-The Hindu There are signs that this pandemic has not followed the usual script — of the poor bearing the brunt of the pain COVID-19 has upended Indian society. Over two-thirds of the country has been infected by COVID-19 and perhaps five million or so people have died, directly or indirectly, from the pandemic. The economy too has taken a beating. Even though there has been a V-shaped recovery, output remains about...

-The Hindu There are many indices of proof that seriously contradict the tall claims of employment generation in India Reports on and the visuals of the recent agitations by railway job applicants reveal a widespread problem of massive job insecurity among India’s youth. Alarming figures of unemployment have been recurrent even before the huge dislocation unleashed by lockdowns imposed in 2020-21 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Much before the pandemic,...

-The Telegraph She demanded that nutritional food be provided to kids below three years who don’t come to school under the Integrated Child Development Scheme New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday requested the Narendra Modi government to immediately resume the midday meal scheme, arguing that children had been the worst affected by the pandemic both in terms of education and food. Raising the matter during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha,...

-Down to Earth There has been no announcement on compensation to farmers who have lost their crops Twenty farmers have died by suicide since January 2022 in Telangana’s Mahabubad district after insect infestation destroyed their chilli crop, a ground survey by the Human Rights Forum (HRF) and Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) has claimed. Five suicides have also been reported in Khammam district. Thrips parvispinus, an invasive pest from Indonesia, has spread rapidly, especially...

-The Wire Science There is reason to celebrate the drop of India’s maternal mortality rate: the decline is consistent and continuous, indicating that the reproductive health of India’s women is getting better. However, a closer look at the state-level MMR data reveals that the all-India three-year average of maternal deaths camouflages the performance of some states. We can predict that the Empowered Action Group states and Assam will have to redouble their...