-The Indian Express What is disturbing is that in the middle of the current crisis some are now calling for a massive downsizing of the PDS and a shift to cash transfers in place of foodgrains. The Public Distribution System has played an important role in providing relief to people in the aftermath of the national lockdown. With COVID-19 cases increasing and the economy continuing to be in a downturn, some corrective...

-IDROnline.org In response to the food crisis created by the lockdown, here’s what anganwadis can do to ensure that children stay nourished in times of COVID-19 and beyond. Two-year old Rameela* lives in Nayaghar, 100 km from Udaipur and 35 km from the nearest town. For nearly three months now, Rameela has received a tiffin every morning, filled with sattu (a porridge made from cereals, pulses, sugar, and oil) and khichdi (a...

-The Indian Express That’s the actual liquidity pumped into rural areas by government post lockdown – through grain procurement, PM-Kisan and MGNREGA wages. There are many parallels one can draw between the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown (gharbandi) and demonetisation (notebandi), in terms of their impact on India’s farm economy. Both resulted in the same thing – demand destruction – albeit through different routes. Notebandi caused a haemorrhaging of liquidity from the predominantly cash-based farm...

-Livemint.com * rural spending is the only ray of hope for a ravaged economy. But will consumers rise to the occasion? * The income loss due to 30 million migrant workers returning home is a significant hit to household finances. Moreover, covid-19 has deeply affected an already bruised consumer psyche The locked rooms lining the courtyard of Dilip Patidar’s sprawling ancestral home once smelled like a spice box. That was some years ago...

-Down to Earth Its primary aim is to woo voters in Bihar where elections will take place later this year While the whole country is fighting against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the priority of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is to manage Rajya Sabha elections and campaign for the Bihar state assembly elections. The launch of ‘Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 20, 2020, is nothing but...