The Evening Wrap Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. We hope you are staying home and staying safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: Focus on agriculture Unveiling more details about the ₹20 lakh crore economic stimulus package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today spoke about measures targeted at agriculture and allied sectors. While the steps announced may yield positive results as and when they are faithfully implemented, it remains unclear how they would be of immediate help in alleviating the distress in the farm sector, which too, relies a great deal on migrant workers -- the demographic most sharply affected by the pandemic-related lockdown. Here are the key takeaways from the press briefing: - The government will amend the Essential Commodities Act to deregulate food items, including cereals, edible oil, oilseeds, pulses, onion and potato. The amendment, besides deregulating production and sale of food products, will provide for no stock limit to be imposed on any produce.
- A ₹1 lakh crore agri-infrastructure fund for farm-gate infrastructure to be set up. It will be used for building cold chains and post-harvest management infrastructure.
- The Centre will establish a legal framework that will enable farmers to engage with processors, aggregators, large retailers, and exporters in a fair and transparent manner.
- A ₹10,000 crore scheme for formalisation of micro food enterprises (MFE) will be launched to help 2 lakh MFEs.
- A ₹15,000 crore Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund will be set up to support investment in dairy processing, value addition, and cattle feed infrastructure.
- As much as ₹10,000 crore will be provided for fishermen through Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY).
- For promoting herbal cultivation, a ₹4,000 crore National Medicinal Plants Fund will be started. It will help bring 10 lakh hectares under herbal cultivation.
- For beekeepers, a ₹500-crore scheme for infrastructure development and post-harvest facilities.
New World bank loanThe government of India is getting another loan of $1 billion from the World Bank to support its COVID-19 relief measures. The money will also be used for reforms in social security, making it more integrated, portable, and focussed on the urban poor. Last month, the bank had approved a $1 billion loan to support the health sector. The new support will be funded in two phases. An allocation of $750 million — more than ₹5,600 crore — will be made immediately to help fund the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana. The Centre had announced this scheme in March to scale up cash transfers and free food grain distribution to vulnerable communities, pensioners and poor workers, and to provide insurance support to health workers. Stay on TASMAC order The Supreme Court has stayed a Madras High Court order to close liquor shops in the State in order to maintain physical distancing until the Covid-19 lockdown is lifted. The court froze the proceedings before the high court, and issued a formal notice to the respondents (who were PIL petitioners in the high court), asking them to respond within four weeks. For Tamil Nadu, a battery of lawyers argued vociferously that the High Court’s order was a case of judiciary encroaching into State policy. “It is the decision of the State how and what to sell... Why should the high court get into it? Why should a person need an Aadhaar card to buy liquor? Plus, we cannot trust anybody to carry liquor. There will be riots. Tamil Nadu is not like Delhi,” Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of positive coronavirus cases reported from India stands at 85,544 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 2,745. Globally, more than 44,54,090 infections have been reported, with at least 3,02,489 fatalities. Thirty municipal areas account for 79% of India’s coronavirus infection caseload, the Group of Ministers on COVID-19 was informed today. Meanwhile, with 16 fresh Covid-19 cases reported on Friday, the total rose to 576 in Kerala, which has been witnessing a spike in cases of late. The number of patients undergoing treatment for Covid-19 in China has fallen below 100 for the first time since January. Meanwhile Wuhan -- epicentre of the pandemic -- launched a massive drive to test all its 11 million residents, to detect asymptomatic cases, officials said on Friday. Full PPE for flight cabin crew In some more ‘new normal’ news, henceforth, cabin crew members of major Indian airlines will have personal protective equipment (PPE) like face shields, gowns, and masks as part of their attire on commercial passenger flights when they resume operations. Airlines such as IndiGo, Air India, Vistara and AirAsia India have decided to go with the new attire to ensure the safety of cabin crew members as they are in close proximity to passengers during flights, industry sources said. This would be similar to the attire unveiled by Philippines AirAsia for its cabin crew on April 27 – a body suit consisting of a face shield and a face mask. SC to work through summer The Supreme Court has decided to cancel its nearly two-month-long summer vacation and work till June 19, for now. Further plans on whether to continue functioning or go for a short break to let the judges visit their native places would be taken after June 19. “Usually, summer vacation is the time when judges can go to their native places and spend time with their family. However, they have decided to work and clear pendency this time,” a highly placed source in the court said. The decision came on May 15, the last working day of the court. In brief: There is no “contradiction at all” in the new road constructed via Lipulekh pass up to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to shorten travel time for Indian pilgrims going to Kailash-Mansarovar, and Nepal may have raised the issue “at the behest of someone else,” Army Chief Gen. Manoj Naravane said on Friday, without naming any particular country. Nepal has strongly protested the new road and called on India to “refrain from carrying out any activity inside the territory of Nepal.” IndiGo airline’s largest shareholder company InterGlobe Enterprises on Friday said it has signed an agreement to participate in the sale of Virgin Australia, three weeks after the second-largest Australian carrier announced its collapse amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Evening Wrap will return on Monday. | 
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