-The Hindu Owing to COVID-19 lockdown and limited access to courts, their families have very limited recourse to seek justice, says CHRI The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked for action taken reports from the authorities of eight States, where 15 people died following police action in the first month or so of the lockdown, according to the proceedings in the cases. The NHRC acted on a May 16 complaint by the...

-The Indian Express Among the states, UP has said 21.69 lakh workers had returned. Bihar has said 10 lakh had returned; Maharashtra has said 11 lakh have left the state. Gujarat said 20.5 lakh had gone back home. A problem in dealing with issues relating to migrant labour after the lockdown was announced on March 25 has been the absence of firm estimates of the number of displaced. Various govt estimates: Last week,...

-The Hindu True self-reliance won’t come from relentless industrialisation, but from localisation and decentralisation, as demonstrated by these remarkable stories of empowered rural communities Not so long ago, Dalit women farmers in Telangana used to face hunger and deprivation. Today, they have contributed foodgrains for pandemic relief. Farmers on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border have been sending organic produce to Bengaluru even during the lockdown. And Adivasi villages in central India are using...

-The Hindu They give up seeking alms and take up work under MGNREGA Bengaluru: The lockdown has brought a change in the lives of four nomadic families, traditionally known as “Duramurgi” in Haveri district of north Karnataka, thanks to the Centre’s flagship rural job scheme. These nomadic families, for generations, have been seeking alms by roaming around villages carrying idols of deities on their heads. But with wandering made impossible under lockdown, and...

-The Indian Express Locust attack tracker: The locust menace also hit Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu too, swarms of a locust species attacked banana, rubber and other crops in some districts. With India battling the worst desert locust outbreak in three decades, the insects have now damaged crops in five states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra — with the Centre issuing a warning to 12 states. With locusts devastating...