Modi seeks Ministers’ views on calibrated exit from lockdown
- Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the lockdown beyond April 14, saying it was essential to save lives. Mr. Rao said it would be difficult to contain the spread of the virus in view of the country’s “poor health infrastructure”. “We can recover from the economic problem but we cannot recover lives,” he said.
New York zoo tiger tests positive for virus
- A tiger at New Yorks Bronx Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19, the institution said Sunday, and is believed to have contracted the virus from a caretaker who was asymptomatic at the time.
- The four year old Malayan tiger named Nadia along with her sister Azul, two Amur tigers and three African lions all developed dry coughs and are expected to fully recover, the Wildlife Conservation Society that runs the city’s zoos said in a statement.
MPLADS suspended; PM, MPs to take 30% salary cut
- Addressing a press conference after a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Javadekar said the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved an ordinance to amend the Salaries, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, to cut the salaries of MPs by 30%
- In addition, the Cabinet had decided to suspend the MPLAD funds for 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Many MPs had already pledged to use their MPLAD funds, ₹5 crore a year, for efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.
- The amount saved from the scheme would be ₹7,900 crore.
Petrol sales fall 15.5%, diesel 24% as lockdown hits demand
- Petrol sales shrank by 15.5% and diesel demand tanked over 24% in March as the economy froze under the nationwide lockdown announced to check the spread of COVID-19.
- Also, aviation turbine fuel (ATF) sales fell by 31%.
- The only fuel that showed growth was LPG as households rushed to book refills for stocking during the threeweek lockdown period.