Chairing the 19th meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19 through video-conference on Friday, Vardhan said India has achieved the milestone of more than 10 lakh recoveries, a recovery rate to 64.54 per cent.

Jaitley and two others were held guilty of corruption in a 2000-01 case related to a purported defence deal. Special CBI Judge Virender Bhat also awarded four-year jail terms to Jaitley's former party colleague Gopal Pacherwal and Major General S P Murgai (retd) in the case.

The first death in the US was reported on February 29. The country reached 50,000 deaths 54 days later on April 23, and 34 days later, on May 27, crossed 100,000 deaths. It has taken 63 days to add another 50,000 to reach the 150,000 mark, CNN reported.

Dominic Xavier offers his take on the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in India as the citizens can hope and pray for the miracle of an early vaccine.

A major drawback of the Anti-Defection Law is the lack of precise definition of defection itself, points out Rup Narayan Das.

The all-time high price of silver is Rs 75,000 a kg, recorded in April 2011.

It also opposed the suggestion that the contributions be transferred to the National Disaster Response Fund.

Yes, India needs desperate measures to kick-start growth. But selling off its lungs to the highest bidder to hack away cannot be the way out, says Sumit Bhattacharya.

'Yoga is magic!' 'Other than keeping me physically fit, it helps me be calm and emotionally balanced. It gives me a lot of energy that keeps me productive throughout the day.'

'A firm national resolve can only deter and defeat the nefarious designs of the adversary,' notes Rup Narayan Das.

Inflation in food articles during May stood at 1.13 per cent, as against 2.55 per cent in April.

'I can say with confidence that any future SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, developed anywhere in the world, would have to be manufactured in India, if it is to be affordable and of high quality.'

With Muthappa Rai's death ended a life that highlighted the dark side of Bengaluru's often delirious growth to become India's IT capital

'These are challenging times and we get energised by that.' 'I don't feel that 'I am tired now and I should relax', because even if someone calls us at 12 o'clock I have to answer his call.'

Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.

It is necessary to have a dramatic increase in the number of rapid tests for COVID-19 conducted on a large number of people and that should become the basis for estimating the morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19, not relying only on hospital reports, says Professor K Srinivasan.

A PTI tally of figures announced by different states and union territories, as of 9.25 pm, showed a higher number of 1,76,792 confirmed cases and at least 5,100 deaths. It also showed nearly 86,000 recoveries and close to 85,700 active cases.

'People are already sending congratulatory messages. But I have said, "Please don't until the trials are over".'

So far a total of 24,25,742 samples have been tested, the health ministry said.

'Predictions are that numbers will continue to rise till May end and maybe in the first half of June will be our peak.'

A total of 27,920 people have been cured of the disease with 1,685 in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 34.06 per cent, the ministry said.

The statement said that the antibody's development had been completed and that the institute was in the process of patenting the find 'and in the next stage, researchers will approach international companies to produce the antibody on a commercial scale'.

'We need to have the courage to take a rational look at known facts and act accordingly,' advises Mohan Guruswamy.

Even as you fight the ongoing health challenge, here are some tips to strengthen your personal finance in the time of coronavirus.

Fresh guidelines were issued by the government on Wednesday for enforcing the second phase of the coronavirus lockdown, with the Union home ministry barring all kinds of public transport and prohibiting opening of public places during this period.

While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 7,409, as many as 764 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. Of the total 273 deaths, Maharashtra tops the tally with 127 fatalities, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 36, Gujarat at 22 and Delhi at 19.

Economic experts fear massive layoffs in various sectors of the American economy due to the current economic distress that is only going to deteriorate in the coming months. A record 3.3 million Americans have filed initial jobless claims for the week ending March 21. Even as the peak of coronavirus in the US is two weeks away, millions of people in the country have lost their jobs.

SEWA International, a leading Indian-American non-profit organisation, has so far raised more than $250,000 for its COVID-19 relief efforts. It is using the money to buy personal protective equipment's, in particular facial masks and surgical masks, to donate free to the local law enforcement officials and hospitals in some of the hot spot areas like New York, who have run out of these essential items.

These are the highlights of the seventh bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2019-20 by the RBI amid COVID-19 pandemic:

'The writer remains the most creative force in the process.' 'Producers need to be inventive in how they reward good writing.'

'Teaching lessons is the objective behind every school.' 'For the moment, a state seems intent to teach a lesson -- that students of Classes 4, 5 and 6 can wage war against the mighty Indian nation,' says Krishna Prasad.

Krishna's appointment as head of the global IT giant adds to the growing list of Indian-origin executives at the helm of some of the biggest multinational companies. Krishna joins the club that includes Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga, PepsiCo's former CEO Indra Nooyi and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.

Why did RA&W hire a man with a questionable record, wonders David Devadas.

Physical KYC takes anywhere between two to five working days to get done, V-KYC, only a few minutes.

'New Delhi showed itself willing -- at least for a period -- to tolerate the risk of conflict and to withstand Beijing's implicit and explicit threats.' 'But it also continued to try to cut some kind of deal with China to reduce tensions.'

'By not only decriminalising routine business failures, but by ensuring that institutional lending and corporate rescue frameworks are strengthened via the IBC, the prime minister has ensured there is no room anymore for the proverbial 'reckless, prodigal debtor',' notes Sanju Verma.

'The economy will pick up in 2020 or a little later... When it picks up, will it reach 10%, 8% or still lower? It all depends on how realistic are the diagnosis and the prescriptions that follow,' says Professor K J Joseph.

'Trading is about psychology; 75% of it is about keeping your emotions in check.'

He said the 'toxic combination of deep distrust, pervasive fear and a sense of hopelessness in our society' is stifling economic activity and growth.

Experts are of the opinion that though the second half of this financial year will see some recovery, volume growth is likely to remain in single digit as compared to the double-digit rise recorded in past years.