Addressing a press conference, NITI Aayog member (Health) V K Paul said concerns about adverse effects and serious problems post immunisation, as of now, seem to be unfounded, negligible and insignificant, and stressed that both the vaccines -- Covishield and Covaxin -- are safe.
'You cannot fight a disease as complex as COVID-19 without a carefully calibrated, localised response.'
The state has allowed industrial units in special economic zones (SEZs) to lay off workers without government's sanction, regardless of the number of workers
'We must not forget that the virus will continue to adapt itself to live with us.' 'The vaccine is the only one way we can prevent mortality.'
As India gears up to vaccinate people above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities against COVID-19 from March 1, the Union health ministry on Friday said the facility of on-site registrations will be available so that eligible beneficiaries can walk into identified vaccination centres, get themselves registered and get inoculated.
Among the better painted buildings in rural Bihar are hospitals run by the state government. Archana Masih travels to a village in north Bihar to find out what lies within. As Bihar goes to the polls, Rediff.com looks at the state through the lives of its people.
'The USA crossed 50,000 deaths in 23 days, Brazil in 95 days and Mexico in 141 days. India took 156 days to reach this national figure'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said curfew will be imposed in the entire state from Monday midnight as the fight against coronavirus has reached a "turning point".
Satish Bodas visits the homes where Ganesha brings some cheer.
'Since we have to stop the pandemic, we have to use the vaccines now and that is why the emergency-use approval is justifiable.'
Asian Games silver medal-winning sailor Sweta Shervegar, a qualified homeopath, dons a PPE kit to become a COVID warrior in Mumbai.
"Samajwadi Party will fight the next assembly election in the state alone," he said when reporters asked him about possible alliance partners in the polls for his party.
'It will only get worse, definitely, for the next month and one-and-a-half months.'
'So much so we don't feel the need to create anything, but just bask in that glory.' 'It's time to move on.' 'How much burden can you put on a person or the legacy of the person?'
There is an upward trend in the recovery rate which was recorded at 62.42 per cent on Friday.
Incentives for industries have been rolled back and teachers have gone without salary for months as the state grapples with the after-effects of the ban
Scores of people in violence-hit areas of northeast Delhi have been spending their nights in the dark as power lines damaged during the riots remain unrepaired and dangle precariously outside their houses.
The recoveries have surged to 20,37,870 in the country, while there are 6,76,514 active cases of COVID-19, according to the data updated at 8 am. The record high recoveries have ensured that active cases of coronavirus infection, the 'actual caseload' of the country, currently comprises less than 1/4th (only 24.45 per cent) of the total cases.
'When people who ignored us, when relatives who have not spoken to us for a long time, congratulated us, it was a proud moment for my mother.'
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it has been decided to fix the minimum wages at Rs 350 per day for unskilled non-agricultural workers for 'C' category areas keeping in view the modalities of fixing minimum wages.
'Those who were not co-operating are co-operating now.' 'Now, our facilities are fit, our doctors are fit and we have a better protocol of how to do isolation, how to do the collection.'
Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.
Between that constant feeling of I've seen it all before and inability to balance comedy and darkness, Ludo wobbles towards its finish, sighs Sukanya Verma.
'We cannot be naughty and expect the government to do good!' 'We have to behave ourselves and then we can expect the government to support us.' 'If we are able to protect ourselves well, then we should not be having deaths.' 'Unfortunately, people have gotten into this super scary event participation (mode) -- birthday parties, large gatherings.' 'Among the people who have attended those, 80 to 90 per cent of them have come down with COVID-19.'
In the fourth of a six-part series Sahil Makkar finds out how badly Jalandhar's sports goods industry was hit by the note ban and the price it continues to pay.
A Class 12 student is changing the lives of the girls in her village, says Geetanjali Krishna.
'Around April 1-2, both states had similar number of cases, around 300.' 'The number of deaths in Kerala were 2 and in Maharashtra around 10. But the two graphs have diverged after that.'
Trade unions said Jaitley's minimum wage announcement is completely inadequate
'People are getting admitted to hospital two to three days before their death in a very serious respiratory compromise state and they are passing away within 48 hours.' 'Those who are coming early in the disease, the minute they are suspicious that they have COVID-19, the recovery rate has been much, much, higher.' 'The moral of the story is: We must destigmatise COVID-19.' 'People should be told: 'Look, if you have anything like this, please come immediately'.'
'By the time actual action began, it was already too late.' 'The virus was raging.'
Winner of the Lalit Kala Akademi award, Ahmedabad-based painter and photographer Harshil Patel offers a fantastic view of the walled city through his paintings and photographs for US President Donald J Trump.
Coming down heavily on the UPA government, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi accused the Congress of having broken its promise. Modi also lambasted the Congress for avoiding media.
Choudhary also posted on his Twitter account, a letter written by Union minister for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya to Irani using "dear", and accused her of "double standards" on this count.
More than 1.20 lakh Himachalis have already returned home in less than a week's time. There is a list of 21,000 others approved for return, and at least two lakh more are still awaiting official nod for their return. Will this influx see a spike in coronavirus numbers? That is the administration's main worry, reports Ashwani Sharma.
Congress and SP tussle over 10 assembly seats in Amethi and Rae Bareli.
Aseem Chhabra lists his favourite Indian films of 2021.
Patients from any part of the country will soon need to travel no more than three hours for treatment of the kind available in large metros.
Far from the metros and big cities, the coronavirus crisis in the country's districts, towns and villages is being led by district magistrates.
The responsibility of keeping the pandemic under control lies with the DM or collector.
Subrat Kumar Sen, the young district magistrate of Saran, north Bihar, tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how he and his staff are combating a crisis that no one has confronted before.
A birthing centre in Bengaluru is helping women make informed decisions about their pregnancy, right down to choosing how they have their baby.
In a shot in the arm for the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiromani Akali Dal ahead of Punjab assembly polls, their alliance on Tuesday defeated Congress in the Chandigarh municipal corporation election in which demonetisation had emerged as a key issue.
