-The Telegraph Tablighi stigma and need for government support come up during hindi-belt survey Job loss rates have been similar in rural and urban areas but the perceived “surety of losing work” is higher in the rural areas and the highest among Muslims among communities, a survey of 1,405 workers across nine Hindi-speaking states has found. “The survey revealed that the perception of uncertainty about future of work was the highest among women...

-The Indian Express Viable companies, with good credit history, are able to raise funds, but the most needy among the MSMEs are facing a double whammy: slump in demand and lack of finance. Banks have started disbursing funds to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises under the 100% Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month but for many firms, hit hard by the pandemic lockdown, credit is...

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...

-Economic and Political Weekly Farmer suicides are an unfortunate result of the agrarian distress plaguing the rural economy of many states of the country. Marathwada and Vidarbha regions in Maharashtra have recorded very high numbers of farmer suicides, and an attempt to calculate the number of suicides and the suicide mortality rate is the first step towards gaining an in-depth understanding of the prevalence and seriousness of the issue. An analysis...

-The Hindu With extensive screening, lockdown, COVID-19 hotbed Karanja brings down the cases from 134 to one Navi Mumbai has reported more than 4,000 COVID-19 cases, with a recovery rate of around 57%. But in the adjoining Uran, one village has managed to bring its recovery rate to 99.2%, with only one patient currently under treatment. Karanja village, which has eight padas and a population of around 10,000, had reported as many as...