-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...

-The Hindu “Had the migrant persons been allowed to go home at the beginning of the epidemic when the disease spread was very low, the current situation could have been avoided,” says the joint letter by three public health organisations. A group of public health experts, two of whom are part of a government-constituted advisory committee to contain the pandemic, has said enforcing the lockdown “indefinitely” would be too disruptive and “overtake...

-Livemint.com Weakening labour laws just when they need greater social cover shows a lack of empathy for them The migration of thousands of workers trying to reach their home states has woken up the State, media and the middle class to a new category of citizens: migrants. Ever since the lockdown was announced in the last week of March, they have travelled long distances, dodging the police in state after state, to...

A recent survey conducted by National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) -- a Delhi-based non-profit organisation -- shows how persons with disabilities in the country were disproportionately affected by the COVID–19 crisis. The report by NCPEDP has observed that persons with disabilities, particularly those from economically deprived sections, went through severe hardship during the lockdown. Without sufficient access to food or money, many of them faced hunger...

-PTI/ Newsclick.in The woman, Ranganayaki, said she merely shared a forwarded post by her friend raising questions on the incident. Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh CID police have registered a case against a 60-year-old woman for allegedly posting in social media questions pertaining to the recent Styrene gas leak incident in Visakhapatnam in which 12 people lost their lives and hundreds fell ill. The CID is also investigating the role of a man, Malladi...