-The Hindu Over 1,700 custodial deaths recorded between 2001 and 2018 nationwide; only 26 policemen convicted The recent death of a father-son duo from Tamil Nadu, allegedly due to custodial violence, has sparked anger across India. While calls for a fair probe are growing, data show that between 2001 and 2018, only 26 policemen were convicted of custodial violence despite 1,727 such deaths being recorded in India. As most such deaths were attributed...

-Scroll.in The government subjected the rural job scheme to systemic shocks but must now scale it up to 200 days of work to combat lockdown losses. The impact of the Modi government’s unilateral decision to impose a two-month-long nationwide lockdown has amplified the crisis faced by India’s 50-crore strong unorganised workforce. A potent option at present to cushion some of the blow is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The law, which was...

-The Indian Express That’s the actual liquidity pumped into rural areas by government post lockdown – through grain procurement, PM-Kisan and MGNREGA wages. There are many parallels one can draw between the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown (gharbandi) and demonetisation (notebandi), in terms of their impact on India’s farm economy. Both resulted in the same thing – demand destruction – albeit through different routes. Notebandi caused a haemorrhaging of liquidity from the predominantly cash-based farm...

-TheWire.in The text of the ordinances raises some questions about their stated objective to ‘free up’ curbs on trade and help farmers get a remunerative price for their crop. Recently, the Bharatiya Janata Party-LED Central government introduced three ordinances to bring in far-reaching agricultural ‘reforms’ in the country. Taken together, these ordinances intend to liberalise the regulatory system in the agriculture sector, provide freedom to farmers and traders to trade in farm...

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...