-TheWire.in Dainik Bhaskar's analysis of tweets posted by ten Union ministers revealed that none of them tweeted to help a COVID-19 victim find an oxygen cylinder or a hospital bed through handles. New Delhi: During the first two weeks of May when social media was filled with SOS messages for ‘oxygen’ and ‘ventilator beds’, Union ministers were proactive on Twitter praising the prime minister and the Centre’s efforts in managing the pandemic....

-The Hindu 12-member team to go beyond present crisis, prepare road map for transparent budgeting with States The Supreme Court has constituted a 12-member National Task Force to streamline and ensure the “effective and transparent” allocation of liquid medical oxygen on a “scientific, rational and equitable basis” to States and Union Territories fighting COVID-19. The apex court had expressed its dissatisfaction at the Centre’s earlier “oxygen-for-bed” formula. This “rough-and-ready” arrangement, as the court...

-Newslaundry.com Newslaundry spoke to journalists named in a group of ministers’ report on ‘government communication’. Here’s what they have to say. In June 2020, the Narendra Modi government reached out to “prominent persons from the media field” to help identify strategies to effectively communicate “10 big narratives of the government”. The initiative, led by a group of union ministers who were “guided” by the prime minister, summarised recommendations in a report that...

-The Hindu Business Line The government plans to bring in structural reforms in this crucial sector. But the devil lies in the detail India has huge mineral deposits, but the country’s mining sector is still suffering from legacy issues. Making a fresh attempt for a course correction, the Union Cabinet recently approved a blueprint to usher in reforms in the mining sector. This blueprint, which will be presented in the coming Parliament session,...

-The Telegraph HINTERLAND: Our structural problem — small and marginal rain-fed sustenance farms, over 80 per cent of India’s agriculture sector — remains unaddressed Let’s understand the chronology: before the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi promised farmers that he would comply with the Swaminathan Commission formula to arrive at a minimum support price for farm produce: a 50 per cent profit over the production cost. Post elections, he reneged on the promise...