#Provide employment to more than five lakh migrant workers

[journalistcafe]

पांच लाख प्रवासी श्रमिकों को रोजगार देगी योगी सरकार

लखनऊ: उत्तर प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ की सरकार ने पांच लाख प्रवासी श्रमिकों को स्थानीय स्तर पर रोजगार देने की तैयारी कर ली है।

मुख्यमंत्री योगी आदित्यनाथ ने रविवार को अपनी कोर टीम के साथ बैठक की। इस दौरान कोरोनावायरस संक्रमण के कारण अन्य राज्यों से प्रदेश लौटे पांच लाख से अधिक प्रवासी श्रमिकों को नौकरी और रोजगार देने पर कार्य किया जा रहा है। इसके लिए सरकार ने उच्च स्तरीय कमेटी गठित की…

[ibefworld]

How Will The Stimulus Boost The Indian Economy?

With all wits & discretion; it doesn’t look like a stimulus or relief package. It is a bonanza. So how’ll you take this? And are you foreseeing this for personal gains, or revival of various economic clusters, to put the ailing economy back on track.In whole, this great economic package was very much in need when the ‘wheels of the economy’ were all over the place.

 What is the Stimulus & Its Importance In Economic Emergency ?

 Stimulus is a package of--- tax rebates and incentives --used by the governments of various countries ,to stimulate and revive the economy,and save them from a potential crisis. Well, this package is more about boosting liquidity rather than fulfilling the demand for a fragile economy.

 As per the media reports, this is supposed to be 10% of Gross Domestic Product, (though debatable) since COVID-19 stormed.By far it is the largest economic package amongst developing countries by India to revive the country’s economy.

 Stimulus is Good, But Why are we Insensitive & Incomptent towards glaring loopholes !

 Well, in whole, criticism is coming all round the corner be it opposition or political analysts. In our view,-- on the grassroot level --there is nothing to cheer about.Migrant labourers had a miserable time reaching their villages & home towns. Casualties occured everywhere.Implications of the mass exodus were such that even a few did not bother sleeping on railway tracks, or having to stuff in cement mixers for travel. Astounding sight for all of us. People standing in queues for food were beaten mercilessly by cops. 

 Many died of starvation for which no one took a moral responsibility. So what kind of stimulus are we thinking of ? 

Such barbaric pictures are still grabbing eyeballs that even the --creature of the universe will plead guilty. What is the fault of those innocent migrants? Only poverty?The concealed truth of our so-called economy.

 Thanks to the great Indian Politics that during this pandemic, we kept playing the “blame game”.Yes,the massive 20 lakhs crore $ 265 billion stimulus appeared as a bunch of hanging  grapes having to reach to pluck it.Poor & unprivileged sections of the society are treated like that ' hungry fox' who despite many jumps could not pluck the grapes and end up saying ‘Grapes are sour”.

The Significance of The Mega Package

This package is aimed to recharge the battery of the economy by providing stimulus packages, and focus on tax breaks for small business as well as incentives for domestic manufacturing.

 For the working class, yes, the hon'ble finance minister,” Nirmala Sitharaman” in five successive press conferences, quoted reformative measures for MSME, NBFC, & utilities (focus on liquidity), agriculture, power etc.

 MSME is the one which gets the major boost as they can procure loans of up to 5 crores from banks with no terms & conditions in particular.They are eligible for procuring loan as the Govt. is expected to exhaust that amount by end of Oct.

 Also, the working-class(salaried) will have the advantage of obtaining EPFO benefits.Hope those who fall in the category, are eligible to get 24 % EPFO from the government till March 2020, bring some respite. But this is only helpful if there is plenty of employment for all.

 India currently has a ‘potli of problems’ along with containing the COVID-19 and the slowdown of the informal economy.While skimming through these facts with a microscopic view, the reformative measures from policymakers- looks  mere procrastination. Finally, we explain that investors should remain focused on positive long-term themes in India.

 Economy Improvement: A Doctor’ Order That will Take Time To Heal, as unconventional measures are necessary due to COVID-19

Despite economic hardship and challenges, we should have a long-term comprehensive approach & administrative model that suffice the necessities of a common man(unorganized sector) : mazdoor, kisans, pravasi shramik so that we could set an example to the world that despite being the world's second- most populous nation facing an unprecedented situation .

We the people of India or GoI, have not raised hands or given up yet.With no doubt as we are on the brink of  LOCKDOWN 5.0.The last 65 days have badly impacted the micro-economy of a common but containing the COVID spread was needful. The sight in some horror movies appeared true in this pandemic time.

We expect a gradual return of economic activity, but the landscape will be different

 Our base case remains that under the current lockdown assumptions,⁷ we expect an output loss of 6.0% to 8.0% of annual GDP and a higher fiscal deficit as tax collection should be lower.

We expect the economy will choose a gradual path  because a certain amount of social distancing will be there for a long time to avoid any sort of community transmission. In turn, this will cause an uneven recovery across different sectors. Businesses where mass gathering is prerequisite, such as retail, hospitality, tourism, and construction sites, cinemas, exhibitions, may see ongoing restrictions and unusual conditions .On the other hand, sectors that cater to social distancing, including personal mobility, packaged foods delivery, automation,telecom, and home improvement,white goods, and consumer electronics, are likely to recover faster.

These measures laid the foundation for formalization-led growth. We also argued that despite fundamental building blocks in place, the re elected GoI has a unique opportunity to revitalize economic growth through the “3Rs”:

Recycle—Funding     government spending needs through the privatization of state-owned     enterprise assets.

Reinvest—Providing     cash inflow for manufacturing firms to reinvest savings and develop a     culture of “Swadeshi products so that it generates employment for     blue-collar workers. And, further, increase the global market export     share.

Rebuild—Aggregating savings by     providing tax cuts & relaxations to the private sector &     households along with monetary assistance to farmers.

We strongly recommend that these  3Rs should help address India’s cyclical economic challenges  through higher government spending, re-monetizing the private sector and households, and create job opportunities by encouraging new investment.We all just need to stay alert, stay safe, while moving our baby steps to revive micro-economy and  the economy, in whole.

[liveindiatimes]

NREGA outlay, cap on state borrowing hiked in fifth round - business news

https://www.liveindiatimes.com/nrega-outlay-cap-on-state-borrowing-hiked-in-fifth-round-business-news/

Concluding the government’s five-part policy reform and fiscal incentive package worth a total of Rs 20,97,053 crore, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday announced a 66% jump in the allocated budget for the flagship rural job guarantee scheme; a substantial hike in the borrowing limit for states; a new plan that aims to end the monopoly of public sector enterprises (PSEs) and open up sectors for private participation; and substantial ease of compliance for businesses, including relaxations in the insolvency and bankruptcy framework.

The fifth and the final tranche of announcements also included the creation of a robust public health infrastructure covering districts and blocks, launch of a digital education programme and an initiative for mental health and emotional well-being for students, teachers and families.

The FM’s announcement is part of a slew of measures announced by the government for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), agriculture, migrant workers, defence, businesses, and other segments. This followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of a Rs 20 lakh crore package — amounting to 10% of the GDP — for the economy, to overcome the distress caused by the pandemic and the lockdown as well as to build a “self-reliant India”.

Click here for the complete coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic

The FM said that the government has provided Rs 11,02,650 crore stimulus in the five tranches. Earlier, stimulus worth Rs 9,94,403 crore was infused in the system through fiscal and policy measures that included Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package on May 26 and Rs 8,01,603 crore monetary measures by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) since March 27.

But experts have pointed out that the additional government spending as a part of the package is limited.

DK Srivastava, chief policy adviser at consultancy firm EY India, said, “The final picture of central government’s COVID-related stimulus package at the conclusion of the fifth tranche of finance minister’s announcement amounts to 9.8% of FY21 GDP. Only about 10% of this stimulus can be traced as direct additional budgetary cost to the central exchequer. Nearly 5% of the stimulus relates to already budgeted expenditures. The rest of the stimulus primarily pertains to RBI’s liquidity enhancement measures, government’s credit guarantee programmes and insurance schemes.”

The Opposition, too, raised questions about the scale of the package. “The government’s economic package is only of Rs 3.22 lakh crore and is only 1.6% of India’s GDP and is not worth Rs 20 lakh crore as announced by the prime minister,” said Congress leader Anand Sharma, adding: “I am questioning the finance minister, disputing the announcement of Prime Minister and challenging the government to disprove me on the numbers given by me.”

A key policy instrument that the government is relying on to accommodate the migrant workers returning home to their villages is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). On Sunday, the FM announced an allocation of Rs 40,000 crore for the scheme — in addition to a little over Rs 61,000 crore budgeted for 2020-21.

Experts, however, said the allocation must be viewed in the perspective of both the revision of wages under the scheme from Rs 182 per day to Rs 202, and an exodus of migrant labourers to villages. “While Rs 61,500 crore was allocated in the budget 2020, it might make more sense to compare with the expenditure last year, which was Rs 71,000 crore. This year in the budget there was a reduction of funds allocated to MGNREGS. Now, an additional Rs 40,000 crores are allocated, so the total allocation now is 42% higher than what was spent in the last fiscal year,” Partha Chatterjee, professor at Shiv Nadar University, said.

The government has also decided to bring a new policy for public sector enterprises (PSEs). Besides opening up different sectors for private player participation, the policy will ensure that in “strategic sectors”, for the sake of public interest, a minimum of one and a maximum of four PSEs continue to operate. The government will prepare a list of strategic sectors requiring presence of state-run companies in public interest. Both “strategic sector” and “public interest” will be defined later, she said.

According to Sumit Khanna, partner at consulting firm Deloitte India, “The government is continuing its ongoing reforms agenda … announcement of strategic sectors with limited PSU [public sector undertaking] representation puts definition to the government’s privatisation strategy”.

The finance minister also said the Centre has also accepted the demand of states to raise their borrowing limit from 3% of the gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 5% of GSDP that would give them additional resources of Rs 4.28 lakh crore at this time of crisis. The increased limit will, however, be conditional and depend on implementation of reforms by them in four areas — one-nation-one-ration card, ease of doing business, power distribution and urban local body revenues, she said. The FM, however, pointed out that at the moment, states had availed only 14% of the borrowing limit authorised to them.

Sitharaman said the government has taken several measures to ease compliance burdens of businesses and provided a shield to MSMEs by raising the minimum threshold of default from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 1 crore to initiate insolvency proceedings against them. “Special insolvency resolution framework for MSMEs under Section 240A of the Code [Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code] will be notified soon. Besides, the government has suspended fresh initiation of insolvency proceedings up to one year for all businesses, depending upon the pandemic situation,” she said. The central government can also exclude Covid-19 related debt from the definition of default under the Code for the purpose of triggering insolvency proceedings, she added.

“Allowing companies to focus on getting their businesses back on track post the Covid-19 crisis, without the fear of insolvency, is a welcome move,” said Dinkar Venkatasubramanian, partner and leader – restructuring and turnaround services at EY India.

Sitharaman said the series of measures included the entire gamut of land, labour, liquidity and law issues, crucial for achieving the self-reliant India goal. “As a nation, we stand at a very crucial juncture. Covid-19 pandemic has brought a message and an opportunity. We need now to build an Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” she said.

Experts agree that measures are not just confined to immediate relief from Covid-19 pandemic. Nilaya Varma, co-founder and CEO of consultancy firm Primus Partners, said, “Through these measures, the government attempts to unlock the potential of India by removing key bottlenecks. It also attempts to protect the most vulnerable through direct cash transfer and food security. Successful and early implementation of proposed reforms in agriculture, MSMEs [micro, small and medium enterprises], defence and PSEs [public sector enterprises] can pave the way for Make in India.”

EY India’s Srivastava, too, said that a number of structural reforms were also part of the package that would have a “far-reaching efficiency-augmenting” impact. “Most of these relate to the supply side of the economy. However, one important demand component was brought in by the enhancement of the budgeted MGNREGA allocation of Rs 61,500 crores in FY21 by Rs 40,000 crores. Together, these add to about 0.5% of GDP which is a substantive amount to support rural demand and agricultural prices,” he said.

