-The Telegraph The state’s expert advisers assert that the earlier lower counts were not deliberate but the outcome of a lack of clear definition of Covid-19 deaths Bangalore: A paradoxical rise in Kerala’s Covid-19 mortality rate despite a shrinking epidemic ahead of omicron’s emergence reflects diligent death auditing under political pressure, public demand and good record-keeping lacking in other states, health experts have said. The auditing efforts had till Monday added over 16,900...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Maharashtra police detained five traditional herders from Kachchh on January 7 suspecting these semi-nomadic pastoralists were smuggling camels to slaughterhouses in Hyderabad. Also detained: 58 camels “We have not confiscated these 58 camels,” asserts Inspector Ajay Akare, in charge of the Talegaon Dashasar police station in Amravati district. “We don’t have the powers to do so since Maharashtra has no specific law against cruelty to these animals.” “The camels,” he says, “are...

-TheWire.in One report suggests that Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh are also underreporting deaths due to COVID-19 Bengaluru: In a strange turn of events, the Gujarat state government informed the Supreme Court on January 16 that it has approved 68,370 claims for ex gratia for COVID-19 victims – while the state’s official cumulative death toll was only 10,094 until then. According to Times of India, the state wrote in its compliance report...

In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...

-The Hindu Business Line Favourable weather, soil moisture aid higher acreage Contrary to the initial expectations farmers across the country have brought more area under the rabi pulses crop, mainly chickpea or chana this season. Chickpea acreage has increased to a new high with record sowing in Maharashtra and Gujarat, while the traditionally largest producing State of Madhya Pradesh has seen a marginal increase in area. Please click here to read more.  ...