A 51-year-old police constable who had tested positive for coronavirus died in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Saturday afternoon, an official said. This is the sixth death of a police personnel due to COVID-19 in the state, he said. The constable, a resident of Nashik city, was deputed on security duty in Malegaon town in the district which has emerged as a coronavirus hotspot. He was admitted to the civil hospital in Nashik after showing symptoms of infection on May 1, the police official said. Three policemen in Mumbai and one each in Pune and Solapur had died due to the virus infection before.

Despite having a valid official pass to move between Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of travellers have ended up at administrative quarantine centres set up by the government on the outskirts of the winter capital as part of its efforts to combat the coronavirus. The move is agitating the people who questioned the logic behind sending them to an institutional quarantine when they are given the passes in extremely exceptional situations, like a medical emergency or joining their duties after completing the formalities due to a lockdown. One such quarantine centre is set up at Excise and Taxation Training institute in Nagrota, 15 km from Jammu city, where 35 persons, including women and a seven-year-old girl, are anxiously waiting for their sample reports the outcome of which will decide their future at the sprawling facility. While a majority of them are expected to be released after their test reports are negative, four labourers from Amritsar in Punjab who had travelled from Srinagar to

Confined to their homes without access to courts due to the lockdown, India's young shuttlers are an "irritated" and "frustrated" lot, says chief junior national coach Sanjay Mishra, who feels more like a counsellor these days. The national lockdown to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far killed nearly 2000 people and infected more than 59,000 in India, is in place till May 17. "It has been nearly two months, the young players have been staying at home and now they are getting irritated and frustrated by the sheer mention of the word lockdown," Mishra, who took up the position in 2017, told PTI during an interaction. "I keep telling them it is happening to the whole world not to you in particular and ask them to focus on boosting their mental toughness." Mishra says he tells his wards to try and control the negative thoughts which would also help them deal with tough match situations. "I tell them to remember the times when they got frustrated or irritated and lost crucial ..

The West Bengal government on Saturday said it had brought back around 6,000 residents stranded outside the state and ensured safe return of people of other states stuck here due to the lockdown, virtually refuting the claims of non-cooperation made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The state government is doing its best to ensure that migrant labourers -- those stranded in Bengal and also the state's people stuck outside -- return home, West Bengal Home Secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay said. Bandopadhyay said so far around 6,000 people, including migrant labourers, pilgrims and students of Bengal, stranded in other states have come back. "We have also issued 18,000 passes to small trucks so that those stuck in West Bengal can return to their states," he said. He, however, declined to comment on the letter sent by Shah to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue of migrant labourers and said it is not his subject to comment on. Shah has said the West Bengal government is not allowing .

Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh on Saturday informed that India cricket skipper Virat Kohli and his wife actor Anushka Sharma have contributed Rs 5 lakh each for police welfare amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. "Thank you, @imVkohli and @AnushkaSharma for contributing Rs. 5 lacs each towards the welfare of Mumbai Police personnel. Your contribution will safeguard those at the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus. #MumbaiPoliceFoundation," Singh tweeted from his official handle. Earlier, Kohli and Sharma had given undisclosed amounts to the PM CARES fund and Maharashtra Chief Minister's Relief Fund to support the fight against COVID-19. Maharashtra has the highest number of coronavirus positive cases in the country.

A 62-year-old man died due to coronavirus in Noida, becoming the second COVID-19 fatality in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said on Saturday. The resident of Sector 66 was among the two people who tested positive for coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the officials said. "He expired yesterday (Friday) evening. The cause of the death was cardio-respiratory failure, District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said in a statement. The other person who tested positive for COVID-19 is a 52-year-old man residing in Sector 45's Khajoor Colony, the officer said. "Total 100 reports have been received in the last 24 hours of which two were positive and the rest negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 216," Dohare said. A 60-year-old man from Sector 22 died on Friday due to respiratory failure, becoming the first COVID-19 casualty in Gautam Buddh Nagar, officials had said.