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[quikkloan]

20 Lakh Crore Economic Package Announced by the Government

Read Highlights Here Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman has finally announced the complete details of the mega 20 lakh crore economic package. In the 1st installment of the announcement, the focus was on the relief to the MSME, NBFC and discom sector. Whereas, the 2nd installment was dedicated to the migrant workers, small farmers, street vendors and affordable housing. The Prime Minister had announced the ‘Atma Nirbhar Bharat’ package that will focus on making India self-reliant during his national address. The finance minister said that the Atma Nirbhar Bharat rests on five pillars: Economy, Infrastructure, Technology-driven systems, Demography, and Demand. The focus will be on factors of production: Land, Labour, liquidity and Laws. The intention is to make local brands global. Key Takeaways of the 1st Installment of Economic Package: Dedicated to MSME, NBFC Sectors, Power Discoms and Others  Collateral free loan of Rs 3 lakh crores for MSMEs. This will benefit 45 lakh units so that they can resume work and save jobs. For stressed MSMEs, Subordinate debt provision of Rs 20,000 cr has been announced for 2 lakh MSMEs. It will benefit those which are NPAs or stressed MSMEs. Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion through Mother fund-Daughter fund for MSMEs that are viable but need hand-holding. A fund of funds with a corpus of Rs 10,000 crore will be set up to help these units expand capacity and help them list on Markets if they choose. Definition of MSMEs has been revised to allow MSMEs to aim for expansion and not lose benefits. Also, there'll be no distinction between manufacturing & services sector MSMEs. New definition: Micro units with investment till Rs 1 cr, turnover up to Rs 5 crore. Small units with investment till Rs 10 cr, turnover up to Rs 50 cr. Medium units with investment till Rs 20 cr, turnover up to Rs 100 crore. Global tenders will be disallowed up to Rs 200 crore for government contracts. Will ensure e-market linkages are provided across the board in the absence of non-participation in trade fairs due to COVID. Govt of India and PSUs will clear all the receivables in the next 45 days. For Employees A liquidity relief of Rs.2,500 crore EPF support is being given to all EPF establishments, EPF contribution will be paid by Govt. of India for another 3 months till August and will benefit more than 72 lakh employees. Statutory EPF contribution for all organisations and their employees covered by EPFO has been reduced to 10% from 12% earlier. This doesn't apply to govt organisations. This will infuse Rs 6,750 cr liquidity into these organisations. For NBFCs/HFCs/MFIs Rs 30,000 crore special liquidity scheme for investing in investment-grade debt papers of NBFCs, HFCs and MFIs. These NBFCs are those that are also funding MSMEs. These will be fully guaranteed by the government of India. Rs 45,000 crore partial credit guarantee scheme 2.0 for NBFCs. The first 20% loss will be borne by the guarantor that is the government of India. For Discom:  A one-time emergency liquidity injection of Rs 90,000 crore against all their receivables. The states will guarantee it. Other Details An extension of up to 6 months (without costs to contractor) to be provided by all Central Government Agencies like Railways, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Central Public Works Dept. On real estate, the urban development ministry will issue advisory to states/UTs so that the regulators can invoke force majeure. The regulators can suo moto extend completion/registration dates for six months for projects expiring on or after March 25, 2020. A reduction of 25% of existing rates of Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) & Tax Collection at Sources (TCS) from tomorrow till March 31, 2021. This will release Rs 50,000 crores. Due date of all Income Tax Return filings extended from July 31 to November 30. Vivaad se Vishwas scheme extended till December 31,2020. Date of assessments getting barred as on Sep 30, 2020, extended to December 31, 2020. Date of assessments getting barred as on March 31, 2021, extended to September 30, 2021. Key Takeaways of the 2nd Installment of Economic Package: Dedicated to Migrant Workers, Small Farmers, Street Vendors and Affordable Housing Help for farmers and migrant workers in the Post-Covid period: 3 crore marginal farmers availed loans at concessional rates. These 3 cr farmers had already benefited from Rs 4 lakh crore of loans given to them. The RBI moratorium has also benefited them.Interest subvention and prompt repayment incentive on crop loans, due from March 1, extended up to May 31, 2020. 25 lakh new Kisan Credit Cards sanctioned with a loan limit of Rs 25,000 crore.Central govt released Rs 11,002 crore in advance to states to augment the SDRF funds for helping states to set up shelters for migrant workers and provide them food.12,000 SHGs at urban centres comprising urban poor have produced 3 crore masks and 1,20,000 litres of sanitisers. 7,200 new SHGs of urban poor have been formed during the period starting March 15, 2020.For migrant workers who have returned to their homes, work is being made available through MGNREGS. Till May 13, 14.62 cr person-days of work generated. Work offered to 2.33 crore wage seekers yesterday in 1.87 lakh gram panchayats. 40-50% more workers gave work compared to May last year. States have been advised to provide them with work. Annual expenditure till date is Rs 10,000 crore. Average wage rate has risen to Rs 202 from Rs 192 in the last fiscal. Free Food for Migrants For those migrants who don't have NFSA cards or state cards, 5 Kgs of wheat or rice per person and 1 kg channa per family per month for next two months to be provided and it will reach through the state governments. This will entail Rs 3,500 crore and is likely to benefit around 8 crore migrants. One Nation, One Ration Card National Portability Ration Cards can be used in any ration shops that will be applicable across the country. By August 2020, 67 cr beneficiaries in 23 states or 83% of all PDS beneficiaries will get covered. By March 2021, 100% will be covered. Rental Accommodation Under PM Awas Yojana, a scheme for rental housing for migrant workers. Under the scheme incentives will be offered to private manufacturing units and industrial units to develop affordable housing, converting govt-funded houses into affordable renting accommodations for migrant workers. Shall be done on PPP on concessionaire basis. State government agencies will also be incentivised to develop affordable housing. MUDRA Shishu Loan Those who have availed loans up to Rs 50,000, an interest subvention of 2% for the next 12 months after the moratorium period extended by RBI ends. Three crore people will get the benefit of Rs 1500 crore. Street Vendor Special scheme for street vendors to avail Rs 5,000 crore loan facility. Will be given Rs 10,000 of working capital. Affordable Housing Credit-linked subsidy scheme for middle-income households in the income group Rs 6-18 Lakh extended to March 2021. The CLSS scheme was operationalised from May 2017 and extended up to March 2020. Now, it has been extended till March 2021. This will lead to investments of Rs 70,000 crore in housing and kickstart sectors like steel, cement and create jobs. For Tribals Rs 6,000 cr worth of proposals have come from states under CAMPA funds. Tribal people will get employment in forest management, wildlife protection/management and other forest related activities. For Small/Marginal Farmers The government is extending Rs 30,000 crore additional capital emergency funds through NABARD for post-harvest Rabi and Kharif related activities for small and marginal farmers. PM Kisan Credit Card Rs 2 lakh crore of concessional credit to boost farming activities and it will benefit 2.5 crore farmers. Those in animal husbandry and fisheries will also be included. Read the full article

[vignaniasacademy]

11-05-2020 Current affairs & Daily News Analysis

MIGRANTS WELFARE Activists are demanding strict implementation of the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979 to ensure welfare of inter-State migrants who are suffering due to the nationwide lockdown.

About: The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979 seeks to regulate the employment of inter-State migrants and their conditions of service. It is applicable to every establishment and contractors that employs five or more migrant workmen from other States; or if it had employed five or more such workmen on any day in the preceding 12 months. The principal employer is prohibited from employing inter-State workmen without a certificate of registration from the relevant authority. Every contractor who recruits workmen from one State for deployment in another State should obtain a licence to do so. As part of the licensing process, contractors are bound by certain conditions like committing them to providing terms and conditions. In no case, shall the wages be lower than what is prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act.  Important Info : Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2019: The proposed code has been introduced in the Parliament to merge 13 labour laws into a single piece of legislation. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act, 1979, is one of them.Activists fear that specific safeguards given to migrant workers may be lost as a result of this consolidation.  Source : The Hindu ( Social Issues ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy PRINCIPLE OF ‘STRICT LIABILITY’ VS ‘ABSOLUTE LIABILITY’ The National Green Tribunal's order in the Visakhapatnam gas tragedy found LG Polymers prima facie liable under the 19th century English law, Principle of “strict liability”, which was made redundant in India by the Supreme Court in 1986.

Strict liability principle: Under the “strict liability principle”, a party is not liable and need not pay compensation if a hazardous substance escapes his premises by accident or by an “act of God’” among other circumstances. The strict liability, evolved in an 1868 English case called Rylands versus Fletcher, provided companies with several exemptions from assuming liability. In the Visakhapatnam gas tragedy, even though the NGT directed the company to deposit an initial amount of ₹50 crore and formed a fact-finding committee, its use of the term “strict liability” has been questioned. Lawyers say the term “absolute liability” should have been used instead.  Important Info : Absolute Liability Principle: The Supreme Court, while deciding the Oleum gas leak case of Delhi in 1986, found strict liability woefully inadequate to protect citizens’ rights in an industrialised economy like India and replaced it with the ‘absolute liability principle’.Under the absolute liability principle, the apex court held that a company in a hazardous industry cannot claim any exemption.It has to mandatorily pay compensation, whether or not the disaster was caused by its negligence. The court said a hazardous enterprise has an “absolute non-delegable duty to the community”.The principle of absolute liability is part of Article 21 (right to life).  Source : The Hindu ( Disaster Management ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy SAMPLE REGISTRATION SYSTEM (SRS) BULLETIN The Registrar General of India released its Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin based on data collected for 2018. Key findings are:

Birth rate: The national birth rate in 2018 stood at 20 per one thousand of the population. Bihar has the highest birth rate at 26.2 and Andaman and Nicobar Islands is at the bottom with a birth rate of 11.2. At an all-India level, the birth rate is higher in rural areas (21.6) compared to urban areas (16.7). Death Rate: The national death rate in 2018 stood at 6.2 per one thousand of the population. Chhattisgarh has the highest death rate at 8 and Delhi has a rate of 3.3, indicating better healthcare facilities. At an all-India level, the death rate is higher in rural areas (6.7) compared to urban areas (5.1). Infant mortality rate (IMR): The national IMR in 2018 stood at 32 per one thousand of the population. The IMR at an all-India level has declined from 50 to 32 in the last decade. Madhya Pradesh has an IMR of 48 and Nagaland 4.  Important Info : Sample Registration System (SRS)? The Sample Registration System (SRS) is a demographic survey for providing reliable annual estimates of infant mortality rate, birth rate, death rate and other fertility and mortality indicators at the national and sub-national levels.Initiated on a pilot basis by the Registrar General of India in a few states in 1964-65, it became fully operational during 1969-70. Source : Indian Express ( Social Issues ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy PRANAVAYU PROGRAMME The Bengaluru city corporation has launched Pranavayu programme to create awareness on the need to self examine the respiratory health for Bengaloreans.

About: Several deaths due to COVID-19 are reported due to Severe Acute Respiratory illness (SARI). Pranavayu awareness programme is an attempt to help people with low oxygen level in their blood to get themselves checked early before their ailments become fatal.  Source : All India Radio ( Health ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy PAKISTAN-OCCUPIED KASHMIR (PoK) The India Meteorological Department has started mentioning areas in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) — Gilgit-Baltistan and Muzaffarabad — in its regional forecast bulletin as part of its Jammu & Kashmir Met subdivision.

About: Though the IMD had been mentioning PoK areas in its national forecast for the last six months after J&K’s bifurcation last year, its regional forecasts started specifying the areas explicitly in its bulletins from May 5. The move assumes significance, considering India’s official position that PoK belongs to India. The inclusion of Muzaffarabad and Gilgit-Baltistan comes amid Pakistan’s Supreme Court allowing elections in Gilgit-Baltistan recently, to which India had strongly reacted. Important Info : Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK)? Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) historically belonged to the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. This territory has been under Pakistan’s unlawful control since October 1947.POK comprises the so-called Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan and has remained an amorphous.The Trans Karakoram Tract, comprising Shaksgam from Baltistan and Raskam from Gilgit, which Pakistan ceded to China in 1963, is also a part of POK. China promised to assist Pakistan in building the Karakoram Highway as a payoff.Muzaffarabad is the capital of the so called Azad Kashmir (AJK).  Source : Times of India ( Defence & Security ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy ROAD CONSTRUCTION TARGET Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways held a meeting on impact of COVID-19 on auto sector.

