-The Telegraph Senior official says deaths are highest in 'recorded' history of the state Guwahati: Assam has suffered 195 human casualties in the two waves of flood that have hit the state between April 6 and July 15 this year, leaving behind a trail of unprecedented destruction, affecting one third of the state’s over 3.2 crore population and triggering a massive rescue and relief operation. According to chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, besides...

-TheWire.in A bench comprising Justices M.R. Shah and B.V. Nagarathna said that state governments cannot say that fraudulent claims are being made by families of COVID-19 victims. New Delhi: The Supreme Court highlighted that official statistics on COVID-19 deaths, released by states, were “not true” and directed state governments to pay compensation to relatives of deceased people who have applied without rejecting the claims on technical grounds. “Official statistics are not true on...

-The New Indian Express The Supreme Court directed all states and Union Territories to appoint dedicated nodal officer to coordinate with the member secretary of the SLSA. NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday directed all states and Union Territories to appoint dedicated nodal officer to coordinate with the member secretary of the State Legal Service Authority (SLSA) to facilitate payment of Ex gratia compensation to kin of Covid victims. It also directed...

-TheWire.in/ The Reporters' Collective * Excess deaths in Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh were over 12-times the corresponding official COVID-19 death toll until early January 2022. * Data from across the country suggests governments are undercounting COVID-19 deaths by the lakhs, possibly to avoid the charge of epidemic mismanagement. * As a result, facilitated by disparate protocols, poor record-keeping and red-tape, thousands of families haven’t received the compensation they are due. Last year, just as...

-The Telegraph The apex court acted after some states rejected monetary claims by thousands of families that had lost members to the pandemic The Supreme Court on Wednesday chastised the states for rejecting the monetary claims by thousands of families that had lost members to Covid and ordered the governments to directly reach out to orphaned children with financial succour. The court said no application for Ex gratia should be rejected outright on...