-Newsclick.in The report points out that in India, during the pandemic the wealth of billionaires increased from Rs 23.14 lakh crore to Rs 53.16 lakh crore. At the same time, more than 4.6 crore Indians are estimated to have fallen into extreme poverty in 2020. While 84% of households in India suffered a decline in their income in a year marked by the tremendous loss of life and livelihoods, the number of...

-The Telegraph The police as the arbiters of communication For a country with serious challenges to tackle, the amount of time and energy of Government agencies and courts that is now spent on offence-taking and conspiracy-chasing borders on the ludicrous. Through 2021, the police in various parts of the country sought to criminalize news gathering as well as social media expressions, registering first information reports indiscriminately under various sections of the Criminal...

-TheCitizen.in ‘They take our attendance and dismiss us’ KOLKATA: Joining many other states, the West Bengal Government recently announced the imposition of another partial lockdown till January 15. Schools and colleges in the state, which reopened in November for the first time since the pandemic was allowed to run rampage, have been fully closed once again. “It’s unfortunate that the educational institutions have taken 20 months to open. This effort of reopening institutions...

-Hindustan Times According to the draft policy, 10%of newly-onboarded two-wheelers and 5% of new four-wheelers will have to be EVs within three months of notification of the final policy The Delhi Government will soon direct all cab aggregators and delivery companies operating in the city to ensure that up to 50% of the new vehicles added to their fleet are electric vehicles (EVs) by March 31, 2023, state environment minister Gopal Rai...

-TheWire.in Despite clear instructions from the courts to provide foodgrains to migrant workers and economically vulnerable families, none of the 62 distribution centres checked were found to be distributing rations. New Delhi: The Delhi Government’s claims to have adopted a scheme to provide rations to poor and marginalised communities – even if they do not possess ration cards – appears to be proving hollow as no distribution of rations is taking place,...