-The Hindu Business Line Data show that only 43% of those in informal jobs in Dec 2019 retained them in April 2020 Vs 72% in formal sector Pune: About 1.23 crore migrant labourers returned to their home States during the Covid – 19 lockdowns during 2020 and once again many State governments including Maharashtra government are considering lockdowns to curb rising Covid-19 cases. While industrial and business sectors are strongly opposing the...

-The Hindu In the post-pandemic world, addressing inequality is key to sustaining growth and well-being COVID-19 in the last one year has once again reminded us of the growing inequalities in India. A recent Pew Research Report shows that India’s middle class may have shrunk by a third due to the novel coronavirus pandemic while the number of poor people earning less than ₹150 per day more than doubled. The Pew report...

-The Indian Express One year since the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed, there’s been little change in the hunger levels and unemployment rate among migrant workers, especially women. Today marks the first anniversary of the day the central government announced an ill-planned national lockdown. India is home to nearly 500 million Informal Sector Workers with practically non-existent social security and the unilateral decision pushed them into perilous circumstances, triggering their great exodus from...

-The Indian Express NITI Aayog’s draft report is well-intentioned. But its failure to address the policy distortions at the root of migrant workers’ issues cannot be overlooked The lockdown-induced suffering of millions of migrants raised awareness regarding their magnitude, vulnerability, and role in the economy. It also led to a flurry of measures by the central and state governments. It is now encouraging that the Niti Aayog, on the request of the...

-Livemint.com India’s new draft labour codes, which envisage a shorter work week, may offer some flexibility to a small section of the country’s workforce. But it is not going to reduce working hours in a country that has among the longest working hours in the world For white collar workers who have made an easy transition to working from home, the prospect of a four-day work week, as proposed by India’s new...