Fifty-seven new coronavirus cases were reported in Rajasthan on Saturday morning, taking the total number of cases in the state to 3,636 officials said. Maximum of the new cases -- 20 -- were reported from Udaipur and 15 in Jaipur, a government official said. Eleven cases were from Ajmer, three from Pali, two each from Rajsamand and Churu, and one each in Kota, Barmer, Jalore and Dausa, the official said. Rajasthan has reported 103 deaths due to COVID-19 so far and the maximum cases (1,160) and deaths (54) are from Jaipur.

A student of the Regional Dental College in Guwahati tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total number of positive cases in Assam to 59, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The student's test report came in on Friday night, following which the number of cases detected in Guwahati since Thursday rose to five. Only one person, a resident of a high- end apartment, was found to be COVID-19 positive in the city prior to that. "These are difficult times. My duty is to give finest attention to all. Following social distancing guidelines of the government, met the girl who tested positive at Regional Dental College and assured her best care," Sarma said. He urged other students of the college not to panic and ensure social distance. The girl was tested after she came in contact with a post-graduate student of the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) who had tested positive on Thursday, an official said. A 16-year old girl was found COVID-19 positive .

One of the survivors of the tragedy in which 16 migrant workers were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra on Friday, says he cannot come to terms with what happened after he saw his companions dying in front of him. Shivmaan Singh, who is now travelling back to his native place in Madhya Pradesh in a train along with the bodies of his 16 companions, said that he has not been to sleep after the accident as the disturbing images of the tragedy kept coming to his mind. "After the tragedy stuck on Friday morning, so many things happened. Although I was exhausted and tired, I could hardly sleep at night as the gory images of the accident kept coming to my mind. I am not able to forget the tragedy that unfolded before me," Singh told PTI. "After the news of the train accident broke, my family members tried calling me repeatedly. But my phone was off as its battery was discharged," he said. "After the accident, we were busy in helping the ...

Five Bihar Military Police (BMP) personnel have tested positive for novel coronavirus, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the state to 579, a top health official said. All the fresh cases are from Khajpura area of Patna and their infection trail is being ascertained, Health Department Principal Secretary Sanjay Kumar said. Kumar tweeted late on Friday evening, "5 more COVID-19 positive cases in Bihar taking the total to 579. 5-males 30,36,50,52 and 57 years from Khajpura Patna. All are BMP jawans. We are ascertaining their further infection trail." Coronavirus has spread to 36 of the 38 districts in the state, officials said. Five patients have died so far and 307 people are still afflicted with the disease, while 267 have recovered, they said. One death each was reported in Rohtas, Munger, Vaishali, East Champaran and Sitamarhi districts. All the deceased were males and barring one, every one of them was below 60 years of age and with pre-existing medical conditions, the ...

The AAP government has told the Delhi High Court that adequate ration was being provided to Rohingya families at three camps in south and north east parts of the city during the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The submission was made by the Delhi government before a bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula, which was hearing a plea seeking immediate relief for the Rohingya families at settlements in Khajuri Khas in north east Delhi and Shram Vihar and Madanpur Khadar in south Delhi. Delhi government additional standing counsel Sanjoy Ghose and advocate Urvi Mohan also told the court that four hunger centres were being run near the settlements mentioned in the plea. The petitioner, Fazal Abdali, claimed that the Rohingyas at these three camps were being denied relief under the various schemes announced by the Delhi government to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The bench, however, noted that the petitioner had not given any specific particulars of the neglect faced by these families

Thirty Six new COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 789, health department said on Saturday. "36 new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon....Till date 789 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 30 deaths and 379 discharges," the department said in its mid day situation report. The 36 new cases include- 12 from Bengaluru urban, seven from Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada, five from Davangere, three each from- Bantawal in Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga and Bidar, and one each from Tumakuru, Davangere and Vijayapura. While most cases are contacts of patients already tested positive, three are with travel history to Ahmedabad, two are from a containment zone in Bengaluru, and one person's contact is under tracing.

BJP corporators in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) have refused to contribute to the COVID-19 relief fund, citing lack of transparency in the affairs of the civic body in Maharashtra's Thane city. Corporators from other parties have contributed Rs 5 lakh to the fund, following an appeal from Mayor Naresh Mhaske. In a letter to the Mayor, BJP leader Sanjay Waghule alleged that there was no transparency in the civic body's COVID-19 relief activities, which is why party corporators would not make any contribution to the TMC's COVID-19 fund. He further claimed that BJP corporators were not invited to the meeting called by Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde to discuss a 1,000-bed COVID-19 treatment facility. Meanwhile, the Mayor in a written communication pointed out that the BJP had welcomed the idea of a relief fund for COVID-19 and now it was backing away from it. There are 23 BJP corporators in the house of 131 corporators in the TMC.

