No rain is expected between Saturday and Monday, according to the IMD.

Image Source : PTI

A day after several parts of the national capital experienced heavy rain and waterlogging, the rain continued to lash Delhi for the second day in a row on Tuesday. Three people also died in weather-related incidents yesterday.

On Monday, the maximum temperature dipped to 26.5 degrees Celsius, eight degrees below normal, and the minimum was recorded as 24 degrees Celsius, three degrees below normal for this time of the year.

According to officials at IMD, most parts of the city will see light rain throughout the day on Tuesday.

Light rain/drizzle is expected to continue till Friday and the maximum temperature is expected to remain under 35 degrees Celsius.

No rain is expected between Saturday and Monday, according to the IMD forecast.

Source : IndianExpress

Amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, over one lakh students of classes 10 and 12 have signed petitions urging the government to either cancel board exams scheduled to be held in May or conduct them in online mode.

The hashtag “cancelboardexams2021” has been trending on Twitter for the past two days.

However, both the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) have said that adequate safety arrangements are being made for students and all COVID-19 guidelines will be followed during the exams.

“The situation in India is getting worse day by day. When there were only a few cases in the country, they cancelled the remaining board exams and now when the cases are at a peak they are planning to open schools. We urge the education minister to look into this matter and cancel all examinations to be held this year as students are already under a lot of stress,” a petition on Change.Org said.

Divya Garg, a class 10 student, on Twitter urged the government to postpone the exams for at least a month and then take a further review based on the number of cases.

“The students have already faced a lot of problems till now in this pandemic. Classes were held online so the exams should also be held online or students should be promoted via internal assessment marks,” another user tweeted.

Usually, practical exams are conducted in January and written exams begin in February and conclude in March. However, the exams were delayed and are scheduled to be held in May-June in view of the pandemic.

“Adequate arrangements are being made to ensure the students are safe and all COVID protocols are followed. The number of exam centres has been increased by 40-50 per cent to ensure social distancing. The staff at exam centres is being sensitised to ensure all guidelines are followed,” a senior CBSE official said.

The board had last week announced that if any student fails to appear for ongoing practical exams after the student or any family member testing positive, the schools will conduct re-tests for them at an appropriate time.

The official, however, did not comment on whether the same relaxation will be given to students in theory exams as well.

Similarly, Gerry Arathoon, the chief executive and secretary at CISCE, said the schedule for exams “will remain the same”.

Schools across the country were closed in March last year to contain the spread of COVID-19 ahead of a nationwide lockdown.

Several states started reopening the schools partially from October last year, but physical classes are again being suspended in view of the exponential rise in coronavirus cases.

Last year, the board exams had to be postponed mid-way in March. They were later cancelled and the results were announced on the basis of an alternative assessment scheme.

Both the CBSE and CISCE had decided not to come up with a merit list last year.

India registered a record single-day spike of 1,26,789 new COVID-19 cases, pushing its infection tally to 1,29,28,574, while the number of active cases too went upwards to breach the nine lakh-mark again, the Union Health Ministry’s data updated on Thursday showed.

source: The Statesman

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday – two days before the lockdown 4.0 to end — said that all places of worship in the state will open from June 1.

As per her announcement, not more than 10 people will be allowed to enter the religious place and congregations or functions will not be allowed.

“Temples, mosques, gurdwaras, churches, all will open, but not more than 10 people will be allowed, there will be no assembly at religious places. This will be implemented from 1st June,” she said in an online press conference.

CM also launched a sharp attack at the centre during the online press conference for running migrant special trains.

“They are stuffing the Shramik trains full of people, there is no social distancing, no food, no water, nothing. What are they trying to do? Are they running Shramik trains or are they trying to run Corona Express?” West Bengal CM said.

She said the railway ministry could easily increase the number of coaches in the trains to prevent crowding. Citing herself being as the rail minister, she asserted that the railways has enough number of rakes to make the trains longer and stop crowding.

“If such trains could run in the lockdown, religious places that had been shut and neglected for two months could open too,” she said.

“West Bengal was successful in controlling the COVID-19 spread in the last two months. Cases are increasing now as people are coming from outside,” she added.

The tea and jute industry will also open from June 8 with 100 per cent workers, Mamata Banerjee said. All government and private offices will open with full strength.

After the announcement of lockdown on March 25, all the places of worship were shut and continued in the extended versions as well.

Earlier today, Union Home Minister Amit Shah met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the lockdown strategy as India saw its biggest spike in Coronavirus cases with 7,466 infections in 24 hours.

His meeting with the Prime Minister comes a day after Shah on Thursday evening asked Chief Ministers for feedback on the lockdown and their views on whether to extend it after May 31.

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