-Newsclick.in About 200 families residing in the informal housing settlements in Delhi were directly or indirectly affected by the demolition drive carried out by the authorities in the month of April. Slum dwellers in the national capital find their woes compounded by the looming threat of forced evictions by the government authorities – that continued apace last year and has not spared families despite the resurgence in COVID-19 cases now. About 200 families...

-Hindustan Times The Centre and states are at war, but India urgently needs a coordinated response. It’s not too late. But soon it will be In an influential paper published over a decade ago, the economist Lant Pritchett described India as a “flailing State” — in which the head, that is the elite institutions at the national level (and, in some cases, state level) remained sound and functional but was no longer...

-The Hindu Preventive vaccination, data analysis, behavioural changes crucial, say epidemiologists Recurring waves of coronavirus infections are inevitable if existing practices such as expanding India's vaccination drive and following COVID protocol are not adhered to, say experts. Earlier last week, Principal Scientific Advisor K. VijayRaghavan had said, “A phase three is inevitable, given the higher levels of circulating virus.” “There is, however, no clear time-line on when this third phase will occur. We should...

-The Hindu India continues to register the highest number of recorded deaths daily in the world. India recorded 4,03,626 new COVID-19 cases until 11.37 p.m. on May 8. As many as 4,091 new deaths were also registered. The country has so far reported a total of 2,22,95,911 cases and 2,42,398 deaths. Maharashtra reported 53,605 infections, followed by Karnataka (47,563) and Kerala (41,971). Maharashtra also recorded 864 casualties, followed by Karnataka (482) and Delhi...

-The Hindu The second wave has amplified the issue of rent which does not draw much attention as food and income support do As State governments have begun implementing weekend curfews and lockdown-like conditions amid the second wave of COVID, there is another issue that is emerging — rent crises within informal rental housing markets. For example, domestic workers in Jaipur, Rajasthan, have begun reporting to the Rajasthan Mahila Kamgar Union (RMKU)...