The ban on 59 Chinese apps is a knee-jerk reaction that can only have adverse consequences for the Indian digital ecosystem. It is unlikely to promote self-reliance nor does it lay the ground for indigenously developed Indian platforms.

The Karnataka government’s decision, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, to introduce an amendment Bill to make it possible for non-agriculturists to buy agricultural land, triggers protests by opposition parties and farmers’ bodies.

Interview with Professor T.N. Prakash Kammardi, former chairman, Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission.

The strong-arm methods adopted by rich farmers to force agricultural labour to work at lower wages following the pandemic-induced shortage of migrant workers exposes the fault lines in rural Punjab. The question of land becomes central again as the battle rages on caste and class lines.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh are critical of the two recent Central ordinances relating to agriculture and of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for not helping them in their hour of crisis.

The Modi government’s move to ban all things Chinese is likely to aggravate conditions for the pandemic-hit Indian economy. The pursuit of national self-reliance requires a blueprint that maps out how to achieve it over the long term, with the state playing a key role in the process. China offers lessons, which India could profit from.

After weeks of tension India and China agree to expedite disengagement of the troops stationed along the Line of Actual Control and desist from taking any unilateral action to change the status quo.

The COVID crisis has increased the work pressure on National Health Mission staff, but there is no effort to make their remuneration commensurate with their efforts.

Despite the government’s unfounded optimism, the southward movement of the virus and the growing absolute numbers imply that India has quite a distance to cover before it can breathe easy in the ongoing fight against the pandemic.

Two government institutions are collaborating with a private pharmaceutical company to come up with drugs for COVID treatment. The company’s connections are dubious; nor does it have a great track record in business achievement or scientific research.

With the government not open about information on the nature of COVID-19 spread and the research community helpless without data from the sero-surveillance already done, the Indian people are left to face an uncertain future.

Using economic weapons to temper China’s stand on the border question would not be easy for India. The presence of Chinese firms in a relatively inconsequential area such as mobile apps was an easy and convenient lever for it to use.

The custodial torture and deaths of a father-son duo in Tamil Nadu rip apart the police’s image, while the judiciary makes unprecedented interventions in a bid to deliver justice.

Tamil Nadu has a long history of police brutality and torture. Here is a list of a few of the most notorious cases:• Muthukulathur Keelathooval firing ...

A combination of labour shortage, liquidity crunch and absence of demand seems to be spelling doom for Surat’s textile trade, until recently an economic powerhouse.

Even as the State grapples with an exponential growth in the number of cases in recent weeks, the government is desperate to restart industrial activity.

Two government institutions are collaborating with a private pharmaceutical company to come up with drugs for COVID treatment. The company’s connections are dubious; nor does it have a great track record in business achievement or scientific research.

With the government not open about information on the nature of COVID-19 spread and the research community helpless without data from the sero-surveillance already done, the Indian people are left to face an uncertain future.

A combination of labour shortage, liquidity crunch and absence of demand seems to be spelling doom for Surat’s textile trade, until recently an economic powerhouse.

Even as the State grapples with an exponential growth in the number of cases in recent weeks, the government is desperate to restart industrial activity.

Unable to make much headway in enforcing social distancing, and with the number of COVID-19 cases poised to rise exponentially, the West Bengal government announces a rigid lockdown in all containment zones across the State.

As ‘triple lockdowns’ and community quarantine increase in Kerala, the question is on whether the State is finally seeing community transmission.

With the total positivity rate and the case fatality rate almost double the national average, Gujarat appears to have completely lost the grip on managing the pandemic.

As the State government is struggling to identify the sources of the rapidly spreading infection, issues such as shortage of medical personnel and hospital beds for COVID treatment are causing concern.

Bihar and Jharkhand are apparently moving to the community transmission stage, with their governments and people throwing caution to the winds following the lifting of strict lockdown restrictions.

The rising COVID figures in Uttar Pradesh point to the debilitating effects of the State’s poor public health infrastructure on its efforts to deal with the pandemic.

Since mid June, the positivity rate has doubled in the State with COVID-19 cases, which were initially concentrated in the cities of Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar, now being reported from rural areas too.

Migrants continue to flee the Capital despite official assurances on the city’s preparedness to tackle the pandemic.

The BJP in Madhya Pradesh resorts to divisive rhetoric and tries to market its welfare schemes with an eye on the Assembly byelections even as the State is witnessing a steady increase in the caseload.

As more and more COVID-19 positive cases get detected outside quarantine centres in Odisha, the Naveen Patnaik government takes stringent measures to prevent community spread.

Rajasthan fares much better in comparison with its neighbouring States in containing the spread of COVID and in keeping the mortality rate low.

The government, which refuses to make its fight against the pandemic inclusive, claims that the COVID-19 curve is flattening in Chennai. But it has a new reason to worry: the rise in infections in the districts.

The strong-arm methods adopted by rich farmers to force agricultural labour to work at lower wages following the pandemic-induced shortage of migrant workers exposes the fault lines in rural Punjab. The question of land becomes central again as the battle rages on caste and class lines.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh are critical of the two recent Central ordinances relating to agriculture and of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for not helping them in their hour of crisis.

The Modi government’s move to ban all things Chinese is likely to aggravate conditions for the pandemic-hit Indian economy. The pursuit of national self-reliance requires a blueprint that maps out how to achieve it over the long term, with the state playing a key role in the process. China offers lessons, which India could profit from.

After weeks of tension India and China agree to expedite disengagement of the troops stationed along the Line of Actual Control and desist from taking any unilateral action to change the status quo.

Tamil Nadu has a long history of police brutality and torture. Here is a list of a few of the most notorious cases:• Muthukulathur Keelathooval firing ...

The custodial torture and deaths of a father-son duo in Tamil Nadu rip apart the police’s image, while the judiciary makes unprecedented interventions in a bid to deliver justice.

Trinamool leaders at the panchayat level face the fury of the victims of the supercyclone for alleged misappropriation of relief funds disbursed by the State government.

Scientific conferences have become public relations exercises instead of functioning as spaces where scientific ideas are exchanged and new ideas encouraged.

India accepts an international tribunal order in the case relating to the killing of two fishermen by Italian marines off the Kerala coast. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is not happy.