UAE extends India travel curbs till June

UAE extends India travel curbs till June

New Delhi:31.05.2021 

The UAE has further extended restriction on travellers from India till June 30, for now.

The most popular international destination for Indian travellers, the UAE imposed restrictions on flyers from India from April 25 due to the unfolding Covid catastrophe here and has extended the curbs, from time to time, ever since.

To be sure, all the over 20 countries which have imposed resections on travel from India starting mid-April when Covid situation was beginning to get out of hand here will lift the same only when the pandemic is under control here.

“Emirates has suspended passenger flights from India… until June 30, 2021. Furthermore, passengers who have transited through India in the last14 days will not be accepted for travel from any other point to United Arab Emirates. UAE nationals, holders of UAE golden visas, and members of diplomatic missions who comply with the revised published Covid-19 protocols will be exempt for travel,” Dubai-based mega carrier Emirates said on its website on Sunday. TNN

7 yrs of immeasurable pain, says Congress, lists govt’s ‘7 blunders’

7 yrs of immeasurable pain, says Congress, lists govt’s ‘7 blunders’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:31.05.2021 

The Modi government had caused immeasurable pain and suffering to Indians and betrayed their trust, Congress said Sunday as the NDA government completed seven years in office.

Listing out seven “blunders” by the government, from a failing economy to mishandling of the Covid pandemic, paucity of oxygen, rising unemployment and government’s inability to rein in foreign incursions on Indian soil, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the seven years accounted for “immeasurable pain, insurmountable devastation and unfathomable agony and anguish for a nation of 140 crore people”.

“Time has come to ask who is responsible for insurmountable devastation, agony and anguish and unfathomable pain that has been inflicted on the people of India,” he added.

Congress also released a seven-point chargesheet accusing the Modi government of abdicating its responsibility to people. MP Rahul Gandhi slammed the government for its alleged “misgovernance”. Rahul said the government needed to have the right intention, policy and determination to fight the pandemic, not just “monthly Mann ki Baat”.

Congress also defended its poor performance in elections and said its priority was to save the nation from the “Modi-made disaster”.

Sena slams Centre, calls for introspection

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said India is surviving as a nation due to the good deeds of previous governments since the time of Nehru, and the present Modi government needs to introspect if it has been able to fulfil basic needs of people. “The country is surviving on the good deeds of previous governments since the time of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh... When you get majority, it means people have handed you power with faith and trust. The people's needs and demands are veryfew. They need livelihood. Roti, kapda makan (food, clothing and shelter) are important along with health and education facilities,” he said, adding the Centre should “introspect” if this has been achieved. PTI

Attention: The key to success

Attention: The key to success

The ability to manage attention holds the key to change one’s growth trajectory. Numerous learning applications thus now focus on improving attention power

Bijin.Jose@timesgroup.com

31.05.2021 

Learning is a lifelong pursuit. It expands the horizons of one's imagination and the scope of one's potentials. From a nascent stage, education systems around the world have been emphasising the significance of learning and acquiring knowledge. And, when it comes to learning, attention is the first step in this direction.

Attention is essentially one's ability to actively engage and process specific information or task. It is limited in its capacity and duration, making it vital to have measures to effectively manage it.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Attention, in psychology, the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli." It has more to do with the immediate experience of the individual or their current state of awareness.

AN ESSENTIAL SKILL

Everyone is adequately equipped with attention skills. However, unable to pay attention both among children and adults is fairly commonplace. When it comes to education, students are required to focus on the lessons and instructions imparted by the teacher, or for adults, it's important to pay attention to the traffic signal.

The ability to pay attention is different in each individual. While it's easy to focus on things that capture our interests, it gets cumbersome when trying to pay attention to things that aren't very exciting. According to experts, emotions like feeling sad, depressed or anxious are a deterrent to paying attention.

While a century ago it wasn't possible, in 2021 technology is enabling people to manage their attention.

ATTENTION AND ACADEMICS

Every parent wants their child to excel in academics. Attention plays a strong role in other areas of life as well. However, harnessing the power of attention in the formative years can be beneficial and teachers, parents, and technology play a vital role in this. There is countless research that shows how improving or managing attention can help students enhance their academic performance. Considering the diversity in a classroom, it is unlikely that every child would learn and engage in unison. Individualised attention can be rewarding in this scenario. Today, technology is efficiently filling in the gaps offering highly customised and engaging ways to enhance attention.

Technology is offering solutions like addressing the specific needs of every child and adjusting the pace of their learning. With a host of learning applications, there is scope to impact the acquisition of knowledge.

EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

At present, the world is vastly divided in its perception of technology. While some believe the collective decrease in attention span is associated with the rise of technology, there are many who strongly vouch for tech that promotes attentions skill to improve productivity and academic performance. It is no longer a distraction, technology is offering numerous learning and education applications that help one focus, cancel distractions, and games to enhance cognitive abilities. These tools also help in mapping times of the day when the attention is the highest or lowest, giving students and teachers to effectively manage their attention and learning schedules.

TRAINING THE BRAIN

The brain needs as much fitness training as the body. Regularly challenging the brain can enhance performance in all kinds of cognitive activities like tasks related to concentration and memory. The modern-day learning apps are fun and engaging as they offer vibrant and interactive content to boost learning.

