The procurement of wheat and rice (second crop) during the ongoing Rabi season has picked up pace despite severe logistical constraints posed due to countrywide lockdown," the food ministry said in a statement.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget for 2020-21 had pegged gross borrowing in the new financial year at Rs 7.8 lakh crore, higher than Rs 7.1 lakh crore estimated for 2019-20.

Consumption of fuel, a proxy for oil demand, totalled 9.93 million tonnes - its lowest since 2007, government data showed on Saturday.

Under the PM-KISAN (Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) scheme, each farmer gets Rs 6,000 in a year in three equal installments directly in bank account.

Former chief minister of Karnataka and Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday asked the state government to demand a special economic package of at least Rs 50,000 crore from the centre to deal with the coronavirus crisis.

Nodal agencies will get in touch with the smartphone supply chain to have the app installed on all new smartphones.

The government, on Friday, issued a directive to ease restrictions on manufacturing and sale of handsets across the country as the lockdown was extended for two more weeks.

Services such as EnableX, Troop Messenger, VacYa and Say Namaste are just a few of the startups looking to cash in on the lucrative expansion opportunity.

The independent internet rights organisation has filed a petition to the Prime Minister’s Office, urging them to revise the compulsory Aarogya Setu order.

While mobile phones remained the most searched item, searches for the mid-premium segment witnessed the biggest surge within the category.

In its monthly report, Facebook said that it shut down the fake accounts and pages that were used to promote Iranian state propaganda in more than 15 countries.

The US state department accused China of colluding with Russia to manipulate social media platforms to spread fake news around coronavirus.

Muslim theologists in Sri Lanka have urged the government to reconsider its decision on cremating the Muslims who died due to the coronavirus, saying the revised rule goes against the Islamic tradition.

Then there are the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) which are not being able to access healthcare that is critical to their survival because of social distancing norms.

Sixteen workers were killed on Friday morning after they stopped for rest on the railway tracks in Aurangabad. They had walked 45 km from Jalna to Aurangabad, and were going towards Bhusawal, another 120 km, on foot in hopes of catching a train.

The government issued fresh orders as the lockdown in the state was extended upto May 29 to contain the coronavirus spread.

On learning about the sudden rush of people at the deputy collector's office near Gota bridge, police officials immediately reached the spot and persuaded the migrants, mostly from UP and Bihar, to disperse.

Officers have been directed to submit a detailed report within four weeks with details of the steps taken by the district authorities to provide food and shelter to poor people, especially migrants, during the lockdown.

The three hotels -- the Ginger, Vivek Vihar and two 5 star hotels, Leela Ambience and Park Plaza -- have been kept at the disposal of Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital which will oversee treatment of infected officials.

Ashif Sheikh, who runs a group that works for the rights of excluded communities, said one needs industry, investors, labour unions, civil society members and labour department officials to work together to solve the problem.

The high court bench issued notice to the Centre and Haryana government on a petition challenging the order of Sonipat authorities on restriction activities.

The court directed the state government and prison department to take appropriate steps. The bench noted that there were several inmates above the age of 60 and others who suffered from ailments.

The temperature at the styrene storage tank, where the vapour leak occurred, has come down, as well as the PPM (ambient air quality) level in RR Venkatapuram village.

The toll of 68 shared by the Delhi government in its health bulletin on Friday is based on data collected from 10 hospitals, including AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College.

A request was also made for tweaking benefits under ESI and PF. However, as both fall under the central government, the state authorities have reportedly expressed it inability to make any amendments to the norms.

Farmers had raised concerns about labour shortage resulting from migrant labourers returning to their homes in view of the Covid-19 crisis.

The government on Thursday froze inflation-linked allowance for its 1.1 crore employees and pensioners, a move states are likely to replicate, helping save a combined Rs 1.2 lakh crore that could be used to combat the coronavirus crisis.

Senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said the entire country is together in fighting the coronavirus but the Congress is busy "fighting" Modi and the government.

Reacting to the reports of faulty test kits, Tharoor said he read comments on social media over the issue stating that what can the Modi government do about it as other countries also had the same experience.

Kumar said the prime minister must remain sympathetic to the needs of states, just as they have by and large deferred to Central advisories.

The remarks of the Congress leaders came two days after the Central government decided to freeze payment of additional instalment of DA to all its employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners falling due from January 1, 2020.

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said the government should rethink on lockdown measures as the country cannot have the 'lockdown of people and lockout of the economy'.

BJP leaders Debasree Chaudhuri and another MP, Sukanta Majumdar, alleged that they were served with quarantine notices by the local administration so that they could not step outside to provide ration and other relief material to the masses.

The people of the state are paying a heavy price because of the poor response to the crisis by the Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP alliance government in the state, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly alleged.

The Congress leader demanded that 1 lakh tests should be done from the current 40,000 as the country has testing kits in stock.

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, Bankura MP Subhas Sarkar, along with other leaders and workers, held placards in hand during the sit-in at their respective residences from 11 am to 1 pm.

The Congress cited media reports about rapid test kits for Covid-19 being sold at around 150 per cent profits to the government and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fix responsibility for the same.

Mayawati said it would have been better if the governments made proper arrangements for the millions of people suffering due to the lockdown and sent them home.

Referring to a company engaged in supply of testing kits, Manish Tewari alleged that kits purchased at Rs 245 were being sold by the firm to ICMR at Rs 600 each while the same to Tamil Nadu government were sold at Rs 400 each.

The letter written by the Agra Mayor was also tweeted by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

In a tweet, Gandhi said, "In Parliament I asked a straight question that who are the top 50 bank thieves, the finance minister refused to answer, and now the RBI has given the list of Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, all BJP friends..."

The government has planned to distribute one crore packets of a Kadha (herbal decoction) which it claims boosts immunity and helps the body keep coronavirus infection away.

Fadnavis, leader of the opposition in the Assembly and former chief minister, was accompanied by Pravin Darekar, leader of opposition in the council, senior leaders Ashish Shelar and Vinod Tawde, as well as Mumbai party unit chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha.

A senior Delhi government functionary rubbished the BJP'S claim saying all sanitation staff working in the fight against coronavirus epidemic are covered under the scheme.

The move comes a day after the High Court had stayed an order of the Left government for salary cut of its employees, observing that it lacked legal backing.

His remarks came after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that wilful defaulters were beneficiaries of 'phone banking' under the UPA regime and the Modi government is chasing them to recover the dues.

The BJP in a statement said the former diplomats, during their talks with Nadda, hailed India's move to help other countries in this time of coronavirus crisis.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told BJP party workers that the committees would be formed at every panchayat level in the rural areas and ward level in the urban areas.

The Congress party slammed the Khattar government's move to 'burden people' in the time of a crisis.