Key highlights of the meeting: Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways has set a target of constructing roads worth Rs 15 lakh crore in the next two years. The Minister informed that he has directed the ministry officials to finalise the auto scrapping policy quickly which will go a long way in cost reduction. He also suggested exploring cheaper credits including foreign capital for enhancing liquidity in the automobile manufacturing sector.  Source : PIB ( Economy ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy SMALLPOX World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN's postal agency released a commemorative postage stamp on the 40th anniversary of the eradication of smallpox. About: Cause: Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by one of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. Transmission: It was contagious i.e. spread from one person to another. Symptoms: The initial symptoms of the disease included fever and vomiting. This was followed by formation of sores in the mouth and a skin rash. Over a number of days the skin rash turned into characteristic fluid-filled bumps with a dent in the center. Mortality: The risk of death following contracting the disease was about 30%, with higher rates among babies. Eradication: The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) certified the global eradication of the disease in 1980.  Important Info : Smallpox is one of two infectious diseases to have been eradicated, the other being rinderpest in 2011.Edward Jenner (1749 – 1823) was an English physician who was a contributor to the development of the smallpox vaccine.  Source : All India Radio ( Health ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy ELONGATED TORTOISE According to a recent study by ecologists in the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, over 90% of the potential distribution of the Sal forest tortoise falls outside current protected area’s network.

About: Scientific name: Indotestudo elongate. Common name: Elongated tortoise, Yellow Tortoise and Sal forest tortoise. Distribution: It is a species of tortoise found in Southeast Asia and parts of the Indian Subcontinent, particularly Northeast India. Physical description: These up to 1 foot-long tortoises have elongated somewhat narrow carapaces and yellow heads. Shells are typically a pale tannish-yellow to caramel color, with blotches of black. IUCN Red List Status: Critically Endangered. Population: According to the IUCN the population of the species may have fallen by about 80% in the last three generations (90 years). Threats: It is heavily hunted for food and collected both for local use, such as decorative masks, and international wildlife trade. In china, a mixture, made by grinding up the tortoise's shell, also serves as an aphrodisiac.  Source : The Hindu ( Environment ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy ULTRAVIOLET GERMICIDAL RADIATION (UVGI) Scientists are studying the use of ultraviolet germicidal radiation (UVGI) to detect the coronavirus in schools, restaurants and other public places. Through this method, ultraviolet (UV) lights would be able to disinfect contaminated public spaces to stop the transmission of the virus.

Background: Ultraviolet radiation The full spectrum of UV radiation from the sun can be subdivided into UV-A, UV-B and UV-C rays. UV-C rays are the most harmful and are completely absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. While both UV-A and UV-B rays are harmful, exposure to UV-B rays can cause DNA and cellular damage in living organisms. Increased exposure to it can cause cells to become carcinogenic, thereby increasing the risk of getting cancer. Ultraviolet Germicidal Radiation (UVGI): UVGI uses these “destructive properties” of UV light for disinfecting the air and preventing certain infectious diseases from spreading. UVGI replicates UV wavelengths that disinfects contaminated spaces, air and water.  Important Info : Is this method feasible? UVGI is a promising method for disinfection but the efficacy of it depends on its dose.UVGI is most effective in preventing infections that are chiefly spread through smaller droplets and not by direct contact or larger respiratory droplets.Using UVGI on a mass-scale, in public spaces such as schools, universities, restaurants and cinema halls may not be the most cost-effective way to approach disease prevention. Source : Indian Express ( Science & Technology ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy INDIAN RAILWAYS INSTITUTE FOR MECHANICAL AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING (IRIMEE) Ministry of Railways has clarified that it has no plans to shift Indian Railways Institute for Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE) from Jamalpur to Lucknow. Any Media reports to this effect are incorrect and misleading and do not have the approval of the Ministry of Railways.

About: What is it? IRIMEE is one of the six Centralized Training Institutes of Indian Railways functioning for training of Railway Officers. Location: It is located at Jamalpur in Munger district of Bihar. Background: Its history dates back to year 1888 when it was established as a Technical School. The training of Mechanical Engineers for Indian Railways commenced in the year 1927. Working: It presently conducts training courses for in-service Mechanical & M&C Officers and supervisors and appreciation courses in Mechanical Engineering for officers of other disciplines in Indian Railways.  Source : PIB ( Economy ) Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Best IAS Coaching in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy Read UPSC Current affairs and Daily News Analysis from Top IAS Academy in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy Daily Current affairs and News Analysis Best IAS Coaching institutes in Bangalore Vignan IAS Academy Contact Vignan IAS Academy Enroll For IAS Foundation Course from Best IFS Academy in Bangalore Read the full article

[brajeshupadhyay]

Battling starvation during COVID-19: Struggle for survival intensifies for tribal families in Maharashtra's Palghar

Editor's note: This article is the second of a multi-part series which examines how the COVID-19 lockdown has impacted one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra and the most disadvantaged section of the society living on the outskirts of Mumbai. Read Part I here

***

Suresh Kawa, 31, stops just short of using the word “burden” for his nine-year-old son. No father would do that.

“But we toiled to arrange meals for two people earlier,” he says. “We now have to do it for three. It is particularly difficult in the middle of a lockdown.”

Suresh’s son, Sainath, studies in a tribal residential school in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. Usually, he only spends summer and Diwali vacations at home. However, the residential schools for tribal students in Maharashtra are shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sainath is back with his parents indefinitely.

“His meals were taken care of at the residential school,” says Suresh, sitting outside his one-room hut. “The struggle for survival has intensified with his return. I feel guilty accepting that.”

Living in Taralpada, one of the poorest tribal hamlets in Palghar’s Jawhar taluka, survival has never been easy for Suresh, who belongs to the K Thakar community. He cultivates rice during monsoons on a two-acre plot to feed his family and himself.

With the lack of any irrigation facilities, the family can only rely on rainwater for farming. Since they don’t grow winter crops, Suresh migrates for work after Diwali once the rice is harvested. And returns only around June. This is a practice almost every Adivasi family in Palghar follows — they move to construction sites in Thane or brick kilns in Bhiwandi and nearby areas during Diwali because farming is not a viable option through the year.

“I get Rs 350 per day as a migrant worker in nearby towns,” he says. “Sometimes you get work, sometimes you don’t. It is uncertain. We basically live hand to mouth.”

Even that has not been possible since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus on 24 March. More than five months later, even as the Maharashtra government embarks on the “Mission Begin Again”, Suresh is still struggling to get back on his feet. “I am happy to spend more time with my son,” he says. “But I can’t deny that an extra stomach to feed in these times is a challenge.”

Suresh is not the only one living this nightmare. There are over 1,100 residential schools with about 5 lakh tribal students enrolled in Maharashtra. While more than 60,000 Zila Parishad (ZP) schools host 4.6 million students. Besides offering free education, the mid day meal scheme is one of the major incentives why parents send their kids to Zila Parishad schools, where at least one meal of the child is taken care of.

Most of the students in these schools come from families of farmers and labourers belonging to some of the most marginalised sections of the society. They cannot afford private education. With Adivasi residential schools and Zila Parishad schools shut due to COVID-19, these children are back to their homes, living with their parents, who now have to arrange food for the extra mouth.

Nowhere in Maharashtra is the crisis among children starker than in Palghar – a district with a population of 3 million, 37 percent of which comprises Scheduled Tribe, much more than Maharashtra’s 9.4 percent. In Jawhar taluka, where Suresh lives, over 91 percent of the population is Adivasis.

Even though Palghar is barely 100 kilometres from Mumbai – the financial capital of India – it is one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra, where malnutrition is a serious concern that stems from abject poverty. Between 2016 and 2018, more than 1,100 children in Palghar have died of malnutrition. In February 2019, the journal PLoS published a report that found 59 percent of children up to age six were stunted and 53 percent were underweight.

Children in Palghar are undernourished because they do not have access to an all-round meal, which should include carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. The children studying at Zila Parishad and residential schools returning to their families compound the existing problem of malnutrition. The coronavirus-induced lockdown has further exacerbated the crisis of undernourishment among the marginalised in Palghar.

In April 2020, 2,186 children in Palghar fell under the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) category. In June 2020, that number marginally went up to 2,225. In Jawhar taluka, it increased from 600 to 682 in two months – a rise of 13.6 percent.

At least, 213 children from Palghar were listed under the severe acute malnutrition (SAM) category in April 2020, which, in just two months, has gone up to 23. In Jawhar taluka, that number has increased from 78 to 94, a 19 percent jump. Experts believe the numbers could rise further if there is no intervention from the state.

A few metres from Suresh’s home lives the three-year-old Umesh Bhambre. A bit skinnier than other children his age, his mother Pramila says he gets tired very soon. “With no money at home, we can’t buy green vegetables,” she says. “We mostly feed him rice and dal because that is the only thing we have.”

Umesh is 77 inches tall, but he weighs only 7 kgs. He also falls under the category of MAM. Taralpada has no dearth of under-nourished children like Umesh who are in desperate need of a healthy and nutritious diet.

In 2015, to counter malnourishment, the Maharashtra government had started the APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Aahar Yojana that provided pregnant women and lactating mothers in tribal areas with a one-time all-round cooked meal. It included rice, daal, two vegetables, an egg and rotis. The scheme also provides 16 eggs per month to a child up to the age of seven.

Living below the poverty line, the residents here have the facility of the Public Distribution System, where they are eligible for 25 kilos of rice and 10 kilos of wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kilo respectively every month. Besides, there is also the ‘Take Home Ration’ scheme for children up to 3 years, which includes chana, masoor dal, rice/wheat, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and soyabean oil.

However, Indavi Tulpule, an activist with the Shramik Mukti Sanghatna that has been raising awareness about malnutrition in tribal areas in Maharashtra, said when it comes to health and nutrition, the government schemes are often starved for resources and are not implemented well on the ground.

“There are different departments handling different schemes that lack coordination,” she says. “The Tribal Development Department funds the Amrut Aahar Yojana. Integrated Child Development Scheme implements it. The mid-day meals come under the education department. The departments don’t coordinate with each other. Additionally, funds often come in months after they are allocated. Basically, the system that was fundamentally weak has been dismantled with coronavirus.”

Except for the Centre’s scheme of providing a meagre five kilos of grains per person every month, the authorities have not extended much help to the poor to survive until the economy opens up.

Pramila says the food they get from government schemes hardly lasts more than 10 to 12 days. “What do we eat for the rest of the month?” she asks. “I have a seven-year-old son. I can’t feed one kid and starve another. Plus, we are labourers. We toil day in day out so our appetite is on the higher side. We are not afraid of the virus as much as we fear the economic hardships. We need work.”

In May 2020, Kashtakari Sanghatana, a civil society organisation that works for labour rights in Palghar, had organised a protest against the loss of livelihoods. The protestors demanded work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) that promises 100 days of work to unskilled labourers in rural areas. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, villagers said they occasionally found odd jobs under MGNREGA but since March, there have been no opportunities.

The unavailability of unskilled work has paralysed Dharanhatti -- a village at a 10-minute walk through the potholed and forested roads from Taralpada. It is a village of people who belong to the Katkari tribe, which is among the three particularly vulnerable tribes out of the 47 in Maharashtra. They survive only on labour work.

Sixty-year-old Shevanti Savara, a resident of Dharanhatti, says the adults in her family slept empty stomach the previous night because the food was not enough for everyone. “We prioritise my four grandkids as much as possible when it comes to food,” she says.

Her three-year-old grandson, Avinash — bare-bodied, abnormally thin with a paunch — the activists this reporter was travelling with, looked at the child and immediately said he falls under the SAM category.

“The food at home isn’t enough,” says Shevanti. “The schemes may be meant for children up to a certain age but when we get the food, we have to distribute it among all the children. We are a village only of labourers. We have no farmlands. Without labour work, we can’t make our ends meet.”

Shevanti's family — her son and her daughter-in-law — migrate to Bhiwandi every Diwali to work at a brick kiln. "We work for 14-16 hours a day," she says. "After six months, we get between Rs 15,000-20,0000."

For people who survive on daily wages, a week without work causes panic in villages like Dharanhatti. It has been five months since the lockdown now. And last week, some of them resorted to their final option: begging.

via Blogger https://ift.tt/34B7rXz

[kpalegal]

Key Highlights of the 20 Lakh Crore Package

To improve the nation’s economy and to make the nation self- reliant, Rs. 20 lakh crore economic package was announced by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in his fifth address to the nation.It will act as a significant link for the ‘AatmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’. In addition, the complete package is about 10% of India’s GDP. This economic package includes the previously announced measures in the wake of coronavirus.

The package’s focus is going on Land, Labour, Liquidity and Laws. In addition, the package has been introduced for the nation’s cottage industry, labour force, farmers, honest tax payers, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The announcements in relation to the INR 20 lakh crore economic package will be made in tranches.[1]

The set of measures mentioned here in after, were announced by the Finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman along with Mos Anurag Thakur and finance ministry officials. Key Highlights of the first three tranches are given below.

