-The Telegraph Maharashtra leads the surge, Kerala improves, says health ministry India’s health ministry reported over 40,000 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, raising the count of patients by over 17,000 in a single day after a week during which the spread of the virus was the fastest since August. The 40,953 lab-confirmed Covid-19 cases, over 25,000 in Maharashtra alone, documented till 8am on Saturday increased the number of patients under medical supervision to...

Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...

-The Hindu Committee on Home Affairs for immunisation of all frontline workers, CAPF personnel A parliamentary panel on home affairs observed that “till now, less than 1% of the Indian population has been vaccinated and at this rate it will take many years to vaccinate whole population.” The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by Congress leader Anand Sharma, tabled the report in Rajya Sabha on Monday. Second dose missed “The Committee also expresses...

-The Indian Express Governments can learn much on how to construct a social welfare system for farmers from Odisha's KALIA scheme for DIS. The recent farmer agitation has brought the issue of farmer distress front and centre in the public consciousness. The time seems ripe to find new solutions to the structural challenges facing farmers. One promising step is the shift from non-targeted agriculture subsidies towards direct income support (DIS). A key...

-The Telegraph The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader was referring to the party’s farmer outreach programme in the state Calcutta: Rakesh Tikait, one of the leaders of the farmers’ movement, on Saturday urged Bengal’s farmers to demand a law on the minimum support price when BJP representatives come to them seeking a fistful of rice. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader was referring to the BJP’s farmer outreach programme in Bengal, “Ek mutthi...