Conflict Theory | the fight of our lives

In the 19th century, renowned political thinker Karl Marx purported the Conflict Theory. The Conflict Theory is a sociological theory that suggests that society is constituted by the perpetual conflict between social groups. These groups generally compete for resources, i.e money, power, status, etc.

24 Sociology Images ideas | sociology, inequality, political cartoons

Conflict Theory stands in opposition to Functionalism, which states that society is based on consensus where social institutions work in harmony to maintain social order. Conflict theory states that social order is maintained by domination and the struggle for power between the haves and have-nots. The dominant group will hold on to their resources for as long as they can, even suppressing the other group in the process to stay at the top.

Further, the dominant group will use the resources in their position to try and maximize their wealth, thereby strengthening their position.

Conflict theory can be observed not only in society but also in phenomena such as poverty, war, discrimination, revolution, etc. Wherever there are resources to be had, there will emerge a dominant group. This is where Conflict theory comes into play.

Marx further stated that conflict is what drives social change and what makes power change hands.

In the modern scenario, we see examples of the Conflict Theory between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Interestingly, the dominant group might not necessarily be numerically larger, just wealthier.

Black fungus – all you need to know!

It is caused by a group of fungi, found in air or dust, mucormycosis is a deadly infection, affecting those with low immunity. It starts in the nose and spread to the eyes and then the brain. It is arare fungal infection affecting 1 in 10,00,000 people but with a mortality rate of 50 percent. It can cause blindness, organ dysfunction, loss 9f body tissue, and even death if not treated on time. There are chances of infection increase in patients who are diabetic, covid positive and are taking steroids. Uncontrolled diabetes is the biggest cause for its raising number, especially post covid.

The early symptoms are sinusitis, local pain on the cheekbone, one sided facial pain, numbness or swelling. Blackish discoloration over the bridge of nose or palate. Loosening of teeth, jaw involvement, blurred or double vision with pain, thrombosis, chest pain, pleural effusion and worsening of respiratory symptoms.

How it is treated?
While the infection may just begin with a skin infection, it can spread to other parts of the body. Treatment involves surgically removing all dead and infected tissue. In some patients, this may result in loss of upper jaw or sometimes even the eye. Cure may also involve a 4 to 6 weeks course of intravenous anti fungal therapy. Since it affects various parts of the body, treatment requires a team of microbiologists, internal medicine specialists, intensivist neurologists, ENT specialists, opthalmologists, dentists, surgeons and others. Controlling diabetes is one of the foremost prevention methods suggested by ICMR. Hence, covid 19 patients who are diabetic need to take utmost care.

The very familiar but not known to many: Chinavirus

The former US president Donald trump may be wrong about many things, however calling covid-19 as the “chinavirus” was not one of them. This pandemic has shattered the world, nearly 34.7 lakh people have already lost their lives, but the pandemic is relentless and unforgiving, with no intention of stopping the virus is spreading rapidly, hitting multiple times, causing waves of cases and deaths, rendering people jobless, hungry, suicidal, and in depression. Wherever it goes it stays and brings mass destruction along with it. Its goal? Global domination for a long time. With all these fearful idiosyncrasies of the virus, one must wonder who created it. Can a disease of this magnitude occur naturally? If so, then why didn’t the world face this pandemic a long time back? Is this the wrath of god or the doing of the devil?

The answer to this has been discovered. This is the doing of man. The “China virus” originated in a laboratory and the variants belong to it. A type of biological warfare, but done in the most perverse of ways, the sufferers being the entire world. This statement has been supported by a number of investigators and scientists, in much detail. China knew that the virus (which was not just SARS but a more deadly modification of it) had escaped from the lab and so, it closed down Wuhan to itself, but not the travel of international flights from Wuhan which carried suspected infected individuals. It has long tried to hide the fact that the virus was its own doing, and blamed it on bats and wet markets, which still continue to function as of today. When the rest of the world suffered, china profited from the helplessness of other countries and was healthy, back on its feet again. The unsettling part of china’s wet market claims is that if its so clear that the virus has originated from them, then why not let scientist of other countries investigate it at the proper time? Was china busy clearing up evidence from its labs? The WHO that supported China’s claims, itself seemed not to have been able to enter for a year.

