-Scroll.in Contract workers have not been paid full salaries and are uncertain about their future. Thirty-five-year old Surendra Shah has been eating smaller meals since the lockdown began. He eats only twice a day – at 9 am and later at 9 pm. Despite the frugality, the stock of flour in his home ran out on Thursday. He is left with barely any rice, a kilo of potatoes that he purchased for...

-Hindustan Times Three main factors are driving food prices higher, according to data from the consumer affairs ministry, as well as a dozen agricultural produce market committees (APMCs), which are state-regulated wholesale points. New Delhi: The prices of key staples, barring cereals, have surged nearly three times from a month ago because of a noticeable supply shock amid the three-week nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, according to official...

-The Hindu India needs a national policy providing for free testing and treatment of COVID-19 patients in private hospitals As India enters the second week of a national lockdown imposed in response to COVID-19, it is still unclear how well prepared the healthcare system is in dealing with the pandemic. Given the resource constraints of both the Central and State governments, it is clear that government hospitals alone will not be able...

-TheWire.in Before it is eradicated, the novel coronavirus can be tamed, but this will require the rapid implementation of an action plan that is humane, rational – and unafraid of the fiscal beancounters. It’s too late. The COVID-19 horse has bolted and closing the barn doors now will not bring it back. Despite Narendra Modi’s all-India lockdown, the number of people testing positive for the virus has risen sharply during the past...

-The Hindu Blames ‘fake’ online messages for the panic The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the 21-day national lockdown was “inevitable” in the face of an “unprecedented global crisis” like COVID-19. The government blamed “fake and misleading” messages on social media about COVID-19 for creating widespread panic, which led to mass “barefoot” journey of migrant workers from cities to their native villages. Please click here to...