-The Hindu Every government health scheme, including the one to fight COVID-19, needs ASHA workers to implement it at the grassroots level. So why can’t they at least be paid on time? If Anita Sharma*, an ASHA worker (or Accredited Social Health Activist), had a Twitter account, she could have tagged @drharshvardhan, the health minister, and introduced herself thus: My name is Anita. My job profile has changed since the coronavirus pandemic....
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A safety net, post Covid: We need to provide minimum income for poor and vulnerable -C Rangarajan and S Mahendra Dev
-The Indian Express We need to provide minimum income for poor and vulnerable — cash transfers for women, increasing MGNREGA to 150 days in rural areas, introduction of urban employment guarantee scheme. In the post corona crisis situation, India has to address many problems, of which two stand out. First, the improvement of our healthcare system and second, the need for the institution of a scheme to provide minimum income support to...
More »Odisha set to introduce locally produced millets into ICDS, PDS -Chinmayi Shalya
-Down to Earth Keonjhar district will introduce ragi for pre-school meals through DMF funds from July Locally cultivated ragi will be part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme for the first time in Odisha, with Keonjhar district introducing it as part of the pre-school meal from July 2020 onwards. Additionally, 14 districts — a part of the state’s Millet Mission — will provide ragi through the public distribution system (PDS)...
More »Grain aplenty and the crisis of hunger: on universal Public Distribution System -Dipa Sinha
-The Hindu The focus on One Nation One Ration Card is misplaced when what is needed is a universal Public Distribution System With the economic crisis continuing on the one hand and the Health System crumbling under the burden of rising COVID-19 cases on the other, it is clear that it will take a long time for things to get back to “normal”. Unemployment is high and it will take a while...
More »Jean Drèze, development economist and social activist, interviewed by Shreehari Paliath (IndiaSpend.com)
-IndiaSpend.com Bengaluru: Global economic output is expected to contract by 4.9% in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 lockdown. India announced a lockdown on March 24, 2020, which was extended over two months, and continues in pockets of states depending on the spread of the disease, which has now infected more than half a million people in the country. The lockdown impacted millions of inter-state migrant workers who form the bulwark of India’s...
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