There have been deflects from the chinavirus to the UK, South African and the Indian variants. These deflects and the continuous focus on the devastation the virus has been causing, has caused the point of origin of the virus seem of less concern. However, china is liable to give a reasonable explanation and pay for what it has done. These variants will naturally originate because of mutations caused due to the varying climatic conditions of different countries; however, the original virus was from china. This large-scale destruction cannot be caused by any random naturally occurring microorganism, but a specifically engineered bioweapon. However, what is atrocious is the fact that apart from the Indian and Australian media, not many are speaking up against china. It is because either they are too uplifted for China or afraid to cry out against China due to their diplomacy. Had it not been a superpower, everyone would have talked against it.

As more evidence surface each day against china (causing the “mysterious” deaths of many Chinese scientist who are speaking up) it will have to face lawsuits from all over the world. China does not recognise any international court of law; however, this will be of little importance as China has businesses and assets all across the world and if any court has sufficient evidence in any case, they will simply have to bind China’s assets in the country where prosecutions have won against China. There is a great deal of avarice on Wall Street and companies who are still willing to operate in China, but if China is sanctioned for its total lack of respect for the rule of law and for its criminal responsibility to deliberately infect the world while closing Wuhan to its own towns domestically, the international powers are going through a criminal case in China.

China should have at the proper time alerted the world about the virus, closed down international fights and not denied the fact that the virus is transmitted through persons. Rather it is trying to profit from vaccines, closing down oxygen supply to Indians who are suffering with the chinavirus, and blaming other countries on the pretext of variants. China should be shunned; it should pay for the losses of lives in developing countries and supply medical help rather than take objection on covid-19 being called the china or Wuhan virus. If we don’t stop it now, we only encourage it to do another “accidental” attack on the world.

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS – THE ESSENCE OF DEMOCRACY

” Children of migrants and migrating children remain invisible and are most vulnerable and are denied access to health and proper nutrition, quality education and skills and knowledge they need to thrive and spend their lives in makeshift, unfriendly, unhygienic and testing conditions.” – The Times of India

“Illegal parking on footways or public streets will amount to violation of fundamental rights under Article 21” : Karnataka High court.

We come across such news headlines on a daily basis in our lives but when it comes to filing a complaint against our fundamental rights being violated we take a step back. From facing discrimination from rent owners to having troubles in neighbourhood dealing with drainage system or improper garbage segregation. All these violate our fundamental rights. A worker working in factory getting wages less than his minimal wage, a person being treated unfairly just because of his/her caste, race, religion or gender, women facing trouble working among the male members etc. all these are live instances of people facing violation of their fundamental rights.

In these pandemic days we find similar examples of such instances- People not wearing masks are violating other citizens’ fundamental right to life. Hospitals not admitting patients violate their right to life. Insufficient availability of medical equipments like ventilators, ICU beds and oxygen cylinders violate fundamental rights. All these instances highlight the importance fundamental rights play in our lives.

Backdrop-

India’s constitution came into force on 26th January 1950 against the backdrop of horrendous violence the partition unleased on the subcontinent. Our constitution makers were fully aware of the situation prevalent in India and the aspirations of the citizens living in it. Each and every provision of the constitution was thoroughly viewed, debated and passed with public reasoning. While framing the most balanced arrangements the leaders of our constituent assembly did not hesitate to adopt provisions and guidelines which they found suitable from various others countries, without slavish imitation.

Fundamental rights defined in Part III of our constitution finds its origin in United States of America. As early as 1920s there was demand for rights from British government. It was therefore natural that independent India would be provided with these rights and hence regard them as fundamental, of utmost value. The constitution has separately listed them and made special provisions for their protection. They are so important that constitution itself ensures they are not violated by government. These rights cannot be changed by the constitution itself and hence impose rigidity on part of the constitution.

