-IDROnline.org In response to the food crisis created by the Lockdown, here’s what anganwadis can do to ensure that children stay nourished in times of COVID-19 and beyond. Two-year old Rameela* lives in Nayaghar, 100 km from Udaipur and 35 km from the nearest town. For nearly three months now, Rameela has received a tiffin every morning, filled with sattu (a porridge made from cereals, pulses, sugar, and oil) and khichdi (a...
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That foodgrain stocks lie in public godowns while people are going hungry is a scandal -Dipa Sinha
-The Indian Express What is disturbing is that in the middle of the current crisis some are now calling for a massive downsizing of the PDS and a shift to cash transfers in place of foodgrains. The Public Distribution System has played an important role in providing relief to people in the aftermath of the national Lockdown. With COVID-19 cases increasing and the economy continuing to be in a downturn, some corrective...
More »For migrant workers, Bharat safer than India -TV Jayan
-The Hindu Business Line While farms have managed to woo back labourers, it is still a trickle for industries Forty-two-year-old Tanmoy, who worked in a plant on the outskirts of Siliguri and had lost his job during the Lockdown, is happy that he decided to heed his friend Hari Santhal and come to Punjab. “I was sitting idle and wanted to earn for my family. Since I had worked in farms earlier, I...
More »Rs 150,000 crore plus: the govt stimulus for rural areas post Lockdown -Harish Damodaran
-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...
More »Crop of ironies -Madhurika Sankar
-The Hindu Food security and farmer welfare are intertwined It is ironic that it took a devastating pandemic to force the government’s hand for long-overdue agrarian reforms. Amendments have been made to the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The Finance Minister has urged States to dismantle the Agricultural Produce Market Committees. Several long-term changes have been made to the agricultural sector, such as fair pricing and e-trading, along with liquidity measures. The Centre...
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