-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...
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FM’s announcement of Rs 1.7 lakh crore in the wake of COVID-19, is less than half of the Rs. 3.75 lakh crores required to fulfill the minimal “emergency measures”, convey concerned citizens & grassroots activists
-Press releases by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 26th March, 2020 Civil society activists and concerned citizens have responded to the emergency measures that were announced by the Finance Minister on 26th March, 2020 for the poor, the vulnerable and the migrant & informal workers. An open letter by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha -- an umbrella organisation of CSOs and social activists working for the unorganised sector and MGNREGA workers -- has been issued...
More »Informal sector workers don’t have the privilege to stay at home & work online in the time of COVID-19
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...
More »Farmer suicide rate sees marginal decline in 2018, concerns remain -Sharan Poovanna & Shaswati Das
-Livemint.com * 10,349 farmers and agricultural labourers killed themselves in 2018 compared with 10,655 in the previous year * In 2015, the government published elaborate data on farmer suicides, including reasons for suicides BENGALURU/ NEW DELHI: A total of 10,349 farmers and agricultural labourers committed suicide in 2018, a marginal dip from the 10,655 cases in the year before, home ministry data showed. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on accidental deaths...
More »Eight years in bonded labour, tribals recall horror, now hope for new life, homes -Kavitha Iyer
-The Indian Express For eight years, Kantabai Jadhav was among 14 tribal men and women, and eight children, who lived as bonded labourers working on farms, a cowshed and a rice mill just 120 km from Mumbai in Dhamane village of Pune’s Maval taluka. Ahmednagar, Pune: “They would call us dogs, and other bad words for women… There was no cooking oil, nor any vegetables, ever. There was dried fish and foodgrain...
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