The country had last year witnessed a major movement of migrant labourers and workers after the imposition of a nationwide lockdown in the last week of March. The nationwide lockdown resulted in an exodus of migrant workers from cities to their native places.
Updated Apr 12, 2021 | 19:56 IST
News headlines for April 12, 2021: The spike in coronavirus cases across the country sent shockwaves down the stock markets as various state governments mulled lockdown in some capacity. Tens of thousands of Hindu devotees gathered by the Ganges River for special prayers Monday, many of them flouting social distancing practices as the coronavirus spreads in India with record speed. | Photo Credit: AP
Key Highlights
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New Delhi: The week started with some major news developments as the ongoing COVID-19 situation continued to remain tense across the country with Maharashtra mulling a 15-day lockdown. Also, Sensex tanked by 1,700 points amid the coronavirus scare and a possible lockdown. Below are the day’s biggest headlines:
Centre s claims of vaccine wastage untrue, says Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope thehindu.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thehindu.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis
NAGPUR: BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday said that with the Supreme Court rejecting former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh s plea against the Bombay high court order, the CBI will now investigate and expose the extortion racket . In a setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led-Maharashtra government and former minister Deshmukh, the Supreme Court Thursday dismissed their pleas challenging the Bombay high court order directing a CBI probe into allegations of corruption and misconduct levelled against him by former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh.
Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Fadnavis said, The Bombay high court had very clearly said that the allegations are such that the minister is under suspicion and this being a high profile case should be investigated by the CBI.
File photo of Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan. | PIB
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday accused some states of adopting “deplorable” methods to “distract attention from their failures and spread panic among the people”. This came soon after at least six states – Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Odisha and Telangana – raised concerns about vaccine shortages.
In a strongly-worded statement, Vardhan said allegations of vaccine shortage were “completely baseless”. He called them “irresponsible statements” that had the potential to “mislead the public” amid the coronavirus crisis.
On Maharashtra
Castigating the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government, the minister said the state’s “lackadaisical attitude” has singularly hampered the entire country’s efforts to fight the pandemic. He also accused the state’s leadership of “happily sleeping at the wheels”. “It is shocking to see how th