-The Indian Express What is needed is ample income support for households and firms now so that the recovery is not hamstrung by excessively damaged balance sheets Even a cursory reading of Brazil’s recent history will confirm that the adoption of the all-encompassing cap on government spending in late 2016 was critical in rescuing the economy from the crisis of 2014-16. After riding the commodity boom of the 2000s, economic mismanagement and a...

-The Telegraph The slump in the GDP and the pain ahead The -23.9 per cent shrinkage in the April-June GDP is not a surprise as nearly half the period witnessed a national lockdown. It’s also not surprising that this loss is the world’s steepest for India’s lockdown was the most stringent and the accompanying fiscal policy response the weakest. But the quarter per cent slump did surprise most analysts who have since...

-Mid-Day.com A report analysing impact of the lockdown on education in Maharashtra reveals why poor students, who do not have access to smartphones or data, have been worst hit A report published this week by the People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), analysing the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the state of education in Maharashtra, indicated that digital classrooms and compulsory examinations for final year college students, were doing more harm...

-The Indian Express Several students of Government School Dhanas dropped out as they could not afford smartphones, as now one's access to education depends majorly on it Chandigarh: Bhawna, a student of standard XII at Government School, Dhanas, has been living with her grandfather (80) since her parents passed away, when she was five-years-old. Her grandfather, now 80, makes a living by selling vegetables on a rehri. Barely able to make ends...

-The Telegraph In a statement, they have also drawn attention to the NIA’s decision to summon Partha Sarathi Ray, a scientist at the IISER, Calcutta, who, they said, has never visited the site of the violence More than 1,000 scientists and scholars have expressed concern over the National Investigation Agency’s actions on the Bhima-Koregaon violence in 2018, saying the agency appears to be using the probe to crack down on citizens critical...