A recent report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) states that the countrywide lockdown imposed on 25th March, 2020, which was extended for nearly two months in phases, affected the food and nutritional status of vulnerable sections of the Indian population. It says that a programme like the Mid-Day Meal Scheme covers four-fifth of primary-school-aged children in the country that helps in improving not only nutrition but also...
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Lack of Political Will, Not Grains, Is Why We Do Not Have Universal PDS -Shambhavi Sharma and Sourya Majumder
-TheWire.in Can the Union government exercise its sovereignty in extending food subsidies to states during a historic crisis despite an enlarged fiscal deficit? Some states have started responding to the Supreme Court’s directions on ensuring food security, cash transfers and transportation for migrant workers. It is time the Union government steps up. In a suo moto hearing on May 13, the Supreme Court observed that migrant workers have once again been left in...
More »Prioritising the right to life -Harsh Mander, Jayati Ghosh and Prabhat Patnaik
-The Hindu A monthly cash transfer to informal workers will provide them relief and also revive the economy The majority of India’s working population is today reeling from the impact of multiple crises: a health emergency more ferocious than any in independent India; massive job losses and dramatic declines in incomes from work; and significantly increased mass hunger and worsening nutrition. Many failures The Supreme Court on May 13 directed the Centre and the...
More »Six years of Modi govt’s rule has led Indian economy to near collapse -Prabhat Patnaik
-National Herald If the disaster that economy is heading towards is to be avoided, there has to be a massive injection of demand by govt both through transfers and through direct spending on goods and services The GDP growth in the first quarter (April-June) of 2020 over the first quarter of the previous year has been minus 24 per cent according to preliminary official estimates. But most knowledgeable people believe that even...
More »India must aim for wider consumer base, direct public spending accordingly -Suvodeep Rakshit and Avijit Puri
-The Indian Express To achieve economic growth of 7-8 per cent, the government needs to start addressing some of the traditional sore points such as the large infrastructure deficit, the weak financial sector, archaic land and labour laws, and the administrative and judicial hurdles. India entered the pandemic with declining growth and limited scope for a conventional and large fiscal stimulus. We had noted in an article (IE, January 20, ‘Limited scope...
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