The Muslim map aims to lift the lid on Islam in Poland. Anna i Karol Wilczyscy

A Polish couple have made an interactive map of Poland marking sites and communities connected with Islam in an effort to demonstrate that there is more to the country than Tatars when it comes to the Muslim faith.

The map has been prepared by Anna and Karol Wilczyscy, who run the Islamista blog and are spending their summer presenting the unknown faces of Polish Muslims.

The maps creator, Anna and Karol Wilczyscy.Anna i Karol Wilczyscy

The couple has specialised in Islam and Arab culture for over 10 years. This time, due to the pandemic, rather than travelling to Asia to explore the Islamic life they have focused on unknown treasures hiding in their own country.

Before World War II, Poland was a melting pot of religions and cultures, with a vibrant Muslim Tatar community living in the area for over 600 years.

Tartars are a minority within a minority, Anna told TFN. The majority of Muslims in Poland at the moment are people with migration experience. This means that they are partly Muslims from the Middle East, partly from Pakistan, India, Central Asia, or Tajikistan and the Caucasus. There are also Muslims from Ukraine, from Russia, so here we have a full cross-section of different countries, and also traditions.

The interior of a mosque in Gdask.Anna i Karol Wilczyscy

Culture-curious travellers should definitely visit Kruszyniany and Bohoniki in eastern Poland. Still inhabited by Polish Tatars, they are the best places to learn about their traditions, as well as see wooden mosques and mizars Muslim cemeteries.

However, the Polish Muslim community not just the Tatars. Anna and Karol made sure to connect with communities who have started to build their lives in Poland more recently. While there is no precise data, it is estimated there are 3,000 Tatars in Poland and even 20,000 other Muslims immigrants and converts.

A ruined mosque Kocielec.Anna i Karol Wilczyscy

We have tried to show the diversity not only within Islam, for example, the different approaches to the faith of Tartars and migrant Muslims, but also how diverse the community is, explained Anna. This diversity isnt caused just by religious differences, but also by other characteristics. Even in Poland, Islam is not a monolith.

The Muslim Map of Poland will include interviews with community leaders and members who will present their different views. The guests will include Mufti Nidal Abu Tabaq, the head of the Muslim League - the biggest Islamic organisation in Poland - Imam Youssef Chadid from Pozna, and Dagmara Sulkiewicz one of Polish Tatars living in Biaystok.

Other spots on the map and places of interest are the mosque in Kocielec near Koo which has never been used for prayer, the cemetery in Studzianka, a mullahs grave in Sochaczew, or the Turkish House in Krakw. Many of these places are tended to by local guides, who are happy to share their vast knowledge and understanding of these places' unique character and history.

The tombstone of Tatar Major Jan Okmiski.Anna i Karol Wilczyscy

All the information will be posted on the couples blog. Anna, who graduated from Arabic Studies, and Karol, who wrote his Ph.D. on Arab philosophy, have been running their website since 2016 and the height of the migration crisis. They felt that using their knowledge they could debunk some of the very emotional media coverage and begin a moderate and fact-based discussion.

It was a period of intense coverage on the topic of the migration crisis, Anna said. A lot of scandalous news was reaching us and very little reliable information.

We wanted to start a conversation on a difficult topic in Poland and Muslims are still a difficult topic, she added.

The tombstone of General Jzef Bielak, a Tatar who was also a Knight of the Order of Virtuti Militari, dating back to 1794.Anna i Karol Wilczyscy

Even the name of their blog could spark controversy. In Polish, for many years the word Islamista meant an expert on Islam. But recently the word acquired a second connotation taken from English a radical practitioner of Islam.

Not many people realise, that this word is insulting to an average Muslim, Anna explained.

Now, using their knowledge and travels, Anna and Karol hope to bring the many faces of Muslim culture even closer. With their publications, podcasts, and videos, which will culminate in the interactive map, they want to invite everyone to get to know the history, monuments, and people connected to Islam in Poland.

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Couple create interactive Muslim map of Poland to show the many faces of Polish Islam - The First News

New Delhi: It is time to reimagine the economic model we follow, keeping the poor and marginalized sections of society as its centrepiece rather than trying to hurry back to the pre-covid scenario marked by income inequality, automation-led job losses and climate change, said Nobel laureate and founder of Bangladeshs Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus in a conversation with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday.

Yunus who set up the bank that gives credit based on trust and without collateral to the poorest in rural Bangladesh said that the coronavirus pandemic has given an opportunity to think anew. This, he said, was a make or break" chance for a new inclusive economy.

Now, let's go a different way... this is the time to take bold decisions, outrageous decisions right now," Yunus said in the conversation.

Yunuss comments came in the backdrop of one of the biggest migrant workers crisis which the country has witnessed in the recent history, including thousands of them walking trans-state to reach homes during the national lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

We have to recognize these people (migrant workers). Economics doesnt recognize these people. They call it informal sector. Informal sector means we have nothing to do with them, they are not part of the economy. Economy begins with the formal sector, we are busy with formal sector," he said, adding that there was a need to finance them and take care of them.

While the issue has been a key bone of contention with Opposition parties attacking the government for not doing enough to take care of migrants, the latter has announced a series of steps in the past few weeks for their welfare, including free food grain scheme, jobs scheme in worst-affected districts and special credit facility for street vendors among others.

Gandhi said that the migrant crisis was massive for India. the micro entrepreneurs suddenly found themselves stranded, and I spoke to quite a few of them and I saw first-hand what they were going through," Gandhi told Yunus, adding that India had missed a huge opportunity as a nation by not having a reset approach to the situation.

