The cars are to be launched around the festive season

The state was without a cabinet for the last two months owing to the COVID-19 pandemic after Chouhan was sworn in as CM on March 23

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Sonowal to take oath in Assam on Sunday, Mamata in West Bengal on May 27

Kerala's ministers had least average assets and the state also had least number of crorepati ministers

With the Congress and Samajwadi Party attacking the Uttar Pradesh government for exempting industries in the state from some labour laws for the next three years, Labour Minister Swami Prasad Maurya on Friday accused the opposition of showing their anti-workers face and shedding crocodile for them. Those who are shedding crocodile tears for workers perhaps do not know that this ordinance will not only pave way for bringing investments but would also open employment opportunities at a time when large number of migrant labourers are returning home and have to be provided jobs in the state, Swami Prasad Maurya said. The state Cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earlier this week had given its nod to 'Uttar Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020' to exempt factories, business establishments and industries from the purview of all, except three labour laws and one provision of another law for three years. Earlier in the day, Congress general ..

Coronavirus infected patients developing severe illness or having compromised immunity will have to test negative through RT-PCR test before being discharged by a hospital, the Union health ministry on Friday said in its revised discharge policy for COVID-19 cases. Moderate cases of COVID-19 and pre-symptomatic, mild and very mild cases need not undergo tests before being discharged after resolution of symptoms. According to the rules till now, a patient was considered fit to be discharged if he or she tested negative on day 14 and then again in a span of 24 hours. "The revised discharge policy is aligned with the guidelines on the 3 tier COVID facilities and the categorisation of patients based on clinical severity," the ministry said. The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,981 and the number of cases climbed to 59,662 on Saturday, registering an increase of 95 deaths and 3,320 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the Union health ministry. The discharge criteria for severe ...

Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat on Saturday expressed concern over the stand taken by several states to not take in migrant workers who were stranded in Maharashtra due to the COVID-19 lockdown. In a statement, Thorat, who is also the state Congress president, alleged that arbitrary decisions taken by many states regarding migrant workers had worsened the situation. The Maharashtra government was making every possible attempt to send stranded migrants back to their hometowns, but several states were not willing to take in their own citizens, the minister claimed. Thorat demanded that the Centre intervene in the matter and give clear guidelines to all states before the situation worsens. There were nearly 10 lakh migrants in Maharashtra who wished to return to their home states and so far, 32 trains had been operated from the state, he said. Thorat further claimed that there were several workers from West Bengal and Odisha who wanted to return to their ...

: The 10th standard public examination will be conducted in Tamil Nadu after the COVID- 19 attack wanes and the resultant lockdown goes, state education Minister K Sengottaiyan said on Saturday. A decision on the exam would be taken based on the recommendations of a high-level education committee and getting concurrence from health officials, he said at Savakkatupalayam village near Gobichettipalayam where he distributed welfare schemes to 450 handloom weavers. The Minister said candidates appearing for the board exams would be seated in line with social distancing norms stem the spread of coronavirus. He said schools for the coming academic year would be re-opened only after the coronavirus attack blows over. He further said 2,000 mathematics teachers would be roped in to provide online training to students. Similarly, students keen on accountancy would be given online classes, he said. Replying to a query, the Minister said a decision on increasing the retirement age for

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Saturday expressed gratitude to policemen in the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak by keeping the state police logo as the display picture or DP of his social media accounts. He asked people to do so in large numbers to encourage the men in khakhi who have been working round the clock, with several of them having got infected, and six losing their lives. In a Facebook post, Deshmukh said, "There is a need to highlight that the brothers in my police family are not alone. The people care for the police as much I do as home minister." "I will keep the logo of Maharashtra Police as the DP of all my social media accounts like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram in the honour of our brave police. You too should use the logo (as the DP) to participate in big numbers to honour the police brothers," he added.

Bihar Information and Public Relations Minister Niraj Kumar on Saturday hit back at the Congress for demanding his resignation due to the expiry of his MLC tenure, asserting he is holding his ministerial post as per constitutional provisions. Congress national spokesperson and Bihar MLC Prem Chandra Mishra Mishra had on Friday termed as "unethical and against constitutional norms" the continuance of Bihar ministers Niraj Kumar and Ashok Choudhary in their posts despite the expiry of their tenures in the legislative council earlier this week. Both the JD(U) leaders were sworn-in as ministers a year ago, during a Cabinet expansion by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar shortly after the NDA's stupendous victory in the Lok Sabha elections. They are among 17 members of the 75-strong legislative council whose tenure ended on Wednesday. The Election Commission is yet to announce a poll schedule for the Upper House. Building Construction Minister Ashok Choudhary and IPRD Minister ...

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 .

Four policemen, including an assistant sub inspector, were injured when a group of men attacked them in Pratapgarh district of Rajasthan on Friday night. The incident occurred in Chhoti Sadri area near the house of the state Cooperative Minister Udai Lal Anjana with the BJP alleging that Anjana too slapped a policeman, a charge denied by the minister. A former up-sarpanch Kanhaiya Lal had a spat with some youths in Kesunda village over some petty issue. After some time, the youths caught Kanhaiya Lal and thrashed him, police said. On information, a team of four policemen, led by ASI Shishupal Singh, rushed to the spot where the members from Kanhaiya Lal hit them. The policemen got injured. The ASI has received critical injuries, Chhoti Sadri police station's SHO Ravindra Pratap Singh said. Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria wrote a letter to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday alleging that the minister, Udai Lal Anjana slapped a police constable after which the mob present .

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 ...

All the state universities in West Bengal will implement the academic calendar in their respective institutions within a month after the lockdown is lifted, Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said on Saturday. Chatterjee, who earlier in the day held a videoconference with vice-chancellors of all the state universities, told reporters at an online press conference that the VCs have decided on how to conduct the classes and the final semester examinations. "The academic calendar, including examinations, will be put into effect within a month after the lockdown is lifted," he said. Chatterjee said the institutions have also received the University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines in this regard and the issue came up in the meeting held during the day. He had earlier said that the UGC guidelines reflect the recommendations made by the state government on issues such as conducting terminal examinations in the post-lockdown period. "The faculty members of the universities .

Sudhirendar Sharma notes the reversal of positions on the mega-project is tied to political changes rather than environmental or social assessments.

On 7 June, the Kerala government-constituted K John Mathew Commission greenlighted mineral sand mining on a narrow strip of beach and the adjacent sea basin in Alapuzha district. M Suchitra and P N Venugopal note that the report has irked the local communities as well as environmentalists.

Kerala’s Left-dominated 141-member legislative assembly adopted a resolution on 11 July urging New Delhi to withdraw the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification of 2006. The resolution says the notification is “against the interest of Kerala State, nature, environment and people.” M Suchitra reports.

Gold mining wreaks havoc on the environment and humans alike, but some precautionary measures and fair practices can help minimize the damage. Mahazareen Dastur concludes this two-part series.