-Livemint.com * The Centre has allowed all neighbourhood shops in the residential areas to open if they follow certain guidelines * Union home ministry added that the social distancing must be strictly maintained A month after nationwide lockdown, the Centre has allowed all neighbourhood shops in the residential areas to open if they follow certain guidelines. However, shops in market places, multi-brand and single brand malls as well as market complexes located in...

-PTI/ Financial Express Paddy is the main kharif (summer) crop, besides pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane. The Union Agriculture Ministry on Thursday laid down the standard operating procedure (SOP) to guide farmers on safety precautions that need to be strictly followed during planting of kharif crops amid the threat of COVID-19 pandemic. Paddy is the main kharif (summer) crop, besides pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane....

-The Indian Express Home Ministry New Lockdown Guidelines: Under the revised guidelines, a list of things that is allowed during the extended nationwide lockdown till May 3 Home Ministry New Lockdown Guidelines: A day after extending the lockdown to May 3, the government Wednesday released revised guidelines under which activities like agriculture, Information Technology, e-commerce and movement of trucks and goods carriers will be allowed from April 20 to “mitigate hardships to...

-The Hindu The pandemic can be slowed only by a lockdown as well as by ensuring universal mask use Flattening the epidemic curve (case distribution curve) is the need of the day. On the curve, Y axis and X axis represent case numbers and time, respectively. A normal epidemic curve is bell-shaped, with an early ascending slope (first phase), a peak (second phase) and a declining slope (third phase). The area under...

-The Indian Express According to sources, this was conveyed to industry representatives during a meeting on April 3 of the empowered group of officials on “coordinating with private sector, NGOs and international organisations”, which is headed by the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. Estimating a spike in demand for personal protective equipment and diagnostic kits in the fight against COVID-19, the central government has calculated that the country will require about 27...