Left, Right & Centre

"Americans are home alone and leaderless in this pandemic. Trump's thinking is that it will go away magically. There is absence of national leadership in the US. President Donald Trump does not even wear a mask himself and then says, "Inject Lizol". People are really confused," New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman tells NDTV

"We are confident that we will defend our territorial integrity but at the same time we also want peace to prevail": Lt General (retd) SL Narasimhan talks about the India-China face-off in Ladakh.

After numerous negotiations between several states and the central government, domestic flights in India resumed today. After opposing the resumption of flights amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Maharashtra state government late last night agreed to a limited resumption of flight operations. As many finally returned home, 82 cancellations led to chaos and confusion among fliers. On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss whether the resumption of flights save the Indian aviation.

Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray speaks to NDTV on the state government's response to the coronavirus pandemic. The interview comes on a day when Maharashtra, the worst coronavirus-hit state in the country, reported its highest single-day spike of 3,041 cases.

China is attempting to put pressure on India and the matter should be taken seriously, former northern Army commander, Lieutenant General (Retired) DS Hooda said. "The India-China issue is serious because the kind of violence that has happened is something we have not seen in the past. So many people have gotten injured and this is unusual," he said.

The Maharashtra government has said that there's no permission for flight resumption in the state even as the Civil Aviation Ministry has given a go ahead for flights to operate in the country. It is now states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and West Bengal versus the Centre as domestic flights begin their operations from Monday. Speaking exclusively to NDTV's Vishnu Som, Maharashtra Minister Amit Deshmukh said that opening railway stations and airports at this time is not wise as there is a surge of cases in Maharashtra. He further added that the Maharashtra government has been pushing the Civil Aviation ministry and the Centre to consider the position of the state government for the interest of the people of the state.

On Left, Right and Centre, we focus on flights resuming from May 25 with new rules and regulations for flying. The government announced that fares have been capped as well, will this affect the aviation industry negatively?

A number of industries linked with aviation and the aviation sector itself has been hit hard as a result of coronavirus and the nationwide lockdown. Travel and hospitality has been impacted as well and On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss what the way forward can be for the industries impacted and can India reopen safely?

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman held her fifth and last press conference on the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a few days ago. She announced Rs 40,000 crore for the MNREGA, among others. On Left, Right and Centre, we discuss whether this was the time to put money in the hands of people and sectors rather than looking at bigger structural reforms.

On her fourth announcement to spell out details of the economic mega booster, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman focused on infrastructure development in the country. Some of the ideas spelt out in defence and aviation were progressive but clearly had nothing to do with the plight of millions in the country who have been economically stifled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After Nirmala Sitharaman's latest presser on the government trying to empower the citizens of the country, there is a debate now on whether a government should give out doles or give people loans that they can repay. On Left, Right & Centre, we ask whether COVID-19 is the right time to be having a debate like this or should the government intervene far more in the economic package.

World Bank wants to support the vulnerable and poor migrants, the bank's India director Junaid Ahmad told NDTV. "There is a need for intervention which will bridge the poor, the vulnerable from this lockdown towards a time where there will be an economic revival. We want to support the vulnerable and the poor and migrants and urban workers. Our program looks at Gareeb Kalyan Yojana and we look at urban migrants," he said.

Ram Vilas Paswan, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution says there is no shortage of grains in India and the situation is far better than other countries. "PM Modi is monitoring everything and we can say that there is no shortage of grains. In countries like UK and US, people have no option but to eat bread. The situation in our country is still better," he says.

Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra says that they have no revenue but they have to pay for moving migrants. "There is a very unfortunate situation where the states are having to pay just to move the migrants. Where is the allocation? Where will the 15% come from? We have no revenue," Amit Mitra tells NDTV.

Assocham President Niranjan Hiranandani says that the government will make sure that the money reaches the poor. "Migrant workers were required to walk hundreds of kilometres to their homes and I am sure the government is trying to compensate for that and they will make sure the money reaches to the poor," he tells NDTV.