-The Indian Express Threat from coronavirus is real, demands vigilance. But responses to it are bordering on paranoia. In The Plague, Albert Camus describes the French town of Oran, which is swept by a plague leading to the death of thousands of inhabitants. Camus’s novel is the story of a community struck by a destructive force, to which it refuses to surrender. The outbreak of the COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus epidemic and the...

-Hindustan Times “We are trying to calm the peoples’ FRAyed nerves. The daily sharing of data is creating panic. People are buying masks and hoarding hand sanitisers,” said Dr Rajan Sharma, IMA president. New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association urged the government on Wednesday not to share novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases daily, arguing the move would lead to panic even though the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic. “We appeal to...

-The Hindu The absence of playgrounds and electricity in govt. schools speaks poorly of policy priorities It should rank as an irony that as a founder-leader of the International Solar Alliance, India has not yet electrified a significant number of government schools, while extolling the elegance and virtue of photovoltaic electricity to the rest of the world. The lack of power in schools is taken note of by the Parliamentary Standing Committee...

-PTI/ The Hindu ‘The police can take action including registration of FIRs’ The Delhi High Court has been told by the AAP government that under the penal law, food adulteration is a cognisable offence against which the police can take action, including registration of FIRs. The submission was made before a Bench of Justices G.S. Sistani and A.J. Bhambhani which had earlier said that the use of pesticides and chemicals to ripen fruits...

-The Hindu Nearly 53 lakh adivasi families have not yet received land rights, says tribal leader Khamman (Hyderabad): The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch (AARM) national convener Jiten Chowdhury charged the BJP-led Central government with infringing on the hard won rights of tribal communities by attempting to dilute the landmark Forest Rights Act (FRA) enacted in 2006. Mr Chowdhury was addressing a public meeting held here on Monday evening to mark the beginning of...