On Wednesday, at a videoconferencing held with parties’ floor leaders in Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it won’t be possible to lift the 21-day nationwide lockdown in one go as scheduled on April 14. He, however, noted that he would consult the Chief Ministers before deciding the exit strategy. Speaking briefly at the end of a nearly three-and-a-half hour meeting, Modi’s first interaction with leaders of political parties after announcing the 21 day lockdown on March 24, PM said the country was going through a “social emergency”. The view that is emerging so far is that lifting the lock down is not going to be simple and the norms for ensuring social distancing will have to be enforced strictly. Leaders from 18 political parties attended the interaction. Top Central officials gave detailed presentations on the steps being taken to meet the emerging challenges, including the status of distribution of benefits under the Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Yojana. Meanwhile the Congress supported the idea of an extension of the lockdown. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, “There is no question of supporting it or opposing it. It is a decision to be taken by the government. If they consult everyone before taking the decision, then we shall welcome it.” The majority of the parties felt that there should be a calibrated exit from the lockdown but left the final decision to Prime Minister, he added.
CORONA LOCKDOWN MAKES RIVER GANGA MUCH CLEANER
The nationwide 21-day lockdown to fight the spread Covid-19 is doing what ambitious schemes could not do over the decades — cleaning Ganga. The Ganga Action Plan was conceived in 1986 and successive central governments have pumped in about Rs 5,000 crores to clean the river considered holy by millions of Indians, but with the little impact. Due to lockdown and closing of industrial towns through which Ganga passes, now the real data from the Central Pollution Control Board says that the water quality of River Ganga has improved considerably. Secondly, the deserted Ghats also tells a new story as the river flows silently and bare with no sign of bodies, human waste, old clothes or general garbage. Besides, funeral pyres at the site of Ganga especially Kanpur, Prayagraj and Varanasi are much reduced. As a result, after a long time the Ganga water has finally become fit for bathing. According to Central Pollution Control Board, at present the dissolved oxygen level upstream is 8.7 milligram per litre, which is good enough for bathing. According to Lochan Pasi, a 60-year-old who lives few metres from river bed in Prayagraj said, “I have never seen the river looking so clean it is beautiful.”
CONGRESS WANTS CENTRE TO GIVE STATES MORE MONEY FOR COVID-19
The Congress has urged that the Union government should empower the state governments by announcing a special economic package of Rs 1 lakh crore and release about Rs. 42,000 crore due as compensation for the Goods and Services Tax (GST). It urged the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to offer zero interest loans as the States have been at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi asked the government to scale up testing rather than ‘lighting lamps’, while the party criticised the government for not banning export of diagnostic kits until Saturday. “India is simply not testing enough to fight the #Covid19 virus. Making people clap & shining torches in the sky isn’t going to solve the problem,” Mr. Gandhi tweeted.
CORONA CRISIS ENDS RIVALRY BETWEEN GEHLOT & PILOT IN RAJASTHAN
Covid-19 has shown the impact not only on industry, tourism but also on politics. The effects of Coronavirus were seen in Bhilwara, the industrial town of Rajasthan, which resulted in the differences between the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and Deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot being shelved. From the moment of the first announcement of total shutdown in the state by chief minister Ashok Gehlot, he has been strongly and immediately supported by deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot. This shows the current unity between the two groups. They are working together against the coronavirus crisis. It must be noted that tourism is the main industry in Rajasthan and foreign tourists visit throughout the year. Everyone has appreciated their work in the state. Now the chief minister and deputy chief minister are fighting unitedly with the pandemic and workers of both the groups are seen working together at village level.
POLLS FOR 11 MLC SEATS IN UP POSTPONED UNTIL AFTER LOCKDOWN
In Uttar Pradesh, the coronavirus crisis has had an impact on the election for the vacant Legislative Council (MLC) seats to be held this month. In view of the increasing cases of coronavirus and lockdown in the country, the Uttar Pradesh Election Commission has cancelled the process of MLC elections. It has 11 seats in the undergraduate and teacher sectors are getting vacant. The term of the members representing these seats expires on 6 May. Of these, six seats are for teacher election, these are from cities such as Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Meerut, Bareilly, Moradabad and Gorakhpur and five seats for graduate election. Elections on these seats, which are vacant, were to be held in April. (IPA)
Shivraj Consults Former Chief Ministers To Tackle Corona 