-Countercurrents.org More than half of rural households in India are landless, or almost so. This deprives them of the most obvious asset needed for sustainable livelihoods and food security in villages–farmland. After  agriculture the next most important source of rural livelihood in India is dairy farming but here too the household with farmland has free access to crop residues which is increasingly not available to landless households who  have to incur extra...

-The Indian Express One year since the Covid-19 lockdown was imposed, there’s been little change in the hunger levels and unemployment rate among migrant workers, especially women. Today marks the first anniversary of the day the central government announced an ill-planned national lockdown. India is home to nearly 500 million informal sector workers with practically non-existent social security and the unilateral decision pushed them into perilous circumstances, triggering their great exodus from...

-Newsclick.in The NITI Aayog recommendations to reduce coverage under the NFSA are in tandem with liberalisation of agriculture pushed forward by the government with the passage of three farm laws. On February 28, 2020, it was reported that the central government’s think tank, NITI Aayog, in a discussion paper recommended a revision in the coverage of urban and rural populations under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 to generate annual savings...

-The Hindu They say almost a year after COVID-19-induced lockdown, govt. has not kept its promises A group of hawkers, sex workers, domestic workers, rescued bonded labourers and other unorganised workers gathered at Jantar Mantar here on Thursday, almost a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, setting off a crisis for migrant workers, to demand that the government fulfil the promises made during...

-TheWire.in A number of indicators have shown that India is still reeling under the adverse impact of lockdowns and job losses necessitated by the pandemic. Any cut in food subsidies will push millions into starvation. On February 28, 2021, it was widely reported that Niti Aayog put out a paper arguing for lowering coverage in food security law in order to cut the subsidy bill. The paper prescribes curtailment of food subsidy...