-Scroll.in This is an important reminder that policies with a 120 million-person hole at the heart of them are flawed. India’s chaotic attempt to go into a lockdown to combat the coronavirus has had an unusual side-effect: it has the attention of the elites, ensconced in their homes during the three-week period, to the plight of the country’s massive migrant labour population. The Central government’s failure to adequately plan forced hundreds of thousands...

-The Hindu Blames ‘fake’ online messages for the panic The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the 21-day national lockdown was “inevitable” in the face of an “unprecedented global crisis” like COVID-19. The government blamed “fake and misleading” messages on social media about COVID-19 for creating widespread panic, which led to mass “barefoot” journey of migrant Workers from cities to their native villages. Please click here to...

-The Indian Express That migrants' health takes a huge beating in this process. That the already-malnourished will suffer immensely, says Chinmay Tumbe. Economist Chinmay Tumbe, author most recently of India Moving – A History of Migration and an Assistant Professor at IIM (Ahmedabad) spoke to Seema Chishti on the many implications of the surging crowds of migrants anxious to go home in the wake of the national lockdown. * Given the sudden rush...

-The Hindu In dealing with the crisis, the Centre should not only learn from States but also act on its own In dealing with the health and economic crisis, the Central government’s apathy is disappointing. The Prime Minister’s speech created panic even for the well-off. For the most vulnerable, it triggered a huge exodus from the cities. They were given neither time to prepare for the unplanned lockdown nor support to cope...

-The Indian Express Ranveer was one among the countless migrant Workers walking home from big cities to their villages, where new rules of isolation and quarantine await. And his story is emblematic of their plight, and the trauma of waiting families. Morena (Madhya Pradesh): The audio file is 42 seconds long. On one end is a loud, animated voice. Screaming, beseeching. “Ask someone to give you a lift till Morena. Hello? Hello?”...