Fundamental rights are contained in Article 12 to 35 of Part III of our constitution. There are six main fundamental rights that our constitution guarantees its citizens-

Right to equality –

It prohibits discrimination on grounds of religion, race, religion, caste, sex or place of birth. Equal opportunity in work places should not be denied to anyone and this rights abolishes untouchability.

Right to freedom-

Everyone must have freedom of speech and expression, freedom to assemble peacefully, form associations/unions, move freely throughout the territory of India, reside in any part of India and practice any profession or carry on any occupation, trade or business.

Right against exploitation-

It prohibits traffic in human beings and employment of children in hazardous jobs.

Right to freedom of religion-

It guarantees freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion, freedom to manage religious affairs, pay taxes for promotion of particular religion, and freedom to attend religious instruction or worship in certain educational institutions.

Cultural and education rights-

It guarantees protection of language, culture of minorities and right to establish educational institutions for minorities.

Right to constitutional remedies-

It states that any citizen can move the court to issue direction/orders/writs for enforcement of rights.

How does the constitution protect us against violation of these rights ?

Merely providing these rights is not enough, there has to be a way to defend against attack on these rights. Right to constitutional remedies is considered as the ‘heart and soul of the constitution’ by Dr. B.R Ambedkar. It gives right to a citizen to approach a High court or Supreme court to get any fundamental right restored in case of their violation. It provides 5 writs that the court can issue as special orders to guarantee the enforcement of these rights. Apart from Judiciary there are many other mechanisms for the protection of these rights- National commission on women, National commission on minorities, National commission on schedule caste, National human rights commission and many others like these are established to protect fundamental and other kinds of rights.

Being a citizen we must be aware of our rights and take immediate action upon their violation. This is the most basic lesson we have learnt in our primary classes but is hardly being implemented and attended to.

Signing off

Janhavi Thakre

Widespread protest over the new “reforms” by Lakshadweep administrator

Lakshadweep is the smallest Union territory of India situated 220-440 kms across the south western coast of the country. It is a group of 36 small islands where only 11 of them are inhabited by people.Kavaratti, the largest of the islands, is the capital of the union territory. Almost 99% of the population are muslims and fishing is their primary occupation.Major languages in the island are Malayalam,Jeseri and Mahl.The island is dependent on the state of Kerala for education,health, jobs and trade.Customarily Lakshadweep was governed by administrators ( IAS/IPS officers ) with the support and consultation with elected district panchayath.This was the case till december 2020.But the demise of the then administrator Dineshwar Sharma IPS changed the scenario altogether as the Centre appointed Praful Patel as the administrator of Lakshadweep. He is not an IAS/IPS officer but a BJP leader who was the Home minister of Gujarat when the current Prime minister was Gujarat’s Chief minister.

The series of “reforms” he brought about which are being opposed by the islanders are; The island has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.The jail in Lakshadweep remains closed throughout and there is a police station for name sake. But the new administrator has implemented the Goonda Act in the island. Meat was removed from the lunch menu of the schools and he has also called for banning of cattle slaughter and beef consumption. This is seen as a direct attack on the culture of the island.200 temporary appointed high school teachers were dismissed and the students who protested against this were suppressed. Several anganwadis were closed in the island.

The administrator reduced the powers of the elected district panchayat and brought education,health,agriculture,fishing,local governing and animal conservation under his direct control.Two dairy farms were closed stating that they were running at loss. And it is now reported that milk is being exported from Gujarat to the island.Trade with the mainland usually happens through Beypore Port in Kerala now it has been diverted to Mangalore port.Also bizarre rules like people with more than 2 children being exempted from contesting elections are also reported from the island.

The administrator defends himself saying that he is making these reforms to develop the island and to boost tourism here. Stating the same he has removed the sheds and other fishing equipment from the shore which was used by the fishing folks. The island was dry land but the administrator has approved the opening of beverages.

