Less than a year ago, Odisha, one of the poorest states in India, had shown the world how preparedness and efficient management could minimize human casualties. Before the category 4, severe tropic
The rating agency Fitch Ratings on Thursday revised the Outlook on India’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘Negative’ from ‘Stable’ while aff
Manju Jeena, an Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) from Kandalei village of Khurda district, Odisha, has been working tirelessly to support COVID-19 related activities and ensure that her com
Prime minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a platform for “Transparent Taxation - Honouring the Honest” through video conferencing. Addressing trade and industry b
The revival of the government’s reform agenda in response to the coronavirus pandemic shock has the potential to raise India’s medium-term growth rate, Fitch Ratings has said in a new a
Oxfam Trailwalker, arguably India`s biggest walkathon-for-a-cause challenge, has gone virtual this year, with participants completing the 100 km walk within or around the confines of their home
HelpAge India has become the first Indian non-profit to win the ‘2020 UN Population Award’ in the institutional category for raising awareness and devising solutions to the issues faced
Dheeraj Gupta, founder of the home-grown vada pav brand Jumboking, says it is important to believe in your core business, remain focused and become business specialists rather than generalists.
Maharashtra has extended its lockdown restrictions till 28 February and also announced the reopening of local trains for general public. Soon after his review meeting on resumption o
Mumbai’s dependable mode of transport for its large number of population, the BMC-run BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) bus service, is upgrading and going for a makeover.
In the budget speech on Monday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman drew the attention of the Parliament on the fact that the pandemic’s impact on the economy has resulted in a weak revenue i
Following is the rendering in English of Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s inaugural address during the webcast of ‘Colaba Conversation 2021: Creativity, Community and C
India’s effective handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is not the success of an individual or a party but is the success of the nation and should be celebrated as such, prime minister Narendra M
The supreme court has upheld the advisory of the AYUSH ministry in its judgement of December 1, 2020 and permitted use of homoeopathy medicine as add on to standard care in COVID-19 treatment, mini
The spirit of collaboration among nations in meeting the challenge of Covid-19 has been a valuable take-away from the pandemic, prime minister Narendra Modi said Thursday, as he suggested creating
With the surge in the number of Covid-19 cases over the past few days in several districts of Maharashtra as well as in the city of Mumbai, stringent measures are making a comeback.
The government’s recent notification to regulate digital media is an attempt to suppress all social media platforms including digital news platforms, Dr. Shama Mohamed, Congress Spokesperson,
India and the Pandemic: The First Year Essay from The India Forum Orient BlackSwan, 335 pages, Rs 695 It’s about time for the first ann
Blaming the opposition leaders for flouting Covid-19 norms and leading to a resurgence of infection in Mumbai, Mayor Kishori Pednekar has said that they are setting bad examples and pushing the cit
As many as 283 firms were admitted into corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) between April and December last year, as the pandemic and lockdown came to hurt businesses. As
India is battling the second wave of Covid-19 and infections are spreading into the interiors of the country, says Dr Anurag Bhadouria, National Spokesperson, Samajwadi Party. It is precipitated by
The second wave of the pandemic is fast entering rural areas. About 40% of the total cases are being reported from rural areas and infected villagers living in the peripheral areas of cities are tu
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, since March 2020 the economy of not only India but the entire world has weakened tremendously and a major factor is unemployment. The challenge before the nation is ho
To reduce the gap between citizens and authorities BMC will continue its ward war room approach which has now come to be known as the Mumbai Model for addressing health or disaster related issues t
HelpAge India Report 2021, ‘The Silent Tormentor: Covid 19 & the Elderly’, assesses the impact and challenges of the pandemic on lives of elderly living in households (informal sett
With technology evolving every day, it provides filmmakers ideas to get more creative and an edge to tell more stories. India currently has about 40 OTT platforms and the number is increasing by th
As the city of Mumbai went into the lockdown in March 2020, those who were on permanent dialysis and caught Covid infection or suspected to have been infected were badly in need of dialysis treatme
The Government of Gujarat has launched a web portal and a mobile application to facilitate online registration of workers from the unorganized sector by giving them smart cards for availing various
In a milestone achievement, India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 30 crores. A total of 30,16,26,028 vaccine doses have been administered through 40,45,516 sessions, as
An affordable home must be equal to (or more than) 300 sq ft carpet area. Today the lowest cost of MHADA tenement is Rs. 10,000/sq ft. Thus the MHADA cost of a 300 sq ft basic unit would cost Rs. 3
On account of the disruptions caused by the second wave of Covid-19, especially on the healthcare sector, the union cabinet on Wednesday approved the Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sector
Pitta Rajani, 28, and her family from Kandriga in Vijaywada faced severe difficulties during and after the lockdown last year and had to take a loan of Rs 20,000 from Soubhagya , a moneyl
