-Livemint.com The health crisis will boost the trend of India’s well-off opting out to create parallel infrastructure On 2 May, the total number of active covid cases in the country crossed 3.4 million. The number was at 5,80,387 on 31 March, implying a jump of around 488% in a little over a month’s time. Unlike the first wave, this time around the well-to-do Middle Class has also been heavily impacted by the...

-The Hindu Leveraging existing schemes and providing universal social security is of utmost importance India is one of the largest welfare states in the world and yet, with COVID-19 striking in 2020, the state failed to provide for its most vulnerable citizens. The country witnessed multiple crises: mass inter- and intra-migration, food insecurity, and a crumbling health infrastructure. The extenuating circumstances of the pandemic has pushed an estimated 75 million people into...

-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...

-The Statesman NIKHIL DEY is one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Since 1990, he has been a full-time MKSS activist and a member of the organisation’s decision-making collective. A leading social activist, Dey has always been involved in grassroots struggles for land and payment of minimum wages. He has also been part of the organisation’s involvement in some groundbreaking campaigns such as people’s Right to Information...

-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...