A view of the 75th Independence Day celebrations at Red Fort in New Delhi, on August 15, 2021. Photo: PTI

COVID-19 Compendium (August 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

A view of a departmental store run by the Triplicane Urban Cooperative Society (TUCS) at Kilpauk in Chennai. TUCS, India's first consumer cooperative society, was formed in 1904. File photo: K. Pichumani / The Hindu.

Cooperatives Need a Regenerative Movement More than a New Ministry

H.S. Shylendra

In the space of two weeks in July, two decisions resurrected the policy focus on cooperatives in India. The first, by the ...

A medical worker holds a vial of Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine that was launched at a private hospital in Ahmedabad on July 5, 2021. Photo: PTI

COVID-19 Compendium (July 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

A differently-abled person enjoys a cup of tea after getting his first shot of COVID-19 vaccine at Blind People's Association campus in Ahmedabad on Sunday June 13, 2021. Photo: Vijay Soneji / The Hindu.

COVID-19 Compendium (June 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

Medical oxygen cylinders at a COVID-19 care center in Coimbatore on May 10, 2021. Photo: Periasamy M/The Hindu.

COVID-19 Compendium (May 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

Family members waiting to collect the body of a COVID-19 victim from the mortuary at the Maulana Azad Medical College Hospital, New Delhi on April 18. A weekend curfew has been imposed by Delhi government, following a spike in COVID-19 cases in the city. Photo: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar / The Hindu

COVID-19 Compendium (April 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

Passengers wait in a queue to give samples for their COVID-19 test after arriving at a railway station, in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, on Sunday, March 21, 2021. Photo: PTI

COVID-19 Compendium (March 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

A primary school teacher at Salaya, Mandvi, Gujarat, Chirag Raval, teaching children from a fishing hamlet at te Manvi sea shore on February 21, 2021. The teacher aims to provide children with education though schools are yet to resume functioning after they were closed down following the outbreak of the pandemic. Photo: Vijay Soneji/The Hindu.

COVID-19 Compendium (February 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

The national COVID-19 vaccination programme, which commenced on January 16, underway at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai, on January 17. Photo: R. Ragu, The Hindu

COVID-19 Compendium (January 2021): Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

COVID-19: Official Information on COVID-19 Released Monthwise by India and the WHO in 2020

An up-to-date compilation of official information released monthwise by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the ...

A youngster in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, wearing a mask with the image of a face on December 08, 2020. Photo: M. Periasamy / The Hindu.

COVID-19 Compendium: Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO in December [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

Health workers conduct a door to door survey to assess the COVID-19 situation in New Delhi, on November 23, 2020. India has more than 9 million cases of coronavirus, second behind the United States. Photo: AP

COVID-19 Compendium: Official Information on COVID-19 Released by India and the WHO in November [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

Students in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, attend a class at a government school after it re-opened on Oct. 19, 2020, as part of the fifth phase of India's relaxation of the nation-wide lockdown imposed on March 25, to combat the spread of COVID-19. The lockdown is being lifted in phases from June 1. India's first case of COVID-19 was reported from the State of Kerala on January 30. Photo: PTI

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in October by the Government of India and WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

Security personnel patrol the premises of the Taj Mahal in Agra on September 21, 2020, when the 17th century monument was re-opened to visitors. The UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site was closed to the public on March 17, 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: PTI

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in September by the Government of India and WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020, and the World Health ...

NCC cadets offer flowers to paramilitary jawans after attending the 74<sup>th</sup> Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort, in New Delhi, Saturday, Aug 15, 2020. Photo: PTI

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in August by the Government of India and WHO [HTML and PDF]

An up-to-date compilation of official information released by the Government of India from January 17, 2020 and the World Health ...

With no electricity, a boy charges his mobile using solar power to attend his online class in Bormarjong village in Assam on June 11, 2020. Photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

A Reality Check on India’s Search for Digital Utopia

Preeti Mudliar

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the persistent digital divide afflicting rural India owing to poor and insufficient internet ...

A view of the NSCBI Airport in Kolkata on July 6, 2020. Flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Nagpur and Ahmedabad have been suspended between July 6 and July 19 at the Kolkata airport in the view of rising COVID-19 cases in these cities. Photo: PTI

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in July by the Government of India and WHO [HTML and PDF]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, from January 17, ...

