Thirteen flights from the gulf region to India are scheduled on Friday as part of the Vande Bharat Mission.

The flights will bring back stranded Indians to various parts of India.
Vande Bharat Mission continues to touch the lives of various distressed and stranded Indians abroad.
13 flights have been scheduled from the Gulf countries to India , more than half of which are from the UAE.There are six flights from Dubai to Jaipur , Kochi, Kannur, Hyderabad , Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.

Another two flights are scheduled from Abu Dhabi to Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.

For Jaipur, it is the first flight from UAE under the Vande Bharat Mission.

From Saudi Arabia, there is a flight Srinagar and Kozhikode. This is also the first flight to Srinagar from the Kingdom.
Kuwait has two flights to Ahmedabad and Kozhikode. Muscat has one flight to Kochi and Doha has one flight to Kannur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday and congratulated him on having completed 50 years since his first term as a parliamentarian in Sri Lanka. Mr. Modi also recalled Rajapaksa's contributions to the development of Sri Lanka in his long political career, and extended his wishes for his future.

Prime Minister Modi also conveyed his condolences at the untimely demise of Mr. Arumugam Thondaman, a prominent leader of the Indian-origin Tamils in Sri Lanka. Prime Minister recalled the role that Mr. Thondaman had played in taking forward the development partnership between India and Sri Lanka. Mr. Arumugan Thondaman was a Ceylon Workers’ Congress leader and a Cabinet Minister in Sri Lanka who passed away on Tuesday after a sudden illness.

Both the leaders discussed the health and economic impact of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and the measures being taken in the two countries to counter them. Prime Minister assured his Sri Lankan counterpart that India stands ready to extend all possible support to Sri Lanka during this challenging time.

Karnataka government will soon launch a project to maintain the health database of all its citizens. A first of its kind initiative State Health Register will be a robust and standardized health repository of all the citizens. Medical Education Minister Dr. K Sudhakar said that this project will be implemented first in Chikkaballapur district on experimental basis.

Enhanced focus on healthcare has become imperative and our government is committed to provide world class healthcare to all citizens, he said. Dr Sudhakar said that Covid-19 experience has demonstrated the necessity of having robust, real-time public health data and therefore, there is a need to maintain repository of health data of each and every citizen. He said that Government will be undertaking a survey of all 6.5 Crore people in the state using a team of Primary Health Centre officials, revenue officials, Education department staff and ASHA karyakartas. They will visit each household and collect health data of all the members of the family. This will not only help the government to provide better health care, but will also help efficient resource allocation, management and better implementation of various citizen centric schemes in the state, the Minister added.

A total 9.67 crore farmers have been benefited and an amount of more than 19 thousand crore rupees has been released under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme during the last two months.

Government said, 4.57 lakh metric tonnes of pulses have been dispatched to the States and Union Territories under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PM-GKY). Out of this, 1.78 lakh metric tonnes pulses have been distributed to 13.4 crore beneficiaries.http://newsonair.com/News?title=More-than-9-crore-60-lakh-farmers-avail-benefits-under-PM-KISAN-Scheme-during-past-two-months&id=389798

The Indian Air Force today operationalises its “Number-18 - Flying Bullets” squadron with the Light Combat Aircraft LCA Tejas at its Sulur base near Coimbatore. It will be launched by the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria. The indigenously developed light fighter aircraft is certified with the “Full Operational Clearance” standard.
 
The Flying Bullets will be the second Indian Air Force squadron to operate with the modern multi-role fighter aircraft. The first squadron with the LCA Tejas known as the Number-45 Flying Daggers is also headquartered at the same base.
 
A release from the Defence Ministry says the No.18 squadron was formed in 1965 and has the distinction of being the first to land and operate from Srinagar. It has also produced a Param Veer Chakra awardee during the 1971 war with Pakistan. It has been revived on the 1st April this year at the Sulur base.

Kerala board exams for Class 10 and 12 which had been postponed due to Covid19 lockdown will be held from today. Special measures are being taken for the safety of students and teachers since the exams are taking place amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Students coming from containment zones or those with family members under home quarantine will get separate seating arrangements. Students coming to Kerala from other states will need to undergo a 14-day quarantine and special arrangements would be made so they can sit for board exams. Every teacher will have to wear both face masks and gloves while every student will be given face masks to wear. After the exam, the answer sheets would be kept in the exam centres for seven days and the fire force will disinfect the schools.

Railways has operationalised more than three thousand 60 Shramik Special trains across the country to transport migrant workers to their home States.

More than 40 lakhs passengers have reached their destinations by these trains. Rail Minister Piyush Goyal has expressed happiness that the railways successfully operated more than three thousand Shramik Special trains and took migrant workers from different parts of the country to their home state. In a tweet, Goyal appealed to all the states to cooperate with the Railways and help their labour brothers. Our correspondent reports that 80 per cent of these Shramik trains are destined for various destinations in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Railways had started running Shramik Special trains from 1st May, to move migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons stranded at different places due to lock down. The top five States and Union Territories from where maximum trains originated are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.

Sports Authority of India (SAI) has deposited 30,000 rupees each as out of pocket allowance in accounts of 2,749 Khelo India athletes. The amount added up to 8.25 crore rupees in all. In a press release, SAI said that the money has been transferred to the bank accounts of the athletes. A total of 2,893 athletes will be given the pocket allowance with the funds for the remaining 144 athletes to be transferred by the end of this month. The allowance is for the first quarter of 2020-21.

Athletes from 35 states and union territories have been given the allownaces in 21 sporting disciplines with the maximum number of them from Maharashtra (386), Haryana (381), Delhi (225), Punjab (202) and Tamil Nadu (165).

Reacting to the disbursement of the Khelo India allowances, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Kiren Rijiju said that the athletes are our priority and will receive full support at all times.

Eid-ul-Fitr is being celebrated across the country today. The festival heralding the end of the fasting month of Ramzan was celebrated in Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala yesterday.

Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama Masjid Sayyed Ahmad Bukhari has appealed to people not to come to mosques to offer prayers and offer namaz at home in view of the pandemic. The Shahi Imam has urged people to take precautions and maintain social distancing while celebrating the auspicious festival.

He said that people should refrain from shaking hands and hugging each other. Several other Ulemas from all the sects  have already appealed to the muslims to offer prayers at home only.

Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to restart the regional air connectivity services under the UDAN scheme. Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that preference will however be given to flights connecting North-East region, hill states, islands and other short haul routes. In a tweet, he said that the flights will be augmented under the scheme in a calibrated manner. 

Civil Aviation ministry has said that all operational routes up to 500 km stage length, all operational helicopter routes and routes with no viability gap funding will be permitted to resume operations. Selected airline operators will also be allowed to operationalize the awarded routes under the UDAN scheme, including seaplanes on the permitted routes.