Indian State Policies

States and Union territories will undertake a mock drill across all health facilities on Tuesday to ensure the operational readiness of the Covid-dedicated facilities, with a specific focus on oxygen plants, ventilators, logistics and human resources, according to official sources. An advisory in this regard will be issued by Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya at a virtual meeting with the health ministers of the states and Union territories at 3 pm on Friday, the sources said. The states have been asked to strengthen surveillance in accordance with the surveillance strategy already issued (health facility-based sentinel surveillance; pan-respiratory virus surveillance; community-based surveillance, sewage/wastewater surveillance). They have also been asked to ensure the ramping up of the testing infrastructure, encourage precautionary dose uptake and ensure adherence to Covid Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) in view of the upcoming festive season and the New Year. They have also b

Crucial demographic exercise cannot wait for next elections

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday announced an additional Rs five crore for the Assam Agitation Welfare Trust. The trust was formed with an initial corpus of Rs five crore and with the chief minister's announcement of additional Rs five crore, the total amount at its disposal will be Rs 10 crore. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting, chaired by the chief minister, to discuss matters related to future tasks as well as measures required for strengthening the trust, an official release stated. Sarma said the amount would be utilised to provide various relief measures to family members of martyrs of Assam Agitation and those grievously injured during the agitation. The chief minister also directed the Assam Accord Implementation Department to make an online database of those who were hit by bullets or were seriously injured during their participation in Assam Agitation. The state had witnessed a six-year agitation against illegal migrants from neighbouri

The finance ministry on Wednesday released Rs 1,764 crore grant to four states. The states to which grants were released are Andhra Pradesh (Rs 136 crore), Chhattisgarh (Rs 109 crore), Maharashtra (Rs 799 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs 720 crore). "The Department of Expenditure today released an amount of Rs 1,764 crore to 4 states for providing grants to million plus cities/urban agglomerations," the ministry said in a statement. The grants released are meant for Million Plus Cities/ Urban Agglomerations (MPC/UAs) of Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh; Durg Bhilainagar and Raipur in Chhattisgarh; Aurangabad, Greater Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune and Vasai-Virar City in Maharashtra. It is also meant for Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. The 15th Finance Commission in its report for the period from 2021-22 to 2025-26 has divided the urban local bodies into two categories: (a) Million-Plus urban agglomerations/cities (excludi

Court protests media leak of Election Commission's affidavit in the matter

As parties prepare to elect the chief of the Upper House on Aug 6, Aditi Phadnis looks at the dynamics of the job

Are Indian boards too docile when dealing with the State? Should they be more vocal regarding policy?

From being quick to quell rumours and call out fake news to using popular movie dialogues to tell people to stay in, the Mumbai Police Twitter handle has been moving at dizzying speed.

Start with root causes, listen to professionals, set the policy

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