-The Hindu Business Line/ NetworkIdeas.org With India experiencing a severe second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing decentralized lockdowns, a crisis of loss of jobs and livelihoods and resulting hunger is being reported from across the country. A reluctant central government has, therefore, been forced to revive the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), to distribute 5 kilograms of free foodgrain per person per month to the approximately 80 crore...
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How Punjab's Dalit Labourers Are Trapped to Live a Bonded Life -Vivek Gupta
-TheWire.in A survey revealed that big peasants, who were among the top lenders to the labourers, gave them loans in the garb of paying low daily wages. Mansa, Patiala (Punjab): A narrow dirt road alongside a filthy pond enters Neelam’s one room house at Aklia village of Punjab’s Mansa district. The house is just a pile of bricks. The floor is muddy and uneven. Neelam, in her 40s, says that whenever heavy rain...
More »Govt. has an active role to play during the pandemic in terms of nutritional support, education & jobs, says IFPRI report
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...
More »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 »Migrant workers may want to go home, says Supreme Court -Krishnadas Rajagopal
-The Hindu Top court hears plea seeking rations, food for labourers Scared, unemployed and hungry, migrant workers may just want to go home and will hardly care for the finer nuances of “national” and “mini” lockdowns imposed by the government on the populace, the Supreme Court said on Monday. “Whether it was the national lockdown in 2020 or mini lockdowns in 2021, psychologically the attitude of migrant workers remains the same — they...
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