These days a lot many articles, reports, documents, etc. are appearing in the public domain on Coronavirus infection and related issues. An attempt has been made in the present news alert to put together in one place some of the best articles, reports, blogs, webinars, podcasts, etc., which can be useful for our readers. We have divided the resources under various themes for the convenience of our readers and social media...

-The Hindu Centre has proposed that the next phase of NPR will be conducted along with the first phase of Census between April to September 2020. The Registrar General of India (RGI) has asked all States to “give highest importance, attention and time” to the Census and National Population Register (NPR) work as “the foundations of the statistics of the country” depend on them. In a 14-page letter, dated January 29 and addressed...

-The Hindu The present national accounting and analytical framework misses out on many key dimensions of a complex economy The new series of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures with 2011-12 as base, released in 2015, has not gone well with analysts; the withholding of employment-unemployment data for some time and consumer expenditure data, which is not released, added to this unease. Bringing the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) under the fold of...

  Against the backdrop of National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC), which is expected to be conducted nationwide, there are media reports about detention centres being constructed in various parts of the country. Although media reports indicate the Government denying any connection between NRIC and National Population Register, a reply to unstarred question no 4380 (to be answered on 21st April 2015 in the Lok Sabha) by the Minister of State...

-Outlook India RTI remains the only credible means left in our polity today to access the facts within government functioning, and therefore, come closer to the truth, write Aruna Roy and Rakshita Swamy. “We the people of India….adopt, enact and give to ourselves this Constitution”. The Preamble of the Indian Constitution articulated the intent of sovereignty and the status of all of us, as equal citizens. The Right to Information (RTI) Act...