-The Hindu Sharper contraction likely in Index of Industrial Production. Output at India’s core sector contracted by 6.5% in March, Commerce Ministry data show, reflecting the early impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent nationwide lockdown. The index of eight core sector industries, which form 40% of the weight of items included in the broader Index of Industrial Production (IIP), reflected a contraction in key parts of the economy in March, according...

Most reports and studies by official agencies, international think tanks and private entities indicate the cataclysmic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and society. They anticipate that lockdowns imposed by various countries across the globe to reduce the exponential diffusion of COVID-19 (i.e. for flattening the curve by social distancing and quarantines) would adversely affect economic growth and disrupt supply chains in most sectors, on top of causing...

-IndiaToday.in 84.26 lakh people have been provided meals across the country during the lockdown, of which nearly 37% people were fed by NGOs. In Gujarat, NGOs fed 93% of the people who were provided meals, while in Andhra the figure was 92%. New Delhi: Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in 13 states and Union Territories provided meals to more people than what their respective state governments did during the nationwide lockdown that started on...

-The Hindu Former Union Health Secretary says the infection has come mainly from those middle-class people who have been abroad and come back to India K. Sujatha Rao served as Union Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for the Indian government, until 2010, where she was involved in the process for a national policy for use of antibiotics, introducing vaccines in public health, and the first-ever national programme for non-communicable diseases....

-Hindustan Times According to data from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) conducted in 2017-18, workers engaged in so-called casual work – their wages were based on daily or periodic renewal of a work contract – form a quarter of the total workforce. The Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra governments on Tuesday took steps to protect the livelihoods of daily wage earners. While the Maharashtra government has urged employers to pay daily wagers...