-The Hindu True self-reliance won’t come from relentless industrialisation, but from localisation and decentralisation, as demonstrated by these remarkable stories of empowered rural communities Not so long ago, Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation. Today, they have contributed foodgrains for pandemic relief. Farmers on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border have been sending organic produce to Bengaluru even during the lockdown. And Adivasi villages in central India are using...

-Hindustan Times Responses have been elusive on critical issues, including health care infra, PM Cares fund, schemes, and migrants In the lethal jaws of a pandemic, when lives and livelihoods are at stake, the information law of a democracy is expected to live up to its responsibilities — to empower the citizens and to ensure transparency and accountability. Free flow of information is an essential component of crisis management. And this is...

-TheWire.in Panchayats and labour workforce unions have openly traded barbs over a move to cap paddy transplant wages in several villages. Chandigarh: “This time paddy transplant rates in our village will not be more than Rs 2,700 per acre. If anyone pays more than what is decided, he will be fined Rs 5,000,” said an elderly man, as he addressed a gathering in Gharyala Kurd village in Punjab’s Taran Taran district, approximately...

-The Telegraph For me, the migrant worker crisis has become a much bigger crisis than Coronavirus, says Emmy nominated newscaster Barkha Dutt’s been living dangerously during the last 74 days. She’s leapt into trucks crammed with scores of migrant labourers hitching a lift back to their villages. She’s jumped onto a train about to pull out of Bangalore station and talked to migrant workers returning to Uttar Pradesh. She’s struggled into a...

-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...