-PTI/ The Indian Express As per official statistics, there are over 35 crore students in the country. However, it is not clear as to how many of them have access to digital devices and Internet. From virtual classes to open-book exams, the coronavirus pandemic may have forced classroom learning online but the digital divide in the country may turn it into an “operational nightmare”, experts have warned. Suicide by a Kerala schoolgirl allegedly...
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In South Asia, Lanka Leads and India Lags in Infrastructure, Medical Response to COVID-19 -Deepankar Basu and Priyanka Srivastava
-TheWire.in India implemented a lockdown 14 days after it recorded 50 cases. The relatively higher number of cases recorded in India may partly be the result of the government losing two precious weeks before implementing any serious physical distancing measures. In part one of this three-part series, we presented a picture of the spread of COVID-19 in four South Asian countries. In the second part, we discuss two issues: How prepared –...
More »Coronavirus tracker Aarogya Setu app gets 2 out of 5 on MIT's tracker index
-Business Today India's Aarogya Setu app, which has over 9 crore users as of now, has scored positive on the timely deletion of user data and collection of only useful data criteria, but it failed to score on voluntary use, limitations of data usage, and transparency criteria The Modi government's Aarogya Setu app, developed to track COVID-19 infected cases, has scored negative on three of five data-privacy and transparency Indicators for coronavirus-tracking...
More »Restrictions on media & internet in Kashmir has cost the country its press freedom ranking but score improves
Although no journalist was murdered in the country last year as opposed to six such murders in 2018, it would be wrong to say that press freedom has never been violated, says the recently released report by Reporters without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières - RSF) -- a media watchdog organisation that works for freedom of expression and information. The report says that India's performance in 2020 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI)...
More »Recent reports predict gloomy days ahead for the overall economy
Most reports and studies by official agencies, international think tanks and private entities indicate the cataclysmic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and society. They anticipate that lockdowns imposed by various countries across the globe to reduce the exponential diffusion of COVID-19 (i.e. for flattening the curve by social distancing and quarantines) would adversely affect economic growth and disrupt supply chains in most sectors, on top of causing...
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