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The sun has still not set on hungry and thirsty children with bags on heads, mothers hugging their infants, and workers with blisters on their feet, setting off on a journey into the unknown, hoping to reach places they connect as homes.

This humanitarian crisis has been brought upon by a failure of public policy and public action. To make things worse, States have carried out an unprecedented assault on the rights of the working people by withdrawing basic protections that had been hard won by a tiny sliver of the working class. Unfortunately, many employers appear to approve of these changes while being silent on the plight of those who help build their industries. But the heroes among them are those who have overcome the myopia of their peers and spoken of the countrys collective future.

In an exceptional article (Economic Times, May 16), Azim Premji, the former Chairperson of Wipro, writes of the unforgivable tragedy of the death of 16 migrant labourers on railway tracks, acknowledging that the blame lies on the society that we built. He notes the worsening precarity of workers and the lack of any social security cover for these labour migrants.

He writes that it was shocking to hear that various state governments, encouraged by businesses, are considering (or have already done so) suspending many of the labour laws that protect workers. He notes that measures such as these will only exacerbate the plight of the poor and that they are not only unjust but dysfunctional. He believes that the interests of businesses and workers are deeply aligned particularly in the times of the crisis.

He then goes on to underscore the need for a large fiscal stimulus to include a much expanded MGNREGA, and an urban employment guarantee scheme, a strengthened public health system, free and universal PDS and emergency cash relief to each poor household and migrant for a period of time, and finally autonomous and free movement of migrant labourers to their homes.

Similar measures were outlined in an appeal by the Indian Society of Labour Economics to the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers and recommended by a vast section of economists and industry associations such as the CII. Had these measures been taken promptly and expeditiously, they would have stemmed the tide of reverse migration, lowering the huge costs to migrants and the economy.

Instead, a package of about twenty trillion rupees has been announced by the Central government, mainly comprising credit and policy-related measures but the total additional budgetary outlay for the much needed fiscal stimulus to demand and income support is less than one per cent of GDP during 2020-21.

Meanwhile, the crisis that has hit the migrants and informal workers looks set to intensify despite the easing of the lockdown. Workers in urban areas, who still continue to grapple with hunger and unemployment, have to deal with unpaid rents, bills and other liabilities built up over the last two months.

In the rural areas, the MGNREGA is only slowly ramping up but the subsistence and employment crisis will intensify in the lean monsoon period. The government should urgently announce a second round of stimulus measures with emergency income support to all households except the well-to-do along with an urban EGS and free universal PDS.

As the migrant crisis exploded, we saw the spectacle of an exceptionally strong government at the Centre deciding to sit on the sidelines, leaving States to coordinate and implement movement, even though both inter-State migration and inter-State quarantine are central subjects. The Prime Ministers addresses to the nation remained silent on the issue. The governments directives demonstrated a marked reluctance to facilitate inter-State movement of migrants.

Till as late as May 8, the Central Labour Ministry was of the view that migrant workers should be persuaded to stay back. The States where migrants worked, on their own part, were equally reluctant to send them back, with the Karnataka government initially deciding not to send trains purportedly under pressure from its builder lobby. The source States were themselves not keen on receiving large number of migrants because of the pressure on their fiscal and administrative resources.

Clearly, neither the Central government, nor the States or the employers have covered themselves in glory in the way this huge humanitarian crisis has been handled. There are extensive and continuing reports of unpaid wages and workers being coerced to stay back on sites, even without payments.

The recent changes in labour laws announced by several States are against the backdrop of the existential crisis faced by labour, and will encourage, as Naushad Forbes, former President, CII, has warned a race to the bottom with no laws.

The most comprehensive changes have been proposed in States such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat will lead to a virtual demolition of the edifice of labour laws. The changes violate major ILO conventions and are on a common template provided by the Central government with the ostensible and unrealistic goal of attracting fresh investments, at a time when the primary objective has to be to keep industries afloat, restore demand, and revive the confidence of labour who feel let down by employers.

This is the time that all stakeholders must come forward to rebuild jobs, incomes and the economy. The Central government should take urgent measures to boost income and demand. It must deploy its resources, including the army and paramilitary, who have performed so well in national disasters, and assist the State governments in moving the migrants safely to their homes. Industry should collectively reject the rationale and need of rebuilding its future on the blood and sweat of workers and uphold the dignity of work.

