New Delhi, May 18 (PTI): The Congress on Monday said the fiscal stimulus package announced by the government is "hopelessly inadequate" given the gravity of the economic crisis as it amounts to only Rs 1.86 lakh crore, which is 0.91 per cent of the GDP.   The party sought a revised and comprehensive package of 10 per cent of the GDP. Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram said the stimulus package has left several sections like the poor, migr

BY SFOORTI MISHRA  New Delhi, May 18 (IANS) As the highly contagious novel coronavirus disease has confined the people of India within the four walls of their houses, life of the marginalised people working in the unorganised sector has become a nightmare. With no fixed monthly income and no house of their own, they live more in a fear of dying of starving than the pandemic. In such distressed times, a 22-year-old Noida woman Arushi Vaishnav has been like a blessing to suc

New York, May 17 (IANS) As the world scrambles to fight coronavirus pandemic that has affected more than 4.6 million people, little attention has been paid to indigenous populations worldwide who may be especially vulnerable to Covid-19 but are largely excluded from most national or regional efforts to curb the spread of the disease, according to new research. According to the World Bank, over 370 million indigenous people inhabit over 90 countries, in both rural and urban area

BY HIMANSHU MANGLIK  The entire world is struggling as the coronavirus struts around like a manic pigeon, threatening to send the world into recession and depression. Struggling to contain the rogue virus, we are like novice boxers taking blows and punches as we stagger around dazed and uncertain. Sooner or later this had to happen. Pull back and you will see fault-lines strewn across the world. Most of our leaders across the world are struggling. Policies are floundering. R

Rampukar Pandit, a migrant, weeps inconsolably while talking to a relative over his mobile phone at Nizamuddin Bridge, in New Delhi. Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo   'Inured as we are, his naked grief shook me. It felt personal enough for me to not simply click a picture and move on. I just had to know what was bothering him'     PTI's photograph of a man on the phone, his face twisted in grief, was circulated widely on social and news media and res

A woman carrying her child arrives from Delhi at Mumbai Central station following the resumption of passenger train services by Indian Railways connecting major cities, during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, in Mumbai, on Thursday. Photograph: Shashank Parade/PTI Photo New Delhi, May 14 (ANI): Senior World Health Organisation (WHO) official, Michael J Ryan on Wednesday said the coronavirus may become another just another virus in the world community like HIV infection, and may

BY GOPAL KRISHNA AGRAWAL IANS | May 13 The Prime Minister says ‘India can emerge as the global nerve centre of complex modern multinational supply chains in the post Covid-19 World. The immediate cost of the lockdown was borne by the most vulnerable people in the society and therefore government's focus was to reduce pain for this segment. But now economy is our focus. Companies are looking for shifting their production base from China. The world finds India as an attractiv

By Nikhila Natarajan   New York, May 13 (IANS) Some 50 days ago, Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown from 7 Lok Kalyan Marg. Around the same time, Donald Trump's White House announced social distancing guidelines. Seen purely through the public communications lens, the world's two largest democracies are a stunning contrast. Both, as also their opposite numbers other than Xi Jinping in Beijing, had at best a week to calibrate the fine line between alerting their peo

 A woman transports a drum after filling it with free drinking water supplied by a municipal corporation water tanker at a slum on a hot summer day in New Delhi June 16, 2014. REUTERS/Anindito Mukherjee   Lowering risks from blistering summer heat may be difficult this year with most of the country's 1.3 billion people forced to stay indoors   NEW DELHI, May 13 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - With little access to air conditioners or parks during the coronavir

New Delhi, May 12 (IANS) Whether we survive or die, it is upon god, but we will walk all the way home to Madhya Pradesh, said Ghanshyam, a resident of of Damoh, who has started walking from New Delhi along with a group of 50 people. They have already exhausted all their money and food as the nation-wide lockdown due to the unprecedented pandemic outbreak inches towards Day 50. Their journey on foot started on Tuesday from the national capital as they were unable to afford the r

Zapotec woman Juana Lazaro, a non-Spanish-speaker, washes her hands after learning about hand-washing and social distancing to avoid coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a local radio program, at her house in Teotitlan del Valle, in Oaxaca state, Mexico March 31, 2020. Picture taken March 31, 2020. REUTERS/Jose de Jesus Cortes   Elderly people at high risk from COVID-19 are seen as the main cultural guardians of many indigenous traditions and languages   BUENOS AIR

Migrants with their belongings walk along a road to reach their native place Madhya Pradesh, during the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, near ISBT in New Delhi. Photograph: Manvender Vashist/PTI Photo   New Delhi, May 10 (PTI): Senior Congress leader and former Defence Minister A K Antony on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene immediately to prevent starvation deaths in the country in the wake of the nationwide lockdown

BY PUJA GUPTA New Delhi, May 9 (IANSlife) No lavish lunch date or buying expensive gifts? This Mothers Day, make the most of your time while in lockdown at home with mum.   Mothers don't demand much, even the smallest gesture by you can bring a smile to her face. Express your love towards her by pampering her and making her feel special. IANSlife spoke to experts who curated a list of options for you to refer to in case you are still thinking of a way to pamper her. &n

ER doctor Anne Messman poses for a photo amid a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., May 6, 2020. REUTERS/Emily Elconin   NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Anne Messman, a veteran emergency room physician in Detroit, knew something was wrong when she developed insomnia and became unusually irritated with people she loved.   She began experiencing persistent sleepless nights in late March, around the time seven COVID-19 patients died

A woman walks beneath tree shadows during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Queens borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 7, 2020. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/Files   May 8 (Reuters) - Before she was laid off from her bartending job in Charleston, South Carolina, Shana Swain used to spend her nights serving food and mixing Manhattans and Cosmopolitans.   Now Swain, 40, spends her evenings having dinner with her girls, age 5 and 8, and

New Delhi, May 8 (IANS) Union Cabinet Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal wants India's food processing industry to capture the massive export opportunity which will occur on the back of Covid-19 triggered shift in global trade.   Accordingly, the Minister of Food Processing has been busy strategising India's game plan to enhance exports along with smoothening the way for increased foreign capital and gearing-up the industry to deal with the bumper harvest during the lockdown peri

A woman sits on a ladder installed outside her house, during a nationwide lockdown in India to slow the spread of COVID-19, in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums, during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Mumbai, India, April 13, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas   The pandemic has revealed the extent of vulnerability to unexpected crises - and how much work is needed to change that   LONDON, May 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the congested slums of Mumba

A woman fetches water from a well in Warren Park suburb, Harare, Zimbabwe, September 24, 2019. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo   As governments race to drill boreholes and fill up water tankers, residents want solutions that will last long after the pandemic   JOHANNESBURG/BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, May 7 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Fifty people and their cattle share the only borehole in Gongu village in southwestern Zimbabwe, meaning frequent handwashing to fight the cor

By Sfoorti Mishra   New Delhi, May 5 (IANS) India on Tuesday recorded the highest spike in novel coronavirus cases and fatalities. At least 3,900 new cases and 195 deaths in 24 hours have been reported today, with the total tally of cases at 46,433 and the toll at 1,568. India is currently in the third phase of lockdown with conditional relaxation. Honorary Secretary General of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr R.V. Asokan says the government is on the right track in t

By Nikhila Natarajan   New York, May 5 (IANS) Built in a record time of five days, India's official coronavirus chatbot MyGov Corona Helpdesk which has scored 21 million users and 25 million user engagements, is now bunging out responses to repeat users' anxious queries circling around the country's extended lockdown, after handling the initial flood of questions on COVID-19 symptoms and safety.   India's lockdown has been extended from May 4 for a further two wee