-The Indian Express While 10.35 crore PM-JAY Cards have been issued since the launch of ‘the world’s largest health assurance scheme’ in September 2018, it has proved to be of little use in the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, more than the 282 it got in 2014. This return to power with a larger majority was significantly enabled by the various...

-The Hindu Ministry concedes Q1 Growth to be hit, bats for expanding vaccination pace. The second COVID-19 wave which is spreading fast beyond the worst-affected districts in the country, could dent economic activity till June this year, and expanding vaccination pace in the country is the “need of the hour”, the Finance Ministry said on Friday. The Ministry also indicated it is not in favour of a national lockdown to curb the pandemic,...

-The Hindu ‘Economy taking a severe hit from 2nd wave; Growth hopes fading' The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has engulfed rural India, spreading far beyond the worst hit cities and districts, with nearly half the country’s new cases being reported from rural districts, an SBI research report said on Friday. Red-flagging the slowing vaccination pace from an average 28 lakhs per day in April to just 17 lakhs per day, the...

-Newsclick.in The deeper rot in agriculture can be overcome through more far-reaching reforms, starting from an overhaul of pre-capitalist land relations and relations of production that continue to shackle productivity and are at the root of aggravating poverty, unemployment and inequality in rural India. It has been more than five months since farmers from different parts of the country began protesting in Delhi. They have been unflinching when it comes to their...

-The Hindu Without good data, accurate projections are impossible, making it difficult to gauge the true state of the pandemic India, now home to the world’s worst ongoing coronavirus pandemic, is currently reporting nearly a million new cases and 10,000 deaths every three days, according to data released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The true extent of the second wave now ravaging India is likely much worse than official...