Gandhi has started a series of video conversations where he engages with experts on sector-specific issues to discuss the socio-economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. In the past, he has engaged with former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, Nobel Prize winning economist Prof. Abhijit Banerjee, managing director of Bajaj Auto Ltd Rajiv Bajaj and Nicholas Burns, a former US secretary of state, along with public health experts and nurses.

While some estimates suggest Indian economy will contract in FY21 in the range of 5%, some economists suggested that Indian economy may stay steady or even end up with a marginal growth this fiscal.

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It's time to take outrageously bold decisions to reimagine the economy: Yunus - Livemint

If Pritam Deb had waited another year, his dream of moving to Australia with his young family probably would not have come true.

The 35-year-old data analyst arrived in Australia from India in June 2019, after successfully applying for a permanent visa for skilled workers. After a few months searching, he now works as a contractor for a large telco.

I was lucky enough to get in with my family before it broke, he says. And I was lucky enough to find a job. The timing was really, really important, and Im quite fortunate.

A year on from his arrival, Australias borders are essentially closed and migration has fallen off a cliff.

Since March, non-citizen non-residents cannot enter the country, the Australian government is advising people to reconsider the need to apply for Australian visas, and Australians are banned from leaving, with even dual citizens requiring special permission to leave the country.

The tough border closures, a key bulwark against Covid-19, mean that net migration is now almost at zero, and is certain to be just a sliver of previous government forecasts in the year ahead. In May, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, estimated annual migration of 34,000 in the year ahead a far cry from pre-coronavirus estimates of around 270,000, and from the 2019 figure of 210,700.

Even with a vaccine and reopened borders, it could be years before Australia can meet those targets again.

Hamsini Addagatla is not as lucky as Deb.

The 27-year-old graduated from her postgraduate degree at a university in Sydney in December and planned to use her temporary graduate visa to do a professional year program, which includes an internship. Then she wanted to apply for a permanent visa and build an IT career in Australia.

Instead, she is stuck in the United States as the time left on her visa ticks down. In early March, a family emergency called her away to visit her sister in San Francisco, with a return flight booked for 4 April. Morrison announced the border closure on 19 March, to begin the very next day.

I was completely devastated because I didnt expect it to be so soon, she says. Then I thought, OK, Im a student, maybe theyll allow me in in July, but Ive just been waiting, waiting.

Her visa expires in September 2021 and she needs a year left on it when she begins the professional course, which she cannot do remotely, and which she has carefully saved for.

That means if she does not make it to Australia by September 2020, theres basically no point in coming back, she says.

She has applied for exemptions from the travel ban three times but has been rejected. She is still paying rent, utilities, phone bill and insurance for her life in Australia.

Its emotionally and physically draining me, because theres nothing I can do at this stage apart from just applying again and again, she says.

Apart from the immense personal impact on people like Addagatla, the nosedive in migration is certain to have a significant impact on the economy. But exactly what that impact entails depends on who you ask.

Australias entire economy is based on immigration, says Liz Allen, a demographer at the Australian National University.

Migration is the major driver behind Australias population growth, which in turn has driven economic growth.

The dramatically reduced numbers of international students coming to Australia has already hit the higher education sector. But Allen says thats just the tip of the iceberg.

Migrants contribute to demand and supply sides of the economy and bolster the socioeconomic wellbeing of this nation in ways many dont realise, she says. The food we eat, homes, towns, hospitals all rely on migrants, and businesses depend on them.

Without migrants, Australias future feels less certain, because the grim reality is that the economy needs the inputs of migrants to ensure our standard of living doesnt decline, she says.

As a result, the Covid-induced cut to immigration will probably have significant and lasting impacts that may take years to realise.

Abul Rizvi, a former deputy secretary of the immigration department, agrees. The virus and the drop in net migration will combine to hit us very, very hard, says Rizvi.

Rizvi says that migration and the economy normally follow each other very closely, though which drives which is a chicken and egg question.

But the chief economist for the Australia Institute, Richard Denniss, says that unimpressive economic growth is not always a bad thing for individual Australians, drawing a distinction between GDP and GDP per capita.

Slowing population growth will lead to slower economic growth. Full stop. No debate about that at all, Denniss says. But that doesnt mean our income per person is going to slow down. Theyre quite separate.

He says that despite Australias heavy reliance on population growth to drive economic growth, for decades weve been silent about whether the benefits of that growth were flowing to individuals.

Rizvi says that Australia targets skilled migrants, who get relatively well-paying jobs relatively quickly, which adds a positive per capita impact on the economy.

Slowing the populations ageing improves per capita economic growth, he says.

Australias migration program targets people from about 20 to 35, and because of their relative youth, migrants will have disproportionately more children in the future. Migration has made Australia among the youngest developed nations on the planet, with a median age of 37.

That means that a fall in migration will decrease the birth rate and accelerate the Australian populations ageing, he says.

Those are just almost givens now, Rizvi says. That will hurt us.

The debate about Australias immigration and its effect on unemployment rates is vexed and groups as disparate as One Nation and the ACTU have been critical of the system, even during a strong jobs market.

But unemployment is now predicted to exceed 9% by Christmas.

Some suggest this means we should be slow to welcome migrants back, lest they take jobs Australians could fill. Labors home affairs spokeswoman, Kristina Keneally, came close to this argument in a May op-ed that said Australia should change the size and composition of the migrant intake after the crisis.

Australia should [shift] away from its increasing reliance on a cheap supply of overseas, temporary labour that undercuts wages for Australian workers and takes jobs Australians could do, she argued, describing reliance on high migration levels to fuel economic growth as a lazy approach and advocating for investment in skills and training.

