-The Hindu An opening up has to be accompanied by an increase in relief budget for the most vulnerable After a 39-day lockdown, what will be the shape of things to come? How should one strike a balance between ensuring livelihoods, minimising strife, and maintaining social distancing? In a discussion moderated by G. Ananthakrishnan, Reetika Khera, and Giridhar R. Babu examine the options. Edited excerpts: * With less than a fortnight left for...
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Big Brother is watching -Charu Sudan Kasturi
-The Telegraph The pandemic has given surveillance tools legitimacy in the eyes of civil society which at other times might have been more concerned about privacy issues Among the “seven” to-dos that Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed for the country on April 13 while announcing the extension of a nationwide lockdown was a call for citizens to download the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app. It would help “prevent the spread of [the] corona infection,”...
More »The key strategy is fiscal empowerment of States -M Govinda Rao
-The Hindu The Centre must recognise that winning the war on COVID-19 is linked to the States being armed with enough resources The scale of disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has never been seen before. Even as we are in the midst of the second phase of the national lockdown, there is no clarity on the time it will take to come out of the crisis, the extent of damage it...
More »Economy headed for contraction, less fiscal space for big stimulus -P Vaidyanathan Iyer
-The Indian Express If that happens, it won’t be unique to India — the IMF expects the Covid pandemic to severely impact growth across regions in its latest World Economic Outlook. It expects the US economy to shrink 5.9 per cent and the global economy to decelerate 3 per cent. New Delhi: As the Centre and states jostle over and grapple with strategies for a staggered exit from the lockdown, the country...
More »Rampant arrests in time of lockdown -Nitika Khaitan and Maneka Khanna
-The Hindu Delhi Police’s pursuit of cases related to the February violence in north-east Delhi has intensified panic, amplified health risks and violated the most basic of rights As the first month of lockdown draws to a close, large-scale arrests during this time in relation to the February violence in Delhi have eviscerated the fundamental rights of many. In a scenario where courts are effectively shut down, lawyers unable to leave...
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