The greatest opposition was against changing the existing SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) for COVID. The island was among the parts of the country in the green list during the first wave with zero cases reported.This was due to the strict quarantine measures implemented in the island.But the new administrator relaxed the rules to promote tourism which led to drastic increase in cases with the positivity rate going beyond 13%.

Huge protests against these policies are being held by islanders.But the islanders cannot involve themselves in direct protest due to covid restrictions,therefore the protest is held majorly online. The islanders have also started protesting at their footsteps.Also elected representatives and natives have contacted public figures and politicians to extend support to their cause and to bring their plight to mainstream media. The official Lakshadweep media handles were suspended and the twitter handles that posted against these reforms were taken down.Various requests have been made to the president to recall the administrator.

People have claimed that the BJP is trying to implement its facisit agenda in the island.But the BJP leaders have cleared this stating that these reforms are for the development of the island and to make it a tourism hub.”Unity in Diversity ” is our nation’s hallmark, therefore factors that disrupt this unity should not be encouraged even at the cost of development. Also freedom to choose the development that we want for our place should be accounted for. Development should never be at the cost of the lives and culture of the people of that place.

Save Lakshadweep

Egyptian Mummification.

A mummy is the body of a person (or an animal) that has been preserved after death. They were any Egyptian who could afford to pay for the expensive process of preserving their bodies for the afterlife.Aren’t you excited about the mummies?
Why the ancient Egyptians preserved the dead?
Do you think they fear death?May be because Egyptians were always thinking about the “so-called full stop” of earthly life and attaining the afterlife where they could live forever. In their religion, the body was needed in order for the “ba” (soul) of the person to unite with the “ka” of the person in the afterlife. So they consider this mummification as a away to their afterlife journey. When the mummified body acted as a homebase, it also was a link to the tomb, to the living and to the offerings that the living would bring. They also believe that these offerings by the living are set for their afterlife.
Osiris was an ancient Egyptian God who was the first recorded one in mythology to die and then reborn into the afterlife. When he died, his wife the goddess Isis had prepared and restored his body along with the help of her sisters. once Osiris body was repaired and wrapped up like a Mummy, he could become the eternal king of the afterlife. Osiris was the model for ancient egyptians. So they believed that if they imitated the process which undergone by Osiris ,they could also be reborn in the afterlife like him.
Facts:
The main process of mummification is to take out all the moisture from the body in order to preserve it from decay. During this process they remove all the internal organs through a long incision on the left side of the body except heart done by the priest known as “slicer”. because for them heart is the centre of intelligence. Brain- hooks were used to remove the brain through the nostrils after the person had died.The ancient Egyptians believed that in order for a person’s soul to survive in the afterlife ,it would need to have food and water. The mummies’ mouth kept open on the basis of the thought that the person who died could eat and drink again in the afterlife!
Recently the researches in Poland discover the world’s first known pregnant Egyptian mummy ,at the time the mummy was thought to have been a male priest.As reported by Associated Press, the pregnant mummy’s age has been estimated to be between 20 and 30 years old with 26 to 28 weeks baby in her womb.“Our first surprise was that it has no penis, but instead it has breasts and long hair, and then we found out that it’s a pregnant woman. When we saw the little foot and then the little hand (of the fetus), we were really shocked,” said Marzena Ozarek-Szilke, an anthropologist and archaeologist. According to their beliefs,mummies are preserved for their afterlife. So in this case,will the baby in the womb of the the woman also get the afterlife?

MAN’S GREATEST CREATION: MUSIC

“SOMETIMES A DEEP MEANINGFUL MUSIC IS ENOUGH,TO COMPLETELY CHANGE ONE’S PERSPECTIVE TOWARDS LIFE”

Man’s greatest creation: music, the language of spirit opening up the secret of life by bringing peace and abolishing the strife far and wide. It is the incredible trait of music in its ability to have infinite sounds , emotions, instruments, beats, genres which greatly influences us to connect with the people on such a massive level that even the power of words fail to reach such a level.