 FIRST TRANCHE[2]

On May 13, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman unveiled the details of the first set of relief measures. The first tranche contains 15 different measures for MSMEs, EPF, NBFCs and MFIs, DISCOMs, contractors, real estate sector, and tax measures. The 15 different measures are as follows:

Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan

Insurance cover worth Rs 50 lakh per health worker

Eighty crore people have the option to benefit from free supply of wheat or rice, pulses for the period of next three months.

20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders to get an amount of Rs. 500 per month for the period of next three months.

Gas cylinders free of charge will be given to 8 crore poor families for the period of next three months.

Increase in MNREGA wage that will benefit 13.62 crore families.

Ex-Gratia of an amount of Rs. 1000 to 3 crore poor senior citizens, poor Divyang and poor widows.

Measures taken by Reserves Bank of India

Reduction in Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) lead to enhancement of liquidity of Rs. 1.37 lakh crore.

Targeted Long Term Repo Operations (TTLROs) of Rs. 1 lakh crore and TLTRO of Rs. 50,000 crore for certain purposes.

Rise in banks limit for borrowing overnight, under the marginal standing facility, permitting the banking system to get an additional Rs 1,37,000 crore of liquidity at the decreased MSF rate.

MSMEs

Revision of the Definition of MSMEs

For Businesses including MSMEs, there has been an announcement of Rs 3 lakh crore collateral free automatic loan.

Loans- Four year tenor and a moratorium of a period of 12 months on principle payments as well as a cap on interest costs.

100% credit guarantee cover to be provided .

Issue of Emergency credit lines by banks and NBFCs to MSMEs up to 20 percent of their complete outstanding credit as on Feb 2, 2020.

Liquidity support of up to Rs 20,000 crore by way of subordinate debt for stressed MSMEs.

Funds of up to an amount of Rs 50,000 crore for the purpose of equity support to MSMEs with the potential of growth.

There will be no global tenders for upto 200 crore. The global tenders will not be allowed in government procurement tenders up to Rs 200 crore.

Government’s EPFO relief

Liquidity relief to be provided to EPF companies.

Government support stretched to a period of three months i.e. till August 2020.

Liquidity relief of 2,500 crores will be provided.

More Take-Home Salaries and Increase Cash In Hand for Employers[3]

The Government will take up PF for firms with 100 staff, making less than Rs 15,000.

Reduction in statutory PF contribution from 12% to 10%.

For State PSUs, the government will carry on to pay 12% , whereas the govt. staff will pay 10%.

Special Liquidity Scheme for NBFCs

Rs 30,000 crore special liquidity scheme has been launched by the Government for NBFCs/ HFCs/ MFIs.

Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme 2.0 for NBFCs

Rs 45,000 crore liquidity infusion by way of partial credit guarantee scheme 2.0 for NBFCs.

Liquidity injection into DISCOMs

90,000 crore liquidity to be injected into DISCOMs.

Relief to Contractors

Extension of up to 6 months to be providedfor construction purposes and goods and service contracts by all the central agencies

Real Estate Sector

Real Estate Developers are permitted to invoke ‘force majeure clause’

Suo-moto extension of registration and completion by six months for all the registered projects expiring on or after 25th March, 2020 without individual applications.

Tax Relief

Reduction of TDS/TCS rate by 25 % till March 31, 2020 resulting in the benefit of Rs 50,000 crore for taxpayers.

Extension of the due date of all income-tax returns for the Financial Year 2019-20 (FY 2019-20) from 31st July, 2020 and 31st October, 2020 to 30th November, 2020. For Tax audit, from 30th September, 2020 to 31st October, 2020.

Pending refunds to partnership, charitable trusts, non-corporate businesses and professions including proprietorship, LLP and co-operatives will be provided instantly.

SECOND TRANCHE[4][5]

The second tranche was focused at migrant workers, street vendors, small farmers and affordable housing.

There was a mention of the measures for migrant workers and farmers that were introduced by the Government after coronavirus outbreak. In the Post- Covid time, the relief for farmers and migrants workers, chiefly included loans at concessional rates, extensions, work being made available by way of MGNREGS augmentation of the SDRF funds in order to help states to establish shelters for migrants and supply food to them.

Nine steps were announced under the second tranche for migrant workers, street vendors, MUDRA shisha Loan, street vendors, housing, employment generation for tribals and for small farmers.

The nine steps announced in the second tranche are as follows:

1.      Free food for Migrants

Migrants who do not have NFSA or state cards to be given certain amount of free channa, wheat / rice for next two months. It will require Rs 3,500 crore and it will probably help around 8 crore migrants.

2.      One Nation, One Ration Card

Public Distribution Scheme (PDS) ration cards are to be made portable. A ration card holder will be able to purchase subsidized foodgrains rom any Fair price Shop across the country. There will be 100 % coverage under ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ by March 31, 2021.

 3.      Affordable Rental Accomodation

This scheme is under the ‘PM Awas Yojana’, which involves providing incentives to private manufacturing units as well as industrial units to develop affordable housing, In addition, turning govt. funded houses into affordable renting accomodations for migrant workers. State Government agencies will also be provided with incentives in order to develop affordable housing.

 4.      MUDRA Shishu Loan

An interest subvention of 2% for the next 12 months for those who have availed loans up to Rs 50,000 subsequent to the moratorium period extended by RBI ends. Nearly three crore people will get the benefit worth Rs 1500 crore.

 5.      Street Vendor

A special scheme has been launched for street vendors. They will be able to avail a loan of Rs 10,000 from the Rs 5,000 crore loan facility.

 6.      Affordable Housing

Extension till March 2021 of Credit-Linked Scheme for middle income households in the income group Rs 6- 18 lakh. It will result in investments of Rs 70,000 crore in housing and will stimulate sectors like steel, cement and generate jobs.

 7.      Tribals

Under CAMPA funds, 6 crore worth proposals have originated from states. Employment will be provided to tribal people in wildlife protection/ management, forest management and other forest related activities.

 8.     Small/ Marginal Farmers  

The Government will provide 30,000 crore additional capital emergency funds by way of NABARD. There will be immediate release of these funds for post-rabi harvest and activities in connection with making kharif ready.

 9.      In order to boost farming activities, Rs 2 lakh crore of concessional credit will be provided, under the PM Kisan Credit Card. It will be extended to 2.5 crore farmers. Animal husbandry and fisheries will also be a part of this.

 THIRD TRANCHE[6][7]

The third tranche is regarding farmers, food processing and allied activities. Eleven measures related to strengthening infrastructure, governance and administrative reforms were announced.

In the last two months, in order to provide relief to agriculture and dairy sector, the Government took steps as follows:

Purchases worth Rs 74,300 crore based on MSP took place in the course of lockdown.

Rs 18,700 crore were transferred to farmers under PM Kisan.

Rs 6,000 crore claims got processed under FasalBima Yojana.

The government had also taken few steps to provide relief to the Animal Husbandry sector. One of the steps involved the transfer of Rs 5,000 crore additional liquidity to dairy farmers.

Eleven Measures

Upgrading Infrastructure

1.      One lakh crore fund has been assigned to strengthen the farm gate infrastructure.

2.      10,000 crore for the purpose of formalisation of micro-food enterprises and cluster based farming approach to be followed.

3.      PM MatsyaSampada Yojana will be launched by the government for development of marine and inland fisheries and Rs 20,000 crore have been assigned under this scheme. The money will be spent to fill the spaces in value chains. It is expected to result in additional fish production of 70 lakh tonnes in the next five years and give employment to nearly 55 lakh people.

4.      Rs 13,343 crore for the purpose of vaccination of livestock in India.

5.      Rs 15,000 crore have been allocated for ramping up the dairy infrastructure. In addition, investments to be made in cattle feed.

6.      Allocation of Rs 4,000 crore to promote herbal cultivation. For growing medicinal and herbal plants, ten lakh hectares of land will be used and it will furnish income of about Rs 5,000 crore for farmers.

7.      Allocation of Rs 500 crore for beekeeping which will be of help to around 2 lakh beekepers.

8.      Rs 500 crore for Operation Greens. It will be extended beyond potatoes, tomatoes, onions  and will be pertinent to all vegetables.

Governance reforms

9.      Propose amendment to Essential Commodities Act, 1955, so as to enable better price realization for farmers and stock limits to be imposed only under rare situations such as surge in prices, famine etc.

 Agricultural Marketing Reforms

10.  Formulation of a central law to furnish sufficient options to sell attractively-priced produce, barrier free inter-state trade and to issue framework for e-trading of agriculture produce.

 Agriculture produce Price and Quality Assurance

11.  Facilitative legal framework to be developed to enable farmers for dealing in a fair way with aggregators, processors, large retailers, exporters etc. Quality standardization, risk mitigation for farmers and assured returns shall make integral part of the framework.

Originally posted on www.kpalegal.com on 21st May 2020

[1]https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/full-text-pm-modis-address-to-nation-on-covid-19/articleshow/75702461.cms

[2]https://www.cnbctv18.com/economy/key-highlights-from-finance-minister-nirmala-sitharamans-speech-on-rs-20-lakh-crore-economic-package-5912551.htm

[3]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/nirmala-sitharaman-live-speech-updates/liveblog/75713061.cms

[4]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/nirmala-sitharaman-address-latest-updates-may-14/articleshow/75735307.cms?from=mdr

[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fimCemy9pm4

[6]https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/nirmala-sitharaman-latest-announcements-today-may15/articleshow/75755583.cms

[7]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awFmyceDMds

[vsplusonline]

Coronavirus lockdown | Fifth tranche of economic package focusses on reforms, says Nirmala Sitharaman

New Post has been published on https://apzweb.com/coronavirus-lockdown-fifth-tranche-of-economic-package-focusses-on-reforms-says-nirmala-sitharaman/

Coronavirus lockdown | Fifth tranche of economic package focusses on reforms, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said reforms will be the focus of the fifth and final tranche of economic stimulus package to deal with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said the package would focus on MGNREGA, healthcare and education, businesses, de-criminalisation of the Companies Act, ease of doing business, public sector undertakings, and resources related to state government.

Tranche 1: Business including MSMEs (May 13, 2020)

During the coronavirus-induced lockdown, ₹16,394 crore has been paid to 8.19 crore farmers under the ₹2,000 free cash dole scheme of PM Kisan, she said.

Old-age beneficiaries and others have been paid first instalment of ₹1,405 crore and a second one of ₹1,402 crore.

She allso said that as much as ₹10,025 crore has been transferred to 20 crore women Jan Dhan account holders. Also, 6.81 free LPG cylinders have been given to poor.

Tranche 2: Poor, including migrants and farmers (May 14, 2020)

Last week, the government pledged a ₹20 lakh crore (nearly 10 per cent of GDP) package to support the economy headed for its first full-year contraction in more than four decades.

This included March 27 announcement of ₹1.7 lakh crore package of free foodgrain and cash to poor for three months and the Reserve Bank of India’s ₹5.6 lakh crore worth of liquidity measures since March.

Further to this, the government last week announced a cumulative package of ₹10.73 lakh crore, mostly in liquidity measures with negligible extra-budget spending. The measures included a variety of steps for small businesses, street vendors, farmers and poor migrants as well as shadow banks and electricity distributors, but they have largely been either credit guarantee schemes or new fund creations to be shouldered by banks and financial institutions.

Tranche 3: Agriculture (May 15, 2020)

The government’s cash outgo is limited to a maximum of ₹18,500 crore on free foodgrain and affordable housing to migrant workers as well as limited tax relief and marginal dole to some companies on employee retiral benefits.

On Saturday, the government announced a hike in foreign investment limit in defence manufacturing and opened up space facilities while giving a new push to reforms of commercial coal mining, mineral block auction and privatisation of power distribution as it sought new investments to help shore up an economy hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Beginning March 25, India imposed a three-week-long nationwide lockdown, the most far-reaching measure undertaken by any government to curb the spread of the pandemic.

Tranche 4: New horizons of growth (May 16, 2020)

The lockdown, which brought most of the economic activities to a standstill as factories and businesses were shut while rendering thousands temporarily unemployed, has since been extended twice through May 17, with some relaxations to allow resumption of economic activities.

According to estimates, the lockdown may have led to 12.2 crore people losing jobs in April and consumer demand evaporating.

Centre raises borrowing limit of States from 3 pc of GSDP to 5 pc

The Centre agreed to raise the borrowing limit of states from 3 per cent of gross state domestic product (GSDP) to 5 per cent in 2020-21, to make available an extra of ₹4.28 lakh crore.

Releasing the fifth and final tranche of the economic stimulus package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Centre devolved ₹46,038 crore of taxes in April to states even though actual revenue shows unprecedented decline from Budget Estimates.

