The nationwide tally of Covid-19 cases neared 1.40 lakh on Monday after a record number of nearly 7,000 people tested positive for the deadly virus infection during the day.
The count has quadrupled since May 1 when special trains began ferrying migrants back to their native places, followed within a week by special flights to bring back Indians and expatriates from abroad.
India’s Covid-19 death toll has also crossed the 4,000-mark, marking an over three-fold increase since May 1, while the total number of active cases has more than tripled too in this time period. The number of recovered Covid-19 patients has also grown over six-fold since then to nearly 60,000 now.
DOMESTIC FLIGHT SERVICES RESUME AFTER 2 MONTHS
Domestic air travel resumed on Monday after two months even as a number of states were unenthusiastic about opening up their airports in view of rising Covid-19 cases causing around 630 flights to be cancelled.
According to aviation industry sources, around 630 domestic flights of Monday were cancelled due to the Centre’s Sunday night announcement that there would be no flights in West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, and limited operations at major airports such as Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
Swarms of the desert locust, which invaded India via Pakistan in April, have made their way to at least five states, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. Desert locust move in large groups, called swarms, and can eat crops up to their own weight every day. When millions of locusts descend on a crop, they destroy everything.
The desert locust is considered the most destructive migratory pest in the world and a single swarm covering one square kilometre can contain up to 80 million locusts. As per eyewitnesses, the swarm which entered India from Pakistan was about two to three kilometres long.
In December 2019, when the parts of Gujarat were invaded by locust, they had destroyed crops spread over 25,000 hectares of land. This time, the attack is more widespread.
Locust swarms entered India from Pakistan where they flew in from Iran last year. From Rajasthan, locusts entered Madhya Pradesh via Neemuch and have advanced to Ujjain and Dewas. The locust swarms have also made their way to Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Due to the proximity with Pakistan as well as rest of the affected areas, Punjab has also put its farmers on alert.
Here’s a look at how states are battling with Locust Attack
Rajasthan
The desert locust attack has wiped out crops spread over 5,00,000 hectares in Rajasthan. The state has been battling with the locust menace for over three months now.
In Western Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar, Bikaner and Barmer districts, large groups of pink swarming locusts destroyed lush green fields laden with Rabi crops this year. Farmers in Jodhpur, Jhalawar, Karauli and Bundi have reported large infestations.
Several officials have been involved in clearing the locusts across the state. However, the problem seems far from over. Ministry of Agriculture officials are now spraying chemicals to neutralise the large swarm of locusts before they cause more destruction.
Farmers in various parts of the state have been using different tactics, including desperate measures — beating steel utensils during late afternoons and evenings, playing loud music at night, creating wood-fire and running the tractor inside their fields — to scare away the locusts.
However, none of the methods helped reduce the effect of menacing locusts on crops.
Jaskaran Singh, a farmer who owns 25 bighas of land in Anupgarh, told India Today TV earlier this year that he has been devastated due to the attack by the swarming locusts on his crops of wheat and peas.
“Had taken a loan of Rs 9,00,000 in my mother Amarjeet Kaur’s name, but now that the crop has been destroyed. I have no idea how the debt will be paid off,” he said.
Jaskaran, whose eyed teared up while speaking, requested the government to compensate him for the loss.
Two members of the ‘Pinjra Tod’, a women rights group in Delhi, have been arrested in connection with the North East Delhi riots that took place earlier this year over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The organisation is accused of organising a sit-in by women protesters at the Jaffrabad Metro Station, which was a precursor to the Delhi riots which killed more than 50 people.
Delhi Police has arrested Natasha and Devangana, two women associated with Pinjra Tod. It was found that a sudden mob of women gathered during the anti-CAA protest at the Jaffrabad Metro Station in North East Delhi on, following which the communal violence took place on February 23 and 24.
Both women have been arrested by the North East District Police and will be questioned by the Crime Branch SIT and Delhi Police Special Cell.
Both of them are scheduled to appear in court on Sunday.
The Pinjra Tod organisation consists of several students of the University of Delhi as well as other higher educational institutions in the national capital. The women’s collective aims at making regulations for hostel and paying guest (PG) accommodation less restrictive for women students.
The Delhi Police has repeatedly accused the Pinjra Tod of stoking the Delhi violence.
Earlier this week, Delhi Police arrested Jamia Millia Islamia University student Asif Iqbal Tanha in connection with the February Delhi violence.
