-IndiaSpend.com To fight hunger and distress due to the pandemic, India must universalise foodgrain distribution, expand the food basket in its rations scheme and provide cash transfers, activist Anjali Bhardwaj tells us in this interview Bengaluru: The pandemic-induced lockdowns have had a profound impact on livelihoods, affecting poor Indians' food intake, studies show. In October 2020, more than half the respondents of a Hunger Survey said their rice/wheat consumption had declined during...

-The Hindu The Government needs to reverse its neglect and policy missteps as key indicators show the sector has resilience The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic could be slowly receding with a decline in the official estimates of daily infections and deaths. The economy is also very gradually getting back to normal, with many States beginning to ease some of the restrictions imposed in their lockdowns. However, the challenge of an...

-The Telegraph The former SC judge said the manner in which multiple FIRs were lodged, and the way Devangana was arrested, were unheard of in Indian judicial history The former Supreme Court judge, Justice Madan B. Lokur, has castigated Delhi police for “violating every canon of natural justice and fair play” in dealing with student anti-CAA activists Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal and Asif Iqbal Tanha, who were recently freed on bail. Justice Lokur...

-The Hindu Future of my THRee children is in question, says wife of Murugesan who died after police assault in Salem Salem: “We have not only lost our breadwinner, but the future of all my THRee children,” said an inconsolable Annakili, wife of A. Murugesan, who died after being caned by a special sub-inspector, as she waited at the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday. Recalling the incident, she...

-TheWire.in Despite the fact that India's financial inclusion infrastructure has a complex mix of self-help groups and small private banks offering credit to the poor, it has failed to deliver during the pandemic. When the pandemic struck, policymakers and prominent economists across the world called for financial infrastructures to be strengthened. They argued this would support the efficient channeling of relief THRough cash transfers or cheap loans. India was no exception to...