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The Pandemic
- Deplorable, pathetic: This was how the Supreme court described the situation in New Delhi.
- In India, according to a new study, women are at a higher risk of dying from Covid-19 than men.
- Almost 80 per cent of the districts that reported their first Covid-19 case in the last three weeks were in north-eastern and eastern states.
- The Maharashtra government is considering opening schools in phases in pockets where no Covid-19 case had been reported for at least a month.
- Now, Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) and foreigners with Indian parents or whose children hold an Indian passport are allowed to enter the country.
Big Story
As of Friday evening, India's Covid-19 death toll was 8,498, with a spurt in numbers over the last few weeks. Epidemiologists say we are now beyond the "contact tracing and testing" phase, and preventing deaths should be the priority now. They say the new situation calls for new measures.
From the Front Page
Restarting public transport like metro trains won't happen until unlockdown 3.0. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, meanwhile, asked states to encourage walking and cycling as people would hesitate to use public transport in these Covid times.
At malls and other shopping complexes, there are no window shoppers anymore. According to the Retailers Association of India CEO, people are stepping out with a clear purpose to buy. Retailers are also not offering deep discounts to clear their old stock over fears it would lead to crowding at stores.
As of Friday, official data shows that over 13 lakh migrant workers have returned to Rajasthan. This has resulted in a spike in demand for MNREGS jobs, but most of them opting for the rural employment scheme that involves manual labour are skilled workers.
Beyond Covid-19
While the Chinese have agreed to pull their troops back from some points along the Line of Actual Control, they have so far not responded to Indian concerns over Pangong Tso, the main area of contention between the two parties that triggered the political row.
Amid a chill in India-Nepal ties, an Indian national was killed and two others were injured after the Nepal Armed Police Force, responsible for border security, opened fire on a group during a clash at a border point near Sitamarhi in Bihar on Friday morning. However, senior police officers from both sides said the local incident had nothing to do with the border row between Delhi and Kathmandu.
After its team was denied a visa by the Indian government over reports critical of the state of religious freedom in India, an advisory body to the US Congress told The Indian Express that New Delhi should have “the confidence to allow our visit”.
Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal writes on the need for the judiciary to introspect. “The ‘fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves’. There is no use in blaming the bar. In any judicial system, lawyers are hyphens between the litigant and the court. The bar always seeks to build confidence in the public mind that the only institution that will protect our freedoms is a fiercely independent judiciary.”
And Finally…
Until tomorrow,
Leela Prasad and Liu Chuen Chen
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