Reject BJP, it’s playing the politics of lies; I was a fool to believe in Modi: Jethmalani

Bengaluru, Feb 5: New Tulu movie Pingara has bagged the NETPAC International Jury Award at the 12th edition of Bengaluru International Film Festial (BIFFes) on Wednesday.

Written and directed by Preetham R Shetty, the movie revolves around people who worship daivas (spirits) of Tulu Nadu.

The narrative goes back and forth in time, to tell the story of a family to Sinchana (Chaitanya Chandramohan), a journalist from Bengaluru who visits a village in Tulu Nadu to ‘write on Tulu culture.’

The film speaks about the caste system in Tulu Nadu and the struggle for land in the post-independence period.

Bengaluru, May 1: As Mumbai link surfacing in some COVID-19 cases in Mandya district in Karnataka, JDS leader and former chief minister H D Kumaraswamy on Friday blamed the district administration for the situation, accusing it of not quarantining 7,000 labourers who 'returned' from the Maharashtra capital.

"The information we have is that there are about 16,000 labourers from Mandya were working in Mumbai of which 7,000 people reached the district. None of them was quarantined properly," Kumaraswamy told reporters in Bengaluru.

He claimed the district, a stronghold of JDS, was staring at a major spurt in cases due to the careless attitude of the district administration. "Government should initiate action against those who are responsible for the laxity," he said.

However, he did not specify when the 7,000 workers returned to Mandya. When asked about Kumaraswamy's claim, officials said they have to verify it. Of the eight cases reported from Mandya on Friday, three had a travel history to Mumbai, a major COVID-19 hotspot in the country, officials said.

A Health Department official said four of the fresh cases were contacts of a patient who tested positive on April 8 and admitted to a hospital. After weeks of coming in contact with him, the four were confirmed for COVID-19, an official said. The Three people with travel history to Mumbai had, in fact, brought the body of a man who died of a heart attack there on April 24, the official added.

Kochi, May 8: Five people, who were among 181 individuals evacuated from Abu Dhabi, have been sent to the isolation ward of the district hospital after they displayed symptoms of coronavirus during thermal screening.

The first repatriation Air India Express flight with 181 individuals from Abu Dhabi landed at Cochin International Airport here on Thursday.

Among the returnees, 49 women were pregnant and four were children. They have been home-quarantine.

Meanwhile, the rest have been taken to quarantine centres in their respective districts.

The Air India Express flight IX452 to Kochi with 177 passengers and four infants took off from Abu Dhabi International Airport and touched down at Kochi post 10 pm.

The government has made it mandatory for foreign returnees to be quarantined for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional quarantine on payment-basis, by the concerned state government.

A COVID-19 test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols.

India on Monday began phased repatriation of its citizens stranded abroad due to coronavirus lockdown.

The government said that Air India will operate 64 flights from May 7 to May 13 to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Starting from 7 May, 64 flights will take off for 12 countries including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives, Singapore and the US.