Govt to provide mid-day meal to students at home
BARMER: The Rajasthan government, providing mid-day meal to the students of primary and upper primary schools till the lockdown brought an abrupt end to the activity, will now provide the material to the students at their homes.
“Government has decided to provide the mid-day meal material to parents of the students of Class 1 to 8. This decision had been taken in the meeting held on June 9, which was chaired by the state chief secretary,” said Vishram Meena, district collector, Barmer.
Camps will be organised on the school campuses for distribution of the material. “Only parents will get the material. After receiving the material, they have to give receipt to the authorities,” reads an order issued by the government.
The authorities have to follow Covid-19 guidelines during the camps and they have to ensure that no student reaches the school, the order reads.
The Mid-day Meal Scheme, run by the centre government, is designed to improve nutrition among school-going children in the country.
Under the scheme, children of primary and upper primary classes in government schools are provided free lunch. But as the schools are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has decided to provide the mid-day meal material to the students at their homes.
“Following the government’s
Government has decided to provide the mid-day meal material to parents of the students of Class 1 to 8. This decision had been taken in the meeting held on June 9..
VISHRAM MEENA, district collector direction, we have formed several teams of education department for proper distribution of the mid-day meal material,” Meena said.
District food and supply officer has been directed to arrange the material to the education department by June 15, he added.
After getting the supply, education department officials will hold camps in the respective areas, he further added.
Owning to the Covid-19 pandemic, school remained closed for 49 days from March 14 to May 16.
Lat e r , t he g o v e r nment announced 45-day summer vacation from May 17 to June 30. Now, the government has decided to provide the mid-day meal material of 94 days to the students.
Under the Mid-day Meal scheme, the government has decided to give 100 gm food grains to each student of Class 1 to 5 and 150 gm food grains to each student of Class 6 to 8. Thus, parents of primary school students will get a total of 9.4 kg food grains and that of upper primary school students will get a total of 14.1 kg food grains.
JODHPUR: A study, in the midst of an outbreak of Covid-19, has revealed that two different Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) lineages are circulating within the Hyalomma tick pools in Rajasthan.
The study has also called for the need to enhance human, tick and livestock surveillance in other districts of Rajasthan and nearby states.
Four human samples and 13 Hyalomma tick pools were found positive for CCHFV and two different types of glycoprotein precursor ( M) segments were observed in the tick samples, according to the study that was conducted by researchers at the National Institute of Virology; Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR); National Centre of Disease Control; Sawai Man Singh Medical College-jaipur; All India Institute of Medical Sciences-jodhpur; State Disease Diagnostic Centre; Animal Husbandry-jaipur and Dr SN Medical College-jodhpur.
The study was published in the journal Virus Research on June 4.
“CCHF is a zoonotic viral disease presenting with fever and haemorrhagic manifestations in humans. After several outbreaks of CCHF being reported from Gujarat since 2011 till 2019, and from Rajasthan in 2014 and 2015, the present study reports the CCHF outbreak which was recorded from five human cases in three districts Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, and Sirohi of Rajasthan state since August 2019 till November 2019,” the study read.
According to the findings, a high percent of positivity was recorded in the samples of livestock animals for the CCHFV IGG antibody. Human blood samples that were found positive for the CCHF virus (CCHFV) and Hyalomma tick pool samples were sequenced using next-generation sequencing method.
Two different Msegment genotypes, encoding glycoprotein precursor, were identified from tick pools in the study -- first from Asian and second from African lineage. The L gene (polymerase) and the S gene (nucleocapsid) clustered in the Asian lineage.
“We also observed 6% amino acid changes between the death and the survived case of CCHFV in the M gene. This report also sets an alarm to enhance human, tick and livestock surveillance in other districts of Rajasthan and nearby states,” experts suggested. The study said, “Though no nosocomial or human-to-human transmission of CCHF or any infection amongst close contacts was reported in the outbreak of 2019, still it alarms the intense awareness campaigns and trainings among healthcare workers, animal handlers, abattoir workers/farmers, and veterinarians, which will help in early reporting and quick diagnosis as well as reducing the spread.”