It is an explosive expression of humanity which helps us to express our innermost feeling in the most powerful manner because it is something we all are touched by. It touches our soul and strikes a chord in our heart. Music is often said that when language fails the best resort is music. Believe in the power of music and you will be able to express the innermost feeling with much more clarity and effectively with lot of magnitude.

Music greatly helps in spreading happiness and joy in life of a person, gives us the soul for our life and immense peace of mind. It creates a vibrant pattern that it evokes and stirs up the feelings and emotions in the listener’s heart and creates a sense of joy. It is an organized melodious sound in succession which helps in creating a composition of music in unity, continuity and harmony. Music is an art of combining tones to form expressive and rhythmic sequence of pleasing sounds.

MAN’S GREATEST CREATION LINKED WITH NATURE

Throughout our musical history, we have sought to connect with nature on a deep and emotional level. This internal connection we seek with the nature is rooted in our human ancestry and evolution having been entirely immersed in nature. The beautiful bird’s chirping, the water running, tree leaves resting and wind blowing are all realistic rhythm of unnoticed music which is greatest blessing from the god. Moreover our primitive forms of communication, emotional expression and social connection were all through musical sounds that originally stemmed from the natural world surrounded us.

Clearly, we have strong internal connection with both the nature and music, but these two essential components to human life go hand in hand in our evolutionary history and in our human-nature as naturally we use music to express our emotion which has been both emphasized and reinforced by composers and musicians who have sought to nature through their music and strengthen our essential connection with music and in the deepest roots of nature.

MAN’S GREATEST CREATION IN UNITING THE WORLD

The sublime power of music that breaks all the geographical boundaries and helps people to connect together regardless of their diverse social, political, geographical and cultural background. It is the inevitable force which that knows no religion and no discrimination on the basis of caste and creed. It gives equal delight to all and helps us to connect with god by transporting our soul to another world. Thus is greatly helps us in establishing peace and promoting internal brotherhood.

Plato, a great Greek philosopher once said that music should be an indispensable part of education. In his scheme of education he greatly emphasized on three forms of disciplines they are:

1. Mathematics for the development and training of our brain.
2. Gymnastics for the development and training of our body.
3. last but not the least MUSIC for feeding our soul

Through musical instruments and voice it helps people to reach a sublime state such as “SUFI MUSIC“. It is such a delight for our ears to hear this form of music. We can produce music with the help of various instruments.

do check out on how music has beautifully healed people:

http://Personal Stories about Music Therapy | Personal Stories | American Music Therapy Association (AMTA)

Music gives us a permanent solution to wipe off boredom from our life. It gives us the flight to the imagination and let’s us to paint the life’s unforgettable memories in silence. Thus it is well said that “Life is like the keys of piano has both white and black keys but we must never forget that black keys too makes music.”

3 great ways AI will enrich our society

AI ( Artificial Intelligence ) is basically a computer program that is designed to automate processes that are generally to be done by humans. It is very closely related to Machine Learning which is a program that evolves itself with time. These are implemented from everyday mundane tasks such as showing daily news on your news app based on your previous likes and dislikes to show ads on YouTube or Google are targeted specifically to you based on your recent searches. This may look like a breach of privacy, but this is the world we live in.

This is just a small preview of what AI is capable of now. AI runs a lot of servers and computational things that humans are not physically capable of. In addition, AI-assisted software runs many necessary informational and logistical programs necessary for the running of our society. AI basically uses programming structures called neural networks which basically change and evolve with time to learn new things. It is even used in camera face recognition technology.

Whenever you open your phone using your face, the AI program in your phone can do that. It recognizes small things unique only to your face like the cheekbone structure, the width of your forehead, the breadth of your nose, the distance between your chin and lip, and so on to recognize it is you and then allows you to open the phone.

