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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is a double whammy for the embattled Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Passive approach of the dalit leaders, especially of Mayawati and Chandrashekhar Azad on the police torture and state repression of writer and poet Varavara Rao, lawyer and activist Sudha Bhardwaj, academic and activist Vernon Gonsalves, and human rights activists Arun Ferreira and Gautam Navlakha has been quite intriguing.

At a time when there is a surge of cases of Coronavirus in India, the northeastern state of Assam has to battle another crisis — floods. Already, the deluge has affected 26 out of total 33 districts of the state. It is not that the north-eastern state isn’t battling the Corona crisis — already the cases have crossed the figure of 30,000.

New Delhi: Thrice hockey Olympic medallist - a Gold and two-bronze- Harbinder Singh on Friday opined that Manpreet Singh led squad has a great opportunity to regain glory in the Olympics next year at Tokyo, in a city where India had won the gold way back in 1964.

The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) is a major issue now a days which needs to be answered for brining clarity. Even those who will be affected by numerous infrastructure projects that are in the pipeline do not know about it. It needs to be widely advertised so that people and stakeholders can voice their opinion and reservations. But in the midst of the pandemic is it going to be heard or even possible? It is ethically wrong for the government to make monumental changes that will impact the lives of the people during the pandemic. The country is worried about their health and security and this crisis should not be used as a distraction by the government to make such life altering decisions.

National Platform of Central Trade Unions that includes INTUC, AITUC, HMS, CITU AIUTUC, TUCC, SEWA, AICCTU, LPF, UTUC along with sectoral federations and associations has called upon working class to observe August 9 as “SAVE INDIA DAY” and also CTUs and other PSUs to observe Solidarity Actions on August 18 as Coal Strike Day.

India’s Covid numbers have risen, outstripping Brazil’s, and are second only to that of the United States. The news report proclaimed this “fact” louder than the racket made by the falling waters of the Niagara on the US-Canada border. But wait, a caveat first: This claim is based on numbers for the week ending July 22, not the "entire" period. Overall Brazil still beats India by over 100,000. And the United States remains untouchable with nearly 500,000! Yes, a lot of fakery is on and about, going around us regarding Covid and this is in line with the doubts surrounding the origins of the coronavirus, which continues to wallow in the warlike waters of the South China Sea.

It is the prerogative of the Health Minister to speak on the issues that concern health of the people in our country. This is even more relevant when the Health Minister is a doctor specialized in Otorhinolaryngology and is also Chairman of the Executive Board of the WHO, which is specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health and is currently at the forefront of global efforts towards containing the novel coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 is the period when people expect scientific information on issues related to prevention and management of the disease from a doctor’s mouth as they think it to be more appropriate and it gives confidence to them. The virus enters our body from the nose and the mouth, and the Health Minister is an ENT Surgeon.

A chorus is systematically being fashioned that the time for ambivalence is over and India must assert its might with determination to fight its own territorial battles. This has emerged in the wake of the revelation that fresh initiative has been launched to revive QUAD with the avowed mission to enlarge this grouping into a partnership of the like-minded countries.

2020 has been about an international health emergency affecting almost every aspect of our routine lifestyles. Students have been particularly affected. As COVID-19 infections double every few days, states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and Delhi decided against holding final year examinations.