Doctors at the government-run ESIC Hospital here committed a "mistake" by not testing samples of a 16-year-old girl, who later died of Covid-19, Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Saturday. The girl breathed her last on Thursday at the B Barooah Cancer Institute. Her samples, which were taken after her death, tested positive for coronavirus infection/ "The girl first went to ESIC Hospital with all symptoms like fever and pain in legs. It was a mistake by doctors that her samples were not sent for testing... It is a matter of concern," Sarma told reporters here. Talking about the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH), which was closed for new patients after a doctor at the facility tested positive on Thursday, he said a total of 529 samples have been collected from doctors, nurses, professors and superintendent of the institute for testing "Out of those, reports of 357 samples came out negative and one was positive. Results of the rest of the samples are awaited," .

The West Bengal government has asked the heads of all hospitals to ensure that immunisation programmes against vaccine-preventable diseases continue in full steam amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Immunisation should go on during COVID-19 outbreak to protect children and pregnant women from 'vaccine-preventable diseases' (VPD), the health and family welfare department said in a notification. It was addressed to the superintendents of all medical colleges and hospitals and the chief medical officer of health of all districts. Copy of the notification issued on May 6 was made available on Saturday.

The first batch of 326 Indian nationals stranded in the UK due to the coronavirus-linked global travel restrictions arrived here from London early on Sunday morning. The special evacuation flight AI 130, a Boeing 777 plane which departed from London on Saturday, landed at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) at around 1.30 AM with 326 Indians, according to a source. "1st flight 2 #Mumbai landed- crew interaction less with the passengers. Protective kit was given 2 all-along with snack n meal kept on the seat beforehand. Next #quarantine. Watch the space," tweeted a passenger onboard the flight. "Reached Mumbai safely from UK. Thank you so much to @airindiain @HCI_London, @NISAU_UK, @MEAIndia," another person said in a tweet. The airport authorities, in a statement on Saturday, said that the arriving passengers with symptoms will be moved to isolation centres. Asymptomatic passengers residing in Mumbai will be moved to quarantine facilities like hotels, ..

Security forces have launched a search operation in a forest area near the International Border in Samba district after three grenades and 54 rounds of AK ammunition were recovered from the area, police said on Sunday. The explosives and ammunition were noticed by some villagers in the forest area near Goran village in Kandi belt on Saturday following which the police were informed, a senior official said. He said a joint search operation was launched following the recovery as the area used to be an old route for infiltration from across the border. Security forces had conducted massive combing operations all along the IB in Jammu, Kathua and Samba districts recently. However, nothing was found during these operations.

A fire broke out in a cardboard factory in outer Delhi's Bawana on Sunday morning, Delhi Fire Service officials said. However, no one is trapped or injured in the incident, they said. A call about the blaze was received around 7.25 am, following which 15 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire fighting operations are underway, the officials said.

At least five migrant labourers were killed and 13 others injured when a truck in which they were travelling overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghpur district, a police official said on Sunday. The accident took place near Patha village on Saturday night whennearly 20 migrant labourers were going in the truck to Jhansi and Etah in Uttar Pradesh from Hyderabad, Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Tiwari said. Five labourers were killed and 13 others were injured after the mangoes-laden vehicle overturned, he said. The injured persons were admitted to the district hospital for treatment, he added.

The Bombay High Court has directed the Maharashtra government to issue a clear directive to the state police to ensure ambulances or other vehicles ferrying pets and sick animals to and from veterinary clinics are not stopped during the lockdown. Justice S C Gupte in an order on Friday said the police administration must not obstruct or stop such vehicles. He also directed the state to clarify its stand on permitting residents across the state take their dogs out for a walk during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown period. The court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a Pune resident seeking permission to take her pet dogs outside for their daily walks. The PIL, filed through advocate Harshwardhan Bhende, claimed several police stations under the jurisdiction of Pune Police had issued "arbitrary directions" to housing societies to stop residents from taking their dogs outside for walks. Advocate Bhende also told the high court that several ambulances and

INS Jalashwa carrying 698 repatriated Indian citizens from the Maldives arrived in Kochi harbour on Sunday morning, completing the Indian Navy's first massive evacuation exercise from foreign soil during the COVID-19 lockdown, official sources said. The passengers would disembark from the cruise terminal of Cochin Port Trust, they said. Inspector General of Police Vijay Sakhare said all arrangements are in place to facilitate the safe stay of those repatriated, comprising 440 Keralites and people from other parts of the country. Four passengers are from Lakshwadeep. Besides these, the other passengers are from Tamil Nadu (187), Telganana (9), Andhra Pradesh (8), Karnataka (8), Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan (3 each) and Goa (1), Assam (1). There are seven passengers each from Uttarakhand and West Bengal, Delhi (4), Puducherry (3), while there are two passengers each from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand, the sources said.

