-The Financial Express The 12th Ministerial Conference must deliver a permanent solution on public stockholding for ensuring food security of millions reeling under Covid-induced poverty The work for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC 12) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) —to be held in Geneva, from November 30 to December 3—that had been delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic has gained momentum since the joining of the new director general of the WTO,...

-TheNewsMinute.com The scientists said that they have received partial funding and permission for implementing systematic surveillance of new variants of Coronavirus. Over 300 scientists from across India, including renowned names like Prof LS Shashidhara (Professor of Biology, IISER Pune and Ashoka University) and Prof Partha Majumder (National Science Chair, Government of India), have requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to open Access to various data in order to transparency in...

-The Hindu Business Line Kerala’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been the subject of international conversation about public health systems. Piloting Kerala’s fight against the pandemic is the State’s Health Minister and CPI(M)’s Central Committee member KK Shailaja who speaks exclusively to BusinessLine about the criticality of publicly-run healthcare and how the need of the hour is to nationalise the system. Excerpts: * What are the lessons to be learnt from...

-The Indian Express In the last 10 days, from April 18 to April 27, as many as 3,049 died of Covid. And an almost equal number, 3909, died suspected to have had Covid. The harrowing images playing out from cities and towns across the country show mourners lined up outside crematoriums, rows of funeral pyres burning with hardly a break, last-rites arrangements being hurriedly scrambled for the rising number of dead. In the...

-The Hindu Leveraging existing schemes and providing universal social security is of utmost importance India is one of the largest welfare states in the world and yet, with COVID-19 striking in 2020, the state failed to provide for its most vulnerable citizens. The country witnessed multiple crises: mass inter- and intra-migration, food insecurity, and a crumbling health infrastructure. The extenuating circumstances of the pandemic has pushed an estimated 75 million people into...