-The Indian Express The state must prioritise removing malnutrition, give uncompromising priority to improving primary health infrastructure In 1947, post-colonial India set off with the ambition of building a modern state on the principles of equality where citizens, by virtue of their birth in the country, would be entitled to a life of dignity. While the Constitution provided the rights to life, liberty, nutritional standards and maternity care, it did not explicitly...

-The Indian Express NITI Aayog’s draft report is well-intentioned. But its failure to address the policy distortions at the root of migrant workers’ issues cannot be overlooked The lockdown-induced suffering of millions of migrants raised awareness regarding their magnitude, vulnerability, and role in the economy. It also led to a flurry of measures by the central and state governments. It is now encouraging that the Niti Aayog, on the request of the...

-NDTV.com blog The devastation and suffering due to the Covid pandemic is unparalleled and continues to unfold in its multiple dimensions. Amidst this colossal misery in India, the most excruciatingly vivid and heart-wrenching has been the migrant crisis triggered as a consequence of a sudden lockdown. As a nation, we witnessed the unfolding of the harrowing tragedy of migrant workers, where millions of them, particularly in our metro cities, were rendered...

-TheThirdPole.net More than 100 million people live without access to safe water in Southeast Asia, Sam Geall writes about what can be done to improve that and to protect clean water sources On 6 November, the Mekong River Commission acknowledged that climate change had exacerbated this year’s wildly varying water levels on the Mekong – which saw the mighty river reduced to a trickle in parts, even during the rainy season. But...

-IndiaSpend.com New Delhi: In mid-October, machinist Bipin Ramesh Sahu, 38, was flown back to Surat from his southern Odisha village by his former employer, a textile mill owner. Sahu, among the 6.7 million migrant workers to lose their jobs and return home during the lockdown in India, assumed that his employer’s eagerness to re-employ him meant better living and working conditions in Surat--more humane shifts, safety gear, wage cheques instead of...