Coronavirus: India temporarily suspends e-visa facility for people in China

New Delhi, Feb 6: Unemployment rate in the country as per a new survey was 6.1 per cent in 2017-18, the government informed Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Labour Santosh Gangwar said the government is conducting a new Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) with new parameters and bigger sample size, and its results cannot be compared with previous surveys in this regard.

"As per the new Periodic Labour Force Survey being conducted by the government, the labour force participation is 36.9 per cent and the rate of unemployment for 2017-18 is 6.1 per cent," he said.

Replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour, the minister said the report of this survey is very different than the surveys conducted in previous years.

This survey is not comparable to previous surveys, he said, adding it was an attempt to provide authentic data with the new survey conducted through the Ministry of Statistics.

"We are focusing on infrastructure development and ease of doing business and India's position in the world has improved. India has improved its position to 63rd rank now in 2019 against 196 in previous years," he said.

"Our government is very conscious of creating employment opportunities and is running such programme which generates employment.

"The way our government is functioning, employment opportunities are being created and the youths are getting jobs also," the minister said.

Gangwar said the government has stopped the previous survey as the sample size was low and an attempt is being made to improve the data by adding various parameters and provide more authentic data.

The minister said it will take time for collection of data as households have to be visited on the ground for authentic data collection in rural areas also.

Mumbai, Mar 3: The country will turn "peaceful" if Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "bhakts" follow him in quitting the social media, the NCP said on Tuesday, taking a dig at the PM over his tweet that was thinking of giving up his social media accounts.

NCP chief spokesperson and Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik also said that Modi's decision will be "in the interest of the country".

His comments came a day after Modi said he is contemplating giving up social media presence.

"This Sunday, thinking of giving up my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & YouTube. Will keep you all posted," the prime minister said on the micro-blogging site.

Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Malik in a tweet said, "Yesterday, Modi ji gave hint of giving up the social media from Sunday. Some leaders are also talking about giving up (the social media). The country will turn peaceful if all the bhakts (followers) give it up."

"Modi ji's decision will be in the interest of the country. We welcome it, Modi ji take decision," Malik tweeted with the hash tag "ModiQuitsSocialMedia".

Earlier, the Congress took a swipe at the prime minister, with Rahul Gandhi tweeting "Give up hatred, not social media accounts" after tagging Modi's post.

Within minutes of Modi's tweet on Monday, scores of netizens urged him not to quit the various social media platforms as 'No Sir' trended on Twitter.

The prime minister is one of the most-followed world leaders on social media. He has 53.3 million followers on Twitter, 44 million on Facebook and 35.2 millionon Instagram.

The Twitter handle of Prime Minister's Office has 32 million followers.

In September 2019, PM Modi was the third most followed world leader on the microblogging site, behind only US President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama.

The Prime Minister was the first Indian to cross the 50-million followers mark on Twitter.

New Delhi, May 15: With an increase of 3,967 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's tally of coronavirus cases reached 81,970 cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday.

According to the latest figures, 51,401 patients are active coronavirus cases while 27,919 patients have been cured/discharged and one patient has been migrated.

With a rise in 100 deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the number of deaths now stands at 2,649.

According to the Health Ministry, Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with regard to the number of COVID-19 cases with 27,524 cases of which, 6,059 patients have been cured/discharged and 1,019 succumbing to the virus.

Tamil Nadu has a tally of 9,674 cases inclusive of 2,240 patients cured/discharged and 66 fatalities.

Gujarat has a total of 9,591 cases which include 3,753 patients cured/discharged while 586 have lost their lives due to coronavirus.

Delhi has a tally of 8,470 cases of which 3,045 patients cured/discharged and 115 fatalities.