Three quick policy measures can be taken to ensure income and credit flows: direct procurement, direct cash transfers to farmers as well as landless labourers and interest subvention through cash transfers and in KCC mode The COVID-19 infection may have travelled deep into India’s interiors with the exodus of migrant workers. About 5,00,000-6,00,000 people walked ‘barefoot’, out of […]
Tag Archives: covid-19
Will coronavirus lockdown cause food shortages in India?
On 31 March, Asia’s biggest onion market fell silent. The market in Lasangaon in the western Indian state of Maharashtra usually thrums with farmers and traders. But the mostly migrant men and women who unload, load and grade onions – an essential part of the diet of millions of Indians – are missing. The market, […]
COVID-19 Latest: Helpline Numbers Issued for Farmers for any Farm-related Issues amid Lockdown
Amid the nationwide lockdown to prevent the global pandemic COVID-19, the government has been taking several measures to give relief to its citizens. When the entire world is suffering from the nationwide lockdown, the Agriculture Department has launched helpline numbers to the farmers after the centre exempted agriculture and allied services from lockdown rule. Moreover, […]
Coronavirus: India’s bailout may not be enough to save economy
Mohammad Alam is one of thousands of workers standing in a food queue in India’s capital, Delhi. The factory where he worked shut down after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus. A daily-wage labourer, he has no other source of income, so he has been forced to […]
Coronavirus lockdown | Dairy, vegetable farmers count losses in Assam
Closure of all hotels, restaurants and sweetmeat shops besides transportation hit them hard The inability to transport their produce because of the coronavirus lockdown has forced small dairy farmers in Assam throw away hundreds of litres of milk while vegetable growers are letting their crop rot or dumping nearby for animals. Some 1,500 members of the Sitajakhala […]
The Coronavirus lockdown and India’s urban vulnerable
The corona welfare package is largely aimed at the rural poor, but it is the economically vulnerable in the urban centres who will need a lot of support By Avinash Kishore & Manavi Gupta While rural India is poorer than its urban counterpart, in the COVID-19 crisis, it is the urban poor who are far more […]
Punjab and Haryana stare at massive farm crisis as lockdown leads to labour shortage
Chandigarh: Faced with an acute shortage of labour following the nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak, an agriculture crisis looms large over Punjab and Haryana where farmers are set to begin harvesting the wheat crop in just 10 days. The two states together need nearly 16 lakh farm hands for harvesting and procurement, but with […]
Odisha lockdown: Fertiliser shops to open for farmers
The shops would be open for two-and-a-half hours daily from 9.30 am to 12 noon. They have been asked to ensure social distancing among customers and proper sanitation. SAMBALPUR: In a bid to ensure uninterrupted farming activities even in the face of coronvirus threat, the district agriculture wing has decided to allow opening of fertiliser […]
Farm activities exempted from lockdown rules to ensure food security: Agriculture Minister
To ensure that farmers do not face problems in harvesting, the Centre has directed concerned ministries and state governments to follow the exemptions strictly, he added. NEW DELHI: Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Saturday said farming operations and related activities have been exempted from the lockdown rules for smooth harvesting of rabi crops and […]
COVID 19: Punjab’s rural economy takes a big hit
Small farmers, labourers among the worst-hit; wheat harvest under cloud The lockdown in India’s bread basket of Punjab in the wake of the coronavirus disease outbreak (COVID-19) has put its rural economy into an uncertain and desperate situation. The people of the state, especially in rural areas, are in a state of palpable unrest over […]