In the wake of migrant workers sleeping on railway lines being crushed to death by a goods train in Maharashtra, East Coast Railway (ECoR) has asked people to refrain from walking on the tracks as several special trains are running during the lockdown. Although passenger trains have been suspended due to COVID-19 outbreak, goods trains and parcel express trains are continuously running on all the railway tracks to maintain supply of essential commodities across the country, a railway official said. Recently Shramik Special trains have also been started and many such trains are running in ECoR jurisdiction also, he said. "Therefore, walking on the tracks or on railway lines is extremely dangerous and strictly prohibited," he said, adding that ECoR is doing awareness campaign through every medium to educate people not to walk or pass train tracks, instead they should use limited height subways and manned level crossings only. Trackmen, bridge repair staff, station ...

Troops of India and China were involved in a fierce face-off and many of them sustained minor injuries in the clash near Naku La in the Sikkim sector along the Sino-Indo border on Saturday, official sources said. The troops disengaged after dialogue at the local level, they said. "Troops resolve such issues mutually as per established protocols. Such an incident occurred after a long time," said a source.

Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir carried out nearly 1,000 surprise inspections and lifted 62 samples of different food items for screening since the beginning of this month, an official spokesperson said on Sunday. The special drive by the Food Safety Wing of Food and Drugs Administration Department was necessitated amidst growing concern that some unscrupulous traders can take advantage of the lockdown imposed by the government due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he said. "During the special drive, commenced on May 1, the enforcement staff carried out 996 inspections, lifted 62 samples of different food items like mustard oil, til oil, spices, milk and dates, and destroyed food items, which included vegetables, fruits, milk amounting to Rs 25,000," the spokesperson said. He said four Food Business Operators (FBOs) were also fined for violating the Food Safety and Standards(FSS) Act. The drive also led to seizure of560 kg ghee and 91 kg of spices after lifting statutory samples that have ...

Sitting on a liquor stockpile of around Rs 3,000 crore, restaurants and hotels across the country are asking state governments to allow them to sell the stock lying with them due to the coronavirus lockdown. "We are truly living in unprecedented times where on one hand we are sitting with expensive liquor inventory and on the other hand, we are cash starved," National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI)PresidentAnurag Katriar said. The industry sees a ray of hope as many states have permitted sales of retail alcohol. "We request every state government to allow us an opportunity to sell our liquor stocks, preferably through home delivery model. "This will help us deplete our stocks, raise some money to take care of urgent people needs and will still be compliant to social distancing norms. We understand that this may require some amendments to the law but I am sure it can be carried out under the current extraordinary circumstances," Katriar said. In similar vein, The Beer Cafe ...

The Yenepoya medical college hospital at Deralakatte here has become the first private hospital in Dakshina Kannada district to get coronavirus (COVID-19) testing approval. The laboratory at the hospital has received the nod from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct tests for COVID-19, a release here said. Dakshina Kannada will now have two centres for coronavirus tests, the first one being the district Wenlock hospital, the designated hospital for Covid-19. ICMR has approved 33 testing centres in the state of which 21 are government hospitals and 12 are private hospitals.

A special train carrying 1,140 migrant workers stranded here in the lockdown has left Mangaluru railway station for Jharkhand. Dakshina Kannada MP Nalin Kumar Kateel and Vedavyas Kamath, MLA, were present at the railway station on Saturday night when the train left. Kamath said the workers who had registered on the state governments Seva Sindhu portal were brought to the railway station in Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses. A health check-up was carried out before they boarded the train. The district administration also provided food packets and water to the migrants at the station. Three more trains will leave from Mangaluru for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand soon, he said. Meanwhile, in a statement, Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu P Rupesh said train services are being arranged for migrant workers who have registered their names on the Seva Sindhu portal. The workers will be informed when trains are arranged to their destinations and they .