Healthcare firm HLL Lifecare on Saturday said its arm HLL Infra Tech Services has floated a tender seeking supply of over 1 lakh units of medical supplies towards COVID-19 testing on behalf of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). "The tender is seeking quotations for 40,000 units of viral transport media, 33,000 RNA extraction kits and 29,000 Combo RT-PCR COVID-19 tests," HLL Lifecare Ltd said in a statement. The tender is closing by May 10, the state-owned company added. "The viral transport media is used for transport of swabs collected for testing, RNA extraction kits are used to draw out RNA, which are single strand genetic materials of viruses, from samples which are then converted into reverse-transcribed into DNA while Combo RT-PCR tests has proven to be the 'gold standard' of COVID-19 diagnosis,"it said. HLL Lifecare is the procurement agency for hospitals and healthcare organisations under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

After being on the run for nearly a year, the National Investigation Agency on Saturday nabbed Ranjit Singh, a notorious narco-terrorist, from Sirsa as he was acting as a conduit of Pakistan-based terror groups in pushing drugs into India, the proceeds of which were used for terror activities. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), along with the Punjab and Haryana police arrested Singh alias Cheeta, a resident of Amritsar, in an intelligence-based operation from Sirsa in Haryana, the agency said in a statement. The NIA had registered a case in June last year and filed the first charge sheet against 15 people, including Singh, and four companies, in December the same year. The NIA spokesman, said in the statement, that an investigation into a drug case had led to the fact that Pakistan-based terrorist organisations were using narcotic trade to generate funds for terror activities in India. The proceeds of narcotic trade are transferred to Kashmir valley through couriers and hawala ..

The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday moved the Supreme Court challenging a Madras High Court order for closure of state-run liquor outlets on grounds of violations of COVID-19 guidelines, arguing that it would lead to "grave losses" in revenue and complete halt in commercial activities. The Madras High Court had on Friday ordered closure of liquor outlets noting that there were huge crowds and no social distancing was being maintained by tipplers. It, however, allowed doorstep delivery of booze through online mode. The state government, in its appeal, termed the HC order a case of "judicial overreach" and said online sale and home delivery of alcohol were not possible in the entire state. "It is pertinent that online modes of effective liquor sales are not even available in the vast majority of state at present and can only be implemented after following the due procedures under law," said the appeal filed by government firm Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) which sells

A bulk of the COVID-19-related fact-checks in April were related to communal rumours, most of which were false allegations against Muslims of purposefully spreading the virus, claimed a report by BOOM Live. BOOM Live, a fact-checking platform that works with social media companies like Facebook, said its study analysed 178 fact-checks on COVID-19 related to misinformation/disinformation around the pandemic from January to May this year. "During April, a new trend was observed communally charged disinformation targeting Muslims became more frequent," the report said. By the end of April, a bulk of BOOM Live's fact-checks (34 unique fact checks) were on communal rumours, it claimed. The report further noted that after several members of the Tablighi Jamaat an Islamic missionary group tested positive, "Islamophobic rumours around them purposefully spreading the virus became viral on the internet". Other trends also witnessed in April were: spike in fake news related to politics, more .

A 25-year-old man was thrashed and left unconscious with serious injuries on suspicious of being a coronavirus carrier' in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh. The incident took place on Friday evening outside a chemist shop in the Shivpuri locality of Aligarh. Police have booked six people in this regard. Abdul Samad fell unconscious after the accused attacked him, alleging that he was a coronavirus carrier', police said on Saturday. He was rushed to Malkhan Singh District Hospital by members of his family who arrived at the spot after people raised an alarm. According to the victim's father Laiqur Rehman, Samad was feeling dizzy after his Ramzan fast on Friday night. He had gone to a chemist shop in the neighbourhood to purchase some medicine where he was accosted by some people, who abused and beat him up without any provocation. Had not the family rushed him to the hospital, the injuries could have been fatal, the father claimed. Samad is now out of danger and has been referred to Jawaharlal .

