Subramanian Swamy endorses railway solution for migrant workers amid Coronavirus lockdown

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy on Friday endorsed advocate Ishkaran Singh Bhandari's suggestion of Government-run free ticketless trains for migrant workers. Taking to Twitter, Swamy put forth the suggestion to run the trains for three days from where the migrant workers live to their hometown. He further added that if this is not done, the country might experience a 1947-type migration.

Earlier, Bhandari did a question and answer round on Twitter where he put forth the suggestion.

MHA issues advisory

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday issued an advisory to all the states and Union Territories to take immediate steps to address the problems faced by agricultural labourers, migrant workers in the organized and unorganized sector, outstation students and working women. The state governments have been advised to explore measures to provide food, shelter and basic amenities such as clean drinking water and sanitation to the vulnerable groups.

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COVID-19 cases rise in India

As of date, India has reported over 850 confirmed positive cases of COVID-19. Out of all the states, Kerala and Maharashtra have reported the most in the country. Meanwhile, 19 people have died so far due to the deadly virus. Due to the outbreak, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had put India under a national lockdown for 21 days. Further, India has also closed the India-Pakistan border and restricted passenger movement at the border with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Myanmar.  

Read: COVID-19: More than 2,500 people placed under home quarantine in Nagaland

Coronavirus crisis across the globe

Presently, there are around 594,377 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of around 27,250 people. Meanwhile, around 133,006 people have reportedly recovered. Currently, as per reports, the hardest-hit region is the United States of America, followed by China, and then Italy, Iran and South Korea, where the number of cases is rising by the hour.

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