-IndiaSpend.com As researchers caution against declaring India's second COVID-19 wave to be less deadly than the FIRst, we look for clues in excess mortality data from Kerala and Mumbai to shed light on India's comparatively low COVID-19 mortality Chennai: More than one year into the COVID-19 pandemic, India is beginning to take the FIRst steps towards answering a key question--is there something unusual about COVID-19 mortality in India? Mortality is at the...

-The Indian Express Amid recent questions about the ECI’s autonomy, a look at how the body has steered India’s electoral history. On March 15, the Citizens’ Commission on Elections (CCE), chaired by retired Supreme Court judge Madan B Lokur, which examines critical aspects of conducting elections, released the second part of its report. Titled “An Inquiry into India’s Election System,” the report evaluated the integrity and inclusiveness of the electoral rolls, increasing...

-TheCitizen.in The corporate capital has launched a final assault in its desparate bid to extricate itself from the worst crisis it has encountered. Having swallowed industry, trade and finance, it has now turned its greedy eyes on land and peasantry, along with peoples’ assets in the public sector including public infrastructure and services in health, education and social welfare. Most importantly, it has its gaze fixed on fertile tropical and subtropical land and...

-The Indian Express This study was carried out by the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi in collaboration with the Department of Ocean Studies and Marine Biology, Pondicherry University. A deadly hospital pathogen, the Candida Auris, has for the FIRst time been identified in the environment, off the coast of South Andaman district in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. This study was carried out by the Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute, Delhi in collaboration with...

-India.Mongabay.com * In its latest decision, the Indian government’s ministry of environment has come out with an order to help a certain category of mining projects avoid public hearing while seeking environment clearance. * This decision is mainly for projects which were granted environment clearance under environmental impact assessment notification 1994 after a public hearing was conducted. * But experts note that public hearings should be understood as a critical tool for good...