-The Hindu Will be set up by PMO or Cabinet Secretariat, says Finance Ministry. Four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that a task force would be set up to deal with the economic impact of coronavirus (COVID-19), it has yet to be constituted. Although Mr. Modi said the task force was to be headed by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Ministry says it is not responsible for constituting the body. In...

-Hindustan Times Today’s choices will determine the future of the Indian State’s relationship with citizens The only certainty in the coronavirus-induced global chaos is that the idea of the nation-state as the all-powerful, enforcer of social order is back. After decades of globalisation, neo-liberalisation and privatisation, in this moment of crisis, people across the globe are looking to their national governments and willingly giving up their civil liberties in favour of absolute...

-The Hindu With fears of contracting the virus escalating since March, stores across India saw a massive demand and consequently a shortage of stocks in hand sanitisers and masks. Retail prices of hand sanitisers have been capped at ₹100 for a 200 ml bottle, a notification by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said on Friday. The prices of surgical masks (3 ply) and non-woven masks also were capped at ₹10 and ₹8...

-Hindustan Times Coronavirus in India: Adityanath had formed a high-level committee under the state finance minister Suresh Khanna, comprising agriculture and labour ministers, to decide the nature of the assistance to the labourers. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday lakhs of daily wage labourers and construction workers will be given Rs 1000 as the state remained under lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus outbreak. The state government had announced...

-The Hindu Business Line INBI has said that emergency basic income should be completely unconditional Close on the heels of the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) announcing measures to protect incomes of vulnerable households through cash transfers and other fiscal measures, the Indian Network for Basic Income (INBI), an advocacy group working in the area of basic income transfers, has asked the Central Government to consider an emergency basic...