-Press release by Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha dated by 25th March, 2020 Jharkhand, like most of India, has woken up late to the COVID-19 pandemic and is yet to provide adequate social security to the people. Although no COVID-19 case has been officially reported in Jharkhand so far, this may be a myth since the state has only one testing centre where only a few dozen samples have been tested, according to...

-The Hindu Growing threat from loss of habitat, widespread presence of toxins, hunting and trapping, it says Chennai: Over a fifth of India’s bird diversity, ranging from the Short-toed Snake Eagle to the Sirkeer Malkoha, has suffered strong long-term declines over a 25-year period, while more recent annual trends point to a drastic 80% loss among several common birds, a new scientific report jointly released by 10 organisations said on Monday. The State...

-The Hindu Apart from vaccination, this has to involve efficient vector control and proper case management The advent of a new tetravalent vaccine against the dengue virus has thrown new light into the evidence-based management of dengue. An article recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine revealed that this vaccine confers about 80% protection to children vaccinated between 4 and 16 years of age without any major side effects. It...

-The Indian Express What is needed is ‘ease of policing’, better training and infrastructure Common Cause’s recent survey on the Status of Policing in India is said to have affirmed that the black sheep in the police force find nothing wrong with beating up criminals to extract a confession. It is still, however, too judgemental to suggest that torture is endemic to Indian policing, as Maja Daruwala does (‘Exorcising third-degree’, IE,...

-The Indian Express Torture is an endemic characteristic of Indian policing. A commitment to eradicating it requires the police force as a whole to have zero tolerance for the practice besides a specific anti-torture law The home minister’s recent pronouncement that the days of third-degree torture are gone is extraordinarily welcome. His announcement is as much a signal to the security forces to lay off this practice as it is an acknowledgment...