-TheWire.in A survey revealed that big peasants, who were among the top lenders to the Labourers, gave them loans in the garb of paying low daily wages. Mansa, Patiala (Punjab): A narrow dirt road alongside a filthy pond enters Neelam’s one room house at Aklia village of Punjab’s Mansa district. The house is just a pile of bricks. The floor is muddy and uneven. Neelam, in her 40s, says that whenever heavy rain...

-ThePrint.in Jitendra Prasad, of Patwa Toli village in Bihar’s Gaya district, runs a loom from his three-storeyed house — he makes saffron shrouds, or kafans. Gaya: Swathes of saffron shrouds have been left to dry on the terrace of 50-year-old Jitendra Prasad’s three-storeyed home at Patwa Toli town in Bihar’s Gaya district. The other congested floors house raw materials and nine powerloom machines required to manufacture the shrouds.   Prasad reluctantly admits that...

A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the countrywide lockdown imposed on 25th March, 2020, which was extended for nearly two months in phases, affected the food and nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the Indian population. It says that a programme like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme covers four-fifth of primary-school-aged children in the country that helps in improving not only nutrition but also...

-The Hindu Top court hears plea seeking rations, food for Labourers Scared, unemployed and hungry, migrant workers may just want to go home and will hardly care for the finer nuances of “national” and “mini” lockdowns imposed by the government on the populace, the Supreme Court said on Monday. “Whether it was the national lockdown in 2020 or mini lockdowns in 2021, psychologically the attitude of migrant workers remains the same — they...

-The Hindu Top court says provision of food for Labourers need not wait until completion of registration The government’s delay in completing a national database to identify and register migrant workers across the country in order to provide them benefits in times of dire need stood out like a sore thumb in a Supreme Court hearing on Friday. A Bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and M.R. Shah acknowledged submissions made by advocate Prashant...