First major...
Subhash Nagade, divisional joint director agriculture, Amravati division, said, “There is fear and panic among villagers and farmers. With the Covid-19 pandemic underway and extremely hot weather in Vidarbha, the locust outbreak has made the situation worse. We are working with the municipal authorities for awareness drives across all affected areas.”
Between Monday night and early Tuesday morning, district officials with the help of the fire department carried out a sixhour drive to kill the locusts by spraying pesticides on the affected areas in all three districts. “We learnt that the swarms move during the day and sleep on the fruit bearing citrus trees at night. Villagers informed us about their exact locations, and an overnight extermination drive saw thousands of dead insects across a 17-km stretch at Katol. However, on Tuesday morning, those that survived began swarming other talukas,” said Bhosale.
Nagade said a similar thing was witnessed in Amravati. “The swarm has reduced here and moved towards greener pastures in Wardha and Nagpur. However, we fear the possibility of another swarm making its way from MP,” he said.
“We are constantly in touch with local officers overseeing this. We expect the invasion to be controlled within a few days in Maharashtra. However, another escaping population from MP cannot be ruled out,” said Gurjar
The country is witnessing a severe locust outbreak active across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and now Maharashtra. These rapidly reproducing crop munching pests can eat daily amounts equal to its weight, and can fly up to 150km in a day. Central and state bodies have stepped up efforts to control the menace as it poses crop vulnerability and threat to food safety if the outbreak is not contained. a reference for any country in the world, including Brazil,” she said.
US BRINGS FORWARD BRAZIL TRAVEL BAN
The White House on Monday brought forward by two days restrictions on travel to the US from Brazil as the number of deaths in the South American nation surpassed the US daily toll.
A White House statement amended the timing of the start of the restrictions to 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, May 26 (0359 GMT on Wednesday, May 27) instead of May 28 as in the original announcement on Sunday.
The White House did not give a reason for bringing the travel restriction forward. The US department of homeland security, which oversees immigration issues, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The travel ban was a blow to right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has followed the example of US President Donald Trump in addressing the pandemic, fighting calls for social distancing and touting unproven drugs.
“It undermines Bolsonaro’s claim to have built a relationship with Trump and Brazil is now seen as a privileged ally of the United States,” said Creomar de Souza, at Brasilia-based consultancy Dharma Political Risk And Strategy.
Kapoor and three daughters – Rakhee, Radha and Roshni --have been listed in the chargesheet for money laundering
“All financial transactions were handled by Rana Kapoor in these companies. Many of these companies are not operative and are used for siphoning off illegally obtained money i.e. proceeds of crime by Rana Kapoor. Dummy directors were appointed on the board of many of these companies by him,” the charge sheet said.
The agency has listed several properties owned by the Kapoor family and their companies in Mumbai, Delhi, Goa and abroad. Properties worth Rs 59 crore have already been attached and, said an ED official who didn’t want to be named, fixed deposits worth Rs 45 crore belonging to Kapoor and his family will be attached very soon.
According to ED, people involved in the Yes Bank scam are controllers of financial institutions that are among the biggest in India and they wield considerable influence.
“Therefore, they are capable of designing very complex structure to hide their impropriety. Therefore, there is a need for detailed investigation,” the ED charge sheet said. nificantly dropped over the past two months owing to the steps taken by the government. “It has come down to 3.2% on May 25 from 7.6% in mid-april. We want to take it down to 3%, to match the national average. This has been possible owing to the task force of 11 doctors we constituted for the clinical management of critically-ill patients. Similarly, the doubling rate of positive patients has gone up to 14 days from five days on March 25, when the lockdown was announced,” he said.