PM Modi to discuss Covid-19 shutdown with Parliament floor leaders today

The meeting will take place amid intense pressure from the states to continue the nationwide 21-day lockdown in an effort to flatten the Covid-19 curve and keep number of cases at a minimum.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with Parliamentary floor leaders of different parties on Wednesday morning at 11 am through video conference, to decide the future course of action as far as coronavirus outbreak in India is concerned, among other key issues. The primary point on the agenda will be whether to end the shutdown or extend it and if the government wishes to withdraw it, what should be the approach. The current shutdown is slated to end on April 14. Another point of discussion will be the economic impact of the shutdown on India and how to deal with it. Money released to states, future of daily wage workers who are the worst hit due to total shutdown and scope if any possible economic package will be discussed in the meeting, according to reports.

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The government is expecting some opposition to the ordinance to suspend MPLADS for two years. Modi will hear their views and reason with them, the reports added. The Cabinet headed by Prakash Javadekar on Monday announced 30% pay cut for MPs and also suspended MPLADS for the next two years to mitigate the Covid-19 crisis. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Pralhad Joshi, Nirmala Sitharaman among others will be present on behalf of the government along with PM Modi in the video conference.

The Shiv Sena will be represented by Sanjay Raut, the Lok Janshakti Party by Chirag Paswan, the Samajwadi Party by Prof Ram Gopal Yadav, the Bahujan Samaj Party by Danish Ali and Satish Mishra and the Biju Janata Dal by Pinaki Misra, according to reports. Total active cases in India jumped to 5,351 while total deaths stood at 160. Globally, over 1.3 million people have been affected with death toll over 82,000 mark…

Covid-19 crisis may drag 400 mn Indian workers further into poverty: ILO

In India, with a share of almost 90% of people working in the informal economy, about 400 million workers in the informal economy are at risk of falling deeper into poverty during the crisis

About 400 million workers in India, working in the informal economy, are at risk of falling deeper into poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in a report on Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting 2.7 billion workers globally due to lockdowns. COVID-19 is already affecting tens of millions of informal workers. In India, Nigeria and Brazil, the number of workers in the informal economy affected by the lockdown and other containment measures is substantial.

In India, nearly 90 per cent of the people work in the informal economy and about 400 million of these are at risk. ILO said rt said that particularly in low- and middle-income countries, hard-hit sectors have a high proportion of workers in informal employment and workers with limited access to health services and social protection. Without appropriate policy measures, workers face a high risk of falling into poverty and will experience greater challenges in regaining their livelihoods during the recovery period. ILO noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated in terms of intensity and expanded its global reach. Full or partial lockdown measures are now affecting almost 2.7 billion workers, representing around 81 per cent of the world’s workforce.

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Employment contraction has already begun on a large (often unprecedented) scale in many countries. In the absence of other data, changes in working hours, which reflect both layoffs and other temporary reductions in working time, give a better picture about the dire reality of the current labour market situation.Using this approach, as of 1 April 2020, the ILO’s new global estimates indicate that working hours will decline by 6.7 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, which is equivalent to 195 million full-time workers…Read More