-The Indian Express The states must engage NGOs, factories and charities including religious organisations to raise funds for meeting the expenditure on milk, eggs, cooking oil and vegetables, and even soaps and sanitisers. Nearly one-fifth of India’s labour force consists of internal migrants. As per the 2011 census, a quarter of the urban population consists of migrants. These tend to be predominantly male, from the less developed northern states, in the lower...

-BusinessToday.in The big buyers should be allowed to make direct purchases with minimum or without requirement of any licensing or registration process, Centre's letter said to the states Union Agriculture ministry has asked State Governments to allow bulk buyers, processors and big retailers to purchase agri-produce directly from farmers by bypassing the established mandi systems for at least three months. The directive is meant to achieve two objectives - to decongest mandis...

-Newsclick.in With the Centre being both niggardly and thoughtless in the matter of relief following the unplanned lockdown, State Governments, which are desperately short of funds, will be left holding the baby. The tragic irony could not have been more complete. The country is under lockdown, but last week thousands of migrant workers were thronging bus stands or marching on the roads, making a mockery of it; the aim of the lockdown...

-The Hindu India needs a national policy providing for free testing and treatment of COVID-19 patients in private hospitals As India enters the second week of a national lockdown imposed in response to COVID-19, it is still unclear how well prepared the healthcare system is in dealing with the pandemic. Given the resource constraints of both the Central and State Governments, it is clear that government hospitals alone will not be able...

-Outlook India Indian Economist Jean Drèze, in an interview with Outlook, says that because of the Coronavirus lockdown, there won’t be any employment under MNREGA now and Bihar will be the worst-hit. Belgian-born Indian economist, Jean Dreze, says that the central government needs to take immediate measures to address the situation that has emerged in the wake of mass exodus of migrant workers due to the Coronavirus lockdown. In an interview with...