Patanjali to root out foreign products from India in 10 years: Baba Ramdev

Bengaluru, Jul 4: A young woman doctor at the Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru, who had raised an alarm about faulty PPE kits and shortage of N95 masks, has tested positive for the covid-19.

Taking note of this, Mysuru-Kodagu MP Pratap Simha brought the issue to the attention on Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Twitter. Tagging the minister, the MP tweeted, “For your information and I feel, it is a genuine concern.” “Amulya Gowda treated Covid patients at KIMS.

Karnataka Medical Association took to social media to express concern over the development. In a Facebook post it wrote: "Amulya C Gowda is a frontline worker who risks her life every single day. Last week she raised an alarm about faulty PPE kits and shortage of N-95 masks. But the Administrative Medical Officer (AMO) at KIMS, shunned and chastised her for raising this issue. Ever since, she has been buying her own N-95 masks. Today, she tested positive for Covid-19 and appealed to the Hospital authorities and raised her genuine concerns over the faulty protective gear, but she was again harassed and humiliated for raising the issue."

Dr DH Ashwath Narayana, Medical Superintendent, KIMS Hospital, said that all PPE kits at KIMS were certified by SITRA (South India Textiles Research Association), Coimbatore and that they had purchased N-95 masks available in the market. "One cannot claim faulty PPEs are the reason for testing positive. We have purchased whatever PPE kits are available in the market. Healthcare workers across hospitals, private and government, and policemen are also getting infected."

As the new rules by the state government allow healthcare workers home isolation, Narayana said the doctor is recuperating at home and that she is doing fine.

Medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar tweeted, "Doctors are our frontline warriors battling the pandemic. Government has taken all necessary measures to ensure safety of our doctors. I have taken note of supply of defective masks and PPE kits to KIMS doctors and ordered an enquiry. Management will be held responsible if found guilty."

Varanasi, Feb 17: For the first time, the Indian Railways has reserved a seat for a deity on a train. The national transporter, which launched its third IRCTC operated train named Kashi Mahakal Express from Varanasi to Indore, has reserved a seat for Lord Mahakal (Lord Shiva) on board.

Speaking to media, Northern Railway spokesperson Deepak Kumar said: "It is for the first time that a seat has been left reserved for a deity."

"One seat in Kashi Mahakal Express (seat number 64 in B5 coach) has been left reserved for Lord Shiva," he said.

"Even a temple has been drawn on the seat to make people aware that the seat is reserved for Lord Mahakal," he said.

IRCTC's Director, Tourism, Rajni Hasija said that the practice would continue beyond the inaugural run.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the Kashi Mahakal Express via video conferencing from Varanasi, where he is all launched several projects worth Rs 1,250 crore during the day's visit to his parliamentary constituency.

The third IRCTC train, after the two Tejas Express trains on New Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad routes, the Kashi Mahakal Express will connect three places -- Jyotirlinga-Omkareshwar (near Indore), Mahakaleshwar (Ujjain) and Kashi Vishwanath (at Varanasi).

Also connecting the industrial and educational hub of Indore, with Bhopal, the train will begin its commercial run from February 20.

"The Kashi Mahakal Express will operate three days in a week and it will be a bi-weekly service through the Sultanpur-Lucknow route and a weekly service via the Prayagraj route," Kumar said.

Elaborating on the two routes from which the train will pass every week, Hasija said: "Once the new train starts its regular run from this week, it will depart from Varanasi at 2.45 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday to reach Indore at 9.40 a.m. on Wednesday and Friday.

Similarly, the train will start from Indore at 10.55 a.m. every Wednesday and Friday and will reach Varanasi at 6.00 a.m. the next day. This train will have stoppages at Ujjain, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur and Sultanpur stations in both directions.

Meanwhile, in the weekly service via Prayagraj route, the Kashi Mahakal Express will depart from Varanasi at 3.15 p.m. every Sunday to reach Indore at 9.40 a.m. the next day. On the other way, it will depart from Indore at 10.55 a.m. every Monday and reach Varanasi at 5 a.m. the next day.

"This train will halt at Ujjain, Sant Hirdaram Nagar, Bina, Jhansi, Kanpur and Allahabad stations in both directions," Kumar said.

Explaining the fares of the Kashi Mahakal Express, Hasija said, "Kashi Mahakal Express will follow a dynamic fare structure like the other two Tejas Express trains."

One-way journey from Varnasi to Indore will cost Rs 1,951, inclusive of four meals.

According to the IRCTC officials, the Indore-Varanasi Kashi Mahakal Express will be the first private train that will run overnight and for a comfortable long distance journey, will feature a host of facilities. The IRCTC will serve vegetarian food, and provide housekeeping services, on-board security services and bedrolls.

The IRCTC officials said that passengers will also get complementary insurance of Rs 10 lakh.

The train will have an advance reservation period of 120 days and will only have the general and foreign tourist quotas. The current booking will be available to the passengers on the platform itself after preparation of first chart, four hours to five minutes before the scheduled departure of the train.

To facilitate travel for pilgrims, the IRCTC is also introducing special tour packages for passengers who want to see the pilgrim centres enroute. The tour options are; Mahakal Darshan (Ujjain - Omkareshwar), Bhopal-Sanchi-Bhimbetka, Malwa Jyotrilinga Darshan (Ujjain-Omkareshwar- Maheshwar- Indore) and Bhopal-Sanchi-Bhimbetka-Ujjain. Other tour options include Kashi, Ayodhya and Prayag; Kashi Darshan; Kashi, Prayag, Ayodhya; Kashi and Prayag and only Kashi.

The train has silent features like CCTV cameras, which will be monitored online around the clock from the IRCTC centres, whereas for the first time the IRCTC has brought the marshals in the train for passengers safety and also to make people aware to not smoke inside the train as it has smoke and heat sensors installed in the coaches as well as in the bathroom. For the blind passengers, the train coaches have the seat numbers written in Braille, and the catering staff will be dressed in yellow kurta-pyjamas with a rudraksh malas on their necks to promote the train's theme.

Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Wednesday played down reports about confusion regarding valuation of Second Pre- University and the Secondary School Leaving Certificate exam papers.

"Creating confusion has become a habit. There was confusion before the exam, during the exam and now confusion about the valuation of the exam papers," Kumar told reporters in Ramanagara when asked about the confusion over the valuation of answer sheets.

He had gone there to inspect a few centres where the SSLC or the 10th standard exams are underway.

The minister reminded people not to speak about the abilities of the students with contempt.

"Our students have toiled hard and are enthusiastically appearing for the examination. They are eligible for the marks they will score. So we should not speak about our children with disrespect," Kumar said.

The Education Minister said he had spoken to many leaders including former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy on conducting the examinations.

"Kumaraswamy had insisted on postponing the examination. I personally spoke to him and apprised him about the steps taken by us. I told him that we will work with more sincerity to ensure the safety of the children," Kumar said.

The SSLC exam was scheduled to take place from March 27 but due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, it was postponed.

While the CBSE and a few other states either decided to give marks based on the students' performance in the previous examinations such as quarterly and half-yearly exams or gave general promotion to the students, Karnataka went ahead to hold the exam.

According to Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board officials, around 8.5 lakh students have enrolled this year for the SSLC examination.

The exams are being held at 2,879 exam centres across the state.

Prior to the SSLC examination, the last exam of the Second PUC was also conducted on June 18, which was also put on hold due to the lockdown.