While freight traffic has gone up, the Google location data shows more people are stepping out of their homes.
'My children -- Saif, Saba and Soha -- have been located in Mumbai for a while now.' 'In our case, it's the house more than me that keeps the family close.' 'All three of my children love Pataudi; they come to Delhi and head straight there.'
Wall Street brokerage Goldman Sachs has flagged a slew of concerns on the surging COVID-19 caseload that has been hitting new records everyday, coupled with the rising lockdowns, forcing it to downgrade India's GDP growth forecast for the full year to 10.5 per cent from 10.9 per cent, apart from pegging down stock indices valuation and earnings. In a detailed note on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs' house economists led by Sunil Koul said these record number of pandemic cases and a host of key states announcing stricter lockdowns of late have fuelled serious growth concerns, leaving investors worried about the risks to macro and earnings recovery.
New Delhi slipped by two positions to rank 39th globally in terms of price appreciation of prime residential properties during the September quarter, according to Knight Frank. Mumbai ranked 40th, same as the June quarter, while Bengaluru moved up one spot to 42nd rank. New Delhi stood at the 37th rank, while Mumbai and Bengaluru were at 40th and 43rd positions, respectively, during the second quarter of 2021 calendar year. In its 'Prime Global Cities Index Q3 2021' report, Knight Frank tracked the movement in prime residential prices in local currency across 45-plus cities worldwide.
Bihar school girl Jyoti Kumari, who cycled 1200 km with her injured father from New Delhi to Darbhanga, will appear for Cycling Federation of India trials once the lockdown ends even though finishing matriculation is her primary aim. Rendered jobless and penniless because of the extended coronavirus lockdown, the 15-year-old was forced to ferry her father who was unable to walk properly after a surgery to his left knee following an accident.
Sheela Bhatt narrates the behind-the-scenes action in the Delhi headquarters of Tablighi Jamaat that finally forced the religious sect's compliance with the coronavirus shutdown.
'Saving our economy is a priority.' 'We have to save our people and save our country.'
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed that IPL 2021 will be held as per schedule despite the rapid rise of COVID-19 cases in India in the past few weeks.
The Centre and state governments bonded and then fell apart during the longest lockdown walk.
Asian Games gold-medal winning boxer Dingko Singh has revealed that he went into depression as he was unable to travel to New Delhi for his cancer treatment due to the nationwide lockdown. Dingko Singh was on Saturday airlifted from Imphal to the national capital for his liver cancer treatment.
'When Zubeida came, everybody loved me and I got a slew of offers of the same kind.' 'People started saying, "Aap nayi Aruna Irani ban jayegi".'
Consultants who help lease these properties say this is the steepest decline at least in a decade.
The Congress released a booklet 'Nau saal, Nau sawaal', asking nine questions from Modi. The BJP rejected the Congress' criticism as a 'bundle of lies and mountain of deception' and said the questions are born out of 'pathological hatred' of the PM.
The Economic Survey will remain a documentation of the government's resolve to not recognise the severe stress on the labour markets and on the livelihoods of Indian households arising out of the pandemic and the consequent lockdown, observes Mahesh Vyas.
A home ministry official said while 9,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their primary contacts have been quarantined till now across the country due to "massive efforts" to check the outbreak, the Centre has written to all states and union territories that "the lockdown measures should be implemented in letter and spirit".
'The fact that all the charges against my son are baseless and concocted, in itself, gives me all the hope.'
'It started with an image of a father and son riding a bike on a winter morning.'
"I have only Rs 200 left with me. I have not even got the refund for the cancelled ticket. We don't have agricultural land back home. I know it will be hard there, but I will be with my family. I am happy having 'roti and chutney' with them," says Jitendra Mahto, a migrant.
The companies have asked for digital curfew passes as e-retailers feel if more lockdowns are ordered after April 14, it is extremely difficult and time-consuming process to acquire the passes from local authorities.
India's likely medium-term potential growth will almost certainly be markedly lower than that experienced in pre-pandemic years, warns Shankar Acharya, former chief economic advisor to the Government of India.
According to the health ministry data, Delhi has reported the highest number of confirmed cases at 503.
Rentals of prime offices in Bengaluru and Mumbai fell 8 per cent and 6.2 per cent, respectively, during January-March 2021 as compared to the year-ago period, according to a Knight Frank report. In its Asia-Pacific Prime Office Rental Index Q1, 2021 report, the consultant said the prime office rents in the national capital region (Delhi-NCR) declined by only 1 per cent during January-March this year as against the same period of 2020.
The Centre on Friday opposed before the Delhi high court fully re-opening the Nizamuddin Markaz, where the Tablighi Jamaat congregation was held in March 2020 amid COVID-19 pandemic and has remained shut since then, stating that a few people may be allowed to offer prayers on the upcoming religious occasions.
"We have paid a huge price in the second wave. We don't know if there is any household which has not suffered in the second wave, closely or remotely," the bench observed.
'I worry that the suffering of these people might be as invisible as the people themselves,' observes Geetanjali Krishna.
The smart and stylish actor reveals how she's spending time in the lockdown productively.
Maharashtra recorded the highest number of cases in the country under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 2021 at 3,67,218, while Mumbai was placed second among major metropolitan cities in registration of criminal offences, according to a National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report.
Justice Jasmeet Singh, who was hearing a plea by the Delhi Waqf Board seeking a direction to open the mosque for the holy month, clarified that no "Tablighi activities" and lectures can take place on the premises and only prayers can be offered.
There was a surge in the demand for virtual classes for yoga (87%) and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) cardio workouts such as Zumba (72%), aerobics (67%), and pilates (22%).
Employment fell by 2.5 million in February, 0.1 million in March, 7.4 million in April and then by 15.3 million in May, explains Mahesh Vyas.
R0 values, or the average number of infections expected to be caused by a Covid carrier, vary between states, and have not stabilised. While unlocking, it would be wise to look at these variations, advises Atanu Biswas.
78 per cent moms who participated in the survey were worried about their kids getting sick amid the lockdown
The government on Tuesday stressed on avoiding large gatherings for a couple of months and following COVID-19-appropriate behaviour to avert any future wave, even as it noted that there has been a continued and sharp decline in daily new coronavirus cases in the country.
It is not unlikely that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government comes up with more imaginative schemes aimed at constituency-building. The party under Modi's leadership has a more modern thinking in such matters unlike its rivals, which are still steeped only in ideology, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The pandemic and social distancing have forced umpteen changes in our lives. The way people date is yet another one of them.
JNU vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, whose tenure was marred by controversies, has been appointed as chairman of the University Grants Commission.
In his order, the DM said it had come to light that in the present situation of a complete lockdown, several landlords were forcing migrant workers to pay the house rent, leaving them with no other choice but to vacate the place.
With intermittent disruptions in the supply chain of raw materials from China, the Indian pharma industry has braced itself with bigger inventory. Even smaller drug makers are now carrying a month of buffer stock of key raw materials, said industry insiders. The lockdown in various Chinese provinces, including Shanghai, is likely to delay shipments by two weeks to a month, said domestic players. Shipments are critical for the Indian drug industry, which imports 70 per cent of its raw material from China.
As the curtain come down on 2022, Roshmila Bhattacharya flashbacks to some of the year's news-makers and events.
'If we again become complacent at the end of the second wave, we are going to suffer more as it will be even more intense.'