A day after the Andhra Pradesh government constituted a five-member team to probe the Visakhapatnam gas leak incident, TDP chief N Chandrababu Nadu on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up a scientific experts' committee to investigate the matter. In a letter to Modi, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief also commended the "quick response" of the central government in controlling the styrene vapour leak from the plastics manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam that left 12 people dead and hundreds hospitalised on Thursday. Naidu suggested that the prime minister set up a scientific experts' committee to inquire into the gas leakage and the circumstances that led to the release of toxic vapours. A thorough investigation needs to be done to understand the health impact as the company claims that only styrene gas was leaked but there are conflicting reports of other toxic gases being leaked, he said. "The long-lasting impact on the health of those undergoing ..

Two-wheeler major Yamaha Motor India Group (YMIG) on Saturday said its employees have voluntarily donated a day's salary to support the government in combating the coronavirus pandemic. The company's permanent employeesas well as some trainees based out of its three plants -- Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu), Surajpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Faridabad (Haryana), and employees at its other offices donated a total of Rs 61.5 lakh from their pay for April, YMIG said in a statement. Out of the total amount, Rs 25 lakh each will be donated to the Chief Minister's Public Relief Fund (Government of Tamil Nadu) and Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund (Government of Uttar Pradesh). The remaining Rs 11.5 lakh will be donated to the PM-CARES Fund, it added. "This is a global crisis and Yamaha's task as a global company is enormous. During such time what COVID-19 has prompted, Yamaha feels that it is important for everyone to stand united against the pandemic and come forward to support the government in ...

Ahead of the arrival of a Naval ship here with stranded Indians from Maldives, a top police officer on Saturday said all arrangements are in place to facilitate safe stay of the repatriated comprising over 400 Keralites and people from other parts of the country in the southern state. INS Jalashwa, participating in Indian Navy's "Operation Samudra Setu" to bring home Indians stuck in foreign countries due to COVID-19 pandemic, has departed from Male port for Kochi with 698 Indian nationals on board on Friday night. It is expected to reach here on Sunday. This is the Indian Navy's first massive evacuation exercise during the COVID-19 lockdown. Inspector General of Police Vijay Sakhare said 431 people traveling via ship are from Kerala. Rest of the passengers are from other parts of the country including Tamil Nadu (132 people). A few people from states including Goa, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Telangana and Lakshadweep ...

Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday alleged that the 16 migrant workers, who were crushed to death by a train in Maharashtra on Friday, had applied to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan govenment for passes to travel back home about a fortnight ago, but the administration failed to act on it. Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh tweeted a video in which a survivor of the train tragedy claimed that they had applied for their return to their respective districts in Madhya Pradesh. Alleging that the MP government's "negligence and inaction" led to the death of the workers, Singh also called for a probe to know what arrangements the BJP-led government had done to bring back these workers after they applied for return. "The workers killed in the train accident had asked for passes from the Shivraj government about fifteen days back. These 16 lives could have been saved, if passes were issued. Shivraj ji, these deaths are the result of jungle raj," Madhya Pradesh ...

The TMC on Saturday accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of "lying" about the West Bengal government not allowing trains to reach the state, and said they have already planned eight trains to ferry migrants from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Telangana. The first train will be leaving on Saturday from Hyderabad to Malda, the TMC said. Shah on Saturday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying while the Centre has facilitated more than two lakh migrants to return home, it is not getting expected support from the state. "The Centre is lying, eight trains ready to ferry passengers to Bengal from different states: It is no right to say CM Mamata Banerjee not allowing migrants to come back.16 migrants died on your watch, will rail minister take responsibility," asked TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. In a zoom meeting with several TMC MPs, including Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien, said West Bengal is running 711 camps for migrants in the state and were taking good care of ..

The Uttar Pradesh Congress has launched a chat portal that will let people list the problems being faced by them amid the ongoing COVID-19-induced lockdown, the party said on Saturday. The complaints received from users of the UP Mitr' chat portal will be forwarded to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath so that the state government can help the people, state Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said in a statement. "The portal has been made to help the common public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through it, problems of the common public will be listed and the UP Congress will help the complainants. The list of complaints will be sent to the chief minister, Lallu said. The Congress leader said that his party was committed to help every needy person in the state. "The party is running community kitchens at various places in the state including Ghaziabad, Hapur, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lakhimpur Khiri and Lucknow, he said in the statement. The party's district committee is making dry ration available ..

