-The Tribune Jalandhar: As numbers of coronavirus cases are on the rise in the country and PM Modi announced janta curfew on Sunday, residents have a perception that the Central Government might impose a lockdown till March 31. Thus, they are rushing to grocery stores and vegetable stalls to stock up on essentials. At grocery stores in the city, including Easy Day, Big Bazaar, Reliance and D-Mart, and roadside vegetable stalls, people...

-TheNewsMinute.com As COVID-19 cases rise to 75 across the country, state governments are suspending the various touch points that could be a potential source of infection. The Kerala government’s Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs department has decided to suspend biometric authentication for the public distribution system (PDS), popularly known as fair price or ration shops, in all districts till March 31. The number of people confirmed to have the COVID-19 disease...

-Newsclick.in Joblessness is zooming, inflation is at six-year high led by food inflation, exports are down further, industrial production is stagnant and investment is at a standstill. In the last six months or so, the Modi government has supposedly been paying close attention to the sinking economy, with a flurry of meetings, announcements of freebies to corporates, fervent assurances to markets and budget shenanigans to supposedly keep the deficit in check and...

-Down to Earth The record-breaking vegetable price rise indicates an era of high food inflation in coming years Rising prices of food items, particularly that of vegetables, have spiked retail inflation to a 68-month high of 7.59 per cent in January 2020, according to the National Statistical Office. While the inflation figure captured headlines, a crucial analysis of the reasons behind this sustained increase in food prices slipped public attention. Extreme weather events...

  The Union Budget 2020-21, which was presented by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February, 2020 has failed to impress civil society activists and farmers' rights groups (click here  and here). Through their press releases and notes, members of CSOs were demanding as well as suggesting the Union Government for hiking the budgetary allocation for schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri...