-The Hindu 12-member team to go beyond present crisis, prepare road map for transparent budgeting with States The Supreme Court has constituted a 12-member National Task Force to streamline and ensure the “effective and transparent” allocation of liquid medical oxygen on a “scientific, rational and equitable basis” to States and Union Territories fighting COVID-19. The apex court had expressed its dissatisfaction at the Centre’s earlier “oxygen-for-bed” formula. This “rough-and-ready” arrangement, as the court...

India is facing a second and worse wave of Covid-19 pandemic. At this time, the country requires journalism to tell the stories of courage, of loss and grief, of the state of preparedness and about the efforts being made by communities, individuals, civil society and government. Journalists are needed to document with rigour the gaps and lacunae in governance when it appears. At the same time, journalists need to be vigilant about...

-Newslaundry.com AAP government expelled seven reporters of the paper from a Whatsapp group after one of them reported critically on its handling of the oxygen crisis. On May 6, the Delhi government’s Media Cell removed seven Hindustan Times reporters from a Whatsapp group meant for sharing press notes, including a daily health bulletin. Vikas Yogi, the Arvind Kejriwal government’s Chief Media Coordinator who removed the reporters, didn’t offer a reason but journalists in...

-NDTV.com With the locals afraid to go to government hospitals, unlicensed practitioners are treating patients in the most rudimentary fahion with no arrangement for oxygen, drugs or even electricity. New Delhi: Patients lying on the roadside and IV fluid bottles hanging from trees -- that's how treatment is happening in a rural area of Agar-Malwa district in Madhya Pradesh. With the locals afraid to go to government hospitals, unlicensed practitioners are treating...

-The Hindu Delhi High Court pushes back, saying that the government should review its resistance at such a time The Central government should review its resistance to exempting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) levied on oxygen concentrators imported for personal use, the Delhi High Court observed on Thursday after the Finance Ministry conveyed its inability to accept the Court’s order issued on Wednesday. Late on Thursday, the Delhi High Court appointed senior...