Australia’s Hermit Nation Strategy Unravels
Australia, like other island states, has had spells of isolationist fancy and hermit dispositions. Protected by geography, distant and vast, the country’s first bit of legislation in 1901 was the…
COVID19
The Covid Milestone
We are more than a year and half into the pandemic and this momentous time period has laid bare our vulnerabilities as a global society. The way coronavirus disease has…
Only 2% of Urban Poor Residents Fully Vaccinated and only 16% Received First Dose: Survey Study
A survey study conducted by the Indo Global Social Service Society has found that only 2% of slum/basti dwellers have been fully vaccinated (with 2 doses) and that a little…
Data Sharing and Transparency in Covid Times Will Help Better Decentralized Response
Policy makers who have the important responsibility of taking decisions relating to Covid response face many difficulties. On some important issues relating to this pandemic even very senior scientists at…
Lockdown: Supreme Court Finally Delivers Some Justice
NAPM welcomes the Supreme Court judgment on rations for all migrant workers and time-bound registration of unorganized sector workers. SC has fallen short of delivering on its own observation of a…
Making Vaccines Mandatory – An Ethical Perspective
On June 28, the Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said that only those who have received two doses of vaccines will be permitted entry into theatres, multiplexes, coaching centres,…
Voluntary sector – Role in the pandemic – aren’t we being ignored??
The COVID pandemic has caused unprecedented damage across the globe. Its’ gory journey, still continues to impact our lives and the world around us. Nearly a year into the pandemic,…
Examining the Origins of Covid-19 and Preventing Future Pandemics
An international and independent investigation to examine the alternative hypotheses is urgently needed, and the U.S. and Chinese governments should cooperate fully and transparently with such an inquiry. Where did…
Biden and Trump: No COVID-19 Safety Protocols for Workers
During his campaign for the Presidency, Joe Biden called on President Donald Trump to: “Establish and enforce health and safety standards for workplaces… The Trump Administration should immediately release and…
A Disastrous Approach : Reasons behind India’s Second Pandemic Wave
By Dr. Sameeksha Dhillan & Dr. Divya Singh From an average of over 93,000 new cases per day in September last year to roughly 10,000 new COVID cases per day…
Who Should Be Held Responsible For Deaths Due To Negligence?
by Bobby Ramakant and Sandeep Pandey When India was reeling under the severest impact of the Covid pandemic, and the peak of around 450,000 new cases was reported in 24…
The second wave of Covid-19 in India- Have we Learnt the lessons useful for living with the third wave?
VT Padmanabhan and Joseph Makkolil After a brutal second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, Indian people are anxiously waiting for the third wave, which is expected to arrive in about 6…
Compensation for Covid victims- The government ought to revisit its plea before the apex court
To Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, I understand from recent news reports (https://www.barandbench.com/news/litigation/mha-tells-supreme-court-ex-gratia-payment-rs-4-lakh-covid-19-deaths-affordability-states) that the Centre has contended before the apex court that it would not be able to pay an ex-gratia…
Vaccine Woes Worry India
Written by Ashish Kumar Singh & Wakar Amin India consists of a population with different sets of profiles of socio-culturally diverse identities scattered within it. Any vaccination program which is…
COVID-19, Care and Carelessness
Written by Raminder Kaur and Shirin M Rai Abstract COVID-19 has revealed deep inequalities in our societies based on class, race, ethnicity, gender, age and region. These inequalities have…
Government must stop this drama, says Asha worker Kamlesh
Asha worker Kamlesh from Haryana explained how, in a time of crisis, the government machinery can prove a hurdle – when people were reeling under the fear of the coronavirus…
The story behind the ‘Kerala Model’ of Covid control – Part Two
Amidst India’s unfolding Covid disaster, the southern Indian state of Kerala has been lauded for its effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in controlling mortality. What are the factors…
The story behind the ‘Kerala Model’ of Covid control – Part One
Amidst India’s unfolding Covid disaster, the southern Indian state of Kerala has been lauded for its effective response to the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in controllsing mortality. As of June 2,…
How Unique Regional Factors Collided to Create the Black Fungus Crisis in India—A Hypothesis
We forget history at our own peril. In the 1980s, more than two lakh newborn babies used to die every year in India due to a dreaded infection. This, when…
Lack of human sensitivity in treatment and transparency in the process of dissemination of information on the patients in the COVID hospitals