Dr. Praveen Kumar, director, department of pediatrics, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, talks about various issues including impact of Covid-19 on children, the need to protect them, a
Starting Tuesday, Maharashtra has relaxed restrictions in 22 out of the 36 districts reporting low case positivity numbers of Covid-19. However, Level 3 restrictions will continue in
Maharashtra has been successful in preventing 790 child marriages during the Covid-19 pandemic. Building on that success, women and child development minister Yashomati Thakur has launched a state-
India has come out of the devastating second wave, but to be prepared for any next wave, testing, along with Covid-appropriate behaviour (CAB), has to be the first line of defence. Given its vast p
Castigating media for cooking up false stories to push TRPs, top criminal lawyer Satish Maneshinde has said that TV channels try to manipulate and manufacture public opinion but once the story is o
After announcing further relaxations from August 15 onwards including offline e-pass facility for travel on suburban local trains for fully vaccinated citizens, the Maharashtra government has annou
Maharashtra has further eased unlock guidelines and allowed shopping malls to remain open till 10 PM every day under specified conditions and children are also permitted there with age proof since
It’s a novel form of therapy, it’s based in Ayurveda but is a contemporary version of it. A former Navy officer has developed it, and has helped cure a large number of people. It&rs
With the pandemic, Maharashtra will have muted Dahi Handi celebrations – the main attraction of the Janmashtami festival in the state – for the second year in a row. In a meeting held w
Iravati Damle, Director of Government Affairs of Zoom Video Communications, speaks to Praggya Guptaa of Governance Now on privacy, security, technology and policy – and how the US based u
While the pandemic has brought radical changes in the way people work and work-from-home (WFH) has become the standard protocol of following Covid-appropriate behaviour world over for almost 18 mon
With the annual festival season around the corner, Covid infections moving up in states like Kerala (reporting 70% of India’s new cases) and Maharashtra along with the lurking danger of a thi
Amid the geopolitical uncertainty after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, India cannot have any kind of diplomatic relations with a militant regime, believes GVL Narasimha Rao, Member of
As many as 86.64% citizens of the city of Greater Mumbai have antibodies, according to the fifth sero-prevalence survey. Among the people who are fully or partially vaccinated, the antibodies were
The notion of a V-shape economic recovery is an exaggeration, and the informal economy and the poor have been terribly hurt during the Covid-19 period, says Gurcharan Das, author, commentator and p
The brutal second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in India has left a significant death toll in its wake. Health experts advise that the imminent third wave can be delayed by following simple measure
In 2020, before the coronavirus pandemic which got the entire world at a pause, the Indian healthcare sector was in progress at a steady but slow pace. The pandemic boosted the rate, and wi
With the government announcing the reopening of schools 18 months after the outbreak of the pandemic, the Mumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has issued SOPs for resuming in-person schooling. From O
Goa, after becoming the first state in the country to complete 100% vaccination in the first round, will complete all its second doze vaccinations starting October 30, chief minister Pramod Sawant
Since 2013, in a holistic, 360-degree model of community development Swades Foundation has reached out to 2,700 hamlets and villages across Raigad and Nashik districts in Maharashtra. Applying
After extending timings of shops and restaurants as well as the reopening of cinema halls and theatres under specified SOPs from October 22, in view of the festive cheer, the Maharashtra government
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has instructed the Mumbai civic authorities to take immediate action on unauthorized constructions on war footing. In a virtual meeting he
The union government enforced a nationwide lockdown on March 25, 2020 to curb the spread of coronavirus as it was causing large-scale infection and disease. Challenges of pandemic management and le
It is grossly improper for Maharashtra cabinet minister Nawab Mallik to express his opinion and court controversy in the ongoing investigation in the cruise drugs case involving Aryan Khan, son of
Fed up of being contained, our lives have become acutely more exciting than that of a lab rat, Covid has taken the centrefold in every socio-economic sense and the coronavirus is the only star we s
Access to decent healthcare facilities is a basic right of every individual. But it wouldn’t be far-fetched to say that for a majority of our country’s population – the 65% that r
BJP spokesperson Anila Singh has ridiculed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of All India Congress Committee in charge of Uttar Pradesh, for promising 40% reservation for women and said that
With an unprecedented focus on healthcare infrastructure and coordination reigned in between the government and private sector during Covid-19, Dr. Naresh Trehan, chairman, and managing director, M
In view of several countries reporting surges in Covid-19 cases and many developed nations facing fourth and fifth waves despite high numbers of vaccinations, the Ministry of Health and Family Welf
After reports of Omicron, a new potentially contagious variant of coronavirus detected in South Africa, Belgium, Hong Kong, Britain and Israel, more European countries have reported cases, raising
The looming threat of the new Covid strain B.1.1.529, known as Omicron, has pushed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to postpone the reopening of schools for classes 1-7 to December 15.
