-The Indian Express Launched in June to help vendors amid the pandemic, the PM SVANidhi scheme is a micro-credit facility that provides street vendors a collateral-free loan of Rs 10,000 at concessional rates of an estimated 7.25%. After being nudged by municipalities to step up loan disbursements under the PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) programme, banks are writing back to report that many of these collateral-free loans are turning into...

-IndiaSpend.com More younger workers, and women, lost jobs and struggled to recover them. Even after employment rates recovered, quality of employment deteriorated, with individuals moving into less secure self-employment in agriculture, construction and small-scale trade. Bengaluru: The COVID-19 pandemic has delivered a large and sustained economic shock to the global economy. In India, the effect can be broadly divided into two phases--the shock of the nationwide lockdown in the months of April...

-The Hindu Vaccination is important to prevent a second wave Several people have questioned the emergency approval given to the indigenously developed COVID-19 vaccine. They have demanded efficacy data and cast aspersions on the regulatory machinery. Such views will only increase vaccine hesitancy. It is not the case that the vaccine developed indigenously is being pushed by vested interests, while the international vaccines are great. Questions have been raised about the Moderna and...

-Down to Earth Odisha reported the highest cases of assault against women in the country, according to 2018 NCRB data Gender-based violence and inequality in Odisha continues to be pervasive, despite several state initiatives to strengthen safety of women and girl children, create awareness, deter crimes, expedite pending cases and introduce behavioural changes. The state contributes to about three per cent of India’s population; but the rate of crime against women in the...

Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...