Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) A plea has been moved in the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his administration from classifying some COVID-19 cases as "Tablighi Jamaat" or "Masjid Markaz", alleging it amounts to religious profiling.

In Delhi, coronavirus has infected around 1,640 and claimed 38 lives.

The petition by a lawyer on Thursday alleged that after the Tablighi event, Kejriwal via his tweets "deliberately" classified several affected cases under a separate caption -- "Masjid Markaz".

Mumbai, Apr 17 (PTI) The aviation industry may take between six months to two years to recover from the severe blow dealt by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey carried out by global consultancy ICF.

The survey, conducted among senior and mid-level executives from across the world between late March and early April, also revealed that there may be increased scrutiny placed on the health and sanitary conditions of individual countries that could impact air service and passenger demand.

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) The RBI measures will revive credit flow by commercial banks and targeted long-term repo operation (LTRO) would further activate the corporate bond market and also provide much needed liquidity to NBFCs, Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar said on Friday.

The RBI on Friday further eased bad-loan rules, froze dividend payment by lenders and pushed banks to lend more by cutting the reverse repo rate by 25 basis points, as it unveiled a second set of measures to support the economy hit hard by coronavirus-led slowdown.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) The BCCI on Thursday suspended the 2020 Indian Premier League "till further notice" in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than 400 lives and affected over 12,000 in the country.

The PTI reported on April 14 that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) had intimated the eight franchisees along with other stakeholders about the indefinite postponement of the tournament's 13th edition but there was no official word from the parent cricketing body.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) The Supreme Court took note of the Centre's submission on Wednesday that it was taking steps to implement relief measures to help the poor during the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and disposed of a PIL seeking relief such as financial help and food for them.

A bench headed by Justice N V Ramana recorded the statement of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who explained the steps taken by the centre to address the concerns raised in the petition.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) India needs to "significantly ramp up" the number of tests done across the country to trace COVID-19 infection if the virus is to be contained in time, experts said.

The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 414 and the number of cases to 12,380 in the country on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) India's exports plunged by a record 34.57 per cent in March due to a steep decline in shipments of leather, gems and jewellery and petroleum products, dragging the total exports in 2019-20 down to USD 314.31 billion, official data showed on Wednesday.

Merchandise exports in March stood at USD 21.41 billion, down by 34,57 per cent compared to USD 32.72 billion in the same month last year.

Kolkata, Apr 16 (PTI) The 40-day country-wide lockdown may prevent the spread of coronavirus, but the measure would bring a "financial epidemic" on five crore families of hawkers and those who supply them with products, an official of the national hawkers' body said.

The lockdown was imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 25 to break the chain of coronavirus transmission and it was scheduled to be lifted on April 15.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Six Indian companies are working on a vaccine for COVID-19, joining global efforts to find a quick preventive for the deadly infection spreading rapidly across the world, says a top Indian scientist.

Nearly 70 vaccine candidates' are being tested and at least three have moved to the human clinical trial stage, but a vaccine for the novel coronavirus is unlikely to be ready for mass use before 2021.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday urged the government to organise flights to bring back Indian workers stuck in the Middle East and desperate to return.

He said the workers are in deep distress there due to shutting of businesses in the Middle East due to the COVID-19 pandemic.