The unemployment rate in the country has more than doubled in the March-May period this year as the pandemic’s second wave flattened the country, data released by a private research group show.
According to weekly unemployment figures released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), a leading business information think tank, the rural populace has also born the brunt of the pandemic and the resultant restrictions this time.
During the first wave last year, the urban workforce had been primarily affected.
Also, women have been more adversely hit by the latest Covid surge.
The CMIE data show that the unemployment rate in the week ending May 16 was 14.45 per cent of the total workforce, more than double the figure recorded on March 14 6.63 per cent. The situation is equally bleak in rural areas and urban areas.
Harsh Mander: A lesson in how to end the mass suffering unleashed by India’s first lockdown
A report by the collective Hunger Watch reveals the extent of continuing hunger caused by state policy, and recommends ways to end the distress. 2 hours ago A migrant worker feeds her child water while they wait in a queue for transport to reach Ahmedabad railway station to board a train to their home state of Uttar Pradesh. | Amit Dave/Reuters
A spectacularly uncaring, unaccountable state has abandoned Indians to their fate. Bodies are piling up, pyres burn late into the night, and corpses are buried in anonymous mass graves. Loved ones are choking to death because their governments failed to secure them oxygen. Vaccines have fallen short in a country that prides itself as the vaccine factory of the world. Black marketeering thrives in life-saving hospital beds, medicines and oxygen concentrators. Confused lockdowns have once again spurred the panicked exodus
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], May 13 (ANI): The Karnataka government on Wednesday issued revised lockdown guidelines and allowed work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) scheme.
May 12, 2021
It’s a double whammy - lockdown and health of workers; third downward revision this fiscal CARE Ratings has cut its FY2022 GDP forecast for the third time this fiscal, revising it from 10.2 per cent to 9.2 per cent with a downward bias as the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a double whammy lockdown as well as health of workers.
The credit rating agency’s Economics Department assessed that lower growth in GDP compared to its initial estimate of 11.2 per cent (in March 2021) would mean a loss of ₹ 2.68 lakh crore in real terms or ₹ 3.89 lakh crore in nominal terms, which in turn will also have fiscal implications.
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Following criticism over stopping of works under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme, the State government allowed such works in rural areas with COVID-19 appropriate behaviour to a maximum of 40 workers at any location.
The order allowing these works came on Wednesday by the Principal Secretary, Revenue, N. Manjunath Prasad. Stopping of the works had affected about one lakh households in rural areas.
Earlier, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K.S. Eshwarappa in Shivamogga had indicated that discussions had commenced whether to restart the works or not.
He said that the number of people coming for work had seen an increase. “Where earlier 200 people would come to work, there are about 500 people. In that background, some people asked the works to be stopped,” he said.