Aishwarya Mohanty

Covid hits NREGS staff, returning migrants not keen on unskilled work

The family has alleged that police, too, did not help. The incident has been reported in Mandpokhari village of Konark tehsil in Odisha’s Puri district.

On Thursday, the woman allegedly consumed pesticides at her residence when her parents were away at the farm, the police said. The accused, who is absconding, has been booked under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code.

The Home Learning Programme, for classes 3-12, was launched on June 15 to ensure that the new academic session is not affected by the pandemic. But in villages like Zerjitgadh, this has brought new challenges.

The man's son submitted a complaint to the Commissioner of Police, Vadodara city, alleging foul play in the disappearance of his father.

The victim, Babu Sheikh Nisar (65), a native of Telangana, had reportedly gone missing on December 10, 2019, after he was apprehended by policemen on suspicion of theft from Phoolwadi area of the city.

An analysis of data shows that every year there is a spike in demand for MGNREGA jobs by individual households in May and June when the sowing of the kharif crops begins but this year the work demand has been twice more than the previous years and highest in the last five years.

"During all these months working continuously, there was no possibility of buying a new pair of shoes for myself. I had to do with slippers and came here as soon as the malls opened today," the resident doctor said looking for stores among the half that were opened.

The scenario is similar across most villages in the tribal district, where villagers with low land holdings and lack of irrigation facilities tend to migrate to other cities for better income.

In 1974 during the construction of the Panam dam, these 50 families, who lost their lands which submerged, were rehabilitated to Tuwa village in Panchmahals from Mahisagar.

Over 200 people who are suspected to have come in contact with the patient have been traced from two districts.

With the lockdown in place, the community members have been unable to travel to Surat to arrange for the raw materials or even to go to other districts, mostly rural areas, where they sold their produce.

“Since March, there were no bookings for wedding. Around 20 of them cancelled their bookings with the spread of the virus and then the lockdown began,” said Ilyas Pathan, 42, from Ratanpur village in Kheda.

According to officials, the train, with a capacity of 1,200 passengers, left on Saturday with 750 passengers on board as against the 900 to whom tickets were issued.

At the Community Health Centre (CHC) of Garbada taluka, the staff was quick to recognise her. The baby weighing around 850 grams was delivered in the 24th week of pregnancy at the CHC on Friday evening to a couple from Dhanpur taluka in Dahod.

"The quarantine is mandatory and I do not mind it. I feel I should have left earlier, so that I could complete my quarantine and embrace my family on Eid. Every Eid I have been with them, this is the first time I am not with them."

Almost two months later as they go home on Shramik trains, along with the fans, they have been seen carrying charpoys, empty paint drums to double up as water storage containers back home and such other stuff they held dear.

After the imposition of Covid-19 lockdown, almost 153 fishermen had been stranded in Moti Devrupan village of Sagrbara taluka in Narmada district without money, food or mode of transport to go back to their villages.

The area with the famous Dashma temple and the lake is surrounded by slums. Around 100 families are settled here. A few migrants from Madhya Pradesh have returned to their villages while a few from Rajasthan and other districts of Gujarat have stayed back

The probationers are being trained for a special form of martial arts -- Wing Tsun Kung Fu -- by acclaimed trainer and Wing Tsun head master for India, Donald Melville, based in Vadodara, through video-conferencing.

According to the officials, all the 32 patients are asymptomatic and stable. The district which had also seen a major influx of migrant labourers back to the villages, has so far tested 1,109 samples for the virus.

While rose is the predominant yield -- growing in about 25 acres of the 50-60 acres of flower farms here --other flowers include lilly, mogra and marigold. Chirag Patel, who has been growing country rose in his one-acre farm, says that most of the villagers have decided to feed the flowers to cattle

Usha Maliwad visits Simlet twice a day to survey each household everyday for symptoms of Coronavirus, collect daily reports of pregnant women and provide medicines to the villagers. For almost the last two months, Usha is the only visitor to this village

The body of 40-year-old Raju Sahani was found around 6.30 pm by a passerby on National Highway 8. He had cycled nearly 55 km from their quarters at the site of the power plant in Ankleshwar.