A 62-year-old man died due to coronavirus in Noida, becoming the second COVID-19 fatality in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, officials said on Saturday. The man, a resident of sector 66, died on Friday but the report of his COVID test came out as positive on Saturday, they said. "He expired yesterday (Friday) evening. The cause of the death was cardio-respiratory failure," District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said in a statement. Another person who tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday is a 52-year-old man residing in sector 45's Khajoor Colony, the officer said. "Total 100 reports have been received in the last 24 hours of which two were positive and the rest negative for COVID-19. The cumulative positive cases of coronavirus in Gautam Buddh Nagar are now 216," Dohare said. On the brighter side, two patients were discharged after recovering from the disease on Saturday, according to the statement. The two men, aged 23 and 40, were undergoing treatment at the ...

State-owned Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd on Saturday said it reported a 35 per cent increase in sales of complex fertilisers, marketed under Suphala brand, last month. "Despite enormous logistic and other challenges posed by COVID-19 lockdown, Rashtriya Chemicals Fertilizers Ltd (RCF)...registered an increase of 35.47 per cent in sale of its NPK fertilizers SUPHALA in the month of April, 2020 as compared to April 2019," an official statement said. Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister D V Sadananda Gowda congratulated the RCF for this sale performance. He expressed satisfaction that different fertiliser PSUs under his ministry are working hard to assist Indian farmers in overcoming difficulties of the lockdown announced to curb COVID-19 spread, the statement said. RCF chairman and managing director S C Mudgerikar said the company is ensuring continuous supply of fertilisers to the farmers, with adequate safety and hygiene. RCF has contributed Rs 83.56 lakh to PM-CARES Fund and

ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 6.91 per cent growth in March quarter net at Rs 1,251 crore on a consolidated basis, after setting aside over Rs 2,000 crore in provisions for potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On a standalone basis, the second largest private sector bank's profit grew 26 per cent to Rs 1,221 crore as against Rs 969 crore in the year-ago period. For fiscal year 2019-20, it reported a 135 per cent jump in standalone profit to Rs 7,930.81 crore. From an asset quality perspective, the bank reported an improvement in gross non-performing assets (NPAs) ratio to 5.53 per cent as against 6.70 per cent in the year-ago period and 5.95 per cent as of December 2019, despite over Rs 5,300 crore in fresh slippages during the reporting quarter. ICICI Bank President Sandeep Batra said it had slippages of Rs 4,300 crore in the preceding December quarter, and the additions on this front can be attributed to two accounts -- a West Asian healthcare company and a Singaporean oil

After hiking liquor price by 75 per cent early this week, the Andhra Pradesh government has decided to reduce the number of retail liquor outlets, by a further 13 per cent, to 2,934 by this month end to curtail alcohol consumption and help people "move towards a better life." According to Special Chief Secretary (Revenue) Rajat Bhargava,the government has also taken a number of steps to check illicit distillation of liquor and inter-state trade of non-duty paid liquor. Now, the state government has also decided to constitute an independent Special Enforcement Bureau to deal with illicit liquor, with special focus on districts bordering neighbouring states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. Retail liquor business in the state is currently run by the government, through the AP State Beverages Corporation Limited, and the number of outlets was brought down to 3,500 from 4,380 in August last year. With the latest decision, the number will drop further to ...

After announcing on Friday that it was reinstating pay cuts of up to 25 per cent for its senior employees, IndiGo airlines said it would take a decision on restoring original salary "closer to the end of this financial year". The country's largest domestic airlines had on Friday announced pay cut ranging between 5 and 25 per cent, in addition to its leave-without-pay programme for May, June and July, for senior employees. The announcement, made through internal emails, came after a series of flip-flops on the matter as India's largest domestic airline struggled to stay afloat amid grounding of all commercial passenger flights due to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown. In the emails accessed by PTI, the airline said the salary cut will be effected from May till the end of the 2020-21 financial year. It has already paid full salary of April to its employees. The airline had first announced its decision to cut salaries on March 19 when the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic was ...

