Crossing into the country from Bangladesh seeking a livelihood, illegal immigrants are being handed out valid documents by political parties in West Bengal and Assam, transforming them into a crucial vote-bank. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led central government will use the unorganised workers database - e-Shram portal - to provide the benefits of various government programmes to the nearly 300 million workers over the next five years, if it is voted to power for the third consecutive term in the upcoming general elections. "We have registered unorganised workers on the e-Shram platform. "We will reach out to the e-Shram registered 'shramik bandhu' and help them avail the benefits of various government programmes that they are eligible for," the manifesto of the party read.
A 90-year-old woman was discharged from the civil hospital in Thane in Maharashtra on Tuesday after recovering from COVID-19, the district administration said.
The death toll of Indians killed in the massive fire in Kuwait has risen to 46 with one more person succumbing to injuries as authorities said that an electrical short circuit in the room of the guard on the ground floor of the building caused the blaze that killed 50 people.
Kuwaiti authorities are conducting DNA tests on the bodies of those killed in the devastating fire incident in southern Kuwait's Mangaf area and an Indian Air Force aircraft is on standby to bring back the mortal remains of Indians killed in the incident, officials said on Thursday.
In the recent past, Adityanath and the RSS seem to have come closer. The warmth is more on the part of the RSS. And even now, not all requests from the RSS are accommodated by the UP government, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Police said no murder case has been registered in this case as yet and their priority is to establish the identity of the man for which they have shared his pictures in media and with the police in other states.
'It will take six months to one year to move to normalcy, depending on how the pandemic plays out in India.'
'MGNREGA is definitely like a lifeline and is the employer of the last resort'
While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 7,409, as many as 764 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. Of the total 273 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 127 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.
The Met department blamed the malfunctioning of sensors kept at the Automated Weather Station for the gaffe.
Pappu Qureshi, a good samaritan in Mumbai, helps feed more than 50 migrants, mostly daily wagers and their children, but with the 21-day national lockdown looming large, time is running out.
'A balanced head plus heart approach would be a full opening up of the economy including manufacturing and internal travel in the country but excluding COVID-19 hotspots,' recommends Jaimini Bhagwati.
'The stimulus packages, sector reliefs, loans etc are coming to industry, but state governments have not got any money from GST, no money from excise, no money from any income source.'
She couldn't get a seat on the bus and neither could her son Sahab Lal, who worked as a construction labourer, and the rest of the family, all waiting to return to their village in Bhadohi. The disappointment was almost too much to handle for the elderly woman, perhaps in her 70s, who had come to Gurgaon a few months ago from the village and is now desperate to leave.
As the COVID wave gradually shifts to rural areas, several states are gearing up to check its spread through self-proclaimed lockdowns by Panchayati Raj institutions, creating a database of migrants and providing free online medical consultation to the sick.
'It is because we treat them as our own people, and there is no difference between owners and workers here.'
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday urged the Bombay high court to dismiss actor Sonu Sood's petition seeking to restrain the civic body from carrying out demolition at his property in Mumbai.
The defence minister also said the army, paramilitary forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been coordinating to fight terrorism in the state.
Some villages in Bihar have gone into lockdown, refusing entry of people even from neighbouring areas, to curb the spread of infection.
410 civil servants in a feedback survey to the Prime Minister's Office said that the curfew should stay till the pandemic is controlled and asked to increase fiscal spending on health infrastructure to around Rs 5-10 trillion.
'I have dedicated the video to the kindest people of this great nation.'
'Having long portrayed Rahul as being out of touch, the BJP was suddenly confronted with a spectacle of humbleness and concern for the downtrodden,' observes Amulya Ganguli.
'Villages are much better prepared than towns as far as COVID-19 is concerned.'
"The national lockdown, which has been extended till May 3, will be reviewed once we get stock of the situation next week. We will decide our next steps on relaxation of the lockdown after that," Thackeray said.
Most deaths were due to smoke inhalation while residents were sleeping, and a significant number of occupants were evacuated, they added. The fire started in a kitchen in the six-storey building in the Mangaf area in Kuwait's southern Ahmadi Governorate, officials said, adding that the building reportedly had 195 people living in it, who are workers of the same company.
'"We have lost our jobs, we have lost our savings, we have been beaten up for being on the streets, we have walked for a thousand kilometres, we have seen our children starve or die because nobody came to help us".' 'For such people, the relationship with the government has gone,' notes Aakar Patel.
'The situation is so bad that they are now sleeping on bridges or footpaths.' 'Therefore, they want to go and die before their parents or wife in case they get infected with COVID-19.' 'Workers don't want to die a dog's death in cities.'
Youth unemployment (ages 15 to 29) is higher than the national average of 12.4 per cent in Telangana (14.2 per cent) and Rajasthan (13 per cent), followed by Chhattisgarh (6.7 per cent) and MP (6 per cent).
Almost 63 per cent of the increased allocation of around Rs 1.01 trillion has been spent in the first five months of 2020-21.
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, artist Debjyoti Saha's animation video on the migrant crises struck a chord with many who shared it all over the Internet.
'People in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people.' 'Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you.'
Raking up the border issue, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said every individual in Ladakh knows that China has "taken away our land" and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that not an inch of land was taken away was "absolutely false".
Noting that the situation on the ground was "very difficult", the Congress leader said it was high time the prime minister announced a relief package for the poor and a financial stimulus for the economy.
Has Vijay Shekhar Sharma given up on the bank? For now, he seems to be on a save-OCL mission. The bank will face its logical end, observes Tamal Bandopadhyay.
A three-year-old girl was allegedly raped after being abducted from her home by an unknown person in Dharuhera area, police said on Tuesday.
At least 79 foreigners, including 49 Indians have been killed in the devastating earthquakes, according to a statement by the Nepal police.
Five others were critically injured.
