Dipankar Ghose

As the national lockdown entered its second week, The Indian Express travelled across four states to track this unprecedented exodus, examine what social distancing and isolation means in towns and villages off camera and off the highway — and what could await the first COVID-19 patients here.

Ranveer was one among the countless migrant workers walking home from big cities to their villages, where new rules of isolation and quarantine await. And his story is emblematic of their plight, and the trauma of waiting families.

The webinar platform has been developed in tandem with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

In an online interaction with residents of Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency, Modi compared the “war” against the coronavirus to the Mahabharat.

Within minutes of his address, there were reports of panic buying for groceries and provisions from across the nation which had, until then, hunkered down for a lockdown until March 31.

From Gwalior, the royal family’s stronghold, to Guna, its political battleground, The Indian Express finds Cong leaders weighing their options and BJP oldtimers nervous about theirs.

What remains in the ruins are deep faultlines threatening what was once a syncretic existence, forged out of lives lived together, eked out jointly on the fringes of the national capital, sustained on its promises, and secured tight by combined struggles.

Something has changed from Tuesday to Wednesday — after widespread violence, a tenuous calm.

Delhi violence: Death toll touches 17 with at least 250 injured; homes and shops set on fire; Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal meets Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The new system will include a break and two hours of service in the evening, a senior official said. Under the existing timings, OPDs are open from 9 am to 2 pm.

Speaking at the inauguration of a three day National Tribal Dance Festival organised by the Chhattisgarh government, he also said the country could never benefit “if brothers are made to fight brothers.”

The Congress leader's remarks came against the backdrop of nationwide protests against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Ramanna joined the Maoists in 1982 and arrived in Bastar in 1988. He is seen by many as the man who built the Maoist organisation in Bastar — the most left wing extremism-hit area in the country.

Baghel said that while the BJP came to power riding on the “surgical strike”, they are yet to tell the country how the Pulwama attack came to pass and “how RDX reached the spot”.

Four days ago, security agencies in Bastar picked up wireless chatter from intercepts which suggested the death of Ramanna.

On June 28, 2012, 17 people were killed in Chhattisgarh in what was then called “the biggest Maoist encounter”. With a judicial commission now punching holes in the official version of the incident, The Indian Express travels to Sarkeguda and finds that while much has changed in these years, some things haven’t — the memories of that night, and the wounds that refuse to heal

The encounter in question occurred in June 2012, in which 17 people were killed and 10 were injured after security forces claimed they were attacked by a Maoist meeting and opened retaliatory fire in Sarkeguda village. 

Baghel said, “It is unfortunate that there was no FIR or action taken then (in 2012). Seven years later, a report like this has come. Whoever is responsible will be punished.”

Sources told The Indian Express that the state government decided to table the report after a hurried Cabinet meeting late Saturday. During the meeting, sources said, at least two ministers claimed the Cabinet had been “misled” earlier about the contents of the report.