With the rise in Covid-19 daily new cases and daily new deaths since March this year, media reports (please click here and here) on migrant workers returning back to their native places (i.e. places of origin) from migration destinations (i.e. workplaces likes cities and large industrial towns to where the informal and low skilled workers from the marginalised sections of the society migrate seasonally, and sometimes for a longer duration,...
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Why Covid is a reality check for Modi’s flagship welfare schemes -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express While 10.35 crore PM-JAY Cards have been issued since the launch of ‘the world’s largest health assurance scheme’ in September 2018, it has proved to be of little use in the ongoing Covid-19 epidemic. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, more than the 282 it got in 2014. This return to power with a larger majority was significantly enabled by the various...
More »The second wave and the Indian State -Yamini Aiyar
-Hindustan Times The Centre and states are at war, but India urgently needs a coordinated response. It’s not too late. But soon it will be In an influential paper published over a decade ago, the economist Lant Pritchett described India as a “flailing State” — in which the head, that is the elite institutions at the national level (and, in some cases, state level) remained sound and functional but was no longer...
More »Ensure voting rights of migrant workers, ADR urges in its letter to ECI
-Press communiqué by Association for Democratic Reforms, dated 5th May, 2021 In a letter sent to Shri Sushil Chandra, Chief Election Commissioner and Shri Rajiv Kumar, Election Commissioner on 5th May, 2021, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has requested for extending facilities allowing migrant workers to vote from their current residences away from home constituencies, at a time when similar facility is being worked out for the Non-resident Indians (NRIs) by...
More »Bengal polls: EC bans physical campaigning, expresses ‘anguish’ over flouting of Covid norms
-The Indian Express The Election Commission order, however, continues to permit gatherings of up to 500 people in West Bengal. The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday banned roadshows, vehicle rallies, and public meetings of more than 500 people in West Bengal, noting that political parties and candidates were “still not adhering to the prescribed safety norms” during campaigning. Permissions already given for such events stood withdrawn, the Commission said. The directive came hours after...
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