BJP will definitely not come to power in 2019: Naidu

Lucknow, Mar 5: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said last night that the role of teachers would come under the scanner when "anti-India" slogans are raised at universities and institutions of higher education.

"When anti-India slogans are raised at institutions of higher education, we should be prepared to ask why this type of distortion occurrs among our students?" he said at a programme organised by the Basic Shiksha Parishad in Lucknow.

"We begin our work with pledge for the country's unity and integrity and today slogans are raised for the division of the nation. In such a situation, questions are raised over the role of teachers who are considered equal to god in society," he said.

"Who all are involved in this sin and chaos? Governments can provide resources, but the one who has given them basic education, who has given them secondary education and who has led them to that place, all of them should evaluate their actions today," the chief minister said.

Speaking about the condition of education in the state when his government came to power three years ago, he said there was an atmosphere of chaos and anarchy in the state and the condition of basic education was very bad.

"The worst problem was that of proxy teachers. Our government started the process of prohibiting proxy teachers in the first phase," he said.

Adityanath said that a teacher is not just a government servant, but the fate of the nation. He said teachers should learn from Chanakya.

Had Chanakya confined himself to Nalanda University, he would not have been able to make India a superpower of the world during that period. Teachers will have to prepare themselves according to the challenges and need of society, he added.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 14: Only three fresh COVID-19 cases were reported in Kerala on April 13, while 19 confirmed patients, who were undergoing treatment, tested negative for the infection, according to the COVID-19 Outbreak Control and Prevention State Cell, Health and Family Welfare Department, Kerala government.

As of Monday evening, there are just 178 positive COVID-19 cases in the State.

Twelve patients from Kasargod district, three each from Pathanamthitta and Thrissur districts, and one from Kannur district are among those who have recovered from COVID-19 and tested negative.

To date, there have been a total of 378 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Kerala.
Meanwhile, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has demanded that State Relief Funds be made eligible for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funding by making changes to the Companies Act.

Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said, "The Government of Kerala is of the opinion that contributions to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Funds should be included as an eligible expenditure under CSR. In a federal setup, the Relief Funds set up by the States for a public purpose cannot be excluded from the eligibility criteria when the same is available for a Central Fund set up with similar objectives and aims."

The Kerala CM said that he has written to the Prime Minister in this regard urging him to make the necessary changes.

Vijayan once again reiterated the demand of the State government to bring back stranded Keralites from overseas and added that, "We will extend all possible help and support to the Pravasi Malayalees when they come back also including rehabilitation of those who would lose their jobs in the backdrop of the pandemic outbreak."

He added that a decision on extending the lockdown in the State will be taken after taking into account the decision of the Central government in the address by the Prime Minister scheduled for April 14.

United Nations, Jun 6: The COVID-19 pandemic, which has presented challenges for several nations, could be an “opportunity” for India to speed up the health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary healthcare, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said.

WHO Director-General Ghebreyesus was responding to a question on the COVID-19 situation in India, where the number of coronavirus cases are increasing rapidly. India went past Italy on Friday to become the sixth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic.

India saw a record single-day jump of 9,887 coronavirus cases and 294 deaths on Saturday, pushing the nationwide infection tally to 2,36,657 and the death toll to 6,642, according to the health ministry.

"Of course COVID is very unfortunate and it's challenging for many nations but we need to look for opportunities too. For instance for India, this could be an opportunity to speed up Ayushman Bharat, especially with a focus on primary health care. I know there is a very strong commitment from the government to speed up the implementation of Ayushman Bharat and with primary healthcare and community engagement, I think we can really turn the tide,” Ghebreyesus said during a press briefing in Geneva on Friday.

Ayushman Bharat is the world’s largest health insurance scheme and was launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2018. Last month, Modi had said that the number of people who have benefited from the scheme crossed the one crore-mark.

The scheme aims to cover more than 500 million beneficiaries and provide coverage of Rs 500,000 per family per year.

Referring to the Ayushman Bharat scheme, Ghebreyesus added that “using and speeding up what has started could actually help in India and that's what WHO was very appreciative by the way when Ayushman Bharat started. And this could be a very good opportunity actually to test that and speed up and use it to really fight this pandemic.”