-TheWire.in Food supply shortages, if any, are driven by state level policy making, rather than consumers’ and suppliers’ fears of contracting COVID-19. In mid-April, the supply of fruits and vegetables at Azadpur mandi, Asia’s largest fruit and vegetable market, had fallen about 50% since the start of India’s nationwide lockdown. Two months later, updated nationwide data shows that India’s food supply chain appears to have recovered, operating at levels comparable to the same...

-The Indian Express Nearly 5 lakh workers have been given employment under self-help groups (SHGs), which includes a large number of women workers. Lucknow: Of the 1.25 crore jobs allocated by the Uttar Pradesh government in a single day under different schemes and programmes, approximately 60 lakh jobs have been provided under the Rural Development panchayati Raj Department, majority of which are under MGNREGA, and another nearly 50 lakh in MSME units...

-The Indian Express There is an urgent requirement to put money in the hands of the impoverished to support them during the pandemic. This has been the refrain of the Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee. Further, the government must tighten the implementation of its critical schemes related to nutrition, food security and healthcare. The COVID-19 pandemic is flaring up into a mass humanitarian crisis. Its foremost victim will be innocent children who have...

-Livemint.com Sen said the main reason why Kerala has done a good job in tackling Covid-19 is because of the giant strides the state has made in the public education and the health sector Ernakulam: Kerala's Covid-19 mitigation efforts were lauded by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen and political philosopher Noam Chomsky, in a state-hosted discussion on the post-coronavirus world, which was aired on Friday. The discussion series, ''Kerala Dialogue'', is an effort to...

-Livemint.com * Rural spending is the only ray of hope for a ravaged economy. But will consumers rise to the occasion? * The income loss due to 30 million migrant workers returning home is a significant hit to household finances. Moreover, covid-19 has deeply affected an already bruised consumer psyche The locked rooms lining the courtyard of Dilip Patidar’s sprawling ancestral home once smelled like a spice box. That was some years ago...