-Scroll.in In an endemic future, we will need to learn what levels of disease and death to expect. During the pandemic, many scientific debates have become highly politicised. These include debates around fatality rates, the mortality impact of the pandemic, herd immunity, vaccination, and various drugs and treatments. It has been common for unlikely or absurd claims to be couched in the language of science and data. So, it is not surprising that...

-Scroll.in The city urgently needs formalised, standardised spaces for waste work. September was the peak of monsoons in India. It rained incessantly. Women from the waste picker community in a slum in North Delhi’s Wazirabad were been in a fix. Their homes, which are also their workspaces, were inundated with water. Their husbands and many of the women themselves collect, sort and segregate waste. They are also involved in recycling and reselling it. The...

-The Hindu The Government must make haste to prevent a killer disease that claims thousands of workers’ lives each year Long before COVID-19 hit, countless workers engaged in mines, construction and factories in India were silently dying of exposure to dust, utmost exploitation and apathy. They continue to do so. Rajasthan’s pioneering model One State — Rajasthan — with the top-most share of over 17% in value of mineral production in the country and...

-TheIndiaForum.in There is ample scientific and epidemiological evidence to indicate it is safe to reopen schools for children of all ages. It is not a question of whether to reopen schools, but what should be done to bring children back to the classroom. For most infections affecting humans, the young and old are most at risk while adults enjoy relatively more protection. If this age distribution is plotted on a graph, it...

-Down to Earth There are prominent shortcomings in implementation, especially registration of workers and and collection and distribution of Cess The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had widespread and devastating consequences to communities and enterprises in India and across the globe. However, the situation was particularly grim for the 453.6 million internal migrants in India, evidenced by the unprecedented ‘reverse migration’ witnessed during the pandemic.  Their vulnerabilities were exacerbated by the fact a...