The Odisha government has trained 1.72 lakh health personnel to fight COVID-19 in the state, where a spike in the number of positive cases was recently witnessed following the return of Odia migrant workers from other parts of the country, a senior official said. The state government has trained 1,72,499 health personnel to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy said while launching the 'COVID-19 workforce portal' here on Friday. Altogether 129 fresh novel coronavirus cases were reported in the state since May 3, when the return of the stranded migrant workers began. Of these, around 114 COVID-19 patients are returnees who were stranded in Gujarat, a health official said. A total of 8,023 doctors, 8,296 staff nurses, 4,105 paramedical staff and laboratory technicians, 4,114 AYUSH doctors, 4,905 ambulance drivers, 1,35,820 ANM/ASHA/AWW workers and 7,236 sanitation workers have been drafted into the COVID-19 workforce, Labour and ESI ...

At least 1,200 people from Manipur stranded in Chennai will be brought back in a special train that will reach Jiribam at the state's border with Assam on May 12, Chief Minister N Biren Singh said. The train will start from Chennai later on Saturday, he said in a video message on Friday night. From Jiribam they will be brought to Imphal, around 200 km away, in special buses, Singh said. All of them will have to undergo isolation at the institutional quarantine centres set up at schools and colleges with the assistance of local MLAs and other organisations. Singh said that they will undergo full medical checkup before leaving Chennai and will further undergo check-up, including thermal screening, after reaching Jiribam. The cost of ferrying the stranded people from Chennai to Jiribam is around Rs 12,00,600, while the cost of transporting them in 50 buses is around Rs 1,05,000, Singh said. Two other special trains carrying migrants will also depart from Punjab and ...

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to put the proposed amendments to the Electricity Act on hold till these were thoroughly discussed with state governments after the Coronavirus pandemic subsides. Recalling his earlier objections to the amendments, the Chief Minister said the proposed amendment bill sought to take away the power of the state government in deciding the constitution of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission, which is against the federal principles of the Constitution. In a letter to Modi, a copy of which was made available to the media, Palaniswami said the proposed amendments for which the Ministry of Power has invited comments from state governments, require detailed consultations with them and otherstakeholders. "You are aware that all states are currently pre-occupied with fighting the Coronavirus pandemic and will, therefore, require some time to give their detailed response to the proposed ...

CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat has approached the Delhi High Court seeking an early hearing in her plea for directions to police to make public the list of people arrested in connection with communal violence in northeast Delhi in February this year. The application for preponing the date of hearing of the petition is likely to be listed on May 12. The main petition, which has sought that a list of those arrested be put up outside police control room and police stations in the district, should be updated on a case-by-case basis. It is listed for hearing on June 16. The application for early hearing said the country is suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has declared nationwide lockdown due to which people are not allowed to go out except for essential services. However, Delhi Police has continued its probe in connection with certain FIRs related to the Delhi violence and as per media reports, the MHA has directed police to ensure that the probe does

The Karnataka government has announced one-time financial relief of Rs 5,000 each to over 11,000 cobbler families in the state, whose daily life was affected by the COVID-19 induced lockdown. According to Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has announced one time financial relief of Rs 5,000 for each of these families. "Due to COVID-19 lockdown about 11,722 families involved in road side leather work, like mending chappals and shoes, are in financial distress and their daily life has been affected," he said on Friday. The compensation will be distributed to beneficiaries through Babu Jagjivan Ram Leather Industries Corporation, Karjol, who is also in-charge of Social Welfare department, said. A delegation of opposition leaders led by the leader of opposition Siddaramaiah had met Chief Minister Yediyurappa yesterday and demanded that people belonging to sections like goldsmiths, carpenters, cobblers, tailors and ironsmiths be considered ...

Experts from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences visited the civil hospital in Gujarat's Ahmedabad city on Saturday and interacted with frontline staff amid concerns over the rise in COVID-19 fatalities. The city's COVID-19 mortality rate stands at 6.5 per cent, which is almost double that of the country's death rate of 3.3 per cent. AIIMS director and pulmonologist Dr Randeep Guleria and Dr Manish Soneja of AIIMS' department of medicine, flew in on a special Indian Air Force plane on Friday, an official said. The duo visited the civil hospital and met doctors and staff, who were attending to COVID-19 patients and offered them guidance, the release stated. Principal secretary (health) Jayanti Ravi also interacted with frontline medical staff at the hospital, which has the highest number COVID-19 patients in the city. The AIIMS doctors were also scheduled to visit Sardar Vallabhai Patel Hospital in the city. Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had urged Union Home ...

