| 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 safe. Here are the big stories that you need to follow today: U.P. gangster Vikas Dubey arrested Gangster Vikas Dubey, wanted for allegedly shooting dead eight policemen in Kanpur's Bikru village last week, was arrested in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, the State's Home Minister Narottam Mishra said today. Dubey, on the run since the night of July 2, was arrested near a temple in Ujjain. The exact details are still awaited as to whether he surrendered or was arrested after a guard at the Mahakal temple reportedly recognised him and informed the nearest police outpost. "Our police doesn't leave anyone. They have arrested Vikas [Dubey] too and he is in our custody," Mishra told reporters, describing the arrest as a huge success for Madhya Pradesh. PM touts 'green shoots of growth' Observing that the Indian economy is seeing a revival, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that global investors should consider investing in the world's "most open economies". "Indians have the spirit to achieve what is believed to be impossible. No wonder that in India, we are already seeing green shoots when it comes to economic recovery," he said, while speaking at the "India Global Week 2020" conference, organised by a London-based NRI group, India Inc. "India remains one of the most open economies in the world. We are laying a red carpet for all global companies to come and establish their presence in India. Very few countries will offer the kind of opportunities India does today," he said, listing the gains India had made in "total financial inclusion, record housing and infra construction, ease of doing business, and bold tax reforms, including the GST".  Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the India Global Week conference organised by London-based NRI group Indian Inc on July 9, 2020. Photo: Twitter/@narendramodi Modi's reference to "green shoots", or small signs of revival, comes a few days after the Ministry of Finance published its Macroeconomic report for June 2020, which said activity had "picked up" in certain areas. Centre claims workers returning to cities to reclaim jobs Solicitor General Tushar Mehta on Thursday told the Supreme Court that migrant workers were returning to cities to reclaim their old jobs as "lockdown is over", "economy is opening up" and the situation is turning "very healthy". The Supreme Court was hearing compliance reports by the Centre and States on the return of migrant workers to their native states, which it had earlier directed the government to ensure. Mehta, who was appearing for the Maharashtra government, was expressing his view on what the Bihar government called the "reverse migration" of migrant workers who had gone home to their villages during the lockdown.  With a hope: Construction workers waiting for work at Benz Circle in Vijayawada. Senior advocate Ranjit Kumar, appearing for the Bihar government, said trains from Patna were running full. "Reverse migration is happening. Now the workers are going back to their own jobs. Trains are full from Patna," he said. Covid Watch: Numbers and Developments The number of coronavirus cases reported from India stood at 7,92,281 at the time of publishing this newsletter, with the death toll at 21,606. According to an AFP tally, more than 12 million coronavirus infections have now been recorded across the world. Despite India recording over 25,000 cases in a day for the first time on Wednesday, the Health Ministry continues to attempt a positive spin on things. "India has one of the lowest cases per million (538) and deaths per million (15) compared to the global average of 1,453 and 68.7, respectively," Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said after chairing the 18th meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on coronavirus (Covid-19). This was swiftly followed by a now standard denial that India had community transmission of the disease. There are outbreaks in some localised areas, and just 49 districts account for 80% of the Covid-19 cases, the Health Minister said. ICMR plans new survey to estimate actual prevalence of Covid-19 The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is set to begin a new survey to estimate the true prevalence of coronavirus infections, senior officials in the Health Ministry said on Thursday.  A woman wearing face shields as a preventive measure wait outside the Osmania General Hospital in Hyderabad on July 9, 2020. The organisation is yet to make public the details of its earlier survey in 60 districts, which found that 0.73% of the population may have been exposed to the virus. This survey, which had begun on May 12, appeared to suggest, as The Hindu reported last month, that at least seven lakh people were exposed to the virus across 21 States even in early May. This number suggested that the true extent of infections were 20 times higher than the 35,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 reported then in the entire country. WHO says pandemic accelerating, launches independent panel The World Health Organisation, which has faced fierce U.S. criticism over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, launched an independent panel on Thursday to review its response to the pandemic. The panel will also review the responses of governments. The Independent panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response will be headed by former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. "Through you, the world will understand the truth of what happened and also the solutions to build our future better as one humanity," WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the UN agency's headquarters in Geneva. While sharing details about the review panel, Ghebreyesus painted a grim picture of the pandemic's trajectory: "In most of the world the virus is not under control. It is getting worse … more than 544,000 lives have been lost. The pandemic is still accelerating. The total number of cases has doubled in the last six weeks." The WHO chief further said, "The greatest threat we face now is not the virus itself. Rather, it's the lack of leadership and solidarity at the global and national level. We cannot defeat this pandemic as a divided world. The virus thrives on division but is thwarted when we unite." After weeks of incessantly criticising the WHO's response to the pandemic, the U.S. had on Tuesday given a formal one-year notice of its intent to withdraw from the WHO. The U.S is the WHO's biggest donor, accounting for $400-500 million of the body's funds annually. In Brief: Cable TV operators in Nepal have switched off all Indian news channels except DD News, according to ANI. While no official government order to this effect has been reported, the development comes amid internal political turmoil in the country and strained relations with India. The Indian Army has directed all personnel to remove 89 apps, including Facebook and Instagram, from their mobile phones by July 15. The order was issued to prevent leakage of sensitive information and also due to security considerations, an Army source said on Thursday. The apps include the 59 Chinese apps banned by the government recently as well as non-Chinese apps. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. | 
Post a Comment