JOIN USFrom the Newsroom: Manmohan Singh asks Centre to reveal Covid-19 vaccination plan
In your evening news brief, Manmohan Singh asks the Centre to reveal the vaccination plan, JEE-Mains postponed and Syria to hold the presidential election on May 26.
Here is the top news of April 18, 2021:
Former PM Manmohan Singh wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the expansion of the Covid-19 vaccination programme is a big part of pandemic management.
"We must resist the temptation to look at absolute numbers vaccinated and instead focus on the percentage of population vaccinated," he wrote in the letter.
He further said that the Centre should inform about the Covid-19 vaccine orders placed for the next 6 months and how the vaccines will be distributed to the states.
Engineering entrance exam JEE-Mains scheduled to be held from April 27-30 has been postponed in view of the Covid-19 situation, Union Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on Sunday.
According to an official order by the National Testing Agency (NTA), "looking at the present situation of Covid-19 pandemic and also taking into account the safety and well being of candidates and examination functionaries, it has been decided to postpone JEE-(Main) April session". "The revised dates will be announced later on and at least 15 days before the examination," the order said.
Syria is to hold a presidential election on May 26, the parliament speaker announced Sunday, the country's second in the shadow of civil war, seen as likely to keep President Bashar Al-Assad in power.
Syrians abroad will be "able to vote at embassies" on May 20, Hamouda Sabbagh said in a statement, adding that prospective candidates could hand in their applications from Monday.