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday lashed out at the Rajasthan government, saying it gave politics precedence over people's health and failed to contain the coronavirus spread. The Jodhpur MP said asked the state Congress government to introspect over deficiencies in dealing with the situation in his constituency, which is also the hometown of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. "Had there been no deficiencies, the government would not have failed in tackling coronavirus in Jaipur and Jodhpur, said Shekhawat. He alleged that the state government gave priority to politics over people's health' due to which the condition worsened' in the state, especially Jodhpur. In a statement, Shekhawat also accused Gehlot of not taking serious steps to contain coronavirus cases, saying the chief minister was indulging in politics of appeasement. Referring to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's claim that the Centre did not release funds for the state, Shekhawat said adequate budget ...

A 23-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly raping a girl on multiple occasions, recording the act and using it to blackmail her in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district, police said. The incident took place in a village under the Khanpur Police Station limits and the arrest was made on Friday, they said. The 17-year-old girl and her father had approached the Jhawalar SP with their complaint on Thursday, following which a First Information Report (FIR) was lodged under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, DSP and Circle Officer Bhanwar Singh Hada, who is investigating the case, said. The accused, identified as Saddam Hussain Pinjara, was on Saturday produced before a Jhalawar court which sent him to two days' police remand. In her complaint, the minor alleged that the accused, who is her neighbour, took her to an isolated place around three months ago and raped her at knifepoint and also clicked her pictures and recorded the

All the state universities in West Bengal will implement the academic calendar in their respective institutions within a month after the lockdown is lifted, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said on Saturday. Chatterjee, who earlier in the day held a videoconference with vice-chancellors of all the state universities, told reporters at an online press conference that the VCs have decided on how to conduct the classes and the final semester examinations. "The academic calendar, including examinations, will be put into effect within a month after the lockdown is lifted," he said. Chatterjee said the institutions have also received the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines in this regard and the issue came up in the meeting held during the day. He had earlier said that the UGC guidelines reflect the recommendations made by the state government on issues such as conducting terminal examinations in the post-lockdown period. "The faculty members of the universities .

A 44-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly selling e-cigarettes to minors in northwest Delhi's Mukherjee Nagar area, police said on Saturday. The accused was identified as Pooja Sawhney, a resident of Rajouri Garden area of the city. She is from an affluent family, they said. "Police received a complainant that a woman was supplying e-cigarettes and other psychotropic substances to minors. We learnt that the accused would come to deliver the same in the Mukherjee Nagar area," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Northwest) Vijayanta Arya said. A trap was laid and the woman was caught red-handed while delivering the banned product on Friday, the police said. During investigation, it was found that the woman operated a cartel and used to target minors from well-off families as they can easily bear the high cost of the products, they said. She had formed groups on social media and accepted orders from there. The whole process of placing orders and payment was carried out online, a ...

What is the best thing about the Budget?The allocations made for the new AIIMS facilities will provide better access to health care. I am also intrigued to see how the government will provide basic sanitation, as I know that access to hygienic ...

As coronavirus closures continue to put businesses on life support, a record number of people are filing jobless claims to overwhelmed state labor departments. WSJ explains why some states are struggling under the historic load. Photo Illustration: Carlos Waters/WSJ

Saudi Arabia plans to build Neom, a futuristic megacity in the middle of the desert. But residents resisting evictions and a historic collapse in oil prices have raised new questions about the project.

This week, Senate lawmakers return to Washington to start working on the next round of aid for households and businesses. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explains how Congress may need to come to a trade-off that pleases both parties. Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP

A growing number of hospitals are investigating antibody testing and blood plasma therapy as a way to combat the new coronavirus in sick patients. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann

Wonder Land: The coronavirus lockdown model is about to collapse beneath its own weight, undermined by politics, confusion about the virus itself, and the basics of human nature. Images: AFP/Getty Images Composite: Mark Kelly

Wonder Land: Progressives invented moral trumping as a political weapon against their enemies. Now they’ve exhausted it. Images: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty images Composite: Mark Kelly

As Congress considers another round of aid to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Republican lawmakers are starting to worry about the long-term effects on the federal deficit. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains. Photo: Eric Gay/AP

April’s jobs report shows record-high job losses and unemployment, low-risk businesses in California reopen for curbside pickup today, and testing will increase at the White House. WSJ’s Jason Bellini has the latest on the pandemic. Photo: John Locher/Associated Press

Ratings agency Crisil today said the upcoming payment banks (PBs) will largely focus on the underbanked areas like the East, Northeast and Central regions, and the existing lenders should not worry about them. "We do not expect them to ...