To The Chief Minister of Odisha Bhubaneswar, Odisha Sub-Lack of human sensitivity in treatment and transparency in the process of dissemination of information on the patients in the COVID hospitals.…
Pandemic and Tea Plantation: A Perspective of the Tea Workers of Darjeeling
The sharp growth in Covid19 cases across the districts of North Bengal from a few month alarms the concerned citizen across the country, mostly the tea lovers. There is no…
When The Health System Became The Cause Of Death
Written by Bobby Ramakant and Sandeep Pandey Well known Hindustani classical singer Padma Vibhushan Channulal Mishra, chosen as one of the proposers of Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha elections, lost…
Less Freedom, More Money: Tony Blair’s Vaccine Passport
Sincere Tony is again on the stump, promoting his vision of how best to return to a lovely, unruffled world of capitalist endeavour, circuit lecturing and summit meetings that no…
Maharashtra’s traditional wrestlers grapple with Covid impact
Pune (Maharashtra): For decades, the second week of March has marked the start of the popular traditional wrestling season, that attract hundreds of participants and big audiences in the villages…
Twilight of the Pandemic? Bracing for a Surge of Trumpism or…
I went to a birthday party recently. The celebrants greeted each other with hugs on the patio. After an outdoor barbeque dinner, we stood shoulder to shoulder around the island…
To avoid catastrophes India should adopt a risk minimization for all policy
COVID-19—a gray rhino event COVID-19 is a gray rhino event, an event that is highly probable and with a large impact. It can be seen well in advance due to…
Universal Health Coverage and Unmet Reproductive Health needs of Migrant Women at times of Pandemic COVID-19 in India
Apprehension of contracting the disease and concurrent nationwide lockdown created uncertainty among millions of laborers compelling them to migrate from cities. Migrant workers are spine of unorganized workforce in Indian…
A People’s Vaccine Against a Mutating Virus and Neoliberal Rule
A recent Yahoo News/YouGov poll found that worries about the COVID pandemic in the United States are at their lowest level since it began. Only half of Americans are either…
‘Saheli Samanvay Kendras’ become emergency response systems to Pandemic
New Delhi, June 5: The Delhi Government’s Saheli Samanvay Kendras (SSKs) have emerged as emergency response centres for the community during the ongoing pandemic. Distribution of additional relief, ration, health…
Covid sinks Tamil Nadu rural workers into debt
Chennai: As I complete my long discussion with Muthukumar, he politely asks me if he can ask me a question. “Please do” I say and he asks “Sir, I had…
Lakshadweep is India’s Covid-19 Capital- Results of a Human Experimentation unsupported by Science?
Written by VT Padmanabhan and Joseph Makkoli The second wave of Covid-19 that began in Jan 2021 is on the decline, as epidemiologists expect that the infection rates would reach…
Mental Health Crises among Women in the Wake of COVID-19
Written by Dr. Rabiya Yaseen Bazaz & Professor Mohammad Akram Mental health is a state of well-being whereby individuals recognize their abilities, try to cope with the normal stresses of…
India’s ‘Westernism’ is its Undoing in Vaccine Strategy
Sputnik V has already been soft launched in India on May 14 as part of a pilot study with a top official of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories receiving the first jab…
Private hospitals fleecing the people by overcharging for vaccines
To Shri Rajiv Gauba Cabinet Secretary Govt of India Dear Shri Gauba, The Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy 21-4-2021 (PANCVS) notified by the Union Health Ministry has…
Covid-19, lock down and health crisis in Adivasi areas
To Shri Arjun Munda, Minister of Tribal Affairs, Government of India Subject: Covid-19, lock down and health crisis in Adivasi areas – urgent intervention called for Dear Sir, We, a…
Swept into a Covid Hell of Profits-The Great Forgetting, Part 2
Now that we’re all unmasking and the economy seems set to roar into the 2020s, what will we remember about how disastrously, how malignantly, the Trump administration behaved as the…
Ivermectin: WHO’s Chief Scientist Served with Legal Notice for Disinformation and Suppression of Evidence
On 25 May 2021, the Indian Bar Association (IBA) served a 51-page legal notice on Dr Soumya Swaminathan, the Chief Scientist at the World Health Organisation (WHO), for “her act…
Spend $50bn to end COVID, suggest IMF, World Bank, WHO and WTO
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO) and World Trade Organization (WTO) on Tuesday made a rare and what they called "extraordinary" plea for international cooperation…
The Tragedy of Thousands of Migrant Workers Dying on Railway Tracks
It has been revealed in recently released statistics that over 8700 persons died on railway tracks during 2020. Officials have also stated that most of them are likely to be…
When Cow Dung Meets Coronavirus
