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The Indian Express May, 11, 2020 In these gloomy times, looking for any good news is difficult. But, we can take some satisfaction in the fact that India seems to have contained the mortality rate from  COVID-19  infections at around 3.3 per cent. This is much lower than the global average of about 7 per cent, and lower than that of countries like the US (5.8 per cent),  Spain  (11.6 per cent),  Italy  (13.7 per cent), the UK (15.4 per cent), France (14.7 per cent) and even Germany (4.1 per cent). But, India is certainly not out of the woods yet. The real test will come when the lockdown is lifted. Next to saving lives is the necessity of having food to survive. On the food front too, India has done reasonably well. Despite initial disruptions in supply lines, India has somehow managed to feed its large population of 1.37 billion. There have been no large-scale food riots and no major flaring up of food prices for consumers. In fact, if there is any complaint, it is from the pro

The Times of India May 11,05,2020 NEW DELHI: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has resumed the construction work of its much-delayed Phase IV project and the extension of the Airport Express Line (AEL) and Grey Line (Dwarka-Najafgarh). In the guidelines on lockdown measures announced by the Union home ministry last month, continuation of work on construction projects was allowed where workers are available on site and no workers are required to be brought from outside. DMRC had prepared a detailed standard operating procedure for the resumption of construction work following the guidelines as workers were available at its sites. “At present, DMRC had about 3,500 workers available across five to six different sites in the city including actual work sites of Dhansa, Airport Express Line expansion work in Dwarka as well as sites and casting yards for Phase IV projects,” a DMRC official said. The official said that all guidelines set by the government agencies are being implement

The Times of India May, 11, 2020 Removing what the industry terms a long-standing hurdle to its growth, the Karnataka government has implemented the amended Land Reforms Act, 1961 which now allows industries to buy land directly from farmers, in a big decision to hasten rebooting of the sector maimed by the lockdown. The industries will still be required to seek permission from the revenue department. It will, however, be deemed approved if the deputy commissioner doesn’t raise red flags or clear the application within 30 days. Earlier, industries could get agricultural land allotted through Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB). The amendment was notified after the governor approved the Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that had been okayed by the legislature in March. The April 27 gazette notification repeals the related Karnataka Land Reforms (Amendment) Ordinance 2019. On January 25, CM B S Yediyurappa had said the government would amend Section

The Telegraph, 11.05.2020 Through draws of lots, doctors will this week start offering patients with the new coronavirus disease at the Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, a choice of three medications — a deworming drug, an anti-asthma drug, and the anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine. Each drug will go to 30 patients with moderate disease — marked by pneumonia and a respiratory rate of 15 to 30 breaths a minute — while another group of 30 patients will receive only standard supportive care and make up the fourth arm of the clinical trial. Doctors across India plan to recruit hundreds of Covid-19 patients as well as healthy people into clinical trials to assess over 20 pharmaceutical compounds, including some herbal cocktails, to find out whether they can prevent severe disease or avert the infection itself. Around 1,500 patients in multiple cities across India will join a global clinical trial to evaluate the anti-viral drug remdesivir, hydroxychloroquine and oth

Business Standard May, 11, 2020 Just days after a top Ministry of Defence (MoD) official warned of sharp cuts in the defence allocations for 2020-21, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Bipin Rawat, said the military should not be “misrepresenting its requirements” in order to “go in for large amounts of “weapons’ imports.” Backing the government’s cuts on defence expenditure, Rawat said in Delhi on Saturday that military planners should stop pretending that India’s military was playing a global role. Given the military’s limited role, indigenously produced weapons were adequate, said Rawat. “We are not expeditionary forces that have to deploy around the globe. We have to guard and fight only along our borders and, of course, dominate the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). So we should not go in for larger amounts of imports by misrepresenting our operational requirements,” stated the CDS. Instead of imports, Rawat said the military should boost the “Make in India” initiative

The Indian Express May, 11, 2020 Reviving the post-COVID economy will be exceptionally difficult because the crisis has damaged many balance sheets. India has been here before, as balance sheets were also impaired following the 2008/09 Global Financial Crisis (GFC). But this time is different: The damage is much greater, covering many more firms, in many more sectors, much more seriously. As a result, a gradualist strategy, which was pursued last time with decidedly mixed results, will not be feasible. The corporate and bank balance sheets will need to be fixed, urgently. Why is speed so important now? First, because it is the only way to revive the economy. As revenues have dried up, most firms have been forced to let workers go and delay payments to suppliers, causing cashflow problems to cascade down the supply chain. Firms will consequently be unable to restart production unless they first get credit to pay their suppliers and workers. But impaired firms cannot get credit an

The Times of India, 11.05.2020 PM  Narendra Modi  will have a lengthy, open-ended discussion, which may run into several hours on Monday, with chief ministers on the next steps of a graded exit from the lockdown. The talks will take note of the continued rise in Covid-19 cases, particularly in states like  Maharashtra  and  Gujarat , while considering measures to increase the pace of economic activities. The ongoing return of migrant workers to their home states and problems this may cause in restarting the economy is also likely to be discussed. Link- https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/economic-activity-step-up-easing-of-curbs-on-pm-cms-meet-agenda/articleshow/75665847.cms?utm_source=whatsapp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=TOIMobile

