By Ashoke Raj
New Delhi [India], March 18 (ANI): Air India has shown an upward rise in load factor and market share, according to recent data published by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
The data showed that there has been an increase of 11.7 per cent in the market share in February 2021, which is almost 2 per cent more than the previous two months. It also showed 12 per cent increase in load factor between January and February this year.
Air India officials said there has been an increase in load factor due to major changes has made in operations.
“Several passenger-friendly features and effective strategy to reach out to target group with enhanced visibility are major factors behind Air India’s impressive performance,” a senior AI official said on condition of anonymity.
“It is interesting to note that the ongoing disinvestment process has had no impact on the efficient running of the airline,” he added.
Air India operates flights to more than 75 destinations in 55 countries. Domestic to international connectivity with mostly nonstop long-haul flights is a major USP of Air India. (ANI)

Ludhiana (Punjab) [India], March 18 (ANI): The Ludhiana district administration has directed private hospitals to enhance the bed capacity and defer elective surgeries for the time being to ensure bed availability to critical COVID-19 patients to deal with the second coronavirus wave.
As per a statement, Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma and Commissioner of Police Rakesh Agrawal said that there is an immediate need to increase the bed capacity to deal with the second wave by ensuring quality treatment to the patients and reducing mortality.
In a meeting with private health institutions, the Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner of Police said that the next fortnight is ‘crucial to contain pathogen immediately’.
“The bed capacity must be increased immediately as equal it was earlier to ensure every patient gets bed and best possible care. The priority is to take care of the old and vulnerable population with co-morbidities,” the statement quoted the district administers.
They also appealed to the people to strictly adhere to masking, social distancing, and washing hands frequently.
They reiterated, “The district administration is fully equipped with resources and manpower to combat Covid-19 second wave. All eligible to get the COVID-19 jab must immediately get it to prevent the virus to spread further.”
Punjab reported 2,387 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, informed the state health department on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Jalandhar District Collector Ghanshyam Thori and Ludhiana District Collector Varinder Sharna on Thursday imposed a night curfew in the respective districts from tonight. The curfew will remain imposed from 9 pm to 5 am until further orders.
With the fresh COVID-19 cases, the total number of cases in the state now stands at 2,05,418. (ANI)

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 18 (ANI): Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has given instructions to remain vigilant in view of Covid-19 and said that full attention should be paid to social distancing and use of masks in view of the festivals ahead.
He said that the increase in the rate of coronavirus infection in many states is a warning to all. He has also given instructions to maintain an effective system of prevention and treatment of coronavirus in the state to control the infection.
According to a press statement, the Chief Minister was reviewing the unlock process at a high-level meeting convened at Lok Bhawan here today. He said that the coronavirus testing work should be conducted at full capacity. At least 45 pc of the total Covid tests conducted by various methods should be done daily with the RT-PCR method.
Effective measures should be taken to increase the RT-PCR test to 50 per cent in the total daily test. He instructed that the system of rapid antigen tests at railway stations, airports and bus stations be made more effective.
The Chief Minister said that in the coming days, a large number of people will come to various public places including markets in view of festivals. Therefore, full attention should be paid to social distancing and mandatory use of masks. Stressing the need for making people aware about Covid-19, he said that the public address system should be widely used in this work.
The Chief Minister said that the work of Covid-19 vaccination in the state should be conducted according to the guidelines and priority of the Government of India. He said that the corona vaccine is a valuable resource. Therefore, it should be ensured that not a single dose of the vaccine is wasted. He also directed for regular monitoring of Covid vaccination work in government and private hospitals. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 18 (ANI): Newly appointed Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG Kuldiep Singh on Thursday said that a total of 725 CAPF companies will be deployed in West Bengal for the upcoming polls, out of which 495 have already been sent to the state.
In an annual press conference, the DG CRPF has said that one company normally has 72 personnel.
Elections to the 294-member state assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Talking about CRPF in 2020, Singh said, “In Jammu and Kashmir where the force works in close coordination with the JKP and Indian Army, 215 terrorists were neutralised in the year 2020 and 11 terrorists have been neutralised this year. Only a few days back we neutralised four terrorists in two different operations. This included top Jaish commander Sajjad Afghani who was neutralised in Shopian in a joint operation.”
The CRPF has also been successful in ensuring conduct of free and fair DDC elections in Jammu and Kashmir which were organised in eight phases last year.
While giving details about Naxalite areas, the newly appointed DG, in a press statement, also said that in the LWE affected arrears, there has been significant reduction in the cases of Maoist violence. “With our persistent operations and capacity building we have pushed the Maoists into corners and restricted their activity,” he said.
“The force has ventured deeper into the Maoist strongholds and has set up 18 Forward Operating Bases to maximise its reach and operational effectiveness in the areas. This has enabled swifter operations and immediate actions on intelligence inputs” the DG said.
“The number of apprehensions and surrenders has increased. While 569 Maoists in 2020 and 141 in 2021 were apprehended, 340 Maoists in 2020 and 108 in 2021 have left the path of violence and surrendered. 32 Maoists have been neutralised in 2020 and 5 in 2021.
“Two days ago, On March 16, four Maoists were neutralised by 205 CoBRA and Bihar Police in Gaya district of Bihar. These include the Magadh Zonal Commander Amresh Singh Bhokta, and three sub-Zonal Commanders Shivpujan Yadav, Sita Bhuiyan, and Uday Paswan,” the DG added. (ANI)

