-NetworkIdeas.org In terms of economic policy, the Modi government must be perhaps the most conservative in the world. During the entire period of the pandemic when millions of people lost their incomes and livelihood support, most governments around the world provided universal cash transfers to the people, but not the Modi government. True, many other third world countries too did not provide such universal cash transfers, but their hands were tied;...

-Moneycontrol.com Jean Dreze, the Belgian-born hunger economics expert, on the devastation of Covid, what plagues MNREGA, central government’s relief measures, stimulus packages, vaccination drive and more. The big lesson from the havoc wrought by Covid-19 is that India must abandon the “fragmented” US model of healthcare, which is a colossal failure, according to developmental economist Jean Dreze. A Belgian-born hunger economics expert who has co-authored books with Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and...

-Hindustan Times A long-term look at this government’s economic policies suggests that for it to even consider a response the demand demand for a strong and equitable fiscal stimulus will require a reset of the existing economic policy framework There is now widespread consensus that the second wave of Covid-19 will worsen India’s demand side problem. Even though there is no official data to prove this, most experts and private estimates suggest...

-Hindustan Times The second wave will deepen inequality. Expand support to states, universalise PDS, and ramp up MGNREGS now Abandoned by the State that insisted on locking down, refusing to recognise the damage done to their livelihoods, India’s workers asserted their rights and made themselves heard by walking home in March 2020. The long march home was emblematic of the suffering and hardship unleashed by the first wave. A year later, it is...

-Newsclick.in According to CMIE data, the national unemployment rate in April registered a four-month high of 7.97% – with urban and rural joblessness at 9.78% and 7.13% respectively – as against the previous month’s figure of 6.50%. The recent surge in COVID-19 cases has sent the pandemic spiralling anew in the country, with its impact visible not just on the already strained healthcare infrastructure but also on the economic front – particularly...