On June 5th this year, the Stranded Workers Action Network, comprising volunteers from various civil society groups, academics and students enrolled in university education, released its third report entitled ‘To Leave or Not to Leave? Lockdown, Migrant Workers, and Their Journeys Home’. Among other things, the latest report states that nearly four-fifth of migrant workers (out of 5,911) who called SWAN volunteers for help (altogether 821 distress calls were made)...

-The Hindu Business Line A central government committee will submit it’s report on 60% private beds to be reserved on lower RATes After a major loss of face over exorbitant pricing of Covid-19 treatment by corpoRATe-run Max Hospital in New Delhi, the healthcare chain has come up with a defence stating that per day treatment charges running into over a one lakh rupees a day, only apply to very critical Covid-19 patients. Please...

-Livemint.com From an already low base, women’s employment has fallen further, and a recovery will be difficult A clutch of early studies on the impact of the lockdown on employment is showing that women’s employment could be particularly badly hit. Given India’s record low female workforce participation RATes, growing child care demands, and a looming recession, researchers fear that women could be increasingly shut out of the productive economy. To estimate the impact...

-TheWire.in While the increased allocation and attention is welcome, it will not be enough to counter the crisis. The current pandemic has led to loss of livelihood of substantial sections of the India population. With the economy, particularly production activities in the big urban centres, having come to a standstill, a process of reverse migRATion to villages took place. This decline in economic activities is taking place against a background of continuously...

-The Hindu Leaders should act on the climate crisis with the same alacrity they have shown towards COVID-19 Two interrelated curves began their upward trend two centuries ago with the advent of the industrial age. The first curve was the atmospheric concentRATion of carbon dioxide (or, more generally, all greenhouse gases, GHGs) and the second was the average global tempeRATure curve. An upward trend Actually, the CO2 curve began its upward march about 18,000...