-The Hindu In the U.S., India and Brazil, messianic populism, polarisation and insularity have made the pandemic that much worse A year and counting into the greatest health crisis the world has faced in over a century we can identify one overwhelming factor that separates the countries that have done relatively well from those that have been complete disasters:Autocrcy elected autocrats. By any measure the most dismal performers in the democratic world...

A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the countrywide lockdown imposed on 25th March, 2020, which was extended for nearly two months in phases, affected the food and nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the Indian population. It says that a programme like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme covers four-fifth of primary-school-aged children in the country that helps in improving not only nutrition but also...

-The Hindu/ PTI This is the first time in the history of Jharkhand that the State is facing such a severe cyclonic storm. As storm 'Yaas' enters Jharkhand, the State remains on high alert and has evacuated about 12,000 people to safer zones while operations are still on to minimise damage from the cyclone that pounded neighbouring Odisha and West Bengal, officials said Wednesday. The storm has weakened into a deep depression, and...

-Hindustan Times The second wave will deepen inequality. Expand support to states, universalise PDS, and ramp up MGNREGS now Abandoned by the State that insisted on locking down, refusing to recognise the damage done to their livelihoods, India’s workers asserted their rights and made themselves heard by walking home in March 2020. The long march home was emblematic of the suffering and hardship unleashed by the first wave. A year later, it is...

-Hindustan Times The directives were, in effect, an extension to all states of the instructions given by the top court to the National Capital Region states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana for migrants stranded in and around NCR. The Supreme Court on Monday told states that stranded migrants across the country must be given free dry ration and cooked food through community kitchens, in directions that sought to reduce the problems...