-Hindustan Times By effectively insulating employers from paying wages to workers, it has reinforced an unequal power dynamic The coronavirus pandemic — and the measures taken by the central and state governments to contain it over the last five months — has led to widespread disruption across the country. A substantial part of this disruption is asymmetric in nature; that is, it has disproportionately affected vulnerable and marginalised people, those unable to...

-The Hindu A decision on this can be taken only when the pandemic begins to subside. The world is still struggling to come to terms with the unprecedented impact that COVID-19 has had on every aspect of human life. The pandemic has forced cities and towns to go into lockdowns. The attendant side effects — including the rather sudden withdrawal of certain social support services — have affected large groups of people....

-Newsclick.in The dearth of capital will make a return to normalcy difficult for ostagars even when there will be a visible improvement and the authorities muster courage to lift all the restrictions. Kolkata: “We are passing through the worst phase in our 17 years old enterprise BabyGarments.in and we have no clue when we will see the first signs of revival”. This is how a middle-aged woman entrepreneur and proprietor of BabyGarments,...

-The Indian Express It has helped mitigate increased rural distress due to Covid. Now, focus on getting people back to normal work The MGNREGA has created 153.16 crore person-days of employment during April-July. Not only is this way higher than the 107.24 person-days for the corresponding four months of last fiscal, but also significant compared to the 267.96 crore and 265.35 crore person-days generated in the whole of 2018-19 and 2019-20, respectively....

-The Hindu As infections surge in Odisha, many guest workers are relieved to have stayed on Like several other migrant workers from Odisha, Sumant Naik made innumerable calls throughout May to enquire about a train back home from Perundurai in Erode; he also weighed the costs of returning by bus. Despite several calls, the journey back did not materialise. Now two months later, as the pandemic induced lockdown has eased in Tamil Nadu,...