-The Hindu Top court says provision of food for labourers need not wait until completion of registration The government’s delay in completing a national database to identify and register migrant workers across the country in order to provide them benefits in times of dire need stood out like a sore thumb in a Supreme Court hearing on Friday. A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and M.R. Shah acknowledged submissions made by advocate Prashant...

-The Hindu 12-member team to go beyond present crisis, prepare road map for transparent budgeting with States The Supreme Court has constituted a 12-member National Task Force to streamline and ensure the “effective and transparent” allocation of liquid medical oxygen on a “scientific, rational and equitable basis” to States and Union Territories fighting COVID-19. The apex court had expressed its dissatisfaction at the Centre’s earlier “oxygen-for-bed” formula. This “rough-and-ready” arrangement, as the court...

-The Hindu Workers in rural Kerala are badly hit. Kochi: Shanthi M., a 53-year-old from a family dependent on dairy farming in the Rayamangalam panchayat along the eastern suburbs of Ernakulam district, has dumped down the drain nearly 17 litres of milk daily ever since two members of her family tested positive for COVID-19. There are no takers for milk from an infected household. Nor is the family at liberty to cut...

-TheWire.in From books being banned to students and faculty facing criminal charges and being jailed, the past few years have been especially tough on India's universities. These tables – under six broad heads but disaggregated to record the separate experiences of faculty and students – are an updated, expanded version of the annexures first prepared in June 2020 by Nandini Sundar and Gowhar Fazli as part of a status report in response...

-TheWire.in Natural farming is a type of organic farming, based on the elimination of chemical Inputs and use of locally available resources to reduce farmers' input costs and make agriculture remunerative. We need to fix agriculture in India – our current system is exploitative for both our farmers and the environment. Today, nearly all public spending in agriculture goes to support input-intensive practices that have only deepened the crisis. As we are...