-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...

-The Hindu The projects, including mining and a highway, were brought up during virtual conferences; but site inspections are ‘a crucial component’ of project Evaluation, say scientists Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh has a decidedly other-worldly feel. “Yeh kaunsi duniya hai,” my colleague exclaimed as we climbed the towering mountains — home to the endemic goat-antelope Mishmi takin, the ‘bright-eyed’ butterfly Callerebia dibangensis, and the Mishmi wren-babbler. I had read about the...

-The Indian Express This is the first time India has taken a position in an international forum on the origin of the virus and the need for an independent Evaluation of WHO’s response to the crisis. So far, New Delhi had maintained that it is engaged in the fight against Covid-19, and will revisit the issue after the crisis is over. India is among 62 countries that have moved a proposal at...

Although no journalist was murdered in the country last year as opposed to six such murders in 2018, it would be wrong to say that press freedom has never been violated, says the recently released report by Reporters without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières - RSF) -- a media watchdog organisation that works for freedom of expression and information. The report says that India's performance in 2020 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI)...

-Hindustan Times Plan for a Rs 20 lakh crore-stimulus. It is needed for both immediate relief and economic revival India has seen among the most stringent prevention responses to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) so far. With a complete lockdown for three weeks already, and a further 19 days added on Tuesday, it has hit the maximum in an index of stringency designed by the United Kingdom’s Overseas Development Institute. But its economic...