The pandemic's first wave had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of rural workers in Bihar (including the self-employed) last year, according to a survey based research, jointly done by economists from Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash University, Australia and the New Delhi-based Institute for Human Development. A recent press note issued by the authors of the study shows that almost 94.4 percent of the households participating...

-IndiaSpend.com Health data relating to 2020-21 and April-May 2021 in the National Health Mission's Health Management Information System showed a spike in unexplained mortality in rural areas, and disruptions in India's routine immunisations during the Covid-19 pandemic Chennai: Key official health data that pointed to excess mortality and disrupted health services during the Covid-19 pandemic have suddenly gone offline, an IndiaSpend investigation shows. While government officials say that the reason for the...

-The Hindu Data from Assam and Uttar Pradesh show that fertility rates have been reducing over time Population policy is suddenly in the news in India with Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled States such as Assam and Uttar Pradesh proposing to bring in or bringing in draft legislation aimed at controlling their populations. The Uttar Pradesh Population (Control, Stabilisation and Welfare) Bill of 2021 promotes a two-child policy, according to which those people having...

-TheCitizen.in At least 25,000 children lost their mother to covid in the past year An estimated 1.5 million children in 21 countries, including 119,000 in India, suffered the death of their primary or secondary caregiver between April 2020 and March 2021, according to a recent study. Published in the Lancet medical journal, the study titled ‘Global minimum estimates of children affected by COVID-19’ estimates that 25,500 children in India lost their mother to...

-Down to Earth The focus must be on safeguarding women and girls’ reproductive health. Smaller families can be achieved by ensuring gender equality, empowering women The law proposed by the Uttar Pradesh Law Commission on July 7, 2021 on two-child policy compels couples to limit their families through a series of incentives and disincentives. There is no evidence, however, that coercive policies can truly reduce fertility. Two-child policies are known to disproportionately impact...