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Lockdown 4.0 guidelines: Metro, malls remain shut; Inter-state movement of vehicles allowed

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has released the guidelines for the fourth phase of lockdown guidelines in India. The fourth phase of the lockdown will commence from Monday.

Announcing considerable relaxation, the government has allowed the inter-state movement of vehicles, buses have been allowed with states being given the final power to decide on relaxations in Red, Orange and Green zones.

The new guidelines are based on suggestions from states that PM Narendra Modi had sought during his fifth discussion with chief ministers on the pandemic on May 11.

Sports complexes and stadiums will be allowed to open without spectators.

Schools, colleges, and other educational/training institutions won’t reopen yet.

Hotels, restaurants, and hospitality services to remain shut but restaurants are allowed to operate kitchens for delivery.

Cinema halls, shopping malls, gymnasiums, swimming pools etc to remain shut.

Places of religious worship and other large congregation to be shut.

Metro rail services will not resume.

With a view to ensuring safety in offices and workplaces, employers on best effort basis should ensure that Arogya Setu is installed by all employees having compatible mobile phones.

The movement of individuals shall remain strictly prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am, except for essential activities.

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Auraiya accident: CM Yogi suspends 2 SHOs; Rahul Gandhi, Kejriwal & others pay condolences

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath conveyed his condolences to the families of the labourers who lost their lives at an accident in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya district in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Yogi Adityanath’s government has ordered the suspension of two SHOs posted at Fatehpur Sikri, Agra and Kosi Kalan, Mathura. A stern warning has been issued to respected ASP and DSP after the incident.

Around 24 migrant labourers and over 30 were injured in an accident that happened when the truck carrying the labourers collided with a goods supply lorry.

According to officials, the two trucks were heading to Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and West Bengal from Delhi and Rajasthan respectively.

The stranded migrant workers are left jobless due to the coronavirus lockdown, therefore trying to go back to their native villages.

The CM also announced compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the relatives of those who are dead while Rs 50,000 for injured.

Meanwhile Several political leaders condoled the death of the migrant workers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased and said that the incident is extremely tragic. He also said that the government is involved in the relief work and wished the injured a speedy recovery.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also expressed his condolences to the families of those who died in the accident and wished for the speedy recovery of those who got injured.

Meanwhile Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal said that the tragedy of migrant labour keeps getting worse. Something needs to be done urgently.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also expressed his sorrow over the incident and expressed his deepest condolences to the families of the deceased and wished the injured to get well soon.

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SC Stays order Nullifying BJP minister Chudasama’s election, Cong hails the decision

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a decision of the Gujarat High Court which nullified the 2017 election of law and education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama on grounds of malpractice and manipulation.

A bench of Justices Mohan M. Shantanagoudar and R. Subhash Reddy passed the interim order, issuing notice on the BJP leader’s plea and sought a response from Congress candidate Ashwin Rathod, who had lost that election by a mere 327 votes, among others.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal, arguing for his party colleague, said that if the votes had not been counted in the first place, they could not be declared as rejected.

Gujarat Congress President Amit Chavda hailed the high court’s order, calling it a “victory of truth and defeat of the manner in which the BJP misuses power and government offices for its gain”.

Chudasama is currently the minister for law and justice, legislative and parliamentary affairs, education and some other departments in the Vijay Rupani government.

Congress’s Ashwin Rathod had filed the petition, alleging Mr Chudasama indulged in corrupt practices and violated “many mandatory instructions of Election Commission” at various stages of the polling process, especially during counting of votes.

The assembly election that year brought the BJP back to office in Gujarat, with the party winning 99 of the state’s 182 assembly seats. The Congress stood second with 77 seats.

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Amid lockdown, sugar industry bears losses; Sharad Pawar brings it to PM’s notice

While the entire focus of the government is currently on fighting Coronavirus, NCP chief Sharad Pawar brought to fore the plight of the sugar industry which is bearing losses due to the lockdown.

Writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Pawar sought bail out for the sugar industry from the crisis “aggravated exponentially” by the unprecedented lockdown imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

In his letter, sent on Thursday, Pawar sought the prime minister’s “urgent intervention” into the matter.

