-Scroll.in This is an important reminder that policies with a 120 million-person hole at the heart of them are flawed. India’s chaotic attempt to go into a lockdown to combat the coronavirus has had an unusual side-effect: it has the attention of the elites, ensconced in their homes during the three-week period, to the plight of the country’s massive migrant labour population. The Central government’s failure to adequately plan forced hundreds of thousands...
More »SEARCH RESULT
An inadequate lockdown package -Brinda Karat
-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...
More »FM’s announcement of Rs 1.7 lakh crore in the wake of COVID-19, is less than half of the Rs. 3.75 lakh crores required to fulfill the minimal “emergency measures”, convey concerned citizens & grassroots activists
-Press releases by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 26th March, 2020 Civil society activists and concerned citizens have responded to the emergency measures that were announced by the Finance Minister on 26th March, 2020 for the poor, the vulnerable and the migrant & informal workers. An open letter by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha -- an umbrella organisation of CSOs and social activists working for the unorganised sector and MGNREGA workers -- has been issued...
More »Nirmala Sitharaman announces Rs. 1.70 lakh crore package for poor
-The Hindu Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a Rs. 1.70 lakh crore package which is likely to benefit 80 crore people. In her second media conference in a week, Ms. Sitharaman announced a slew of welfare decisions as the nation is under lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic. Here are the highlights from her speech: * The Finance Minister announced ₹1.70 lakh crore package Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana, targetting 80 crore people. *...
More »Lockdown hits NREGA workers hard -Damini Nath
-The Hindu Support becomes critical as thousands of migrant workers return to villages The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme has been officially shut down in at least seven States, while it is effectively closed in many more, as COVID-19 lockdowns come into effect across the country. Workers’ collectives are demanding relief in the form of Wages during the shutdown, payment of pending dues, and extension of the scheme in...
More »