-Hindustan Times The decision has been taken in view of the prevailing Covid-19 situation. A notification was issued by additional chief secretary Dr Devesh Kumar Chaturvedi on Sunday, Livehindustan reported. The Yogi Adityanath government has banned strikes across the states for six months. A notification was issued by additional chief secretary Dr Devesh Kumar Chaturvedi on Sunday, Hindustan Times’ sister publication Livehindustan reported. It states that the strike is being banned in any...

-Economic and Political Weekly  The Government of India is considering a proposal to notify farming as an essential service. This is ostensibly to bring drought relief to farmers suffering from a weak monsoon - a laudable goal indeed. However, if farming is deemed an "essential service", farmers and farm workers could lose many of their political and civic rights because the government can then invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act to...

Opening more medical colleges is not the solution to India’s chronic shortage of doctors in the rural areas.  India is the largest supplier of foreign medical graduates to the United States and the United Kingdom. Yet, its own rural areas have remained chronically deprived of professional doctors. The historical antecedents of these shortages could be traced to a landmark health policy document, the Bhore Committee Report of 1946. That report...