Rizvi and Allen told Guardian Australia that migrants dont tend to take jobs Australians would otherwise do, because theyre either bringing skills Australians lack or doing low-skilled jobs that Australians dont want to do.

Australias migration scheme is demand-driven, meaning migrants arent stealing locals jobs, Allen says. Migrants do more than fill jobs locals cant or wont do. Migrants help build consumer sentiment and so have a bit of a turbocharge impact on the economy.

Denniss says the effect of restarting the migration program on unemployment levels is nearly impossible to predict.

Weve now got 1.5 million people on unemployment benefits. Its not at all clear whether bringing in an extra 250,000 people is going to lead to unemployment rising or falling, he says. Theres two offsetting effects: 250,000 people coming here and spending money will create some demand. And 250,000 people coming here and saying can I have a job is going to increase the supply of labour. Which effect will be bigger?

Weve never played this game before. Theres no historical or international comparator, Denniss says. So choose your poison.

By reducing demand for housing stock, the fall in migration will likely affect the housing market.

We have a chronic undersupply of housing generally, which is one of the reasons Australian housing is so expensive, says Michael Fotheringham, the executive director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.

Because the construction sector generally keeps pace with a growing population and demand for residential construction, the fall in migration will leave that sector with spare capacity, Fotheringham says. While that could lead to unemployment and underemployment, it also creates an opportunity to rethink how housing development occurs in this country.

Fotheringham suggests the construction of social housing as a solution that would help both the construction sector and those who are struggling to afford accommodation.

Falling migration will also affect the urban environment. The impact will be felt most strongly in Sydney, Melbourne and south-east Queensland, where migrants tend to settle, Fotheringham says.

It gives decision-makers more time to consider how these cities should be shaped in the years to come.

We can do it carefully, not slowly, but more thoughtfully than when were chasing our tail, Fotheringham says. If in the past, supply was chasing to meet demand, weve got the opportunity for supply to shape and direct demand.

Assuming a vaccine is developed and Australia can reopen its borders in the next year or so, what will happen next?

Rizvi and Allen believe it could take years for Australia to get back on track. Forecasts of annual migration of about 270,000, laid out in the 2019 budget, will not be met for the rest of the 2020s, Rizvi suggests.

As the borders reopen, overseas students, visitors and working holiday-makers will gradually start returning and pumping money into the economy.

But unemployment is likely to still be high, so the reopening should be done strategically, Rizvi says. Decision-making should not be about just going for numbers [but] about designing it right.

Skills will have fallen away because of the recession, and there will be urgent demand for skills that cannot be generated through short courses.

Attracting skilled migrants is more difficult in a weak economy, and the government needs to make sure visa arrangements make Australia competitive for those highly skilled people. However, it is a huge advantage that Australia has done comparatively better in the pandemic than most other countries, Rizvi argues.

Deb says that moving to Australia was already a huge risk before the pandemic, and it might be too much for some even once borders open.

Ive seen a lot of people talking [online] about this and their apprehension about how it has impacted the markets, he says. People like myself, if you had a stable job back home and you had permanent residency, youd be reluctant to take a chance in these troubled times.

For some, like Addagatla, the reopening will be too late. She cant extend her graduate visa, and she feels like the doors of permanent migration to Australia are closing to her.

I just dont see why they dont allow visa holders to come back in, especially students and recent graduates, she says. This is why we came to Australia. Ill be doing the quarantine for 14 days, I dont see why Ill be a risk to the community.

Whenever the reopening happens, the experts Guardian Australia spoke to see an opportunity in the crisis to reshape policy.

This is the sort of thing to give us pause to think about what sort of society we want to create going forward, Fotheringham says.

The current crisis allows an opportunity of reform, and Australia should grab that opportunity with both hands and run with it, Allen says.

A cohesive population policy incorporating climate measures, gender equality provisions, and promoting social equality can help us pave the way out of this mess. It will take hard work, but nows the time. From this crisis we can build a stronger and fairer nation, it just takes commitment and leadership.

Originally posted here:

Migration to Australia has fallen off a cliff will it take the economy with it? - The Guardian

Highlights

New Delhi: With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, United Nations State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, forecasts that the coronavirus could push over 132 million more people into chronic hunger by the end of 2020. This figure will be over and above the existing 690 million undernourished people, the study says. This setback further weakens the possibilityto achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Two, which aims for zero hunger by 2030, the report concludes. Among various government schemes on food and nutrition, an important aspect of helping Indias children meet their nutritional needs, is the governments flagship Mid-Day Meal (MDM) programme.

The MDM Scheme has played a significant role in increasing enrolment and improving attendance of children in the schools, but it has far deeper implications as it is one of the crucial ways to ensure the nutritional security of children. As per the government data, in the year 2018-19, MDM scheme served about 9.17 crore children in 11.35 lakh schools across the country. However, the scheme has faced massive challenges, when the COVID-19 lockdown was announced and schools and Anganwadis were shut down.

Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD), Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had announced when the lockdown was imposed, that the mid-day meals will be provided to students even during the lockdown and the subsequent summer vacations.

Mr Pokhriyal had also announced an increased allocation for the smooth distribution of the mid-day meals with an additional expenditure of about Rs 1,700 crores.

Also Read: COVID-19 Crisis: Deaths Related To Hunger Among Children May Increase By 12.8 Lakh This Year Due To The Pandemic

He further said that in wake of COVID-19, the annual central allocation of cooking cost (or procurement of pulses, vegetables, oil, spices and fuel) under the mid-day meal scheme has beenenhanced to Rs 8,100 crore from Rs 7,300 crore allocated for April 2020, an increment of nearly 11 per cent.

