With the government asking the companies to operate with only 50 per cent staff strength, and exports dipping to almost zero, the truck and bus drivers idling at the petrol pump say they hardly have any work now. At a petrol pump on the deserted Bavla-Changodar highway near Ahmedabad in Gujarat, several trucks and buses are neatly parked in a row.

'It will take six months to one year to move to normalcy, depending on how the pandemic plays out in India.'

The world's biggest lockdown that shut a majority of the factories and businesses, suspended flights, stopped trains and restricted movement of vehicles and people, may have cost the Indian economy Rs 7-8 lakh crore during the 21-day period, analysts and industry bodies said.

'The telecom companies are our lifeline now, despite having nearly collapsed under debt because of ill-advised policies.' 'Perhaps our obvious dependence on telecom services will spark well-conceived policies for this sector,' says Shyam Ponappa.

"Both the number of new patients and that of deaths are highest for a single day so far," an official said. 79 persons tested positive for COVID-19 during the day, taking the number of such cases in the country's financial capital to 775, the civic body said.

'It is clear that primary care would be extremely critical in providing care to and preventing deaths of large numbers of patients,' says Pavitra Mohan and Jagdish Rattanani.

In the past one week alone, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh have issued orders to take over private hospitals in some districts. Sohini Das, Vinay Umarji and Gireesh Babu report.

'Wasn't it the PM's duty to reach out to the daily wagers of whom he claims to have been a part?' asks Jyoti Punwani.

'The government is saying that essential commodities are exempted, but on the ground there is no competent officer from the government who can say which is an essential commodity and which is not.'

Prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of the CrPC will be relaxed for a total of 10 hours on Friday in view of improvement in the situation, the ministry said.

Iqbal Ansari, one of the main plaintiffs who fought for the right of the community over the disputed land, says Muslims in Ayodhya won't be satisfied if the Sunni Waqf Board accepts the five acres in Dhannipur.

'When violence spread, it looked as if Mamata was losing control, but soon, she was able to contain the situation.' 'Now, the TMC stands to gain the most.'

Defence PRO said that the forces have managed to restore normalcy in the areas they were deployed and have been continuously working to aid the civil administration.

'Once accession to Pakistan appeared unlikely, the British instituted Operations Gulmarg and Datta Khel respectively to foil possible accession to India.'

FASTag is a prepaid tag, affixed on vehicle's windscreen, that enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets the vehicle pass through the toll plaza without stopping for the cash transaction.

As Venezuelans continue to flee the starvation, crime and the horrific inflation that continues to mark the worst crisis it has ever faced, Radha Biswas looks back at a devastated country she continues to love deeply.

Riding solo from the Arctic to the Andes exposed him to a variety of people and cultures while allowing him to connect with himself, Dhruv Bogra tells Amrita Singh.

Average overall sales which used to be around 8,000 units a year ago has dropped to 7,000-7,500 units in a month. A lot of government projects have been announced but these are yet to translate to boost CV sales.

Ride-hailing services are also lobbying the government for the recognition of a new category for motorcycle-shared services, where the owner should not have to take a commercial licence. Pooled services is another area where taxi aggregators are hoping to make the government listen to them.

The holy grail of all motorcycles, the M V Agusta Turismo Veloce 800, finds its way to India.

Following is the full text of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 73rd Independence Day.

Residents in Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra continue to struggle as floods leave them in a watery hell.

'The household sector, which is still the largest contributor of financial savings, has been experiencing a decline in the last six years, and it has fallen below 8% of GDP.'

'No Budget has so far has addressed the issue of the government's abysmal productivity of capital spending, improving which will be the big game changer. 'But, the government's tight lock on businesses, banks, education, and even essential services like transportation and large parts of infrastructure and healthcare is destroying capital year after year,' points out Debashis Basu.

Tamal Bandyopadhyay offers some unsolicited advice for a government wh,ich came to power, with brute majority and the nation's pragmatic chief money man.

Will there be answers? Will we ever know the truth about who murdered Sheena Bora?

'Does the BJP opening up a new assault on Rajiv Gandhi indicate that the BJP's internal calculations are pointing to the election results not going as it hoped, and hence a sign of desperation?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.

'Respect the pledges you have made to the people of Kashmir.' 'Jammu and Kashmir is not like any other state of the country.'

Army said after the Pulwama terror attack the security forces launched an offensive against the JeM.

The current Navratna portfolio consists the flagship Navratna Oil, Navratna Xtra Thanda Oil, Navratna Almond Cool Oil, Navratna Cool and Navratna Smart Cool.

'If you go by the essence of the Constitution of India, I don't see any problem in having a separate PM for J-K.'

The April 11 polling will decide the fate of several political bigwigs.

There will be pressure on the fiscal situation, especially at a time when the monsoon can also disappoint. More populist expenditure is on cards if the mandate is a hung Parliament or a coalition government.

Kamal Nath argued that Modi had 'overexposed himself': By constantly pushing his own image on social media and on TV, attaching his name to multiple promises, Modi had become the face rivals could easily blame for India's chronic dysfunction.

A set of new standard operating procedures have been issued by the force headquarters in Delhi for vehicle-mounted movement of troops in Jammu and Kashmir, and it has also been ordered that the 'passenger manifest discipline' for each vehicle in the convoy be strictly adhered to.

Thanks to the increased thrust on cow protection, the enforcement of the ban on cow slaughter and the relentless crusade by cow vigilantes, the agrarian ecosystem from Haryana to Uttar Pradesh has been irrevocably altered. There's a huge spike in the number of stray cattle roaming the countryside, destroying crops. Ten cows/bulls take barely an hour to eat and destroy a bigha of crop land.

'A good opportunity has thus been provided for both countries to back away from the brink without loss of dignity.' 'There is every reason why they should strain every nerve, and grab every chance, shedding all thought of belligerence and showing who's the boss, to establish, maintain and preserve all it takes to lift themselves by their bootstraps,' says B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.

A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com meets the family of CRPF jawan G Subramanian, who was among the 41 martyred in Pulwama.

In the wake of the incident, the CRPF has issued a 'high vigil' alert to all its formations in the Kashmir Valley and other places in the state.

Speaking at the inauguration and laying of foundation schemes of various schemes, Modi said, Leh and Ladakh will also be benefited by this.