Although social activists and concerned economists demanded at least Rs. 1 lakh crore to be earmarked in favour of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Finance Minister in her budget speech on 1st February allocated only Rs.61,500 crore to it for the financial year 2020-21. As compared to the fund spent on MGNREGA in 2019-20 (i.e. revised estimate of Rs.71,001.81 crore), the amount set aside for the...
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Dominant-caste panchayats in Punjab pass resolutions to reduce labour wages -Jatinder Kaur Tur
-CaravanMagazine.in On 30 May, the dominant caste landowners of Ghanauri Khurd village in Punjab’s Sangrur district organised a meeting of their panchayat. Under the supervision of Rajdeep Kaur, the sarpanch of the village, they passed a list of resolutions against the wages, welfare and freedom of the primarily Dalit daily-wage labourers of the village. The resolution capped the wages of workers at Rs 3,800 for sowing an acre of paddy and...
More »For migrant workers, Bharat safer than India -TV Jayan
-The Hindu Business Line While farms have managed to woo back labourers, it is still a trickle for industries Forty-two-year-old Tanmoy, who worked in a plant on the outskirts of Siliguri and had lost his job during the lockdown, is happy that he decided to heed his friend Hari Santhal and come to Punjab. “I was sitting idle and wanted to earn for my family. Since I had worked in farms earlier, I...
More »COVID-19: Bracing for agrarian crisis and food insecurity -Manjari Balu
-Down to Earth Distress among marginal farmers and unavailability of food to migrant labourers has been largely ignored in Union government’s economic stimulus Agriculture and allied activities are considered ‘essential’ and officially face no restriction to harvest and supply to the market, even in the middle of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. But an agrarian crisis stemming from systemic failures needs to be considered for immediate policy response. The current distress...
More »Centre's Economic Package Addresses Long Term Issues, Not Immediate Concerns of Farmers -Mayank Aggarwal
-TheWire.in Millions of agricultural labourers are currently under stress due to the ongoing lockdown which has led to a loss in income, loss of jobs for migrant labour and a disruption in the supply chain. Following the stress on the agricultural sector by the COVID-19 related lockdown, the central Government has announced medium to long term relief measures as part of an economic package. However, the package has fallen short on immediate...
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