By Amita Bhaduri, Ritika Gupta
The Union Budget 2021 is touted to be the mother of all budgets since it comes when the country is grappling its way out of the pandemic. In pursuit of tackling the immediate emergency posed by Covid-19, the actions to address the growing climate emergency took a backseat. With the Conference of Parties – COP 26 rescheduled for later this year and India’s Biennial Annual Report – BUR 3 on the anvil, the Budget is riding on a lot of expectations to deliver on the environment front.
Dr Simi Mehta, CEO at IMPRI Impact and Policy Research Institute, while formally inaugurating the panel discussion titled, ‘Environment & Budget 2021: Business as Usual?‘, organized by Impact and Policy Research Institute – IMPRI and India Water Portal, coined a few pertinent questions to be addressed during the ensuing discussion. She questioned whether there is anything remarkable in the Budget 2021, whether it yields anything substantial for the country’s fi
By Dr Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, Dr Arjun Kumar, Sunidhi Agarwal, Nikhil Jacob
The exodus of migrant workers to their home states due to loss of livelihood in the wake of the Covid-19 induced lockdown was unprecedented. It brought unimaginable hardship to these city makers who thrived on the low paid and unstable jobs provided by their foster cities. The pandemic exposed the ill-preparedness of the urban spaces in handling such a crisis. This is corroborated by data which shows that the urban areas were much more affected during the lockdown and had a poor recovery rate post lockdown, in comparison to the rural areas, noted Dr Amit Basole. He was delivering a special lecture on urban employment and social policy in the wake of Covid-19, organized by Impact and Policy Research Institute (IMPRI), New Delhi.