PM Modi to discuss Covid-19 shutdown with Parliament floor leaders today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting in the Parliament with leaders of various parties on Wednesday at 11 am through video conferencing, to decide the future course of action as far as coronavirus outbreak in India is concerned along with other key issues.

The meeting will be based on the key agenda - whether to end the shutdown or extend it, and what should the course of action be for the states as well as the Centre if lockdown is extended. The meeting will take place amid intense pressure from the states to continue the nationwide 21-day lockdown in an effort to flatten the Covid-19 curve and keep number of cases at a minimum.

PM Modi on March 24 announced a three-week lockdown which will end on April 14.

Another point of discussion will be the economic impact of the shutdown on India and how to deal with it. Money released to states, future of daily wage workers who are the worst hit due to total shutdown and scope if any possible economic package will be discussed in the meeting, according to reports.

The government is expecting some opposition to the ordinance to suspend MPLADS for two years. The Cabinet headed by Prakash Javadekar on Monday announced 30% pay cut for MPs and also suspended MPLADS for the next two years to mitigate the Covid-19 crisis.

Explaining the current food supply chain, and availability of essentials will definitely feature in the discussion in view of a extension of the ongoing shutdown.

Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Pralhad Joshi, Nirmala Sitharaman among others will be present on behalf of the government along with PM Modi.

The Shiv Sena will be represented by Sanjay Raut, the Lok Janshakti Party by Chirag Paswan, the Samajwadi Party by Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, the Bahujan Samaj Party by Danish Ali and Satish Mishra and the Biju Janata Dal by Pinaki Misra, according to reports.

Total active cases in India jumped to 4,312 while total deaths stood at 124. Globally, over 1.3 million people have been affected with death toll nearing 80,000 mark.