-The Hindu Without good data, accurate projections are impossible, making it difficult to gauge the true state of the pandemic India, now home to the world’s worst ongoing coronavirus pandemic, is currently reporting nearly a million new cases and 10,000 deaths every three days, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The true extent of the second wave now ravaging India is likely much worse than official...

-Countercurrents.org Since November 26, 2020, lakhs of farmers and workers have been in their continuous sit-in protest at different points around Delhi Border. On April 26 it will complete 5 months. And the human-cost is enormous: 400+ deaths. But braving death, terrible cold, rain, storm and now around 40°+ at noon, threat of covid19, the farmers and workers are continuing; after all they work in the open fields through tough weather...

-Hindustan Times Women are not dropping out. They are being pushed out by the lack of demand for their labour. There has been movement out of agriculture into informal and casual jobs, where the work is sporadic, and often less than 30 days at a stretch. The new modern sector opportunities, especially in high value-added service sectors, mostly accrue to men. Why is women’s employment declining in India? The thrust of the...

-The Hindu Mega residential schools are herding in large numbers of tribal children, ‘mainstreaming’ them rather than preserving their language and heritage Tasvir, a young poet-author at Muskaan, a learning centre in Bhopal, tells us how writing can be used to empower his historically Stigmatised community: “Pardhis have a rich history. But the way others label us today is wrong. I believe we should start writing and publish our stories. Our lives...

-Down to Earth Social, cultural Stigmas reasons for lack of improvement The present-day education system has come a long way and age-old traditions have undergone a drastic change. One of the biggest achievements of India was the increase in literacy rate to 74.04 per cent in 2010-11 from 18.3 per cent in 1950-51. The country has been making great strides in educating children; at the time of Independence, India was largely illiterate (nine...