Also read: Coronavirus package | Nirmala Sitharaman announces new law for contract farming in third tranche of economic stimulus package

Revenue deficit grants of ₹12,390 crore were given to states on time in April and May despite the Centre’s stressed resources, she said.

Also, advance release of the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF) of ₹11,092 crore happened in first week of April, she said adding that a release of over ₹4,113 crore from the health ministry for direct anti-COVID activities was also released.

At the Centre’s request, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased Ways and Means Advance limits of states by 60 per cent. Also, the number of days state can be in continuous overdraft has been increased from 14 days to 21 days and the number of days state can be in overdraft in a quarter has been increased from 32 to 50 days.

State net borrowing ceiling for 2020-21 is ₹6.41 lakh crore (3 per cent of gross state domestic product).

Also read: Coronavirus package | Migrant workers to get free foodgrains

States have so far borrowed only 14 per cent of the limit authorised. Eighty-six per cent of the authorised borrowing remains unutilised.

Despite this, states have been asking for special increase in borrowing from 3 per cent to 5 per cent.

“In view of the unprecedented situation, the Centre has decided to accede to request and increase borrowing limits of states from 3 per cent of GSDP to 5 per cent for 2020-21 only. This will give states extra resources of ₹4.28 lakh crore,” she added.

Ms. Sitharaman said part of the borrowing will be linked to specific reforms.

Also read: Coronavirus lockdown | Narendra Modi announces ₹20-lakh-crore economic stimulus package

There will be unconditional increase of 0.50 per cent in borrowing limit. “1 per cent in 4 tranches of 0.25 per cent with each tranche linked to clearly specified, measurable and feasible reforms,” she said. “Further, 0.50 per cent if milestones are achieved in at least three out of four reform areas.”

Stimulus package includes ₹8 lakh cr liquidity measures by RBI

Ms. Sitharaman said the ₹20 lakh crore economic stimulus package to deal with the fallout of COVID-19 includes ₹8.01 lakh crore of liquidity measures announced by the Reserve Bank since March.

The stimulus totals to ₹20.97 lakh crore, she said, adding this also comprises the ₹1.92 lakh crore package of free foodgrain and cooking gas to poor and cash to some sections announced in March.

Also read: Coronavirus package | Government throws open defence production and mining sectors

The five part stimulus package announced beginning May 13 comprised ₹5.94 lakh crore in the first tranche that provided credit line to small businesses and support to shadow banks and electricity distribution companies.

The second tranche included free foodgrain to stranded migrant workers for two months and credit to farmers, totalling ₹3.10 lakh crore.

Spending on agri infrastructure and other measures for agriculture and allied sectors in the third tranche totalled to ₹1.5 lakh crore.

The fourth and fifth tranches that dealt mostly with structural reforms totalled to ₹48,100 crore, she said.

Allocates ₹40,000 cr more for MGNREGS

Ms. Sitharaman announced an additional ₹40,000 crore allocation for the rural employment guarantee scheme to help provide jobs to migrant workers returning home.

She said the allocation for MGNREGS is being increased by ₹40,000 crore over and above the ₹61,000 cr budgeted earlier.

Also, public expenditure on health will be increased, she said without giving details.

Investments in grassroot health institutions to be ramped up, she added.

She said a programme for multi-mode access to digital or online education to be launched immediately.

Also, one earmarked TV channel per class from 1 to 12 (one class, one channel) will be part of this, she said.

Top-100 universities will be permitted to automatically start online courses by May 30, 2020, she said.

Government to privatise non-strategic PSUs

The Union Finance Minister said a new “coherent” public sector enterprises policy will be formulated that will define strategic sectors which will have not more than four PSUs.

List of strategic sectors requiring presence of public sector undertakings (PSUs) in public interest will be notified, she said while announcing her fifth and final economic stimulus package.

In strategic sectors, at least one enterprise will remain in the public sector but private sector will also be allowed.

In other sectors, PSUs will be privatised.

“To minise wasteful administrative costs, number of enterprises in strategic sectors will ordinarily be only one to four; others will be privatised/merged/brought under holding companies,” she said.

12 lakh EPFO members withdraw retirement savings during lockdown

Ms. Sitharaman said around 12 lakh members of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) withdrew Rs 3,360 crore retirement savings during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

Earlier, on March 28, the EPFO allowed formal sector workers to withdraw a non-refundable advance from their retirement savings to deal with the hardships due to the lockdown.

The government on March 25 imposed a nationwide lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Unveiling the fifth and final tranche of the ₹20-lakh crore economic package, Ms. Sitharaman said 12 lakh members of the EPFO have withdrawn as non-refundable advance of ₹3,360 crore during the past two months.

The EPFO, under the Union labour and employment ministry, has settled a total of 12 lakh claims under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) package.

The provision for a special withdrawal from the EPF Scheme to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is part of the PMGKY scheme announced by the government and an urgent notification on the matter was made to introduce a para 68 L (3) of the EPF Scheme on March 28, 2020.

Under this provision non-refundable withdrawal to the extent of the basic wages and dearness allowances for three months or up to 75 per cent of the amount standing to member’ credit in the EPF account, whichever is less, is provided.

Ms. Sitharaman also told that 2.2 crore building and construction workers got ₹3950 crore under the PMGKY to sustain in lockdown.

No fresh insolvency to be initiated for 1 year under IBC

In a bid to give relief to companies defaulting on loans due to the COVID-19 stress, Ms. Sitharaman on Sunday said no fresh insolvency will be initiated for one year under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.

Also, coronavirus-related debt will be excluded from definition of default, she said.

Minimum threshold to initiative insolvency proceeding has been raised to ₹ 1 crore from ₹1 lakh to benefit MSMEs, she said adding that an Ordinance will be promulgated to bring this change in IBC.

She also announced decriminalisation of the Companies Act in violations involving minor technical and procedural defaults including shortcoming in CSR reporting, inadequacies in board report, filing defaults and delay in holding AGM.

Majority of the compoundable offences sections will be shifted to internal adjudication mechanism (IAM), she said adding that amendments will be brought through an Ordinance and will de-clog the criminal courts and NCLT.

Seven compoundable offences under the Companies Act altogether dropped and five to be dealt with under alternative framework, the finance minister said.

Also, the government allowed companies to directly list securities in permissible foreign jurisdictions.

Private companies, which list non-convertible debentures on stock exchanges, would not to be regarded as listed companies, she added.

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[iasshikshalove]

Daily Current Affairs 30th April 2020

ONLY 30 LAKH FOUND MNREGA WORK IN APRILMGNREGA:Ministry: Ministry of Rural Development

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), also known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) is Indian legislation enacted on August 25, 2005.

The MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Govt of India is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments.

This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living below poverty line in rural India.

An additional 50 days of wage employment are provided over and above 100 days in the notified drought affected areas or natural calamity areas in the country on recommendation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Please click the below link to know about MNREGA:

https://iasshiksha.com/daily-current-affair/daily-current-affairs-14th-april-2020/

Why in News?

Although the Centre gave explicit instructions to reopen its flagship rural jobs scheme from April 20, only 30 lakh people were provided work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in April, about 17% of the usual, government data show.

In mid-April, only 1% of the usual number of workers had found employment.

The figures for this April are the lowest in five years, and show an 82% drop from the previous year’s figure of 1.7 crore workers.

Some States had zero workers as on April 29, showing they had not restarted their work sites at all.

Only 1,005 people got work in Haryana, along with 2,014 in Kerala and 6,376 in Gujarat, showing very low rates of employment.

Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, has provided 10 lakh jobs, though it is still lower than the 25 lakh jobs provided last April.

In the light of government failure to provide sufficient work at a time when the loss of livelihoods due to the lockdown and returning migrant workers have increased the need for work in Indian villages, there is a rising demand for compensation wages to be paid to workers instead.

ORDINANCE ROUTE TO DEFER PAY IN KERALA

The Kerala Cabinet has cleared a draft Ordinance empowering the government for deferring six days’ salary of employees and teachers for five months to face the extraordinary fiscal crisis triggered by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters here on Wednesday that there was a steep fall in income and the crisis was unbearable.

The decision on deferment was made to overcome the crisis. Since the High Court had pointed out that the decision was legally untenable, the Cabinet decided to recommend the Governor to promulgate an Ordinance.

The Ordinance will also empower the government to impose a 30% cut in the salary, allowances and honorarium of Ministers and MLAs for a year.

The draft explains that in the event of any disaster or public health emergency, it shall be competent and lawful for the government to defer up to one-fourth of the total salary of an employee in any institution owned or controlled by the government, including aided and grant-in-aid bodies.

The High Court had said there was no sanction of law for the order to defer the salary and it amounts to deprivation of property of the employees and teachers who were affected by it.

Hence, the government had to issue the Ordinance under extraordinary circumstances.

Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac clarified that the government had the powers to deduct up to one-fourth of the total monthly salary of an employee for the management of the crisis that stemmed out of the public health emergency, but would strictly go by the earlier decision to defer the salary.

REGULATING ACADEMICS IS IN NATIONAL, PUBLIC INTEREST:SC

Regulating academics and imposing reasonable restrictions to ensure educational standards are in national and public interest, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court ruled, holding that the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is mandatory for admission to medical colleges run by religious and linguistic minority communities.

The right to freedom of trade or business is not absolute. It is subject to “reasonable restriction in the interest of the students’ community to promote merit, recognition of excellence, and to curb the malpractices.

A uniform entrance test qualifies the test of proportionality and is reasonable.

NEET is intended to check several maladies which crept into medical education, to prevent capitation fee by admitting students which are lower in merit and to prevent exploitation, profiteering, and commercialisation of education. The institution has to be a capable vehicle of education.

The court said minority institutions were equally bound to comply with the conditions imposed under the law. The regulations, including admission through NEET, were neither divisive or dis-integrative. They were necessary.

The judgment was based on a challenge by the colleges to several notifications issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Dental Council of India (DCI) under Sections 10D of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956, and the Dentists Act, 1948, for uniform entrance examinations.

Professional educational institutions constitute a class by themselves. Specific measures to make the administration of such institutions transparent can be imposed.

The rights available under Article 30 [right of minorities to administer their institutions] are not violated by provisions carved out in Section 10D of the MCI Act and the Dentists Act and Regulations framed by MCI/DCI.

NEET APPLIES TO MINORITY COLLEGES: SC

The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is mandatory for admission to medical colleges run by religious and linguistic minority communities, the Supreme Court held on Wednesday.

A three-judge Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra held that admissions solely through NEET for graduate and postgraduate medical/dental courses does not violate any fundamental and religious rights of minorities. NEET would apply for both aided and unaided medical colleges run by minorities.

The court dismissed arguments by the managements of several minority-run medical institutions, including the Christian Medical College Vellore Association, that bringing them uniformly under the ambit of NEET would be a violation of their fundamental right to “occupation, trade and business”.

The colleges had argued that imposing NEET would violate their fundamental rights of religious freedom, to manage their religious affairs, to administer their institutions.

They said the State was reneging on its obligation to act in the best interest of minorities.

But Justice Mishra, who wrote the 108-page judgment, said it was time the field of education returned to the “realm of charity”, a character it had lost over the years.

NEET was brought in to weed out malpractices in the field.

The court held that the rights of trade, business and occupation or religious rights “do not come in the way of securing transparency and recognition of merits in admissions”.

STUDY ON CHINA DAMS BRINGS THE BRAHMAPUTRA INTO FOCUS

A new study highlighting the impact of China’s dams on the Mekong river has raised fresh questions on whether dams being built on other rivers that originate in China, such as the Brahmaputra, may similarly impact countries downstream.

While China’s southwestern Yunnan province had above-average rainfall from May to October 2019, there was “severe lack of water in the lower Mekong”, the study found based on satellite data from 1992 to 2019.

The Mekong flows from China to Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The Mekong River Commission, which comprises Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, has said more scientific evidence was needed to establish whether dams caused a 2019 drought.

The study released this month said six dams built since the commissioning of the Nuozhadu dam in 2012 had altered natural flow of the river.

It was published by the Sustainable Infrastructure Partnership in Bangkok and the Lower Mekong Initiative, which is a U.S. partnership with all the downstream countries besides Myanmar.

The study was funded by the U.S. government.

Groundless Study:

China has maintained that the dams it is building on the river, known as the Lancang there, are “run of the river” dams that only store water for power generation.

The Foreign Ministry said the study was “groundless”. Yunnan had also suffered from drought, while the Lancang only accounted for 13.5% of the Mekong’s flows.

