Kerala prepares to reopen schools from November 1

AYUSH Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said that the Ministry should promote Ayush Aahar throughout the country as it will also help saving the youth from the ills of junk food.The Minister was visiting the Central Councils Common Building Complex in  New Delhi on Saturday where he interacted with officers and scientists of all five research councils and two National Commissions under the Ministry that are located in the premises. It is noteworthy that the Minsitry of Ayush is promoting Ayush based diet and lifestyle and is working in convergence with the Ministry of Women and Child Development in the Poshan Abhiyan to realize the ultimate goal of Suposhit Bharat. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in convergence with Ministry of Ayush has also released draft guidelines on Ayush Aahar, which will facilitate standardized Ayush based Aahar.In the interactive session with officials and scientists, the Minister emphasized on the involvement of people till the grassroot level.

-Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba on Saturday chaired a high-level meeting to review and discuss the COVID management and response strategy through video conference in the presence of Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Member (Health) in NITI Aayog Dr. V. K. Paul. It was attended by the Chief Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries (Health), Principal Secretaries (Health), Municipal Commissioners, District Collectors and other senior officials of States and UTs. Congratulating the States and UTs for the landmark achievement of more than 2.5 Crore vaccine doses administered yesterday, Cabinet Secretary complimented healthcare workers, Chief Medical Officers, District Magistrates and State Health Secretaries for their efforts.He hoped that with increased availability of vaccine doses, the pace of vaccination will be maintained. He however took the occasion to remind the States that there is no room for complacency. He stressed on the need to strictly enforce COVID Appropriate Behaviour. Union Health Secretary highlighted the emerging challenge of Serotype-II Dengue in 11 States which is associated with more cases and more complications than other forms of the disease.He suggested the States undertake steps like early detection of cases, operationalisation of fever helplines, adequate stocking of testing kits, larvicides and medicines, deployment of Rapid Response teams for prompt investigation and necessary Public Health Action like Fever Survey, Contact Tracing, Vector Control, alerting blood banks for maintaining adequate stocks of blood and blood components, especially platelets. 70 Districts in 15 States are a cause of concern as 34 of these districts have positivity exceeding 10 per cent and in 36 districts, the positivity is in the range of 5 to 10 per cent.

-The decision of the BMC and Maharashtra government to not allow physical darshan of Ganesha idols by visiting the public pandals has fructified as there has not been a significant rise in COVID-19 in Mumbai. A series of measures were taken by the BMC to reduce the crowding while welcoming and bidding adieu to lord Ganesha, one of them was not allowing physical darshan to devotees by visiting the pandals. Although, the daily caseload of the city has been ranging between 350-450 since past one week or so, however, the civic administration feels that it is not a worrying trend.Meanwhile, with the 10-day festival culminatingon Sunday the Mumbai police has beefed up security across various beaches in the city to prevent any untoward incident.The administration has prohibited taking out of processions and while carrying out the immersion of idols installed in public pandals there should not be more than 10 persons and all of them have to adhere to the COVID-19 protocol and all ten of them have to be fully vaccinated.

-Kerala prepares to reopen schools from November 1, after remaining closed for over one and half years amid Covid pandemic. In a review meeting, held on Saturday, it was suggested to begin classes for 1st standard to 7th standard and 10th and 12th standards from November 1.Classes of all sections are proposed to begin by November 15.Health experts had recommended reopening classes in the primary section first. The final year degree and Post Graduate offline classes in Colleges will resume from fourth of October. Meanwhile the plus one exams will begin on the, 24th of this month and will conclude on October 18. The Vocational higher secondary exams will also begin from 24th of this month upto October 13. The State education department informed that the exams will be held adhering to strict Covid guidelines.

-Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh launched a program for distribution of benefits under the Economic Development Program (EDP) and Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) at Imphal on Saturday. The EDP and PMJVK are Central sponsored schemes implemented by the State government. The benefits being distributed under EDP included poultry chicks, knapsack sprayers, carpentry items, fish fingerlings and bicycles to 8177 beneficiaries of minority communities. The total cost of the items is Rs. 7.10 crore approximately. A total of 264 projects amounting to Rs. 321 crore under PMJVK have been completed and 318 projects amounting to Rs. 704 crore have been taken up in the State. The works include construction of Model Residential schools, Sadbhavna mandaps, PHCs etc. in both hill and valley districts. Addressing the launching the program , Chief Minister Biren said that the State Government has successfully implemented Go to Hills and Go to Village missions with an objective to bring governance at people’s doorsteps and stressed that the government is trying its best to improve the rural economy of the State.