-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...

-Hindustan Times The government has undermined secular democracy; social justice; federalism; and economic self-reliance Surreal is, perhaps, the only way to describe marking of the first anniversary of the Modi 2.0 government. As the Government data detailing the pre-coronavirus disease destruction of the economy and the consequent ruination of crores of lives during the last year was being released, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi was writing to all of us describing the...

-The Telegraph 2019-20 economic growth tumbles to 4.2% India’s economic growth has tumbled to a 12-year low of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20. What is even worse is that this statistic barely reflects the impact of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which has silenced the clangour in its factories for over two months. The lockdown began on March 25 — barely a week before the close of the financial year. “Due to a contraction in investment of...

-Hindustan Times Less than 57% of the people who sought work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) have received jobs under the programme. At a time when millions of migrant workers who have returned home to the hinterland are looking towards it for a livelihood, the government’s flagship rural jobs programme has got off to a slow start in the new financial year, Government data show, amid the...

-Outlook India The short-term measures by the government to ensure the immediate safety, food and shelter for the migrants will fail to suffice in the long run as they do nothing to tackle the underlying causes that contribute to the systemic discrimination and deprivation of the migrants. The spread of novel Coronavirus has created its own spectrum of distress and turmoil for individuals across social groups around the world, but more for...