-Hindustan Times Three main factors are driving food prices higher, according to data from the consumer affairs ministry, as well as a dozen agricultural produce market committees (APMCs), which are state-regulated wholesale points. New Delhi: The prices of key staples, barring cereals, have surged nearly three times from a month ago because of a noticeable supply shock amid the three-week nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, according to official...

-The Telegraph The government and the elite know nothing of the working poor’s problems A very distinguished virologist whom I happen to know believes that the lockdown in India was an overreaction. His argument is that since the coronavirus was coming to India from outside, testing and quarantining people coming from abroad, and those with whom they might have been in contact within the country, should have been quite sufficient to prevent...

-The Telegraph Search for treatment insights India plans to create a database of detailed case records of patients with the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) from public and private hospitals across the country to gain fresh insights into myriad factors that might have influenced their treatment outcomes. A National Task Force for Covid-19 has asked a 10-member medical panel to establish a patients’ database to enable doctors to understand better why a small proportion...

-Newsclick.in In his letter to Modi, former civil servant EAS Sarma has also sought provisions for CAG audit and disclosure of details of donors and amounts contributed to the public charitable trust. New Delhi: Former Secretary to the Government of India, EAS Sarma, while appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intent, has called for ensuring “utmost transparency and public accountability” in the operation of the PM CARES Fund, set up as a public...

-IndiaToday.in 84.26 lakh people have been provided meals across the country during the lockdown, of which nearly 37% people were fed by NGOs. In Gujarat, NGOs fed 93% of the people who were provided meals, while in Andhra the figure was 92%. New Delhi: Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in 13 states and Union Territories provided meals to more people than what their respective state governments did during the nationwide lockdown that started on...