Gujarat massacre: SC fixes April 14 for hearing Zakia Jafri’s plea against SIT’s clean chit to Modi

Apr 13: The Supreme Court of India has said Indian expatriates stranded abroad cannot be flown back immediately. All petitions before India's apex court which sought directions or orders to 'bring back Indians stranded in various countries abroad' has been deferred for four weeks, according to Indian media reports.

The Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde led bench took up matters pertaining to evacuation of Indian citizens stranded abroad amid the Covid19 pandemic.
Supreme Court today deferred for 4 weeks, all the petitions before it which sought directions or orders to 'bring back Indians stranded in various countries abroad'.

A total of seven petitions seeking directions from Court on the immediate evacuation of Indian nationals from UK, US, Iran and Gulf countries were taken up simultaneously.

Bobde said, "Stay where you are. People in other countries cannot be brought back right now"

Foreigners stuck in India granted visa extension

Furthermore, the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has announced a visa extension for all foreigners who are stranded in in India due to ongoing travel restrictions imposed by the government.

Regular visa,e-visa or stay stipulation of such foreigners stranded in India due to travel restrictions by Indian Authorities&whose visas have expired/would be expiring between 01.02&30.04, would be extended till 30 April on gratis basis,after online application by foreigners:MHA

New Delhi, Apr 20: With 1,553 more COVID-19 cases, India's total number of coronavirus cases has reached 17,265, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Monday.

Out of the total cases, 14,175 cases are active, while 2,547 people have been cured/discharged/migrated and 543 deaths have been reported, as per the ministry.

As many as 36 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours.

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state with a total of 4,203 cases. While 507 patients have recovered, 223 deaths have been reported.

Delhi comes next with 2,003 cases, out of which 72 patients have recovered while 45 patients have died.

Rajasthan has confirmed 1,478 cases, out of which 183 people have recovered while 14 patients are dead.

Tamil Nadu has reported 1,477 cases, out of which 411 have recovered and 15 have succumbed to the virus.

Madhya Pradesh has reported 1,407 cases, including 127 patients recovered and 70 patients dead. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh has 1,084 COVID-19 positive cases.

In Kerala, which reported the country's first COVID-19 case, 402 people have been detected positive for coronavirus.

New Delhi, Jan 20: Surging inflation and slowing growth are raising serious concerns about the future growth prospects of the economy and as a remedial measure the government should resolve supply-side hurdles and ensure more stringent governance norms, a report said on Monday.

According to the Dun and Bradstreet Economy forecast, even though the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) turned positive in November 2019, it is likely to remain subdued.

"Slowdown in consumption and investment along with high inflationary pressures, geopolitical issues and uncertainty over the recovery of the economic growth are likely to keep IIP subdued," the report noted.

Dun and Bradstreet expect IIP to remain around 1.5-2.0 percent during December 2019.

As per government data, industrial output grew 1.8 percent in November, turning positive after three months of contraction, on account of growth in the manufacturing sector.

On the price front, uneven rainfall along with floods in many states and geopolitical issues have led to a surge in headline inflation even as demand remains muted.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in December rose to about five-and-half year high of 7.35 percent from 5.54 percent in November, mainly driven by high vegetable prices.

"The sharp rise in inflation has constrained monetary policy stimulus while revenue shortfall has placed limits on the government expenditure," Dun & Bradstreet India Chief Economist Arun Singh said.

According to Singh, growth-supporting measures and deceleration in growth are likely to cause slippage in fiscal deficit target by a wider margin.

"The government should focus on taking small steps to address the slowdown; in particular, resolve the supply-side hurdles and ensure more stringent governance norms," Singh said.

Unless these concerns are addressed through a comprehensive policy framework, it will not be easy for India to clock a sustainable growth rate to become a USD 5 trillion economy, he added.