-IndiaSpend.com The best way to arrest the COVID surge in India's villages is to rebuild people's trust in public systems, encourage home care and use simple technologies, say experts Mumbai: The number of COVID-19 cases in India is now slowing down a bit, with around 350,000 cases and fewer than 4,200 deaths every day. We know by now that on both numbers, there is considerable under-counting. The number of cases at a national...

-The Hindu The pandemic has highlighted the importance of expanding social security nets Pinki is a 28-year-old Dalit woman from Saharanpur, U.P. Her husband met with an accident during the national lockdown in April 2020. The two of them had to sell all their belongings for his treatment and subsequently became dependent on her parents. Such avoidable miseries were heaped on millions due to the unilateral national lockdown in 2020. The monthly...

-Newsclick.in About 200 families residing in the informal housing settlements in Delhi were directly or indirectly affected by the demolition drive carried out by the authorities in the month of April. Slum dwellers in the national capital find their woes compounded by the looming threat of forced evictions by the government authorities – that continued apace last year and has not spared families despite the resurgence in COVID-19 cases now. About 200 families...

-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 The relaxation has been granted for payments received in cash between April 1 and May 31, provided such healthcare providers obtain the PAN or Aadhaar of the patient and the payee. The government has notified changes to the Income Tax Act to allow cash payments of over ₹2 lakh for COVID-19 patients’ treatment at hospitals, dispensaries, nursing homes, COVID care centres or other similar medical facilities. The relaxation has been granted...