The concessions given by the UP government to traders will prove to be a pace setter for the revival of economic activity in the state at a time when the nation is going through a rough phase due to the COVID-19 outbreak, UP Vyapaari Kalyan Board chairman Ravi Kant Garg said. He said the exemption from labour laws for three years is bound to open gates for economic growth that was hit by the coronavirus lockdown. Such measures will spur economic activities and boost the investment climate in the state, Garg said while talking to a group of reporters on Saturday evening. He further said that exemption of 46 variety of fruits and vegetables from the clutches of Mandi Adhiniyam Suchana through Krashi Utapadan Mandi Adhiniyam (Sansodhan) ordinance 2020 would boost the trade. It is bound to help farmers as well as traders, he added. Now, the farmer would be free to sell his produce outside Mandi Parishad. Exemption of Mandi shulk (Mandi tax) from 46 variety of grains would provide maximum .

Doctors at the government-run ESIC Hospital here committed a "mistake" by not testing samples of a 16-year-old girl, who later died of Covid-19, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The girl breathed her last on Thursday at the B Barooah Cancer Institute. Her samples, which were taken after her death, tested positive for coronavirus infection/ "The girl first went to ESIC Hospital with all symptoms like fever and pain in legs. It was a mistake by doctors that her samples were not sent for testing... It is a matter of concern," Sarma told reporters here. Talking about the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), which was closed for new patients after a doctor at the facility tested positive on Thursday, he said a total of 529 samples have been collected from doctors, nurses, professors and superintendent of the institute for testing "Out of those, reports of 357 samples came out negative and one was positive. Results of the rest of the samples are awaited," .

A fire broke out in a cardboard factory in outer Delhi's Bawana on Sunday morning, Delhi Fire Service officials said. However, no one is trapped or injured in the incident, they said. A call about the blaze was received around 7.25 am, following which 15 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire fighting operations are underway, the officials said.

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir doesn't see major changes in the way cricket is played in the post COVID-19 scenario besides the ban on using saliva on the ball. The International Cricket Council is considering legalisation of the usage of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of saliva. "I don't think a lot of rules and regulations will be changed, you can probably have an alternate for the usage of saliva apart from that I don't think so many changes will happen," Gambhir told Star Sports. "Players and everyone else need to live with this virus; probably they have to get used to it that there is a virus and that it will be around. Players might end up catching it, and you got to live with it." Though social distancing is possible in cricket to a certain extent, other sports will find it tougher when sporting action resumes, said the southpaw. "Social distancing and other rules may not be easy for any sport to maintain. You can still manage to do it with cricket, but ...

Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday came to the help of 13 girl students from the Northeast studying in Delhi University, after they were asked to vacate their hostel, and he made it clear that they can continue to stay in their current accommodation "as long they as wish". The minister for Development of the North Eastern Region (DoNER) intervened after the DU administration asked the students to vacate the North Eastern Students House for Woman by May 31. The provost had asked the students to leave the hostel as soon as possible due to the expiry of mess contract by month-end. While the hostel has a capacity of about 100, currently 13 students are stuck there because of the lockdown. "I have spoken to vice-chancellor of the Delhi University Prof Y C Tyagi regarding the students and resolved the issue. They can continue to stay comfortably in the hostel as long as they wish," Singh said here. The minister said no one should bother students and put them under any kind of ...

The new National Curriculum Framework has put the child firmly at the centre of its proposals. But critics point out that it has overlooked many problems, such as the lack of infrastructure, inadequate teacher training, and continuing social biases. Some provisions have also been attacked as obscurantist. Deepa A reports.

For Manmohan Singh, the tortuous road to the high office he occupies may be both fortuitous and a handicap. He is not the Prime Minister by right or popular mandate, but simply the man deemed most suited to occupy that role in the midst of the most notable political currents. The India Together editorial.

Why are our publicly held/debated notions of morality limited to a few things such as the world of those castigated as sexual outliers? Partly, the fault lies in our public discourse - a discourse that has turned conversations about morality itself into rare events. The India Together editorial.

While Mayawati's projects to build parks and statues have drawn derision in the drawing rooms of the stately homes in the country, the people at her rallies are in awe of her. Her work is Dalit power, they feel and will make her immortal. Kulsum Mustafa has more.

Both legalisation and decriminalisation talk about protecting prostitutes from police harassment, as well as guarding their right of choice. But they have so far failed to address the issue of vulnerability of the women in the sex trade. Asha Ramesh notes different voices in the debate over what the legal stance towards prostitution should be.

Is contract farming the answer to the current woes confronting the nation's farmers, as various corporates claim? Or has the agri-business sector played the right trick at just the right time, with traditional agriculture in the doldrums in so many regions? Gagandeep Kaur reports.

The current crisis has some striking similarities with the fallout in India of the Great Depression of 1929-1933. Indian farmers were pushed deep into debt, and the overall economy suffered, recalls Kannan Kasturi.

In a country where the need for collective and institutional engagement in social improvement is stark, Shankar Jaganathan explores the role and contours of individual responsibility - both towards self and society - as a necessary precondition for the former.