India has long expressed concerns over dam-building on the Brahmaptura. In 2015, China operationalised its first hydropower project at Zangmu, while three other dams at Dagu, Jiexu and Jiacha are being developed.

Indian officials have said the dams are not likely to impact the quantity of the Brahmaputra’s flows because they are only storing water for power generation. Moreover, the Brahmaputra is not entirely dependent on upstream flows and an estimated 35% of its basin is in India.

India does not have a water-sharing agreement with China, but both sides share hydrological data.

“We have got China to cooperate with us for warnings on how floods are moving down the Yarlung Tsangpo and into the Brahmaputra, so that we can warn our population living in low-lying areas and move them safely to higher ground,” said Gautam Bambawale, who was India’s Ambassador to China until December 2018.

“India will continue to raise the issue of river waters in the Brahmaputra with China, as that appears to be the only methodology to ensure what happened on Mekong does not happen on Brahmaputra.

Management Problem:

India, for the most part, doesn’t have a quantity problem but a management one,” added Ambika Vishwanath, who researches water security and is director of the Kubernein Initiative.

“We really need to worry more about activity in China affecting quality, ecological balance, and flood management.”

The Mekong study, she added, was not conclusive on the question of how China’s dams had affected quantity of flows.

“To state that the basin had less water because of activities in China alone is misleading, mainly because that only considers the water flowing into the lower basin at one station in Thailand,” she said, adding that the study did not consider other dams and water-use along the course of the river.

The lower basin isn’t entirely dependent on flows from China, but also receives water from tributaries in all four countries, which the study did not account for.

INDIA REMAINS ON U.S. PRIORITY WATCH LIST

Special 301 Report:

The Special 301 Reportis prepared annually by the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that identifies trade barriers to United States companies and products due to the intellectual property laws, such as copyright, patents and trademarks, in other countries.

By April 30 of each year, the USTR must identify countries which do not provide “adequate and effective” protection of intellectual property rights or “fair and equitable market access to United States persons that rely upon intellectual property rights”.

By statute, the annual Special 301 Report includes a list of “Priority Foreign Countries“, that are judged to have inadequate intellectual property laws; these countries may be subject to sanctions.

In addition, the report contains a “Priority Watch List” and a “Watch List“, containing countries whose intellectual property regimes are deemed of concern.

Why in News?

India continues to be on the ‘Priority Watch List’ of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for lack of adequate intellectual property (IP) rights protection and enforcement, the USTR said in its Annual Special 301 Report.

India remained one of the most challenging economies for IP enforcement and protection, the report said, using language it has used previously.

Algeria, Argentina, Chile, China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and Venezuela are also on the Priority Watch List.

While India made “meaningful progress” to enhance IP protection and enforcement in some areas over the past year, it did not resolve recent and long-standing challenges, and created new ones.

The same assessment was made in the 2019 report.

These long-standing concerns were about innovators being able to receive, maintain and enforce patents particularly in the pharmaceutical sector; concerns over copyright laws not incentivising the creation and commercialisation of content; and an outdated trade secrets framework.

“India also further restricted the transparency of information provided on state-issued pharmaceutical manufacturing licenses, continues to apply restrictive patentability criteria to reject pharmaceutical patents, and still has not established an effective system for protecting against the unfair commercial use, as well as the unauthorized disclosure, of undisclosed test or other data generated to obtain marketing approval for pharmaceuticals and certain agricultural chemical products.

The report also mentioned high customs duties on medical devices and Information and Communications Technology.

These goods categories were persistent challenges in trade talks between the two countries last year — the language used in the 2020 report in this context is the same as in the 2019 report.

Online IP enforcement in India has improved, the report said, but progress is undercut by factors including weak enforcement by courts and the police, lack of familiarity with investigative techniques and no centralised IP enforcement agency.

[brajeshupadhyay]

Editor's note: This article is the second of a multi-part series which examines how the COVID-19 lockdown has impacted one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra and the most disadvantaged section of the society living on the outskirts of Mumbai. Read Part I here *** Suresh Kawa, 31, stops just short of using the word “burden” for his nine-year-old son. No father would do that. “But we toiled to arrange meals for two people earlier,” he says. “We now have to do it for three. It is particularly difficult in the middle of a lockdown.” Suresh’s son, Sainath, studies in a tribal residential school in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. Usually, he only spends summer and Diwali vacations at home. However, the residential schools for tribal students in Maharashtra are shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sainath is back with his parents indefinitely. “His meals were taken care of at the residential school,” says Suresh, sitting outside his one-room hut. “The struggle for survival has intensified with his return. I feel guilty accepting that.” Living in Taralpada, one of the poorest tribal hamlets in Palghar’s Jawhar taluka, survival has never been easy for Suresh, who belongs to the K Thakar community. He cultivates rice during monsoons on a two-acre plot to feed his family and himself. With the lack of any irrigation facilities, the family can only rely on rainwater for farming. Since they don’t grow winter crops, Suresh migrates for work after Diwali once the rice is harvested. And returns only around June. This is a practice almost every Adivasi family in Palghar follows — they move to construction sites in Thane or brick kilns in Bhiwandi and nearby areas during Diwali because farming is not a viable option through the year. “I get Rs 350 per day as a migrant worker in nearby towns,” he says. “Sometimes you get work, sometimes you don’t. It is uncertain. We basically live hand to mouth.” Even that has not been possible since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus on 24 March. More than five months later, even as the Maharashtra government embarks on the “Mission Begin Again”, Suresh is still struggling to get back on his feet. “I am happy to spend more time with my son,” he says. “But I can’t deny that an extra stomach to feed in these times is a challenge.” Suresh is not the only one living this nightmare. There are over 1,100 residential schools with about 5 lakh tribal students enrolled in Maharashtra. While more than 60,000 Zila Parishad (ZP) schools host 4.6 million students. Besides offering free education, the mid day meal scheme is one of the major incentives why parents send their kids to Zila Parishad schools, where at least one meal of the child is taken care of. Most of the students in these schools come from families of farmers and labourers belonging to some of the most marginalised sections of the society. They cannot afford private education. With Adivasi residential schools and Zila Parishad schools shut due to COVID-19, these children are back to their homes, living with their parents, who now have to arrange food for the extra mouth. Nowhere in Maharashtra is the crisis among children starker than in Palghar – a district with a population of 3 million, 37 percent of which comprises Scheduled Tribe, much more than Maharashtra’s 9.4 percent. In Jawhar taluka, where Suresh lives, over 91 percent of the population is Adivasis. Even though Palghar is barely 100 kilometres from Mumbai – the financial capital of India – it is one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra, where malnutrition is a serious concern that stems from abject poverty. Between 2016 and 2018, more than 1,100 children in Palghar have died of malnutrition. In February 2019, the journal PLoS published a report that found 59 percent of children up to age six were stunted and 53 percent were underweight. Children in Palghar are undernourished because they do not have access to an all-round meal, which should include carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. The children studying at Zila Parishad and residential schools returning to their families compound the existing problem of malnutrition. The coronavirus-induced lockdown has further exacerbated the crisis of undernourishment among the marginalised in Palghar. In April 2020, 2,186 children in Palghar fell under the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) category. In June 2020, that number marginally went up to 2,225. In Jawhar taluka, it increased from 600 to 682 in two months – a rise of 13.6 percent. At least, 213 children from Palghar were listed under the severe acute malnutrition (SAM) category in April 2020, which, in just two months, has gone up to 23. In Jawhar taluka, that number has increased from 78 to 94, a 19 percent jump. Experts believe the numbers could rise further if there is no intervention from the state. A few metres from Suresh’s home lives the three-year-old Umesh Bhambre. A bit skinnier than other children his age, his mother Pramila says he gets tired very soon. “With no money at home, we can’t buy green vegetables,” she says. “We mostly feed him rice and dal because that is the only thing we have.” Umesh is 77 inches tall, but he weighs only 7 kgs. He also falls under the category of MAM. Taralpada has no dearth of under-nourished children like Umesh who are in desperate need of a healthy and nutritious diet. In 2015, to counter malnourishment, the Maharashtra government had started the APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Aahar Yojana that provided pregnant women and lactating mothers in tribal areas with a one-time all-round cooked meal. It included rice, daal, two vegetables, an egg and rotis. The scheme also provides 16 eggs per month to a child up to the age of seven. Living below the poverty line, the residents here have the facility of the Public Distribution System, where they are eligible for 25 kilos of rice and 10 kilos of wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kilo respectively every month. Besides, there is also the ‘Take Home Ration’ scheme for children up to 3 years, which includes chana, masoor dal, rice/wheat, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and soyabean oil. However, Indavi Tulpule, an activist with the Shramik Mukti Sanghatna that has been raising awareness about malnutrition in tribal areas in Maharashtra, said when it comes to health and nutrition, the government schemes are often starved for resources and are not implemented well on the ground. “There are different departments handling different schemes that lack coordination,” she says. “The Tribal Development Department funds the Amrut Aahar Yojana. Integrated Child Development Scheme implements it. The mid-day meals come under the education department. The departments don’t coordinate with each other. Additionally, funds often come in months after they are allocated. Basically, the system that was fundamentally weak has been dismantled with coronavirus.” Except for the Centre’s scheme of providing a meagre five kilos of grains per person every month, the authorities have not extended much help to the poor to survive until the economy opens up. Pramila says the food they get from government schemes hardly lasts more than 10 to 12 days. “What do we eat for the rest of the month?” she asks. “I have a seven-year-old son. I can’t feed one kid and starve another. Plus, we are labourers. We toil day in day out so our appetite is on the higher side. We are not afraid of the virus as much as we fear the economic hardships. We need work.” In May 2020, Kashtakari Sanghatana, a civil society organisation that works for labour rights in Palghar, had organised a protest against the loss of livelihoods. The protestors demanded work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) that promises 100 days of work to unskilled labourers in rural areas. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, villagers said they occasionally found odd jobs under MGNREGA but since March, there have been no opportunities. The unavailability of unskilled work has paralysed Dharanhatti -- a village at a 10-minute walk through the potholed and forested roads from Taralpada. It is a village of people who belong to the Katkari tribe, which is among the three particularly vulnerable tribes out of the 47 in Maharashtra. They survive only on labour work. Sixty-year-old Shevanti Savara, a resident of Dharanhatti, says the adults in her family slept empty stomach the previous night because the food was not enough for everyone. “We prioritise my four grandkids as much as possible when it comes to food,” she says. Her three-year-old grandson, Avinash — bare-bodied, abnormally thin with a paunch — the activists this reporter was travelling with, looked at the child and immediately said he falls under the SAM category. “The food at home isn’t enough,” says Shevanti. “The schemes may be meant for children up to a certain age but when we get the food, we have to distribute it among all the children. We are a village only of labourers. We have no farmlands. Without labour work, we can’t make our ends meet.” Shevanti's family — her son and her daughter-in-law — migrate to Bhiwandi every Diwali to work at a brick kiln. "We work for 14-16 hours a day," she says. "After six months, we get between Rs 15,000-20,0000." For people who survive on daily wages, a week without work causes panic in villages like Dharanhatti. It has been five months since the lockdown now. And last week, some of them resorted to their final option: begging.

