-Down to Earth Procurement at the doorstep, direct income support and reaching out to farmers can help in easing farming operations at this crucial time The extension of the nationwide lockdown to combat the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), though necessary, will lead to a further suspension of work and no wages and means for families to support themselves. The activities in manufacturing and services, that provide non-essentials, may be suspended, though with serious...

-Livemint.com * The Centre has allowed all neighbourhood shops in the residential areas to open if they follow certain guidelines * Union home ministry added that the social distancing must be strictly maintained A month after nationwide lockdown, the Centre has allowed all neighbourhood shops in the residential areas to open if they follow certain guidelines. However, shops in market places, multi-brand and single brand malls as well as market complexes located in...

-TheWire.in New Delhi: On March 26, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government had decided that all ration card holders in India will be provided one kilogram of pulses every month starting April, for a period of three months. This was a part of the PM Garib Kalyan package – the Centre’s only relief measure so far to deal with the consequences of the lockdown for the poor. Almost a month...

-Scroll.in The Nobel laureate said people needed reassurance and that the administration had to be ‘proactive’ in doing so. Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee on Friday said India has not done “anything close to enough” to provide relief to the poor, who have been adversely impacted by the countrywide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. In an interview to BBC, Banerjee said the Indian government needs to think of a “clear,...

-The Indian Express In Jharkhand and Bihar, the food crisis triggered by the lockdown has put a spotlight on an old problem — leakages and corruption in the the Public Distribution System. Patna, Ranchi: Earlier this week, Jharkhand’s grievance helpline 181 received four calls from Palamu on a single day. All the callers had a similar complaint: though the state had promised 70 kg rice in April, their ration dealer in Medininagar...