Airlift 2: Vande Bharat and Samudra Setu missions

Vande Bharat Mission

It is one of the largest evacuation exercises since the 1990 Kuwait airlift (in which 1.7 lakh people from Kuwait were airlifted). In this mission the government will operate 64 flights from May 7 to 13 to bring home thousands of Indian nationals stranded abroad due to the coronavirus lockdown. 

• The government will facilitate the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner.
• Priority will be given to compelling cases in distress, including migrant workers, labourers who have been laid off and those faced with expiry of short term visas, persons with medical emergency, pregnant women, elderly, those required to return to India due to death of family member, and students.
• The government  will operate of 64 flights to bring back around 15,000 Indian nationals stranded abroad amid the Covid-19 lockdown. 
• Air India and its subidiary Air India Express will operate these flights.
• India will operate flights to following 12 countries 
1. the UAE (10 flights), 
2. the US  (7 flights), 
3. the UK (7 flights), 
4. Saudi Arabia (5 flights), 
5. Singapore (5 flights) 
6. Qatar (2 flights)
7. Malaysia 
8. Bangladesh, 
9. Kuwait 
10. Philippines, 
11. Oman and 
12. Bahrain.
• Approximately, 2,000 people be repatriated daily from abroad.
• Passengers will bear the cost of tickets.

Samudra Setu

It is the name of operation launched by the Indian Navy to repatriate Indian citizens from overseas. 

• Naval ships Jalashwa and Magar are enroute to the port of Male (Republic of Maldives) to evacuate people from May 8. 
• Only those who test Covid-19 negative would be allowed to travel.
• The evacuated personnel will be disembarked at Kochi and entrusted to the care of State authorities.
• This operation is being progressed in close coordination with Ministries of Defence, External Affairs, Home Affairs, Health and various other agencies of the Government of India and State governments.

Source: Indian Express

COVID-19: Measures and Mantras.

Aarogya Setu: Multilingual Mobile App.

• Object: alert a person wherever he comes close to COVID-19 infected person within a distance of 6 feet.
• Developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• It is a tracking app available on Google Play Store.
• It helps tracking coronavirus infection by using Smartphones GPS and Bluetooth system.
• App has access to government's database of known cases.
• Data of the person will be shared only with the government and not with 3rd parties.

Corona Kavach 

• An app to  map location of a COVID-19 positive patient through GPS.
• Alerts a person if he has crossed a Corona Positive patient.
• Jointly developed by MeitY and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

PM Modi's 7- point Mantras during lockdown extension.

1. Take care of the family members who have history of health issues and elderly.
2. Lock-down and social distancing must be strictly followed.
3. Follow AYUSH ministry's advisory in order to increase immunity.
4. Download Arogya setu App to stop spread of COVID-19. Encourage others to do so as well.
5. Try to help poor as much as possible.
6. Don't lay off employees during the lock-down.
7. Salute the COVID warriors and help them.

COVID-19: Technology at Service of Justice System

Case Name: IN RE: GUIDELINES FOR COURT FUNCTIONING THROUGH VIDEO. CONFERENCING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

Even as the world is going through turbulent situation, the institution of justice delivery system can never afforded to be brought to a halt. It has been rightly remarked by Martin Luther King Jr., 

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere".

Hence, the current situation calls for a robust justice delivery system across the world. In this regard, the Supreme Court of India has left no stone unturned to ensure speedy justice delivery to every segment of the society.

Guidelines:

Given that social distancing is the need of the hour to prevent communication of COVID-19, the apex court exercised its power under Article 142 (inherent powers) to balance the public health and justice delivery.

It issued a slew of guidelines to streamline functioning of courts via video conferencing during national lockdown.