A large number of industrialists, and people of substantial means have already been deeply involved with humanitarian efforts along with millions of other Indians. The actor Sonu Sood arranged a large number of buses for migrants to reach home. An urgent coordinated effort by industry to provide wages and help send migrants home at the earliest will go a long way in restoring the confidence of the workers in their employers.

Along with the pandemic, the crisis afflicting the vast sections of the working poor will still require very large proactive measures, which should also seek to build, and not destroy, partnerships among different sections of people, including workers and their employers.

The writer, a former Professor of Economics at JNU, is honorary Director of the Centre for Employment Studies, Institute for Human Development, Delhi

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See the original post here:
Time for collective action to overcome migrant crisis - BusinessLine

Vultures are becoming extinct and experts have been urging us to take urgent steps to conserve them. None in our right senses would ever dispute the necessity. Though not a pretty sight, the giant birds help the world stay clean by feasting on dead carcasses. That they play a crucial role as scavengers is text-book knowledge that we have grown up with. Yet, at no point have I empathised more with the vulture as much as I have in recent days since the bird found mention during a significant hearing in the Supreme Court, no less.

As the countrys second-most senior law officer, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, was making an argument involving the current migrant crisis when he launched a broadside against all those who have criticised the governments handling of a crisis that many have described as an unmitigated humanitarian tragedy. In coming down heavily against "armchair intellectuals" and all those behind the uncharitable headlines the crisis has been generating, he referred to an iconic photograph of a famine-stricken child taken decades ago in Sudan during a bad bout of famine. The photograph that won the South African photographer a Pultizer had a vulture menacingly sitting some distance away from the child.

The image was powerful and what the solicitor general narrated had the court listening to him in rapt attention. According to Mehta, the photographer was later asked how many vultures were there. When he said there was one, he was corrected immediately. There were two, the photographer was told, implying he was the other vulture.

Also Read |Cruel Homecoming! Of A Dying Son And Race Against Time For A Migrant Worker

Fact checks revealed that the tale the solicitor general narrated was apocryphal and suffered from inaccuracies. Though focused on getting the perfect frame, the photographer did not leave the hapless child at the mercy of the waiting vulture, which he happened to shoo away.

The child also lived through the scary encounter, though he unfortunately died like many others in his continent more than a decade later because of a fever. Yet, the underlying parallel that Mehta sought to draw carried weight. Many who read what happened in the court that day would have been prompted to ponder whether journalists highlighting the ongoing migrant crisis too were as heartless as the photographer was made out to be.

For the record, Mehta did not elaborate on what he expected the photographer to do. But perhaps what he left unsaid has encouraged those not happy with the overwhelmingly negative coverage of the migrant crisis to question the role of journalists. Suddenly, the idea of journalists as no better than vultures has gained currency, at least among sections who wish to undermine the reporting on the migrant crisis. Besides being portrayed as amoral, arguments are being forwarded that helping the migrants should take precedence for humanitys sake over reporting on their misery.

True, sensitivity and helpfulness are qualities that we should all cherish and actively practice. And it is only to be appreciated when a journalist, beyond the call of his or her duty, takes time off to help a person in misery. I can vouch for several such instances in the recent past when a reporter or a photographer, moved by the plight of the subject, has taken out money from their pocket to help a migrant in distress. It could have been to buy some packets of biscuits, or for buying a seat in a bus to ferry the migrants to their distant homes. But our individual capacity to help remains limited.

What we can instead do more effectively is to highlight their plight, speak truth to power and bring pressure on the powers-that-be to provide succour.

Also Read |Caught Between Hope And Despair, Bundelkhand Migrants Slip Into Dark Mode

Making the world a better place to live in is the basic tenet of journalism and fortunately, it remains so, despite the many shortcomings that have seeped in. Like every other profession, journalism too has good professionals and the bad. There are of course some who feast on tragedies to sell their stories and advance their interests. I can recount some, if it helps, including an instance when a reporter manufactured a story about the distress sale of children by enticing their uncle to hand them over against a few thousand rupees. The uncle had some 16,000 rupees already in his bank account. It turned out that the purported sale of his two nephews was more out of greed than distress.

