Bengaluru, Apr 22: In order to infuse confidence among people to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Karnataka government on Wednesday launched a helpline 'Apthamitra' with an exclusive toll free number and a mobile app, aimed at providing required medical advice and guidance for those in need.
The help line and app was launched by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in the presence of senior Ministers and officials of the department.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Yediyurappa said that the help line was need at this crucial juncture. “If anyone has symptoms of Coronavirus, they can call the helpline from their home, get medical advice or assistance and get their doubts cleared.
People who call to know the symptoms, an expert team of doctors will advice on what to do next.”
Bengaluru, May 20: Ride-sharing company Ola Cabs said on Wednesday it will lay off 1,400 of its employees due to business uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic while the revenue has come down by 95 per cent in the past two months.
"The COVID crisis continues to unfold all around us causing unprecedented economic and social destruction. It has also become evident that the coronavirus will not be eliminated any time soon," wrote co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal to all Ola employees.
"In these circumstances, today I write to all of you with the toughest decision I have ever taken -- the need to downsize our organisation and let go of 1,400 of our valued employees," he said.
Aggarwal said the fallout of virus has been very tough for the cab aggregating industry in particular. "The company's revenue has come down by 95 per cent over the past two months," he said.
Initially, he said, the company hoped it would be a short-lived crisis and that its impact would be temporary. "But unfortunately, it is not been a short crisis. And the prognosis ahead for our business is very unclear and uncertain. It is going to take a long time for people to go out and about like before."
With more companies preferring to have a large number of employees work from home, air travel limited to essential trips and vacations being put off for better times, the impact of this crisis is definitely going to be long-drawn, said Aggarwal.
"The world is not going to revert to the pre-COVID era anytime soon. Social distancing, anxiety and an abundance of caution will be the operating principles for everyone," he told employees.
Aggarwal said the crisis necessitates the need to conserve cash aggressively so that Ola is able to invest in opportunities in the future, adding the downsizing exercise has been a very tough and sad decision for the management team to make.
"While we restructure our organisation to the new realities of our business, we are also going to recommit ourselves to strengthening our operational excellence and leverage a lot more technology to improve efficiencies and reduce cost across all parts of our business," he said.
New Delhi, Jan 27: Non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will have to provide proofs of their religious beliefs while applying for Indian citizenship under the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAA), officials said on Monday.
The applicants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain or Parsi faiths will also have to furnish documents to prove that they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
Those who will seek Indian citizenship under the CAA will have to provide proofs of their religious beliefs and this will be mentioned in the rules to be issued under the CAA, a government official said.
According to the CAA, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants and will be given Indian citizenship.
The central government is also likely to give a relatively smaller window of just three months to those who want to apply for Indian citizenship in Assam under the CAA, another official said.
Some Assam-specific provisions are expected to be incorporated in the rules to be issued for the implementation of the CAA.
Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had made a request about a fortnight ago to keep a limited period window for applying under the CAA and also incorporate some other Assam-specific provisions in the CAA rules.
The move comes in view of continuing protests against the CAA in Assam that have been going on since the legislation was passed by Parliament in December last year.
There has been a growing feeling among the indigenous people of Assam that the newly enacted legislation will hurt their interests politically, culturally as well as socially.
The Assam Accord provides for detection and deportation of all illegal immigrants who have entered the country after 1971 and are living in the state, irrespective of their religion.
The protesters in Assam say that the CAA violates the provisions of the Assam Accord.
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We are already facing lot of problems here without food and money.
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