-The Hindu Vaccination drive likely to throw up erroneous inferences, experts The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is unlikely to immediately undertake a fourth national serology survey to estimate the extent of exposure to the coronavirus since January. Officials told The Hindu that though discussions were still on, undertaking such a study presented newer logistical challenges and the ongoing vaccination drive could read to erroneous inferences. The ICMR has conducted three national...

-GaonConnection.com A recent rural survey of 300 respondents in Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh, found 38% respondents preferred quacks for treatment, commonly known as nadi babas. Against 14% registering for COVID vaccination, only 4% went ahead for inoculation. These challenges need to be addressed urgently as the virus has spread in rural India. Sixty five per cent of India’s population resides in rural areas, while only 33 per cent of the health infrastructure caters...

-The Hindu A monthly cash transfer to informal workers will provide them relief and also revive the economy The majority of India’s working population is today reeling from the impact of multiple crises: a health emergency more ferocious than any in independent India; massive job losses and dramatic declines in incomes from work; and significantly increased mass hunger and worsening nutrition. Many failures The Supreme Court on May 13 directed the Centre and the...

-IndiaSpend.com The best way to arrest the COVID surge in India's villages is to rebuild people's trust in public systems, encourage home care and use simple technologies, say experts Mumbai: The number of COVID-19 cases in India is now slowing down a bit, with around 350,000 cases and fewer than 4,200 deaths every day. We know by now that on both numbers, there is considerable under-counting. The number of cases at a national...

With the rise in Covid-19 daily new cases and daily new deaths since March this year, media reports (please click here and here) on migrant workers returning back to their native places (i.e. places of origin) from migration destinations (i.e. workplaces likes cities and large industrial towns to where the informal and low skilled workers from the marginalised sections of the society migrate seasonally, and sometimes for a longer duration,...