NCP chief Sharad Pawar has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk to chief ministers of those states who are not allowing migrant workers to come back home. Pawar spoke over phone to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal and Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the issue of repatriation of migrant workers to their home states during the coronavirus-induced lokdown period. "I humbly request our @PMOIndia Shri. Narendra Modi ji to intervene in this matter by talking to the CMs of the respective states who are not allowing these people to come back home," the NCP chief tweeted. Though he did not name any specific state, the NCP had recently accused the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka of not wanting to take back labourers hailing from the two states. "Had a telephonic conversation with Shri @OfficeofUT - Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Shri @PiyushGoyal - the Union Railway Minister regarding the issue of migrant workers," Pawar twitted. He said Thackeray has

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 ..

A huge fire broke out in the Aadharwadi dumping ground in Kalyan in Thane district on Saturday afternoon, an official said, adding that no injuries had been reported so far. The fire broke out at 1:30pm and heavy smoke along with a pungent smell was emanating from the site, said Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation Chief Fire Officer Dileep Gund. "Ten fire engines and ten water tankers have been deployed to douse the blaze. There are no casualties. The fire may have been caused by excessive heat," he added. The wind was making it difficult to control the blaze and it may take up to two days to completely put it out, he said, and informed that there was no shortage of water for dousing operations.

Five special trains will start journey from three states on Saturday to bring back 5,000 stranded Odia people, a day after the Supreme Court allowed the return of migrants to Odisha, officials said here. The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an interim order of the Orissa High Court which had asked the state government to ensure that only those tested negative for COVID-19 were allowed to return to Odisha. Three trains will come from Gujarat and one each from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, the officials said, adding that about 5,000 people will return to Odisha by these five trains. A senior East Coast Railways official said one of the five trains has already left from Surat for Odisha's Ganjam district. Two trains will leave from Ahmedabad in Gujarat for Khurda Road in Odisha, one train from Panvel station in Mumbai will start the journey to Odisha's Titlagarh in Bolangir district and another will leave from Chennai for Jagannathpur in Ganjam district, the official said. Meanwhile, Odisha .

The making of a movie without large crews and outdoor shoots and movies themselves sans party scenes, background dancers or even the staple romantic clinches that could be the existential crisis facing mainstream cinema in the immediate post-corona world. Bollywood, after all, has always been about people, whether on screen or off it, in front of the camera or behind it, say industry insiders as they grapple with the uncertainties of life and work after lockdown and contemplate the dimensions of a radical makeover. Filmmaking has always been a collaborative effort with hundreds of people working in tandem to translate the written word into images but that may change. Producers and directors also wonder how they will manage social distancing with a large crew once they are back on sets. According to actor-producer Sanjay Suri, there will be behavioural changes on the sets and "cinematic intimacy will take time to return". "Not because of lack of ideas but purely behavioural changes on

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 21-year-old married woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging at her house in a village in Bundi district on Saturday, police said. The deceased woman was identified as Uma Jangid (21), wife of Dinesh Jangid and a resident of Nayagaon village of Kapren town in Bundi district, SHO of Kapren police station Budhiprakesh Nama said. The woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging from the ceiling fan of her room on Saturday early morning while other members of the family were asleep, the SHO said. Prima facie, it appears that the woman took the extreme step due to family reasons, he opined. However, no suicide note was recovered from her possession. Uma got married to Dinesh in 2017. Her parents who had reached here after the death said their daughter did not have any complaints about her in-laws, the policeman said, adding that the couple did not have any child. The body was handed over to her family members after a post-mortem was conducted later in the day, Nama said. A case was ..

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 ...

The ruling JD(U) on Saturday slammed AAP for claiming that it bore the cost of ferrying migrant workers from Delhi to their home in Bihar, saying the party was speaking "half-truth" as the Arvind Kejriwal government has sought reimbursement of the payment. The Janata Dal (United) headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused the Aam Admi Party (AAP) of resorting to "cheap politics to gain popularity". The JD(U) also came down heavily on Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, Tejashwi Yadav for lapping up the issue to attack the NDA dispensation, asking him to stop the rhetoric and do something good for the people of Bihar. The AAP had on Friday claimed that the Kejriwal government paid for the migrant labourers travelling home after the Bihar government left them in the lurch. The train carrying 1,200 migrant labourers left for Muzaffarpur, Bihar today. The Arvind Kejriwal government will bear their full travel cost, Delhi minister Gopal Rai had tweeted on Friday. In a ...

