-The Hindu The Bank expects public consumption to contribute positively, but pent-up private demand to fade by end of 2021 India’s economy is expected to grow at 10.1% for the year starting April 1, 2021, as the vaccine roll-out drives activity in contact-intensive sectors, as per the World Bank’s South Asia Economic Focus South Asia Vaccinates report. However, given the significant uncertainty around epidemiological and policy factors, real GDP growth could range...

-TheWire.in ‘Index Monitoring Cell’ member P. Sainath distances himself from ‘draft’ report, submits separate note. Mumbai: A committee set up by the Narendra Modi government last year to suggest ways of India improving its ranking in the World Press Freedom Index has concluded that the media is doing well and that India’s poor score – which it says is “not in line with the ground situation” – is the product of “western...

-The Hindu Says think tank has not even got country’s map correct Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lashed out at the U.S. think tank Freedom House — which has downgraded India’s status from “free” to “partly free” — accusing the body of not even getting the “Indian map” correct. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on behalf of the government also issued a statement calling the report “misleading, incorrect and misplaced”. Speaking to Reporters at...

-The Hindu/ PTI Nearly 96% of the people surveyed under a food rights campaign in Maharashtra faced a drop in their earnings during the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown last year, a social body claims. Mumbai: Job losses and non-availability of casual work were the key reasons for this, and every fifth respondent was forced to go hungry because of no money to buy food, Mukta Srivastava, the State’s convener for the Anna Adhikar...

MAHANIRBAN CALCUTTA RESEARCH GROUP (Calcutta Research Group) is offering short-term media grants to Reporters, journalists, and media practitioners for investigative studies on the following topics: (a) Frontline Covid warriors like lower level health workers at block and Gram Panchayat or local municipality level, ASHA workers, and nurses and doctors; (b) Initiatives of solidarity with migrant workers undertaken by various civil society organisations, local clubs, municipal councillors, small groups of people,...