-CaravanMagazine.in On 17 May, for the third time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Narendra Modi administration extended India’s lockdown—one of the harshest across the world. For the third time, the Indian government did so without seeking scientific inputs from a national task force constituted to advise the central government on its pandemic response, according to multiple members of the team of scientists. There was a consensus among members we spoke...

-Scroll.in During the coronavirus pandemic, India needs a free press more than ever. These intimidation tactics do not help. Publishing news based on information from credible, unidentified sources is a global journalistic practice. This allows critical facts to surface even if sourcexsce afraid of repercussions. In India, though, the government is creating an atmosphere in which journalists will be afraid of publishing such material. On Sunday, the Delhi Police summoned an Indian Express...

-Newsclick.in The BJP government’s centralising tendency and its attitude towards the financial needs of states during this pandemic, is symptomatic of a thinking that will weaken the very foundations of modern India. Despite repeated demands by the states, the Centre has still not released what is their legitimate due, namely, compensation for their revenue loss owing to the introduction of goods and services tax or GST; this has not been paid since...

-Mongabay.com * The nationwide lockdown has affected the economy of India’s tribal population, which depends highly on the sale of minor forest products. * However, state governments are hoping things will become normal soon as the lockdown norms get relaxed in the coming days. Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel even praised the tribal population in his state for maintaining Social Distancing properly. * Experts and organisations working with tribal communities demand removal or...

-TheWire.in Nearly two weeks ago, news broke that a Zomato delivery worker tested positive for COVID-19 in New Delhi. As many as 72 families in the south Delhi neighbourhood where he made deliveries have been quarantined, along with 17 other people he worked with. With the luxury of Social Distancing not extended to delivery workers, the incident further fuelled the apprehensions and uncertainties that they already were contending with. This was only...