Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Indian students, professionals flying to the United Kingdom were exempt from mandatory government quarantine as the UK moved India to its amber list. But under the rules of the amber list, Indian passengers still have to take a paid test just after their arrival in England, the cost of which is 88 pounds ( ₹9,055). Receiving complaints that it was a lot of money for students and even holidaymakers, the UK government has reduced the price to 66 pounds ( ₹6,791). The price reduction does not affect arrivals from Red list countries, or if they purchase a test from a private provider, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said, news agency PTI reported.
India’s upgrade to Amber list has come to the rescue of thousands of Indian students as they have been saved of the cost of 1,750 pounds ( ₹1.80 lakh) that they would have required for mandatory hotel quarantine which is a rule in the UK for passengers coming from Red List countries. Now students can quarantine at their place of stay, university hostel, for the recent move.
This year, a record number of 3,200 students from India have been accepted into UK colleges and universities, which is 19 per cent more than 2020.
The high airfare in the Delhi-London route because of pent-up demand became a cause for concern as many pointed out that Delhi-London one-way airfare reached around ₹4 lakh. The civil aviation ministry urged travellers to check the fare from the airlines’ website and not from search engines as they do not reflect the actual fare and after making combinations of multiple airlines show some exaggerated figure.
The number of flights between India to the United Kingdom has also been increased which is expected to bring down the ticket prices. India-UK flights were suspended in the wake of the second wave of the pandemic in India. The United Kingdom has not yet moved Pakistan from thered list to the amber list.
