Bombs, weapons seized near BJP office; 1 Sangh Parivar activist held, many escape

Bengaluru, May 26: Ministers of the central government or state governments or officers on their official duty, who are travelling across states, will be exempted from requirements of quarantine, the Karnataka government said on Monday.

The state government issued an addendum to Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for inter-state passengers.

"Any person who gets a negative COVID test certificate (from ICMR approved lab) which is not more than two days old from the date of journey will be exempted from the requirement of institutional quarantine," read the addendum.

The state government has laid down new norms for those coming from other states (including those coming by domestic air flights).

Passengers coming from 'high prevalence states' (Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh) would be required to undergo a seven-day "institutional quarantine", which will be followed by home quarantine.

The new norms also said that home quarantine of 14 days would be necessary for the passengers coming from other states.

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 3: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday wrote letters to 11 Chief Ministers including Arvind Kejriwal--Delhi and Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal-- pointing out apprehensions that had arisen among large sections of society consequent to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) - 2019.

In his letter, the Chief Minister said "the need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism."

People from various cross-sections of the society irrespective of any difference they might have, need to stand united in preserving the basic tenets of our polity which form the cornerstone of Indian democracy, he added.

"We are sure that our unity in diversity, which has stood the test of times will ultimately emerge stronger. Kerala has decided to address the apprehensions about NRC and that preparation of NPR will lead to NRC by staying all activities relating to NPR in the State," Mr Vijayan said.

In this regard, the Kerala Legislative Assembly had passed the resolution on December 31, 2019, expressing its concern regarding the impact the CAA will have on the nation's secular credentials, he said.

"The resolution requested the Central Government to repeal the CAA, 2019. States, which have the opinion that CAA should be repealed can also consider similar steps so that it will be an eye-opener to the proponents of the CAA and the NRC," the Chief Minister pointed out.