Category:

Eco/Invest/Demography

India’s COVID death rate hit record in June after calls for better data

“The Delta variant is both the most contagious variant and among the most dangerous variants in terms of infection fatality rates,” said Christophe Z Guilmoto, a demographer at the French Institute of Research for Development in New Delhi, who has studied COVID-19 mortality in India. “It did play an increasing role at the end of India’s second wave, and this may explain why the daily count of deaths in India isn’t coming down as fast as we expected/hoped.”

read more

Delhi govt launches financial assistance scheme for families of Covid victims

”Each family in which a death has occurred due to Covid will be provided an ex gratia of Rs 50,000.”
”We are launching a portal through which such people can apply for financial assistance. Our representatives will also visit such families and get applications filled up,” he added.

The chief minister said such representatives will not reject claims of families in case any document is missing and will only facilitate the process.
There is no income criterion to apply for financial assistance under the scheme.

read more

New Zealand gov’t to establish consumer data right

“Any data shared through the consumer data right will only take place with a person’s informed consent and would be strictly used for the reasons agreed upon. For example, if a person was seeking financial advice, they could ask their bank to share data, such as transaction information, with their chosen adviser,” New Zealand, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark said.

read more

Job openings for permanent staffers to be adversely affected due to 2nd wave of COVID-19: Survey

”At the beginning of the year, India was witnessing a steady economic recovery and an upward curve in hiring. But the overwhelming situation due to the second wave of COVID-19 had a huge impact on the employment rate and hiring process in the country. Restrictions in mobility also resulted in job losses in many sectors,” Genius Consultants CMD R P Yadav said.

read more

Twitter loses immunity over user-generated content in India

India’s IT ministry told the High Court in New Delhi that Twitter’s non-compliance amounted to a breach of the provisions of the IT Act, causing the U.S. firm to lose its immunity, according to the filing dated July 5. The filing came in a case filed by a Twitter user who wanted to complain about some allegedly defamatory tweets on the platform, and said the company was not complying with the new law that requires appointment of certain new executives.

read more

Public, not polluters, too often pay to clean up environment, EU auditors say

“Polluters need to pay for the environmental damage they cause,” said report author Viorel Stefan. “Up to now, though, European taxpayers have far too often been forced to bear the costs that polluters should have paid.”

The auditors looked at a sample of 42 environmental clean-up projects, backed by 180 million euros ($214 million) of EU funds, to fix issues like industrial pollution and contaminated landfill sites in Italy, Poland and Portugal.

read more