-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...

-The Hindu Tamil Nadu reports most number of deaths at 46, punjab follows with 39 and West Bengal 37 The country recorded 2,34,650 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. The total number of infections has reached 3.95 crore and the active cases have crossed the 22.4-lakh mark. Please click here to read more.  ...

-Newsclick.in Caste and religious divisions within 32% SC population of punjab – 39 castes over 5 religions -- over the years have precluded them from developing their own distinct and viable state-level leadership. The postponement of punjab Assembly elections on account of Guru Ravidass Jayanti on February 16,  is a clear indication of the reinforcement of the SC’s identity in the state, which has the highest percentage of SC population (31.94%) in...

-The Tribune LED-equipped vans act as link between party, people Amritsar: Though the political rallies and public meetings are restricted due to the outbreak of the third wave of Covid-19, the political parties are adopting alternative modes for the election campaigns. The Congress party in the Majha belt has hired publicity vans, equipped with LEDs, to propagate its policies. Goods vehicles have been modified to install the LEDs to play political videos. Such vans...

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...