Left, Right & Centre

A cyclone is about to approach Mumbai for the first time in 100 years. With the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra, on Left, Right and Centre, we ask whether Mumbai is prepared to handle Cyclone Nisarga while already battling coronavirus?

As Cyclone Nisarga closes in, NDRF Director General SN Pradhan speaks exclusively to NDTV and says evacuation is on since morning in villages. "This is not a severe cyclone, evacuation has been on since morning in villages, Mumbai could be impacted due to winds," Mr Pradhan says.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has sought public suggestions on whether hospitals across the national capital should be reserved only for residents of the city amid the COVID-19 pandemic. On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss whether this suggestion is right or wrong.

On a day when coronavirus cases in Karnataka crossed 3,000, the Deputy Chief Minister said the spike has been seen due to interstate movement of people. Maharashtra is showing more and more cases daily, and those coming from that state will be put in institutional quarantine unless they come with a certificate saying they have tested negative in the 48 hours beforetravelling, the minister said.

As India "Unlock1" begins, Maharashtra Home Minister speaks about the state's plan for a phased reopening. He says they expect private offices to follow the centre's guidelines of only calling 10 per cent employees to offices.

Top hotelier Puneet Chhatwal says the road to recovery for the hospitality industry will be slow but demand will come back and that he expects domestic travel to bounce back soon.

Health experts have said that community transmission may be taking place in large parts of the country. Dr Puneet Mishra of AIIMS, Delhi, explains that the epidemic is evolving in different ways and stages in different parts of the country and asymptomatic migrants have indeed taken COVID-19 to the villages.

Journalists were called "vultures" in the Supreme Court over the migrant crisis. On Left, Right and Centre, we ask who is the vulture? Those reporting on the migrant situation or those ignoring them?

GDP growth slows to 3.1 per cent in Q4; core sector output contracts 38.1 per cent in April. On Left, Right and Centre, we speak to India Inc leaders on how to reboot India's economy.

The stand-off in Eastern Ladakh is in at least five key areas where India and China have had traditional differences on the perception of the Line of Actual Control or LAC in the region. The present tension between the two sides came into sharp focus when reports of skirmishes between the soldiers of both sides were reported in the Pangong Lake region on May 5 and May 6. These skirmishes saw officers and men of the Indian Army injured after they were reportedly surrounded by Chinese soldiers who brutally assaulted them with batons. Chinese and Indian patrols frequently cross paths in this area of dispute but in most cases, soldiers of both sides retreat after performing a 'banner drill' where each side asserts its claim to the disputed area.

Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Dilbag Singh says Pakistan has been trying to bring trouble into J&K and their strategy is that terrorism should go on here.

Over 67,000 coronavirus-infected people have been cured so far, taking India's overall recovery rate to 42.8%. On Left, Right and Centre, COVID-19 survivors share their tales of battle and recovery. 35-year-old Manoj Pawar says he had no symptoms and was totally healthy. He got tested after a relative tested positive. "No one should be scared about coronavirus even though I was initially scared," he says. He was cured and discharged after 12 days when his second test returned negative.

Today, the Chinese Ambassador to India spoke of partnership in what seems to be a dramatic change from a day ago when President Xi Jinping ordered his military to scale up battle preparedness to defend China's sovereignty. On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss whether the tension between India and China is slowly de-escalating? Will that be a safe assumption?

The Oxford Group, which has been working on a coronavirus vaccine, said they are hopeful to potentially have a million doses by early next year. "We are making good progress for a vaccine. Oxford Group believes we will have potentially 1 million doses ready for healthcare workers by fall and for the general public by the spring of 2021. It is important to give free testing and potentially free treatment to people. If we don't test people, the epidemic will get worse," Eric Feigl-Ding, Epidemiologist and Health Economist says.

Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, while speaking exclusively to NDTV today, hit out at the centre for not announcing a lockdown until March 24 despite the World Health Organisation terming the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on March 11. He said over 2.5 lakh passengers landed in Mumbai in this period, bringing the infection from other countries to Mumbai and the state. Prithiraj Chavan also said Rahul Gandhi's comments on the Congress not being the key decision maker in Maharashtra has been "twisted out of context", while adding, "The choice of words could perhaps be questioned."