While the top-level has made the necessary arrangements and allocation for the smooth and uninterrupted nutrition of the children via mid-day meals. What is the status on the ground?

Antaryami Dash, Nutrition Head from Save The Children Foundation, tells NDTV that while the governments aredoing their job and forming policies, the implementation powers remain at the district level.

The HRD Ministry in order to ensure each child gets the meal that they are entitled to give all the states and districts across the nation three options either serve hot meals to their doorstep, provide them monthly ration kits or provide them the money conversions also known as Food Security Allowances. Lets assume a mid-day meal costs about Rs. 10-15 a day for a kid, so for a month it will be approximately Rs 300, so each beneficiary is entitled to this sum. But the entire implementation of MDM in this condition, depends upon the individual setup of each state. So, if the collector, state authorities are on their toes, they might do it well, if they want to. Im not saying throughout the states children are not receiving MDM, Im sure they are receiving in some places but there will be inter-district variations as well as intra-block variation. Everything comes down to their administration and their will and zest, thats just how Indian development programmes function on the ground.

Mr Dash said that through Save The Children Foundations concurrent assessment across 15 states, covering 7,235 respondents, they found that around 40 per cent of the eligible children have not received the mid day meals during this lockdown. He further said that these 15 states and UTs, include Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, NCT of Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

Through another non-profit organisation, Roti Abhiyan, NDTV reached out to some children, who are beneficiaries of MDM, belonging to a few of the above-mentioned state, to find out more about the on-ground situation of implementation.

Also Read: India Observed A Decline Of 60 Million Undernourished People In 2019, Reveals The Latest UN Report

In Delhi, 8-year-old Gudiya is a resident of Lal Gumbad Camp, near Panscheel Park where she lives in a five member family. Before lockdown, her mother used to work as a domestic help and her father worked as a delivery boy in Zomato, however at present, both of them are out of work. Gudiya and her siblings, all older than her, study in a government school, where they were provided with MDM. Her mother told NDTV that she hasnt received any mid-day meals or compensation,

Due to certain reasons, I do not have a ration card and we have not received any money or MDM since the lockdown. We are struggling to make ends meet. I asked in my kids school about the MDM but our area is sealed as it is a containment zone, so we have never received anything. Even my sister who lives in a camp near Rohini and has 2 children, says that they havent received MDM or money for MDM.

On the other hand, 7-year-old Rishi from Bihars holy town of Gaya said that they received their mid-day meal in the month of April which stopped by May. His mother told NDTV,

We did get the MDM in April, consisting OF eggs and even milk but by May, our school authority told us that a few people tested positive from their MDM team so they have stopped cooking food and will send us money. We are waiting for money but until today I havent received any money.

11-year-old Paulimi from Durgapur in West Bengal has received her mid-day meals, her mother said,

Paulimi received her school meals until June and for the month of June we received Rs 350 in my husbands account and we were told by her principal that its for her lunch. In July, we have received ration, as the principal of his school told us that this month theyre distributing rations. I asked them why the variations, so they said that they want to provide in whichever way it is convenient for them each month.

11- year-old, Vijay Kumar from Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh, is the son of a daily wager. Vijays mother Meena told NDTV,

It is very tough time for poor families like ours and our financial condition does not allow us to feed our children fruits, milk or other nutritious food items. Ever since the lockdown, my son is not getting the nutritious meals that he used to get in school. The distribution of dry ration and security compensation by the state government is yet to be provided to us. The security compensation and dry ration will prove to be very beneficial in our lives as it will help to feed the entire family.

Also Read: Fight Against COVID-19: Government Of Tripura Distributes Vitamin C-Rich Fruits For Free To Boost Immunity

According to nutrition experts, for a large chunk of the children of India mid-day meal is their only source of nutrition in the day, therefore the importance of mid-day meals for children cannot be undermined. Talking to these families, it is a mixed record, wherein many places children are neither receiving their mid-day meals (MDM), nor any Take Home Rations (THR), or even reimbursement in cash.

According to UNs World Food Programme (WFP), even though MDM is the best route to food and nutrition security for children, the government is issuing extra food rations and inclusion of pulses for the next five months to families under PMGKY (Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana) during COVID lockdown. This will be helpful to meet their food needs. A spokesperson from WFP told NDTV,

All in all, most of the States and Union territories in the country are implementing the mid-day meal in line with the above-mentioned government guidance. For instance, in Odisha, where we work with the state government, students were distributed dry ration for 3 months in advance through Public Distribution System outlets. Coupon with unique ID was assigned to them and the students or their parents would draw rations (rice and other commodities) from Fair Price Shops (FPS) on the production of coupons. The coupons will to be later reconciled to settle the accounts with the FPS owners.

However, supporting Mr Dashs point, WFP also highlighted that fact that India is a large country and the quality of implementation may vary from State to State and even within a State, from district to district. The spokesperson added,

WFP India has been tracking the implementation of both the Mid-day meal scheme as well as the food component of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme at State level since the beginning of the pandemic through media reports, government websites and telephonic calls to government counterparts and development partners. Media reports about the situation in the state of Bihar, where failure to implement delivery of mid-day meals in-line with the government guidance, led the children in certain districts to start waste collection or begging to survive, was unnerving.

Also Read:Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana To Provide Free Rations During Coronavirus Lockdown Extended, What Does It Mean For People On The Ground?

