-Newsclick.in Over 14 crore persons have lost their jobs since the lockdown began a month ago. Over 26% of the workforce in India is without any job thus posing a dire threat to the social fabric and creating unbearable misery for millions. This is the estimate from the latest round  (April 19) of weekly sample surveys carried out by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The data shows joblessness zooming up after...

-The Indian Express According to sources, the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED), which comes under administrative control of the Agriculture Ministry, has been tasked with ensuring supply of pulses from the buffer stocks it maintains. Announced as part of the COVID-19 relief package about a month ago, free pulses — 1 kg per family — to beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) are yet to reach...

-Business Standard Food insecurity is on the rise as subsidised food distributed via govt-run ration shops is not easily available to everyone Napoleon once famously said that an army marches on its stomach. Many argue that the present countrywide lockdown is causing widespread poverty and consequent hunger, making it that much harder for the nation to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, the work of Dilli Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan (DRRAA), Right...

-The Hindu Business Line Suppressing data that point to low growth, rising joblessness and poverty impedes effective policymaking in a crisis Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, said “data is the new oil” and stressed on the credibility of data to combat the difficulties in real-time Monitoring of the Indian economy. She even proposed building data centre parks throughout the country so that skilful incorporation of data in every step...

-The Indian Express All comparisons between COVID-19 and TB end with the superficial observation that they are both deadly respiratory tract infections. The world has been spooked by COVID-19, the novel flu-like virus which emerged from the slaughter-houses of China and is now sweeping across the planet, propelled by the very engine of the global economy that it now threatens to pull asunder. Thanks to the waves of news engulfing us, including...