Meritorious students hailing from poor sections of the society in Odisha have been provided smartphones to help them attend online classes during coronavirus-induced lockdown to sustain their focus on the NEET exam scheduled on July 26 for admission in medical colleges. These wards of humble vegetable sellers, fishermen and marginal farmers are students of "Zindagi foundation" run by a non-governmental organisation for talented students of Odisha, to help them give wings to their dreams. The man behind the initiative is academician Ajay Bahadur Singh, who was forced to quit medical studies due to his father's kidney ailment in 1990 and had to sell tea and sherbet to help his family survive. There are 19 medical aspirants, both boys and girls, at present under the project from remote corners of Odisha who will be undertaking the national level undergraduate medical entrance exam on July 26 next to qualify for admission in medical colleges. The lockdown caused by the ...

India's senior hockey players, who are unable to train because of the coronavirus-forced lockdown, will undergo a basic coaching course online starting Monday, continuing the national federation's efforts to ensure that their time is put to productive use. The course will be attended by 32 senior men and 23 senior women core probables on May 11 and 15 respectively. Captain of the Indian women's team Rani Rampal has already attended the Hockey India coaching education pathway in the past and achieved a Hockey India Level 1 Coach Certification. "The Hockey India Level Basic Coaching Course will help them in broadening their understanding of the sport as it will give them a chance to view the sport from a coach's perspective," the HI said in a statement. "The core probables who will successfully clear the Hockey India Level 'Basic' Coaching Course will be eligible to attend the Hockey India Level '1' Coaching Course in the future, thereby paving the way for their development, not just as

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday welcomed the Centre's decision to borrow additional 4.2 lakh crore and said it should be used to provide relief to the poor and re-start the economy. "After resisting our appeals, especially through statements of the CEA, the government has finally decided to borrow an additional amount of Rs 4.2 lakh crore taking the projected fiscal deficit to 5.38 per cent. We welcome the decision," he said in a statement. The senior Congress leader, however, said, "It is not enough to borrow more unless the amount is used to provide relief to the poor and to re-start the economy. We look forward to the revised expenditure budget for 2020-21." Echoing similar sentiments put forth by several eminent economists, he had appealed to the central government to shed its reservations and borrow more in 2020-21. "In our view, the budgeted fiscal deficit of 3.5 per cent should not be a constraint in these extraordinary times," he said in the statement. The ...

The Telangana Police will soon rollout an Artificial Intelligence (AI)- based system through CCTVs to check face mask norm violations. Describing it as a first such initiative in the country,State DGP M Mahendar Reddy has tweeted that the system shall be enabled shortly across the three police commissionerates of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda which cover Hyderabad and its suburbs. He said the initiative involved leveraging computer vision and deep learning techniques on closed cirucuit television (cctvs) "#AI based #FaceMaskViolationEnforcement is being rolled out by TS police. Leveraging ComputerVision & #DeepLearningTechnique being implemented on surveillance CCTVs across the cities is #FirstOfItsKind in INDIA. Shall be enabled shortly across the 3Commissionerates *Hyd,Cyb&Rck," he said. The state government, which has made wearing a mask mandatory in public places, on Thursday issued orders imposing Rs 1000 as fine for those not complying with it. "In ...

In a slugfest over the transportation of stranded migrants to West Bengal, railway officials on Saturday said there was no proposal on record so far with the national transporter to run any more 'Shramik Special' trains to the state. The Indian Railways reaction came minutes after the TMC said they have already planned to run eight trains to ferry migrants from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Telangana. The railway said they did not even have the proposal yet for the train, which the TMC claimed has been scheduled from Hyderabad to Malda on Saturday at 3 pm. The Indian Railways has so far run only two trains to West Bengal, one from Rajasthan and the other from Kerala. According to the guidelines issued by the railways for these trains, the proposal has to be received from both the states along with the number of passengers for these trains to run. The officials said the railways has 47 planned for Saturday so far, none of them were bound for West Bengal. The TMC on Saturday accused

Tanishq, a jewellery brand from the house of Tata, on Saturday announced plans to re- open its 328 stores across the country in a phased manner by opening its first 50 stores by Sunday. It would continue to comply with all rules related to COVID-19 lockdown while re-opening and running operations, said a statement. Tanishq said it has rolled out a gold standard safety e-book that reiterates the company's commitment to safety and well-being of customers and its employees at the store. It covers all staff and customer touch points, entailing numerous safety measures, including contactless shopping and strict social distancing at all times, the statement said. CEO of jewellery division at Titan Company Limited Ajoy Chawla said: We are reopening our stores in a phased manner because each store has to pass an eligibility test prior to re-commencing operations. This is to ensure each store is 100 per cent prepared to manage the store, staff and customers.

