-Business Standard Trade unions slam decision, employers welcome it, saying it was absolutely necessary especially in absence of grants from govt to industry for wage payment  In what may come as a major relief to businesses, the Union government has withdrawn its order directing employers to pay wages to workers, even with units remaining shut during lockdown. On Sunday, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had issued a fresh set of guidelines which...

-CaravanMagazine.in On 17 May, for the third time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the Narendra Modi administration extended India’s lockdown—one of the harshest across the world. For the third time, the Indian government did so without seeking scientific inputs from a national task force constituted to advise the central government on its pandemic response, according to multiple members of the team of scientists. There was a consensus among members we spoke...

-The Indian Express The bench asked the Delhi government to immediately ensure that food grains are distributed to poor, needy and marginalised non-PDS residents from Public Distribution System (PDS). The Delhi High Court Monday expressed anguish over the failure on part of the Delhi government in implementing its previous “clear cut” directions that “no citizen currently residing in Delhi should go hungry”. “We express our disappointment and dismay,” a bench of Justice Siddharth...

-TheWire.in Eighty per cent or more of the demand in the economy has vanished thanks to the lockdown he hastily announced, with no warning or preparation. The only way out is to pump money in to revive demand. In  a discussion on NDTV about the contents of the third tranche of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stimulus package for the economy, Yogendra Yadav, one of India’s most respected psephologists, called it ‘entertainment’. Yadav...

-The Hindu Business Line Private oligopolies may end up forcing small and marginal farmers to accept poorer terms for their produce A big-bang reform claimed to usher in the farm sector as Finance Minister announced ₹1-lakh crore funding support for strengthening of farm-gate infrastructure such as cold chains and post-harvest management infrastructure. Additional measures include a ‘facilitative legal framework’ to enable farmers for engaging with modern food chains in a fair and...