The testing capacity for COVID-19 has been scaled up to around 95,000 tests per day and a total of 15,25,631 tests have been conducted so far across 332 government and 121 private laboratories, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday. The minister, who reviewed the status of COVID-19 in the northeastern states along with the measures taken for its containment and management, also stressed on the need to take concrete action to check the use of non-smoking tobacco and prohibiting spitting in public places which shall help in preventing the spread of the infection, according to a statement. During the high-level meeting with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, Vardhan appreciated the dedication of all the states in combating COVID-19. "It is a huge relief and very encouraging to see green zones in most northeastern states. As of date, only Assam and Tripura have active COVID-19 cases. Other states are all in the green zone. ..

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

In a bright sign for resumption of economic activities amid the Covid-led lockdown across the country, the migrant workers, who left various states for their native places amid the shutdown, have begun expressing willingness to return to work, indicate developments in Haryana. Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Saturday said over 1.5 lakh migrant workers have applied on government portal, expressing their willingness to return back to work in the state. Vij said most of these 1.5 lakh workers, who have registered themselves to return, belong to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. He also said on the same portal nearly 8 lakh migrant workers, however, have registered themselves for leaving the state. Nearly 1.5 lakh migrant workers want to return to Haryana while 8 lakh of them have registered themselves for leaving the state for their native states, Vij said. Most of the 1.5 lakh who want to come back are from Bihar, UP and MP. They want to come here as commercial activities have .

A group of 20 migrant workers returning to Jharkhand from West Bengal's Birbhum district by walking along railway tracks had a narrow escape when an inspection van stopped in front of them on a river bridge, officials said on Saturday. The labourers had managed to reach the temple town of Tarapith from Purba Bardhaman district during the lockdown and started on foot from there towards neighbouring Jharkhand on Friday night. When they were on a bridge over the river Brambhani around 9.30 PM, an inspection van came from the opposite direction, from Pakur in Jharkhand, officials said. The driver of the inspection van applied emergency brake after he noticed the people, who included women and children, on the track. After the driver informed the control room, a GRP team reached there and brought them to Nalhati in Birbhum district, officials said. Efforts are on to send the 20 people, who are now sheltered in the Nalhati I BDO's office, to Jharkhand. The incident occurred ...

Bihar Health minister Mangal Pandey on Saturday flagged off 28 ambulances to seven districts of the state affected by Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES). Of the 28 ambulances, eight were despatched to the most-affected Muzaffarpur district. East Champaran, West Champaran got five each, Sitamarhi four while Samastipur, Gopalganj and Siwan districts got two ambulances each, an official release said. With this, the total number of ambulances has increased to 426 in 11 districts affected by AES in the state, it said. As many as three children have lost their lives in over a month due to AES at Sri Krishna Medical College hospital in Muzaffarpur which accounted for about 120 deaths due to the same disease last year. The minister flagged off the ambulances at a function held at the State Institute of Health and Family Welfare (SIHFW) here. Over 700 AES kits were sent in the 28 ambulances to 366 health institutes in the AES-affected districts, it said. The kits comprise 11 types ..

The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday set up a high-level committee headed by former Reserve Bank of India governor C Rangarajan to examine fiscal challenges facing the state owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and suggest the way forward to improve its fiscal position. The committee, which will also consist of Finance Secretary S Krishnan as coordinator, will submit its report to the government within three months, according to a Government Order. The committee, with 21 members, would assess the overall immediate and medium term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on different sectors of the state's economy including the impact of lockdown, additional costs and implications due to social distancing and their precautionary measures. Also, it would assess the opportunities and threats in the short and medium term, suggest measures required to help the important sectors of the economy to overcome the impact of the virus pandemic. Apart from identifying specific reform measures to ..

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 ...

