The recently released quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data broadly confirms the dip in employment and jobs during the countrywide lockdown period, followed by a certain degree of recovery in the post-lockdown months last year as have been indicated by various survey-based studies and research papers. The quarterly bulletin on PLFS provides data on key employment and unemployment indicators i.e. Unemployment Rate (UR), Worker Population Ratio (WPR) and Labour...

-The Hindu Advisory comes as new cases cross 40,000 mark again With the daily tally of new coronavirus cases touching a 24-day high at 41,649 cases on Saturday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan has written to several States that all districts reporting a positivity rate of more than 10% in the last few weeks, ought to consider strict restrictions. According to a statement from the Health Ministry the curbs must aim to “prevent/curtail...

-The Telegraph With opportunity costs attached to the livelihoods of pastoralists being so high, the government must facilitate their safe movement India is battling a second wave of Covid-19 infections; this time it has made inroads into rural India. Pastoral communities, who have limited information about the symptoms, preventive measures, diagnosis, treatment and vaccination, are becoming silent victims. A brief by the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Development claims that...

-Newsclick.in The Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) said that its volunteers called 80 officers from across the 20 zones and enquired about the assistance being provided to migrant workers. The Union Labour Ministry’s helpline numbers for migrant workers are more of a “post office”, a group of researchers from the Stranded Workers Action Network (SWAN) said on Monday, May 24, thus concluding that lessons from last year have not been learnt by...

-TheWire.in Can the Union government exercise its sovereignty in extending food subsidies to states during a historic crisis despite an enlarged fiscal deficit? Some states have started responding to the Supreme Court’s directions on ensuring food security, cash transfers and transportation for migrant workers. It is time the Union government steps up. In a suo moto hearing on May 13, the Supreme Court observed that migrant workers have once again been left in...