Tendulkar, Rekha recommended for RS membership

Kochi, May 10: A total of 698 people who were evacuated from Maldives on INS Jalashwa, arrived here on Sunday around 9.30am (India time), said the Cochin Port officials. This operation is part of Indian Navy's 'Operation Samudra Setu'.

Another 121 from Lakshadweep also arrived at Mattanchery, near here. on MV Arabian Sea - a passenger/cargo ship sailing under the Indian Flag.

Samudrika Cruise Terminal has been opened up for handling the expatriates and Port has taken up necessary refurbishments consistent with the medical protocols.

#SamudraSetuMission #MoDAgainstCorona #bringhomeexpats
As #Kochi eagerly awaits their arrival, #INSJalashwa @indiannavy entering the scenic Ernakulam channel with 698 Indians from Maldives.@SpokespersonMoD @rajnathsingh @MOS_MEA @HCIMaldives @mygovindia pic.twitter.com/kk5rZyWMwf

— PRO Defence Kochi (@DefencePROkochi) May 10, 2020

The Cochin Port Trust officials said the first group of 698 persons evacuated from Maldives comprises 595 males and 103 females. Of this, 14 are children below 10 years and 19 pregnant women.

Among the 698 passengers, 440 are from Kerala, 156 from Tamil Nadu and the rest are from various states in the country.

Ernakulam district collector S. Suhas said all those from Tamil Nadu will be sent to their state in the bus.

The ship is berthed at BTP Jetty and the disembarkation procedures are being carried out at Samudrika Cruise Terminal. It will take around three hours for all the passengers to be cleared.

#SamudraSetuMission #MoDAgainstCorona #bringhomeexpats
Welcome Home!! #INSJalashwa with 698 Indians from Maldives entering #Kochi harbour. First glimpses!!@indiannavy @SpokespersonMoD @rajnathsingh @DefenceMinIndia @PMOIndia @MOS_MEA @MEAIndia @HCIMaldives pic.twitter.com/QW0FusiQUw

— PRO Defence Kochi (@DefencePROkochi) May 10, 2020

According to the protocols, all the Keralaites will be sent for 14 days institutional quarantine at their respective home districts.

Those who are having exemption from institutional quarantine have to be at home isolation.

Among the 121 who arrived on MV Arabian Sea from Lakshadweep include students and those Keralaites who work in the island.

The protocol for these 121 passengers is that since they have been checked there, all these people can go to their homes and be in isolation for 14 days.

The general guideline is if any one shows any symptoms of Covid-19, all such people will be directly sent to Covid hospitals, here.

The distance between Male and Kochi is 493 nautical miles and it began its voyage to Kochi on Friday evening.

INS Jalashwa is an Indian naval ship attached to the Eastern Naval Command. It was acquired from the United States and was commissioned in 2007.

INS Jalashwa has the capacity to accommodate 1000 troops, and comes equipped with extensive medical facilities, including four operation theatres, and a 12-bed ward facility.

New Delhi, Jun 8: Abortion access to around 1.85 million women was compromised across the country due to the nationwide restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, a study conducted by Ipas Development Foundation (IDF) revealed.

These abortions were compromised at all points of care, including public and private sector facilities and chemist outlets during 68-day lockdown and the first week of Unlock 0.1 period. The study assesses the near-term impact of COVID-19 on abortion access in India since March 25 when the lockdown was imposed across the country with the announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of novel coronavirus of COVID-19 pandemic.

It also highlights the need for a specially designed and integrated recovery plan for improving abortion services at facilities. The study estimates that access to abortion was highly compromised during lockdown 1 and 2 ( between March 25 and May 3) in which around 59 per cent of women seeking an abortion could not access the services.

However, with the Unlock phase or the recovery period as mentioned in the study starting on June 1, the situation is expected to improve - with 33 per cent abortions being compromised in 24 days. A huge number of women could not access safe abortion services during the lockdown, therefore it is extremely important that the healthcare system, public and private, is prepared to meet the needs of these women, the Ipas foundation says.

The model of the study strives to quantify the reduced access to abortions across three different points of care -public health facilities, private health facilities, and chemist outlets, said Vinoj Manning, CEO, Ipas Development Foundation in a statement.

