Synopsis
The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s first post-Covid budget had several measures to bring the unorganised working class into the mainstream economic fold.
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The FM, while observing that the country’s Social Security Code 2020 has made provision for universalisation of social security for the entire workforce.
Thanks to the pandemic, the Union Budget 2021-22 not only recognized the vulnerabilities typical of the country’s migrant, gig and platform workers but has also offered some solutions. In her first post-Covid budget speech, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that for the first time globally, social security benefits will extend to gig and platform workers. The FM also announced various other measures to help the migrant workers in the country.
Upskilling Sanitisation and Hygiene Entrepreneurs
January 16, 2021 23:27 IST
Updated:
January 16, 2021 23:27 IST
Updated:
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Outfitted with a PPE kit and carrying a disinfectant spray pump, V. Chandrasekhar has completed his fourth assignment for the day, the last one having to do with a house at Mambakkam.
“The customer who called me wanted the house to be disinfected as a precautionary measure as their neighbour had tested positive,” says the 27-year-old who trained to become a Sanitisation and Hygiene Entrepreneur (SHE) during the lockdown.
He is part of a network of ‘gig entrepreneurs’ who offer disinfection services to homes, commercial buildings, offices and institutions.
How neighbourhoods and gated communities in Chennai seek to keep their corner of the world safe from the scourge of disease-causing germs
Twice a week, Pioneer Colony in Anna Nagar engages the service of a sanitisation professional who goes door-to-door spraying germ-killing disinfectants.
“Initially, we would call the Corporation’s sanitation team to carry this out, but as we wanted every nook and cranny covered including the terrace, we engaged a private sanitation professional for the job,” says K. Prabodha Chandra, secretary of the Association that has 120 flats.
The association has invested in the machinery and chemicals, and the professional is paid for executing the sanitisation work.
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With the rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine around the corner in India, hopes are rising among business leaders of a swift recovery in 2021 after the economy was plunged into a recession last year because of the impact of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions.
India has given emergency approvals for two vaccines – the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab and a homegrown candidate – and it is currently preparing to begin its immunisation drive, which starts on January 16. This will start with 30 million essential workers, and India has the ambitious target of vaccinating some 300 million citizens by the middle of the year. India is the second-worst affected country after the US with more than 10 million confirmed Covid-19 infections.