It also said that the gubernatorial order didn’t stand the test of the provisions of Schedule V of the Constitution, and that the 100% reservation, apart from junking considerations of merit, violated the rights of other reserved groups.

Global and multilateral institutions and national governments need to come together to make sure that the loss of income is offset through cash-and-kind support.

Risk has a known probability distribution. For uncertainty, the probability distribution is unknown. Covid-19 makes us confront uncertainty, not risk

Traditionally, our response to laws failing to arrest healthcare violence has been to simply increase the quantum and severity of punishment the next time.

Transfer amounts should also be linked to CPI. While PM-KISAN covers only farmers and is much more expensive and exclusive, such a transfer would avoid narrow coverage, also avoiding inclusion/exclusion errors

The worst fate that can befall a person is being locked down, alone or with his family, with no money and no food.

The impression was reinforced when Rajnath Singh, and not Shah, was appointed last month to head the 15- member high-power ministerial committee coordinating with states on ensuring movement of essential supplies during the lockdown.

When the game returns, the struggling cricket boards will be dependent on three superpowers—India, England, Australia—for bailouts

Parliamentary panel’s recommendations aren’t bold enough, and in some areas, they are even regressive.

As more governments integrate the service—Himachal Pradesh was latest to do so, on April 21—one can expect traffic to increase.

Idealist notions of the State overtaking the Market as the one in charge are unfounded.

“The export without permission would have violated the law, thus, enforcement of such award would be violative of the public policy of India”, the SC said.

To bounce back from the pandemic quickly, India needs a stimulus package of at least 5% of GDP that focuses on broad-based development in laggard eastern states.

Leaders should take a decision when they have 40-70% of the information required for taking that decision.

Likely extension of the lockdown is a bad idea; the PM and the CMs got trapped in flattening-the-curve rhetoric

The Centre's fiscal management of the Covid crisis vis-a-vis availability of funds to states might result in creating a coercive, rather than a cooperative federalism.

The lockdown has achieved its purpose. Extending it may not be worth the cost.

Amended FDI regulation is problematic under the WTO law. India should adopt a more facially neutral regulation

In the long term, the govt will have to deepen its procurement operations, expanding from the wheat-paddy complex.

The president has claimed that he was being sarcastic when he talked about injecting disinfectant and exposure to high-dose UV rays as ways to fight Covid-19.

This trend continues even for local governments, which come to rely more on state transfers to run the administration.

WHO’s Solidarity and Oxford’s RECOVERY trials can give a clearer picture on some drugs that showed early promise.

Covid-19 could benefit the dairy industry as consumers could shift from meat-based to dairy-based protein. The govt may consider reducing GST on ghee and milk fat from 12% to 5% .

Just seven of India’s 993 Universities have online-education licenses; Meanwhile, as the Lockdown shows, Foreign varsities make hay of the Indian demand for online courses.

Even a 25% fall in their incomes due to the lockdown will make 354 mn more people poor. fixing this with cash transfers will cost the govt Rs 19,500 cr per month.

The country’s NGOs and trade unions were critical in monitoring the situation, and reaching vulnerable groups.

As for MFs, many of them are backed by strong parents—in India and overseas—and this is the time for them to support their offspring.

However, the High Court rejected this invocation of Rule 165, ruling that the it specified only the payability conditions of fees, and not the chargeability of it.

An RT-PCR test takes several hours for the result to be available. We cannot make a patient who comes with a non-Covid-19 problem wait till that result is available.

Globally, experts are looking at “excess mortality” or mortality gaps as another measure of the coronavirus death toll. This approach compares the number of deaths during a certain period to the historical average.

The trend of low power demand, now furthered in the post-Covid economy, and increased RE generation, will continue to put a ceiling on the PLF of the thermal fleet.

Coronavirus is ensuring the trade-off, especially for developing economies is significant, notwithstanding efforts to strike a balance

A case could be made out for including chief ministers' relief funds in the list of entities eligible for corporate CSR funding

The industry is the most apt for creating livelihoods. Govt should consider supporting SMEs in the sector through tariffs to prevent their collapse due to the pandemic

Even supporting the poor—whose numbers will double—can cost Rs 65,000-130,000 crore per month

Extending the lockdown well beyond mid-May would shave 8-9% off the real GDP. but, the damage being done doesn’t seem to be filtering up to those in charge

Rishi Kapoor was old Bollywood, but he was also cracklingly fresh, spoke to an India trembling on the cusp of a new era

Before tertiary infections take root, it could perhaps be a good to plan to decongest the slums by arranging travel of migrants to their home in orderly manner without losing time

It must include those quarantined as well instead of just the infected; wider testing critical if the app has to work.

Government orders on waiver of rents impinge on contractual rights.

Corona will worsen world hunger, while malnutrition facilitates increased vulnerability to the pandemic.

Bengal’s handling of the Covid outbreak raises many questions.

The Covid 19 crisis is an opportunity to redefine tax policy and law. A calibrated approach to balance welfare economics with a vision to pioneer economic activity and national growth is needed.

Today, when the US, China, UK, France, etc, which spend much more on healthcare than other nations are facing a crisis, one can very well understand how bad the situation could have been if the outbreak was in the third world, where a majority of global poor live with very little or no access to public health care. The situation would have been much worse.

India’s Achilles heel on ratings is its parlous state of fiscal affairs and the risk of a sharp deterioration of government debt to potentially ~75-80% of GDP.

The world must use this opportunity to fund global public goods and rebuild global systems to fight the right battles.

Nearly 7,000 people have signed a change.org petition to open up courses in the UK as parks during the pandemic.

The need is for a temporary unemployment benefit scheme for up to 100 days a year similar to the MNREGS so that urban workers do not suffer during short periods of unemployment.

In India, which is the biggest democracy in the world with over 1.3 billion people, the question of public health has never been debated in public.

By Abhinav Mukerji Recently, there have been a spate of news reports on measures issued through executive orders directing waiver of rents, reduction or freezing of school fees, continuation of employment, restriction on termination of employees, and restriction on reduction in salary in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government has also issued executive […]