-Press statement issued by Harsh Mander, Anjali Bhardwaj and Jagdeep Chhokar dated 24th May 2021 We welcome the important directions given by the Supreme Court today for ensuring food security of migrant workers across the country. The SC has directed that dry ration has to be distributed to migrant workers throughout the country by the States under the Atma Nirbhar Scheme or any other scheme found suitable by the States/Centre. Further,...
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Migrant workers may want to go home, says Supreme Court -Krishnadas Rajagopal
-The Hindu Top court hears plea seeking rations, food for labourers Scared, unemployed and hungry, migrant workers may just want to go home and will hardly care for the finer nuances of “national” and “mini” lockdowns imposed by the government on the populace, the Supreme Court said on Monday. “Whether it was the national lockdown in 2020 or mini lockdowns in 2021, psychologically the attitude of migrant workers remains the same — they...
More »Harsh Mander: A lesson in how to end the mass suffering unleashed by India’s first lockdown -Harsh Mander
-Scroll.in A report by the collective Hunger Watch reveals the extent of continuing hunger caused by state policy, and recommends ways to end the distress. A spectacularly uncaring, unaccountable state has abandoned Indians to their fate. Bodies are piling up, pyres burn late into the night, and corpses are buried in anonymous mass graves. Loved ones are choking to death because their governments failed to secure them oxygen. Vaccines have fallen short...
More »Are we listening to the lessons taught in the first year of Covid-19? -Ashish Kothari
-The Indian Express The pandemic revealed the precarious state of India’s informal sector. Localised production, trade and markets offer a better alternative to existing paradigm of development. Another wave of COVID, another round of lockdowns, another long journey back home for migrant workers. If there is one lesson we are learning after a year of COVID-19, it is that we have not learnt any lessons, at least not the crucial ones. 2020 exposed...
More »There is an urgent need for safeguards against unfair discontinuation of social benefits -Jean Drèze
-The Indian Express Temporary denial of food rations is one thing, cancellation of ration cards is far more serious. How many cards have been cancelled for lack of Aadhaar linkage? No one really knows. The Covid crisis has enhanced the dependence of poor people on social security schemes such as the public distribution system (PDS). Many of them, unfortunately, continue to have difficulties in accessing these schemes due to Aadhaar-related problems. Startling findings...
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