But nothing justifies the attempt to portray our entire tribe as self-centred. It is okay to help those in need as and when the situation permits. But our primary job remains highlighting the unfairness and injustices so that they are not allowed to linger or recur. We fail most of the time. But that only means we dont give up but try harder. Sudan, for example, is hardly any better since the devastating famine that the photographer catalogued. But it did shake the worlds conscience and we need to be grateful to him for that.

None of the arguments made in our support will possibly make Mehta change his mind. People, after all, will subscribe to what suits them the best. It is also equally in societys interest that journalists keep doing what they are meant to do hold the mirror with warts and all. Being denigrated as vultures should actually be considered a badge of honour, just as a young Outlook colleague of mine did soon after Mehta made his controversial point. He tweeted out a picture of himself reporting on the migrant crisis with a caption: Vulture-ing. I remain very proud of his reporting and have no hesitation in proclaiming myself as the organisations Vulture-in-Chief.

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If Journalists Are Vultures, I'm Happy To Be A Vulture-in-Chief - Outlook India

Inside Indias migrant crisis, better engagement of the public and private sectors in healthcare, and are we really doing better than other countries? here is a roundup of articles in Indian news publications on how India is dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.

EXPERT SPEAK

India could have 10 million undetected Covid-19 infections, says disease modelling expert: Its hard to know what to make of the governments claim that perhaps 2.9 million Covid-19 cases and 78,000 Covid-19 related deaths have been averted, because this is based on un-transparent mathematical modelling which the country has been asked to trust and not question. We dont know what went into these mathematical models and, therefore, we have no way of judging the outcome they have produced. Watch this interview with Gautam Menon, one of Indias most highly regarded experts in disease modelling, professor of physics and biology both at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai and Ashoka University in Sonepat.

Centre has offered nothing against jobs lost by informal workers, circular migrants: Millions of migrant workers have had to walk across states and cities to reach their homes, showing that policy makers ignore them. They have few rights and entitlements and are treated as irritants or nowhere citizens. Virtually nothing has been provided against the jobs lost by the informal workers and circular migrants. Read this interview with Ravi Srivastava, director of the Centre for Employment Studies at the Institute for Human Development, who along with other economists have advocated an emergency income transfer of Rs 6,000 per month to each household.

MANAGING COVID-19

Is India really doing better than other countries? The number of cases in India has been increasing even after two months of lockdown and many states of India are running out of hospital beds and staff. The epidemic curve of Covid-19 cases in India doesnt seem to be flattening while other countries like Russia, the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Canada, Belgium have almost bent the curve. MoHFW press conferences should also focus on highlighting the steps they are taking to change the curve, other than presenting anecdotal evidence. Read more here.

Lessons from a pandemic: How India can reform its private healthcare sector: The novel coronavirus pandemic is the most devastating public health emergency in the last century of human history. It is making countries around the world take a hard look at their health systems. In India, instead of just planning a return to normal once we are past the immediate crisis, it is time to begin a society-wide debate about the need for a paradigm shift in our health system. Read the second in a two part series here on Indias healthcare sector, which looks at what lessons can be drawn from the epidemic for better engagement of the public and private sectors.

Indias largest wholesale medicine market closed until 4 June due to sudden Covid -19 outbreak: Shop owners have decided to temporarily shut Bhagirath Palace in the national capitals Chandni Chowk Indias largest wholesale market for medicinal drugs until 4 June after at least 12 people from the area tested Covid-positive over the last 10 days. Read more here.

Fifth phase of lockdown begins Monday. Heres what you must know: The guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs say that the lockdown is being extended until June 30 only in containment zones. These containment zones will be demarcated by states, depending upon the severity of the coronavirus outbreak in an area. Malls, hotels, and restaurants; places of worship; schools and colleges, all have been allowed to open in a phased manner over the next couple of months. Malls, hotels, and restaurants, and religious places such as temples, mosques, and churches will reopen from June 8. Read more here.

