-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...

-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...

-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...

हाल की मीडिया रिपोर्ट्स यह बताती हैं कि आगामी उत्तर प्रदेश विधानसभा चुनाव से पहले उत्तर प्रदेश के बुंदेलखंड क्षेत्र को लगभग रु. 6,300 करोड़ की परियोजनाओं की घोषणाएं की गई हैं, जिनमें झांसी में टैंक रोधी मिसाइलों के प्रणोदन प्रणाली के लिए 400 करोड़ रुपये का संयंत्र भी शामिल है. 18 नवंबर, 2021 को झांसी नोड (उत्तर प्रदेश रक्षा औद्योगिक गलियारे से संबंधित) में पहली परियोजना के लिए नींव...

-The Telegraph  'The petitioners can approach local authorities' The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued notices to the Centre, Delhi police and the Uttarakhand government on their alleged failure to act against people who had purportedly called for genocide against Muslims at events in Haridwar and Delhi last month. “Heard Mr Kapil Sibal, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners. Issue notice to the respondents. List the matter after 10 days,” a...