-TwoCircles.net Centre for Equity Studies has released a report on the migrant crisis documenting how India’s most vulnerable class has suffered due to the unplanned national lockdown by the Central Government for COVID-19. The report titled ‘Labouring Lives: Hunger, Precarity and Despair amid Lockdown’ addressed vital questions of how the country’s labouring class – stranded and jobless – coped with the lockdown living away from their homes. The research has been conducted...

-The Hindu Proper implementation of the Right to Information Act is more crucial now than ever before Right to Information (RTI) applications seeking information pertaining to the PM CARES Fund have been stonewalled. No information exists on the official website of the Fund regarding the amount collected, names of donors, expenditure incurred, or details of beneficiaries. The trust deed of the fund chaired by the Prime Minister is not available for public...

-The Hindu Business Line Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi threw open the auction of 41 coal blocks for commercial mining. The decision, which was part of the announcements made by the Centre under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, was already proposed in January through the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. What is it? These auctions invite participants to mine coal blocks by bids on the percentage value of coal sold that they will...

-The Telegraph Tablighi stigma and need for Government support come up during hindi-belt survey Job loss rates have been similar in rural and urban areas but the perceived “surety of losing work” is higher in the rural areas and the highest among Muslims among communities, a survey of 1,405 workers across nine Hindi-speaking states has found. “The survey revealed that the perception of uncertainty about future of work was the highest among women...

A recent survey that was conducted through telephonic interviews among 1,405 respondents across the states of Delhi-NCR, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Rajasthan and Jharkhand reveals the precarious conditions of workers nearly 45 days after the announcement of COVID-19 lockdown. The report entitled Labouring Lives: Hunger, Precarity and Despair amid Lockdown tries to understand the extent (and depth) of job loss and hunger 45 days after the lockdown. Hunger and...