• Ram Mandir Vyavastha

1. Ram mandir construction to begin after Sept 17’: Temple trust general secy

Key points:

1. Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s general secretary Champat Rai has said that the construction of the Ram mandir at Ayodhya would begin after September 17 after the fortnight-long ‘pitru paksha’ ends. Pitru Paksh refers to the period when Hindus express gratitude to their ancestors.
2. The construction company has sourced machines from Mumbai and is in the process of sourcing machines from Hyderabad. To start with, the Trust is expected to engage around 100 labourers to lay the foundation of the temple.

 (Hindustan Times, 5 September 2020) News Link

• National Eductaion Policy 2020

1. Gujarat Will Be First To Roll Out National Education Policy 2020: CM Vijay Rupani

Key points:

1. Gujarat aims to be the first state in India to implement National Education Policy 2020 and will soon set up a task force to chart a roadmap for it, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said
2. The new National Education Policy has been translated into Gujarati, and a task force is being formed to make a roadmap for Gujarat soon.
3. On the basis of this roadmap, the state will make drastic changes in education—right from primary to secondary and higher education, and from kindergarten to postgraduation

(Bloomberg Quint, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Bihar

1. Bihar conducts record number of over 1.50 lakh tests in last 24 hours; recovery rate improves to 88 pct

Key points:

1. Bihar conducted a record number of tests on one lakh 50 thousand 195 of samples for Coronavirus infection during the last 24 hours.
2. This is the highest number of tests in a day so far.  Over 37 lakh 21 thousand tests have been conducted in the state so far.

(News on Air, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Tamil Nadu

1. COVID-19: Tamil Nadu govt enhances penalties for violation of mandatory safety protocols

Key points:

1. The TN Government has enhanced penalties for violation of the mandatory safety protocols. It comes in the wake of the opening of almost all economic activities and intra-state travel
2. The Unlock-4 removes almost all the restrictions in Tamil Nadu to help the public to resume their economic activities. However, it also necessitates ensuring compliance of the safety protocols and the standard operating procedures so that the pandemic situation does not go out of hands.
3. Keeping this in mind, the penalty for not wearing a mask while coming out has been enhanced to two hundred rupees.
4. A government order issued yesterday says non-observance of social distancing, spitting in public places and failure to follow guidelines in containment zones by individuals will attract a fine of 500 rupees.
5. Violations by commercial establishments and entry of vehicles in containment zones will attract a penalty of five thousand rupees. The increased penalty is aimed at ensuring public safety, say the authorities, as lowering the bar on safety precautions would perhaps be self-deceptive.

(News on Air, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Covid-19 control strategy now shifted from lockdown restrictions to containment management: Tamil Nadu Chief Secy

Key points:

1. The state Chief Secretary K.Shanmugam has said the government driven testing, isolation and treating strategy in Covid-19 management is being replaced by the same initiatives driven by the public.
2. In his letter to the district collectors he has emphasised that providing adequate facilities for testing and treatment both in private and government facilities should be the focus.
3. He has asked them to be prepared to relocate Covid Care Centres from colleges to other places, as they are likely to be reopened in future.
4. It is also stressed that close monitoring of biomedical waste disposal is important.
5. Special teams are asked to be formed to monitor if safety measures are followed in offices and workplaces properly.
6. The Chief Secretary has also asked the civic bodies and the police to enforce strict discipline saying the next two to three months are very critical in Covid-19 management as vaccines are not available yet.

(News on Air, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Uttar Pradesh

1. UP CM stresses need for effective management of door to door survey, contact tracing, increasing corona testing amid spike in cases

Key points:

1. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has stressed the need for effective management of door to door survey, contact tracing and increasing medical testing for Corona in the state.
2. CM has directed special attention and sent an expert- team to Lucknow, Kanpur and Varanasi districts where cases of Corona infection are at high.

(News on Air, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Centre

1. ICMR issues new guidelines allowing testing on demand for COVID-19

Key points:

1. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued a new advisory on Covid-19 testing strategy, allowing testing on demand for individuals.
2. It has also advised testing on demand for all individuals undertaking travel to countries or Indian states mandating a negative Covid-19 test at the point of entry.
3. It said the state governments can simplify the modalities to facilitate testing on demand. The ‘Advisory on Strategy for Covid-19 Testing in India’ (version -6) said, it may be modified as per discretion of State Health authorities.

(News on Air, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Centre asks Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to take rigorous measures to break COVID transmission chain

Key points:

1. The Centre today exhorted the States of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to focus on undertaking aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and to ensure that the mortality is kept below 1 per cent.
2. They have been advised to proactively ensure higher testing, effective clinical management to lower fatality and save lives along with efficient monitoring at various levels.
3. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka account for about 46 per cent of the active cases and nearly 52 percent of the fatality cases reported nationally in the last 24 hours.
4. The Union Home Ministry also highlighted the districts of concern in each of these states. Of the total deaths in the country due to COVID-19, 70 per cent are recorded in just five States of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi and Andhra Pradesh.

(News on Air, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Karnataka

1. ICMR issues new guidelines allowing testing on demand for COVID-19

Key points:

1. District In-Charge Minister S T Somashekar has instructed the Mysuru city officials to be more vigilant to bring down the virus cases in the city, which has been the second most affected city after Bengaluru.
2. Speaking at the review meeting here, he said that there was complaint on the cleanliness of the hospitals.
3. More cautions on those who have taking home isolations and there should not be any complaint about the treatments of these patients. All private hospitals should abide by the government guidelines only and no patient should not be denied the beds, if they violated it, actions should be taken against them, he said.

(UNI, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Punjab

1. Punjab govt to give free food packets for poor families in home isolation

Key points:

1. The Chief Minister said the distribution of free food packets would help encourage poor families to go for early testing, which was imperative to check the spread of the pandemic and control the increasing fatality rate in Punjab.
2. The programme will start from Patiala, one of the worst affected districts with widespread false propaganda, the Chief Minister said and directed other districts to make similar arrangements for distribution of free food packets to poor Covid patients in home isolation so that they get motivated to come out for testing and do not live in fear of losing their earnings during isolation.

(UNI, 5 September 2020) News Link

• Measures taken by Chattigarh

1. Medical advice to patients for home isolation at Rs 2500 in Chhattisgarh

Key points:

1. The Asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic COVID-19 patients undergoing treatment in home isolation will be provided medical advice through video calls or tele-advice at Rs 2500 for ten days in Chhattisgarh.
2. Asymptomatic COVID-19 patients and those having mild symptoms of this disease in the state are willing to undergo treatment while being at home isolation.
3. After discussion with health department at the meeting, the IMA representatives have agreed to provide medical advice through video call or tele-advice at Rs 2500 for ten days.
4. They said that it would be compulsory for the doctors and patients to follow guidelines issued time to time over home isolation by ICMR and health and family welfare department of the state government.

(UNI, 5 September 2020) News Link