Now, the question which has taken over the pioneers in this field is whether AI can be given more autonomy in other sensitive fields like finance. AI can be evolved into such a program where it can be seen as a completely different human in and off of itself. A program that has attained consciousness, a program that can control any device linked to the internet. That is the future of AI. Here I will tell you 3 ways that it will be useful to us.

AI-assisted protocols in surgery and science ( Useful ):

In such places, AI will provide a useful tool to assist humans in surgery wherein a human hand cannot be steady enough to go through with the procedure. It can also help humans find patterns in medicine and molecules which are not perceivable by the human mind. Thus, it can help to develop medicine much beyond what is capable now. It can also help in fields of sciences in various ways, from developing complex algorithms for sorting data to giving the best possible course of action.

AI-Assisted decision-making processes:

Decision-making processes are prevalent in a lot of places. Knowingly or unknowingly, we make a lot of decisions every single day. It would be so much better if AI-assisted us in deciding to get only the best result out of it. Decision-making plays a vital role in finance, where the goal is to make a profit. Wrong decisions may ruin someone’s entire life in a matter of seconds. Hence, it would be very vital for those to make wise choices.

AI-assisted automation:

Automating many tasks won’t make them lose their jobs; it will only divert them elsewhere where it is more important. Diverting engineers from manufacturing cars to manufacturing delicate space parts would help humanity advance much farther in space technology. Space is the final frontier. Humanity is not destined to live on earth. Having AI assist us in our mundane day-to-day tasks, much of the human resources can be diverted towards making our society a space-age one.

Hence, when AI assists us in our day-to-day lives, it will drastically improve our quality of living. Society will evolve towards a utopic. AI-assisted technology and society are something to really look forward to.

The river that fought

The Whanganui River in New Zealand is a treasured natural wonder and has deep spiritual significance to New Zealand’s Maori people. It is the country’s longest navigable river and is known as the Rhine of New Zealand. It is also legally a person.

In 2017, The Crown officially recognized the Whanganui River as a legal person after New Zealand’s longest-running legal battle. For the Whanganui tribe, the river holds great importance, both as a nurturer of life and as a deity.

Whanganui River - Wikipedia

The river basin is home to several settlements of the Whanganui tribe with its fertile basin and shining waters. The tribe has deep connections with the river and views it as a giver of life. This relationship is comparable to that between a mother and child. Therefore, just as a child has the responsibility to care for their parent, the tribe sees the well-being of the river as its responsibility.

After colonial settlement, the right of the tribe to care for this river was violated, and this continued to be the case even after its independence.

Thus in 2017, the Treaty of Waitangi settlement gave guardianship of the river to the Whanganui tribe.

This move has helped the river thrive and has given it the right to sue anyone who infringes upon its well-being.

Following this example, the Te Urewera Park was also granted legal personhood.

Thus by empowering nature, not only are we preserving the environment and securing a better future, but also protecting the heritage of marginalized communities.

Given the state of our planet, the time to act is now. Policy measures go a long way and giving nature legal personhood will put us on the path of conservation.

Incitement – call to act

Invest in getting better. The quickest way to take back your power and gain full control over your life is to take responsibility over the things that you’ve attracted. Instead of blaming others or pointing fingers at others ,ask yourself what lesson is this situation or circumstances here to teach you.

Since energy is everything , nothing is a coincidence.Your thoughts , emotions and beliefs are sent out to the environment to attract to yourself what you think and feel. When a situation presents itself and you’re not happy with it,you don’t have to blame what’s happening. Rather ,bless where you are at by being thankful for what it has taught you and be open to ways you can evolve from it. This will automatically empower you to attract better experiences because you are not a victim. Eveything around you is energy. The alignment you attract in the physical is a match to your mental/inner reality. If you don’t like what you have attracted upto this point,don’t point fingers at the circumstances. These are just results of your thinking.