In the wake of the death of 16 workers from Madhya Pradesh in a train accident in Maharashtra on Friday, MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday urged the stranded migrants to be patient as his government was making arrangement for their safe return to the state. He also asked them not to risk their lives by undertaking return journey on foot. Sixteen migrant workers- part of a group of 20 headed towards villages in Madhya Pradesh and who were resting on the tracks, were crushed to death by a goods train in Aurangabad district in the early hours of Friday. According to police, they had left Jalna around 7 on Thursday evening and decided to rest on the tracks after walking for about 36 km. In a video statement, Chouhan said, "The migrant labourers should be patient and avoid return journey on foot as the state government has made arrangements to bring them back." "Eleven trains carrying people from other states have already reached Madhya Pradesh and 10 more ...

The Delhi government has so far issued around 4.75 lakh e-tokens to buy liquor in the national capital, an official said on Saturday. Under the e-token system, customers are given specific time for purchasing alcohol so that there is no violation of social distancing norms by people queuing up outside liquor stores. The e-token is sent on mobile phones of registered people. The new system was introduced on Thursday in the wake of long queues outside liquor vends and people not following social distancing norms there. The Delhi government has allowed around 200 liquor shops to operate in the city. "The government has so far issued around 4.75 lakh e-token since Thursday evening to people to buy liquor without standing in long queues," the official said. People willing to get e-token can apply through a web link www.qtoken.in where they are allotted specific time for purchasing liquor after they fill personal details. According to the official, the e-token system is maintaining social ..

A 55-year-old woman died of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district on Saturday, taking the toll in the region to 87, an official said. A COVID-19 patient died on Thursday after undergoing treatment at a city hospital for 10 days, chief medical and health officer (CMHO) Praveen Jadia said. The woman was already suffering from high blood pressure, sepsis and other ailments, he added. With 53 persons testing positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the count in the district has reached 1,780, of which 732 patients have recovered from the infection, the official said. According to the latest data, the COVID-19 mortality rate in Indore was 4.89 per cent, which was a decline of 5.44 per cent registered last month.

Seventy-six fresh coronavirus cases surfaced in Rajasthan on Saturday, pushing the state's infection count to 3,655. The state has so far reported 103 deaths. Among the fresh cases, the maximum 23 were reported from Udaipur, followed by Jaipur where 20 people were found infected with the virus on Saturday. Thirteen cases surfaced in Ajmer; six in Jodhpur; four in Pali; three in Jalore; two each in Rajsamand and Churu; and one each in Kota, Barmer and Dausa, according to a government official. Jaipur is the worst-hit Rajasthan district with a total of 1,165 case, including 54 deaths.

Four more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttarakhand on Saturday taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the state to 67. The cases were reported from Udham Singh Nagar district, a health department bulletin here said. With this, COVID-19 cases in Uttarakhand have risen to 67 out of which 46 patients have been discharged after recovery and one has died. The number of active cases in Uttarakhand currently stands at 20, it said.

Migrant workers returning from Rajkot to Ballia on a special train on Saturday claimed that Gujarat Police charged them Rs 725 fare. Authorities here, however, said they had no information about it. The train carrying 1,170 migrant workers from parts of UP reached Ballia in the morning, following which they were screened and provided food packets, District Magistrate Hari Pratap Shahi said. "The migrants were then sent to their states. As many as 420 are from Ballia, while rest of them are from Prayagraj, Fatehpur, Hardoi, Maharajganj, Kushingar, Etawah and other districts," he said. Some passengers claimed that they had to pay Rs 725 train fare to Gujarat Police, the district magistrate said, adding that he had no information on this.

A special committee has been formed by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation for containing the spread of COVID-19 in different parts of the city, a member of the panel said. Chairperson, caretaker board of administrators of the civic body and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim, former deputy mayor Atin Ghosh, four community medicine experts and KMC health officials are members of the newly formed committee. The panel was formed after Hakim assumed charge as chairperson of the caretaker board of administrators (BOA) of the KMC on Friday. The state government appointed the board since elections could not be held to the KMC owing to the coronavirus outbreak. The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the BOA to act as the KMC's caretaker board for a month. Ghosh told PTI on Saturday, "We will sit every afternoon to take stock of the situation and decide accordingly. "Apart from containment zones, we will review the situation in other areas of the city as well. There ...