Live Mint May, 11, 2020 The National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has successfully developed the first indigenous antibody detection kit for covid-19 that will play a critical role in surveillance for coronavirus infection, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Sunday. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV) at Pune has developed and validated the indigenous IgG ELISA test “COVID KAVACH ELISA" for antibody detection for COVID-19, an official statement said. “The robust indigenous IgG ELISA test for antibody detection developed by ICMR-NIV, Pune will play a critical role in surveillance of proportion of population exposed to SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus infection," Vardhan was quoted as in the statement. The test kit has the advantage of testing 90 samples together in a single run of 2.5 hours, so that healthcare professionals can proceed quickly with necessary next steps, Vardhan said in a series of tweets. Thi

 The Economic Times 11.05.2020 The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in a clarification on Sunday told private labs to follow ICMR and state guidelines for Covid-19 tests to avoid unnecessary testing. It also told hospitals not to deny elective surgery to any patient over want of coronavirus tests. While private labs that ET spoke with sounded confused about the city’s testing strategy that has seen many flipflops as the city struggled to tackle a rapid increase in Covid-19 cases, BMC officials said the latest clarification will clear any misunderstanding.  “There is no confusion; all we are saying is that labs will have to follow ICMR and our own guideline of April 15,” Daksha Shah, deputy medical officer of BMC, told ET. Last week, Mumbai’s over half a dozen private labs were in a limbo when a BMC communication said labs could no longer do testing on basis of a physician’s note alone. The prescription had to be accompanied with a note from state health ministry or BMC

Hindustan.com May 10,2020 पिछले कुछ दिनों में वास्तविक नियंत्रण रेखा (एलएसी) के पास भारत और चीन की सेना के जवानों बीच पूर्वी लद्दाख और उत्तरी सिक्किम में मामूली भिड़ंत हुई और दोनों तरफ मामूली चोटें आई। समाचार एजेंसी एएनआई ने सूत्रों के हवाले से बताया है कि 5 और 6 मई को भारत और चीन के सैनिकों के बीच ईस्टर्न लद्दाख सेक्टर में आमना-सामना हुआ। हालांकि, स्थानीय स्तर पर दोनों पक्षों की तरफ से मामले को सुलझा लिया गया। इस घटना के दौरान दोनों पक्षों में भिड़ंत हुई और दोनों ही पक्षों को मामूली चोटें आई। एक दिन पहले भी नॉर्थ सिक्किम के नकुला क्षेत्र में दोनों देशों के सैनिकों के बीच मामूली झड़प हुई और मामूली चोटें आई थी। स्थानीय स्तर पर वरिष्ठ सैन्य अधिकारियों के बीच बातचीत के बाद स्थिति सामान्य हो गई है। सूत्रों ने कहा कि सीमा का निधार्रण न होने के कारण चीन सीमा से लगते इन क्षेत्रों में इस तरह की छिटपुट घटनाएं हो जाती हैं। इन मुद्दों का स्थापित प्रोटोकोल के माध्यम से परस्पर समाधान कर लिया जाता है। हालाकि सूत्रों ने कहा कि इस बार इस तरह की घटना काफी समय बाद हुई है। एक अधिकारी ने बताया कि

The Indian Express May 11,2020 The vast majority of India’s poor rely on daily wage labour for sustenance. With the current lockdown and its likely extension, millions of daily labourers and their families can no longer earn the money they need to survive. In this unprecedented situation, the Indian state must respond swiftly to prevent widespread acute hunger. India has launched its largest-ever cash transfer programme targeting women with Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts and increased food subsidies, among other efforts. Given the scale of economic distress, many have called for increases in cash transfers. Cash is easy to carry and widely accepted. But, our analysis of nationally representative survey data, described below, suggests that these transfers will exclude many of India’s poorest and, for others, come too late. The immediate need is to focus on distributing adequate food support to all the poor who need it. The cash transfer programme will send

The Indian Express May 11, 2020 Currency in the hand of the public continued its surge for the fortnight ended April 24 as it rose by Rs 33,524 crore to hit a new high of Rs 24.28 lakh crore. With this, currency with the public — since the announcement of the lockdown — has gone up by Rs 82,972 crore. The rise in currency with the public comes despite appeals by the government and the RBI to use digital payment tools amidst the  coronavirus  outbreak. With this, currency with the public has now increased by 15.9 per cent to Rs 3.32 lakh crore from April 2019. Simultaneously, banks have parked close to Rs 8.5 lakh crore with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) at 3.75 per cent (reverse repo rate) and bank credit to the commercial sector declined by Rs 1,19,597 crore to Rs 109.19 lakh crore in March and April, indicating the unwillingness of banks to lend. In fact, the currency in circulation has been rising sharply since the beginning of March when the virus started spreading acr