“Cow dung, cow urine didn’t work. Groundless argument. Tomorrow I will eat fish”. In mid-May this year, this simple Facebook post about the futility of bovine waste as a cure…
Oh; The creator of the volcano, Thy name is Parul Khakkar
Probably; this is for the first time, in the literary or for that matter, in the cultural history of India, that a fourteen-line poem has created, so much stir,…
COVID19: Dwindling Supply of Vaccines and Rising Cost
Click on the image for a larger version Graphic artist: Madhushree Data: B.Sivaraman GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX
Dead teachers don’t count in UP
When the New York Times recently claimed that the official Covid-19 figures in India grossly understate the true scale of the pandemic in the country the Indian government went ballistic. Based on…
Economic and Financial Travails of our Planet caused by Covid-19
In a world when Covid-19 has brought humanity to its knees and exposed the haughty posturing of many nation-states the lesson of its interconnectedness are still not being learnt. Despite…
How It All Went Wrong: The Global Response to COVID-19
The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response was never likely to hand down a rosy report with gobbets of praise. Organised by the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom…
Covid2019: Biosafety challenges in India
Bio contamination from labs is a serious concern that can have social, economic, political and environmental implications. Sometimes, irreversible ecological contamination is a given consequence. Health Canada reports that world-wide…
Andhra CM asks PM Modi to halt Covid-19 vaccine supply to pvt hospitals; it is “socially unacceptable”
Taking a critical view of the Centre's present Covid-19 vaccination policy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 22 Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to…
Open Letter to the 74th World Health Assembly
Civil Society from India seeks global support towards systemic changes in India and rest of the world committed to public health, social equity and justice in the times of COVID-19…
Corona Pandemic and Civil Society
Corona pandemic is spreading and intensifying in India, in this year. Last year, despite fears, people did not feel the problem as much as now. In March, 2020, lockdown was…
Covid positive cases rising in Dongaria and Bonda hills of Odisha
Activists wrote to the Chief Minister of Odisha to intervene immediately To, The Chief Minister Bhubaneswar, Odisha Subject: In the matter of immediate intervention into the issue of spread of…
Four tales of life and death in Covid times
Allahabad: “Theek hai yaar. Koi baat nahin![i] Don’t worry. I will make some alternative arrangement”. Nihal Mishra was putting on a brave, courteous face while getting blunt refusals from three…
Cooperative Federalism to “Competitive” Cooperative Federalism, The case of Covid vaccination – Who gains? Who loses?
“However good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. However bad a…
A Brief History of India’s Vaccination Drive, rather the Lack of it!
From the beginning of the COVID time it was apparent, that the only sustainable check would be vaccine induced protection. Unfortunately the GOI bungled big time, as demonstrated in the…
Whether all Indians will get vaccinated? When?
There is a very wide supply-demand gap, from a market perspective… Even if we secure necessary stocks of vaccine in near future, its cost and affordability will be real challenges. …
Covid Today, Vaccines Tomorrow
Written by Harshavardhan Purandare and Sandeep Pandey India has been advertised as ‘the country with a great future’ ever since we globalised in the ‘90s, but now this narrative of…
Lock Down Encounter With COVID 19 – On the run for O2
The tough and totally strange situation that we are being pushed into because of the pandemic makes one rethink and reassess a lot of things and feelings we have been…
Global Humanity Paralyzed by COVID-19 Pandemic and Politics of Conflicts Looks for Change and Unity
COVID-19 Pandemic Deserves Critical Thinking and Human Unity We are living in a connect world of virtual reality – people in one part of the globe cannot be separated by…
NHRC issues Advisory to the Centre and States to ensure dignity and the rights of the dead
The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, India, keeping in view the large number of deaths and reports in the media about the mismanagement /mishandling of Covid-19 affected dead bodies today…
116 Ex-bureaucrats write to PM Modi on Covid handling
They demanded: Stop Central Vista project, give free doses to all “What numbs our senses daily is not just the cries of the citizenry for medical assistance and the death…
Profit First: COVID vaccines create 9 billionaires with combined wealth greater than cost of vaccinating poorest countries
At least nine persons have become new billionaires since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, thanks to the excessive profits pharmaceutical corporations with monopolies on COVID vaccines are making, said…
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