Migrant workers had been assured multiple times that an economic lockdown will not be imposed and yet by mid-April reverse migration was in full swing.

The second wave of COVID-19 has now spread to the rural pockets of the country at a much faster rate than it did during the first wave of the outbreak.

This year’s budget was tabled when the country was grappling with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 induced crisis. The government was expected to provide an effective response to the pandemic-induced recession.

The agriculture sector is confronted with high price volatility, low returns, low productivity and weather risks.

To revive India’s growth story and to cash in on our rapidly closing demographic dividend window, Prof Santosh Mehrotra, a human development economist suggests four essential proposals that must be included in the Budget 2021. This includes an increased expenditure in infrastructure, health sector and an urban employment guarantee programme.

Unabashed assaults by human beings on the natural ecological system have caused the coronavirus to spread in the first place.