Superstar Rajinikanth on Sunday warned the ruling AIADMK against reopening state-run liquor outlets in Tamil Nadu, saying if it was done, it should not harbour "dreams" of coming to power again, apparently in next year's Assembly elections. In a tweet, he also asked the government to work out alternate modes of revenue generation. His remarks came a day after Tamil Nadu moved the Supreme Court, seeking a stay against a Madras High Court order directing closure of liquor shops in the state. The AIADMK cannot have "dreams of coming to power again if the government re-opens TASMAC shops at this juncture," the veteran said in the tweet. "Please #Look out for better ways of filling the coffers," he added. The Tamil Nadu government had on Saturday moved the apex court challenging the High Court order for closure of TASMAC (Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation) liquor outlets on grounds of violations of COVID-19 guidelines, arguing that it would lead to "grave losses" in ...

Azaan is an integral part of the faith, not the gadget, says veteran writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar, asking that the Islamic call to prayer on loudspeakers should be stopped as it causes "discomfort" to others. In a tweet on Saturday, Akhtar wondered why the practice was 'halaal' (allowed) when it was, for nearly half a century in the country, considered 'haraam' or forbidden. "In India for almost 50 years Azaan on the loud speak was Haraam. Then it became Halaal and so halaal that there is no end to it, but there should be an end to it. Azaan is fine but loud speaker does cause of discomfort for others. I hope that atleast this time they will do it themselves (sic)," Akhtar tweeted. When a user asked his opinion on loudspeakers being used in temples, the 75-year-old writer said everyday use of speakers is a cause of concern. "Whether it's a temple or a mosque, if you're using loudspeakers during a festival, it's fine. But it shouldn't be used everyday in either temples or mosques. "For

In a major administrative reshuffle amid the lockdown, the Madhya Pradesh government has transferred 50 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, including some additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and a former chief secretary. This is the first major bureaucratic rejig by the BJP-led state government since Shivraj Singh Chouhan became chief minister in March this year. As per the order issued on Saturday night, former chief secretary Gopal Reddy has been posted as chairman of the revenue board at Gwalior, I C P Keshari as vice chairman of the Narmada Valley Development Authority, Vinod Kumar as additional chief secretary (ACS) of the general administration department and J N Kansotia as ACS of the animal husbandry department, official sources said. Besides, Anupam Rajan is posted as principal secretary of the public relations and higher education departments. The government has removed P Narhari as commissioner of the public relations department and ...

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir doesn't see major changes in the way cricket is played in the post COVID-19 scenario besides the ban on using saliva on the ball. The International Cricket Council is considering legalisation of the usage of artificial substances to shine the ball instead of saliva. "I don't think a lot of rules and regulations will be changed, you can probably have an alternate for the usage of saliva apart from that I don't think so many changes will happen," Gambhir told Star Sports. "Players and everyone else need to live with this virus; probably they have to get used to it that there is a virus and that it will be around. Players might end up catching it, and you got to live with it." Though social distancing is possible in cricket to a certain extent, other sports will find it tougher when sporting action resumes, said the southpaw. "Social distancing and other rules may not be easy for any sport to maintain. You can still manage to do it with cricket, but ...

Only 200 of the 403 MLAs will be able to sit inside the Uttar Pradesh Assembly if social distancing norms are implemented in the House as there are not enough seats, Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit said. However, Dixit is "optimistic" and feels that by the time the next sitting of the Legislative Assembly is convened the situation will improve. "At present, the House is not in session. The Monsoon Session of the UP Legislative Assembly should be held some time in August and I am optimistic that by then the situation would have changed," the speaker told PTI in an interview. When asked to elaborate, Dixit said, "If we adhere to social distancing and leave one seat vacant, we will not have enough seats. There are 403 MLAs. Already there are not enough seats for everyone." "There is a shortage of 10-12 seats. The work goes on as (generally) 10-12 (members) are absent. In these circumstances, if one seat is left vacant then not more than 200 MLAs will be able to sit," he said. On being asked

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a review meeting with CEOs of public sector banks (PSBs) on Monday to discuss various issues, including credit offtake, as part of efforts to prop up the economy hit by the COVID-19 crisis. The meeting, to be held via video-conferencing, will also take stock of interest rate transmission to borrowers by banks and progress on moratorium on loan repayments, sources said. The RBI had on March 27 slashed the benchmark interest rate by a massive 75 basis points and also announced a three-month moratorium to be given by banks to provide relief to borrowers whose income has been hit due to the lockdown. Earlier this month, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das held a meeting with heads of both public and private sector banks to take stock of the economic situation and review implementation of various measures announced by the central bank. The deployment of excessive funds by banks under the reverse repo route may also come up for discussion on Monday, ...