Another important factor, which is a significant on-ground reality for distributing the midday meal, is the disparity in urban and rural areas. While in the urban areas, the distribution of MDM has remained difficult and negligible, rural areas have not really faced major challenges until now.

NDTV reached out to Nisha an ASHA worker from the village Majawada near Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Nisha told us that all the ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers and other volunteers associated with the Anganwadis and schools are responsible for home delivering ration kits for the children. She explains,

We have a list of all the children who attend Anganwadi and schools. We get the ration kits consisting 2 kg wheat and 1 kg Chana Dal and we are all responsible for delivering these kits to each and every student in every 25 days.

Another ASHA worker, Shanta Garg from Dulawato Ka Guda village in UP, tells NDTV that they are not just responsible for delivering mid-day meals, but also to check childrens growth. She said,

In order to ensure the children are getting optimum nutrition, we also check their weight, height and any symptoms for COVID disease when we visit them to deliver the ration kits.

While the system seems to run smoothly in rural areas, in the national capital, the MDM has not been served at all, says Amrita Johri from Roti Abhiyan, a Delhi-based NGO. She said,

NGO Mahila Ekta Manch filed a Public Interest Litigation in Delhi High court, in which IT sought directions to the Delhi government to provide cooked midday meals or food security allowances to eligible children during the COVID-19 lockdown when schools in the national capital are shut.

Also Read:Fighting COVID-19: Plant-Based Diet Can Boost Resistance Against Invading Pathogens, Say Experts

The Delhi government had on June 30 told the bench that funds for providing mid-day meals to children in its schools were yet to be received. However, The Centre informed the Delhi High Court on Monday that it has released over Rs 27 crore to the AAP government as recurring central assistance under the mid-day meal (MDM) scheme. The counsel appearing for the Centre said Rs 9 crore was released on April 29 and over Rs 18 crore was released on May 1 and sought time to file an affidavit on it.

While this has turned into a political he said-she said, at the end of the day it Is the children who are suffering without the meals. How are we to achieve the Zero Hunger target by 2030 is this continues? It is no secret how big of a crisis malnutrition in India is.

Mr Dash explained his opinion on the disparity between urban and rural areas, as he said that the problem mainly is not being able to reach the beneficiaries due to COVID-19.

Earlier, even us the people working with non-profits could easily visit the children on the ground. But now we also have to monitor and maintain records on telephones due to the coronavirus. Moreover, most of the organisations are not able to reach people who are distressed, in person. But when it comes to MDM, rural areas, until now, were doing better with MDM, as Anganwadi workers can easily track and visit these households which they do on a routine basis. The lockdown instructions were followed and adhered to in the urban areas more than the rural areas.

He further added that in urban areas, issues being faced by administrations were that either some were the children of migrant workers who have either gone back or are unable to be tracked. But the main issue is that most urban areas, according to Mr Dash, are containment zones, hotspots, where curfews and lockdowns are frequently happening.

So it is difficult to go there and distribute mid-day meals because these are locked up places, he added.

Also Read:Opinion: Nourishing The Undernourished In Quarantine During COVID-19 Times

However he said that rural areas may face issues now as gradually, we are seeing the prevalence of COVID spreading towards the rural areas.

I think they will face the problem now because initially to start with, from April to June, it was only the urban areas which were the epicentre of the issues. But due to the migrant population returning home, as one of the important factor, the virus is spreading more and more in the rural areas and we fear that children might face issues there, beginning now. However, Im pretty positive that rural areas still are easier to manage as compared to urban areas.

Soha Moitra, Regional Director, Child Rights and You (CRY), talked to NDTV about the MDM programme been badly hit. She asserts that MDM is a crucial nutritional support programme for many school-going children to supplement their dietary needs to combat malnutrition.

Unavailability of a freshly cooked nutritious meal might leave a long-term effect on a childs development. Even if the distribution of dry ration and food security compensation is the new substitute to MDM, there is a need to develop a monitoring system at panchayat level to ensure that marginalised families are actually benefitted with the same.

Mr Antaryami Dash says that the country cannot afford to see an increase in an already huge burden of child malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies among children.

Thus, further realignment is required for MDM service delivery strategies with clearly more focus in urban areas to increase the coverage, Mr Dash asserts.

WFP highlights that with the on-going food support, what is missing is the diversification of food rations and inclusion of cash for women to buy vegetables and eggs can provide further support.

Given such a huge migrant crisis and an ongoing pandemic, it will be crucial to closely monitor the food and nutrition situation among vulnerable communities and provide appropriate responses, if needed. The values and advantages of Mid-Day meals are multiple and immense, and we trust that these programmes will restart immediately, when the schools reopen, the WFP spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, in order to ensure the mid-day meals are received by every child entitled to it in urban areas, WFP suggests that the School Management Committee (SMC) and/or Parents Teacher Associations (PTA) in these times will need to step up and take control of the monitoring.

NDTV DettolBanega Swasth Indiacampaign is an extension of the five-year-old BanegaSwachh India initiative helmed by Campaign AmbassadorAmitabh Bachchan. Itaims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country.In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases.The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to preventmaternal and child mortality,fightmalnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention throughvaccines. Importance of programmes likePublic Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyanand the role ofAganwadis and ASHA workersare also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of theSwachh Bharat Abhiyanlaunched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workersandmenstrual hygiene.

1,88,09,199Cases

67,47,115Active

1,13,54,419Recovered

7,07,665Deaths

Coronavirus has spread to 188 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 1,88,09,199 and 7,07,665 have died; 67,47,115 are active cases and 1,13,54,419 have recovered as on August 6, 2020 at 4:00 am.

