Civic

Postal ballot for absentee voters The Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced the absentee voting system for voters working in essential services, senior citizens above 80 and persons with disabilities. Voters can register their votes through postal ballots.  The Chennai district election office held a discussion with the representatives of political outfits explaining the procedure for absentee voters.  For opting this service, voters should have applied through the online window. The registration process has begun from March 26th. In this elaborate system, an appointment would be sought to take the voting machine to the residences of voters for them…

COVID-19 cases above 5000, highest ever Last Wednesday, Mumbai reported its highest-ever single-day spike with over 5,000 new cases for the first time since the pandemic's outbreak. The city's total tally increased to 3,74,611, according to Mint. The active containment zones in the city stand at 39 and a total of 432 buildings are sealed. The recovery rate of Mumbai city is 90% while the overall growth rate of Covid cases stands at 0.79%, the Livemint reported. In a random antigen test, seven hawkers at Dadar station were found to be positive in Mumbai, the Times of India reported. Source:…

NIMHANS finds 34 lineages of virus The genomic sequencing of 197 COVID-19 samples from foreign fliers showed up 34 different lineages of the original Sars-CoV-2. This is up from the seven found in May 2020, but a majority of viruses come from a lineage characterised by different mutations, which allow the virus to evade a response from the human immune system. At the same time, scientists found that there is no evidence to suggest that the much-feared UK variant of the virus was present in Karnataka until the arrival of foreign fliers in the third week of December. The finding…

New COVID-19 guidelines issued by UP government In the wake of rising COVID-19 cases, the UP government has issued fresh guidelines, under which district magistrates have to ensure testing of people coming from states with a high case load. As per new guidelines, people coming from areas where COVID cases are high should undergo Rapid Antigen Test; those coming from Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab will undergo RT-PCR tests if diagnosed with symptoms. The guidelines further stated that railway stations where long-distance trains are making a halt should have a 24-hour testing facility. Source: Hindustan Times 54% caseload in MP from…

Special events planned to target first-time voters A study conducted by the District Election Office has revealed that more than 48% of first-time voters in the 16 Assembly constituencies of Chennai district have not registered their names on the electoral rolls yet. Of 1,24,824 people belonging to 18-19 years of age, only 64,152 people have enrolled. Authorities from the office have begun visiting the households and have charted plans to boost the enrolment campaign. As part of the initiative, 34 activities are planned to be conducted with a special focus on first-time voters. Programmes such as the e-bike rally, events…

COVID-19 cases surge in Mumbai Between February 15 and March 15, the city has recorded 31,106 new cases of Covid-19, of which 18,903 were reported in March alone, the Hindustan Times reported. Mumbai’s Covid growth rate shot up to 0.42% on March 15, from 0.15% reported on February 15. The doubling rate — the number of days it takes for the number of cases to double —was 165 days on March 15 compared to 455 days on February 15, according to the Hindustan Times. The surge is because of lack of precautionary means such as wearing masks or social distancing,…

Pollution above WHO limits Despite widespread air quality improvements during 2019 and 2020, air pollution continues to be dangerously high, the annual data ‘World Air Quality Report, 2020’, compiled by IQAir, has revealed. Bengaluru recorded an average 15.6% dip in PM 2.5 levels. However, the pollution levels were above the WHO's prescribed limit on 46.7% of the days. The IT city’s annual average stands at 27.5 µg/m3, nearly three times the prescribed limit. Also, Bengaluru’s PM 2.5 levels in December 2020 surpassed the January 2020 levels, indicating that ‘better air quality’ has already faded away. South Indian cities recorded relatively…

Lockdown for Nagpur from 15th to 21st March, Maharashtra govt on alert The Maharastra government has decided to impose a total lockdown in the area under Nagpur Police Commissionerate from 15th to 21st March. The decision was taken after Nagpur reported more than 1800 cases in 24 hours. The government has informed that essential services such as vegetable, fruit shops and milk booths will continue to operate. Maharashtra has reported more than 13000 cases a day, the highest in the country and is still on top of the tally. This has pushed the government into alert mode. CM Uddhav Thackeray…

Budget: Allocation for Bengaluru reduced Allocation for the development of Bengaluru has come down drastically in the 2021-22 budget, as the state government has focused more on essentials owing to Covid. The budget has earmarked Rs 7,795 crore for the comprehensive development of Bengaluru. Some of the projects include conservation of waterbodies, drain development, and suburban rail. Rs 850 cr has been allocated for suburban rail, and a similar amount for the doubling of two railway lines. Rs 950 cr has been allocated for the rejuvenation of Vrushabhavati and Koramangala valleys as well as their sewage treatment plants (STPs). Some…

AIADMK, DMK and MNM release candidate list ConstituencyAIADMKMNMDMKAvadiK PandiarajanUdaya KumarS M NasserMaduravoyalBenjaminPadmapriyaK GanapathyAmbatturV AlexanderVaideeswaran SJoseph SamuelVirugambakkamVirugai N RaviSnehanAMV PrabhakarT NagarB Sathya NarayananPazha KarupaiahJ KarunanidhuMylaporeR NatrajSri PriyaT VeluPallavaramChitlapakkam S RajendranSenthil ArumugamE KarunanidhiTambaramK M ChinnaiahSiva ElangoS R RajaTiruvottiyurK KuppanNot announcedK B ShankarVillivakkamJCD PrabhakarNot announcedA VetriSaidapetSaidai S DuraisamySneha MohandossM SubramanianVelacheryM K AshokSanthosh BabuN/ASholinganallurK P KanthanRajiv M RS Arvind RameshAnna NagarS Gokula IndraV PonrajM K MohanPeramburNot announcedS A PonnusamyR T SekarMadhavaramV MoorthyRamesh KondalasamiS SudarsanamRK NagarR S RajeshFazilJ J EbenezerKolathurAdirajaramNot announcedM K StalinAlandurP ValarmathiSarath BabuT M Anbarasan Source: Times of India | The New Indian Express Read more: 6000 booths, strict COVID protocol, 80-plus to…