"Majority of public health facilities and their staff are now focused on COVID-19 treatments and closures of private health facilities have compromised the access to safe abortions, which is a time-sensitive procedure."

He said that the study conducted by his foundation was to get a clearer picture of how COVID-19 restrictions have affected women seeking safe abortion services and what are the areas that would need focused efforts in the days to come.

Speaking on the methodology, Dr Sushanta Kumar Banerjee from Ipas Development Foundation said: "We conducted telephonic surveys and consulted with several experts from FOGSI leadership and social marketing organizations like PSI India Private Limited."

"After careful analysis of the data received from them, we have concluded that of the 3.9 million abortions that would have taken place in 3 months, access to around 1.85 million was compromised due to COVID-19 restrictions."

To facilitate the process Ipas Development Foundation has issued some initial recommendations which include: rapid mapping of facilities for first and second trimester abortions, assessing facilities' preparedness especially for second-trimester abortions, improving referral linkage and spread the word about the availability of the service, streamlining the supply chain for medical abortion drugs, and lastly including mechanisms to offset additional travel and out of pocket expenditures.

Ipas Development Foundation will be holding consultations with other partners and key stakeholders to facilitate meaningful collaborations to ensure access to safe abortions and ensure that no woman suffers long-term harm to her health due to lack of services.

New Delhi, Feb 20: Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress leader Sachin Sawant on Thursday said that the same BJP who tried to pressurise government lawyers so that the accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case, Samjhauta express case can be let off are now demanding that there should be a re-investigation in the 26/11 terror attacks, this is the biggest irony.

"By demanding that the case be re-investigated the BJP which gave a ticket to Pragya Thakur who was accused in the Malegaon blast case, has insulted all those brave police, the army who fought bravely. BJP should apologise to all those people," he said.

"If the BJP were serious about re-investigating the case why didn't they do it when they were in power in the state and the Centre? Was the government sleeping for the last five years? asked Maharashtra Congress committee's general secretary, Sachin Sawant.

"Rather than this, the BJP should ask for a fair inquiry in the incident where a Kashmir police officer Davindar Singh was caught in the company of terrorists and also, the role of the Sangh Parivar in the Malegaon Blasts," said Sawant.

Sawant said that BJP has crossed all limits while lying and it has stooped to the lowest levels of political discourse and is not thinking twice before defaming the Opposition.

In the book written by the retired police officer Rakesh Maria doesn't have anything other than what was there in the charge sheet on Ajmal Kasab. In his confession, Kasab has said that he was given an ID card with a Hindu name and also a red coloured thread by the Lashkar-e-taiba.

Because of this forged identity, they would be able to dodge the police. All these details have been clearly mentioned in the Kasab's confession.

Maria has mentioned in his book that if Kasab was not caught alive, the media would have declared him as a Hindu. Maria hasn't said that there was any kind of government pressure or any other conspiracy behind it. He was only talking about the media and also given all the details in the charge sheet. The BJP is only using this as a political tool in their low-class politics.

The leader added that, "The letter written by BJP MLA Atul Bhatkhalkar to CM Uddhav Thackeray has crossed all limits of lying. The Congress government in Maharashtra had formed a committee under retired home secretary Ram Pradhan to probe the 26/11 attack."

On the basis of an interview given by Ram Pradhan to a national daily on the 10th anniversary of the 26/11, he has levelled baseless allegations on former Central Home minister P Chidambaram, he added.

Bhatkhalkar in his letter has said that Chidambaram had asked Ram Pradhan to not to disclose the local connection that was found in the conspiracy. In fact, there is no such mention in the interview given by Ram Pradhan. Pradhan has said in the interview that Chidambaram wanted to see the report. Hence along with the report, some sensitive information was sent to the department separately and those were overlooked. After some time news related to David Headley had surfaced.

Ram Pradhan committee was not set up by the Centre but was set up by the state government and so it was not mandatory for the Centre to inform Ram Pradhan whether cognisance was taken regarding the sensitive information.

"In was during the Congress government that the first terrorist was caught alive due to the bravery of the police force and after following all the due procedures a verdict to hang him was given," said Sawant..

"Everyone has appreciated India's legal system in which even a terrorist was allowed to give his side," he added.