The Evening Wrap Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying home and staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: Amphan destruction The casualties due to Super Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal have risen to 72, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said today. Of these, 15 were from Kolkata, she added. Banerjee, who met with government officials to assess the damage, said she had never seen such a disaster in her life. “I haven't seen such a disaster in my entire life. I will ask the Prime Minister to visit the State and see for himself,” she said. Banerjee said Home Minister Amit Shah had called her to speak about the enormity of the disaster. The havoc wreaked by the cyclone has thrown into further turmoil the prospects of migrant workers who had already lost their jobs during the lockdown. Train bookings resume Two big updates with regard to travel, starting with the railways. Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said booking of train tickets will resume from Friday. The tickets will be sold at 1.7 lakh common service centres across the country. Common service centres are physical facilities for delivering e-services of the government at rural and remote locations where availability of computers and internet is negligible or absent. They are one-stop establishments where people can apply for an Aadhar card, open a bank account, and make bill payments for utilities, among other things. Goyal also said that within 2.5 hours of opening bookings for the 100 pairs of special trains that will run from June 1, nearly 4 lakh passengers have booked tickets. People have also started booking return tickets to come back to work, he said. Flight operations: Cap on fares The Ministry of Civil Aviation has finalised guidelines for flight operations, which are due to begin from May 25, in a phased manner. There will be no physical check-in at airports. Airlines will ensure that passengers check-in online or through telephone. They can submit their details either on the Aarogya Setu app or in a self-declaration form, according to sources. The airlines will provide a safety kit, which will include a mask, hand sanitiser, and a face shield. Passengers will be allowed to carry only one hand baggage, and one checked-in baggage, weighing up to 20 kg. No meals will be served in-flight. Passengers will not be allowed to consume eatables inside the aircraft. Cabin crew will wear personal protective gear, including a full-body gown, shoe cover, mask, and a pair of gloves. Steps have been taken to keep prices under control for the first three months, according to Minister for Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri. “In the case of Delhi-Mumbai flights, ₹3,500 will be the minimum fare, and maximum will be ₹10,000,” he said at a press conference. “This will be operative till one minute to midnight on August 24,” he added. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments India’s coronavirus tally stood at 1,13,579 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 3,460. The Health Ministry, which is holding press briefings after more than a week, said the mortality rate for Covid-19 cases in India was 3.06%, as against the global average of 6.65%. It credited the low mortality rate to timely identification of cases and proper clinical management. The Ministry released some more statistics. A gender-wise break-up of the deaths showed that 64% of the fatalities were male, while the remaining 36% was female. About 0.5% of the deaths were of patients less than 15 years old, 2.5% were of people 15 to 30 years old, 11.4% were in the 30 to 45 years age group, 35.1 percent between 45-60 years, and 50.5 percent of the fatalities were of people above 60 years. Nyay scheme in Chhattisgarh Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay scheme in Chhattisgarh through video conferencing. It was also a tribute to the former prime minister on his death anniversary. She said the scheme will transform the lives of farmers and help them become self-reliant. “This is a revolutionary scheme, and a true tribute to Rajiv Gandhi,” she said. In Brief: The Delhi High Court has decided that from Friday, all its judges will sit everyday to take up “urgent matters of all kinds” via video conferencing. The high court and the lower courts had together taken up 20,726 urgent matters during the Covid-19-related lockdown, from March 24 to May 19. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. |
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