India is in the midst of its biggest crisis since Independence. It is a national emergency and begs to be dealt with. Politics can wait. Lives need to be saved. We need to vaccinate India at a pace faster than any country in the world, asserts Ramesh Menon.
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.
As the death toll in the country from coronavirus jumped by a record 445 to 13,699, the Centre maintained that the number of infections per lakh population was among the lowest in the world. The new cases surged by over 10,000 for the 11th day in a row and rose by 14,821 to take the total to 4,25,282, according to health ministry data.
The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
A PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.25 pm, showed a higher number of 1,76,792 confirmed cases and at least 5,100 deaths. It also showed nearly 86,000 recoveries and close to 85,700 active cases.
The total number of positive cases has increased by 106 in the last 24 hours to reach 1,024.
'My health is fine but I am getting admitted to hospital on advice of doctors,' tweeted Shah after testing positive for COVID-19.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over their telephonic talks on COVID situation triggered political slugfest with the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday accusing Soren of lacking the basic courtesy expected of a person holding his office and lowering its dignity.
As 32 states and Union Territories imposed complete lockdown till March 31, the Centre asked them to clamp curfew wherever necessary in the wake of people defying lockdown orders.
The state government will review the lockdown situation in Guwahati after seven days from the enforcement of the restrictions.
Kejriwal had on Sunday assured the bureaucrats that he will use all the powers and resources at his command to ensure their safety and security and called them part of his family.
From social engineering to bearing the cost of COVID-19 treatment to financial reconstruction of Tamil Nadu's debt the debutant chief minister is emerging as a leader with a difference, says Shjne Jacob
According to information received from sources, there will be a meeting at 5 pm through video conferencing but its agenda is not clear.
With 200 MPs out of 785 above the age of 65, there is a serious shadow of COVID-19 looming over the monsoon session Of Parliament.
A protegee of Advani, she stood out due to her mass appeal, an ability most of the party's second generation leaders lacked, resulting in her being elected to the Lok Sabha four times.
As daily testing of samples of blood and throat and nose swabs crossed two lakh for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic, over 14,000 new coronavirus cases were registered in the country for the fifth day in a row to take the total count to 4,56,183, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
In the next two weeks, the United States will detail plans to equitably distribute about 80 million (8 crore) COVID-19 vaccine doses globally without 'political requirements' of those receiving them, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's meeting with Bengaluru blasts accused Abdul Nasser Madani has drawn the ire of investigators and the prosecution team in Karnataka.
The joint secretary also said a high-level task force to work on frontiers of science related to vaccines and drug testing was formed on Sunday.
This is the fifth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000 in the country.
'Why do you want to use the might of swords to make your point?' 'Why do you use force to scare people who don't subscribe to your views?'
Batting for yoga, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said the state government is planning to include it in the school and college curriculum.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi took stock of the situation, and assured all possible assistance to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. The prime minister also chaired a meeting of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to assess the situation.
Portfolio sharing had turned out to be a thorny issue between the Congress and JD-S and was thrashed out after much haggling, with both parties announcing an agreement on June one.
'The prime minister's announcement of a nation-wide shutdown was eloquent, but should have been more clearly phrased to avoid police overreach.' 'Migrant labour should have been allowed adequate notice and transport options to get home,' notes Rahul Jacob.
Amid a rise in coronavirus cases and the threat of the Omicron variant, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Wednesday directed district magistrates to ensure no Christmas and New Year gathering takes place in the national capital.
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.
This was the fourth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases in the country have increased by more than 26,000.
If the precautions are not taken and guidelines are not followed properly, there can be chances of spike in cases, the government said.
India is the seventh worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of the number of infections, after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. While the recovery rate in coronavirus infections is improving and has reached 48.19 per cent in India, there has been steady decline in the case fatality which is now 2.83 per cent, the health ministry said.
India is currently under the 21-day lockdown since March 25, with only essential services exempted to contain the fast-spreading virus.
On April 10 last year, the number of confirmed infections stood at 6,761, while the death toll was 206.
Elections 2024 is not as open and shut as has been presumed. There is some life left in it, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Authorities faced double-barrel challenge -- strengthening its check and prevention mechanism, and addressing public panic, leading to hoarding of essential items.
The prime minister said there had been such a fall in the party that a Congress leader went to be amid those raising slogans like "Bharat ke tukde honge", giving them blessings.
Shivakumar's lawyers Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Dayan Krishnan opposed the ED's plea for custodial interrogation saying that he had joined the probe and never absconded.
A court in Bengaluru on Tuesday rejected the bail plea of former Karnataka minister Katta Subramanaya Naidu filed on health grounds but permitted the land scam accused to undergo treatment in any hospital in the country.
Johnson will be only the second British leader since Indian independence to attend the annual Republic Day parade in New Delhi as Guest of Honour, after former prime minister John Major in 1993.
'The handling of the pandemic, under this totally constitutional and legal three-level dictatorship, has begun to show its downside,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Shivakumar, arrested on September 3 by the ED, was produced before the court on the expiry of his 9-day custodial interrogation by the agency.
