-The Indian Express The states must engage NGOs, factories and charities including religious organisations to raise funds for meeting the expenditure on milk, eggs, cooking oil and vegetables, and even soaps and sanitisers. Nearly one-fifth of India’s labour force consists of internal migrants. As per the 2011 census, a quarter of the urban population consists of migrants. These tend to be predominantly male, from the less developed northern states, in the lower...

-The Hindu The pandemic can be slowed only by a lockdown as well as by ensuring universal mask use Flattening the epidemic curve (case distribution curve) is the need of the day. On the curve, Y axis and X axis represent case numbers and time, respectively. A normal epidemic curve is bell-shaped, with an early ascending slope (first phase), a peak (second phase) and a declining slope (third phase). The area under...

-News18.com On being asked about facilities like beds, ICUs and ventilators in Kerala to handle patients, Shailaja said, "We have about 1, 25,000 beds for COVID-19 patients as a part of PLAn A. According to our PLAn B, we can add more beds in private hospitals, hotels and even schools, if need arises." Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala, the state which reported first positive case of coronavirus in India on January 30, has been putting...

-Newsclick.in With the Centre being both niggardly and thoughtless in the matter of relief following the unPLAnned lockdown, state governments, which are desperately short of funds, will be left holding the baby. The tragic irony could not have been more complete. The country is under lockdown, but last week thousands of migrant workers were thronging bus stands or marching on the roads, making a mockery of it; the aim of the lockdown...

-Mongabay.com * India’s ongoing lockdown to control the spread of coronavirus is threatening the agriculture sector as it overlaps with the time of harvest. * The lockdown has derailed harvest preparation and lack of agricultural labour to help in harvest and restrictions on transportation of produce despite being given waivers as essential services. * Farmer leaders and agriculture experts criticised the relief package announced by the government to aid farmers impacted by the...