-TheWire.in Ranabir Samaddar, director of the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group, speaks about the factors behind the migrants’ desperation to reach home and the dynamics of the visibility and invisibility of migrant labour. With the abrupt imposition of the lockdown aimed at arresting the spread of the novel coronavirus, and prospects of earning a livelihood in cities and urban areas drying up, India stood witness to a mass exodus of migrant workers at...

-TheWire.in For too long, development authorities across India have ignored the adverse impact of 'densification' and deplorable health and environmental conditions on people’s lives. The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled us to critically review various long term measures that relate to a host of other matters with an objective of bringing about significant change. One such matter that would require critical review and change is the state of housing that is intimately intertwined with...

-TheWire.in Donald Trump’s decision to halt funding to the UN health body has renewed intense discussion on its role in handling the crisis. Trump’s decision to halt funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO), amidst a global pandemic, has been rightly criticised as “ill-timed”. However, it has also renewed intense discussion on the role of the WHO in handling the crisis.  The White House has accused the WHO of severely mismanaging the...

-TheWire.in Social policies almost always have multiple, often unintended, consequences. This feature came out sharply, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the novel coronavirus without announcing an immediate or near-simultaneous relief package for India’s poorest. As the fight against COVID-19 unavoidably puts the livelihoods of millions at risk, an ugly truth of Indian society has come out in the open – namely, a large...

-TheWire.in New Delhi shouldn’t ignore the interests of developing economies over worries that the funds may be used for ‘extraneous reasons’. The global economy is in the grip of an unprecedented crisis, once never experienced before in its history. The virus pandemic has yet to run its course in most countries, but meanwhile, the containment measures – which have involved major restrictions on mobility, gatherings and economic activity – have already imposed...