巴拉特

作者： bharat.cn

  • India’s government has announced a temporary halt to all commercial flight arrivals, as part of a series of measures being put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country

    India’s government has announced a temporary halt to all commercial flight arrivals, as part of a series of measures being put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country

    Airport staff in New Delhi, India, March 14, 2020

    India’s government has announced a temporary halt to all commercial flight arrivals, as part of a series of measures being put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country.
    The Press Information Bureau issued a bulletin on Thursday outlining a series of new policies aimed at combating Covid-19. Passenger aircraft will be barred from landing in India for one week, starting on March 22, the press release said. Discounted railway travel and civil aviation will be suspended except for students, patients and people with disabilities.

    Additionally, citizens above the age of 65, and children below the age of 10, have been encouraged to stay at home until the health crisis passes. New Delhi has also called on private firms to ask their employees to work remotely. Government employees will have staggered schedules in order to reduce the risk of human-spread infection.

    The new measures will not be accompanied by a nationwide lockdown – a claim that was spread widely on social media, but fiercely denied by the government.

    India has fared surprisingly well amid the coronavirus outbreak, with around 180 confirmed cases and four deaths as of Thursday.

    Globally, the pandemic has infected 220,000 and killed 9,000, according to current tallies. China – the epicenter of the virus – registered its first day without local infections since the start of the outbreak more than two months ago. However, Covid-19’s spread west has left Europe and the United States bracing for what many believe will be a devastating health crisis.

  • India runs on coal and travels on oil. Oil and coal and their products make up four of top five imports for India

    India runs on coal and travels on oil. Oil and coal and their products make up four of top five imports for India. The only exception is centuries-long longing for gold among Indians. In value terms, crude oil is the single largest import contributor and has consistently accounted for more than 20 per cent of India’s imports basket.

    India imports about 85 per cent of its fuel oil needs. It is the third largest consumer and importer of the crude oil in the world. Any fluctuation in the crude oil prices is bound to impact Indian economy. Inflation, current account deficit (CAD), fiscal deficit and overall GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth rate gets favourably or adversely impacted.

    The RBI estimates that a crude price shock will be followed by high CAD to GDP ratio if price increase is passed on directly to the final consumers, this January 2020 RBI paper says.

    There have been suggestions that India should stockpile oil when the prices are favourable in the international markets. The current prices of crude oil present one such situation for India. The crude oil fell below $30 per barrel on Monday. On Wednesday, the prices fell below $26 per barrel. The last time crude oil prices had fallen to $26 per barrel level in 2016 after which it started increasing. In January, the crude oil was selling at $70 per barrel.

    Indian government has decided to increase its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) by buying oil from Saudi Arabia and UAE, the principal players responsible for sharp cut in crude oil prices due to rivalry between the factions of oil exporting countries. Saudi Arabia increased its oil output from less than 10 million barrels a day to 13 million barrels per day.

  • The total number of novel coronavirus-positive cases in India has risen to 153

    The total number of novel coronavirus-positive cases in India has risen to 153. Three fatalities have also been registered. Italy has lost 2,500 people to Covid-19 and these numbers don’t seem to be slowing down. The novel coronavirus has impacted all forms of livelihood. Countries like Spain and Italy are on lockdown. People are practising self-quarantine in an attempt to slow the spread of the novel virus.

    To also put a halt on the increasing number of cases, governments of various countries, including India, has put a ban on people entering their country from abroad. According to a PTI report, India has banned the entry of people flying in from Europe, Turkey and the UK from March 18 to 31. People on vacation or business tours outside the country are currently stuck on foreign lands.

    Reports of a lot of passengers being stuck at the Bali airport are doing the rounds on Twitter. One user shared pictures from the Bali airport and wrote, “150 plus Indians stuck at Bali airport. Many more in Bali, no help from the Indonesian government, no support from Air Asia. And other flight tickets are too expensive #helpneeded #indiansstuckatbaliairport,” and he tagged Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in his tweet.