-The Hindu Centre urges States to issue more ration cards to vulnerable. Almost a third of all ration card holders are yet to get their free foodgrains allocation for May under the Centre’s COVID-19 relief scheme, according to the Food Ministry. At a press conference on Thursday, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey also said it was up to the States to take further action on providing rations to migrants and others without ration...

-Newsclick.in Report by prominent economist Jean Dreze and Anmol Somanchi highlights the severe economic distress and food crisis suffered by a vast majority of Indian poor following the 2020 lockdown. It demands a stronger wave of relief measures to avoid a repeat of the crisis. On May 31, 2021, prominent economist Jean Drèze and Anmol Somanchi published a detailed report analysing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on food security, employment, income,...

-IndiaSpend.com Migrant workers in different states have been struggling to find work, wages and rations, say activists and researchers. The Public Distribution System must be universalised, they say, and free rations must be provided for at least six more months. Bengaluru: Sudhir Paswan, 29, is back to square one--in his village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district, counting his losses. It has been more than a week since he returned, after failing to secure...

-The Hindu In the U.S., India and Brazil, messianic populism, polarisation and insularity have made the pandemic that much worse A year and counting into the greatest health crisis the world has faced in over a century we can identify one overwhelming factor that separates the countries that have done relatively well from those that have been complete disasters:Autocrcy elected autocrats. By any measure the most dismal performers in the democratic world...

A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the countrywide lockdown imposed on 25th March, 2020, which was extended for nearly two months in phases, affected the food and nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the Indian population. It says that a programme like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme covers four-fifth of primary-school-aged children in the country that helps in improving not only nutrition but also...