-The Indian Express Floods might be as old as Assam, but fighting a pandemic in these swirling waters is a whole new challenge for even the most seasoned health worker. GUWAHATI: It is the wind that has helped Pratima Barman plan her day as an accredited social health activist (ASHA) in Assam’s Dibrugarh district for seven years now. In the sapori (island) village where Barman lives, a strong gusty wind, coupled with...

-The Indian Express These are some of the findings mentioned in a report prepared by Jharkhand’s Social Audit Unit, under the Rural Development Department, created to “promote transparency and accountability in implementation of the programs”. Ranchi: FORTY-EIGHT per cent people did not receive full two months’ ration, as promised by the Jharkhand government during the lockdown period. Out of 1,255 families inspected, which had pregnant/lactating women or children below five years of...

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...

-The Hindu True self-reliance won’t come from relentless industrialisation, but from localisation and decentralisation, as demonstrated by these remarkable stories of empowered rural communities Not so long ago, Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation. Today, they have contributed foodgrains for pandemic relief. Farmers on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border have been sending organic produce to Bengaluru even during the lockdown. And Adivasi villages in central India are using...

-India Spend Dungarpur: Hunger and malnutrition are likely to become more acute among young children and pregnant and lactating women in Rajasthan’s tribal belt as community health workers, who deliver public nutrition schemes, struggle with the food shortages caused by the ongoing lockdown, our field report shows. The delivery of food and ration kits for vulnerable social groups has also been impacted by the extra load of COVID-19 duties assigned to the...