-The Hindu The Uttar Pradesh government should understand that evidence backs the principle of informed free choice Many of us working in the field of public health and social development have been taken aback, if not downright shocked, by the recently announced draft Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilization and Welfare) Bill, 2021 that focuses exclusively on making a two-child norm a law, specifying various incentives and penalties for contravention. The burgeoning negative...

-The Hindu Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will make the announcement soon, says Co-operation Minister S.T. Somashekar Bengaluru: Co-operation Minister S.T. Somashekar on July 14 said the government would soon announce a waiver of ₹79.47 crore in farm loans borrowed by 10,187 farmers in Karnataka who succumbed to COVID-19. Loans borrowed from apex, district credit cooperative banks and primary agricultural cooperative societies (PACS) would be waived. Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa would formally announce the...

-Hindustan Times The cases of Zika virus were reported three days ago and has now climbed to 15 in Kerala. The state government has formulated as action plan to check the spread of zika virus disease. The Centre too has rushed a team of experts to the southern state. Tamil Nadu has intensified checking at its border with Kerala after cases of Zika virus emerged in the southern state. Tight vigil is...

-The Telegraph The court was hearing a joint PIL filed by Anjali Bharadwaj, Col Lokesh Batra and Amrita Johri complaining about the openings resulting in a massive backlog of cases The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted four weeks to the Centre and states to come out with details of vacancies of information commissioners amid complaints that governments across the country are seeking to dilute the transparency law by the keeping the posts...

-CBGAIndia.in India’s response to the pandemic has depended heavily on the exploited labour of women workers, most of them from marginalised backgrounds. These are ASHAs or Accredited Social Health Activists, the cadre of frontline health workers that has been mobilised for everything from door-to-door surveys, distributing medicine kits, measuring oxygen saturation, monitoring containment zones and spreading awareness about vaccines. 70,000 such women recently went on strike in Maharashtra demanding higher pay,...