-Hindustan Times Paharganj, once a bustling, thriving market WHOse entire economy depends on foreign tourists, is a microcosm of the devastation caused by the ongoing coronavirus crisis in the capital’s tourism sector. Satyam Bhatnagar runs a handicrafts shop in Paharganj’s main bazar, a backpackers’ paradise that boasts of hundreds of touristy establishments such as money changers, hotels, rooftop restaurants, tour operators, and handicrafts shops selling a range of stone and wood sculptures,...

-IndiaSpend.com Chennai: About 10 months, nine million cases and over 130,000 deaths later, India does not yet know enough about why the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 affected WHOm it did, and how it did that. There is wide variation in the spread of COVID-19 between states. Areas with higher population density are expected to have more cases, but varying testing rates could be affecting case detection. While the elderly and those...

-TheThirdPole.net More than 100 million people live without access to safe water in Southeast Asia, Sam Geall writes about what can be done to improve that and to protect clean water sources On 6 November, the Mekong River Commission acknowledged that climate change had exacerbated this year’s wildly varying water levels on the Mekong – which saw the mighty river reduced to a trickle in parts, even during the rainy season. But...

-Counterview.net A new book, “Sustainable Development in India: A Comparison with the G-20”, authored by Dr Keshab Chandra Mandal, has regretted that though India’s GDP has doubled over the last one decade, its human development indicators are worse than not just developed countries of the Group of 20 countries but also developing countries WHO its members. The G-20 – consisting of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan,...

-Scroll.in ‘We are still very far from financial inclusion in the full sense of the term,’ the economist says in the foreward to a new report on delays in NREGA payments. Transaction failures in Direct Benefit Transfer payments have been widely discussed in recent times, notably in the context of wage payments under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which guarantees memebers of rural families 100 days of work a year. However,...