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The Narendra Modi Government completes its first year of second term on May 30 and at the same time, the Prime Minister is saddled with a decision on to extend or not to extend the present lockdown of the nation which began on March 25 this year The lockdown 4 expires its term on May 31. The first lockdown decision was unilateral as Prime Minister announced his decision only four hours before the beginning of the lockdown thereby plunging the nation in an unprecedented crisis as all the industrial and construction activities stopped leading to extreme plight of the million of migrant labour throughout India.

India is all set to change its COVID-19 response strategy. Lockdown phase-5 will be applicable only to the places where social distancing cannot be maintained, such as schools, colleges, cinema halls, religious places or events, and very busy market places. All the modes of public transports may be allowed with certain conditions. All other economic activities will be allowed except in the COVID-19 hotspots, where containment measures will be more stringent, in view of the expressed opinions of experts who expect COVID-19 most likely to peak up around beginning of July 2020 when cases of infections may rise to over 600,000 with around 18000 deaths.

As economists we frequently have to encounter this question, “How long will it take for the economy to crawl back to normalcy?” As India nears the end of Lockdown 4.0, the popular mandate is not another round of lockdown. The decision to enforce a nation-wide lockdown must be viewed against the backdrop of the abysmal state of the country’s health infrastructure. According to the latest data available, India has 0.9 hospital beds and 0.7 doctors for every 1000 people, against the WHO recommendations of 1.9 hospital beds and 1 doctor per 1000 population. Moreover, India does not have adequate testing kits and administering the test is costly, with private laboratories charging up to Rs 4500 per test. Notwithstanding these limitations, the lockdown measures are badly affecting the livelihood of India’s 120 million migrant and informal workers, and therefore the rationale of opening up the economy.

Simmering discontent which has been brewing inside the Tory rank on the issue of sacking Boris Johnson’s key aide Dominic Cummings for violating the rules of lockdown has acquired the dimension of a tornado.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An unsavoury controversy has erupted between the Union Railway Ministry and the Kerala Government over the running of special trains.

BHOPAL: It appears that because of forthcoming 24 Vidhan Sabha by-elections, coronavirus has taken a backseat in Madhya Pradesh. It may be recalled that because of resignation by 22 sitting Congress MLAs and due to the death of two legislators, by-election in 24 Assembly constituencies will take place soon. Though date for the by-elections has not been fixed, both the BJP and the Congress have launched preliminary preparations.

On completion of the first year of the second term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s NDA Union Government on May 30, 2020, the country witnessed Hitlerian Blitzkrieg strategy, inflicting collateral damages on millions of migrant labourers and general citizenry, slum dwellers and workers leaving them in lurch walking, barefooted with blistered sole, dehydrating, hungry, starving, gasping for breath and left uncared for to die. Many, indeed, died in road accidents and collapsed while walking, about 600 of them based on the data collated by NGOs and civil society, giving impression that country has had no place for the poor.

A lot of hope—and rightly so—is being placed in what a post-Trump country and world might look like. And yes, almost anything would be better. (As a popular lawn sign reads, “2020: Any Functioning Adult.”) Proposals for union-friendly organizing rights, student debt relief, a wealth tax, a green infrastructure bill (if not a Green New Deal), a rejoining of the Paris Climate Accord undertaken by a new administration would allow most everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. And breathing, in light of the almost 100,000 dead in this COVID-19 crisis, is not a thing to be taken for granted.

The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati is known in Uttar Pradesh for her unpredictable twists and turns in choosing her allies. For her, survival in the continuing flux in the political situation of the largest populated state of the country is the core issue and she has decided during pandemic that the Congress organisation spearheaded by Priyanka Gandhi is a bigger threat to BSP's political future in the state as compared to the BJP. Her public statement on the controversy of organising buses for the transport of migrant workers to UP is the latest example of her policy twist.

The Covid-19 death toll mounts worldwide and still there are people convinced they are home safe. The tens of thousands of migrant workers who returned to villages in India… Are they home safe? No, the coronavirus is not through, yet. Not in India, and not in Brazil, forget the USA. New Zealand is reportedly out of the woods and Slovenia says it’s done with the coronavirus. But a second flush is colouring the graph red in many countries even as the first one refuses to fade.