CITIZENS UNDER LOCKDOWN

For Mumbais security guards, the Covid-19 lockdown has made work both harder and riskier: Thousands of security guards in Mumbais housing societies were among the few low-income workers who still had stable jobs, but some of them chose to join the migrant exodus out of the city. A few have remained back and have been dealing with a whole new set of responsibilities and anxieties at work. Read more here.

How many casual workers in the cities have sought to go home? There has been no count of the number of workers returning to their home states. An analysis of NSS data tells us that the first wave of returnees is likely to be mainly urban casual workers who lost their livelihoods and lived in insecure accommodation. Read more here.

UNDERSTANDING COVID-19

Everyone is cherrypicking studies on HCQ. But scientists are divided: People currently prescribing hydroxychloroquine and those taking it should do so with the full knowledge that it is completely experimental for Covid-19 and not without risks. Cherry picking a few studies that fit your preconceived idea about hydroxychloroquines benefits or safety and disregarding the rest isnt good science and shouldnt guide health decisions. Read more here.

28% of 40,184 Covid-19 positive cases in India till 30 April were asymptomatic:At least 28 per cent of 40,184 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 between January 22 and April 30 in India were asymptomatic, a study found, raising concerns about the novel coronavirus being spread by those who show mild or no symptoms. Read more here.

VIDEO

Refugees at home inside Indias migrant crisis: We cannot understate the psychological trauma that this time has presented for thousands of people across the country. These factors are understandably drivers of one of the largest exoduses India has ever seen a reverse migration of people from cities back to their hometowns en masse. One might imagine that such a crisis would invoke nothing but empathy across the spectrum. But unfortunately, there has been a certain section of our society that has responded to this reverse migration with resentment towards migrants for leaving just as the economy needs them most. Watch this documentary by Malaika Vaz on the issue.

How has the lockdown to battle Covid-19 changed India's environment and biodiversity?

Covid-19 has impacted every system and process on our planet. On one hand, millions have been left jobless while on the other, the air has never been cleaner. The pandemic is urging India to prioritise the understanding of various sources of environmental pollution, and some of the better known culprits, industrial and vehicular pollution are re-examined. Watch the video here.

Originally posted here:
India coronavirus dispatch: Are we doing better than other countries? - Business Standard

Screengrab of the video

The worst of the times has brought out the best in people, at least some of them. This video of a 99-year-old woman packing food for migrant workers is a testimony to this.

The woman in the video is seen delicately rolling rotis with sabzi in a foil sheet meant for migrant workers stuck in Mumbai without any work in view of nationwide lockdown.

The video was shared by her nephew on Twitter Zahid F Ebrahim, a Supreme Court Advocate in Karachi, according to his Twitter bio.

My 99 year old phuppi prepares food packets for migrant workers in Bombay, he captioned the video.

Heart warming, said one witter user.

The tweet has been shared 1300 times and has been liked over 11,500 times.

Good samaritans like this woman have kept our faith i humanity afloat as India is grappling with the worst migrant crisis. Migrant workers in cities have been left without jobs and basic necessities like food as the Centre imposed a lockdown in March. The road to home has been treacherous with many of them getting killed in road accidents or succumbing to starvation.

https://pubstack.nw18.com/pubsync/fallback/api/videos/recommended?source=n18english&channels=5d95e6c378c2f2492e2148a2&categories=5d95e6d7340a9e4981b2e109&query=99-year-old,Woman,Packing,Food,for,Migrant,Workers,in,Mumbai,Gives,Us,Hope,in,Times,of,Crisis,coronavirus,warriors,Migrant,crisis,&publish_min=2020-05-30T03:19:27.000Z&publish_max=2020-06-01T03:19:27.000Z&sort_by=date-relevance&order_by=0&limit=2

Read the rest here:
99-year-old Woman Packing Food for Migrant Workers in Mumbai Gives Us Hope in Times of Crisis - News18

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Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates:The Tamil Nadu governemnt said that 817 people tested positive for coronavirus in the state on Wednesday, and six deaths were also reported. Additionally, 567 people have been discharged on Wednesday.

The total number of cases in the state stands at 18,545, including 133 deaths and 9,909 discharged.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that 40 new coronavirus cases reported in the state on Wednesday. Of these, nine returned from abroad, 16 returned from Maharashtra, five from Tamil Nadu and three from Delhi.