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/08/battling-starvation-during-covid-19.html

[brajeshupadhyay]

08:45 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates Delhi, Maharashtra among five states to get first batch lot of COVID-19 drug Homegrown pharma major Hetero is et to deliver the generic version of antiviral drug Remdesivir to states across the country for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Sold under the brand name Covifor, the drug has been priced at Rs 5,400 per vial and will be available at hospitals to treat the infection. Delhi and Maharashtra - the two worst-hit states in the country by the pandemic will be the first to receive the first batch of the antiviral medicine. The Hyderabad-based drugmaker has dispatched 20,000 vials of Covifor to five states.  08:07 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Updates Atmanirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan to focus on 31 districts  The Atmanirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan is focused on providing jobs, promoting local entrepreneurship and creating partnerships with industrial associations and other organisations to create employment opportunities. At least 31 districts have been covered under the scheme and the state government is likely to use the occasion to showcase the work it has been doing for the welfare of the workers. 08:00 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Updates Modi to launch Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan today Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday will launch a 125-day campaign to provide employment to migrant workers and others in Uttar Pradesh, who lost their jobs during coronavirus pandemic. Modi will launch the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan, being undertaken as part of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan that the prime minister started on 20 June for 116 districts in six states in the country.  07:56 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Odisha Latest Updates Odisha's COVID-19 cases jump to 5,962; govt plans serology survey The Odisha government on Thursday decided to launch serology survey to ascertain the immune strength among people against COVID-19 as the state's coronavirus count increased to 5,962 with 210 more cases The state has planned to start the serological survey at Puri from Saturday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) PK Mohapatra told PTI. 07:52 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates 978 students from containment zones attend first day of Karnataka SSLC exams As many as 978 students residing in containment zones were allowed to attend exams on the first day of Karnataka SSLC exams in special classrooms after complete health screening, Education Minister S Suresh Kumar confirmed. Further, 201 students who had fever/cold-like symptoms were also allowed similarly, The Indian Express reported.  07:45 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates India's COVID-19 toll nears 15,000 India on Thursday recorded close to 17,000 new coronavirus infections, pushing the total to 4.73 lakh as the number of fatalities inched closer to 15,000, according to the Union Health Ministry's data. 07:34 (IST) Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates Mumbai Police sets up three COVID-19 centres The Mumbai Police on Friday have set up three COVID-19 quarantine centres for their personnel, which are located in Kole Kalyan, Marol and Marine Drive. Each of the centres have a capacity of around 1,000 beds, said Mumbai Police PRO Pranay Ashok.  Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday will launch a 125-day campaign to provide employment to migrant workers and others in Uttar Pradesh, who lost their jobs during coronavirus pandemic. Modi will launch the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan, being undertaken as part of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan that the prime minister started on 20 June for 116 districts in six states in the country. India on Thursday recorded close to 17,000 new coronavirus infections, pushing the overall tally to 4.73 lakh as the number of fatalities inched closer to 15,000, according to the Union Health Ministry's data. The surge in cases over the past few days also led to the cancellation of a number of exams in the country, including the pending papers of CBSE Class 10 and ICSE. COVID-19 cases spike in India, but recovery rate improves The data updated at 8 am showed the daily COVID-19 cases increased by 16,922 to reach 4,73,105, while the death-toll climbed to 14,894 with 418 new fatalities. This was the sixth consecutive day when coronavirus cases increased by more than 14,000. On 20 June, the country registered an increase of 14,516 cases. On June 21, the increase was of 15,413 cases; 14,821 cases on 22 June; 14,933 cases on 23 June; and 15,968 cases on 24 June. Consequently, India has added 92,573 cases since 20 June, and over 2.82 lakh this month since 1 June. However, the recovery rate has improved to 57.43 percent, according to the health ministry. The number of active cases stands at 1,86,514 while 2,71,696 people have recovered and one patient has migrated. A total of 13,012 COVID-19 patients were declared cured in a single day on Thursday. The total number of 4,73,105 confirmed cases included foreigners. According to ICMR, a total of 75,60,782 samples have been tested up to 24 June with 2,07,871 samples being tested on Wednesday. Of the 418 new deaths, 208 were in Maharashtra, 64 in Delhi, 33 in Tamil Nadu, 25 in Gujarat, 14 in Karnataka, 11 in West Bengal, 10 each in Rajasthan and Haryana, nine in Madhya Pradesh, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, five each in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand. Bihar, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir have reported one COVID-19 fatality each. Of the total fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 6,739 deaths followed by Delhi (2,365), Gujarat (1,735), Tamil Nadu (866), Uttar Pradesh (596), West Bengal (591), Madhya Pradesh (534), Rajasthan (375) and Telangana (225). The COVID-19 death toll reached 188 in Haryana, 164 in Karnataka, 124 in Andhra Pradesh, 113 in Punjab, 88 in Jammu and Kashmir, 57 in Bihar, 35 in Uttarakhand, 22 in Kerala and 17 in Odisha. Chhattisgarh has registered 12 deaths, Jharkhand 11, Assam and Puducherry nine each, Himachal Pradesh eight, Chandigarh six, Goa two and Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each. More than 70 percent deaths took place due to comorbidities, the health ministry said. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,42,900 followed by Delhi at 70,390, Tamil Nadu at 67,468, Gujarat at 28,943, Uttar Pradesh at 19,557, Rajasthan at 16,009 and West Bengal at 15,173, according to ministry data. The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 12,448 in Madhya Pradesh, 12,010 in Haryana, 10,444 in Telangana, 10,331 in Andhra Pradesh and 10,118 in Karnataka. It has risen to 8,209 in Bihar, 6,422 in Jammu and Kashmir, 6,198 in Assam and 5,752 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 4,627 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 3,603 cases. A total of 2,623 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,419 in Chhattisgarh, 2,207 in Jharkhand, 1,259 in Tripura, 970 in Manipur, 951 in Goa, 941 in Ladakh and 806 in Himachal Pradesh. Puducherry has recorded 461 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh has 420, Nagaland has 347, Arunachal Pradesh 158 and Mizoram 142 cases. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 120 COVID-19 cases. Sikkim has 84, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 56 infections so far while Meghalaya has recorded 46 cases. "Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)," the ministry said, adding, 8,493 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added. Several exams cancelled across India due to pandemic Following opposition from parents against holding CBSE Class 10 and 12 papers, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the board have decided to completely cancel pending papers for Class 10, which were to be held from 1 July. The exams for remaining subjects of Class 12 have been indefinitely postponed, and have also been made optional. Students who choose not to give exams will be assessed on the basis of their performance in the past three exams held at the school level. Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE Class 10) and Indian School Certificate (ISC Class 12) have also declared that they will follow CBSE's pattern in according marks to students, and holding exams. Detailed guidelines by all boards are awaited on this. Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) examination to be conducted by CBSE on 5 July has also been postponed in view of the present circumstances. Globally, infections near 10 million Global coronavirus cases crossed 9.5 million on Thursday, a day after WHO predicted the world's tally will cross 10 million before the week ends. Worldometer reported that 48,618 people have died due to the virus so far. The Chinese mainland has recorded 83,449 COVID-19 cases. A total of 97 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation. China's death toll stands at 4,647, including six from the Hong Kong SAR and seven from the Taiwan region. Indonesia crossed 50,000 cases today and the US has recorded over 2.3 million confirmed cases, with a death toll of over 121,000, John Hopkins University, which is also tracking global coronavirus cases said. Europe has seen a resurgence of COVID-19 cases as many countries begin to ease restrictions for curbing the spread of coronavirus, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said on Thursday. "While the European Region is reporting a decreasing proportion of global cases than earlier in the year, the region continues to report close to 20,000 new cases and over 700 new deaths daily. Last week, Europe saw an increase in weekly cases for the first time in months," Kluge told reporters. He said 30 countries have seen increases in new cases over the past two weeks. The WHO also warned that the pandemic has not yet peaked in many countries and that it was "still intense," especially in America. France opened up the iconic Eiffel Tower after a record 104-day lockdown. Tourists who are trickling back to Paris were delighted to find the landmark open when some other attractions in the French capital remain closed. The Louvre Museum isn't reopening until 6 July. Disney, meanwhile, delayed its California theme park's reopening as cases in US continued to surge. With inputs from PTI

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/06/coronavirus-outbreak-live-updates-pm-to.html

[brajeshupadhyay]

Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: PM to launch Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan at 11 am

08:45 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak Latest Updates

Delhi, Maharashtra among five states to get first batch lot of COVID-19 drug

Homegrown pharma major Hetero is et to deliver the generic version of antiviral drug Remdesivir to states across the country for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. Sold under the brand name Covifor, the drug has been priced at Rs 5,400 per vial and will be available at hospitals to treat the infection.

Delhi and Maharashtra - the two worst-hit states in the country by the pandemic will be the first to receive the first batch of the antiviral medicine. The Hyderabad-based drugmaker has dispatched 20,000 vials of Covifor to five states. 

08:07 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Updates

Atmanirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan to focus on 31 districts 

The Atmanirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan is focused on providing jobs, promoting local entrepreneurship and creating partnerships with industrial associations and other organisations to create employment opportunities.

At least 31 districts have been covered under the scheme and the state government is likely to use the occasion to showcase the work it has been doing for the welfare of the workers.

08:00 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Uttar Pradesh Latest Updates

Modi to launch Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday will launch a 125-day campaign to provide employment to migrant workers and others in Uttar Pradesh, who lost their jobs during coronavirus pandemic.

Modi will launch the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan, being undertaken as part of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan that the prime minister started on 20 June for 116 districts in six states in the country. 

07:56 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Odisha Latest Updates

Odisha's COVID-19 cases jump to 5,962; govt plans serology survey

The Odisha government on Thursday decided to launch serology survey to ascertain the immune strength among people against COVID-19 as the state's coronavirus count increased to 5,962 with 210 more cases

The state has planned to start the serological survey at Puri from Saturday, Additional Chief Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) PK Mohapatra told PTI.

07:52 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Karnataka Latest Updates

978 students from containment zones attend first day of Karnataka SSLC exams

As many as 978 students residing in containment zones were allowed to attend exams on the first day of Karnataka SSLC exams in special classrooms after complete health screening, Education Minister S Suresh Kumar confirmed.

Further, 201 students who had fever/cold-like symptoms were also allowed similarly, The Indian Express reported. 

07:45 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in India Latest Updates

India's COVID-19 toll nears 15,000

India on Thursday recorded close to 17,000 new coronavirus infections, pushing the total to 4.73 lakh as the number of fatalities inched closer to 15,000, according to the Union Health Ministry's data.

07:34 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates

Mumbai Police sets up three COVID-19 centres

The Mumbai Police on Friday have set up three COVID-19 quarantine centres for their personnel, which are located in Kole Kalyan, Marol and Marine Drive. Each of the centres have a capacity of around 1,000 beds, said Mumbai Police PRO Pranay Ashok. 

Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday will launch a 125-day campaign to provide employment to migrant workers and others in Uttar Pradesh, who lost their jobs during coronavirus pandemic.

Modi will launch the Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan, being undertaken as part of the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan that the prime minister started on 20 June for 116 districts in six states in the country.

India on Thursday recorded close to 17,000 new coronavirus infections, pushing the overall tally to 4.73 lakh as the number of fatalities inched closer to 15,000, according to the Union Health Ministry's data. The surge in cases over the past few days also led to the cancellation of a number of exams in the country, including the pending papers of CBSE Class 10 and ICSE.

COVID-19 cases spike in India, but recovery rate improves

The data updated at 8 am showed the daily COVID-19 cases increased by 16,922 to reach 4,73,105, while the death-toll climbed to 14,894 with 418 new fatalities. This was the sixth consecutive day when coronavirus cases increased by more than 14,000.

On 20 June, the country registered an increase of 14,516 cases. On June 21, the increase was of 15,413 cases; 14,821 cases on 22 June; 14,933 cases on 23 June; and 15,968 cases on 24 June.

Consequently, India has added 92,573 cases since 20 June, and over 2.82 lakh this month since 1 June.

However, the recovery rate has improved to 57.43 percent, according to the health ministry.

The number of active cases stands at 1,86,514 while 2,71,696 people have recovered and one patient has migrated. A total of 13,012 COVID-19 patients were declared cured in a single day on Thursday. The total number of 4,73,105 confirmed cases included foreigners.

According to ICMR, a total of 75,60,782 samples have been tested up to 24 June with 2,07,871 samples being tested on Wednesday.

Of the 418 new deaths, 208 were in Maharashtra, 64 in Delhi, 33 in Tamil Nadu, 25 in Gujarat, 14 in Karnataka, 11 in West Bengal, 10 each in Rajasthan and Haryana, nine in Madhya Pradesh, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, five each in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand. Bihar, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir have reported one COVID-19 fatality each.

Of the total fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 6,739 deaths followed by Delhi (2,365), Gujarat (1,735), Tamil Nadu (866), Uttar Pradesh (596), West Bengal (591), Madhya Pradesh (534), Rajasthan (375) and Telangana (225).

The COVID-19 death toll reached 188 in Haryana, 164 in Karnataka, 124 in Andhra Pradesh, 113 in Punjab, 88 in Jammu and Kashmir, 57 in Bihar, 35 in Uttarakhand, 22 in Kerala and 17 in Odisha.

Chhattisgarh has registered 12 deaths, Jharkhand 11, Assam and Puducherry nine each, Himachal Pradesh eight, Chandigarh six, Goa two and Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each.

More than 70 percent deaths took place due to comorbidities, the health ministry said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,42,900 followed by Delhi at 70,390, Tamil Nadu at 67,468, Gujarat at 28,943, Uttar Pradesh at 19,557, Rajasthan at 16,009 and West Bengal at 15,173, according to ministry data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 12,448 in Madhya Pradesh, 12,010 in Haryana, 10,444 in Telangana, 10,331 in Andhra Pradesh and 10,118 in Karnataka.

