-IndiaSpend.com The government has said that the economic impact from the second Covid-19 wave will be less than that of the first. But economists point to signs of a growing rural economic crisis, and call for urgent relief measures to ward off long-term damage. Siolim, Goa: Ramesh Ram, 31, is listed as a textile industry staff worker in the administration's database of migrant workers in south west Bihar's Kaimur district. But for...

-Review of Agrarian Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, January-June, 2021 This note examines the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on food security and indebtedness among rural households. It is based on a telephone survey of 164 households from 26 villages across 13 States. The survey was conducted by the Pandemic Studies Unit of the Foundation for Agrarian Studies (FAS), Bangalore, in October 2020. Of these 26 villages included in the 2020...

-The Hindu Households coped with the loss of income by reducing food intake, selling Assets, and borrowing from friends, relatives and money-lenders The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially increased informality in employment, leading to a decline in earnings for the majority of workers, and consequent increase in poverty in the country, according to ‘State of Working India 2021: One Year of Covid-19’, a report brought out annually by Azim Premji University’s Centre for...

-The Hindu ADR analysis finds 71% of winning candidates in Kerala, 60% in T.N., 49% in Bengal have criminal cases Over half of the newly-elected MLAs of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and West Bengal had declared criminal cases against themselves in their election affidavits, the Association for Democratic Reforms said in a report on Wednesday. The recently-held Assembly elections, which concluded with counting of votes on May 2, led to the election...

The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...