Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) With the Centre allowing reopening of neighbourhood and standalone shops, traders on Saturday sought more clarity for easier implementation of the order and urged states to issue necessary guidelines, without which shop owners would not be able to resume work.

The Retailers Association of India (RAI) said the government's order to allow reopening of shops is open to interpretation as terms like "market complexes" are not easily understood.

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) The lockdown in Delhi will not be relaxed beyond what the Union home ministry has suggested in its guidelines, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday and added that his government's focus is on bringing down COVID-19 infections in the city.

Addressing an online media briefing, the chief minister said, "We are going through difficult times. We will have to continue our efforts to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections in Delhi."

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has sought a report from authorities on steps taken for preventing the spread of COVID-19 in jails here.

Justice Brijesh Sethi issued the direction while hearing the interim bail plea of an accused in a murder case who cited potential risk of COVID-19 infection to seek the relief.

"Let a report be called from the concerned Jail Superintendent as to what steps have been taken to protect the prisoners from COVID-19 pandemic like social distancing etc. in jail.

New Delhi, Apr 25 (PTI) The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 775 and the number of cases climbed to 24,506 in the country on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 18,668 while 5,062 people were cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said

The total number of cases include 77 foreign nationals

New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has asked the Centre and the Delhi government to work in tandem to ensure that pregnant women and their family members in coronavirus hotspots face no barriers during the lockdown.

A bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad, which conducted the hearing through video conferencing, directed the Delhi government to ensure that the helpline number proposed to be set up within two days for assisting senior citizens during the pandemic are also made available for pregnant women.

New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) Industries cannot be forced to pay wages to their employees during the coronavirus-induced lockdown, BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, who chairs the parliamentary panel on labour, said on Monday.

Amid the countrywide lockdown to check the spread of the novel coronavirus, the parliamentary panel on labour on Thursday submitted its report on the Industrial Relations Code, 2019, to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla via online.

New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) It has been a month. Of life slowing to a crawl, of going back to the basics, of recalibrating equations with family, friends and colleagues and waking up, as if from a dream, to the vast inequalities and commonalities that underlie Indian society.

New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) India is studying the executive order signed by US President Donald Trump to temporarily halt immigration for 60 days, government sources said on Thursday, noting that people-to-people contact has been the "bedrock" of strategic ties between the two countries.

On Wednesday, the US President signed the order temporarily stopping foreigners from getting green cards and curbing immigration with an aim to protecting the jobs of Americans in an economy battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi, Apr 24 (PTI) The Supreme Court Friday granted protection against any coercive steps for three weeks to Republic TV editor-in-chief Arnab Goswami in connection with some FIRs lodged against him in various states for alleged defamatory statements made during the news shows on recent Palghar mob-lynching of three persons including two saints in Maharashtra.

New Delhi, Apr 23 (PTI) Fitch Ratings on Thursday slashed India's economic growth projections to 0.8 per cent in the current 2020-21 fiscal saying an unparalleled global recession was underway due to disruptions caused by the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and resultant lockdowns.

In its Global Economic Outlook, Fitch Ratings said India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will slip to 0.8 per cent for the year April 2020 to March 2021 (FY21) as compared to an estimated 4.9 per cent growth in the previous fiscal.