-Down to Earth Agriculture is the least-affected sector of the economy. It is poised to gain and lead economy’s revival process ‘Year of COVID-19’— this is how 2020 is probably going to be remembered. It has been more than six months that the novel coronavirus disease has been dominating public discourse, news cycles, internet searches and even geopolitics. As on July 8, 2020, India had more than 0.7 million cases. It was among...
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Amid demand surge, 1.4 lakh families have reached annual MGNREGA work limit -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu Activists demand doubling of 100 days per household limit At least 1.4 lakh poor rural households have already completed their quota of 100 days of work under MGNREGA in the first three months of the year, and will not be eligible for further benefits under the rural employment guarantee scheme for the rest of the year. Another seven lakh households have completed 80 days and are on the verge of...
More »COVID-19 rural crisis: Why MGNREGA needs a harder push -Debmalya Nandy
-Down to Earth MGNREGA workers across the country on June 29 staged peaceful demonstration, raised demands for higher benefits and wages The nationwide lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) left Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (MGNREGA) workers in the lurch. Thousands such workers, facing an economic crisis, have demanded an increase in the annual guarantee of work to 200 days per person. The workers from across...
More »Reset rural job policies, recognise women’s work -Madhura Swaminathan
-The Hindu As India emerges from the lockdown, labour market policy has to reverse the pandemic’s gender-differentiated impact The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on women’s work, but as official statistics do not capture women’s work adequately and accurately, little attention has been paid to the consequences of the pandemic for women workers and to the design of specific policies and programmes to assist them. A survey by the Azim Premji...
More »Forcing migrants to stay back in cities during lockdown worsened spread of coronavirus, study shows -Pavitra Mohan & Arpita Amin
-Scroll.in A doctor looks at the pattern of Covid-19 cases in Rajasthan. On March 25, India went into a nationwide lockdown that had been imposed with only four hours notice. The clampdown on travel resulted in millions of migrant workers being trapped in cities that, even at best of times, are hostile to their needs. Faced with starvation and separation from families, lakhs of workers started walking or cycling hundreds of kilometres back...
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