-The Indian Express They will not only help capture the true scale of the tragedy, but will also help in planning better for the next waves of the pandemic. In his memoirs, the writer Suryakant Tripathi (1896-1961), better known as Nirala, described the river Ganga as “swollen with dead bodies” when the deadly second wave of the influenza pandemic struck India in 1918. The pandemic was a deeply traumatic experience for him,...

-The Hindu Vaccination drive likely to throw up erroneous inferences, experts The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is unlikely to immediately undertake a fourth national serology survey to estimate the extent of exposure to the coronavirus since January. Officials told The Hindu that though discussions were still on, undertaking such a study presented newer logistical challenges and the ongoing vaccination drive could read to erroneous inferences. The ICMR has conducted three national...

-ThePRInt.in In various state govts, the office of district magistrate has been reduced to a glorified post office that receives instructions from various govt departments. Not so long ago, PRIme Minister Narendra Modi had ridiculed India’s civil servants in Parliament when he questioned whether the government should be run by ‘babus’, a euphemism for bureaucrats. It is ironic to see the PM now, addressing the very same ‘babus’, the district magistrates of...

-ThePRInt.in Researchers from Boston and Columbia universities studied Meghalaya's matrilineal tribes to find that women are more politically active than men when wealth passes from mother to daughter. In most societies around the world, women participate in politics at lower rates than men. Research shows that women also have a distinct set of economic policy preferences, PRIoritising government-led taxation and redistribution of wealth more than men. Scholars have long debated whether cultural...

-Leaflet.in Workers and activists claim that the situation on ground remains grim while AAP’s welfare announcements are marked with delay and laxity in implementation. Amidst a citywide lockdown that is now in its fifth week with a positivity rate that has come down to its lowest – less than 5% – in the last 45 days in Delhi, desperation is growing now in several of the national capital’s industrial areas and pushing...