-The Telegraph The committee said, “The absence of reliable and authentic data/information on the numbers of migrant workforce and their movement back to their home States following the outbreak of the Pandemic has apparently impacted the relief and rehabilitation measures.” Commending the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a parliamentary standing committee has said that there is no “better scheme” to provide “sustainable livelihood” to unskilled workers. The Standing Committee on Labour, headed by...

-The Indian Express The budget should have shown how serious it was about inclusive growth by announcing direct cash support to informal workers, circular migrants, agricultural labour, in addition to steady in-kind food transfers from the overflowing coffers of the FCI by making PDS universal. India’s annual budget, announced amidst much anticipation, focused on health as one of its key pillars. The fact that health and “inclusive growth” found their way into...

-TheCitizen.in The losses outweigh the gains A report released on January 15 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs estimates that India has the highest number of international migrants in the world. It found that last year 18 million Indians were living abroad, followed by Mexico 11 million, Russia 11 million, China 10 million, and Syria 8 million. It estimates that 10 million or 1 crore Indians emigrated abroad...

-The Indian Express/ PTI inputs Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared Rs 2 lakh compensation each to the kin of the deceased and Rs 50,000 each to those injured. Surat: Fifteen people were killed early on Tuesday when a dumper truck ran over a group of migrant labourers from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh who were sleeping on a pavement on the Kim-Mandvi road in Surat. Six others, including the driver and cleaner of...

-The Indian Express The current scenario is ideal for policymakers and practitioners to drive home the importance of health spending and institutional development With the first batch of anti-COVID vaccines being rolled out, the mood of the nation seems to be upbeat as it bids farewell to the pain and anguish of last year. The emergency-use approval to the vaccine developed by Oxford University and the Swedish-British pharma major AstraZeneca, manufactured in...