-Scroll.in This is an important reminder that policies with a 120 million-person hole at the heart of them are flawed. India’s chaotic attempt to go into a lockdown to combat the coronavirus has had an unusual side-effect: it has the attention of the elites, ensconced in their homes during the three-week period, to the plight of the country’s Massive migrant labour population. The Central government’s failure to adequately plan forced hundreds of thousands...

-The Indian Express The central government’s package, as it is, comes a week after Kerala first announced a Rs 20,000-crore support for its people. Many states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Telangana and Rajasthan followed suit. The Rs 1.7 lakh crore economic package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the vulnerable sections — farmers, women, construction workers, senior citizens, widows and the disabled — is less than 1 per cent of...

-ThePrint.in During the coronavirus crisis, income support platforms must be utilised by both state and the Centre. Social distancing should be a norm in wheat procurement mandis. As India goes into a 21-day lockdown, the Narendra Modi government has sought to reassure an anxious public that the country has multiple times the required reserve of food grains to tide over the crisis.  There have also been urgent calls for both central and...

-The Indian Express As a result of the lockdown, thousands, including daily wage labourers, street vendors and those in the unorganised sector, are staring at a Massive crisis, with many without the means to even buy food. Jaipur: It’s been an unusual Monday afternoon for Dharmanath Sapera, who, instead of his usual routine of collecting scrap or working at construction sites, is spending the day worrying about arranging the next day’s meal...

-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...