With the threat of Omicron, the new variant of the coronavirus, looming large, the union health ministry has written to the Maharashtra government to align orders issued by the state with the minis
A day after the union health secretary wrote to it that its order on SOPs for air travellers was in divergence with guidelines issued by the MoHFW, GoI in view of the Omicron threat, the Maharashtr
In view of the emerging threat of the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, the BrihanMumbai municipal corporation (BMC) Saturday issued strict guidelines for surveillance of all international travelle
Covid-19 came as a rude shock and hit the world with several disruptions, halting economies and destroying livelihoods. While research for the new variant, Omicron, thought to be less lethal than D
The pandemic affected various ethnic and social groups quite disproportionately. This becomes particularly important for a country like India, where many social groups are yet to be integrated with
With the festival and wedding season in full swing and a gradual increase in the number of Omicron cases, the Mumbai civic authorities on Saturday came out with new guidelines and instructions to b
The judiciary is encroaching on the government space and taking up matters of public policy which is the realm of the government, Mahesh Jethmalani, senior advocate and Rajya Sabha member, has said
In view of the rising numbers of infections from the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, the BrihanMumbai municipal Corporation on Tuesday issued strict orders to be followed for private and public g
Mumbai saw a 24% increase in the total registered deaths, from 91,223 in 2019 to 1,12,906 in 2020, of which 11,116 were Covid deaths. No data is available on the causes of non-Covid deaths since Ja
With Maharashtra reporting a total of 108 Omicron cases over the last few days and witnessing an upward trend of Covid-19 cases over the past week, as more than 1,000 positive cases were registered
Mumbai on Wednesday reported 15,014 new Covid-19 cases, the highest single-day surge since the start of the pandemic exceeding 11,163 cases last registered in April last year. Mahar
Mumbai on Friday reported 20,971 new Covid positive cases and 6 Covid deaths. Among new cases, 84% (17,616) are asymptomatic patients. 1,395 patients were hospitalized today, and 88 of them were pu
With the third wave of the pandemic breaking previous records of infections, Omicron is the driving variant with the highest numbers of cases in the country. On Saturday, India saw a single-day ris
Mumbai has reported 16,420 new Covid -19 cases, adding nearly 5,000 cases in a day. Out of the total cases reported, 13,793 (84%) are asymptomatic. There were seven deaths, all reported to have com
India is once again caught in a spike of Covid-19 cases, with the highly transmittable omicron driving numbers. The total cases in the country continued to increase on Saturday, recording 2.68 lakh
The world’s ten richest men more than doubled their fortunes from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion (at a rate of $15,000 per second or $1.3 billion a day) during the first two years of a pandemi
After the oxygen crisis faced during the second wave of Covid-19, the BrihanMumbai municipal corporation (BMC) has now set up its own medical oxygen cylinder recharge projects.
