Indians set for smallest salary rise this year

Kochi, Apr 16: As many as 268 British citizens stranded in Kerala due to the nationwide lockdown were airlifted by British Airways on Wednesday from Thiruvananthapuram and Cochin International Airports.

The flight took off from Thiruvananthapuram to London's Heathrow Airport with 110 passengers at 7.30 pm. Later, 158 more passengers boarded the flight from Cochin airport at 10.07 pm.
A medical team, including four doctors, screened the passengers at the Thiruvananthapuram airport before they boarded the flight.

Earlier this month, the first charter flight from India reached London's Stansted with 317 British nationals on board from Goa.

The British government had earlier announced the operation of 19 chartered flights to evacuate its nationals who are stranded in India amid travel restrictions owing to the coronavirus crisis.

Kochi, Jan 22: The Left front government in Kerala on Monday decided to inform the Centre it would not cooperate with the updation of the NPR, saying there were fears among the public about the process and it has the "Constitutional responsibility" to alleviate them and ensure law and order.

A special cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan here, decided to inform the Registrar General and Census Commissioner under the Union Home Ministry that it was unable to cooperate with anything with regard to the updation of the NPR.

"The decision was taken as it was the Constitutional responsibility of the government to alleviate the fears of general public and ensure law and order situation in the state," a Chief Minister's Office release said.

However, the state would fully cooperate with the census procedures, it said.

The LDF government, which has been on a warpath against the Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Act, has last month stayed all activities related to updation of NPR, considering 'apprehensions' of public that it would lead to NRC in the wake of the controversial CAA.

"As the NPR is a process that leads to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), there is a sense of fear among the people that its implementation could lead to widespread insecurity", the CMO release said on Monday.

The experience of the state which had already compiled the NRC was an example for this, it added, in apparent reference to Assam.

Kerala had already stopped all procedures regarding the NPR updation, the release said adding there was also a report of the state police that the if the government went ahead with the procedures, it would adversely impact the law and order situation.

The district collectors have also informed the government that the Census procedures would be affected if the updation of the NPR was done along with it, the CMO release said.

The CPI(M)-led LDF government had recently convened a meeting of political parties and socio-religious organisations here on December 29 in the wake of the concerns among people in various stratas of the society, it said.

A special assembly session was convened and a resolution was passed requesting the Centre not to implement the CAA and the government had also approached the apex court against the law, it added.

New Delhi, Jun 23: "Coming up with a clinically tested, evidence-based medicine was a challenge," said Yoga Guru Ramdev as on Tuesday he launched Patanjali's Coronil tablet, which he claims is a cure for COVID-19. He also talked about various other immunity boosters at an event here during the launch.

Patanjali claims those administered the medicine were fully cured and none died. Ramdev even claimed that 69 per cent of them recovered within 3 days.

"We appointed a team of scientists after COVID-19 outbreak," said Balkrishna, Ramdev's close aide and MD of Patanjali Ayurved. He added that Patanjali conducted a clinical case study on hundreds of positive patients.

Patanjali has claimed that the clinical trials which were controlled in nature, was jointly conducted by Patanjali Research Institute which is based out of Haridwar and the National Institute of Medical Sciences, Jaipur.

Talking about the clinical trials, Ramdev said, "Under this 280 patients were included and 100 per cent of those recovered." He added they were able to control Coronavirus and its complications.

He said that in the next few days, data of the trail will be released as evidence to bolster claims. There are now over 9 million people affected by the pandemic since it broke out in China's Wuhan city in December 2019.

He said Ayurvedic elements are being used in the tablet. "There are more than 100 compounds used in the Coronil," he added. An entire kit is being made for that which consists of other Ayurvedic medicine as well which helps in immunity. The entire kit comes at Rs 600. However, he claimed that it will be given for free to those living below the poverty line.

As for doses, Panajali prescribes: "2-2 tablets should be consumed with hot water half an hour after meals. The above mentioned drug intake and quantity is suitable for people between 15 to 80 years of age. Half the amount of the above mentioned medicines can be used for children between the age of 6 to 14 years." These are the written instructions on the pack.

India has been battling the pandemic with close to 4 lakh cases in India on Tuesday and around 14,000 deaths so far.