You should never blame anyone or anything for what you have attracted,that just weakens your personal power to take responsibility for your life. Instead ,focus back on your thoughts,beliefs and ideas you have about this world! What is that little voice in your head constantly saying? What emotion are you always holding? Your state of being is constantly gravitating everything towards us. You can’t keep asking for particular relationship and hold a negative view on love , you can’t keep asking for financial freedom and hold a negative view on money! See, it’s not what we say we “want” but the belief we have about it.

Everyone desires a change, but to become better you have to start doing the self work which is owning your life. You start by letting go of all the resentment, could haves, should haves, or what went wrong in your past. Once you become detached from the noise and own your power, you now have the opportunity to increase your vibration to attract experience you want.

The better you become the better you attract! Everything starts with you!!

Railways delivers more than 15, 284 MT of Liquid Medical Oxygen to various states so far

Indian Railways has so far delivered more than 15 thousand 284 Metric Tonnes of Liquid Medical Oxygen (LMO) in more than 936 tankers to various states. Ministry of Railways said that 234 Oxygen Express have completed their journey so far and brought relief to various States. Oxygen relief by Oxygen Express reached out to 14 states including Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, Punjab, Kerala, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. The first Oxygen Express to Assam with 80 Metric Tonnes of LMO reached Assam yesterday.

Oxygen Express has been delivering more than 800 Metric Tonnes of LMO to the nation every day now.

Railways has mapped different routes with Oxygen supply locations and keeps itself ready with any emerging need of the States.

India’s daily COVID positivity rate declines to 11.34 per cent

India’s daily Covid 19 positivity rate has decline to 11.34 per cent from 24.83 per cent which was reported on May 10. The positivity rate has decline by around 55 per cent in just 14 days.

India also recorded the highest number of Covid tests conducted in a single day with more than 21.23 lakh tests in the past 24 hours.

Talking about the COVID vaccine distribution across the country, Centre announced that more than 21.80 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and Union Territories so far.

Out of the total vaccine doses given to states and UTs, the total consumption stands at over 19.90 crore, including the wastage, government said.

It also said that more than 1.90 crore COVID vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs to be administered.

The daily rise in coronavirus cases in India remained below the 3 lakh-mark for the seventh consecutive day, with 2.4 lakh new cases recorded in a single day.

The active cases further reduced to 28,05,399 comprising 10.57 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate improved to 88.30 per cent.

Centre to decide on CBSE Class 12th Board exams by 1st of June; states asked to give their feedback by tomorrow

The Centre will examine suggestions received from various State Governments this week and convey further information in this regard to the students by or before the 1st of June.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh yesterday chaired a national consultation to discuss conduct of Class 12 exams and professional courses entrance exams.

The discussions were held on two issues.

The board exams to be conducted for Class 12th by the Central Board of Secondary Education and other State Boards and the All-India Entrance examinations for various higher education institutions and professional courses.

Various options regarding the methodology, process, duration and timings of the exams were discussed.

During the meeting, Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the entire country has come together to ensure the safety and academic welfare of the students and smooth functioning of the education system.

He expressed confidence that the government will be able to arrive at an informed, and collaborative decision regarding Class 12 board exams and remove uncertainty among students and parents.

Mr Pokhriyal said that despite challenges posed by Covid-19, the Government has left no stone unturned to successfully bring education to online mode.

The Minister discussed the importance of the Class 12th board exams and the All India Entrance exams in shaping the future and defining the careers of students.

He said keeping in view the present circumstances, government decided to cancel the CBSE Board examinations of Class 10th and evaluate through internal assessment but Class-12th examinations are very important to decide the future of a student.

He also expressed his gratitude to the Defence Minister for giving his time and valuable suggestions relating to the exams.

He thanked Union Ministers Smriti Irani and Prakash Javadekar for attending the meeting.

While summing up, Mr Rajnath Singh thanked all the participants for putting forth their positive suggestions on the proposals for conducting examinations.

He requested States and UTs to submit other suggestions, if any, to the Ministry of Education by 25th May.