Policy Buzz

13 June 2021

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

From June 21, every citizen above the age of 18 will be vaccinated free at vaccination centres run by the Centre or a state government.
The Union government has also announced a price cap for COVID-19 vaccines in private hospitals. The maximum price for Covaxin, Covishield, and Sputnik V vaccine has been fixed at Rs 1,410, Rs 780, and Rs 1,145 per dose respectively.
ICMR will conduct the fourth round of ‘National sero-survey for COVID-19’ this month. This sero-survey will be conducted in the same 70 districts in which the first three rounds were conducted.
To encourage steps to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Maharashtra government has announced ‘corona-free village’ competitions, where three villages in each revenue division will be awarded prizes up to ₹50 lakh.
Weyan, a village in district Bandipora, Jammu & Kashmir has become the first village in the country to vaccinate its entire adult population.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), the Union government has approved the construction of nearly 3.61 lakh houses.
Kerala retained the top rank in NITI Aayog’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Index 2020-21.

The Ministry of Education has developed an online module for compiling the data of out-of-school children and their mapping with special training centres (STC) on the PRABANDH portal.
The Union government has released new guidelines for the development of e-Content for children with disabilities.
The Ministry has released the All Indian Survey of Higher Education report 2019-20. According to the report, in the last five years, there has been a growth of 11.4 per cent in student enrolment.

According to a report by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF, worldwide the number of child labourers has risen to 160 million, with millions more at risk because of the impact of COVID-19.