updated: Apr 25 2021, 20:17 ist
By Archana Chaudhary, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Bibhudatta Pradhan
As India recorded more than 234,000 new Covid-19 infections last Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held an election rally in the West Bengal town of Asansol and tweeted: “I’ve never seen such huge crowds.”
The second wave of the coronavirus has since grown into a tsunami. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting records for the world’s highest number of daily cases. Images of hospitals overflowing with the sick and dying are flooding social media, as medical staff and the public alike make desperate appeals for oxygen supplies.
World s biggest Covid crisis brings Modi face to face with a real test
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World s biggest Covid crisis brings Modi face to face with a real testBy Archana Chaudhary, Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Bibhudatta Pradhan, Bloomberg
Last Updated: Apr 25, 2021, 01:41 PM IST
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Synopsis
The second wave of the coronavirus has since grown into a tsunami. India is now the global coronavirus hotspot, setting records for the world’s highest number of daily cases. Images of hospitals overflowing with the sick and dying are flooding social media, as medical staff and the public alike make desperate appeals for oxygen supplies.
Agencies
ISSUE DATE: May 3, 2021
UPDATED: April 24, 2021 12:33 IST
Sadar Bazaar in Delhi wore a deserted look on April 20
Covid-19 has been compared to the Spanish Flu, which killed an estimated 50 million people between 1918 and 1920. A grim feature of the Flu was the devastating multiple waves of infections, similar to what is being seen with the coronavirus. In February this year, even as a massive second wave of Covid-19 cases arrived in Europe, India was in self-congratulatory mode, believing the virus had been controlled and that an economic recovery was underway following the recession in the first half of 2020-21. By mid-March, that sunny optimism was proved false, as cases in India began soaring once more. On April 20, India recorded 259,000 new cases, with 1,761 fatalities in just 24 hours.
: Saturday, April 24, 2021, 2:30 AM IST
It s only now dawning on us that winning elections is one thing & good governance quite another, writes Anil Singh
It was not lost on voters that the PMâs speech came on the eve of Ram Navami. âRam rajyaâ is not to be confused with a temple in his name. God today is to be found in the temples of modern India; the labs which make vaccines, the hospitals, the oxygen plants. As for traditional temples, the richest one in India, Tirupati, has sacked its employees.
PM Narendra Modi
ANI
As a combative campaigner for the BJP in the West Bengal assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was so enthused by the sea of humanity at his rallies that he foresaw a big wave sweeping his party to power. Instead, the Covid tsunami swept Indians into hospitals which ran short of beds, medicines and even oxygen. Here, the PM was clearly out of his depth as he addressed the nation on Tuesday night.
Education For Entrepreneurship
Lt Governor Manoj Sinha during the signing of MoUs between Mission Youth, Government of J&K and BSE to spread financial literacy
The Jammu and Kashmir Government is going to train 5000 young professionals this year, and equip them with the requisite skill sets of the Financial Services Sector in order to create employment opportunities for them. The government also announced a new scheme –
Tejaswini under Mission Youth, through which financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs to the girls between the age group of 18-35 years will be provided to start their businesses. During the recently held
Back to Village programme, around 9000 youth were identified for financial support for starting their enterprise. The expected target has been exceeded and 18,500 youth have been extended the financial support to start their own business units. Also, two IT Towers, one each in Jammu and Srinagar would be ready in their estimated timeframes. The government under Mis