Indian soldier killed, body mutilated in cross-LoC attack

New Delhi, Apr 15: CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury has sought a substantial increase in relief spending of the Central government in the fight against coronavirus, saying that there should be cash transfer of Rs 7,500 to families not paying income tax and distribution of free foodgrains to all needy.

In an article in the forthcoming issue of the party's mouthpiece -- People's Democracy -- Yechury said that India ranks among the countries that are testing the least for the coronavirus and testing should be increased rapidly.

Yechury said the financial stimulus package should be raised from the current 0.8 per cent to at least 5 per cent of GDP and States should be provided liberal funding.

"We must ensure that there are no starvation deaths that occur in our country. It is, therefore, imperative that the government must immediately implement a Rs 7,500 ex gratia cash transfer to all non-income tax-paying families and resort to universal distribution of free foodgrains to all needy people," Yechury said.

He said all MGNREGA workers should be paid wages irrespective of work and employers should be assisted financially to protect workers from job losses and wage cuts and arrangement should be made for the return of migrant workers to their homes.

"Testing is of crucial importance to identify the clusters where the pandemic is spreading in order to isolate and insulate them to contain the community spread. Inadequate testing does not provide us with such information. It is dangerous both for the inability to contain the spread and to identify the critical areas," the article said.

It said that till April 9, India's record of testing was 0.092 per thousand, while in Germany it was 15.96, Italy 14.43, Australia 12.99, Denmark 10.73 and Canada 9.99. "Unless our testing rate increases substantially, our strength to combat the pandemic will not grow," the article said.

Yechury said that the first case in India was reported on January 30 and "no substantive measures were taken despite this for seven long weeks" until the declaration of the lockdown on March 24.

"As far as the lockdown is concerned, many countries in the world moved with greater urgency - China locked down Wuhan on January 23, the whole of Italy was locked down on March 10, USA declared a national emergency on March 13, Spain on March 14, France on March 17 and UK on March 23," he said.

Yechury said the people were looking forward to the Prime Minister's address to the nation on the last day of the three-week countrywide lockdown.

"These three weeks have thrown up many experiences that need to be addressed urgently in order, both, to strengthen our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect the lives and survival of crores of our fellow citizens. On none of these issues of vital importance did the Prime Minister have anything substantial to say," he said.

Kolkata, May 11: Murshidabad district, one of the biggest contributors to the army of migrant workers from West Bengal, received news of unnatural deaths of three of these people since Saturday. While two died in Kerala, one was found dead in a rented house in Odisha.

Residents of Baliaghati village in Murshidabad’s Suti police station area said Safikul Sheikh (31) was killed in a road accident in Kerala. Sheikh’s associates called up his family on Sunday morning and said he had gone to a local market, violating lockdown orders, when the accident took place. Sheikh wanted to return home before Eid but got stranded.

Mohammad Hafijul, one of Sheikh’s relatives, said, “A few days ago a special train from Kerala carried migrant workers to Murshidabad but Safikul did not have the money to buy a ticket. We do not know how his body will be brought back.”

In another incident, a 24-year-old resident of Domkal allegedly hanged himself in Kerala on Saturday. He used to work in a brick kiln. His mother said, “My son was depressed as he could not buy a ticket to board the special train that came to Murshidabad. We have appealed to the local administration to bring back his body.”

In the third incident, Bakul Sheikh (24) died under mysterious circumstances at Sonepur in Odisha where he went five months ago to work as a mason. Sheikh hails from Kohetpur village in Shamserganj. His relatives told the local police that his associates called up and said he was found dead inside the toilet of the house where he was living with other migrant workers.

Mumbai, May 10: Air India, which is operating flights to evacuate Indians stranded in foreign countries, have asked its pilots to undertake coronavirus test before they operate such flights, the sources said.

"Five Air India pilots have tested positive for coronavirus. These pilots were tested one after one. We suspect it could be a case of faulty testing kit as well," one of the sources said.

The five pilots fly Boeing 787 planes, the second source said.

Air India spokesperson did not offer any comment.

A senior airline official said the five pilots had not operated any flight in the last three weeks.

"These pilots had operated cargo flights to China prior to April 20," the official said.