-The Hindu Expanded rations will not only bring relief in this pandemic but also help sustain a nourished and healthy population Two days ago, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a ₹1.7-lakh crore package of social security measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in the period of the 21-day lockdown. In respect of food security, the package falls far short of what is needed. I argue that we need to immediately...
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What we should do about COVID-19 -P Sainath
-RuralIndiaOnline.org The government’s ‘package’ responding to the crisis is a blend of callousness and cluelessness With his first speech on the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got us to scare evil spirits away by having people bang the hell out of their pots and pans. With his second, he scared the hell out of all of us. With not a word on how the public, particularly the poor, are to access food and other...
More »Kerala opens 4603 relief camps for over one lakh migrant 'guest' workers -Nidheesh MK
-Livemint.com * Another 35 camps opened for 1,545 homeless and destitute people, the CM said * Food, masks, soaps, sanitisers have been made available in all those camps, and in the coming days, more educational institutions will be taken over for these purposes, said Vijayan ERNAKULAM: At a time when reports are rife about scores of migrant workers walking back to their native states on foot, hit by the coronavirus induced lockdown in...
More »Coping with coronavirus: Big challenge for India’s 37%— ‘internal migrants’ -Seema Chishti
-The Indian Express Jagdish (22), from Madhya Pradesh, does a mason’s work and is worried that even if the contractor gives money, that would be a loan, not relief. “It would be a very big government school when built,” says Kaushalendra Trivedi (45), a recent migrant from Gorakhpur, employed as a guard in Uttam Nagar in the national capital’s Rajkiya Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya. His family is five kilometres away in a makeshift...
More »Urgent government intervention needed for migrants in transit -Sanjiv Phansalkar
-VillageSquare.in With the countrywide lockdown to arrest spread of COVID-19, migrant workers who started returning home from destination sites are caught in borders with scant amenities. Government needs to intervene to ensure safe passage For the last ten days or so, state governments have been announcing movement restrictions and advisories about not moving. The lockdown trial euphemistically titled Janata Curfew was observed on the 22nd of March. Trains were stopped from that...
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