-Press release by Right to Food Campaign Secretariat dated 23rd May 2021 Against the backdrop of rise in Covid-19 daily new deaths across the country and local level lockdowns being imposed by various State Governments, India is once again witnessing severe economic distress amongst its working class. The livelihood and food security crisis that is being faced by the poor, daily wage workers and the informal sector workers of the country...
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Centre’s claim that less than 2% Indians have been affected by Covid-19 isn’t supported by ICMR data -Anuprova Ghose
-Scroll.in The Indian Council of Medical Research’s latest national serological survey shows the real number could be 21%. The Joint Secretary of the Union Ministry of Health and Welfare, Lav Agarwal, during a press briefing on May 18, claimed that less than 2% of the population of the country has been infected by Covid-19 in the past 16 months. He also lauded the continuous efforts of the Centre and State Governments in coordination...
More »A collage of laws that leaves the worker out in the cold -Santosh Mehrotra and Kingshuk Sarkar
-The Hindu The universalisation of social security remains an unfulfilled aspiration in the new code on social security As COVID-19 destroys lives and livelihoods, an unprepared government has rendered low-paid, informal workers, who constitute 91% of the workforce, totally hapless, pushing them further into poverty. Imagine if these same informal workers had social security (including free basic curative care in public clinics and hospitals, the elderly had old age pensions, the dying...
More »Prioritising the right to life -Harsh Mander, Jayati Ghosh and Prabhat Patnaik
-The Hindu A monthly cash transfer to informal workers will provide them relief and also revive the economy The majority of India’s working population is today reeling from the impact of multiple crises: a health emergency more ferocious than any in independent India; massive job losses and dramatic declines in incomes from work; and significantly increased mass hunger and worsening nutrition. Many failures The Supreme Court on May 13 directed the Centre and the...
More »Harsh Mander: A lesson in how to end the mass suffering unleashed by India’s first lockdown -Harsh Mander
-Scroll.in A report by the collective Hunger Watch reveals the extent of continuing hunger caused by state policy, and recommends ways to end the distress. A spectacularly uncaring, unaccountable state has abandoned Indians to their fate. Bodies are piling up, pyres burn late into the night, and corpses are buried in anonymous mass graves. Loved ones are choking to death because their governments failed to secure them oxygen. Vaccines have fallen short...
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