The key ingredients here are the will to learn and an insatiable curiosity. These applications are replete with information in the form of e-books, infographics, podcasts, and videos that are enabling many in their academic pursuits.

Technology is personalising education and offers engagement by cutting down on distractions. Dynamic content and interactive interfaces are not only offering knowledge, but also an efficient way to manage attention.

CONSUMER CONNECT INITIATIVE

HC asks Centre to consider FCRA relief for Covid-19 aid

HC asks Centre to consider FCRA relief for Covid-19 aid

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:31.05.2021

Delhi High Court has asked the Centre to treat as a representation a PIL seeking to exempt foreign contributions or aid, such as oxygen concentrators and medicines received for Covid-19 management and treatment, from the ambit of Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) 2010 during the pandemic.

If the representation is made, the government will take a decision in eight weeks, the court said. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh directed the Centre to take a decision in accordance with the rules and the government policy applicable and as early as possible and practicable.

The court disposed of the plea by charitable organisation Shri Sai Kirpa Society, which manages a medical centre at Sai Akshardham in Greater Noida, with assistance from Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and National Heart Institute. In its petition, filed through advocate Gaurav Gupta, the society said a person of Indian origin in the US had wanted to send oxygen concentrators and life-saving drugs for Covid patients. But accepting it without any relief will violate FCRA, it added.

Meanwhile, a plea to give priority in Covid vaccination to NRIs and students who have to go for studies abroad has been moved in Delhi High Court and may be heard on Monday.

Move to extend doctors’ training not arbitrary: HC

Move to extend doctors’ training not arbitrary: HC

New Delhi:31.05.2021 

Delhi High Court has said that services of resident doctors are imperative for functioning of hospitals in the current Covid-19 pandemic situation and the authorities’ decision to extend their training beyond schedule cannot be ex facie arbitrary or unreasonable.

HC was hearing a plea by several doctors who are in DNB Super Speciality courses, challenging a May 4 notification by which the National Board of Examination had extended their training beyond the scheduled date of its completion.

The doctors said the DNB course is of three years and a mandatory extension of three months is permissible, which they have already served, and claimed that the authorities are not empowered to extend the course beyond this period.

“Having regard to the circumstances arising out of the pandemic and the need for continuation of residents as mentioned in the NMC advisory dated April 27, 2021, which has not been challenged in the writ petition, I am unable to accede to (advocate Sidharth) Yadav’s request for an interim order,” Justice Prateek Jalan said.

The court agreed with the submission of advocate T Singhdev for the NMC and advocate Kirtiman Singh for the NBE that the availability of resident doctors is imperative for the functioning of hospitals. “In the present situation, the decision of the respondents cannot be said to be ex facie arbitrary or unreasonable,” it said. PTI

Gold jewellery ‘stolen’ from Covid victim’s body

Gold jewellery ‘stolen’ from Covid victim’s body

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal:31.05.2021 

Jewellery worth Rs 1.5 lakh went missing from a 55-year-old Covid-19 victim at a private hospital in Bhopal on April 22. A case has been registered at Kolar police station on Saturday after the son of deceased approached CM Helpline.

Sarthak, 25, who is a law student and a resident of Kamla Nagar locality, told TOI that on April 17, he admitted his mother Alpana, 55, to a private hospital in Kolar after she tested Covid positive. “My mother’s condition was stable when he admitted her, but with each passing day, her condition deteriorated. On the day of my birthday on April 22, I was informed that she has succumbed to Covid,” said Sarthak. When he went to the hospital, he was shocked to find that the gold and silver ornaments including, mangalsutra, bangles, earrings and nose ring were missing from her body.

He said that when he enquired about the jewellery from hospital management, they gave him “fake” ornaments wrapped in a plastic bag, adding that without raising any further questions he took her mother’s body for funeral ceremony. Hospital management refused to comment.

“After13 days, when he approached Kolar police station to lodge a complaint, they asked him to wait outside citing Covid protocol. He then, approached CM Helpline and got registered a complaint after 24 days” said Joshi adding that he was regretting his decision to admitting his mother at such a hospital.

Police said that a case of theft has been registered and investigations are underway.

Notably, it was the same private hospital that was in news for black marketing of Remdesivir and hospital staffers were booked by the police for Remdesivir injections and to administer only saline to Covid patients for whom the injection the brought for.

Wait 6 wks for surgery after Covid, says ICMR

Wait 6 wks for surgery after Covid, says ICMR

Umesh.Isalkar@timesgroup.com

Pune:  31.05.2021 

Recovered Covid patients opting for non-urgent or elective surgeries are being asked by surgeons to go for repeat RT-PCR/antigen tests as part of pre-operative protocols. However, experts from Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the national task force for Covid-19 have advised against repeating Covid tests within 102 days of recovery, citing presence of “non-viable dead-virus particles” that stay in the body for a while.

These virus remnants cannot transmit the illness but can cause a false positive test result. The experts said surgeons should consider performing a non-urgent surgery on a Covid-recovered patient only after six weeks of recovery to ensure faster healing and convalescence post-surgery.