Keep up-to-date with all that is happening in welfare policy with this curated selection of news, published every fortnight.

Policy News

• The Union government resumed the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana. Over 800 million beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act will get an additional 5 kgs of wheat or rice and 1 kg of gram free during May and June 2021.

Coronavirus-focus News

• India began the third phase of its coronavirus vaccination programme on 1 May 2021, under which all people aged above 18 years are eligible to get themselves vaccinated.
• India received the first consignment of 150,000 Sputnik V doses in Hyderabad. More shipments of the Russian vaccine will arrive over the next few weeks.
• World Health Organization has added American biotech company Moderna’s mRNA Covid-19 vaccine to its basket of vaccines for emergency use.
• Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has identified about 30 industries whose nitrogen plants will be modified for the production of medical oxygen.

Other News

• World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released its annual ‘State of the Global Climate’ report for 2020. According to the report, 2020 was one of the three warmest years on record, despite a cooling La Niña event.