Liquor shops reopened across the country in the non-containment zones after 40 days from Monday with people queuing up in large numbers, giving social distancing norms a toss at some places.
Union officials said with increasing possibility of further extension of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, several auto and taxi drivers are going to their native places in their black and yellow coloured auto rickshaws and taxis.
How should one billion Indians, for whom deprivation has become an inescapable way of life, join us in celebrating 75 years of Independence? And where do we go from here? asks Kalyan Singhal.
The arrival of summer in India may have raised hopes that hot and humid weather could slow the COVID-19 progression but virologist Naga Suresh Veerapu believes that outbreak and pandemic occurrences often do not follow seasonality.
Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath to 10 cabinet ministers and 14 ministers of state, including five ministers of state with independent charge.
India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the United States, Brazil and Russia.
Tea and snacks like samosa and gulab jamun offered to guests by ministers have cost the Uttar Pradesh state exchequer nearly Rs 9 crore during four years of Akhilesh Yadav government.
The death toll due to the coronavirus infection rose to 7,466 and the cases mounted to 2,66,598 in the country.
From children to the elderly, common people to VIPs, all came out in balconies, lawns and terrace of their homes as the clock struck five, following an appeal by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show gratitude to doctors, paramedics, police and other personnel associated with essential services when the country was observing an unprecedented 'Janta Curfew' on Sunday to check the spread of the virus.
The Union health ministry said West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh reported a casualty each on Monday, taking the total number of deaths to nine in the country due to COVID-19.
As visibility remained poor and the city choked due to a haze, the Centre for Science and Environment asked the Delhi govt to roll out stringent plans for controlling winter pollution.
No longer Bengal's finance minister, Amit Mitra, Mamata's principal chief advisor, will still advise and aid the 'chief minister and finance department on all matters relating to management of state finance', represent the 'state government in national and international events/meetings/committees' and examine 'important proposals/files and policy issues relating to financial matters referred to him for advice/views'.
The court said in its order, "If we have not imposed a lockdown it does not mean that we do not believe in it. We are still of the view that if we want to break the chain a lockdown for a duration of at least two weeks is a must."
'Initially, most people willingly stood for hours in queues to withdraw cash because they believed that after 50 days, black money would come out, some big men would be punished and perhaps jailed. Again, nothing happened.' 'Now the talk is that small people have been punished while the rich and the powerful have got away.' 'The RSS is not going out of its way to counter the view. Let the BJP explain.'
The green body's report said three of the world's largest nitrogen oxide air pollution emission hotspots that contribute to formation of PM2.5 and ozone are in India with one in the Delhi-NCR.
Shivdutt, the child's father, claimed his son was not given proper treatment by the nurse who gave him a wrong injection after which he died.
'What is proposed is that we tax payers pay Rs 1,000 per month to selected JanDhan accounts of poor families.' 'I am sure there are at least 10 crore Indians for whom Rs 1,000 is no big deal.'
Addressing his council of ministers in a video conference, Modi asked them to prepare business continuity plans to fight the economic impact of COVID-19 on a war footing, but also asserted that this crisis is an opportunity to boost the 'Make-in-India' initiative and reduce dependence on other countries.
The death toll rose to 5,394 after a record single-day spike of 230 fatalities in the 24 hours since Sunday 8 am, the Union Health Ministry said in its morning update. It showed the number of confirmed cases rising by 8,392 to 1,90,535. However, a PTI tally of figures announced by states and union territories, as of 9.35 pm, showed a higher death toll of 5,501.
Weeks after the second wave peaked in many parts of the country, we are rapidly forgetting what happened to our hospitals, cautions Mihir S Sharma.
'...and the government is suppressing the truth.'
Women and children have been given short shrift with these crucial sectors facing substantive budgetary cuts, discovers Rashme Sehgal.
Perched in the hills of Darjeeling, the factory was set up in 1874, but has remained shut since 2001. Efforts to reopen the colonial era establishment are now on a war footing.
"Also, 35 per cent deaths were recorded in the age group of 45-60 years, 10 per cent in the age group of 26-44 years and one per cent each in the age group of 18-25 years and below 17 years," the health secy said.
The airport would comprise two runways and handle 70 million passengers and 3 million tonnes cargo annually when fully developed.
According to a senior government official, the plan is to do "collective bargaining" for certain medical devices and implants by assuring a bulk requirement to the manufacturers. "The requirement for these devices runs into millions. We assure them that the requirement is going to be in bulk. In return, they should offer us better rates," he said.
The health system is trying to ensure that it isn't caught by surprise -- the way it was last time. So, hectic preparations are on.
According to the Graded Response Action Plan (GRAP), the air quality is considered to be in the emergency category if the PM2.5 and PM10 levels continue to be above 300 micrograms per cubic metre and 500 micrograms per cubic metre respectively for 48 hours or more.
However, two districts -- Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh and Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in Punjab -- which did not record a fresh case in the last 28 days, reported new COVID-19 cases on Monday, it added.
Vora was admitted to the Escorts Hospital in Okhla a few days ago with a urinary infection. He also had a lung infection and was put on ventilator support, his family said.
Cities are setting the rules that now carry life and death implications for their residents, and most of these rules are sought to be set by the municipal authorities who have never wielded such power, reports Subhomoy Bhattacharjee.
'There are only two bottlenecks for universal vaccination.' 'One, is availability of the vaccine.' 'Two, is the logistics for administering the vaccine.'
The cases reported on Wednesday include a couple and their two-year-old daughter in Rajasthan who had recently returned from Italy. The patients belong to Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu and had returned from Italy on March 8.
The UP government is also planning to free up its own land from illegal encroachment to set up these new cow- shelters in "safe locations" and with full facility for fodder and water.
The move came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma to deploy a nodal police officer in every hospital.
Of that figure, a whopping 4,246 people died in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone.
Dr Faheem is the second Indian-American physician to be elected to this position. Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports
Issuing a travel advisory, the health ministry also called for passengers with travel history to China, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Japan, Italy, Thailand, Singapore, Iran, Malaysia, France, Spain and Germany to undergo self-imposed quarantine for a period of 14 days from the date of their arrival, and their employers to facilitate work-from-home for such employees during this period.
Seventeen children died in the neo-natal ward, five in the acute encephalitis syndrome ward and eight in the general ward.
The combativeness reflects her insistence not to meekly acquiesce to what has been going on in Raisina Hill for years or decades, observes Kartikeya Tanna.
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