India's 4th, 'perhaps worst' recession is here, warns CRISIL

Coronavirus effect: India's fourth, 'perhaps worst' recession is here, warns CRISIL
India's fourth recession since Independence, first since liberalisation and perhaps the worst to date, is here, warned CRISIL. On Tuesday, the agency has forecasted India's GDP growth to fall off a cliff and contract 5 per cent in the financial year 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier, on April 28, CRISIL had slashed its GDP growth prediction for India to 1.8 per cent from 3.5 per cent. The agency said that economic conditions have only gone downhill in last one month.

Supreme Court slams central, state governments for lapses in handling of migrants crisis
The Centre and state governments have come under fire from the Supreme Court for mishandling of the migrants' issue. Migrants have been stranded in different parts of the country during the lockdown. The apex court said that there are lapses on the side of the Centre and the State governments and urgent measures are needed to address the problems.. The matter has been listed by the Supreme Court for May 28. The nationwide lockdown in India, which started about a month ago, has impacted nearly 40 million internal migrants, the World Bank recently said in a report.

India's weekly unemployment rate soars to 24.3% amid coronavirus lockdown: CMIE
Coronavirus-induced lockdown has been a cause of worry especially as it is having far reaching consequences like job losses and pay-cuts. It has led to a spike in India's unemployment rate to 24.3 per cent in the week ended May 24 compared to 24 per cent in the preceding week, as per Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data. It was also higher than the average unemployment rate of 24.2 per cent reported in the past 8 weeks - the weeks of nationwide lockdown.

Coronavirus update: Why WHO put a pause on hydroxychloroquine trials

Coronavirus vaccine update: India to begin human trial in next six months, says ICMR
The world is waiting for a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus and several vaccines are at different stages of development across the world. India's top medical body, the ICMR has said human trials of coronavirus vaccine may begin in another six months.
The Head of ICMR Dr Rajni Kant said, "The virus strain isolated at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) laboratory in Pune will be used to develop the vaccine. It is expected that the human trials of the vaccine will begin in at least six months". In fact, four out of the 14 COVID-19 vaccine candidates from India may enter the clinical trial stage in the next three-five months.

After groceries, Zomato to now home deliver alcohol in Odisha
Zomato has announced it will start delivering alcohol in Odisha from today. The service called 'Zomato Wine Shops' is available on the home page of the Zomato app and allows users to select any product from the listed retailers (just like grocery stores) and gets it delivered to their home within 60 minutes. Zomato will play the role of the aggregator

Locusts destroy crops in several Indian states
Several states in northern India, including Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are facing one of the worst locust attacks, adding to their worries during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to agro experts, this is the most severe locust attack in nearly 26 years which threatens to destroy crops and disrupt food security in the country.

PVR, Inox Leisure stocks hit by uncertainty as coronavirus brings business to halt