Heena Sharma Blog

As part of its exit strategy from the complete lockdown announced last week amid surging Covid-19 cases , Ahmedabad has permitted home deliveries of essentials on if payment is made digitally. While a move towards reopening of vegetable, fruit and grocery shops starting May 15 is being made, civic authorities have directed all retail outlets to use only cashless payment modes for home deliveries. The move is being made in an attempt to prevent spread of novel coronavirus through use of currency notes. All retail joints and multi-brand retail outlets including D-Mart, Osia Hypermart, Big Basket, Big Bazar, Zomato and Swiggy, among others have been asked to screen 100 per cent of their delivery staff who should be hired from non-containment areas. Read More

The global tally of the novel coronavirus pandemic has now breached the grim milestone of 2.5 million cases. Among closed cases, almost two out of every 10 cases on an average have ended up in deaths worldwide. In India, the death toll has now crossed 600, and the number of confirmed cases are close to breaching the 19,000 mark. However, growth in new cases daily has been declining for two days now. Here are some data trends to help you understand the present pandemic situation: 1. Iran on a rapid recovery path Iran, one of the first countries to witness the coronavirus outbreak outside of China, is now on a definite path to recovery. The country’s recovery rate has more than doubled in the past 20 days to 71 per cent. Iran, which is among 10 most affected countries globally, has reported 84,802 confirmed cases and 5,297 fatalities in the pandemic. Read More

The Supreme Tuesday directed the Gujarat government to give Rs 50 lakh compensation, a job and accommodation to Bilkis Bano who was gang raped during the 2002 riots in the state. A bench headed by Chief Justice Rajan Gogoi was informed by the Gujarat government that action has been taken against the erring police officials in the case. A bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, was informed by the state's counsel that pension benefits of the erring officials have been stopped and the IPS officer who was convicted by the Bombay High Court in the case has been demoted by two ranks. Bano had earlier refused to accept the offer of Rs 5 lakh and had sought exemplary compensation from the state government in a plea before the top court. The top court had earlier asked the Gujarat government to take disciplinary action in two weeks against the erring police officials, including an IPS officer, convicted by the Bombay High Court in the case. Read More