-The Telegraph The committee said, “The absence of reliable and authentic data/information on the numbers of migrant workforce and their movement back to their home States following the outbreak of the Pandemic has apparently impacted the relief and rehabilitation measures.” Commending the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a parliamentary standing committee has said that there is no “better scheme” to provide “sustainable livelihood” to unskilled workers. The Standing Committee on Labour, headed by...

-Hindustan Times Despite enhanced commitments across spheres, the government has spent less this year than it did last year Typically, when a crisis hits, the expectation is that the Centre — which has more revenue-raising abilities than states — will take the lead in preparing a fiscal road map, loosen its purse strings and raise expenditure significantly. The Covid-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its scale and impact. But this is also when...

-The Indian Express All indications show that an economic revival will take some time — support is required during this period to at least prevent starvation. The effects of the lockdown and the resultant economic crisis continue to disproportionately impact the poor and informal sector workers. Since the lockdown, the Government of India (GoI) has announced relief packages under the Pradhan Mantri Gareeb Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) and Atmanirbhar Bharat. However, numerous studies...

-The Hindu The current crisis has provided us with an opportunity to rethink our health, economic and climate policies In the new set of relief measures announced by the Finance Minister, job creation has moved to the forefront. This shows that the government has finally accepted that the unemployment rates are very high, a fact it has so far been suppressing or dismissing. This is a welcome change given its usual ostrich-like...

-The Hindu Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan 3.0 includes scheme to incentivise new recruitment. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday announced a fresh set of relief and stimulus measures for the economy worth ₹1.19 lakh crore, including a scheme to boost re-employment chances of formal sector employees who lost their jobs amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures, announced a day after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said the country had entered into a...