Why men rape? A new book seeks to find out answers by examining a slew of factors that shape male behaviour. In her book "Why Men Rape: An Indian Undercover Investigation", Tara Kaushal sets out to understand the reasons why women feel unsafe through a detailed investigation which includes interviews and meetings with nine men who have an inclination to commit acts of sexual violence. The core of Kaushal's research methodology for the book, scheduled for release next month, entailed spending up to a week each with nine men who have raped, across different parts of the country. The author spent time in their home environments; interviewing and observing them, and their families and friends. Kaushal says through a study of these "mostly 'undetected' (the experts' term for rapists outside the criminal justice system), some unconvicted rapists, I sought to determine how history, economics, environment, upbringing, education (or lack thereof), psychological state, and attitudes towards ...

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Maharashtra's Amravati district rose to twelve on Saturday with the death of a 53-year-old man at the COVID facility here, an official said. The deceased, a resident of Masanganj locality in the city, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night, he said. He was suffering from fever and breathing difficulty, the official said, adding that swab samples of the patient were taken on May 7. "There are now 60 active patients at the COVID ward. While five have been recovered, another patient was referred to Nagpur," the official added.

A plea seeking linking of a metro card or token with a commuter's address proof was not entertained by the Delhi High Court as no representation about the issue had been made to the DMRC before moving the court. A bench of justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula disposed of the plea, but gave petitioners liberty to move a representation before the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on the issues raised in the plea. In case the petitioners move a representation to the DMRC, it is supposed to dispose of the plea within four weeks by a reasoned order after taking inputs from authorities concerned. The petitioners had contended in their plea that it should be mandatory for metro travellers to provide proof of their identity and address while purchasing metro cards or tokens to establish ownership in case such items are lost. They also contended that in the prevalent situation of coronavirus pandemic, the DMRC should be aware about the details of commuters as it will help in preventing ...

Amid a spurt in coronavirus cases in the national capital, the Delhi government has roped in three more private hospitals with a total of 150 beds to treat COVID-19 patients. In an order issued on Saturday,Delhi Health Secretary Padmini Singla declared Fortis in Shalimar Bagh, Saroj Medical Institute in Sector 19, Rohini and Khushi Hospital in Dwarka for admitting confirmed or suspected cases. The decision was taken due to the "shortage of isolation beds in private hospitals", te order read. The three hospitals will have 50 isolation beds each. Medical superintendents of these hospitals have been directed to make the isolation facility functional before Monday. On April 30, Singla had declared Maha Durga Charitable Trust Hospital and Sir Gangaram City Hospital as COVID-19 hospitals. LNJP Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality hospital, Sir Gangaram Kolmat Hospital and Max Hospital in Saket are some of the COVID-19 dedicated facilities in Delhi, where 6,318 people have tested positive

Private cell phone operators resumed their services but mobile Internet continued to remain suspended on Saturday in the Kashmir valley, a move taken as a precautionary step after the killing of self-styled local chief of banned Hizbul Mujahdieen, Reyaz Naikoo, earlier this week. The situation in the valley, which has been witnessing lockdown since the third week of March due to COVID-19 pandemic, was generally calm barring a few local protests in some villages of Pulwama in south Kashmir. Seeing an improvement of the situation after Naikoo was killed in an encounter with security forces on Wednesday, the authorities allowed private telecom operators to resume their services from Friday night but asked them to keep Internet connection barred. Restrictions had been imposed in the valley after the death of Naikoo and additional paramilitary forces were deployed at vulnerable points to prevent any mischief or stone pelting. SMS services have been snapped across all telecom operators till

Filmmaker Satyanshu Singh has launched a unique initiative to raise relief money for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The director has started online classes for budding cinema students and has roped artistes from different fields of filmmaking for the initiative. Actor Vinay Pathak, screenwriters Anjum Rajabali and Sudip Sharma, cinematographer Siddharth Diwan and director Shoojit Sircar have come aboard the initiative. Since April 1, more than a dozen lectures have been conducted with students from cities like Bokaro, Kota, Bhilai, Almora, and Coimbatore taking part in them. Overseas students have also showed interest in the lectures. Through the initiative, Satyanshu has so far raised Rs 15 lakhs which has been donated to non-for-profit organisations like Milaap, Goonj, Sarvahitey, and Sneha, providing food and support to out-of-work labourers, women and children in slums, and the homeless. The daily wage workers from the film industry are also benefitting from this ...