19,64,536 56282Cases

5,95,501 9257Active

13,28,336 46121Recovered

40,699 904Deaths

In India, there are 19,64,536 confirmed cases including 40,699 deaths. The number of active cases is 5,95,501 and 13,28,336 have recovered as on August 6, 2020 at 2:30 am.

DistrictCases

Akola757

Aurangabad1974

Dhule228

Jalgaon1039

Mumbai45478

Mumbai Suburban5363

Nagpur692

Nashik1575

Palghar1421

Pune9920

Satara629

Solapur1291

Thane13660

Yavatmal150

Ahmednagar190

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How Are The Children In India Receiving Their Mid-Day Meals Amid The COVID-19 Pandemic? | Nutrition - Swachh India NDTV

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New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, in its report on Code on Social Security, 2019, has recommended that the time limit for payment of gratuity to an employee after termination of employment should be reduced from the current five years of continuous service to just one year.

The committee, which submitted its report to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla Friday, also said the provision of gratuity should be extended to all kinds of employees, including contract labourers, seasonal workers, piece rate workers, fixed term employees and daily/monthly wage workers.

Recommending the reduction of time limit, the committee noted in its report, most people are employed for a short duration period only, making them ineligible for gratuity as per extant normsthe committee desires that the time limit of five years as provided for in the code for payment of gratuity be reduced to continuous service of one year.

This code will replace nine existing social security laws and is pending before Parliament. The parliamentary committee, headed by senior BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, had examined the code referred to it by the Lok Sabha last December.

Also read: Migrant workers, freelancers must be under social security net, Parliamentary panel suggests

Considering the migrant crisis, which had unfolded in the wake of a nationwide lockdown, the parliamentary panel has also recommended that inter-state migrant workers be mentioned as a separate category in the Code on Social Security, 2019 and a welfare fund be created exclusively for them.

The fund should be financed proportionately by the sending states, the receiving states, the contractors, the principal employers and the registered migrant workers.

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The funds so created should exclusively be used for workers/employees not covered under other welfare funds, the committee said.

ThePrint had reported on 30 July that the parliamentary panel has also recommended universalisation of social security coverage to include domestic workers, migrant workers, gig workers (freelancers), platform workers (who access other organisations using online platforms and earn money, such as Uber, Ola drivers) and agricultural workers.

To address issues of identification and help in inter-state portability while extending welfare aids, especially at the time of distress and exigencies like Covid-19 pandemic, the panel has called for the creation of a central online portal and database of registered establishments as well as migrant workers, including building and other construction staff.

The parliamentary panel has said it should be made mandatory for all establishments, including agricultural, non-agricultural, contract as well as self-employed workers to register under one body, instead of multiple organisations. This body should remain responsible for provision of social security for all types of workers in the country.

The parliamentary panel came down heavily on states for under-utilisation and misuse of the Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund.

The committee is perturbed to note the latest audit findings on underutilisation of BOCW funds by as many as 24 states and misutilisation of such funds by one state. It is a matter of serious concern that states are sitting on thousands of crores of rupees collected towards the welfare of construction workers, even as labourers have been left to fend for themselves amid the prolonged lockdown period arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the report states.

The committee has recommended an enabling mechanism in the code itself for portability of Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund among states so money due to beneficiaries can be paid in any state irrespective of where the cess has been collected.

The Building and Construction Workers Welfare Fund is raised by levying a cess of 1 per cent of the construction cost. It is part of the Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act, 1996, which regulates employment and working conditions of construction workers and also provides for their safety and welfare measures.

Also read: Directly employed, self-employed also migrant workers under Modi govts new definition

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Reduce gratuity payment period to 1 yr, extend it also to daily wagers Parliament panel says - ThePrint

Turf wars and frequent transfer of bureaucrats have made the handling of COVID difficult in Bengaluru. Pic: Javed Anees, Wikimedia Commons

Read up. You really should. There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before. These are famous lines from Arthur Conan Doyles A Study in Scarlet. A problem or its solution have all transpired before. But have we missed the lessons?

It has been nine months since the first case of COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan, China in November 2019. The problem took a life of its own and knocked on Indias shores through Kerala in January 2020. It became Bengalurus problem in March of 2020.

While Bengaluru started out well in keeping the pandemic under check, we later slipped into chaos. We have struggled with its management. Lockdowns, restrictions, dissemination of information, healthcare we have wrestled with every aspect so badly that Henri Fayol is calling from his grave, offeringfree lessons in management. Because at the end of the day, effective management is the only thing that will allow us to beat this problem.

But where did we go so wrong? This isnt the first time our city has faced a health crisis. The bubonic plague of 1898 wasnt minuscule. What are the lessons we missed from history? What are the parallels?

I return to some of Fayols 14 principles of management, because sometimes we have to start from the basics:

When the bubonic plague broke out in Bengaluru in 1898, K Madhava Rao was appointed to the newly-created post of Plague Commissioner. He took over in 1898 and held the post till 1901, before being promoted as the Diwan of Mysore. In 1895, Ronald Ross, Nobel laureate in physiology, was recalled to Bengaluru on special sanitary duty to contain the frequent cholera outbreaks at the time. He stayed on until he was posted to Secunderabad in 1897.

Lets look at the current scenario. City Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao was transferred in less than a year (he had taken over in August 2019). This is in line with the spate of transfers we have been seeing of late. A fortnight ago, the government had abruptly transferred about 60 IAS officers and 200 KAS officers who were involved with various levels of COVID management.

