-The Hindu Expanded rations will not only bring relief in this pandemic but also help sustain a nourished and healthy population Two days ago, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a ₹1.7-lakh crore package of social security measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in the period of the 21-day lockdown. In respect of food security, the package falls far short of what is needed. I argue that we need to immediately...
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The fiscal hoax of garib kalyan
-The Telegraph The finance minister's relief package, like some other interventions, is a case of smoke and mirrors India has jumped in with a Rs 1.7 trillion package of fiscal measure to provide relief to the poor and other vulnerable sections of its population stricken by the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiled the package with some flourish. But when experts pored over the measures, it became...
More »State’s measures to fight coronavirus are stripping the poor of dignity and hope -Harsh Mander
-The Indian Express Harsh Mander writes: The Indian government found it fit to charter planes with medical staff to fly in migrants from other countries. But it felt no responsibility at all to the millions of migrants stranded without work and food in every corner of the country. I won’t die of corona. Before that, I will surely die of hunger”. I heard this lament more than a dozen times from different...
More »Rs 1.7 lakh crore Covid-19 package: Many who have been hit still left out, relief too little -P Vaidyanathan Iyer
-The Indian Express The central government’s package, as it is, comes a week after Kerala first announced a Rs 20,000-crore support for its people. Many states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Telangana and Rajasthan followed suit. The Rs 1.7 lakh crore economic package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the vulnerable sections — farmers, women, construction workers, senior citizens, widows and the disabled — is less than 1 per cent of...
More »Has the Finance Minister Pulled a Fast One on MNREGA Workers? -Jean Drèze
-TheWire.in It appears that the Rs 20 bonus is nothing more than an approximate average of the state-specific increases notified by the rural development ministry on March 23. The relief package announced by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday is more than a trifle misleading as far as provisions for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) workers are concerned. Please click here to read more. ...
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