-Civil Society News When the lockdown began to ease in June, migrant workers who had left Ahmedabad for their villages started returning to the city in the hope of finding some employment. It hasn’t been easy. Industrial areas haven’t opened up fully and employers are going slow on taking on workers. Sunk in debt with insecure work, hunger now stalks migrant workers. Entire families have been living out in the open on worksites....
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Covid-time demand helps whittle down FCI grain stocks -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express The gap between the current and year-ago stocks, too, has narrowed down from over 15 mt to 1.5 mt between June 1 and October 1. Covid-19 may have unleashed all-round economic devastation, but has also turned into an opportunity for whittling down the Food Corporation of India’s (FCI) massive grain mountain. At 68.49 million tonnes (mt), the total wheat and rice stocks in the Central pool as on October 1...
More »China loan horse without a mouth -Imran Ahmed Siddiqui
-The Telegraph Modi govt formally confirms that India took two loans totalling Rs 9,202 crore from a Beijing-based multilateral development bank in the thick of the border standoff June 15: Chinese troops kill 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley. June 19: India signs a loan agreement with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for $750 million (Rs 5,521 crore) to support measures undertaken under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY). China...
More »No free grain in July for 40% of PMGKAY beneficiaries
-The Hindu Only 6% of free chana due in July has been distributed New Delhi: Almost four out of ten people dependent on free food from the Centre did not receive their July allocation under a special scheme to help tide over the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told journalists on Friday, blaming States for their failure to distribute the free grains and pulses. In fact, as many as 11...
More »The COVID-19 fiscal response and India’s standing -Amit Basole and Jonathan Coutinho
-The Hindu The relief measures do not seem to be commensurate with the economic disruption caused by the lockdown How does India compare in the quantity and quality of its COVID-19 response to other developing countries? Here we extend our earlier analysis of India’s fiscal response (The Hindu online, “India must enhance fiscal support for COVID-19 relief and rebuilding”, April 18, 2020) drawing on the International Monetary Fund Policy Tracker, the COVID-19...
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