-The Hindu Instead of embracing the welfare state path, the BJP government is encouraging greater privatisation The novel coronavirus is a global threat, but the pandemic has had an uneven impact across countries and within countries. Historically, social inequality has always been extreme in India. However, the lockdown has sharpened the edges of inequality even further, especially because of the way it has been implemented. Many countries have imposed lockdowns but not...

-Newsclick.in Over 14 crore persons have lost their jobs since the lockdown began a month ago. Over 26% of the workforce in India is without any job thus posing a dire threat to the social fabric and creating unbearable misery for millions. This is the estimate from the latest round  (April 19) of weekly sample surveys carried out by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The data shows joblessness zooming up after...

-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...

-The Hindu If the poor must stay at home, they need income support and essential services As the novel coronavirus spreads, a double crisis looms over India: a health crisis and an economic crisis. In terms of casualties, the health crisis is still very confined (seven deaths in a country where eight million people die every year), but the numbers are growing fast. Meanwhile, the economic crisis is hitting with full force,...

-Down to Earth Studies have pegged consumption of phosphatic fertilizers in Punjab at ten times higher than the national average The media has consistently reported on cancer deaths in the Malwa region of Punjab. While a definite scientific finding on the same is awaited, there have been varying conclusions which may, at best, be speculative in nature. But first, it is important to bring out facts which are uncontested. Studies have pegged consumption...