-Newsclick.in Experts worry that with the government aggressively promoting a "singular reductionist corporate-controlled silver bullet solution" like fortified rice, a myriad of diverse local and natural solutions will get neglected and even eroded. Synthetic fortification of rice is not proven to be effective and can be toxic to many Indians, according to a report prepared by the Right to Food Campaign. The report was released following a three-day fact-finding visit to Jharkhand...

-The Hindu Reporting every death with the accurate and verifiable cause of death is essential for public health The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the number of deaths in India directly or indirectly attributable to COVID-19 to be 4.74 million. This is the highest for any country and nine times the nation’s official count of 5,24,000 as of May 2022. The WHO numbers are derived through robust statistical methods that consider...

-Newsclick.in Production has dipped for the first time in the Modi era and procurement has plummeted, bringing wheat stocks down and affecting foodgrain-based schemes. The Narendra Modi-led Central government is going to be confronted with a crisis that it has never faced yet – shortage of wheat, one of India’s key staples. The worry about this looming cloud is aggravated by the fact that the Modi government has not been particularly successful...

-Scroll.in Reporters Without Borders reiterated its last year’s description of the country as one of the world’s most dangerous ones for the media. India’s ranking in the World Press Freedom Index fell from 142 in 2021 to 150 this year out of 180 countries, media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières said on Tuesday. The organisation has been publishing the World Press Freedom Index since 2002. India’s rank has fallen to 150 in 2022 from...

-Newsclick.in The central government has raked in over Rs18 lakh crore from excise duties compared to Rs14 lakh crore from taxes by all state governments over the past eight years. Yet again, the government has tried to obfuscate the exorbitant petrol/diesel prices by blaming state governments. This time, it was the Prime Minister himself who blamed some Opposition-ruled states for not reducing taxes like the Value Added Tax (VAT) after the central...