-NDTV The government had issued a set of guidelines on Wednesday for the movement of all stranded people, migrant labourers, students and tourists, and asked states to follow up with the formation of nodal authorities. New Delhi: The government's move to allow stranded migrant labourers to go home has been spurred by concerns about a political fallout, sources have told NDTV. The issue was flagged at a recent meeting between BJP chief...

-The Indian Express The impact of the lockdown may make social issues more prominent again in terms of class, at the expense of caste as well as religious identities and communal tendencies. When interviewed by journalists, several migrant workers badly affected by the COVID-19-related lockdown admitted that they had voted for the BJP in 2019. Indeed, the party attracted poor voters in large numbers during the last Lok Sabha elections, especially among...

-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...

-The Indian Express Nearly 19 lakh farmers had registered themselves on the MP government’s e-Uparjan procurement portal between February 1 and 28. Bhopal, Jalandhar: First it was over two weeks of political uncertainty and now it is the 21-day lockdown to combat COVID-19 that is giving anxious moments to the lakhs of wheat growers in Madhya Pradesh. Procurement of their produce —farmers in the state have sown a record 79.68 lakh hectares under...

-The Telegraph 'No document will be sought under the NPR; you are free to give whatever information you want' Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday said no one would be marked “doubtful” if they did not provide all the information sought for the preparation of the National Population Register (NPR), adding that no documents needed to be furnished during the process, either. Shah was responding in the Rajya Sabha to a specific...