Decades of struggle and innumerable sacrifices are involved in the long history of women's movement in India. Deepti Priya Mehrotra speaks to some of the exemplary leaders who recall the history of women’s movement and their role in it.

In a society where children are never consulted, parents in an Andhra Pradesh district are looking at their children with new respect. Village children, determined to transform their communities, are writing and producing a Telugu community radio programme, 'Allari Muchchatlu'. Komilla Raote reports.

The narrow legal definition of rape, recently reiterated in the Sakshi case, has been criticized by Indian and international women's and children's organizations, who insist that broader interpretations are needed to protect victims, and also to serve justice. Shivkami RaviChandran says we haven't heard the last of this debate.

The top down approach of the Disaster Managment Act had its advantages but completely ignored local knowledge and ways of living. The need is for a judicious mix of the traditional and technological, argues Max Martin.

The primary role of the navy is the protection of the seaboards. Having been shown up by the recent failure, the security establishment now has to get the strategy right, says Pavan Nair.

Traditionally, India's dairy cooperative societies have been run by men, but this is gradually changing. Today, 18% of cooperative members are women, and nearly 2500 all-women cooperatives are functioning in the country. Sunanda Nehru Ganju reports from Gujarat, where new livelihoods for women are being established this way.

The most flexible information dissemination medium ever invented can still be used for the betterment of all, says Subramaniam Vincent.

Sania is the star today, but there are many more waiting on the horizon, expecting to be noticed and determined to excel. Sania has forced the media, and the country, to sit up and take note. Sania and her "sisters" will not be stopped, says Kalpana Sharma.

The percentage of girl students pursuing science in college is quite impressive. Yet, when it comes to careers in science, the numbers suddenly drop. Kalpana Sharma notes the social and institutional reasons that deny women a level playing field.

There is plenty of native intelligence among the people that is very useful in averting and responding to disasters. Planning for disaster management must see this as an asset. The top-down planning and implementation currently in vogue is a poor substitute for community participation, says Videh Upadhyay.

There are many people who believe that women should do only women's work and that they should step out of their homes for paid work only if it is absolutely necessary. But the economy is denting such perceptions, observes Kalpana Sharma.

Why has this honest, intelligent, experienced man, whose appointment as prime minister in 2004 was so widely welcomed, been such a disappointment in office, asks Ramachandra Guha

The terror attacks have raised numerous questions of media ethics, values and news-gathering methods. While the government and politicians faced the wrath of the public, the media too was under the lens. Ramesh Menon reports.

Bhor is a psycho-social journey into the minds and lives of inmates of a rehab centre, trying to build a world away from the mainstream. Shoma Chatterji reviews the play.

Watching Paan Singh Tomar, which resurrects a forgotten sports hero and his compelling life, Namrata Ganneri can't help but notice what's missing.

Samir Chanda's Ek Nodir Galpo, which premiered in Kolkata in November 2007, offers the moving experience of a father who makes it his mission to name a river after his dead daughter. His struggle evolves into his way of reinventing his daughter. Shoma Chatterji has more.

The death of 14 women in Chhattisgarh following botched sterilisation procedures has rightfully led to furore across the country. But a detailed, historical analysis of family planning as it has evolved, by Shoma A Chatterji, exposes an inherent and sustained gender bias in policy as well as practice.

Ferguson, who came into the fight on a 12-win streak, suffered damage as Gaethje chopped at his legs and landed thunderous hooks before referee Herb Dean stepped in to end the fight late in the fifth round.

The Sports Ministry had banned spectators in stadiums for any events, including cricket matches, in one of its earliest advisories on the pandemic before all sporting events were brought to a halt altogether.

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir doesn't see major changes in the way cricket is played in the post COVID-19 scenario besides the ban on using saliva on the ball. The International Cricket Council is considering legalisation of the usage of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of saliva.

Malegaon blast accused and BJP's Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Singh Thakur went on a temple run on Thursday, a day after the Election Commission imposed a 72-hour campaigning ban on her. The EC ban followed complaints against Thakur for her offensive remark against 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks martyr Hemant Karkare

V S Naipaul makes up with Paul Theroux even as he falls out with women at the literary festival.

Why is it that in the historical art galleries of painting - or of sculpture, for that matter - only a very few women are represented?

Here is a list of some of the most iconic mothers from literature.

The Hinjewadi police on Saturday arrested a 35-year-old man from Kshatriyanagar in Bavdhan for throttling his five-month-old daughter to death.

A hot water spring, also known as a thermal spring, is a natural discharge of hot water from the earth.

The helicopter shot is an unorthodox cricket shot, reportedly invented by Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

After slamming door on Air India crews, Noida Authority takes back order

It’s not just us. Women in every country are defined by stereotype

The truth is, there can be no fair, defi nitive answer to the query. The two careers overlapped a bit. But remember: pitches, bowlers, batting equipment, rules – all have changed dramatically since 1989, when Sachin played his fi rst Test and ODI.

Top government sources told ANI that at the time of the incident, Pakistan was already carrying out an aerial exercise about which India also had information. "Soon after the death of the Colonel, the Pakistani Air Force increased its patrols involving its mix of fighter aircraft including the F-16s and the JF-17 which were being constantly monitored by our surveillance platforms," they said.