These guidelines are:

1. The measures that have been and that shall be taken by this Court and by the High Courts, to reduce the need for the physical presence of all stakeholders within court premises and to secure the functioning of courts in consonance with social distancing guidelines and best public health practices shall be deemed to be lawful.
2. The Supreme Court of India and High Courts have been authorized to adopt measures required to ensure the robust functioning of the judicial system through the use of video conferencing technologies;
3. In light of the peculiarities of the judicial system in every state, every High Court is authorised to determine the modalities which are suitable to the temporary transition to the use of video conferencing technologies;
4. The concerned courts shall maintain a helpline to ensure that any complaint in regard to the quality or audibility of feed shall be communicated during the proceeding or immediately after its conclusion. No grievance can be raised afterwards. 
5. The District Courts in each State shall adopt the mode of Video Conferencing prescribed by the concerned High Court.
6. The Court shall duly notify and make available the facilities for video conferencing for such litigants who do not have the means or access to video conferencing facilities. 
7. Until appropriate rules are framed by the High Courts, video conferencing shall be mainly employed for hearing arguments whether at the trial stage or at the appellate stage. 
• But evidence shall not be recorded without the mutual consent of both the parties by video conferencing. 
• If it is necessary to record evidence in a Court room the presiding officer shall ensure that appropriate distance is maintained between any two individuals in the Court.

The Quarantined Deity.

 

A couple days back, our Prime Minister through an adress on national television announced a complete lock-down for 21 days to contain the mayhem caused by COVID-19. He even warned of consequences of violating it.

I agree that this was needed in the larger interest of public. There arise circumstances when fundamental rights of the citizens must be restricted in the interest of the public at large. As an old saying goes 'desperate times call for desperate measures'.
However, this measure was not intended to affect the supply of essential commodities and medicines. Also the essential services such as police, defence, postal services have been kept out of its purview. 

Why this CM sir?

If you go through the list of essential services, you won't be able to find visiting the temple in the list. But you will be surprised to know that when the entire nation was facing the curfew like situation and when many violators of the lock-down were being hit by lathis of police, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh took courage to visit the site designated for Ram Mandir. He was there to shift Lord Ramlalla within the temple site.

Was this the immunity or urgency? Immunity to CM sir that COVID-19, like other tragedies remains at an arms length from political big guns. 

Or the urgency to shift lord Ramlalla to a secure place away from the reach of the deadly virus.

Well the latter arguments holds strength in the light of the unanimous verdict of the apex court in the most highlighted dispute of the decade. By the end of 2019, the Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case was resolved, wherein a five-judge Supreme Court bench declared Ram Lalla as a juristic person.

It might be the case that having been recognised as a juristic person, CM sir would have been more cautious to quarantine Ramlalla else it might have adversely affected sentiments of the worshipers.  

Celebrity but not Immunity.

Few days back, famous Bollywood singer, Kanika Kapoor, known for her songs Baby Doll and Chittiyan Kaliyaan was in news again. But this time not for the launch of any new music album or song, rather for being tested positive for COVID-19 and for infecting others with same.

This happened, when she returned to Lucknow from London, perhaps not accompanied by anyone other than corona. She attended several parties including a lavish party at a five star hotel in Lucknow, which was attended by several bureaucrats and political big guns. Sources also claim that she hid her travel history from authorities. 

This landed her into a legal tussle after an FIR was filed againet her under Sections 188, 269, and 270 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) based on a complaint by the Chief Medical Officer of Lucknow on the ground that when the singer was screened at the Lucknow airport on March 14, "high viral load was detected". She was advised "home quarantine", but the advice was "disregarded".

Obviously, she denies the allegations. But whatever may have been the scenario, she stands responsible for being negligent and for infection cases that are likely to come because of her.

A different example.

While celebrities like Kanika fail to understand their responsibilities and consequences of such failure, there are several persons who paint a different picture. 

Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara and former Australia pacer Jason Gillespie, who returned from UK, are under self-quarantine. This despite the fact that they have not been found to have any symptom of the deadly virus. They are simply following the government guidelines for those recently returned from Europe, the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Probably, others will learn some lessons from them. Being a celebrity or a prominent public figure doesn't imply immunity from government rules and Rule of Law. Instead of neglecting their responsibilities, they must promote people to follow the guidelines.

When such celebrities, endorse a product via media, people blindly trust them and consume such products. 

Whatever Kanika pleads in her defence in the court of law, she will still be guilty for putting several lives in danger. In a nutshell, a celebrity without sense of responsibility is nothing but a sham personality.