ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national Lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal workers, including migrant workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...

-The Indian Express “Private consumption has lost its discretionary elements across the board, particularly transport services, hospitality, recreation and cultural activities,” the RBI said in its Annual Report for 2019-20. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Tuesday indicated that the economy which is expected to contract for the first time ever, will take “quite some time to mend and regain” the pre-Covid momentum, as the “shock to consumption is severe” and the...

-Firstpost.com In April 2020, 2,186 children in Palghar fell under the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) category. In June 2020, that number marginally went up to 2,225. In Jawhar taluka, it increased from 600 to 682 in two months – a rise of 13.6% Suresh Kawa, 31, stops just short of using the word “burden” for his nine-year-old son. No father would do that. “But we toiled to arrange meals for two people earlier,”...

-Financial Express Check nutritional vulnerability amongst poor children during the Lockdown. In India, inequitable distribution of resources is a major challenge that has impeded access to nutrition for a sizeable population and harmed the children the most. According to the National Family Health Survey, 2015-16, every second child, aged 0-5 years, from the poorest 20% households in India suffers from some form of undernutrition, i.e. stunting or underweight or wasting. However, the...

-The Indian Express While the Sikkim government has launched the Sikkim Edutech App to help students from Class 9-12 cope with the learning loss, it's the junior students and those in far flung areas who were left with little support. Sometime in April, with Covid forcing schools shut, Indra Mukhi Chhetri, a maths and science teacher in a rural area of South Sikkim district, began worrying about her students. While schools were...