The total number of cases in the state are 1,004, of which 445 are active cases.

He added that till Tuesday, 173 Keralites have died due to COVID-19 in various countries.

"With people returning to the state, Kerala has entered the next phase of COVID-19 prevention and containment. There is a spike in the number of cases," he said.

792 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Delhi in the last 24 hours, which is the highest single-day spike in infections in the National Capital so far, The Indian Express reported. The total number of coronavirus cases rose to 15,257 on Wednesday.

"The toll in the city rose to 303 after 15 more casualties were updated by the state health department after examining the death summaries shared by the hospitals," the report said.

Addressing a joint press conference of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, Congress leader and state minister Balasaheb Thorat said that the government was working to alleviate the problems being faced by migrant workers in the state.

He said, "It has been two months since lockdown. We are all working together under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. We are a major industrial hub. The number of our migrant labourers is also high. Each day, we are giving 7 lakh meals."

He also said that the coronavirus in Mumbai "continues to be a concern".

"Mumbai continues to be a matter of concern but the chief minister is making sure, nobody is inconvenienced. We had expected cooperation from the Opposition but they have opened new avenues to destabilise us. But we will not let them succeed," he added.

Kerala excise minister TP Ramakrishnan on Tuesday said that 576 bar hotels, 291 beer parlours and 301 government outlets will be allowed to sell liquor from Thursday.

He was quoted by India Today as saying, "We have decided to create a mobile application for crowd management at liquor shops. This is not for home delivery, but to book tokens. Our plan is to create a virtual queue management system. Only five people will be allowed at an outlet at a time."

One person can make a booking once in 4 days, the report said.

Amid escalating tensions between India and China over a border dispute, Sun Weidong, Chinese envoy to India said that the two countries were fighting coronavirus pandemic "together".

"China and India are fighting together against COVID-19 and we have an important task to consolidate relations. Our youth should realise the relation between China and India, the two countries are opportunities for each other and pose no threat.

"We should never let differences overshadow our relations. We should resolve differences through communication."

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said that the state government had not been informed about 36 trains that are set to arrive in the state from Mumbai.

"Without our knowledge, 36 trains are coming from Mumbai. I spoke with Maharashtra, they also got the information late. Railways is planning it on their own," she said. This came a day after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that two trains from Mumbai and Delhi had arrived in Kerala without the state government being informed.

The Goa Cabinet decided to make COVID-19 test compulsory for every person entering the state if they are unable to produce a 'COVID negative' certificate, said chief minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday.

"The 14-day home quarantine option will be no longer available. Either you bring the negative certificate or have to take the test," said the chief minister.

The move comes amid the state losing its green zone tag recently when people from neighbouring Maharashtra entered the border and tested positive for the disease.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases in the state was at 21 days.

Speaking at a review meeting on Tuesday, Chouhan had said that the state's COVID-19 recovery rate has gone up to 53 percent, while the national average was 41.8 percent, the official said.

Similarly, the doubling rate of COVID-19 cases was at 21 days in Madhya Pradesh, while the average in the country was 15.4 days, the Chief Minister said in the meeting.

Eighteen more individuals, including one passenger who landed in Guwahati from Ahmedabad, tested positive in Assam, tweeted health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday.

Of the 17 other COVID-19 cases, 14 were reported in Golaghat alone, two in Karbi Anglong while one in Lakhimpur.

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday dismissed the rumours of Mumbai and Pune going under military lockdown for 10 days. He clarified that that there was no proposal for Army deployment in the two cities.

Deshmukh strongly denied the messages which went viral on social media on Army deployment and appealed the people not to believe in it. He added that Maharashtra cyber cell has initiated action against those spreading the rumour.

A total of 792 COVID-19 positive cases were reported in Delhi in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the National Capital to 15,257 on Wednesday.

The Union Territory has so far reported 303 deaths, bringing the COVID-19 mortality rate to 1.9 percent.

Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: In the past 24 hours, 75 Maharashtra Police personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. This takes the total number of positive cases in the force to 1,964 with the toll at 20.

A total of 849 personnel have recovered while 1,095 are active cases.

