,927 cases so far.

More than 34,000 patients have been cured so far as the recovery rate stood at 37.51 per cent so far.
Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat – which have recorded the highest number of cases in India also reported the biggest surged in COVID-19 count in the last 24 hours.

In fresh guidelines, the home ministry also allowed the resumption of app-based cab services; gave permission to the functioning of all shops, markets and commercial establishments except those in malls; and eased curbs on private offices that were previously allowed to function with 33% staff strength.

The two significant steps that stood out were the conditional approval to interstate movement of passenger vehicles and buses with “mutual consent” of the states and the Union Territories (UTs) involved.

Flight services; Metro and rail services; educational institutions; shopping malls, cinema halls, gyms and parks continue to remain closed.

The Health Ministry has published a list of dos and don’ts that urban local bodies can use to contain the coronavirus spread in “informal settlements” in the cities.