-The Hindu Balram Bhargava says more Rapid Antigen Tests will be conducted from now on. The national COVID-19 positivity rate stood at 21% and 310 of the 734 districts had reported positivity greater than or equal to the national average, Balram Bhargava, Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said on Tuesday. At the Health Ministry briefing, Dr. Bhargava said the country now had the RTPCR testing capacity of about 16 lakh a...
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Is COVID-19 test data being fudged in UP? DTE investigates -Vivek Mishra
-Down to Earth With more than 230,000 pending COVID-19 reports, the actual daily caseload of UP can be much higher Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, is in the middle of a COVID-19 maelstrom. Even as thousands are dying or getting infected, the experiences of patients shows that COVID-19 test results are getting delayed and the administration is fudging figures. Down to Earth (DTE) analysed the government’s data related to the daily sample...
More »‘Why would we come here again, but forced to go looking for a living’ -Damini Nath
-The Hindu Group of migrants in Greater Noida say they were forced into bondage during pandemic Noida: “No one listens to the poor man,” said 16-year-old Ramkishor outside the Gautam Budhha Nagar District Magistrate’s office on Tuesday. While he said he has that figured out, he was there waiting for someone to help him and his family out of the bonded labour situation. Ramkishor, his parents and two younger siblings, who are from...
More »One lakh tonnes of free food grain distributed so far under PMGKAY
-The Hindu In the first 10 days, grains have reached 2.03 crore of 80 crore beneficiaries: Food Ministry Out of the 40 lakh tonnes of free food grain promised under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for May, one lakh tonnes have been distributed so far, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said on Monday. In the first 10 days, PMGKAY grains have reached 2.03 crore of the 80 crore beneficiaries, with 13 States...
More »Rent issues as an ignored COVID stress point -Mewa Bharati and Juhi Jotwani
-The Hindu The second wave has amplified the issue of rent which does not draw much attention as food and income support do As State governments have begun implementing weekend curfews and lockdown-like conditions amid the second wave of COVID, there is another issue that is emerging — rent crises within informal rental housing markets. For example, domestic workers in Jaipur, Rajasthan, have begun reporting to the Rajasthan Mahila Kamgar Union (RMKU)...
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