Essential services related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health should be continued in a restricted manner in areas defined as containment and buffer zones, the Union Health Ministry said, underlining that COVID-19 testing is not mandatory for providing such services.

BSP president Mayawati on Wednesday termed as most unfortunate the continued sufferings of the migrants amid an ongoing dispute between the Centre and the Maharashtra government. 'It is important to stop levelling of charges and pay attention to these helpless people so that their lives can be saved from being completely ruined,' she said in a tweet in Hindi.

With four more individuals testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Assam, the total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state climbed to 686 on Wednesday, said health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Of the total, there are 617 active cases, Sarma said.

Professor Johan Giesecke of the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, speaking to Congress' Rahul Gandhi on COVID-19 crisis in India said the country needed a graded exit plan from the lockdown to protect the economy.

Claiming that a severe lockdown may disrupt the economic growth, Giesecke on Wednesday said, "India has to ease restrictions one by one, it may however take months to completely come out of lockdown."

The Indian Council of Medical Research has removed the price cap of Rs 4,500 for the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test used to detect COVID-19, asking states and UTs to negotiate with private labs to fix "mutually agreeable" rates for the test.

In a letter to the state chief secretaries on Monday, ICMR Director General (D-G) Dr Balram Bhargava said the COVID-19 diagnostic supplies are stabilising because of the indigenous production of the kits.

Of the total 1,51,767 confirmed COVID-19 cases, there are 83,004 active cases, according to the latest data released by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

India's COVID-19 recovery rate was at 42.45 percent after 64,425 patients were cured of the disease.

India reported 6,387 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the total confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus to 1,51,767 on Wednesday, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

The COVID-19 toll was at 4,337 across the nation after 170 more patients succumbed to the viral infection.

Sixteen new COVID-19 cases were reported in Assam as of 11.55 pm on Tuesday, said health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. Of the new cases, six were reported in Hojai and Golaghat each, two in Darrang while one each in Kamrup Metro and Kamrup.

India reported 6,535 coronavirus cases and 146 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 1,45,380 and the total fatalities to 4,167.

The number of active COVID-19 cases climbed to 80,722. As many as 60,490 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the Union health ministry said.

This came on a day that the Supreme Court took note of the plight of migrants stranded due to the lockdown and issued notices to the Centre and all state governments.

Of the 146 deaths reported since Monday morning, 60 were in Maharashtra, 30 in Gujarat, 15 in Delhi, 10 in Madhya Pradesh, seven in Tamil Nadu, six in West Bengal, four each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, three in Telangana, two each in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Karnataka and one in Kerala.

Of the total 4,167 fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 1,695 deaths followed by Gujarat with 888 deaths, Madhya Pradesh with 300, West Bengal with 278, Delhi with 276, Rajasthan with 167, Uttar Pradesh with 165, Tamil Nadu with 118 and Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 56 deaths each.

The death toll reached 44 in Karnataka and 40 in Punjab.

Representational image. PTI

Jammu and Kashmir has reported 23 fatalities due to the disease, Haryana has 16 deaths, while Bihar has registered 13 and Odisha has seven deaths.

Kerala and Himachal Pradesh have reported five deaths each so far, while Jharkhand and Assam have recorded four deaths each so far.

Chandigarh and Uttarakhand each have recorded three COVID-19 fatalities each, while Meghalaya has reported one fatality so far, data showed.

More than 70 percent of the deaths are due to comorbidities, authorities said.

According to the ministry data updated in the morning, the highest number of confirmed cases in the country are from Maharashtra at 52,667 followed by Tamil Nadu at 17,082, Gujarat at 14,460, Delhi at 14,053, Rajasthan at 7,300, Madhya Pradesh at 6,859 and Uttar Pradesh at 6,532.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 3,816 in West Bengal, 3,110 in Andhra Pradesh and 2,730 in Bihar. It has risen to 2,182 in Karnataka, 2,060 in Punjab, 1,920 in Telangana, 1,668 in Jammu and Kashmir and 1,438 in Odisha.

Haryana has reported 1,184 coronavirus infection cases so far, while Kerala has 896 cases. A total of 526 people have been infected with the virus in Assam and 377 in Jharkhand.

