'What has the BJP-led government of Narendra Modi done since 2014 that does not suggest it wishes to destroy the informal economy, also known as the unorganised sector? While the ‘unorganised’ informal economy now accounts for roughly half of India’s GDP – and is shrinking relative to the share of the private and public corporate sector – it accounts for 80-90 % of the workforce. It includes agriculture, despite the fact that land titles are registered, except for plantations, which are regarded as ‘organised’ despite their unravelling workforces.
'As many as 7 Indian states have diluted labour laws. The excuse is that the steps have been taken to “boost the economy”. Many more states are expected to follow suit... Even as the COVID19 lockdown has targeted India’s most vulnerable, migrant workers who have been forced to take to walking hundreds of kilometres back home, the Central Govt and many states have used this period to snatch what little legal protection they had at work. There have been some tears some shed, and some stories told of a section of India that Indians, state and society, had invisibilised these workers.
'Testing of migrant workers returning to Bihar is underlining the twin challenge that public health experts have warned about — the virus is being carried in and many of the carriers are asymptomatic. Until May 18, Bihar tested a total of 8,337 samples of migrant workers and about 8% were found to be Covid-positive — double the national average positivity rate which is about 4%. Of the 835 samples taken from migrant workers who returned from Delhi, as many as 218 were Covid positive. This works out to a positivity rate of over 26%, while the rate in the national capital is about 7%...'
'In the latest instance of harassment of the media for critical reporting, the Uttar Pradesh administration has lodged an FIR against Ravindra Saxena, a journalist at Today-24 news portal for reporting on the mismanagement and negligence at a quarantine centre in Sitapur district. In a video report, Saxena spoke to people at a quarantine centre in Maholi tehsil of Sitapur district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, who alleged that they were served rotten rice...'
'...Testing, our Achilles heel, remains behind an iron curtain. The Indian Council for Medical Research, the organisation leading India’s fight against Covid-19 (especially with regards to testing), is a scientific research body. One would expect it to release readily accessible and detailed data on India’s testing numbers and trajectory using graphs and charts on its website. Instead, we see an almost inexplicable antipathy to sharing any sort of data. There is a single daily update on the total number of tests done in India.
'A five-year-old Dalit child allegedly died of hunger in Jharkhand’s Latehar district on May 16. Her father, a brick-kiln worker, said he had not been earned any wages during the lockdown. Video testimonies released by activists who visited the child’s home in Hesatu village, show family members, neighbours and community health workers attributing Nimani’s death to hunger. “She died of hunger,” the child’s mother, Kamlawati, can be heard saying in one of the videos. “She had not eaten for four-five days. What can we eat when there is nothing to eat?”...'
'Non-banking finance companies, beware. India has a “non-banking finance minister” now. Nirmala Sitharaman, Union finance minister and the official town crier for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Rs 20 lakh crore” package, has been announcing loan after loan, which is being passed off as evidence of the government’s generosity or benevolence to tide the country over the Covid crisis... However, loans account for at least Rs 6.3 lakh crore of the Rs 10.7 lakh crore worth of announcements made in the first three days.
'More than 20 migrant labourers were killed and dozens were injured after the truck they were travelling in collided with another vehicle in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh early on Saturday, reports said. The trailer truck, carrying around 50 migrant labourers, was coming from Rajasthan when it collided with a van coming from Delhi in Auraiya district’s Mihauli area, reports said...'
'While the whole world has been fighting the novel coronavirus, Telinipara, a locality in the suburban West Bengal town of Bhadreswar, 40 km north of state capital Kolkata, has been fighting communal tension since May 12. Telinipara, once famous for its jute industry, is located on the eastern edge of Hooghly district, beside the eponymous river, and is part of Hooghly parliamentary constituency. On the evening of Sunday, May 10, a small inter-community squabble broke out here, which was resolved by police intervention. Monday, May 11 passed without incident.
'As per Census 2011, India’s urban poor population living in informal settlements is over 65 million which is roughly 17 per cent of the total urban population. While the broad urban population growth is at two to three per cent per annum, growth in the number of people living in slums and informal urban settlements is much larger. It is also known that a significant number of them are excluded from different welfare schemes and basic services. Their situation is even more vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.
