-The Hindu Analysis of excess deaths from the civil registration system spotlights the systematic obfuscation in official statements By all accounts, the mortality impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been exceptionally large. Crematoria, burial grounds, and, in some places, even riverbeds are full. Tragically, almost everyone has lost at least one person close to them. Given this reality, few people have much faith in official COVID-19 death counts. How many COVID-19 deaths...

-The Hindu Changes difficult to implement, State govt. tells court The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a May 17 order of the Allahabad High Court, which described the medical system in smaller cities and villages of Uttar Pradesh during the pandemic as Ram Bharose (at God’s mercy). A Vacation Bench of Justices Vineet Saran and B.R. Gavai remarked that the High Court’s directions for COVID-19 management in its May 17 order may be...

-Article-14.com Scepticism about Covid-19. Lack of smartphones, health information and healthcare. Resistance to vaccination. We found a perfect storm devastating the poor, southwestern interiors of India’s most-populous state. Banda (Uttar Pradesh): “At least one person in every household here is extremely unwell.” Shivdevi, who uses only one name, has over a decade’s professional experience as a journalist and has been reporting from rural Bundelkhand in southwestern Uttar Pradesh (UP) for the women-run, grassroots...

-TheWire.in For millions of rural families who still lack access to good internet connectivity or are computer illiterate, the programme may end up increasing out-of-pocket expenses. As part of the Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP), the central government intends to create an Aadhaar-like unique identification for every land parcel in the country. The initiative named Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) will assign a geo-referenced 14-digit alphanumeric unique ID for...

-TheThirdPole.net Study finds populations of some higher-altitude districts in Himalayan state have already dropped. Climate change in Uttarakhand will increasingly force people to abandon farming at high altitudes and move to the plains over the next 30 years. A new study on the state in the middle of the Himalayan range by the Germany-based Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi has...