'Scientifically the effect and change of Delta plus has to be watched through our INSACOG system. This has to be detected and we have to see its presence in the country'
Shortage of ICU beds, oxygen, ventilators, vaccines, doctors, nurses and crematorium space in India has dominated headlines around the world in the past few weeks with Covid-19 cases surging beyond control and the government failing to deliver. Yes, election rallies, Kumbh Mela, blatant flouting of social distancing and mask protocols coupled with a messy vaccination process are said to be responsible for the health crisis of colossal proportions that India is facing today. But an analysis of Budget speeches made by finance ministers over 75 years also offers a glimpse of how low on the priority list healthcare has featured for the political class and policy-makers, which is a significant reason for the current situation.
'This experience is horrifying. Doctors need psychiatrists to handle the trauma they are going through in the face of this pandemic'
Continuing his attack on the Congress, he said efforts to stop the 'leakage' could have been made earlier as well but there was no intention and will power.
Concerns have been raised about the likely damage to the environment caused by holding it on the flood plains of the already polluted river in east Delhi.
Weeks after the second wave peaked in many parts of the country, we are rapidly forgetting what happened to our hospitals, cautions Mihir S Sharma.
On Wednesday, September 18, the Supreme Court denounced manual scavenging as 'most uncivilised and inhuman'. 'It is the notion that they are born to do this which needs to change.'
A round-up of our favourite photographs from the week gone by
With the 2019 Lok Sabha polls less than eight months away, the party has resumed stoking the emotional issue through its second-and third-rung leaders.
Hardly anyone wears a mask and most brush off concerns over a pandemic. It is not just scepticism over the existence of the pandemic. A common refrain across villages is the fear of vaccines, reports Ruchika Chitravanshi.
This is a national leadership gone so wrong that India's most powerful prime minister in four decades has personally taken charge of medical oxygen shortages, observes Shekhar Gupta.
You need, first of all, to figure out how we messed it all up so badly. You need to fix accountability. None of that is happening, says Vir Sanghvi.
Top officers across various ministries participate in the meeting that started at 8 pm on Saturday. The meeting is currently underway. The country is currently witnessing a second and more severe wave of the pandemic.
'When there is so much anxiety, the Government of India should assure people on the vaccine issue and help the states demanding more supply that they will be provided the required quantities.' 'Any Centre-state conflict at this point of time is counter-productive and enhances people's anxieties that should be avoided.'
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday over the Muzaffarnagar riots, accusing it of vitiating the atmosphere ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, and promised stern action against all those found guilty.
To be held alongside the Japur Literature Festival, the three-day BookMark conference will look at different aspects of the publishing industry -- from self-publishing to e-books, digital content to distribution.
Latur district by trains in the next 15 days while prohibitory orders were clamped near water supply spots in Parbhani town to prevent any violence as authorities grapple with drought in the worst-hit Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
We need to give a booster shot to all our frontline workers first as if they fall victim to Omicron, the health system will collapse, points out Ramesh Menon.
'The government had a vaccine from January.' 'The government should have given the vaccine to all population above the age of 45, right from the start.' 'Each state has its own problems, but as far as vaccine coverage in India is concerned, there have been mistakes.'
'If you think this is a kind of spiritual experience, you will fall into a trap of your own.' 'Why are the people dying, why is the prime minister not thinking about it?'
It was his stint on Bigg Boss that changed actor Santosh Shukla's life. Here's what he has to say about his mentor Salman Khan.
Winning against Covid means thinking ahead, at least six months, putting in place the likely scenarios of what might happen, and then planning. Planning is the role of the government. Having planned, it should communicate what and why. Then, get out of the way, recommends Naushad Forbes.
Charles 'Biharilal' Thomson, an Australian who speaks fluent Hindi, on how India has bewitched him.
'If the volume of ceaseless chatter causes surprise, so does the boorishness of many mobile users.' 'The richer an Indian, the more s/he rates phones over politeness. It screams status,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
President Pranab Mukherjee expressed condolences over the loss of lives in the stampede and called upon the authorities to provide all assistance and help to the victims.
"I want to know from the Congress as to why it is agitated and telling lies repeatedly. Is it because there is no Quattrocchi mama or Christian Michel in defence deals done by the BJP government," Modi said.
'Indian creative and digital agencies seem to be completely missing the mark,' says advertising and media veteran Sandeep Goyal.
India lacks China's culture of collective discipline, so what will provide the glue for people to cooperate rather than follow their raw survival instincts? asks Ravi Bhoothalingam.
Glimpses of Republic Day celebrations across the country.
'Priyanka Gandhi, it was obvious to everyone but the inner circle, would have only served as a sacrificial lamb in this high-octane contest, the Modi juggernaut would have simply trundled over her and whatever ill-hatched plans the Congress had in mind,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Let me assure the nation on behalf of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha that our protests have not weakened at all or lost steam.'
The RSS does not mind playing politics with religion-based census data despite knowing well that it is completely flawed, says Syed Firduas Ashraf.
If the PM gives the historic opportunity of laying the foundation stone of the Ram temple to a Dalit girl, it will send a transformational message to the Dalits in India and will give them a sense of belongingness, says Dr Sudhir Bisht.
A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay high court stating that IPL matches must be shifted out of Maharashtra owing to the acute shortage of water in the state. Advocate Ankita Verma, Partner, DM Legal Associates, advocates for the petitioners, tells Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf how hosting the IPL in Maharashtra is tantamount to wasting huge amounts of water.
The band's trip to Rishikesh delayed their split till 1970! This & other unheard stories...
Radhika Shastry left her job, moved to the Nilgiris and opened a cute caf -- and she's cooking quite a meal of it.
To believe that the key job of his senior ministers is to ensure that his image be kept intact whatever be the outcome of his policies is to expect too much even of someone as ambitious as Narendra Modi, asserts Rashme Sehgal.
"The Congress has failed despite ruling for so many years," she said.
'Yogi Adityanath will prove to be the most popular and effective chief minister, overseeing a regime of peace and justice, harsh on wrongdoers and rabble rousers, encouraging those who work for India,' says Tarun Vijay.
Syed Firdaus Ashraf on the futility of the 'who is a Hindu?' debate.
