India may raise spending on COVID-19 shots by over a quarter this fiscal year to up to Rs 450 billion ($6.18 billion) from its budgeted amount, two government sources told Reuters after the prime minister offered free doses to all adults. Prime minister Narendra Modi said in an address to…
AN Indian court tasked industrial safety officials on Tuesday (8) with visiting carmakers in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to draw up uniform safety guidelines for workers during a second devastating wave of Covid-19 infections amid the pandemic. Workers at the Indian unit of Renault-Nissan had asked the Madras…
INDIA has slipped by two places to 117 on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted as a part of the 2030 agenda by 193 UN member states in 2015, the State of India's Environment Report 2021 has revealed. India's rank was 115 last year. Major challenges in the country like ending hunger and…
INDIA reported on Tuesday (8) a daily rise in new coronavirus infections of 86,498 cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest in 66 days, according to a statement by government. The health ministry said that the daily positivity rate dropped to 4.62 per cent. The total tally of Covid-19 cases is…
Eighteen people were killed in a fire at a chemical factory in the western Indian city of Pune, police said. The police said 20 people had survived the blaze on Monday (7) and the charred bodies of all those killed had been recovered. An inquiry has been ordered by the…
TANYA ASHNIGDH is four months pregnant and frightened, one of the millions of expectant mothers excluded from India's faltering vaccination drive despite being at greater risk from Covid-19. In a country with one of the world's poorest-funded health care services, giving birth has always been fraught with risks and the devastating…
INDIA's Niti Aayog has said that the second Covid-19 wave will not impact the agriculture sector as rural areas saw spread of infections in May when agriculture activities were 'very low'. India's policies on subsidy, price and technology have remained too much in favour of rice, wheat and sugarcane, and there is…
DELHI chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has asked prime minister Narendra Modi to implement the 'stalled' doorstep ration delivery scheme across the country. He said that the scheme should be started soon in view of the Covid-19 situation in the country otherwise ration shops will act as "super-spreaders". "If pizza, burgers, smartphones and clothes…
THE western state of Gujarat will set up more than 75 oxygen plants to produce additional 300 MT as a preparatory measure against a possible third wave of Covid-19, deputy chief minister Nitin Patel has said. Currently, 800 to 900 MT of medical oxygen is available at any time in the state,…
AN Indian bride died at her wedding in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh the groom later married her sister. The original bride, Surbhi, died after a heart attack during the ceremony in Etawah. She had exchanged pink and yellow garlands with the groom, Manjesh Kumar, as part of the traditional Hindu wedding, reported The…