KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

The Status of Policing Report in India 2023 (SPIR) was released on 31 March in New Delhi by Common Cause and Lokniti-Centre for the Study of Developing Societies. SPIR 2023 study explores public opinions and experiences regarding digital surveillance in India. Recent developments, such as the Supreme Court's recognition of the right to privacy and discussions surrounding data protection, have intensified debates around privacy and surveillance. The study also considers...

-The Telegraph Some educationists feel that the proposed regulations might turn higher education into a purely commercial venture New Delhi: Foreign universities ranked globally among the top 500 or other foreign higher education institutions considered “reputed” can set up campus in India and decide their fees, according to the University Grants Commission’s draft rules that also appear to suggest these institutions can repatriate their profits. Some educationists fear that the proposed regulations, uploaded...

-The Telegraph Alertness among public and preparedness by healthcare institutions is always good, says Organised Medicine Academic Guild’s secretary-general New Delhi: A body of medics has called on fellow doctors and government agencies to acknowledge India’s largely safe status against existing coronavirus variants and avoid “scaremongering” lest the public disregard caution if and when a “real wolf” arrives. The Organised Medicine Academic Guild (Omag), a body of 15 professional medical associations with a...

-The Telegraph Citizens’ participation in policy-making is an important factor in assessing the quality of democracy Within five days of the announcement of Agnipath, the scheme had been amended 10 times, raising the larger question concerning consultation in policy-making. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government has taken a number of policy decisions without public consultation — from demonetisation, which saw 60 changes in 43 days, to GST, which has been...