-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...

-The Indian Express Innovation in vaccine production can have an impact only if it is accessible to all. Patents and access to life-saving drugs has always been an emotive and contentious issue. The right to healthy life is a moral minimum, and to find a rational basis to deny it is deeply offensive to the idea of life itself. At the same time, pharma corporations and institutions claim patents are a just...

-The Hindu Three complaints filed with Human Rights commission against police Bengaluru: Police across the State on Monday began enforcing a strict lockdown, often resorting to caning motorists and people on the streets. Such instances were reported from across the State. In many instances, the policemen allegedly caned everyone in sight indiscriminately, even those out on medical emergencies and other permitted activities, raising hackles. At least three complaints — by two lawyers and...

-The Hindu Delhi High Court pushes back, saying that the government should review its resistance at such a time The Central government should review its resistance to exempting the Goods and Services Tax (GST) levied on oxygen concentrators imported for personal use, the Delhi High Court observed on Thursday after the Finance Ministry conveyed its inability to accept the Court’s order issued on Wednesday. Late on Thursday, the Delhi High Court appointed senior...

-Newsclick.in The deeper rot in agriculture can be overcome through more far-reaching reforms, starting from an overhaul of pre-capitalist land relations and relations of production that continue to shackle productivity and are at the root of aggravating poverty, unemployment and inequality in rural India. It has been more than five months since farmers from different parts of the country began protesting in Delhi. They have been unflinching when it comes to their...