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...

-The Indian Express The report, which comprised approximately 73 per cent males and 27 per cent females, showed that over "73 per cent of those interviewed were facing severe challenges on account of the lockdown". Considering the numerous challenges that Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) have been facing during lockdown, a recent survey recommends enforcing the March 27, 2020 Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) guidelines for securing financial support to...

-The Hindu A stronger health system in a country can lead to better outcomes on the economic growth front When public health sneezes, the economy catches cold. Dire predictions for the post-COVID-19 global economy have come from the International Monetary Fund, which called the present crisis the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Grim forebodings for the Indian economy have been sounded by many distinguished economists and the Governor of the Reserve...

-PTI/ Livemint.com Stuck in Gurugram due to lockdown, a tenacious Jyoti Kumari asked her father to sit on the rear side carrier of her cycle and took him to his native PLAce, covering 1,200km in seven days New Delhi: In what could be a life-changing opportunity, the cycling federation will invite 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari to appear for a trial next month, impressed with the doggedness with which she pedalled her way to...

-TheWire.in From demonetisation to GST and now the lockdown, the government's policies towards the 'unorganised sector' has spelt nothing but rack and ruin. What has the BJP-led government of Narendra Modi done since 2014 that does not suggest it wishes to destroy the informal economy, also known as the unorganised sector? While the ‘unorganised’ informal economy now accounts for roughly half of India’s GDP – and is shrinking relative to the share of...