-The Indian Express Amartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan, Abhijit Banerjee write: As it becomes clear that the lockdown will go on for quite a while, the biggest worry right now, by far, is that a huge number of people will be pushed into dire poverty or even starvation by the combination of the loss of their livelihoods and interruptions in the standard delivery mechanisms. We in India worry a lot about the possible...

-PTI/ The Hindu Rs. 13,855 cr. gone towards PM-KISAN first instalment payment More than 30 crore poor people have received financial assistance of ₹28,256 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last month to protect them from the impact of the lockdown. As part of the ₹1.70 lakh crore relief package, the government announced free foodgrains and cash doles to women and poor senior citizens and...

-Hindustan Times Seema Kulkarni of the Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (Soppecom), Pune speaks about supporting 500 single and widowed women who do not have ration cards or bank accounts, access food supplies * What is the situation of agricultural village economy in Maharashtra after the lockdown? Maharashtra has been facing an agrarian crisis for some time now. Post-Covid-19 and the lockdown the situation has only worsened. Harvesting operations have come to...

-Business Standard Allows farmers to sell produce directly to retail chains, bulk buyers for 3 months Mumbai: A series of central government notifications and letters to states in the past two days will enable agri and food products to reach consumers in a timely and efficient manner. The measures include limiting jurisdiction of APMCs (Agricultural Produce Market Committees) to their physical premises, allowing big retailers and even commodity processors to buy directly from...

-The Hindu Business Line WTO rules restrict India’s ability to build its food stock as the procurement of food grains at MSP is subject to strict limits With almost all economic activities likely to remain at a low key in the coming months, the Covid-19 pandemic could have a devastating impact on the livelihood and food security of millions of people across India. It is generally recognised that food stocks of 58...