-The Telegraph The pandemic has given surveillance tools legitimacy in the eyes of civil society which at other times might have been more concerned about PRIvacy issues Among the “seven” to-dos that PRIme Minister Narendra Modi listed for the country on APRIl 13 while announcing the extension of a nationwide lockdown was a call for citizens to download the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app. It would help “prevent the spread of [the] corona infection,”...

-Newsclick.in Today's India has revealed a social innocence about genuine starvation and want, limiting public capacity to make demands of the state. Food is a necessity.  Several generations in India regard this home-truth as a stark fact that they have been brought up to respect, either due to experience, or through memory.  In some cases, such generations have lived on the edge of India's many Kalahandis, normally ignored, because they are ephemeral,...

-The Hindu   Delhi Police’s pursuit of cases related to the February violence in north-east Delhi has intensified panic, amplified health risks and violated the most basic of rights As the first month of lockdown draws to a close, large-scale arrests during this time in relation to the February violence in Delhi have eviscerated the fundamental rights of many. In a scenario where courts are effectively shut down, lawyers unable to leave...

-ThePRInt.in This is the moment to thank farmers. You don’t need thali or taali for that, you just need to ensure they get a fair PRIce. Then we can kickstart India’s economy. As many states in north India begin their food grain procurement operations and more and more news begin to filter in from rural India, we can see one of the biggest blunders of the ongoing coronavirus lockdown strategy: it might...

-Society for Social and Economic Research The sudden announcement of a national lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a severe disruption of food supply chains. The lockdown was announced without any preparation, and nothing was mentioned about excluding agricultural production and marketing operations from the purview of the lockdown when the PRIme Minister first announced these restrictions. Once the lockdown was announced, governments scrambled to keep the...