-TheWire.in Social policies almost always have multiple, often unintended, consequences. This feature came out sharply, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a nationwide lockdown to arrest the spread of the novel coronavirus without announcing an immediate or near-simultaneous relief package for India’s poorest. As the fight against COVID-19 unavoidably puts the Livelihoods of millions at risk, an ugly truth of Indian society has come out in the open – namely, a large...
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‘Are we animals?’: Migrants bear brunt of South Asia’s lockdown -Joydeep Gupta, Zofeen T Ebrahim and Ramesh Bhushal
-TheThirdPole.net Migrant workers in India, Pakistan and Nepal are crushed by poverty as earnings come to an abrupt halt in the lockdown forced by the Covid-19 pandemic Across South Asia, the impact of the Covid-19 on Livelihoods has been extreme. Despite being an outlier in terms of low infection rates, and even low casualties, most South Asian countries have been left reeling due to the impact that shutdowns have had on migrant...
More »Statesmanship requires taking people along; when basic security is denied, hope dies -Nikhil Dey & Aruna Roy
-The Indian Express Prime Minister demanded discipline and sacrifice from the people, while offering no measures to alleviate distress of those who have lost their dignity and Livelihoods. Millions of migrant workers, and other vulnerable groups, have lost their Livelihoods, income security, and sense of dignity in three short weeks. They knew that they were vulnerable to the virus, but for them, the cure of an extended lockdown is already worse than...
More »Recent reports predict gloomy days ahead for the overall economy
Most reports and studies by official agencies, international think tanks and private entities indicate the cataclysmic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy and society. They anticipate that lockdowns imposed by various countries across the globe to reduce the exponential diffusion of COVID-19 (i.e. for flattening the curve by social distancing and quarantines) would adversely affect economic growth and disrupt supply chains in most sectors, on top of causing...
More »A blueprint to revive the economy -P Chidambaram & Praveen Chakravarty
-The Hindu A carefully crafted economic proposal for consideration of the Indian government to help our fellow citizens “We have no food, no home, no income. My children are starving,” cried Prachi to a TV anchor on April 14. Prachi, a migrant worker from Bihar, is one of the roughly 400 million workers in India who are dependent on daily wages for their survival. She has lost her source of Livelihood because...
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