Insights

While the country’s attention is rightly focused on the more urgent public health and relief measures, the government also started envisioning for an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” to recover from COVID-19 influenced economic crises. It is important that the measures they put in place should be designed with climate challenge and environmental sustainability in mind.

While the government seems to appreciate the potential of NGOs in addressing the immediate aftermath of the lockdown, the need is to foster a complementary and collaborative engagement which looks far beyond.

Certain amendments made in the Finance Act 2020-21 alter the validity of registration granted to these organisations. New rules require NGOs and charitable organisations to renew their registration every five years. The Centre must reconsider the amendments so as to make the regulatory environment more enabling for NGOs.

The District Mineral Trust Funds (DMFTs) have huge potential for improving the current pandemic situation. State/ district administration should strategize these funds for addressing immediate needs like screening and testing requirements alongside planning long-term improvement of health facilities.

The present rural livelihood crisis could have been averted if the government of Odisha would have established small and medium industries in the rural sector, especially Ganjam district.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed how rooted structural imbalances are between rural and urban, male and female, rich and poor, even in the digital world.

With urban areas at the centre of coronavirus, we need to rethink how our cities function so that existing inequalities are addressed, while providing stimulus for job creation and economic growth.

Like rest of the country, Andhra Pradesh has also seen a severe spike in the Covid-19 cases and has implemented the lockdown very stringently. The shutdown of markets, industries and transportation had a huge impact on the lives of rural and tribal people for whom a word like ‘lockdown’ was totally unheard of.

Procurement at the doorstep, direct income support and reaching out to farmers can help in easing farming operations at this crucial time.

The COVID-19 crisis has a potentially far-reaching, long-term negative impact on children around the world. One impact would be in the form of increase in child labour. The article urges for immediate action from the States to prevent children from lapsing into child labour.

The Union government”s move of releasing of Rs. 11,092 crore to States from the SDRF, which was due to them as per the recommendations of the 15th FC, is timely. But it needs to do more to supplement the resource needs of the state governments, and should provide similar financial support from the NDRMF for the states to respond to the pandemic.

In what the UN Women calls a shadow pandemic, unspent money from Nirbhaya Fund with the States must be repurposed to tackle the rising domestic abuse amid the lockdown which has been imposed to fight Covid-19 threat.