After the outbreak of COVID-19 in China during early January this year and its dissemination globally within a few days, health experts have suggested ways to check its spread exponentially among the rest of the population. In the age of internet connectivity, work-from-home and self-isolation have been advised as solutions to ensure social distancing and avoid large-scale social gatherings. Experts have asked governments and private enterprises to keep people at...

-Newsclick.in Punjab is industrialised and its agriculture is mechanised. The state is in the grip of a downturn which has hurt the migrant poor most. The Union Budget is the talk of the town, but the economic downturn is not. The prevailing economic situation has hurt all sectors of the business and economy. One symptom of the downturn is that unemployment has broken a 45-year record. Even if these facts are known,...

-The Hindu Low allocations and specific policy statements point to greater privatisation and withdrawal of the state Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman began her speech by saying that the Union Budget was “woven around three prominent themes” — aspirational India, economic development for all and building a caring society. Achieving any of these would require extraordinary efforts on the social sector front starting with allocating additional resources for health, education, nutrition, employment...

-Business Standard The government has made an enabling provision in the code to provide insurance cover, under the ESI schemes, to gig, platform and plantation workers Workers employed in the gig economy may soon be eligible for insurance benefits provided by the state-run Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). The move is a part of the Social Security Code Bill, 2019 approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. The Code has also proposed...

-The Hindu Business Line Apart from easing labour laws and providing a social security net, a focus on clusters with access to land and capital will help Getting micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), who employ 92 per cent of the workforce, to grow more rapidly should be one of the pillars of any strategy for job creation. This year’s Economic Survey does candidly state that “Our policies must, therefore, focus on...