Passengers aged above 80 years not allowed on flights for initial phase after relaxation

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Downloading the Aarogya Setu app will be mandatory for all the passengers. Only those with a “green status” will be allowed to enter the airport.

Passengers aged above 80 years not allowed on flights for initial phase after relaxation

It will be compulsory for all passengers to arrive at the airport only after completing their web check-in.

The reporting time for travellers at the airport is proposed to be increased by two hours.  

Cabin luggage will be disallowed, and only one piece of check-in baggage weighing less than 20kg will be allowed per passenger in the first phase of resumed airline operations.

The last three rows of the aircraft will be kept vacant for isolation of any passenger who develops a medical condition. Crew members handling such cases will wear personal protection equipment. 

An adequate number of of PPEs will be available on board to deal with more than one such case.

Airports should have an isolation zone in the terminal building as well as the airside for passengers showing symptoms and state governments should provide requisite help with medical infrastructure in case an airport does not have an APHO (Airport Health Organisation) set-up, it noted.

Airports would have to put in place distance markings, disinfecting all common areas like lifts, escalators, chairs in seating areas, food and beverages, and retail outlets. Availability of moveable hand wash cart or alcohol-based hand sanitisers within the terminal should be ensured, the ministry has proposed.

Blogger: At good times in a chartered aircraft: 2014

Obamagate brings in debate back on Pulitzer Prizes

New Delhi: The American politics is turning bitter and fierce and not without good reason.

"He got caught, OBAMAGATE," tweeted US President Donald Trump lambasting at
his illustrious predecessor Barack Obama for the much-criticised FBI investigation into former
US national security advisor Michael Flynn and that tried to “sabotage” the new incoming administration.

“When are the Fake Journalists,” Trump wrote on Sunday, “who received unwarranted Pulitzer Prizes for Russia,
Russia, Russia, and the Impeachment Scam, going to turn in their tarnished awards so they can be given to the real journalists who got it right".

"THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. Sadly, our Lamestream Media is TOTALLY CORRUPT!," he wrote again
on Monday.
"OBAMAGATE makes Watergate look small time!" - one more tweet.

The implication is clear - the much hyped Pulitzer Award for Journalism is only a 'hype' and
need not be all virtuous.
In Indian context as well, it was reported recently how an old anti-India ploy was at play.

It is well known that honouring 'anti-India journalists and photographers' with international prizes is the
old ploy of the liberal cabal, as reported by Organiser lately.
However, the report also said it is the support they get from Congress party and other Seculars within
India that should alarm all citizens.

Of course, Indian security forces helping Kashmiris during natural calamities, during emergencies,
exceptional COVID19 management in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, does not conform to the
"Narratives" set by the so called jury of Pulitzer panel and the self-styled “liberal” gang in India.

Nevertheless, Trump's outburst against Pulitzer prizes for gifting the honours to select publications
in America is worth discussions.

"In 2019, for example,", says a report in 'The Guardian' --- " a New York Times team won a Pulitzer for an
“exhaustive 18-month investigation of President Donald Trump’s finances that debunked his claims of
self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges”.

'The Wall Street Journal' was also rewarded for “uncovering President Trump’s secret payoffs to two
women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him, and the web of supporters
who facilitated the transactions, triggering criminal inquiries and calls for impeachment”.

In 2018 also - the Pulitzer committee did, awarding its prize for national reporting jointly to the 'Washington Post' and the 'New York Times' for “deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the president-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”

It is well known that President Trump - like many world leaders - do not enjoy a very good press in his
own country.

But the question remains - will media investigate the genuineness or otherwise of Obamagate or simply dismiss these as part of Trumpism in a year when the Presidential elections are due in America.

In India too, lot many instances of unethical and anti-national style of journalism bordering lagely on theme
of anti-Narendra Modi matters and jargons have survived for long.

In the run up to the 2019 elections, media trying to blow up the image of a much discredited Rahul Gandhi constantly played up a line - "Chowkidar Chor hae" slogan against the Prime Minister in office.

When was the last time, such a senseless sloganeering against an incumbent Prime Minister was done?

The 2019 mandate left the Congress leadership and its 'advisors' run for cover but has anyone sought to tender an apology or has the media even bothered to raise this question.

Both have faced unfriendly media

Indian Economy amid fears of crumbling economy  

.....There have been fears of a crashing economy that could push millions into poverty and hunger.


"From the economic angle, we have paid a high price," Modi said in a nationwide address in March. People's lives are more important, he emphasised.

The lockdown will further damage an already devastated economy, experts cautioned.


Last month British brokerage firm Barclays said a lockdown until May 3 may cause India an economic loss of US$234.4 billion.
India's unemployment rate had shot up to 26.2 percent by the third week of April, a sevenfold increase from last year. An extended lockdown could further damage the labor market.
Cash buffers have already dried up and India will be confronted with a sharp decline in government revenues and economic growth for at least the next six months, leaders say.
"In many offices, retrenchment policies are being explored, and some companies have already decided to cut salaries to employees," said opposition Congress party leader Adhir Chowdhury.
The tourism industry has crashed across India, as in other parts of the world. The industry engages millions of people in restaurants, travel and hospitality.
The tourism industry generated US$240 billion, more than 9 percent of India's national GDP, in 2018 and supported 42 million jobs, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
"The year is the worst for the tourism sector," said Vipin Saxena of the Indian Tour Operators Association.
The labor-intensive real estate sector has witnessed a plunge, industry experts say, and may need at least six years to return to normal.
"India is on the verge of an unprecedented economic catastrophe as the humanitarian disaster from the Covid-19 pandemic unfolds," wrote educationist Jayati Ghosh of Jawaharlal Nehru University in a column.
Mortality rate
BJP leaders are saying PM Modi is pragmatic as he does not want to risk people's lives for the economy. He especially wants to keep the mortality rate of Covid-19 under check, they say.
However, India Ratings and Research, a credit rating company, predicted that growth expectations for the economy would be around 1.9 percent down, from 3.6 percent in March.
This will be the lowest GDP growth in the last 29 years and is based on the assumption that the partial lockdown may be extended until mid-May.
Ajoy Kumar, spokesman for Janata Dal (United), which is part of the ruling coalition, said the prime minister has rightly emphasised protecting people's lives and health, "the central source of wealth" for the country.
He also stressed stricter compliance with lockdown rules as about 60 percent of positive coronavirus cases in India have come without showing any symptoms.
In dealing with economic challenges as a direct fallout of Covid-19, there are micro-level issues revolving around morality.
In India, liquor consumption is traditionally seen as a taboo. Alcohol sales were banned as part of the lockdown, and the federal government has rejected a plea to allow the sale of alcohol in Congress party-ruled Punjab state.

Similar requests from the states of Assam, Meghalaya  and Kerala also faced stiff resistance. States are seeking the green light to sell liquor to make up for the loss of revenues.
The government justifies restrictions on liquor by saying the priority is on health care and the supply of essential food for ordinary people, migrants and marginalized workers.
The revenue-starved government has announced a US$24 million relief package to take care of the poor and those who need immediate help. However, state administrations are asking for more financial support.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has demanded a federal government grant of some US$14 billion to states as revenue has drastically nosedived.

Dr Manmohan Singh in 1991: Economic Reformer