-Business Standard Most mandis are arranging for the safety of their workers, including load-bearers. Arrivals and supplies are being regulated to maintain flow and avoid crowding Agricultural mandis in many parts of the country have started going operational a week after the nationwide lockdown was implemented, but the process is gradual and disruption persists in some centres. Most mandis are arranging for the safety of their workers, including mathadis (Load-bearers). Arrivals and...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org With the COVID-19 driven lockdown, Chenakonda Balasami and other pastoralists in Telangana, on the road for months, are finding it difficult to access food and new grazing grounds – or return to their villages Nalgonda, Telangana: “How are you? What are you doing? How many days is this going to last?” Chenakonda Balasami asks his son on the phone. “Is it that extreme? Are police there at our place? Are people...

-The Telegraph Too little, too late? Criticised for lack of protective gear, govt takes steps, ropes in Red Cross, pvt sector Only 3.34 lakh personal protective equipment (PPE) are available with hospitals in the country, the Union health ministry said on Monday, days after it was criticised for the shortage of protective gear for medical professionals at the forefront of the fight against the coronavirus. In addition to the available PPE, 60,000 PPE...

-Business Standard Dreze was part of academicians and activists who recently wrote to the Centre about the situation of the migrant workers Jean Dreze, a renowned Belgian-born Indian economist, says migrant workers are not feeling safe and that is why they are desperate to go back home. He tells Indivjal Dhasmana the Centre’s new order that labour should stay where it is will be difficult to implement. Dreze was part of academicians...

-The Hindu The government must ensure that the spectre of SARS-CoV-2 is not replaced by the spectre of hunger The Central government has asked States to seal borders to prevent lakhs of workers, who have Been rendered jobless overnight with no guarantee of wages and shelter, from reaching their villages. The workers are to be herded into quarantine zones. These atrocious actions amount to a mass criminalisation of the labour force of...