A wall painting in Mumbai in honour of workers who risk their lives in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo: Shashi Ashiwal

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in June by the Government of India and WHO [HTML and PDF]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, from January 17, ...

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in May by the Government of India and the World Health Organization [HTML and PDFs]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, from January 17, ...

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in April by the Government of India and the World Health Organization [HTML and PDFs]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, from January 17, ...

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in March by the Government of India and the World Health Organisation [HTML and PDFs]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, for the month of ...

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in February by the Government of India and the World Health Organisation [HTML and PDFs]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, for the month of ...

COVID-19: Press Releases and Updates in January by the Government of India and the World Health Organisation [HTML and PDFs]

A compilation of press releases issued by the Government of India through the Press Information Bureau, Delhi, for the month of ...

Official Data: Rural Health Statistics 2018-19 [PDF 4.41 MB]

The full text of the Rural Health Statistics 2018-19 [PDF] can be accessed below.

A view of busy Sarojini Nagar Market, in New Delhi on December 5, 2019. Photo: Sushil Kumar Verma

Letting the Data Speak: Consumption Spending, Rural Distress, Urban Slow-Down, and Overall Stagnation

S. Subramanian

The National Statistical Office (NSO) brings out a survey, once every five years, on the distribution of consumption expenditure ...

The NDA's return to power in the general elections is attributed to benefits from its welfare schemes trickling down. However, the government now faces huge challenges, especially in transforming the rural sector into an engine of sustainable growth. Photo: Kamal Narang

Rural India’s Transition Challenges

Sangeeta Shroff

While the electoral victory of the National Democratic Alliance in 2019 can, in part, be attributed to its welfare schemes and ...

A pond being deepened in Tamil Nadu, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA). File photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

"Income support schemes do not correct market failures": Economist

Puja Mehra

There is a proliferation of income support schemes on the Indian public policy landscape. Add to this two more by the principal ...

Two women (sisters-in-law) stand in front of the toilets they constructed in Dharmapura village, Bijnor district, Uttar Pradesh (May 2016). Photo: Nitya Jacob

Nirmal to Swachch: More Money, More Toilets, More of the Same

Nitya Jacob and Sunetra Lala

Four years after the Government of India launched the Swachch Bharat Mission (SBM), what is the reality in rural Uttar Pradesh, ...

Indian farmers shout slogans during a rally at the end of their six day long march on foot, in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 12, 2018. Tens of thousands of farmers from across western India have arrived in Mumbai demanding, among other things, a waiver of farm loans and fair prices for their produce as India's agriculture sector struggles amid years of declining earnings. The farmers reached India's business capital Monday after marching on foot for up to six days and plan to surround the state legislature of the western state of Maharashtra in Mumbai. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

Rural Distress: Farmers as Voters

Gargi Parsai

In a politically sensitive pre-election Union Budget the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has lost possibly its last ...

A farm worker applying fertilizer at a paddy field near Thrissur, Kerala on February 16, 2011.In a bonanza to the farming community, the government today announced loans at interest rate of four per cent -- three per cent less than market rate -- for farmers who pay their dues in time and raised the credit target for farm sector by Rs 1 lakh crore.

Public Sector Banking and the Unmet Expectations of Rural India

C. H. Venkatachalam

As public sector banks fall short of meeting rural India's credit requirements, the money lender, often usurious, has re-emerged ...

Slow Agricultural Growth and Agrarian Crisis

A. Vaidyanathan

India’s agricultural growth in the past two decades has been slower than the rest of the economy. This has led to resentment among ...

Rural India on the National Optic Fibre Network: What Happens Next?

Preeti Mudliar

As one of the world’s largest rural connectivity endeavours, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project has been the ...

Drought Relief: Harnessing Native Genius for Water Storage

Nitya Jacob

Droughts draw attention to failure of government supply programmes. With each passing year the severity of the water crisis ...

Droughts, Famines, and Scarcities: Time for a Proactive State Mechanism

Harsh Mander

In the summer of 2016, at least a third of India’s rural residents are battling drought, often for the third consecutive year.

Karnataka's Minister for Agriculture, Krishna Byre Gowda, interacting with farmers at Korvi in Chincholli taluk in Kalaburagi district in April 2016.

Karnataka steps up measures to support drought-hit farmers

S. Rajendran

Karnataka is in the grip of severe drought despite heavy rains in most regions of south-interior Karnataka in early May 2016. The ...