Udupi, May 21: In a shocking development, as many as 27 fresh coronavirus positive cases were reported in the coastal district of Udupi today.
Another shocker is, 16 among 27 covid-19 patients are children. The rest are six men and five women.
Interestingly, all of them have inter-state travel history. 23 had come from Maharashtra and 3 from Telangana. Another one had come from Kerala to Manipal. More details are awaited.
Mangaluru, Jan 25: Orange vendor Harekala Hajabba, popularly known as 'Akshara Santha' (the saint of alphabets), who went on to build a school at Newpadpu village on the city’s outskirts in 1999 is among this year’s Padma Shri awardees.
When Hajabba received the call on being nominated for the award, he was standing in a queue to buy rations.
As he is not fluent in Hindi, Hajabba handed over the phone to an auto driver, who conveyed the news that the Padma Shri award will be conferred on him.
The unlettered achiever set up a primary school from his meagre savings of Rs 150 per day, selling oranges in Mangaluru.
“The first time I felt bad for being an illiterate was when a foreigner enquired about the price of oranges in English. I did not know what he meant. So, I decided to start a school in my village,” Hajabba had said during a felicitation programme.
When Hajabba decided to start a school, he did not get any support. He started the school with 28 children.
The school today has been upgraded to a composite high school and is catering to the educational needs of hundreds of children in and around Newpadpu.
He ran from pillar to post in the Zilla Panchayat to make his dream come true. All cash awards he had received went into building the school. The United Christians Association, moved by the sight of his dilapidated house, built a 760-square-foot house costing Rs 15 lakh for him.
Hajabba’s life was prescribed for the syllabus of three universities - Davangere, Kuvempu and Mangalore. His success story is also included in a Tulu textbook.
He won the Karnataka Rajyotsava award in 2013, Real Heroes award from TV channel CNN-IBN.
Hajabba, when contacted, said he could not believe his ears when told about the award.
New dreams
The frail vendor, in his 60s, humbly declared that he could achieve all this because of the support of all. Hajabba now dreams of upgrading the school into a full-fledged PU college.
A big Salute to him!
Great effort,
Where there is will, there is way
May God help him.
Mangaluru, May 6: Amidst preparation for the paid evacuation of Indians stuck in Gulf countries amidst coronavirus lockdown, the central government has announced that it would only do a medical screening of the passengers before the flight and only asymptomatic persons would be allowed to travel.
Each passenger will have to fill a self-reporting form to be presented at the health and immigration counter at their destination.
The passengers are required to state whether they are suffering from fever, cough, diabetes or any respiratory disease. This form is similar to the one filled by passengers landing in India during the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak.
As per the announcement by the government, returnees would undergo COVID-19 once they complete 14-day quarantine in a hospital or government –arranged institution on a payment basis.
However, the form asks the applicants to keep themselves isolated at home for 28 days unless they develop any symptoms such as fever and cough.
During the journey, they will have to follow the protocols such as those issued by the Health Ministry and the Civil Aviation Ministry. Applicants from the UAE are yet to receive instructions on these.
On reaching the destination, passengers will have to register on the Arogya Setu app, India’s mobile application for COVID-19 surveillance.
No physical distancing!
Air India Express (AIE) which is set to operate the first two flights to Kerala on Thursday will operate its Boeing 737-800 flights, with a seating capacity of 186 economy class seats.
With nine seats reserved for isolation, only 177 passengers would be flown, sources said.
While most of the UAE flights in the first week will be operated by the AIE, Air India will operate two of its Dreamliner aircraft with a seating capacity of 256 seats. These flights would also reserve some seats for isolation.
However, the plan has made it clear that the Indian government will not be following the rules of physical distancing to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the repatriation flights.
Several people, including the Chief Minister of Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan, expressed concern over flying passengers, who will not be tested for COVID-19, without observing physical distancing.
Bengaluru, Jan 24: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Friday said the much-delayed Cabinet expansion will take place in the next three days.
At the Kempegowda International Airport, after his arrival from Davos, he informed that he would discuss the matter with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to take a final decision on the distribution of important portfolios.
Deputy CM Ashwanath Narayna, Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai and others received the Chief Minister at the airport. The issue of Cabinet expansion was kept in abeyance, ever since the spectacular victory of 12 Assembly seats for BJP, for which the by-elections were held recently. The bypolls were necessitated, following the resignation of about 17 sitting Congress and JD (S) MLAs, which resulted in the collapse of the JDS-Congress coalition government in the state.
BJP had reportedly lured the Congress and JD (S) MLAs into their camp, after promising them to give party ticket to contest the elections, as well as ministerial berths. The Chief Minister had kept as many as 16 Cabinet berths, along with plum portfolios, vacant, after forming the BJP government, with the support of the deserted Congress and JD (S) MLAs, in July last. However, the issue of Cabinet expansion had postponed on one reason or the other, as Yediyurappa was struggling to keep the promise he had made to the former Congress and the JDS MLAs, on whose sacrifice the BJP came back to power.
With the strong demand for ministerial berths within the loyal BJP MLAs, the BJP high command had reportedly advised Yediyurappa to accommodate only a few of the turncoat MLAs and strike balance between the groups.
However, Yediyurappa, who had assured the Congress and JD (S) MLAs of giving them Cabinet berths, had been in dilemma ever since and found it tough to convince the party's Central leaders.
According to party sources, the Chief Minister is not only facing problems over the expansion of his Cabinet, but is also worried over the demand for creation of more number of Deputy Chief Ministers, adding to the present list of three.
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