-PTI/ The Hindu They were told to ramp up supply for medical purposes Ghaziabad: With the COVID-19 surge continuing unabated, the district administration here on Friday asked manufacturers to halt production of industrial-use oxygen and ramp up the supply for medical purposes, officials said. District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said the administration also asked all hospital in the city to not deny treatment to a COVID-19 patients even if they have no beds....

-The Indian Express Amid shortages in a number of states, the Centre has set about plans to import 50,000 tonnes of medical oxygen. Which states are worst hit, why is transportation difficult, and what is the way forward? As India touches 16 lakh active Covid-19 infections, a number of states have reported shortages of medical oxygen for a growing pool of patients in need of oxygen support. India plans to import 50,000...

-The Hindu The events of the pandemic show how it is the need of the hour to modernise India’s archaic tax laws The word ‘lockdown’, which is Collins Dictionary’s word of the year, sums up the pain that the world underwent in 2020. As a result of the pandemic-induced lockdown, India’s GDP contracted consecutively for two quarters from April to September 2020. Some have gained from the pandemic. India’s super rich only became...

-Moneycontrol.com The RTI response shows that at least two companies — Jyoti CNV Automation and AMTZ Basic — to whom an advance was released, were later not recommended by the technical committee constituted under the DGHS There is a vast difference in the prices of ventilators bought under PM CARES fund, and the two of the companies to whom an advance was released were later not recommended by the technical committee constituted...

-TheWire.in In each of the four large South Asian nations, the response of the state to the pandemic has been shaped by long standing and underlying political faultlines. In parts one and two of this article, we have discussed the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, preparedness (in terms of health infrastructure), and the government’s public health responses to the pandemic in four South Asian countries. In this concluding part, we discuss two...