Ride-hailing platform provider Ola on Saturday said it has donated Rs 50 lakh to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister's Relief Fund to help the government in its fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The fund would support prevention and relief measures including healthcare support and addressing economic relief measures in the state. ".. Ola Group remains committed to helping states, communities and those most-affected by pandemic. We extend our humble contribution to the State of Tamil Nadu as we work together fighting COVID-19," Ola Group Co- founder Bhavish Aggarwal said in a company statement. "We are grateful to all men and women, who in these extra-ordinary times, who continue to serve at frontlines," Aggarwal who is also the CEO said. On Friday, another ride hailing major, Uber India had said it would offer free rides to healthcare workers and government officials of Greater Chennai Corporation engaged in coronavirus related work under its UberMedic Service. The free rides ...

Extending his greetings to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 75th anniversary of the Victory Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that India stands with Russia in the solemn remembrance day. In a tweet, Modi also noted that tens of thousands of Indian soldiers also made the sacrifice in the second World War. "India stands with Russia in solemn remembrance today, on the 75th Anniversary of Victory Day. Tens of thousands of Indian soldiers also made the supreme sacrifice in the Second World War. My warm greetings to President Putin and the Russian people on this occasion," Modi tweeted. In Moscow, Putin marked Victory Day, the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, in a ceremony shorn of its usual military parade and pomp because of the coronavirus pandemic.

In a bid to tackle the spread of coronavirus in a more effective manner, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has put additional commissioners in charge of seven zones in the city. As per the order, seven additional commissioners will work towards improving the double rate of positive cases from 10 days to 20 days by May 17. These officials will be responsible for mapping positive cases, contact tracing, strict enforcement of norms in containment zones,door-to-door surveillance,identifying senior citizens with comorbid conditions and fever clinics, the circular dated May 7 said. They will also have to facilitate operations at private nursing homes, clinics, hospitals, ensure testing of symptomatic persons and creation of COVID care centres (CCC). Additional commissioners will have to personally visit their zones every day from morning till 2 pm, attend office post 3 pm and brief the municipal commissioner at 6 pm, the order stated. Of 19,063 COVID-19 cases in ...

Confusion prevailed over the number of deaths due to coronavirus in the national capital, with data from four hospitals showing that 92 people succumbed to the infection as against 68 fatalities reported by the Delhi government. The toll of 68 shared by the Delhi government in its health bulletin on Friday is based on data collected from 10 hospitals, including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College. According to the bulletin, AIIMS (Delhi and Jhajjar) reported two deaths, Safdarjung Hospital reported four, RML 26 and Lady Hardinge Medical College had none till Friday. However, officials from these hospitals said the number of people who died due to coronavirus in the national capital till Friday is higher than that reflected in the Delhi government's bulletin. AIIMS (Delhi Trauma Centre and Jhajjar) has recorded a total of 14 deaths, an official said. According to All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Medical ...

The West Bengal government is arranging special trains to bring back over 30,000 residents of the state stranded in Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab due to the ongoing lockdown, a senior official said on Saturday. The stranded people are mostly migrant workers, patients and their attendants, students, pilgrims and tourists from West Bengal, he said. "Talks are on with officials of other state governments in this regard. Everything has been finalised.... Our nodal officers are monitoring developments," the official told PTI. A total of 31,224 people are stranded in the four states, of whom more than half (17,000) are in Telangana, he said. Three trains carrying around 7,500 people from West Bengal will start their journeys from Bengaluru in Karnataka on Saturday and reach their destinations -- Bankura, Purulia and New Jalpaiguri stations -- in the state on Sunday and Monday, the official said. Two trains with around 2,418 people, mostly patients, will depart Vellore in Tamil

Realtors' apex body Credai on Saturday said cement and steel rates have increased by 40-50 per cent in last few weeks despite the lockdown and alleged price cartelisation and unfair trade practices by the manufacturers. The association has written a letter to Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri seeking his intervention in the matter. "We would like to bring your attention to the cartelization by the cement and the steel manufacturers by imposing a sudden increase in their selling price," Credai said in the letter. Across various states, there has been an increase of Rs 100-250 per bag cement and about Rs 2,000-2,500 per tonne of steel, it added. During the past few weeks, there has been a sudden, steep increase in prices of essential raw materials such as cement and steel by 40-50 per cent despite the nationwide lockdown. The Centre has allowed construction work on sites where labourers are already available. Given the current crisis faced by the real estate ...