Uttarakhand has 349 cases, Chhattisgarh has 291, Chandigarh has reported 238 cases, Himachal Pradesh has 223, Tripura has 194 and Goa has registered 67 cases so far.

Ladakh has reported 52 COVID-19 cases, Puducherry has 41 instances of the infection, Manipur has 39 while Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 33 infections

Meghalaya has registered 14 cases. Nagaland has reported three cases of the infection, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Arunachal Pradesh have reported two cases of the virus each, while Mizoram and Sikkim have reported a case each till how

"2,970 cases are being reassigned to states," the ministry said on its website, adding, "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR."

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it said.

The Supreme Court said there have been inadequacies and certain lapses by the Centre and the states, and asked them to provide transport, food and shelter immediately free of cost.

Referring to various media reports showing the unfortunate and miserable conditions of migrant labourers walking on foot and cycling long distances after the lockdown, the top court issued notices to the Centre, the states and Union territories and sought their replies by 28 May.

Although the Centre and the states have taken measures to provide relief to the migrants, the court said there have been inadequacies and certain lapses. Effective concentrated efforts are now required to redeem the situation, it added.

The adequate transport arrangement, food and shelters are immediately to be provided by the Centre and State Governments free of cost, said the court which took the suo motu (on its own) cognizance of the situation.

The order by the court came amid criticism by activists and lawyers that the judiciary was not doing enough in tackling the migrants crisis after the coronavirus lockdown and in making the executive accountable.

The national lockdown was imposed on 25 March leading to job losses and forcing lakhs of migrant workers to head to their faraway native states.

The apex court on 15 May observed that it is impossible for the courts to monitor or stop the movement of migrant workers across the country and it is for the government to take necessary action in this regard.

We take suo motu cognizance of problems and miseries of migrant labourers who had been stranded in different parts of the country. The newspaper reports and the media reports have been continuously showing the unfortunate and miserable conditions of migrant labourers walking on-foot and cycles from long distances, said a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MR Shah.

The top court added that in the present situation of lockdown in the entire country, this section of the society (migrant labourers) needs succour and help by the concerned governments especially steps need to be taken by the Government of India, State Governments/ Union Territories in this difficult situation to extend helping hand to these migrant labourers.

'COVID-19 fatality rate in India among lowest in the world'

The COVID-19 fatality rate in India is among the lowest in the world at 2.87 percent, the Union government said, attributing the timely lockdown, early detection and management of coronavirus infection cases as the main reasons for the low death toll.

From 3.38 percent in April, the fatality rate in the country has come down to 2.87 percent as against 6.4 percent globally.

The toll due to COVID-19 rose to 4,167 and the number of cases climbed to 1,45,380 in the country registering an increase of 146 deaths and 6,535 cases in a 24-hour span till Tuesday 8 am, according to the Union health ministry.

Responding to a question at a press briefing on why the country's death rate is one of the lowest in the word, ICMR DG Balram Bhargava said there is no substantiative factor behind it.

"We have surprisingly found a low fatality rate in India and which is a very good thing. Ultimately, we are interested in a patient surviving whether he gets COVID-19 or not.

"There are several hypothesis such as we are living in bad hygiene, have higher immunity and have been given certain vaccines like BCG and those for tuberculosis, but these all are hypothesis and we cannot say anything clearly on any factor. So long as the fatality rate is low it a good thing and I hope it continues," he said.

Joint secretary Lav Agarwal, however, said that the country's graded response to COVID-19 and timely identification of cases along with their clinical management played a major role in keeping the death rate low.

One of the main components of an infectious diseases is early identification, he said.

"We had started screening of passengers and activated our healthcare workers even 13 days before the WHO declared it a public health emergency of international concern. If cases are detected on time they do not turn serious and to the extent automatically the fatality rate will be low," he said.

France has a fatality rate of 19.9 percent followed by Belgium at 16.3, Italy at 14.3, UK at 14.2, Spain 12.2, Sweden 11.9, Canada 7.6, Brazil 6.3, the US at 6.0, China 5.5 and Germany at 4.6 percent.

With inputs from PTI

Updated Date: May 27, 2020 20:15:47 IST

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