INS Shardul escorts m.v. Kavaratti to Kochi
The Hindu
The passenger ship had got stranded off Androth following a fire incident
INS Shardul, warship based at the Southern Naval Command, escorted m.v. Kavaratti, the Lakshadweep administration’s passenger ship, which got stranded off Androth following a fire incident, to Kochi for repairs.
The fire on November 30, though extinguished by the crew, had damaged the ship’s starboard engine room. The ship could not start its engines and had anchored off Androth island awaiting towing orders for repairs.
On receiving the Lakshadweep administration’s request, the Navy dispatched INS Shardul with a team of experts. The team, along with Officer-in-Charge Naval Detachment Androth Lieutenant Commander Bishnu C. Panda embarked m.v. Kavaratti on Friday and undertook a detailed assessment of the damage.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.