A recent survey conducted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) -- a Delhi-based non-profit organisation -- shows how persons with disabilities in the country were disproportionately affected by the COVID–19 crisis. The report by NCPEDP has observed that persons with disabilities, particularly those from economically deprived sections, went through severe hardship during the lockdown. Without sufficient access to food or money, many of them faced hunger...

-The Indian Express A month ago, on March 24, when the Centre announced the first phase of the lockdown, states were left to manage its sudden consequences such as the massive disruption in supply chain, and migrant labour walking hundreds of miles to their homes. Late Friday night, as the Centre issued orders allowing shops and markets in rural areas and stand-alone shops in urban areas to open for sale of even...

-The Indian Express Some fear such a census will “further marginalise” the descendants of Bengali-speaking migrants in Assam Guwahati: Assam’s Welfare of Minorities Minister Ranjit Dutta has confirmed the state’s plans to implement a census to identify Assam’s ‘khilonjiya’, or indigenous Muslim population, this year. On Tuesday, Dutta will meet with various representatives of the indigenous Assamese Muslim community to seek their “suggestions” in finalising the framework of the census. “A sum of...

-Down to Earth As the geography of arsenic contamination spreads, there is an urgent need for governments to reorient mitigation measures. That’s because the focus till now has only been on drinking water, but new research says arsenic has contaminated our food chain Arseic contamination in groundwater is one of the most crippling issues in the drinking water scenario of India. According to the latest report of the Central Ground Water Board...

-The Hindu “We will not let the government implement any pact if we as major stakeholders in the Bodoland and adjoining areas are kept in the dark,” AKRSU general secretary Jibesh Ray said. Guwahati: A 12-hour shutdown called by several organisations on Monday against the Bodo accord signed in New Delhi evoked a mixed response in Assam. It was effective in some western and north-central districts. Organisations such as the All Koch Rajbongshi...