-Down to Earth A behind-the-scenes look helps one know that human as well as economic costs need to be paid upfront to make either solar grade silicon or put together a million lithium batteries A recent analysis performed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shows that it is a business-as-usual scenario. The global average temperature has been 1.02 degrees Celsius (°C) higher than the baseline. The World Meteorological Organization has announced the...

-OutlookIndia.com The stranded migrant crisis caused by the national lockdown, imposed with little notice, in March 2020 shook the conscience of the nation. On June 29, the Supreme Court passed an important judgment providing relief to migrant and unorganized sector workers in a case where it has taken suo moto cognizance during the national lockdown last year. The directions of the court in this matter mainly address four aspects – speeding up...

-The Hindu Top COVID-19 vaccination official responded to query on mismatch with Health Ministry’s number of 135 crore doses. A May 13 estimate, by one of India’s top officials overseeing the Pandemic response, that India would have 216 crore doses of vaccines from August-December was based on an “optimistic, aspirational assessment” and based on what vaccine manufacturers had conveyed to the government. VK Paul, Chairman, National Empowered Group on Vaccine at a press briefing...

-Press release by National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) dated 2nd July, 2021  The sudden and unplanned lockdown imposed by the union government in March 2020 in the wake of Pandemic had caused immense hardship to the informal sector workers. After much criticism and concern on its inaction, Supreme Court on 26.05.2020 took suo moto cognizance of “problems and miseries of the migrant labourers”. Later, several persons associated with people’s organisations...

-The Hindu Business Line The development economist, now part of Tamil Nadu’s Economic Advisory Council, says that public expenditure on health is just 0.6 per cent of the state domestic product, one of the lowest ratios among Indian states * Universal quality education, health care and social security are still distant goals * A well-designed system of emergency cash transfers would be quite useful in this situation of recurrent crises, which may last...