: Chief Minister of Puducherry V Narayanasamy on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appoint an expert committee to help states overcome the fiscal situation in the wake of the COVID-19 lockdown. He told reporters here that he had written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to constitute immediately the expert committee to go into the poor fiscal condition of the states during the current lockdown and help mobilise funds to meet their commitments. The expert committee should be given a time-frame of one week to come out with its recommendations as to how the Centre could help the states wriggle out of the fiscal crisis and how States could rise to the exigency, he said. Narayanasamy hoped the Prime Minister would consider his suggestion and take appropriate action. "I am speaking candidly and making the suggestion for all states which no BJP-ruled state Chief Ministers will express,", Narayanasamy a former Central Minister, said. Already, he said, ...

One more person has tested positive for COVID-19 in Meghalaya, taking the total number of cases in the state to 13, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Saturday. Of the total 13 COVID-19 cases, only two are active including the fresh case in Shillong. "Unfortunately we have another positive case in Shillong. Its a person working in the same house. As a precaution health department was retesting all the primary contacts and in the process we found this positive case. The person is safe and healthy and showing no symptoms," the chief minister tweeted. Senior Health department officials said the person had tested negative twice in the past. Meghalaya has reported 13 COVID-19 cases till date with one death. Ten persons have recovered from the disease. The first COVID-19 positive case in the state was Dr John Sailo Ryntathiang, who tested positive on April 13. The 69-year-old doctor died two days later and eight of his family members and two of his domestic help have also ..

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's manic following just keeps on increasing with India and Chennaiyin FC midfielder Anirudh Thapa being the latest to join the badwagon of his awestruck fans. Dhoni is one of the co-owners of Chennaiyin FC, the twice winners of Indian Super League in 2015 and 2017-18 season. The 22-year-old Thapa treasures his interactions with Dhoni during times when former India cricket captain would drop in to meet the Chennaiyin footballers. "He (Dhoni) used to come whenever we had a team lunch. He would stay back to talk to the boys and shared his experiences. He's a very down to earth guy. Obviously Thala is my favourite cricketer," Thapa said. "There were others who also asked him to come and sit with them, but instead he always preferred to sit with the footballers. He would say Let me sit with the boys and let me share some experiences'." Thapa, who has played 24 matches for India since 2017, said Dhoni would also share his on and off-field experiences with the ...

An NGO from Indore in Madhya Pradesh has sent a letter petition to the Chief Justice of India seeking direction to government authorities to ensure people with disabilities, or Divyangjan, reach their homes safely amid the lockdown for the novel coronavirus outbreak. The letter was sent to the CJI on Friday, Anand Service Society's directors Gyanendra and Monica Purohit told PTI. "More than 150 Divyang persons are stuck in different parts of the country and waiting endlessly to go back to their homes. We have sent a letter petition to the Chief Justice of India requesting him to issue necessary directions to the concern authorities," Purohit said. "After our successful mission to rescue 23 speech and hearing impaired persons, a large number of people with disabilities have approached us to make arrangements for their safe return to their homes. "We need government support for it and, therefore, requested the Chief Justice of India to give necessary directions to National

ICICI Bank on Saturday reported a 26 per cent rise in standalone net profit at Rs 1,221 crore for the March quarter. The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 969 crore in the corresponding January-March period of 2018-19. Total income during the quarter under review increased to Rs23,443.66 crore, from Rs20,913.82 crore in the same period of the preceding fiscal, ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing. On the assets front, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at5.53 per cent of gross advances as on March 31, 2020, compared to 6.70 per cent last year. Net NPAs or bad loans were trimmed to 1.41 per cent as against 2.06 per cent.

The TCS World 10K Bengaluru run will be held on November 22 as the organisers on Saturday announced the new date for the rescheduled event. The race, the lone Gold Label event in Asia, was earlier scheduled to be held on the third Sunday of May, like the previous years, but had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Safety and precaution are paramount for the event. This re-scheduling of the Tata Consultancy Services World 10K, was imminent to regain some form of normalcy, especially for the travel and participation of our international stakeholders," said Vivek Singh, Joint-MD Procam International, the organisers of the run. "The support and co-operation received from all our stakeholders, has been unparalleled. 22nd November 2020, should give us all necessary time to heal, re-energise and deliver the event with our customary zeal," he added. The online registrations for the rescheduled event will commence on September 8. Race Director Hugh Jones said, "Postponing an event of