-The Indian Express India’s response has been comprehensive and robust. Right from the onset, the government has taken things very seriously, as reflected in the high-level of political commitment, including by the Prime Minister himself, says Dr Henk Bekedam. While India is yet to adopt the World Health Organisation’s prescription of “test test test” against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Dr Henk Bekedam, WHO’s representative in India, tells The Indian Express that...

After the outbreak of COVID-19 in China during early January this year and its dissemination globally within a few days, health experts have suggested ways to check its spread exponentially among the rest of the population. In the age of internet connectivity, work-from-home and self-isolation have been advised as solutions to ensure social distancing and avoid large-scale social gatherings. Experts have asked governments and private enterprises to keep people at...

-The Hindu Business Line Suppressing data that point to low growth, rising joblessness and poverty impedes effective policymaking in a crisis Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, said “data is the new oil” and stressed on the credibility of data to combat the difficulties in real-time monitoring of the Indian economy. She even proposed building data centre parks throughout the country so that skilful incorporation of data in every step...

-The Indian Express ICMR on coronavirus testing: India has conducted roughly 6,000 tests so far, lower than the US (8,000), Japan (9,600), France (12,000), the UK (13,000), and Italy (23,000). South Korea has conducted as many as 2 lakh, which experts see as the reason for their significantly declining numbers. As each country debates own testing strategy to combat Covid-19, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has decided to monitor community...

-The Indian Express In January 2018, Justices Gogoi, Lokur, J Chelameswar, and Kurian Joseph, the most senior judges then in the Supreme Court, in an unprecedented step, called a press conference to question the conduct of then CJI Dipak Misra, especially on the allocation of important cases. Reacting sharply to the nomination of former CJI Ranjan Gogoi as a Rajya Sabha member by the government, his former colleague Justice (retired) Madan B...