This barefoot pilgrimage home we're seeing all around us, and the way plenty of us have reacted to it, is not just a commentary on India, circa 2020. It also shames us forever, notes Dilip D'Souza.
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's address to the nation on the eve of 72nd Republic Day.
'People are just putting the mask below their nose.' 'They are only protecting the mouth, but not the nose.' 'People need to understand that it is the nose which has to be protected.'
'No one should make coronavirus a Hindu-Muslim issue.'
On the COVID-19 tests, the Home Ministry also said from Thursday tests will be done with the new Rapid Antigen method approved by the Indian Council for Medical Research and Delhi will be given priority for these tests. It said 169 testing centres have also been set up across the national capital.
COVID-19 has accomplished what the UN failed to do in the last 75 years by making mankind rally around a mask of unity, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'There are many people languishing in jail under these draconian laws, where it takes them 10 years, 15 years, to finally be acquitted.' 'And, who is going to account for those years?' 'The home ministry's statistics says that between 2016 and 2019, the conviction rate (under UAPA) is only 2 per cent and the use of UAPA has increased by more than 70 per cent.' 'There are many people languishing in jail under these draconian laws, where it takes them 10 years, 15 years, to finally be acquitted.'
'Who is going to account for those years?'
'The home ministry's statistics says that between 2016 and 2019, the conviction rate (under UAPA) is only 2 per cent and the use of UAPA has increased by more than 70 per cent.' 'The government statistics itself is so revealing what the purpose of this law (UAPA) is.'
'He spoke about 20 jawans in Ladakh, but he couldn't even name China.' 'He said the world had seen what had been achieved, even though we Indians don't know because Modi has himself said that nothing had happened and nobody had come,' points out Aakar Patel.
New York City Councilman Donovan Philips, who visited Swami Harish Chander Puri to express support, put it down to the surcharged environment created by President Trump.
Subtle and sharp, sarcastic and self-deprecating. And sometimes just downright rude. There are wife jokes, husband jokes, boss barbs, Modi jibes, weight gain worries and the inevitable China insults. Humour in all forms is the panacea it seems for people around the world who are united in their need to laugh or at least crack a smile in these troubled times.
'Our party cadre does not want her in the party.'
From making 'COVIDIOTS' (a term coined for those flouting restrictions) squat on the road and do sit-ups, to making them pose with pamphlets admitting their fault, police officials have pulled out all the stops from their kitty of creativity to drive home the message.
Addressing a meeting of the Congress Working Committee, Gandhi said it should worry every Indian and her party will have to work hard to repair this damage.
'Smokers are a highly susceptible population during this pandemic.' 'Health benefits from quitting smoking can start as early as within an hour.'
'The situation has improved because oxygen tankers are now coming.' 'Before this it was chaotic.'
The affected nurse is being treated and is recovering well, junior foreign minister V Muraleedharan said. Meanwhile, China has locked down five cities, including Wuhan, suspending all public transport in an unprecedented move to contain the coronavirus that has infected over 630 people and left 17 others dead.
'It is a political failure, and not a medical failure.'
Modi had on Friday urged people to turn off lights at their homes for nine minutes at 9pm to display the country's collective resolve and solidarity to defeat the virus.
'Interns, fresh MBBS graduates, nursing students, young doctors and nurses have brought pride to their degrees and their oath by courageously donning the PPE and caring for patients.' 'They are the foot soldiers of this war.'
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
'While the farmers are reeling under a huge debt burden, crop loss due to locust attacks and erratic rainfall, the state is also facing a COVID-19 challenge.' 'In this situation, you have Congress and BJP MLAs trying to outwit each other in a game of thrones'
From India's fight against COVID-19 to China face-off, Kovind spoke on several issues during the televised address.
Coronavirus is the biggest story of our lives and a billion plus people expect us to be around, watching, reporting, editing, recording this for posterity and blowing the whistle to draw attention to injustices and State failures, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'Isn't it tragic, comic as well as ironic that the people who owe their allegiance to the Constitution of India are declared deshdrohis without an iota of evidence?' 'But this mistake has to be corrected and those who actually and directly fomented the Bhima Koregaon riots and the masterminds behind these people will have to be exposed now.'
The journey of getting used to a new way of life -- without domestic help, without the necessity of dressing up to step out and just staying cooped up indoors -- has been out of the ordinary, equal parts good, bad and ugly.
'There will always be hiccups given that the Namami Gange programme is spread over different sectors and involves several agencies.'
As people crisscross the country, eager to return to their homes, the cases have raced past 80,000 with at least 2,649 deaths, according to the Union health ministry on Friday. While there is no exact count, this includes a large number of those who have returned to their states.
'The spirit of cooperation between the Centre and states has been diluted in many ways.' 'The level of consultation which used to be there earlier has reduced significantly.'
Sheela Jaywant invites you to explore The GoaWriters Group's interesting look at the lockdown.
"BJP leaders are playing the game at the behest of central leaders. MLAs were offered money... Rs 10 crore in advance and Rs 15 crore after the government is toppled," the chief minister alleged and added that the BJP wants to convert the state's politics into a goat market, 'bakra mandi'.
As we get used to a long haul of isolation to curb the spread of COVID-19, the police's new avatar in many places is a far cry from that of the high-handed enforcer of law and order.
'The coronavirus has provided each one of us a chance to press the 'reset' button. I take this National Medical Emergency to announce a process of national healing.' 'As of midnight tonight, my government will drop all talk of NRC and NPR, and my Muslim brethren should sleep peacefully that this is as much their country as mine.'
Here's the full text of President Ram Nath Kovind's customary address to the joining sitting of Parliament on the first day of the budget session.
If the precautions are not taken and guidelines are not followed properly, there can be chances of spike in cases, the government said.
'It is not the test, but the symptomatic phase in this disease that really matters.'
The COVID-19 tests will be started at every polling station in the containment zones of Delhi in a few days
From Kutch to Itanagar, Kashmir to Kanyakumari, there is only one emotion, it seems. Fear. Of coronavirus.
To an award show that's famous for honouring artists belatedly, we have sent as our official entry one of our major film-makers's weakest work yet, feels Sreehari Nair.
'Even after this epidemic gets over, we know that there are going to be months of effects on the economy and poverty.' 'A lot of things are catastrophic for people from the lower socio-economic classes.' 'Social distancing is going to start killing their day-to-day wages.' 'We are not even measuring that impact.'
In his second national broadcast in a week on the pandemic raging across much of the world with the number of infections rising in India, Modi made a fervent appeal to the countrymen not to cross the 'lakshman rekha' of their homes in the next three weeks.
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