The clarification was issued through an advertisement in local dailies after facing political backlash, including from parties perceived close to the government.
Concern is growing among healthcare experts who believe that if people do not follow the lockdown or social distancing seriously, the situation can quickly go out of control.
Could the Centre and the prime minister have achieved more than what they did on curbing the endemic spread through more of the Modi outreach, given his credibility and unchallenged ability to communicate with the masses, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to the findings, migrants had earned 424 pounds a week on an average, compared with 395 pounds for British workers, and had paid more in tax than they consumed in services last year. The report had also found that in 2006, record immigration pushed the number of foreign workers up to 12.5 per cent -- or one eighth -- of the labour force, compared to 7.4 per cent ten years back.
There have been significant changes in Gujarat, says Uttam Ghosh, as he captures the state in his camera.
His appeal came when certain organisations of the neighbouring Barak Valley region of Assam observed a 12-hour bandh on Wednesday and have been staging an economic blockade on the National Highway-306 that connects Mizoram with the rest of the country since July 26, disrupting transportation of goods to the state.
Dense toxic smoke from burning sewing machines, plastic toys and boxes, rexin rolls, plastic wrappers, card boards, packaging material and garments had engulfed the building, making it difficult to conduct rescue operations, firefighters said.
The recent protests by employees of Urban Company and the case of a a Zomato delivery executive who died in a road accident point to the severely straitened condition of gig workers during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Budget 2021 had promised several measures to help the cause of gig economy workers, but most of them are yet to see the light of day. Even after a year, the country's gig workers continue to be without any social security cover or a minimum wage guarantee. "In Budget 2021, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the government is looking toward including migrant and gig workers for social security benefits," says Srinivas Kotni, managing partner, Lexport, a consulting firm. Parliament had passed the Code on Wages in 2019 and Code on Industrial Relations, Social Security and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions in 2020.
It has been decided to open factories and allow construction activities, Kejriwal said.
About 78 per cent respondents said they were also satisfied with the steps taken by their own state government, according to the findings of the survey.
'Everyone was talking about migrants, frontline workers and cops...' 'Nobody was talking about sex workers during the pandemic.'
The protestors demanded that the promises made to them under the Highly Skilled Migrants Programme be kept.
'It is the moment where compassion and empathy must supersede our identity, politics, or our ambitions.'
The government on Saturday said there was no reason for two million plus Indian workforce in Saudi Arabia to be "paranoid" on account of a new labour law, 'Nitaqat' and asserted there was "ongoing" discussion with the Saudi authorities in the matter.
Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma added to the mystery by declaring only that the next CM would be from the BJP, without naming Sarbananda Sonowal, the CM of the outgoing government.
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
Modi said UP's population of 24 crore is same as that of four European countries put together but, in UP the death toll is 600 due to coronavirus and lauded the efforts of Adityanath in tackling the pandemic.
While it is very difficult to ascertain the total number of such screens across the country, a study, commissioned by a film company, projects an annual revenue loss of Rs 436 crore (Rs 4.36 billion) to the film industry from just 500 such screens, which charge only Rs 15 a ticket.
'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.'
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
With 56,794 COVID-19 cases and 1,742 deaths so far, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which includes Mumbai city, Mumbai suburban, Thane, Palghar and part of Raigad district, is the worst affected by COVID-19 in the state.
Qatar said on Wednesday there was no way it would be stripped of the right to host the World Cup despite the corruption scandal surrounding FIFA, dismissing a 'bashing campaign' of criticism of its 2022 bid as anti-Arab prejudice.
'Over 27 million youngsters in their 20s lost their jobs in April.' '33 million men and women in their 30s lost jobs in April,' points out Mahesh Vyas.
'I'll survive for a month, but worry about what will happen if the lockdown isn't eased after that.'
'Rahul Gandhi accuses the Modi government of being in thrall to corporate fat cats at the expense of farmers and other common folk. But the facts do not bear out this argument, as Indian farmers are relatively better off compared to the really wretched of the earth, the unfortunate landless, often itinerant, labourer. And since Rahul's ancestors are the ones who failed them, it is a little disingenuous of him to ignore them in his rhetorical flourishes,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
Buoyed by an increase in public investment and incentives to boost manufacturing, India's economy is expected to grow by 8.3 per cent in the fiscal year 2021-22, less than the previous projection early this year before the country was hit by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank has said in its latest report. World Bank chief economist for the South Asia Region Hans Timmer told PTI here that when one looks at the high frequency data, they see that as a result of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the recovery paused, and some indicate that the recovery actually declined briefly. "We project for this fiscal year 8.3 per cent (growth rate for Indian economy) that is less than we projected early in the year before the health crisis caused by the second wave. "Given the sharp contraction of the economy last year, it might not look like a lot, but in my view, that is actually very positive news, given the violent second wave and the severity of the health crisis," he said on Thursday.
'The rate of transmission of COVID-19 in Hong Kong was 0.7 -- anything below 1 suggests the epidemic is receding.' 'The city-State achieved this without the de facto police-State curfew that India has resorted to,' says Rahul Jacob.
Driven by hardship, adventurous souls mortgage their homesteads in Punjab or Haryana, pawn the family jewellery and borrow heavily to satisfy the greed of the criminal traffickers who organise their trips, points out Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
The Union health ministry officials also said India was at the second stage as there is still no 'hard evidence' to say that there has been community transmission of the fast-spreading coronavirus, remarks which may provide anxious citizens with much needed assurance and hope.
The pandemic is set to become even more challenging, with migrant workers returning home, relaxations in lockdown rules, and the approaching monsoon. However, states are looking at community participation to ramp up testing and home treatment of patients
The player, who came under fire for having his photograph taken with Turkey's authoritarian President Tayyip Erdogan in May, was especially piqued by criticism from German Football Association (DFB) head Reinhard Grindel, who he said blamed him for Germany crashing out of this year's tournament.
Much of the rural recovery story is based on the premise of agriculture doing well. Even if it clocks a growth of 2.5-3 per cent this year, it is still just around 15 per cent of the overall GDP. The non-farm sector, which constitutes a bigger portion of the overall rural economy, is now hampered by disruptions and lockdowns.
Bangladesh labour activists said on Friday they had joined a lawsuit in Switzerland against world soccer body FIFA for allegedly failing to use its influence to ensure people working on 2022 World Cup facilities in Qatar are treated fairly.
Some sectors like aviation, hospitality, travel and tourism, and automobile have witnessed zero cash flow since the lockdown began.
An influential group representing skilled professionals from India and outside the European Union said on Wednesday any attempt to impose an annual cap on immigration by the David Cameron government will be unworkable and will be opposed.
'You cannot fight a disease as complex as COVID-19 without a carefully calibrated, localised response.'
We present our alphabet of 2020, pulling in everything you'll remember about this year we'd rather forget.
'In the real economy, the scars of the pandemic will continue to define 2021.' 'It is still hard to tell the effect on unemployment, migrant workers, poverty, and the informal sector of the lockdown and of the pandemic,' observes Mihir S Sharma.
The party released its manifesto -- Samajwadi Vachan Patra -- for the coming assembly elections, shortly after the BJP released its own.
The Institute of Public Policy Research, which has close ties with the ruling Labour party, said in a new report that Britain could lose out on sought-after skills offered by mobile immigrants if they re-migrate to other countries.
