-Livemint.com Despite early steps, India could not stave off the surge because of later mis-steps and legacy issues in health and administrative capacity With more than five million cases, India is now emerging as the epicentre of the covid-19 pandemic. India has already overtaken Brazil in terms of total confirmed cases, and at the current trajectory, will surpass the US within four weeks. Given that the US and Brazil are closest to India...

-IndiaToday.in Despite government claims, coronavirus cases are growing fastest in India among the worst affected countries, and improvements in India have plateaued.   Chenai/ New Delhi: Most discussions on India’s Covid-19 outbreak centre on the high number of cases, now third in the world after the United States and Brazil. The messaging from the government has been that things are getting better. However, a broader look at the month’s data shows that...

-The Hindu Adverse public reaction to bad coronavirus figures could only end up creating incentives to suppress crucial numbers As the number of cases of COVID-19 in Karnataka and Telangana begins to surge, there is a corresponding urge to affix blame to a cause. This has happened earlier too when there was a rise in cases in other States — evidence that governments had failed and had shielded numbers finally appeared to...

-Livemint.com Unprecedented resources have been marshaled across the world in the race for a covid-19 vaccine, with the US and Germany pumping in most funds The Indian government’s recent letter trying to speed up clinical trials for a vaccine candidate, which it is developing in collaboration with a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, betrayed its desperation to develop the world’s first covid-19 vaccine. But in a historically unparalleled global race for a vaccine, India...

Although social activists and concerned economists demanded at least Rs. 1 lakh crore to be earmarked in favour of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Finance Minister in her budget speech on 1st February allocated only Rs.61,500 crore to it for the financial year 2020-21. As compared to the fund spent on MGNREGA in 2019-20 (i.e. revised estimate of Rs.71,001.81 crore), the amount set aside for the...