“Raised concerns through letter to Hon. @PMOIndia and requested his urgent intervention to bail out #sugar industry from crisis aggravated exponentially by unprecedented nationwide lockdown in the wake of pandemic #COVID?19,” Pawar tweeted.

The former Union agriculture minister has placed five demands before the prime minister.
These include the provision of funds for clearing export incentives and buffer stock expenses which have been pending since 2018-2020; provision of a one-time grant of Rs 650 per tonne on average cane crushed during the last two years; conversion of outstanding capital into short-term loan and rescheduling of all terms of loans for ten years with a moratorium of two years on the lines of Mitra Committee recommendations.

Pawar has also urged the PM to introduce a policy to treat all sugar distilleries as Strategic Business Units (SBU). On a standalone basis, banks should finance ethanol projects sanctioned under interest subvention capex scheme announced by the central government in 2018, he said in his letter.

“Hoping that the honourable @PMOIndia would look into the matter and initiate necessary relief measures to resolve the crisis worsened due to Pandemic #COVID?19,” Pawar said.

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Corona: Maharashtra extends lockdown in hotspots, sees second highest spurge in cases

Maharashtra government has decided to extend the lockdown in hotspot areas like Mumbai, Pune, Malegaon, Aurangabad and Solapur until May 31.

The announcement came after the state recorded 1,602 fresh novel coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total tally of confirmed Covid-19 patients in the state to 27,524, according to the state health department data.

This by far is the highest number of fresh cases reported in a single day in the state.

Of these fresh cases, Mumbai alone recorded nearly 1,000 new Covid-19 patients in the last 24 hours.Mumbai’s Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, reported 33 new cases and two deaths today, taking the total number of cases in the area to 1061

The possibility of extending the lockdown was discussed in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

“In the rest of the state, the guidelines of the Centre will be implemented when they are announced before the lockdown 3.0 ends on May 17,” a state government official said.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil, Urban Development Minister Eknath Shinde, Industries Minister Subhash Desai, Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat and PWD Minister Ashok Chavan.

Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus cases in India increased to 78,003, with the death toll rising to 2,549.

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‘PK’ and ‘Rock On’ actor also loses battle against cancer

After Bollywood heartthrobs Irfan khan and Rishi Kapoor, actor Sai Gundewar also lost his battle against cancer. The ‘PK’ and ‘Rock On’ actor passed away at the age of 42 on May 10 at a hospital in Los Angeles, USA.

He was also one of the most popular faces in the Marathi film industry. Sai played a lead role in the Marathi film ’A Dot Com Mom’ which was released in the year 2016.

The actor had moved to Los Angeles a year ago for Brain cancer treatment.

Maharashtra’s Home Minister Anil Deshmukh tweeted his condolences and said that the Indian film industry has lost a talented actor.

Gundewar participated in the MTV Splitsvilla in 2010 and then appeared in another reality show, Survivor, based on the American reality show.

His acting was really appreciated in the movies such as PK, David (2013); I, Me Aur Main (2013); Baazaar (2018). He also starred in many commercials. He also acted in Salman Khan’s ’Yuvraj’ movie.

Gundewar was also a co-founder of Foodizm – a healthy meal delivery service in Mumbai.

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Sitharaman elaborates Relief Package: Relief to real estate sector, EPF respite & more

India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday unveiled PM Narendra Modi’s Rs 20 lakh crore special economic package announced on Tuesday.

Here are the key announcements:

• Endorsing a special package to support and facilitate the Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the FM announced loans over Rs 3 lakh crore.

• FM also announced ₹90,000 crore liquidity injection for the fund-starved electricity distribution companies (discoms).

• Sitharaman also endorsed that the Provident Fund contribution of employers and workers is being reduced from 12% to 10% each of wages for the next 3 months.

• She further stated that the Due date of all income tax returns for the Financial year 2019-20 will be extended from July 31, 2020, to October 31, 2020, and tax audit date extended from September 30, 2020, to October 31, 2020.

• In order to provide relief to the real estate developers, Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the urban development Ministry will issue advisory to states in order to treat COVID-19 as force majeure.

• Sitharaman also announced ₹30,000 cr special liquidity scheme for NBFCs, housing finance companies and MFIs. She said that the scheme will benefit the earlier initiatives of the government and the RBI to increase liquidity.

• She emphasised on the reduction of statutory EPF contribution, which will further increase take-home pay and also help to increase liquidity.

• The FM also states that for the next few days, she will release details of the vision which Prime Minister Modi has expressed yesterday in his speech.

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Congress divided over Modi’s economic package

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic relief package received a mixed reaction from the opposition. Addressing the countrymen, the Prime Minister on Tuesday announced a financial package of Rs 20 lakh crore with the further extension of the lockdown from 17th May.

Slamming PM Modi’s speech, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that they are very disappointed by the government for the ’lack of empathy’ towards the migrant workers.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma welcomed the PM’s economic package and said that this package will help and support small, micro and medium industries to revive themselves.

Senior Congress leader Milind Deora on Tuesday also praised PM Modi’s economic package and said that if it is being used carefully, India will prevent a humanitarian disaster and will broaden its role as a global supply chain.

“Timely announcement of a US $266 billion economic package by @narendramodi ji.
If carefully executed, we will avert a humanitarian crisis, expand India’s role in global supply chains &revolutionise our @makeinindiacapabilities.In Chinese, crisis = danger + opportunity(sic),” Deora wrote on Twitter.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot lauded the government’s package and said that this was much awaited. “The financial package announced by PM Modi ji was much awaited. Better late than never, देरआएदुरुस्तआए. We welcome this. Now when details emerge, we would know exactly how different sectors would benefit,” Gehlot tweeted.

The Prime Minister on Tuesday announced a massive financial package of Rs 20 lakh crore to revive, reform and make the country self-reliant. The PM said that aggressive reforms are needed to make the country self-reliant in order to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic in future.

Government announced nationwide lockdown from March 25 and is scheduled to stay in place until May 17, although there have been some relaxations since May 4. Although in his speech yesterday the PM indicated that the country will move to the next phase of lockdown but with further relations, which were framed according to the recommendations given by the states.

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PM addresses nation, announces economic packages

Addressing the nation five days prior the 3.0 lockdown comes to an end on May 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the nation today. He announced the special economic package of Rs 20 lakh crores to aid the coronavirus crisis.

The package is said to be nearly 10 percent of India’s GDP.the PM said that the package will help Labourers, farmers and small businesses.

He emphasized on the importance of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ of the country that is the five pillars of India’s self reliance, economy, infrastructure, system, demography and demand.

He requested all the citizens to endorse local products.

The package will focus on land, labour, liquidity and law; it will help small business, labourers, farmers. It will focus on the well-being of migrant workers too

PM modi emphasised on to strictly follow the guidelines in order to fight the virus.

This comes after PM’s virtual interaction with the country’s chief ministers on the COVID-19 situation.

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Former PM Manmohan Singh stable. A look at some of his political milestones

Former prime minister Manmohan Singh is stable and under observation at the AIIMS in New Delhi after suffering reaction to a new medication and developing fever, hospital sources said on Monday.

The veteran Congress leader was admitted to the cardio-thoracic ward of the medical institute on Sunday after he complained of uneasiness.

Manmohan Singh, who represents Rajasthan in the Rajya Sabha, has undergone two heart-bypass surgeries – one in 1990 and another in 2009. He also has a history of diabetes.

The renowned economist was prime Minister for 10 years until the Congress was defeated by the BJP in 2014 and PM Narendra Modi took power for the first time.

Last week Singh was part of the meeting, helmed by Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in which they discussed the coronavirus situation with the chief ministers of Congress-ruled states.

As the entire nation prays for his speedy recovery, here are some of his milestones of his political career.

Singh is hailed for his economic reforms which he implemented during his tenure. 13 years before he became the PM of the country, Singh was the Finance Minister of India.

Under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act 2005 received the approval of the President of India and into force with the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Rules 2006 on 10th February 2006. The act was aimed at attracting investments into the country.

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his leadership introduced the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005, that aimed at providing livelihood, sustenance and employment to rural communities and labourers in India. The social scheme ensures income security to rural families by providing a minimum of 100 days of definite wage employment in one year.

One of the biggest achievements of India under the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was the signing of the Indo-US Nuclear Deal in 2005. Under all civil nuclear facilities the agreement, India agreed to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities and placed under the International Atomic Energy Agency.