On June 5th this year, the Stranded Workers Action Network, comprising volunteers from various civil society groups, academics and students enrolled in university education, released its third report entitled ‘To Leave or Not to Leave? Lockdown, Migrant Workers, and Their Journeys Home’. Among other things, the latest report states that nearly four-fifth of migrant workers (out of 5,911) who called SWAN volunteers for help (altogether 821 distress calls were made)...

-Vikalp.ind.in After more than two months of lockdown, when the union and various state governments have decided to initiate economic activities, albeit in a controlled manner, it is still not clear how well the health care system in India is prepared in dealing with the pandemic. A pandemic of this magnitude requires a robust health system with combined initiatives from the public and private sector involved in health care. However, rapid...

-Livemint.com From an already low base, women’s employment has fallen further, and a recovery will be difficult A clutch of early studies on the impact of the lockdown on employment is showing that women’s employment could be particularly badly hit. Given India’s record low female workforce participation rates, growing child care demands, and a looming recession, researchers fear that women could be increasingly shut out of the productive economy. To estimate the impact...

-Business Today Women who were employed before the lockdown were 23.5 percentage points less likely to be employed compared to men in the post-lockdown phase, says report Though coronavirus lockdown has impacted lakhs of Indians, a study shows that women are the worst hit when it comes to job prospects. The research paper published by Ashwini Deshpande, professor of economics at Ashoka University, claims that women who were employed before the lockdown...

-Down to Earth Less availability of meat, long-term unemployment increased instances of hunting in Tamil Nadu Wildlife hunters — seizing the opportunity provided by the nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) — have targeted animals in Tamil Nadu’s biodiversity-rich areas. The state has a lot of biodiversity: From deciduous forests to the Western Ghats that are home to rare animals and plants. Restricted movement of transport and human...