Covid cases fall in Delhi: Restaurants, malls, salons open;
schools remain shut |

There was a flurry of activities across Delhi on Monday as the
Government lifted restrictions on most business with
the incidence of covid showing remarkable decline in the past
fortnight. The order issued by the DDMA, however, said schools, colleges and other educational institutions will remain shut. |
NEW DELHI, June 14: Restaurants, malls and salons opened in the national Capital
on Monday in a partial lifting of the lockdown of the past nearly two months
as the covid pandemic continued to register a steep fall in the past fortnight.
The order issued by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority said schools, colleges,
coaching institutes and other educational institutions, cinema halls, multiplexes,
theatres, gyms, spas, yoga institutes, swimming pools, auditoriums, banquet
halls, amusement and water parks, public parks and gardens will continue to
remain shut. So also the ban on assembly of people like in events and functions
will continue.
The order, however, claimed that almost all economic activities were being
allowed to resume from 5 am on June 14.
The malls and other markets opened from 10 am till 8 pm, strictly following
the covid protocol. Private offices will function with 50% staff. Chief Minister
Arvind Kejriwal, making the announcement on Sunday, said the restrictions were
being scaled down in a phased manner but the progress will be reviewed on June
21 for further continuation of the relaxations.
Kejriwal said the weekly markets will function from open grounds and not on
the roadside. The odd-even system for opening of shops in the markets which
was in force has been abandoned, he said. Standalone and colony shops will have
no timing restrictions. Weddings could be organised at homes and the number
of participants at funerals limited to 20 people. Inter-State and intra-State
movement of people will not have any restrictions. But cabs and autos can take
only up to two passengers per ride.
Buses and Metro were allowed to run with a 50% seating capacity since last
Monday, in an earlier dose of partial lifting of curbs. Factories and constructions
were also allowed.
The lockdown was imposed in Delhi on April 19 as the second wave of covid swept
across the country in just about a month compared to seven months that the pandemic
took to reach the peak in its first wave last year. The cases of infection in
Delhi had reached a peak on April 23 with a daily record of 25,294. The positivity
rate has come down to 0.35% and the new cases 255. The deaths were 23, on Sunday,
taking the total so far to 24,823.
The daily cases are falling fast elsewhere in the country too but the number
of deaths is not registering a proportionate decline. There were only 70,421
new cases in the country on Sunday but the deaths were 3,921, which retains
India at the worst position in the world.
Meanwhile, the mucormycosis (black fungus infection) that has spread almost
all over the country as a secondary infection in covid-recovered patients during
the second wave has claimed 644 lives in Maharashtra so far, most of the deaths
occurring in Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Solapur. The State has recorded a total
of 7,395 cases.
The total number of deaths in the country due to covid reached 3,74,305 on
Sunday and the tally of cases of infection was 2,95,10,410. The total tests
conducted so far were 37,96,24,626, while on Sunday 14,92,152 tests were done,
according to the ICMR.. A total of 25,48,49,301 doses of vaccines have been
administered so far in the country.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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