Maharashtra has announced the reopening of schools for classes 1-12 from January 24 with Covid protocols. Education minister Varsha Gaikwad said on Thursday that the government will
Why sanitation in budget 2022-23 is important? The upcoming budget 2022-23 will be of significant value as India is in the middle of the third wave of the pandemic. The bud
COUNTDOWN Can India Rebound from the Meltdown of the Century? By Anshuman Tiwari and Anindya Sengupta Bloomsbury, 268 pages, Rs. 799
The Union Budget 2022-23 will be presented on February 1, amidst the third COVID-19 wave. After the two waves of the pandemic, the GDP for FY 21 contracted by 7.3% but following a V-shaped recovery
The Indian economy is estimated to grow by 9.2 percent in real terms in 2021-22 (as per first advanced estimates) subsequent to a contraction of 7.3 percent in 2020-21. Next year, GDP is projected
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Tuesday announced the introduction of Digital Rupee to be issued by the Reserve Bank of India starting 2022-23. Presenting the Union Budget 2022-23 in the Parlia
The Union Budget, tabled in Parliament by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, seeks to complement macro-economic level growth with a focus on micro-economic level all inclusive welfare.
Mumbai, the Indian city most affected by Covid19, has allocated Rs 6,933.75 crore for healthcare – a 15.9% of its total budget for the 2022-23. The BrihanMubai Municipal Corpor
August 2021 marked the beginning of the execution of various social securities for unorganised or underprivileged sectors of society with the launch of the e-Shram portal. It was created by the min
The Union Budget 2022-23 was introduced on February 1, near the end of the third wave of COVID-19 –and two years since the beginning of the pandemic and the mania brought with it. The pandemi
In a bonanza of sorts, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation fixed deposits have jumped from Rs 78,000 crore to over Rs 92,000 crore during in eight months. The 18% growth in the F
BMC additional municipal commissioner (health), Suresh Kakani, has been at the heart of Covid management in Mumbai since the start of the pandemic, helming the health infrastructure and plannin
The coronavirus fear seems almost over now, and many state governments have withdrawn most of the pandemic-related restrictions. Lives for almost all seem to be back on track, airlines are back to
The Sri Lankan economy is undergoing a twin crisis: debt and foreign exchange crisis. The total current external debt for Sri Lanka stands at $45 billion. However, in February 2022, the country onl
Michelle Obama once said, “No country can ever truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.” That should be
This time it was not Lord Hanuman, but the poor decision-making of the political leaders combined with several global economic factors that set Sri Lanka in flames. A state of emerg
Decorated IAS officer and BMC commissioner-administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal has been empanelled to the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. Chahal has been credited with con
With a surge in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai, BMC commissioner-administrator IS Chahal has put his colleagues on alert. Noting that daily new cases have tremendously increased in
With the sudden jump in Covid-19 cases in Mumbai over last week and the number of infected persons rising by 8% as well as the warning of a fourth wave sounded by medical experts, BMC has alerted a
Two years ago, little did we know that the pandemic will bring out the real state of the health infrastructure in the country. The entire healthcare infrastructure across the globe took a major hit
The hospitality industry is one of the areas which were hit worst due to the Corona pandemic. Even then, the operators as well as owners in this field deserve congratulations for successfully overc
Stop Predicting, Revisit Life: Lessons from COVID-19 By Vinay Sharma, Rabindranath Bhattacharyya, Sanjeev Kumar Mahajan, and Himanshu Shekhar Mishra Bloomsb
Crediting the citizens of Mumbai for coming forward to help the police in combating the crisis situation due to Covid-19, Mumbai police commissioner Sanjay Pandey has said that Mumbai Police lost q
How many times a day do you flush the toilet? This number is probably between five and eight times for an average person. How many times a day do you spare a thought towards what happens to the hum
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the entire digital landscape globally and compelled people, policy-makers and organizations to digitize their methods of reflections and operations. An analysi
India is the third largest aviation market in the world, after the UK and China; and the country’s aviation sector is expected to grow tremendously over the next few years. Most of the major
As the ‘third wave’ of Covid-19 subsided and people resumed travelling after a long gap, the railways’s earnings have recorded a sharp uptick. The total approximate earnings in th
At 7.8% year on year, India’s growth rate towers above the growth rate in several other leading economies, Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, chief economic adviser (CEA), ministry of finance, has sa
The Moral Contagion By Julia Hauser and Sarnath Banerjee HarperCollins, 140 pages, Rs 699
A study by a consortium of eleven institutes, led by scientists from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, compares the immunogenicity of Covishield(™) and Covaxin&re
Soumya Swaminathan, former chief scientist of World Health Organisation (WHO), has said that more than pandemic, climate change is the concern to respect not only for our health but our very existe
NITI Aayog on Wednesday released an Expert Group report, titled ‘Future Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response — A Framework for Action’. The expert group in the report has
