On February 20, 2020, Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam who holds the finance portfolio, announced that an expert committee would be constituted to improve the tax: GSDP ratio of Tamil Nadu.

'Does it mean that till the COVID-19 fight is over, the governor should be non-functional, in sleep mode, and fiddling in the Raj Bhavan while the state is burning?'

Social stigma and low testing are the key reasons for the high mortality rate among COVID-19 patients in West Bengal, where the disease, like elsewhere in the country, is still an urban phenomenon, experts say. The state's Trinamool Congress government has been drawing consistent criticism from the Centre and opposition parties over the way it has tackled the pandemic, and has been accused of under-reporting data about the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Chilling details emerged about the tragedy involving a group of migrant workers who were on their way to native places in Madhya Pradesh on foot from Maharashtra and had taken a break to rest on rail tracks out of sheer fatigue.

"The mortal remains of the 16 migrant labourers, who died after they were run over by a freight train near Aurangabad yesterday, were sent to Madhya Pradesh on a special train -- carrying migrant labourers to the state -- on Friday night," said an official.

Shah said not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is "injustice" to the migrant workers from the state.

West Bengal Government announced on Saturday that 10 trains carrying migrant workers will enter the state from Karnataka Punjab, Tamil Naud and Kerala.