I elucidate on some of them here. The BBMP core team that led the fight against COVID included five IAS officers Dr M Lokesh, Ravikumar Surpur, D Randeep, Hephsiba Rani Korlapati and Basvaraj led by BBMP Commissioner B H Anil Kumar. M Lokesh has been transferred as Excise Commissioner, and Ravikumar was posted to the Agriculture Department. BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar too was shunted out less than a year after he took over. Captain P Manivannan, who was the Principal Secretary of both the Labour Department and the Department of Information & Public Relations, was similarly shunted out.

The transfers of officers who were part of the core team that initially controlled the pandemic, certainly throws a spanner in the works. But if that isnt enough to derail management, the officers who replaced them also hold other portfolios.

In 1898, the special post of Plague Commissioner was created so that there would be focused attention on the problem. Whereas N Manjunath Prasad, who just took over as the BBMP commissioner, already has two other portfolios to manage. So, forget allowing for focused attention, we dont even have a whole Commissioner. What we have is one-third of a Commissioner to deal with a problem of this magnitude.

Similarly, when Maheshwar Rao who took over from Manivannan, he was already the Principal Secretary, Department of MSME and Mines. He was brought in at the height of the migrant crisis, when the Labour Department was struggling to deal with the situation on the ground.

Reynold Ross, when he linked the poor sanitary condition of the city to the cholera outbreaks, brought out a document emphasising the short-sightedness of the government in waste management. Short-sightedness of governments is a problem even today, hampered further by political interests.

A large part of the recent transfers have been attributed to the turf war between MLAs and corporators ahead of the BBMP elections. The supposed turf war between R Ashok and C Ashwathnarayan, the corporators demanding a more visible role, are all not helping create solutions.

Similarly, we can examine each of Fayols principles Scalar Chain, Order, Initiative, Esprit de Corps, Unity of direction, Unity of command, etc. and find enough examples of how each of these have been breached. The flareup between Ashwathnarayan and Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, BSYs anger with Anil Kumar you dont have to look to hard, its all right there. Writing them all would make this article too long.

Fayols principles no longer hold prime position in management texts because they are considered common sense these days. One has to wonder just how common they are.Because it seems like we are currently writing the script for Kissa Kursi Ka Part 2 the political satire movie from 1977 that was banned and whose prints were burnt for mocking the then-government.

The movie, a poor mans Jaane Bhi Yaaron, has a plot very reminiscent of the mismanagement of our times. In the movie, the government is dealing with a rat problem. Its harbinger scheme of buying cats from a foreign country in exchange for Indian dogs goes kaput because corruption has meant that no cats were delivered. They then come up with another solution offering a certificate and cash prize to people depending on the number of dead rats they produce.Needless to say, the idea goes to hell in a handbasket very quickly, and chaos ensues. It is a predicament like the one we find ourselves in.

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"COVID response: Bengaluru is overlooking every management lesson from history" | - Citizen Matters, Bengaluru

New economic imperatives are forcing nations to make a choice.

Viewpoint by Marshall Auerback

The writer is a market analyst and commentator. This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.

NEW YORK (IDN) COVID-19 has not only presented the global economy with its greatest public health challenge in over a century, but also likely killed off the notion of Americas unipolar moment for good. That doesnt mean full-on autarky or isolationism but, rather, enlightened selfishness, which allows for some limited cooperation. Donald Trumps ongoing threats to impose additional tariffs on a range of EU exports are exacerbating this trend as the old post-World War II ties between the two regions continue to fray.

Even the possibility of a Biden administration is unlikely to presage a reversion to the status quo ante. Regionalization and multipolarity will be the order of the day going forward.

Many will regard these developments as chiefly driven by geopolitical prerogatives. But over time, the driving engine of the process will be a combination of maturing technologies that are rewriting the laws of profitability in manufacturing and production for advanced economies. The various capacities that enabled a far-flung global supply chain and sent the economies of Asia into hyperdrive over the past 40 years have continued to mature.

The rise of China, South Korea and Japan in this period is just a phase of a larger series of advances that are now likely to become more distributed and at the same time reshuffle the geopolitical trend lines we currently experience.

The reshuffling is coming in large part because Americas historic military dominance has less relevance in a world where the new forms of competition place greater weight on access to advanced research and technologies, rather than the projection of brute military force (especially given the increasing proliferation of nuclear technologies and the rise of asymmetric warfare).

Furthermore, the lack of American manufacturing capacity has left it open to a significant loss of influence to the benefit of other regions, notably China (in Asia), and Germany (in the European Union). China in particular will likely remain both a geopolitical and economic rival to the United States for the foreseeable future, especially as it already supersedes the United States in some areas of technology (such as 5G), and is increasingly becoming the locus of economic activity in Asia. As yet, Asia is by no means a cohesive economic or strategic bloc (such as the European Union), especially given the ongoing American influence in countries such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

But longer term, it is hard to believe that an independent democratic Japan would embrace a foreign policy stance that risks antagonizing a country of almost 1.4 billion people with nukes. According to some projections, by 2050 Japan will likely constitute about one-eighth of Chinas GDP, South Korea much less.

On the basis of that size disparity, strategic triangulation is a non-starter. Japan will no more be able to balance China than Canada today can contain the United States. It is likewise difficult to envisage Seoul continuing to have its own relations with the North being continuously subject to the vagaries of Pentagon politics in D.C. Heightening instability on the Korean peninsula is hardly in the long-term interests of either Seoul or Pyongyang.

