-Newsclick.in Release of the draft during a lockdown, which seeks to fundamentally changes India’s environmental regulations, shows BJP government’s utter disdain for public opinion. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had released a Draft Notification on Environment Impact Assessment 2020 (EIA Notification 2020) on March 12, 2020, on the eve of the world’s largest nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and had called for responses in the next...

-The Indian Express Kanchi Kohli of the Centre for Policy Research said, "Environmental laws need to be strengthened and not relaxed as is the draft EIA. For instance, the gas leak that in Visakhapatnam today; while this is an accident, there will now have to be an investigation to see whether this was a lapse." After receiving numerous representations for extending the notice period of the draft Environment Impact Assessment notification 2020,...

-The Hindu Business Line Hiring labourers from Bihar for paddy milling work Hyderabad: Even as thousands of migrant labourers are home-bound in the special Shramik trains, about 350 labourers from Bihar have arrived at Lingampally Railway Station here. They are here to work at rice mills in the State. They are being sent to rice mills in six districts. “We are expecting about 5-6,000 of them in the next 3-4 days,” Narender, President...

-Press release by Right to Food Campaign dated 8th May, 2020 The Right to Food Campaign has issued a statement insisting the central and state governments to ensure that all labourers get free rations, transport facilities and are treated with dignity.   Please click here to access the statement issued by Right to Food Campaign insisting on free rations, transport facility and dignity for stranded migrants. For more information, please contact the following...

-The Hindu Business Line The vague legal definition of ‘worker’ sabotages inclusive and eligible delivery of welfare to all workers during the pandemic The COVID-19 health emergency has disrupted trade, mobility and livelihood in unimaginable ways. The magnitude of the crisis grows manifold when social and economic shutdowns accompany it, and the uncertainties of livelihood, wage loss and lay-offs might last longer than expected as COVID-19 has hit almost all sectors. To...