A recent survey conducted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) -- a Delhi-based non-profit organisation -- shows how persons with disabilities in the country were disproportionately affected by the COVID–19 crisis. The report by NCPEDP has observed that persons with disabilities, particularly those from economically deprived sections, went through severe hardship during the lockdown. Without sufficient access to food or money, many of them faced hunger...

-Press release by Stranded Workers Action Network, dated 20th May 2020   We, the undersigned organizations call upon the State governments concerned to bring out all idle transport vehicles out from garages to the State and National highways to carry the workers to their home. We also request that more interstate trains be run, and in a coordinated fashion, to ensure that workers do not remain struck in overcrowded dormitories and camps....

-The Hindu Kerala and Karnataka have shown how democratic decentralisation has worked in their favour Mahatma Gandhi envisioned that a free India would rest on a foundation of gram panchayats, village republics that governed locally and epitomised Swaraj in practice. B.R. Ambedkar was sceptical; he described the caste-ridden, unequal village society as a cesspool. Yet, he was not unequivocally against decentralisation. Locally relevant initiatives The 73rd Constitutional Amendment mandates the constitution of panchayats at...

-The Indian Express Never before, since the outbreak began in the first week of March, has there been three straight days of decline in daily numbers. But there is little in it beyond this statistical coincidence, which was partly made possible by the decision of the Delhi government to reschedule its COVID bulletins and report only half-days figures on Saturday. For the third straight day on Saturday, the number of new cases...

-TheWire.in Migrant workers from Odisha tell The Wire they remain stranded because they don’t have Aadhar ID. Ironically, they missed out on Aadhar enrolment because they were away from their villages for work Bhubaneswar: Migrant workers hailing from Odisha, stranded in different parts of India since the nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus began on March 25, 2020, were relieved when the state government announced plans for their...