New Delhi: The Manipur Police has found an innovative way to fight Covid-19 in the state’s Senapati district. The police have organised a ‘Covid Free Village Competition’ to break the chain of infection. And there are strict rules in this game.
A brainchild of sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Ingawale Pravin Dadaso, the competition is of 300 marks, where 100 marks will be allotted to a village’s Covid-free status. Another 100 will be given for the vaccination percentage of all eligible persons in a village, and the next 100 will be for zero violations of Covid-appropriate behaviour.
“The competition will encourage villagers to follow Covid appropriate behaviour at village-level so that Covid cases will be near zero,” SDPO Dadaso told the Imphal Free Press.
All 170 villages in the district have been encouraged to take part in the competition that began on 5 June and will end on 1 October. The results will be announced on 10 October and prizes distributed on 21 October. A cash reward of Rs 10,000 will be given to the winner, followed by Rs 7,000 and Rs 5,000 for the second and third runners-up. There will also be consolation prizes for 10 villages.
To ensure both large and smaller villages have an equal chance of winning the competition, percentages will be calculated based on population data.
Lovlina Borgohain — Assam’s first woman pugilist to qualify for Olympics
Assam boxer Lovlina Borgohian has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first woman pugilist to secure a berth at the prestigious games. She will be participating in the women’s 69 kg welterweight (heavier than lightweight but lighter than middleweight) category.
She qualified for the Games after a bronze medal finish in the 2020 Asia and Oceania Boxing Olympic qualifiers.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to Twitter to congratulate the boxer.
A matter of great joy and pride for us as @LovlinaBorgohai becomes the first woman pugilist from Assam to qualify for the #Olympics.
My heartiest Congratulations to you Lovlina. You have our finest wishes for the big moment.
May you continue to shine and succeed. pic.twitter.com/DVqP5EbaI2
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 10, 2021
The 24-year-old boxer is from Assam’s Golaghat district and was also conferred the Arjuna Award last year.
It has been reported that Borgohain caught the attention of Padum Boro, the coach under whom she started practising the sport in 2012, when she took part in a trial conducted by the Sports Authority of India at her school.
‘The Birds and Bees Talk’ in 6 Northeast states to understand consent, protection
Reckitt, the maker of Durex condoms, has launched the second year of its ‘The Birds and Bees Talk’ initiative. The programme — which includes an interactive curriculum about life skills and topics such as inclusion, consent and protection — is directed towards adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19.
The initiative will run in six states of the Northeast — Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur and Mizoram. The programme has also launched its theme song, ‘Let’s talk about it’, to mark its second year and celebrate the pride month.
Reckitt is also launching an e-learning platform this year to deliver sessions, as part of the programme, to students across the six states. Supporting the e-learning platform is an AI-enabled chatbot and a podcast channel, along with a website that gives a complete overview of the programme.
There are also rewards and recognition programmes aimed at encouraging schools, teachers and students to engage with their content.
Tiny island in Manipur’s Loktak lake remains Covid-free in deadly second wave
The scenes at Karang island, in Manipur’s Loktak lake, is quite different from the rest of the state that is reeling under Covid-19. Untouched by the pandemic in the second wave, life in this tiny floating island has been calm and easy.
Situated around 54 km from the capital city of Imphal, Karang covers an area of 2.5 kilometres and has a population of around 3,400 people. The main source of livelihood for the residents is fishing.
To keep the inhabitants safe, visitors to the island have been restricted by the Karang Island Development Organisation. Karang is also India’s first cashless island.
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