By Joymala Bagchi
Purulia (West Bengal) [India], March 18 (ANI): Water scarcity is a regular problem in villages of Purulia district of West Bengal namely Chayanpur, Lalbazar, Mohoda, Jolduar Golamara, and Bagra.
They are facing an acute water shortage as most of the tubewells and taps are not working for several months.
Chayanpur, a village with a population of about 700 to 800 families depends on three tubewells for their daily needs. The village had seven tubewells of which only four are in working condition. Complaints made at the local administrative level did not help them to resolve their problem.
A resident of this village, Ismail Ansari (33) told ANI, “Out of seven tubewells only four are functioning. This entire village and the nearby ones are dependent on these four. Several complaints to the local administration did not bear us any result.”
Owing to the small number of tubewells, families fights among themselves and at times it leads to serious consequences.
Villagers also said that with approaching summer they are sure that out of four, a few will stop functioning. When asked why, they said this is a regular affair each year.
A resident of Mohoda village Arun said, “Due to water crisis we are often forced to skip baths during extreme summers. As an alternative, we also take bath in muddy water.”
Along with water scarcity, unemployment is also another issue which the western-most district of West Bengal is reeling under.
The villagers mostly men either go to other districts or the state’s capital Kolkata in search of livelihood.
Ashok, a 32-year-old with a family of mother, wife, and two children staying in Bagra said “I am unemployed and have no regular means of earning yet cannot see my family slipping into acute poverty. I went to Burdwan city and worked there as a mason worker.”
The situation is largely the same for many here throughout the district.
Villagers of Lalbazar complained of extremely bad roads and indifference of the local administration.
“We have made complains, wrote a letter, asked the local leadership here but all fell on deaf ears. No initiative was taken to help us out,” said a villager on the condition of anonymity.
Villagers of Chayanpur, Mohoda, Bagra told ANI about receiving comparatively less Indira Awaas Yojana units (currently known as Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana.)
In the 2016 assembly election Congress had won the Purulia and Baghmundi constituencies.
Sudip Kumar Mukherjee who joined BJP after resigning from Congress will be contesting against Congress’s Partha Pratim Banerjee. Sujoy Bandyopadhyay will be contesting from Trinamool.
The sitting MP from Purulia Jyotirmay Singh Mahato belongs to the Bharatiya Janata party.
As per data available from the provisional reports of Census India, the population of Purulia in 2011 is 121,067. In the education field, the total number of literates in Purulia city is 89,000.
The total number of slums in Purulia city is 9,205 in which population of 50,071 resides which is around 41.36 per cent of a total population of Purulia city.
The first phase of polling will be held in five districts and 30 assembly seats that include Purulia, West Midnapore Part I, Bankura Part I, East Midnapore Part I, and Jhargram.
Elections to the 294-member assembly will be held from March 27 to April 29. Results will be declared on May 2. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 18 (ANI): The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Gaganyaan programme envisages sending humans in space, said Union Minister of Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh on Thursday.
In a statement laid on the table of the Rajya Sabha in reply to a question today, the Minister further said that the objective of programme is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to Low earth orbit (LEO) on board an Indian Launch vehicle and bring them back to earth safely.
“ISRO has wide experience in technological areas with respect to the launch vehicle, spacecraft management and ground infrastructure etc and it has taken steps for a human rating of existing systems to ensure crew safety. India is proud of the fact that many Indian scientists are doing significant work in collaboration with international institutions,” he added.
He further said, “If there is any proposal to get benefit out of their specialized experience, the Government of India will definitely consider such proposal in a positive manner.” (ANI)