It is all on the line for the two finalists in the DJ FX Frenzy championship: the pride and glory of being named the first global winner of this bracket-style foreign-exchange competition.

Puerto Rico’s power authority sent a jolt through a corner of the U.S. stock market Wednesday as shares in financial stocks exposed to the commonwealth soared after the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority agreed to a debt-restructuring plan with a group of bondholders.

At the world's biggest ship-recycling yard at Alang, India, life is becoming harder as fewer ships arrive. Here's why. Photo: Karan Deep Singh/The Wall Street Journal

Clif Bar & Co. is among only 5% of U.S. employers that offer a child care center on-site or near its offices. Kate Torgersen, an 18-year employee, explains how bringing her three children to the company's "Base Camp" child care center has benefited her as a working mother. Photo: Tim Hussin for The Wall Street Journal

Women are less likely to delegate than men and that might hurt their careers. WSJ's Michelle Ma explains why women have a harder time passing off work to others.

With more and more people taking flight each year, there’s a lot that can go wrong. WSJ’s Scott McCartney tallies the data for a definitive look at which airlines performed best and worst in 2019 in key categories like on-time departures, baggage handling and flight cancellations. Illustration: Ivan Canu

Ramesh Ramanathan.

Sudhirendar Sharma notes the reversal of positions on the mega-project is tied to political changes rather than environmental or social assessments.

Why exactly do we need to link our rivers? Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Shama Perveen of IIM Kolkata present a sweeping analysis of some important justifications on which the Interlinking project stands.

Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Shama Perveen
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Why exactly do we need to link our rivers? Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Shama Perveen of IIM Kolkata present a sweeping analysis of some important justifications on which the Interlinking project stands.

Why exactly do we need to link our rivers? Jayanta Bandyopadhyay and Shama Perveen of IIM Kolkata present a sweeping analysis of some important justifications on which the Interlinking project stands.

Except a standout municipality in AP, none of the other towns and cities in India are complying with a Supreme Court directive on waste management. Surekha Sule reports.

Vermicomposting to convert household waste into manure is widely used worldwide, but using it to treat toxic waste is relatively recent and yet to gain acceptance. Surekha Sule reports on the work of Dr.Suneet Dabke.

The deadline for public comments from the draft National Environmental Policy expires on Oct 31. Sudhirendar Sharma reports on the context for the development of this policy and what it may portend.

The boom in construction has not been accompanied by a higher level of environmental awareness among builders, architects, developers and planners. But green buildings can be profitable and also demand less from the natural world, notes Ramesh Menon.

After one round of public scrutiny and an adverse order from the Supreme court, UCIL's plans for uranium mining in Nalgonda seemed to be defeated. But the company now proposes to continue down the same path, apparently unmindful of local opposition or legal strictures. Sunita Dubey reports.

What we do know is that the temperatures are rising and that weather patterns throughout the globe are being disrupted as a consequence, says Fred Pearce, one of the best-known environmental journalists and the author of Global Warming. Pearce recently spoke in Mumbai. Darryl D'Monte chaired the discussion.

The Nalwa Sponge Iron Limited's plans to further expand its operations at a plant in Chhatisgarh run into opposition from locals and NGOs, who point to the company's history as well as irregularities in the environment clearance process. Kanchi Kohli reports on recent developments.

The governing body meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity was held in Brazil in March. Since being one of the most pro-active countries in the formulation of the CBD, India has been gradually losing its leadership role in the last few years. Kanchi Kohli elaborates.