Responding to concerns expressed by farmers with respect to labour shortage, Punjab Chief MinisterAmarinder Singh on Saturday announced advancement in the paddy nursery sowing and transplantation dates by 10 days. The paddy nursery sowing and transplantation operations will now commence on May 10 and June 10, respectively. The agriculture department had earlier fixed May 10 as the date to begin sowing of paddy nursery and June 20 for paddy transplantation, during the current kharif season. The farmers had raised concerns about meeting the cultivation/sowing requirements in view of the labour shortage resulting from migrant labourers returning to their homes in view of the COVID-19 crisis. Describing these concerns as "understandable", the chief minister said it was in the interest of farmers to push the dates ahead by 10 days. Underlining the need to adopt the latest practice of Direct Seeding of Rice (DSR), as well as mechanised paddy transplantation technologies, the chief minister .

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

A man allegedly killed his five- month-old daughter in Pune's Bavdhan area on Saturday morning after a fight with his wife, police said. The incident took place at around 5:45am, an official said. "The accused had a fight with his wife on May 8. On May 9, at around 5:45am, he strangled his five-month old daughter. He has been nabbed," he said.

The Punjab Police on Saturday arrested from neighbouring Haryana Ranjeet Singh Rana, an alleged drug smuggler who was wanted in connection with a 532-kg heroin haul from Attari last year, officials said. He was arrested from a hideout in Haryana's Sirsa district, the police officials said. Facing over 10 criminal cases, Rana alias Cheeta was one of the key links in the network engaged in smuggling a large number of consignments of drugs and illegal weapons through the Indo-Pak border, the police said. Among other cases, Rana was wanted in the narcotics haul case in which the Customs department seized 532 kg of heroin worth Rs 2,700 crore on June 29, 2019 from 600 bags of rock salt at the Integrated Check Post in Amritsar's Attari. Rana was said to be the kingpin of the narcotics haul. "We have nabbed him (Ranjeet) from Sirsa," Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Dinkar Gupta told PTI. His brother Gagandeep Singh was also arrested, the state police chief said. Giving details of the

India's top chess players, including talented youngsters such as R Praggnanandhaa, D Gukesh, Nihal Sarin and national champion Aravindh Chithambaram will take part in the Indian Chess.com League to be played online from May 15-17. A total of 10 teams will take part in the tournament which will see the participation of over 25 Indian Grandmasters. The tournament's main vision is to bring out the best players of our country to play against each other in a team format, the organisers said. GM Priyadarshan Kanappan, the league commissioner said, "The Sports League was something that I had been very familiar with as I lived in the US where you had leagues for all sports; so I always used to wonder if we could replicate that format in India, and that's how this league idea happened." "The lockdown helped us in a big way, as chess players have no avenue to play in over the board events, so we were able to convince the top players to play in an online league format," he added. Praggnanandhaa .

A man was arrested in Rajgarh district of Madhya Pradesh on Saturday for allegedly raping a nine-year-old girl, police said. Indar Singh Tanwar (23) lured the girl by offering her Rs 100 when she was on her way to the fields and allegedly raped her behind a tree on Friday, said a police officer. Kotwali police station in-charge D P Lohia said the girl told her family members about the incident after returning home, and a complaint was filed. Tanwar was arrested under IPC section 376 (rape) and relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act and further probe was on, he said.

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 ...

The Karnataka government has clarified that migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists, students and other persons can hire and use buses provided by state-run road transport corporations on payment basis for travel to other states with relevant permissions. Inter-State travel of migrant workers, pilgrims, tourist, students and other persons stranded in different states due to lockdown were recently permitted to travel through notified entry and exit points of Karnataka by the government. The Shramik special train services too have been ferrying migrant labourers stranded in the state to destinations like Bihar, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh among others. In a circular, Revenue (Disaster Management) Principal Secretary T K Anil Kumar said similar facility on payment basis be made available by state run road transport corporations- KSRTC/NWKRTC/NEKRTC/ BMTC to transport workers to industries permitted under the issued guidelines.

IIT Kharagpur Director V K Tewari has said central institutes like the IITs and NITs have a major role to help the micro, medium and small enterprises (MSME) by guiding them to manufacture personal protective equipment, parts of diagnostic kits and other products required in the Covid-19 era. Tewari advocated creating mobile apps for the MSMEs, hit hard by the novel coronavirus triggered lockdown, to provide them with training by the institutes. "For instance, if we provide them (MSME units) with designs of gloves, masks meeting certain guidelines, they can come up with products in 3-4 months. Similarly, these enterprises can be roped in for making parts of diagnostic kits and PCR machines... after required training," he said. Delivering an address on Facebook Live on the page of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishads (ABVP) West Bengal unit on Friday, the IIT-KGP director suggested that such units may also be asked to produce PPE. "We have to know what the MSMEs want, what .