Uttarkashi on Sunday reported its first COVID-19 case, raising Uttarakhand's coronavirus tally to 68. Uttarkashi district falls in the green zone.The red, orange and green zone classification is based on the number of coronavirus cases, doubling rate of coronavirus cases, and the extent of testing and surveillance The man, who tested positive, hails from Dhanaripatti village in Dunda block and had returned recently from Surat in Gujarat, Chief Medical Officer DP Joshi said. Three persons who came along with him in separate two wheelers from Gujarat have been kept in isolation, he said, adding contact tracing is underway. The 32-year-old man's swab sample was tested at AIIMS, Rishikesh, Joshi said.

The coronavirus lockdown has brought a sea change in the buying behaviour of many Indians, such as purchasing vegetables and other consumables without asking for prices, far from the old habit of asking 'dhaniya' or 'mirchi' free from vendors, according to a survey by Enormous Brands. The web-based survey, conducted between March 30 and April 22, took feedback from 3,737 respondents in cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad. It found that there has also been a sharp increase in adoption of digital technology by older people to join the e-commerce bandwagon for ordering items like milk, grocery and home essentials and paying through wallets and UPI. The study also found that COVID19 has helped in forming an opinion for pushing the 'Make in India' agenda, with 42 per cent believing that "there is an active and deliberate attempt by China to spread COVID across the world for economic gains" which has led to a strong anti-China sentiment. "The ...

Several NGOs working in the disability sector are facing severe financial crunch as most of the funds and donations they would earlier get has been diverted towards tackling the COVID-19 crisis. Prashant Verma, general secretary, National Association for the Blind, says he could just pay 65 per cent salary to his employees in the last two months due to financial crunch and if no fresh donations are made he does not have any money to pay his 120 staff members this month. "We feel as if we are at the end of the line," he told PTI. Verma said his organisation used to get grants from many companies under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and even from individuals, especially during March as it was the end of the financial year. "But this year we didn't get any money. Some of the companies, which even committed to us, are saying that this time they have to think about their own survival. Many individuals (who earlier donated) don't have money to support us. A lot of the money is ...

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said 75 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the city are asymptomatic or with mild symptoms. The chief minister said the government has also issued an order for requisition of ambulances of private hospitals, adding that the decision has been taken in the wake of shortage of state-run ambulances. "They (private ambulances) will have to be pressed into service when the government requires their service," Kejriwal said while addressing an online media briefing. The government has made arrangements for treatment of those at their homes with mild COVID-19 symptoms in accordance with the Centre's guidelines. "Out of 6,923 COVID-19 patients, only 1,476 are admitted at hospitals, rest getting treatment at their homes and COVID-19 centres," Kejriwal added.

An Air India flight landed here from London at 1.30 am on Sunday carrying 239 Indians from the UK who were stranded there due to suspension of commercial passenger air services and the subsequent lockdown, an official statement said. In addition to this, two more repatriation flights -- one each from Singapore and Manila ( Philippines) -- are expected to arrive in Mumbai on Sunday, it said. While the flight from Singapore (AI 343) will be carrying 243 passengers, the Manila-Mumbai flight (AI 387) would bring back 241 Indian nationals from the South East Asian country, as per the statement. "1st flight 2 #Mumbai landed- crew interaction less with the passengers. Protective kit was given 2 all-along with snack n meal kept on the seat beforehand. Next #quarantine. Watch the space," tweeted a passenger on the flight. "Reached Mumbai safely from UK. Thank you so much to @airindiain @HCI_London, @NISAU_UK, @MEAIndia," another passenger tweeted. The Mumbai airport authorities, in a statement

Tour the five luxury homes featured in our Listing of the Day series this week

The dimensions of the open, continuous and unchecked textbooks publishing rackets have recently come to light following the defeat of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government in the general election held last year. Srinidhi Raghavendra reports.

