Dipankar Ghose: In the mining villages of Raniganj, broken roads, homes – and system / Vidya Krishnan: India's moral failure

The residents of the mining villages of Raniganj are all too familiar with this soot emanating from the Sonpur Bazaari mine. For decades, it has covered their broken roads, flown into their cracked homes, and seeped into their lungs and bodies. Run by the Eastern Coalfields and approved in 1995, this mine has been the… Read More Dipankar Ghose: In the mining villages of Raniganj, broken roads, homes – and system / Vidya Krishnan: India's moral failure

Election Commission responsible for spreading Covid-19, should probably be booked for murder: Madras HC // Bharat Bhushan on the departing CJI: Good riddance

NB: It is unusual that we be required to thank judges for doing their duty; the reason is that over the recent past, we have become accustomed to the opposite. Spineless behavior has become the norm, broken only occasionally, as in the release order on Disha Ravi, or the Delhi HC’s order to the Delhi… Read More Election Commission responsible for spreading Covid-19, should probably be booked for murder: Madras HC // Bharat Bhushan on the departing CJI: Good riddance

Mukul Kesavan – Kumbh vs Corona The logic of Hindu nationalism / Milind Murugkar: The political project of Hindutva is up against many contradictions

The government’s willingness to hold the Kumbh Mela in the middle of the worst health emergency in a hundred years and its unwillingness to curtail it despite a tsunami of second wave Covid infections raise an interesting question. Is Narendra Modi a rational actor on his own terms? Rational, here, doesn’t mean ‘secular’ or ‘progressive’.… Read More Mukul Kesavan – Kumbh vs Corona The logic of Hindu nationalism / Milind Murugkar: The political project of Hindutva is up against many contradictions

Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About the Pandemic / Sakshi Joshi: Oxygen tanker ड्राइवर ने खोल दी पोल, किसानों के ख़िलाफ़ दुष्प्रचार

Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About the Pandemic – But Shouldn’t Have #COVID19​ #CovidIndia​ #COVIDEmergency2021​It has been 414 days since the World Health Organisation (WHO) first declared COVID-19 infections to be a pandemic and 389 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the country that “21 days” of lockdown was all that was needed… Read More Nine Things BJP Leaders Said Recently About the Pandemic / Sakshi Joshi: Oxygen tanker ड्राइवर ने खोल दी पोल, किसानों के ख़िलाफ़ दुष्प्रचार

Apoorvanand: Government attempts to equate a belligerent state with a desperate citizenry / Ramachandra Guha: 'Modi's Leadership Main Reason for COVID Mishandling, He's a Megalomaniac'

Why did the government not call an all-party meeting or convene Parliament to seek advice and cooperation from the entire political class when the pandemic was knocking on our doors? How is the Opposition expected to contribute in this battle? All the resources are concentrated in the hands of the Centre in the name of disaster management.… Read More Apoorvanand: Government attempts to equate a belligerent state with a desperate citizenry / Ramachandra Guha: 'Modi's Leadership Main Reason for COVID Mishandling, He's a Megalomaniac'

How India Allowed the Virus to Overwhelm It. By Ramanan Laxminarayan

Complacency and lack of preparation by the Indian government pushed the country into an unprecedented crisis. A lethal, fast-paced second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has brought India’s health care systems to the verge of collapse and is putting millions of lives and livelihoods at risk. On Sunday and Monday, the country recorded more than… Read More How India Allowed the Virus to Overwhelm It. By Ramanan Laxminarayan

Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state

With 240 million people, Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state. Home to every sixth Indian, if it was a separate country, it would be the fifth largest by population in the world, just behind China, India, US and Indonesia – and bigger than Pakistan and Brazil. The state is also politically India’s most important… Read More Geeta Pandey: Coronavirus overwhelms India's most populous state

As the dead pile up in Gujarat, the state’s media is on a warpath with the government over Covid-19 // Soutik Biswas: How India failed to prevent a deadly second wave

On Tuesday, as the second wave of Covid-19 continued surging across India, Gujarat reported 6,690 new cases and 67 deaths across the state – the highest single-day tallies since the start of the pandemic last year. These official figures are grim in themselves, but the reality on the ground is much, much worse, video footage, news… Read More As the dead pile up in Gujarat, the state’s media is on a warpath with the government over Covid-19 // Soutik Biswas: How India failed to prevent a deadly second wave

John Palattella – Earthly Anecdotes: an alternative to the doom-saying of our times

Very few among us can crawl or climb to the depths and heights of deep time…  And so today, when there is no snow on the ground, I am thinking again about icebergs. Along with the work of Bishop, Stevens and several contemporary poets, I’ve often turned to Underland during the past year as an alternative to… Read More John Palattella – Earthly Anecdotes: an alternative to the doom-saying of our times

The New York Times: Complacency and Missteps Deepen a Covid-19 Crisis in India

The new wave will hurt global efforts and vaccine supplies, experts say. Researchers are scrambling to assess whether new coronavirus variants are playing a role in India.  When the coronavirus first struck India last year, the country enforced one of the world’s strictest national lockdowns. The warning was clear:  A fast spread in a population of… Read More The New York Times: Complacency and Missteps Deepen a Covid-19 Crisis in India