-Press release by ActionAid India dated 13th August, 2020 Out of 11,537 respondents, over three-fourths reported that they had lost their livelihood since the imposition of the lockdown. Close to half of the respondents said that they had not received any income, and about 17 per cent had received only partial wages. Approximately 53 per cent said that they had incurred additional debt during the lockdown. More than half of the...
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From tailors to paani poori sellers: MGNREGA lends a hand to migrant returnees -Ishan Kukreti
-Down to Earth DTE visited village Dhamna in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district to see how life in rural India is being sustained by the biggest employment guarantee scheme in the world People don’t eat paani poori during a pandemic. Out-of-business garment shops don’t employ tailors or hire security guards. It’s been five months since the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the subsequent countrywide lockdown stripped migrant labourers of their livelihood, leading to...
More »The pandemic is about eyes shut -Rajendran Narayanan
-The Hindu There is a resonance between Saramago’s literary world and the migrant labour distress in contemporary India The novel, Blindness, by Portuguese Nobel Laureate José Saramago, is strikingly prescient about a sweeping illness. The plot revolves around a mysterious epidemic because of which people suddenly turn blind. The thread It starts with a person driving his car who turns blind while waiting at a traffic signal. He pleads to be taken home and...
More »Large sections of poor are unlikely to benefit from extension of food grains scheme -Swati Narayan
-The Indian Express Expansion and universalisation of the PDS, pensions, cash grants and employment guarantee schemes in both urban and rural areas are essential to tide through these difficult times. The Prime Minister’s extension of free food grains for 800 million Indians till November is undoubtedly a relief. The granaries of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) are overflowing with more than 100 million tonnes of food grains. But the economy has,...
More »PM's One-Nation, One-Ration Scheme - What Not To Do -Reetika Khera
-NDTV On March 26, the Finance Minister made the announcement of doubling the entitlements of PDS ration card holders for the months of April-June. Since then, it has been clear that the PDS has served as a lifeline for millions of Indians who were left high and dry when the sudden and complete lockdown had been announced two days prior. As we approached the end of June, pressure had been mounting to...
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