-The Indian Express Expansion and universalisation of the PDS, pensions, cash grants and employment guarantee schemes in both urban and rural areas are essential to tide through these difficult times. The Prime Minister’s extension of free food grains for 800 million Indians till November is undoubtedly a relief. The granaries of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) are overflowing with more than 100 million tonnes of food grains. But the economy has,...

-Hindustan Times The World Health Organisation has estimated that between 81,000 and 138,000 people die from snake bites globally each year, and of these, nearly half are in India. Nearly 1.2 million people died from snake bite deaths in India between 2000 and 2019, and many of these fatalities can be avoided by adopting a series of targeted precautions, a new study has pointed out. Published in the open access journal eLife, the...

-The Hindu India needs a top statistician to frame data-based policies for welfare and development In Poverty and Famines (1981), Amartya Sen argued that poor distribution of food, wartime inflation, speculative buying and panic hoarding were important reasons for the devastating Bengal famine of 1943, while Madhusree Mukerjee, in her 2010 book, Churchill’s Secret War, wrote of the role of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, his wartime Cabinet’s decisions and “denial policy”...

-Down to Earth Document emphasises on importance of a ‘One-Health’ approach to manage and prevent zoonotic disease outbreaks and pandemics About 60 per cent of known infectious diseases in humans and 75 per cent of all emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic, according to a new report published recently by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Preventing the Next Pandemic:Zoonotic diseases and how to break the chain...

-TheWire.in The lack of any discussion with the legitimate representatives of millions of workers whose welfare is at stake is a worrying trend. In the last two months, India’s labour laws have experienced rapid changes in the blink of an eye. A number of state governments have either amended or are considering amending the Factories Act, 1948 to extend maximum working hours which violates the ILO Convention, Hours of Work (Industry), 001. Madhya...