By the same token, the idea of a broad but shallow trilateral United States-EU-Japan bloc against China is also a fantasy because the European Union, like Japan, increasingly finds its own interests clashing with those of the U.S. These tensions have manifested themselves fully in the current dispute over Huawei, Chinas largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer. The Europeans, especially Germany, may well be too invested in China to side with the United States in this particular dispute given its strong pre-existing commercial ties with the former, as Wolfgang Munchaus Eurointelligence highlights:

China is Germanys biggest trading partner. Merkel continues to seek dialoguewith China and insisted that ties with the country are of strategic importance to the EU. If this can be called a strategy it is clearly motivated by economic interests. These days, German car makers are dependent on the Chinese market,where record sales in Q2 compensated for the fallout from the pandemic in other markets, the FAZ reports.

This also applies in the specific case of Huawei, where the U.S. is spearheading an attempt to limit the Chinese companys global reach on national security grounds. Berlin in particular is seeking to balance the tensions of preserving an increasingly fraying relationship with the U.S. versus safeguarding emerging German commercial interests in China. The Merkel government is expected to make a definitive decision on Huawei by the autumn when the German parliament reconvenes; this will have significant implications for Europe as a whole, as an increasing number of EU member states are moving away from the firms 5G wares.

German political opinion remains sharply divided on the issue of Huawei. The decision is also complicated by the fact that Deutsche Telekom, a 32%-state-owned company, is the countrys largest mobile provider and already relies heavily on Huawei equipment. It has lobbied strongly against any action that would make it harder for it to roll out 5G, according to the Economist. If the Berlin government fails to follow the lead of the United Kingdom (which recently reversed an earlier decision to incorporate Huawei equipment in its growing 5G infrastructure), it will send a very powerful political signal in terms of how Germany prioritizes its long-term interests, which are no longer axiomatically tied to the U.S.

However Germany decides on Huawei, Atlanticism as a concept is largely dead in Europe. Even before the onset of the pandemic, for example, Italy had already become the first European country to join Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in response to ongoing economic stagnation. COVID-19 has, if anything, accelerated this Sinification of the Italian economy, given the ham-handed response of Brussels to the countrys plight (and which is still governed by old prevailing austerity biases). Although the tangible economic benefits of the BRI have likely been overstated, Rome-based journalist Eric Reguly has written:

The Italian government rolled out the welcome mat to Chinese President Xi Jinping in part because it is desperate for foreign investment. Italy suffers from crushing youth unemployment and never fully recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. It felt it was more or less abandoned by the U.S. and the rest of the EU on the investment front. The anti-EU sentiment among Italians rose during the migrant crisis, when other countries of the bloc refused to relieve Italys migrant burden, and rose again earlier this year, when Brussels ignored Italys initial pleas for help to fight COVID-19.

It is important to note that Huawei is but a symptom of a broader EU disengagement from the U.S. Even if Huaweis role in Europes future 5G networks is minimized, the big winners will be European companies, Nokia and Ericsson, not American ones. The 5G deficiency is but one illustration of how Americas failure to prioritize a robust manufacturing sector has contributed to a loss of influence and leverage in Europe.

That in turn explains the relatively tepid response to American pressure in many European capitals. Many EU member states have made the calculation that their interests are no longer inextricably tied to those of the U.S. One also sees this in response to American threats over new Russian natural gas pipelines, which the EU is largely ignoring. Europe has outgrown the suffocating embrace of Cold War exigencies.

The one outlier might well be the United Kingdom in its post-Brexit incarnation. Via the Five Eyes intelligence coordination among the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, it is possible that there will be a further tightening of the Anglosphere countries. Their current convergence on Huawei is one illustration of this, although Huaweis Chief Digital Officer, Michael MacDonald, concedes that the battle over 5G dominance is small fry compared to the total Digital Economy, which is generally accepted to contribute as much as 25% of the worlds gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025-26, [and] will be worth approximately $20 trillion, with 5G contributing just 0.2%. And here the U.S. has everything to play for, given its ongoing dominance through American Big Tech behemoths such as Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

As far as the U.S. itself goes, that also means a narrow but deep North America strategy (United States/Mexico/Canada), especially given the American governments increasing proclivity to view economic warfare through the prism of national security considerations (as it did during the original Cold War). Those national security calculations have changed somewhat: In a reversal of old Cold War norms, whereby the strategic importance of Japan via Americas offshore naval presence was paramount, Mexico is now being prioritized, at least in regard to manufacturing and investment flows via the new North American trade agreement.

As U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer writes in Foreign Affairs, the newly reconfigured United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement reinforces this trend by overhaul[ing] the rules of origin that govern trade in the [automobile] sector, increasing the threshold from 62.5 percent under the old NAFTA to 75 percent under the new USMCA.

These concerns are becoming bipartisan, as both parties are now tacking increasingly toward an overt form of economic nationalism.

Multipolarity need not usher in a Hobbesian-style world of eternal conflict. But as it becomes more of a reality, it signals the increasing eclipse of America as a preeminent superpower of one. Asias rise in particular simply returns the distribution of economic activity to what it was before the first industrial revolution. Thats not a bad thing, except for those rooted toward an embrace of American hegemony that must be retained at all costs, peacefully or by war.

If anything, one could argue that Americas status as the worlds sole global superpower ushered in considerably greater global instability, given the absence of any restraining counterweight, as Washington went from one unilateral war of choice to another. A Joe Biden victory in November may temporarily arrest these trends, but the die has been cast. [IDN-InDepthNews 31 July 2020].

Image source: Midas FinServe Private Limited

IDN is flagship agency of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate.

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Even If Joe Biden Wins in a Blowout, the 'Global Economy' Is Not Coming Back - IDN InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters