The number of coronavirus cases in Mumbai’s Dharavi – Asia’s largest slum – has crossed the 100-mark. 15 new cases were detected in the sprawling area on Friday, taking the total to 101, including 10 deaths. A 62-year-old patient died because of the virus at a hospital, news agency PTI reported. Three new cases each were found in Matunga labour camp, Muslim Nagarand Indira Nagar, two at Social Nagar and one each at Dr Baliga Nagar, Laxmi Chawl, Janata society and Sarvoday Society. In the densely populated Dharavi, around 8 lakh people live in shanties packed close together, making social…
Author: Our Correspondent
Champion wrestler and BJP leader Babita Phogat has defended her controversial remarks on social media against the Islamic sect – Tablighi Jamaat – that held a congregation in Delhi last month setting off India’s biggest cluster of coronavirus cases. “I stand by my tweets, I wrote nothing wrong,” the Commonwealth Gold-medalist told news agency ANI. The 30-year-old wrestler-turned politician claimed that she was getting threats after she had posted a series of tweets on the Islamic sect. “Over the past few days, I posted a few tweets (on Tablighi Jamaat). After that, I started getting threats on my social media…
The government on Friday gave exemptions to a few more areas from the purview of the ongoing lockdown including construction activities in rural areas, water supply, sanitation works and functioning of non-banking financial institutions and cooperative credit societies across India. In a communication to all States and Union Territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also said collection, harvesting and processing of minor forest produce, non-timber forest produce by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in forest areas were also allowed to be carried out during the lockdown which will last till May 3. Construction activities in rural areas include water…
Petrol pumps across West Bengal have decided not to sell fuel to those visiting without a mask, an official of the dealers’ association said on Friday. To create awareness about the measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, it has been decided not to sell petrol or diesel to those drivers and bike owners who are not wearing masks, said S Koley, general secretary of the West Bengal Petroleum Dealers Association. The decision was taken on Thursday evening and has since come into effect, he said, adding that the pumps are now putting up placards saying “no mask, no oil”.…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the announcements made by the Reserve Bank of India will greatly enhance liquidity and improve credit supply. “These steps would help our small businesses, MSMEs, farmers and the poor. It will also help all states by increasing WMA limits,” he said on Twitter. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has announced new measures to maintain adequate liquidity in system, facilitate bank credit flow and ease financial stress. The Bank cut the reverse repo rate and announced a slew of measures including re-finance window of Rs 50,000 crore and targeted long term repo auction of similar…
The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said the central bank will ensure adequate liquidity in the system to ease the financial stress caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The central bank reduced the reverse repo rate – the rate at which banks park their fund with the central bank – by 25 basis points to 3.75 per cent. This will encourage banks to lend to the productive sectors of the economy. With regard to other measures, Das said RBI will begin with giving an additional Rs 50,000 crore through targeted long-term repo operation (TLTRO) to be undertaken…
A truck carrying 37 labourers, which was heading to Haryana, was stopped by the Delhi Police near Okhla T-point in the wee hours of Friday. A senior police officer said that during the night checking and patrolling on MB road, they found a truck around 1:30 am. “It was a routine check but since the truck had a Haryana registration number, we stopped it near Okhla T-point. We found 37 men inside the truck,” said the police. The police shifted all of them to a shelter home. “During the inquiry, we found that a contractor named Brijesh, who was also…
China’s coronavirus death toll mounted to 4,632 on Friday as the country revised figures in its epicentre Wuhan with 1,290 additional fatalities amid international criticism of under-reporting of COVID-19 data. The Wuhan municipal headquarters on Friday revised the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths due to the disease, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. As of April 16, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wuhan was increased by 325 to 50,333 and the number of fatalities up by 1,290 to 3,869. The revised figure raised China’s overall COVID-19 death toll to 4,632. The total number of cases also…
Two militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district on Friday, police said. Security forces launched a cordon and search operation in the Dairoo area of Shopian in south Kashmir in the morning following specific information about the presence of militants there, a police official said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter after militants fired upon security forces, who retaliated. In the ensuing gunfight, two militants were killed, the official said, adding their identity and group affiliation is being ascertained.
The government on Friday gave exemptions to a few more areas from the purview of the ongoing lockdown including construction activities in rural areas, water supply, sanitation works and functioning of non-banking financial institutions and cooperative credit societies across India. In a communication to all States and Union Territories, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla also said collection, harvesting and processing of minor forest produce, non-timber forest produce by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in forest areas were also allowed to be carried out during the lockdown which will last till May 3. Construction activities in rural areas include water…