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: Flights resume amid confusion Domestic flights resumed operations today after a period of two months, but things didn’t quite go like clockwork. Several flights were cancelled in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities, including Bangalore. Passengers complained that the flights were cancelled without them being given prior notice. The airport also witnessed long queues due to delay in operations and screening. Around 80 flights to and from Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport were cancelled on Day 1 of resumption. Also, those who did manage to take flights out today would have done so amid continuing uncertainty about the protocols at their destinations. While some states have said they won’t let travellers in, others are formulating rules about whether they would compulsorily quarantine passengers upon landing. Several of the cancellations today were reportedly on account of some states informing the Centre that they will not be able to operate the flights that had been agreed upon earlier. Nepal criticises Indian Army chief speech The Indian Army chief’s comments on the Kalapani dispute has hurt the sentiments of Nepali Gurkhas, who have a long tradition of sacrifice for India, Nepal’s Defence Minister Ishwor Pokhrel said on Monday. In an interview to online news outlet The Rising Nepal, he said General Manoj Naravane’s indirect reference to a Chinese hand behind the diplomatic spat was “condemnable” and the Nepal army would fight if necessary. “With this, the Indian Chief of the Army Staff has also hurt the sentiments of the Nepali Gurkha army personnel who lay down their lives to protect India. It must now be difficult for them to stand tall in front of the Gurkha forces,” he said. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The total number of positive coronavirus cases reported from India at the time of publishing this newsletter is 143,879, with the death toll at 4,143. Cases are piling up at an alarming rate in Tamil Nadu, which reported 805 new positive cases on Monday, and 7 deaths. Meanwhile, with incoming travellers, a third wave of sorts, albeit not serious yet, is hitting Kerala, with 49 new cases being reported today. Permission needed for U.P. labour Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said today that any state government that wants to employ migrant workers from his state will have to seek permission first. Though he did not elaborate on how this monitoring and permission mechanism might work once the lockdown is lifted, he did say that the U.P. government would form a migrants' commission to help workers get employment within the state. “I have instructed my officers that there should be a commission made to get them employment within Uttar Pradesh itself,” Yogi Adityanath said during an online interaction with the media. “If some other state wants this manpower, we will give them insurance and social security. But that state will not be able to take people from here without our permission because of the way our people have been treated in other states,” he added. Locusts attack on U.P. The Uttar Pradesh government has declared a state-wide alert after a massive swarm of locusts invaded farm lands in several districts. Following Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh is the third state to have been affected by locusts. We had reported earlier on April 25 that amid the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s response to natural disasters is expected to be tested again this summer when a giant locust storm from the Horn of Africa is expected to attack farmlands in South Asia. Balbir Singh Sr, hockey legend, dies One of India’s greatest hockey players, three-time Olympic gold medal winner Balbir Singh Sr died in Chandigarh today. He had been battling multiple health issues for over two weeks. He is survived by his daughter and three sons. Balbir Sr was the only Indian among 16 legends chosen by the International Olympic Committee across modern Olympic history. He holds the record for most goals scored by an individual in the men’s hockey final of the Olympics, which still remains unbeaten. In Brief: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Centre and national carrier Air India to keep operating its scheduled flights with the middle seats filled for a period of ten days, till June 6. It also observed that the government should be concerned more about the health of passengers than that of commercial airlines. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has informed the trade unions of India that its Director-General has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “send a clear message” to the Centre as well as to State governments to uphold international labour laws. Following the recent dilution of labour laws by several states, a group of 10 central trade unions had written to the ILO on May 14, seeking its intervention to protect workers’ rights and international labour standards. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
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