A number of new NCERT textbooks for class I to class XII have been designed to encourage children to question social prejudices, discrimination and inequalities. This is a conscious reversal of the earlier trend where textbooks reinforced prevailing stereotypes, notes Deepti Priya Mehrotra.

Since the introduction of the central government's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme, enrolment numbers in schools have gone up. But how reliable and meaningful are the enrolment figures? Deepa A uncovers major indications of things having gone wrong in SSA's quest for targets.

Women domestic workers and children narrated horrific stories of violence and abuse at a recent public hearing in New Delhi, co-organized by the National Commission for Women (NCW). Organizers aimed to raise public awareness. Teresa Barat reports.

The recently announced 'cradle scheme' is the central government's solution to stem the practice of female foeticide. The idea appears to be to encourage parents to leave their girl child in the care of the government instead of killing her. Swapna Majumdar finds out if it will work.

In 2005, the Education department of Tripura decided to give a push to Kok-Borok as a medium of instruction at the Junior Basic level to help tribal students learn in their mother tongue. Ratna Bharali Talukdar reports on the challenges as well as the gains from a strong focus on education in recent years in the state.

Now that the early days of the UPA government are behind us, we must begin to judge the administration not by its responsiveness to advocacy alone. Even when governments listen, deeper gaps in the policy arena can thwart progress, and the challenge is to overcome these as well. The India Together editorial.

A number of researchers in economics have started to look closely at political reservations. In one recent instance, Professor Rohini Pande of Yale University has found that reservations in state legislatures do increase influence in policy-making for scheduled castes and tribes. Tarun Jain reports.

Sometimes, caste matters only if one expects it to matter. New research suggests that affirmative policies based on caste identity may themselves be the obstacle to reform, rather than tools for achieving it. Tarun Jain reports on a study in UP that appears to confirm this thesis.

A new child-led survey has documented the types of violence children in Maharashtra are exposed to. Alka Gadgil reports the important findings from the survey.

The Centre for Women's Development Studies (CWDS) has developed long-overdue indicators to assess gender sensitivity in governance.

In the workplaces of the times - the call centres of global corporations - Indian expertise is rewarding, but also has significant downsides, says Geeta Seshu.
Part II : Stress in the sunshine sector

Geeta Seshu recalls the women of 2003, whose lives offered hope for improved rights tomorrow, and also reminded us of the failures we live with today.

Activists within the Muslim community are demanding reforms to tackle questions of personal law such as dowry, divorce and polygamy. Ashima Kaul reports.

A pan-India survey conducted recently by the Bangalore-based Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) has brought an alarming new phenomenon of premature menopause amongst Indian women to light. Neeta Lal has more.

How have SHGs empowered Indian women? What does the Global Gender-Gap Report 2006 say about Indian women? These questions and many more were addressed a recent international conference at Bangalore. Shoma Chatterji has more.

Things are looking up says a beaming Usha Chaumar, 33, formerly a manual scavenger. "We make pickles, vermicelli and 'papad' (spicy savouries) at home, too, which gets us an additional income of around Rs 2,000 per month." Renu Rakesh has more.

The Census thinks that prostitutes are not workers, not because they don't work, but because of traditional views that what they do simply should not be counted as work, writes Shoma Chatterji.

The government's move to regulate the retail sale of acid is a welcome one, but for the many hundreds who have been prey to such heinous acts, life continues to be a daily struggle against physical and social odds. Priyanka Nadgir talks to one such survivor.

At a time when the position of women in India and their struggles in society are at the centre of public attention, it seems apt to invoke the legacy of one who was truly the pioneer of women's studies and activism in the country. Shoma A Chatterji pays tribute to Vina Mazumdar.

Widows in India have lived on the margins of society for decades but the intervention of NGO Sulabh International, led by Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, has brought new hope and colour in their lives. Ramesh Menon reports on one of the first celebrations in their new-found lives.

Manjari Singh reports on the opening of the Lucknow branch of Sheroes Hangout, a café run and managed by acid attack survivors under the guidance of the humanitarian organisation “Stop Acid Attacks”

A glimpse into the lives of women waste-pickers in Pune by Suchismita Pai.

Women are making a mark in a profession almost entirely dominated by men. Shoma Chatterji talks to the women idol makers of Kumartuli to find out about their struggle and success.