The Centre on Friday said it will allow the opening of liquor stores and paan shops in the green zones during the third phase of the lockdown, beginning May 4.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MHA) has extended the nationwide lockdown for two weeks from May 4 and issued a fresh set of guidelines for the same.

The Centre on Friday further extended the nationwide lockdown for two weeks beyond May 3, the last day of the current phase of the restrictions imposed to check the spread of novel coronavirus.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an Order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 to further extend the Lockdown for a further period of two weeks, a government press release said.

While India continues to deal with the coronavirus pandemic that affected over 35,000 people across the country and killed over 1100, an MLA in Rajasthan have written to chief minister Ashok Gehlot demanding the opening of liquor shops.

The MLA has claimed that drinking alcohol will kill the coronavirus.

Indian Railways on Friday ran a special train to carry stranded migrant from Telangana to Jharkhand amid coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown.

According to a statement issued by the Indian Railways, this special train is carrying about 1,200 stranded migrants from Lingampally in Telangana to Hatia in Jharkhand. This would be the first train to run since the lockdown began.

The Election Commission (EC) has allowed conducting elections to the nine Maharashtra Legislative Council seats. The polls will be held on May 21.

All elections were suspended by the poll watchdog in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, even before the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24. The process to fill nine vacant seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council was also withheld due to the pandemic.

Hindustan Unilever (HUL), the country’s largest consumer goods company, on Thursday reported a 7 per cent decline in volumes for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 (Q4FY20), faring even worse than the demonetisation quarter (October-December 2016), when the fall was 4 per cent.

The Street had factored in a drop of 2-4 per cent in Q4 volume growth on account of the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown.

A day after the Centre issued guidelines allowing inter-state movement of stranded people across the country due to the lockdown, the Maharashtra government has set up a control room to facilitate migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists and students in the state who want to go back to their home.

An office has been set up under director of Maharashtra's Disaster Management Authority Abhay Yawalkar. Two contact numbers - 022- 22027990, 022-22023039 - have been released by the state for people who want to see the help.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday held a comprehensive meeting to discuss strategies to attract more foreign investments into India as well as to promote local investments in order to give a boost to the economy against the backdrop of the COVID-19 crisis.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Home Minister Amit Shah, Minister for Commerce & Industries Piyush Goyal, MoS (Finance) Anurag Thakur and senior government officials attended the meeting.

Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor died on Thursday after a two-year battle with cancer. He was cremated at the Chandanwadi crematorium in south Mumbai in the presence of close family.

He was 67.

The third generation of the Kapoor dynasty, Rishi is survived by his wife Neetu, actor son Ranbir and daughter Riddhima.

After sitting over the recommendation by the Maharashtra cabinet to nominate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to the Legislative Council, Governor BS Koshyari on Thursday requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to declare polls for nine vacant seats of the Upper House of the state legislature.

A statement from Raj Bhavan said that Koshyari has requested the ECI to declare elections to the nine vacant seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council ‘at the earliest’.

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