-The Indian Express Expansion and universalisation of the PDS, pensions, cash grants and employment guarantee schemes in both urban and rural areas are essential to tide through these difficult times. The Prime Minister’s extension of free food grains for 800 million Indians till November is undoubtedly a relief. The granaries of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) are overflowing with more than 100 million tonnes of food grains. But the economy has,...
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Lockdown further impoverishes those who were living on the edges of existence even during normal times, finds a new report
A recent survey that was conducted through telephonic interviews among 1,405 respondents across the states of Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan and Jharkhand reveals the precarious conditions of workers nearly 45 days after the announcement of COVID-19 lockdown. The report entitled Labouring Lives: Hunger, Precarity and Despair amid Lockdown tries to understand the extent (and depth) of job loss and hunger 45 days after the lockdown. Hunger and...
More »COVID-19 Lockdown: Impact on Agriculture and Rural Economy -Vikas Rawal, Manish Kumar, Ankur Verma and Jesim Pais
-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...
More »Not at the cost of food security -Siraj Hussain & Ajit Ranade
-The Indian Express Diverting rice to produce ethanol during the pandemic is unethical. Surplus grains should be used to feed those in distress. In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and a country-wide lockdown came an announcement that was difficult to believe. The press release said the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC) chaired by the Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to use “surplus” rice available with the Food...
More »A grain stockist with a role still relevant -Sudha Narayanan
-The Hindu In the middle of the pandemic, the FCI holds the key to warding off a looming crisis of hunger and starvation For several years now, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has drawn attention for all the wrong reasons. Set up under the Food Corporations Act 1964, in its first decade, the FCI was at the forefront of India’s quest of self-sufficiency in rice and wheat following the Green Revolution,...
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