It has risen to 8,209 in Bihar, 6,422 in Jammu and Kashmir, 6,198 in Assam and 5,752 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 4,627 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 3,603 cases.

A total of 2,623 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,419 in Chhattisgarh, 2,207 in Jharkhand, 1,259 in Tripura, 970 in Manipur, 951 in Goa, 941 in Ladakh and 806 in Himachal Pradesh.

Puducherry has recorded 461 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh has 420, Nagaland has 347, Arunachal Pradesh 158 and Mizoram 142 cases. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 120 COVID-19 cases.

Sikkim has 84, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 56 infections so far while Meghalaya has recorded 46 cases.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)," the ministry said, adding, 8,493 cases are being reassigned to states. State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.

Several exams cancelled across India due to pandemic

Following opposition from parents against holding CBSE Class 10 and 12 papers, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the board have decided to completely cancel pending papers for Class 10, which were to be held from 1 July. The exams for remaining subjects of Class 12 have been indefinitely postponed, and have also been made optional. Students who choose not to give exams will be assessed on the basis of their performance in the past three exams held at the school level.

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE Class 10) and Indian School Certificate (ISC Class 12) have also declared that they will follow CBSE's pattern in according marks to students, and holding exams. Detailed guidelines by all boards are awaited on this.

Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) examination to be conducted by CBSE on 5 July has also been postponed in view of the present circumstances.

Globally, infections near 10 million

Global coronavirus cases crossed 9.5 million on Thursday, a day after WHO predicted the world's tally will cross 10 million before the week ends. Worldometer reported that 48,618 people have died due to the virus so far.

The Chinese mainland has recorded 83,449 COVID-19 cases. A total of 97 asymptomatic patients are under medical observation. China's death toll stands at 4,647, including six from the Hong Kong SAR and seven from the Taiwan region. Indonesia crossed 50,000 cases today and the US has recorded over 2.3 million confirmed cases, with a death toll of over 121,000, John Hopkins University, which is also tracking global coronavirus cases said.

Europe has seen a resurgence of COVID-19 cases as many countries begin to ease restrictions for curbing the spread of coronavirus, the World Health Organization's (WHO) regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said on Thursday.

"While the European Region is reporting a decreasing proportion of global cases than earlier in the year, the region continues to report close to 20,000 new cases and over 700 new deaths daily. Last week, Europe saw an increase in weekly cases for the first time in months," Kluge told reporters. He said 30 countries have seen increases in new cases over the past two weeks.

The WHO also warned that the pandemic has not yet peaked in many countries and that it was "still intense," especially in America.

France opened up the iconic Eiffel Tower after a record 104-day lockdown. Tourists who are trickling back to Paris were delighted to find the landmark open when some other attractions in the French capital remain closed. The Louvre Museum isn't reopening until 6 July. Disney, meanwhile, delayed its California theme park's reopening as cases in US continued to surge.

With inputs from PTI

via Blogger https://ift.tt/3i5AXIX

[brajeshupadhyay]

Migrants working in the informal sector have felt the bulk of the negative impact of the lockdown that has been in place in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Over the past few weeks, there have been many horror stories of migrants walking hundreds of kilometres from the big cities to their hometowns. Some have even died along the way. The Central government, up until now, has largely been a distant observer to the pain of the migrants, with the state governments doing the bulk of whatever little that has been done to alleviate their pain. In the second part of the so-called Rs 20 lakh crore economic package that was unveiled yesterday, the Centre has tried to do a few things for the migrants: First, migrants who are not beneficiaries of the foodgrain offered under the National Food Securities Act or any of the schemes run by state governments will be provided five kilograms of free foodgrain along with one kilogram of chana per family per month, for a period of two months. This will cost the Centre Rs 3,500 crore. The government expects eight crore migrants to benefit from this programme. Given that an average family in India has five members, this move is likely to benefit 1.6 crore families. Many experts have said that the government should have come up with this programme in late March, when the migrant crisis first started to come to the fore. That's a fair point. Also, just coming up with the programme doesn't solve the problem. The state governments have been made responsible for the implementation of this programme along with the identification of migrants and full distribution and providing detailed guidelines. Identification of the true beneficiaries is the tricky bit in any government programme in India and this programme is not going to be any different. Implementation will be the key part here and hence, the quality of delivery will vary across states. Having said that, some benefit is much better than no benefit at all. Representational image. AP Second, the national roll-out of the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme was also announced. The aim is to achieve a 100 percent national level portability by March 2021. What does this mean? As things stand now, a family with a ration card is allowed to buy foodgrain at subsidised prices from fair priced shops operating under the public distribution system. Under the National Food Securities Act, these shops sell rice at Rs three per kilogram, wheat at Rs two per kilogram and coarse grains at Re one per kilogram. The subsidised grains are available at a designated fair price shop for a family. The trouble is if someone in a family moves from one state to another, this facility is no longer available. The 'one nation, one ration card' scheme aims to correct for this problem so that subsidised foodgrain is available all across the country. Hence, if an individual moves from Bihar to Delhi for work, he can still access his family's quota of foodgrain. This is not a new scheme. It was announced in June 2019 and was partially rolled out in January this year. It was operational on a limited scale as of April. A news report in Business Standard points out that after April, seven more states were added to the list. The interesting thing is that the earlier date for full coverage was June 2020. Now it's slated for March 2021. A major challenge to implement this scheme will be the divisibility of ration. A ration card is issued to a family and not an individual. Hence, if one member of the family is working outside the state in which the ration card is issued, how does s/he access a part of the ration there? This will be a key issue to sort out. Also, with cardholders having the ability to buy foodgrain anywhere in the country, ensuring supply will be a challenge. Having said that, any new system comes with its own set of challenges which need to be tackled. Hopefully, things will work out here. While 'one nation, one ration card' is a great move, it was already in the works. It doesn't do anything to improve the immediate condition of people moving from cities to their hometowns, due to the negative impact of the lockdown. Third, the government plans to launch a scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to provide affordable rent options to the migrant labour/urban poor. The details for this scheme will be issued soon. Just the fact that the government is looking at affordable renting as a viable living option deserves kudos in a country obsessed with owning a home. Having said that, this is a general reform and doesn’t really have anything to do with the current problems being faced by migrants in cities and those walking away. Fourth, the government also talked about states and Union Territories being advised to provide works to migrant workers as per provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It said that "40 to 50 percent more persons enrolled" under MGNREGS "compared to May last year". Data suggests that the average days of employment provided per households has gone up in comparison to the past. During the course of this financial year, on an average, 12.8 days of work per household has been provided. All in all, the government has tried to do a little bit for the migrants, but it is nowhere near enough. A recent story in Mumbai Mirror points out that truck-drivers were charging Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per seat from migrants wanting to leave Mumbai and go North. Of course, social distancing norms in this case go totally for a toss. Taking this into account, it would have just made more sense if the government had simply run many more trains and let people move. The social distancing norms on a train would have been much better anyway. This would have been of genuine help to migrants looking to go home. Also, the moves announced on Thursday do nothing to alleviate the immediate pain of migrants, which is that they are short of money. In fact, one thing that could have easily been done was to deposit Rs 1,000 each for three months in every Jan Dhan account and not just Jan Dhan accounts of women, as has been done. The total number of Jan Dhan accounts stand at 38.41 crore. This move would have cost the government around Rs 1.15 lakh crore and would have gone a much longer way in alleviating the pain of the migrants and the poor in the country than the so-called Rs 20 lakh crore economic package. The need of the hour is to put more money in the hands of people, not hope that they borrow and spend more, as is the case currently. The author has written the Easy Money trilogy

http://sansaartimes.blogspot.com/2020/05/migrants-walking-home-desperately-need.html

[brajeshupadhyay]

Migrants walking home desperately need money in their pockets; FM has seen to some of their needs, but not this one

Migrants working in the informal sector have felt the bulk of the negative impact of the lockdown that has been in place in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Over the past few weeks, there have been many horror stories of migrants walking hundreds of kilometres from the big cities to their hometowns. Some have even died along the way. The Central government, up until now, has largely been a distant observer to the pain of the migrants, with the state governments doing the bulk of whatever little that has been done to alleviate their pain.

In the second part of the so-called Rs 20 lakh crore economic package that was unveiled yesterday, the Centre has tried to do a few things for the migrants:

First, migrants who are not beneficiaries of the foodgrain offered under the National Food Securities Act or any of the schemes run by state governments will be provided five kilograms of free foodgrain along with one kilogram of chana per family per month, for a period of two months. This will cost the Centre Rs 3,500 crore. The government expects eight crore migrants to benefit from this programme. Given that an average family in India has five members, this move is likely to benefit 1.6 crore families.

Many experts have said that the government should have come up with this programme in late March, when the migrant crisis first started to come to the fore. That's a fair point. Also, just coming up with the programme doesn't solve the problem. The state governments have been made responsible for the implementation of this programme along with the identification of migrants and full distribution and providing detailed guidelines.

Identification of the true beneficiaries is the tricky bit in any government programme in India and this programme is not going to be any different. Implementation will be the key part here and hence, the quality of delivery will vary across states. Having said that, some benefit is much better than no benefit at all.

Representational image. AP

Second, the national roll-out of the 'one nation, one ration card' scheme was also announced. The aim is to achieve a 100 percent national level portability by March 2021. What does this mean? As things stand now, a family with a ration card is allowed to buy foodgrain at subsidised prices from fair priced shops operating under the public distribution system. Under the National Food Securities Act, these shops sell rice at Rs three per kilogram, wheat at Rs two per kilogram and coarse grains at Re one per kilogram.

The subsidised grains are available at a designated fair price shop for a family. The trouble is if someone in a family moves from one state to another, this facility is no longer available. The 'one nation, one ration card' scheme aims to correct for this problem so that subsidised foodgrain is available all across the country. Hence, if an individual moves from Bihar to Delhi for work, he can still access his family's quota of foodgrain.

This is not a new scheme. It was announced in June 2019 and was partially rolled out in January this year. It was operational on a limited scale as of April. A news report in Business Standard points out that after April, seven more states were added to the list. The interesting thing is that the earlier date for full coverage was June 2020. Now it's slated for March 2021.

A major challenge to implement this scheme will be the divisibility of ration. A ration card is issued to a family and not an individual. Hence, if one member of the family is working outside the state in which the ration card is issued, how does s/he access a part of the ration there? This will be a key issue to sort out. Also, with cardholders having the ability to buy foodgrain anywhere in the country, ensuring supply will be a challenge. Having said that, any new system comes with its own set of challenges which need to be tackled. Hopefully, things will work out here.

While 'one nation, one ration card' is a great move, it was already in the works. It doesn't do anything to improve the immediate condition of people moving from cities to their hometowns, due to the negative impact of the lockdown.

Third, the government plans to launch a scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to provide affordable rent options to the migrant labour/urban poor. The details for this scheme will be issued soon. Just the fact that the government is looking at affordable renting as a viable living option deserves kudos in a country obsessed with owning a home.

Having said that, this is a general reform and doesn’t really have anything to do with the current problems being faced by migrants in cities and those walking away.

Fourth, the government also talked about states and Union Territories being advised to provide works to migrant workers as per provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It said that "40 to 50 percent more persons enrolled" under MGNREGS "compared to May last year". Data suggests that the average days of employment provided per households has gone up in comparison to the past. During the course of this financial year, on an average, 12.8 days of work per household has been provided.

All in all, the government has tried to do a little bit for the migrants, but it is nowhere near enough. A recent story in Mumbai Mirror points out that truck-drivers were charging Rs 4,000 to 5,000 per seat from migrants wanting to leave Mumbai and go North. Of course, social distancing norms in this case go totally for a toss. Taking this into account, it would have just made more sense if the government had simply run many more trains and let people move. The social distancing norms on a train would have been much better anyway. This would have been of genuine help to migrants looking to go home.

Also, the moves announced on Thursday do nothing to alleviate the immediate pain of migrants, which is that they are short of money. In fact, one thing that could have easily been done was to deposit Rs 1,000 each for three months in every Jan Dhan account and not just Jan Dhan accounts of women, as has been done. The total number of Jan Dhan accounts stand at 38.41 crore. This move would have cost the government around Rs 1.15 lakh crore and would have gone a much longer way in alleviating the pain of the migrants and the poor in the country than the so-called Rs 20 lakh crore economic package.

The need of the hour is to put more money in the hands of people, not hope that they borrow and spend more, as is the case currently.

The author has written the Easy Money trilogy

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2Z9WsRZ