-Down to Earth There are prominent shortcomings in implementation, especially registration of workers and and collection and distribution of Cess The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had widespread and devastating consequences to communities and enterprises in India and across the globe. However, the situation was particularly grim for the 453.6 million internal migrants in India, evidenced by the unprecedented ‘reverse migration’ witnessed during the pandemic.  Their vulnerabilities were exacerbated by the fact a...

-Hindustan Times The country has to develop and adopt more efficient crop production techniques along with favourable marketing policies and price support mechanism. The lack of an assured market is the main reason for the Poor availability of pulses India is the largest producer of pulses. Since the population has low-income levels and people are largely vegetarian, pulses provide good quality protein, and they contribute significantly to the nutritional security of the...

-Down to Earth The government’s flip-flop on stockholding limits does not help pulses’ pricing issues The Union government’s decision on July 2, 2021, to impose stock limits on pulses till October 31 has once again fuelled the long-held perception that the country’s food policies are not even consistent, let alone being relevant. On June 5, 2020, the Union government issued the Essential Commodities (Amendment) (ECA) Ordinance, 2020, which was later legislated into an...

-TheWire.in Narendra Modi has taken a well-functioning but underfunded scheme and added his 'branding' to it. The least he could have done is allocated the kind of money the programme badly needs. On September 29, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the ‘National Scheme for PM Poshan’ in schools, details of which have been put out in a press release. While full scheme details are not yet available, this news...

-TheWire.in A recent survey in 16 states and union territories suggests has revealed that there has been a catastrophic slide in literacy among children from Poor and marginalised sections. However, there seems to be no plan to help them. October is the month for new beginnings, not least for scores of children who have been unable to attend school in its physical form for the last year and a half. The pandemic...