"So far, 17 states and UTs have integrated and three more states Odisha, Mizoram and Nagaland are also getting prepared. Total 20 states/UTs will be ready for the launch of ration card portability from June 1," Paswan told reporters.

India has allowed discounting of prolonged stay period for determining the residency status in relief for NRIs.

Public Accounts Committee chairman Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury urged the Speaker to take an expeditious and positive decision on allowing meetings of parliamentary committees including PAC via videoconference given the importance of assessing the economic and social costs these sectors have suffered due to lockdown.

Chairing a meeting to assess the impact of COVID 19 on Assam Power Distribution Company Limited, Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited and Assam Electricity Grid Corporation Limited, Sonowal said that though the state has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, the endeavour of the government’s power companies has yielded into a power surplus.

By the time the third phase of the lockdown ends on May 17, the Indian industry would have lost two months’ output, the CII said, adding that Covid-19 has “crippled” the economy

Rajan says ‘monetisation’ is a good option in the short-term and within reasonable limits.

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.

Labour laws in India are part of the façade of democracy that middle-class India confuses for the real thing. In reality, nine out of ten of India’s 500 million workers are in the informal sector, which does not admit labour laws, minimum wages, social security and such other symbols of civilised existence even as figments of the imagination.

ET examines the labour reforms template of three states, which also seems to be part of efforts to lure companies looking to move out of China.

'Does it mean that till the COVID-19 fight is over, the governor should be non-functional, in sleep mode, and fiddling in the Raj Bhavan while the state is burning?'