An 81-year-old man was among 85 people discharged from Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday after recovery, with health officials saying the octogenarian might be the oldest in the state to have overcome the coronavirus infection. All 85 were discharged from Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS). "The 81-year-old man tested positive for coronavirus on April 27. After 12-day treatment, he was discharged along with 84 others in the evening from SAIMS after two consecutive negative tests," an official said. The 81-year-old is the oldest person in the state to have been discharged after recovery, he said. Indore is among the worst hit in the country by the virus outbreak and currently has 1,780 COVID-19 patients. A total of 87 people have so far died due to the infection.

The Sikkim government will allow people stranded in different parts of the country to return to the Himalayan state on their own vehicles from May 11. A limited number of vehicles will be allowed to enter Sikkim everyday and priority will be given to patients, a press note said. Over 6,200 persons of Sikkim stranded outside the state have registered for evacuation and more than 500 of them have returned by Sikkim Nationalised Transport (SNT) buses in the past four days. Since only regulated movement is allowed during the lockdown period so people intending to return on their own vehicles or vehicles hired for the purpose shall be required to fill a form at the COVID portal of the state government for seeking prior approval, the press note said. Persons desiring to travel on their own vehicles must wait for approval after they apply for permission. On approval, a link will be sent to the registered mobile number which can then be downloaded and carried along on the travel .

It is said that life is more about risk management rather than exclusion of risk. 

We have discussed the need of covering risk and how does one ascribe a value for it. Covering risk is foremost for financial planning, especially for a person with dependents.

Your goals can be short or long term, small or large, but they all need to be achievable.

Regular saving in relatively safer financial instruments yielding moderate returns can work wonders over a long period of time.

The model terms the Budget as pro-growth

It's disappointing to see that there is no allocation or subsidy for sports as we are working towards the Olympics to be held next year

Expectations were built up that the minister will increase the minimum tax deductible slab from Rs 2.50 lakh, but no such thing was done.

For an individual, insurance offers the chance to save as well as get the benefit of avoiding paying taxes.

Gig workers are playing a bigger role in the American economy during the global pandemic. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib explores whether their eligibility for unemployment insurance will continue after the virus passes. Photo: Justin Heiman/Getty Images

Andre Harrell talks to the WSJ’s Lee Hawkins about the reasoning behind his decision to fire Sean Combs as his A&R at Uptown Records. Photo Associated Press

Potomac Watch: Bernie Sanders may have given up on the Democratic Presidential nomination but is determined to make Joe Biden unelectable. Image: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The South Korean company behind the hit video "Baby Shark" is hoping to expand its empire with films and merchandise while pursuing the next viral sensation. Its strategy aims to beat competitors in an increasingly crowded space for children’s attention. Image: Pinkfong

As many businesses around the world struggle, a Canadian disinfectant company is increasing production to keep up with demand during the novel coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Ron Kolumbus/WSJ

Covid-19 is commonly compared to the regular seasonal flu, but one has proven to be more dangerous than the other. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains why the coronavirus is treated more seriously than the flu. Photo: Zuma Press

Understanding how the body clears the new coronavirus is becoming more important as the U.S. begins to reopen. WSJ’s Daniela Hernandez explains how the body fights infection and why feeling better doesn’t equal being virus-free. Photo illustration: Laura Kammermann

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

Directed by Barbara Anastacio

Country's largest commercial banking entity State Bank of India (SBI) is now developing a low-cost model to compete with payments banks. "We are working out on a low-cost structure to compete with the payments banks for getting access to people ...

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 ...

Such banks can collect deposits (initially up to Rs 1 lakh per individual), do internet banking, facilitate money transfers, and sell insurance and mutual funds

So gold notched its biggest one-day drop in 30 years. What’s next? Despite the heavy losses, broken technical levels and waves of margin calls, the options market for the yellow metal is beaming with optimism.

The parlous state of Europe's refining business is no secret.

By Sara Germano and David Benoit The restaurant that Dan Loeb said Sotheby’s management wined and dined at to a bill that was in the “multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars,” was the famed Blue Hill, according to people familiar with the matter.