AS Covid-19 cases increase in the country, there has been an alarming rise in the number of frontline workers getting infected with the deadly virus, mainly due to the lack of safety gears. At least four senior doctors have reportedly died so far due to the novel coronavirus. Nurses and other hospital employees, including sanitation workers at the bottom of the hierarchy, who are more prone to infection are getting infected in large scale. Many hospitals had to be closed.

A FASCIST leader wants to leave an imprint of his glory; the footprint does not just limit to the polity, rather extends to a wide spectrum that includes art and architecture. If the construction of Volksshalle was the idea of Hitler, designed and planned by Albert Speer, the proposal of construction of a new parliament building along with the redevelopment of the Central Vista in Delhi by Modi and his prime architect, Bimal Patel is another parallel, to a similar idea.

THE relaxation of restrictions from May 4 onwards, even as the national lockdown continues till May 17, as was widely anticipated, led to a record peaking of the Covid positive cases and consequent deaths. On May 5, India recorded 3875 new cases in a single day spike, 2.5 times higher than the daily average increase over the past week. The highest number of deaths recorded are between May 4/5 - 194. This is the highest single day death toll recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic.

WHILE Tripura is under a lockdown to combat the coronavirus, some parts of the northeastern state were devastated by gale and unprecedented hailstorm. One of the worst affected areas was Jampaijala sub-division of Sepahijala district. This sub-division is largely tribal populated and its headquarters is 50 km from the state capital, Agartala.

SOON AFTER the lockdown was declared on March 24, here in Delhi we were informed by the West Bengal state leadership of the CPI(M) that a large number of migrant workerswere making distress calls to their contacts in the Partyback home and seeking help. In consultation with comrades in West Bengal, it was decided that contacts of our trade union leaders in Delhi would be passed onto the workers in distress. Within two days, the numbers were shared amonghundreds of workers who in turn passed them on to their colleagues from other states, similarly strandedin Delhi.