Air India website puts flight chartered for BSF on 'sale'

Hyderabad, Apr 30: A 45-day-old baby boy, who tested positive for COVID-19 when he was 20-days-old, was discharged from a state-run hospital here on Wednesday after his full recovery.

The baby from Mahabubnagar, who contracted the infection from his father, was 20-days-old at the time of admission (on April 4), a COVID-19 bulletin said.

He was discharged after being cured, it said. The baby, probably the youngest to contract the infection in the country, was treated at the state-run Gandhi hospital in the city.

State Health Minister E Rajender expressed happiness over the baby being discharged after recovery.

An official release said 35 people were discharged today and 13 of them were children.

Those who were discharged thanked the doctors and medical personnel of the hospital and the minister has lauded the doctors and other medical staff for their efforts, it said.

Among those undergoing treatment at the hospital, 10 are being treated in the ICU.

Shirdi, Jan 19: Shirdi in Maharashtra will remain closed for an indefinite period from today in the wake of state Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's decision to develop Pathri town in Parbhani district as Sai Baba's birthplace.

However, Deepak Madukar Muglikar, Chief Executive Officer of Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, has said that Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi will remain open today and will not be impacted by the closure of the city.

"There are some reports in media that Sai Temple in Shirdi will remain closed on January 19. I want to clarify that it is just a rumor. Temple will remain open on January 19," Mr Muglikar said.

A call has been given for indefinite closure of Shirdi after Mr Thackeray's reported comment terming Pathri in Parbhani as Sai Baba's birthplace.

"Devotees will not face any difficulty if they come to Shirdi," said B Wakchaure, member of Saibaba Sansthan Trust.

Uddhav Thackeray has recently announced that Pathri will be developed as the birthplace of Sai Baba for religious tourism and also took a review meeting of the development plans in the Parbhani district.

One of the most popular religious destinations in the country, Saibaba Temple in Shirdi witnesses lakh of devotees visiting the holy site every year.

Hyderabad, Apr 12: Indicating that prolonged lockdown to contain coronavirus spread may lead to job cuts in the Indian IT industry, NASSCOM former president R Chandrashekhar has said that the work-from-home culture may become a positive development in the long run as it opens up newer avenues and save investments by IT firms.

The former bureaucrat also said startups which are surviving on funds infused by venture capitalists may face tougher situations if the present scenario deteriorates.

"The larger companies may not be actually cutting jobs for two reasons. One is that they do not want to lose their employees and they have money to pay. Many of them ( big companies), even if they do shed some jobs it might be at the most people who are on temporary or intern type and all. But they would not want regular and permanent employees to go. So as long as they have sufficient flexibility in their books, they would continue," said NASSCOM former president.

"But beyond a point that it goes on, for let us say, two months or three months, then even for them, they will feel the pressure. They may not just keep on providing subsidies to the employees. So the key question will be how long that goes on," Chandrasekhar said.

He also said the work-from-home systems being adopted by several firms across the globe, including India, may have a negative impact on the industry in the short-term, but in the long run it would change the work culture which hitherto was not experienced by many of the IT firms in India.

 On impact of the prolonged lockdown on startups, he said it would be a big challenge for the budding enterprises as the investments they get are based on their ideas and future revenues and the present situation under which peoples movement is curbed may shackle their progress.

 "Where will they (startups) get money to pay salaries to their employees. Venture capital investors would not pay the money or invest their money to pay salaries because they are not in the charity business."

If the employees are not paid and if they leave and it is difficult for the startup againto come up. So the whole investment plan goes for a toss, he said.

Former chairman of NASSCOM, B V R Mohan Reddy said a clear picture as to what is going to happen has not yet emerged as the situation with all respects is still evolving. Reddy said there will be a demand shrinkage for the IT industry as the entire world is under stress. "There is no economy in this world that is going to do well in this situation.

So, therefore, there will be a demand shrinkage, he said, indicating tougher times of the industry ahead.