-The Hindu 12 Republican lawmakers write a seven-page letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on the issue U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he had not made a decision on whether the U.S. would support an Indian and South African initiative at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to facilitate the production of COVID-19 related vaccines and therapeutics around the world. “Well, we’re...

-Business Standard This was mainly on account of migrants again returning to their homes due to the second wave of Covid-19 and several cities going into lockdowns Around 27.3 million households demanded work under MGNREGA in April 2021, among the highest for the month in recent times. This comes as migrants once again returned to their homes due to the second wave of Covid-19 and several cities went into lockdowns. The high work demand...

-The Hindu While national leaders can provide support, the ground work needs to be done by local leaders with a mass base and sustained presence in local politics Even as the nation battles the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Assembly elections have been completed in four States (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal) and one Union Territory (Puducherry). Though citizens and governments came to be exposed to the debilitating impact...

-The Hindu Without good data, accurate projections are impossible, making it difficult to gauge the true state of the pandemic India, now home to the world’s worst ongoing coronavirus pandemic, is currently reporting nearly a million new cases and 10,000 deaths every three days, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The true extent of the second wave now ravaging India is likely much worse than official...

-The Hindu The decisions regarding journalist Siddique Kappan, the second COVID-19 wave and sedition law show a rejuvenation is happening within the court. A series of decisions within a week since Justice N.V. Ramana took over as the 48th Chief Justice of India shows a rejuvenation happening within the Supreme Court in its role as the guardian of rights of ordinary people. The court has not flinched while ordering a reluctant Uttar Pradesh...