-The Telegraph/ PTI Order issued to exclude non-essential items from cart The Centre on Sunday barred e-commerce firms from selling non-essential items during the lockdown, reversing its own four-day-old order that allowed online platforms to sell mobile phones, refrigerators and readymade garments. The dismay of the e-commerce companies and the jubilation among domestic traders, considered a traditional vote bank of the ruling BJP, suggested politics has forced the Narendra Modi government to take...

-TheWire.in Social policies almost always have multiple, often unintended, consequences. This feature came out sharply, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the novel coronavirus without announcing an immediate or near-simultaneous relief package for India’s poorest. As the fight against COVID-19 unavoidably puts the livelihoods of millions at risk, an ugly truth of Indian society has come out in the open – namely, a large...

-NDTV In a separate letter to Kerala, the home ministry has strongly objected to its move to restart restaurants, book shops and barber shops in parts of the state from today. New Delhi: The government has made it clear that states and union territories cannot "dilute" its guidelines on the nationwide lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus and said states cannot allow their own activities during this period; they can be...

-The Indian Express Officials said 24 such families had approached them in Surjamata alone, a village of 150 families. Most people here work as daily wagers, owning no land and barely any possessions. Purulia (West Bengal): Bordering Jharkhand, the district of Purulia in West Bengal has zero cases of coronavirus. However, that is not the only COVID-19 story here. With the state government announcing free ration under PDS for six months to...

-Hindustan Times It is causing grave anxiety, unemployment, and can undermine the nation’s agriculture and industry sectors On Sunday afternoon, an SUV tried to enter the sabzi mandi in Patiala. The Punjab police personnel on the premises tried to stop the vehicle. The driver veered into the barricades and tried to push on ahead. But since the barricade got entangled with the car, it got stuck. Upon this, five Nihangs ( a...