-The Hindu Underestimation is likely as the CRS is still an imperfect system, with potential sources of error Over the last month, Indian journalists from across the country have accessed and reported on State-level all-cause mortality from the Civil Registration System (CRS), currently confidential and closed to the public. While India’s official death toll from COVID-19 has been suspect from the very beginning — for reasons that are partly institutional and partly...

-The Hindu Both in the first wave and second wave of COVID-19, increase in daily cases was first reported in Maharashtra, then Kerala and Delhi Both in the first and second wave, an increase in daily reported cases was first reported in Maharashtra, followed by Kerala and Delhi. These could be due to several reasons including greater integrity in testing and reporting data. Can a sharp and sustained increase in daily cases...

-The Hindu Business Line The development economist, now part of Tamil Nadu’s Economic Advisory Council, says that public expenditure on health is just 0.6 per cent of the state domestic product, one of the lowest ratios among Indian states * Universal quality education, health care and social security are still distant goals * A well-designed system of emergency cash transfers would be quite useful in this situation of recurrent crises, which may last...

-Hindustan Times “It is hereby brought to the notice of all concerned that in view of the high pollution levels in the Yamuna waters, as per the provisions made in the rules (formulated under Indian Fisheries Act, 1897), the issuing of fishing licence in two portions of public waters is suspended till further orders,” the notification read. The Delhi government’s animal husbandry department on Tuesday banned fishing in parts of river Yamuna,...

-NetworkIdeas.org The NDA government has decided to further tighten its regulation of e-commerce, taking on in particular foreign giants like Amazon and Flipkart-Walmart, with implications for domestic organized retail majors like Reliance. The Department of Consumer Affairs in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has called for comments on an amended version of the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, which it posted on its website in late June...