Delhi

New Delhi, Apr 19 (PTI) Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Sunday urged the government to transfer cash and distribute free food grains to the poor, saying only a heartless government will not do anything.

He said more and more people have run out of cash and are standing in queues for free cooked food.

Mumbai, Apr 19 (PTI) SpiceJet has decided to send employees earning more than Rs 50,000 per month on leave without pay on a rotational basis, sources said on Sunday amid flight services remaining suspended till May 3.

This arrangement would be in place for three months, they added.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) At least 26 Indian Navy personnel have tested positive for coronavirus at the Western Naval Command in Mumbai, in first case of a major outbreak of the deadly disease in the Indian armed forces.

All the infected sailors were serving at the INS Angre, a shore-based logistics and support establishment, and they are undergoing treatment at a Navy hospital, official sources said.

New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) A 44-year-old Delhi Police head constable tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Friday.

The head constable was posted at Bara Hindurao Hospital in north Delhi, they said.

He lives in Khajuri area and his family members have been asked to be in quarantine, the officials said.

Earlier, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Shrivastava approved a grant of Rs 1 lakh to any officer/staff who tests positive for COVID-19 while discharging his or her duty.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) Delhi police charged former JNU student Sharjeel Imam with sedition before a court here on Saturday, alleging his speech promoted enmity between people that led to riots in the Jamia Millia Islamia University area.

In its supplementary charge sheet, the police said serious riots had broken out in consequence to the protest march organised by Jamia students" against the amended citizenship law on December 15 last year.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) Opposition leader Sharad Yadav on Saturday alleged that migrant labourers were facing discrimination as they were not allowed to travel to their native places while the Uttar Pradesh government was allowed to bring back state students studying in Kota in Rajasthan.

Politics is being played even in imposing lockdown measures, he said.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 480 and the number of cases to 14,378 in the country on Saturday, according to the Union Health Ministry

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 11,906, as many as 1,991 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said

The total number of cases includes 76 foreign nationals

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.