Mediaboss Marketing

Over the past decade or so, the European Union has weathered the global financial crisis, a migrant crisis, and the rise of populist nationalism. Sure, it's taken its fair share of bumps and bruises along the way, but the idea of a largely borderless Europe united by common democratic values has survived more or less intact.

Then came the coronavirus. The global pandemic, in which Europe is now one of the two main epicentres, is a still-spiralling nightmare that could make those previous crises look benign by comparison. Here are a few different ways that COVID-19 is severely testing the 27-member bloc:

The economic crisis: Lockdowns intended to stop the virus' spread have brought economic activity to a screeching halt, and national governments are going to need to spend a lot of money to offset the impact. But some EU members can borrow those funds more easily than others. Huge debt loads and deficits in southern European countries like Italy and Spain, which have been hardest hit by the outbreak so far, make it costlier for them to borrow than more fiscally conservative Germany and other northern member states. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, this imbalance nearly led the bloc's common currency, the Euro, to unravel.

Today, Europe has already unleashed some serious financial firepower to fight the current crisis, mainly through its central bank. But some of the other steps that may be necessary to prevent an economic collapse, like an EU bailout fund or crisis bonds, have reignited long-standing disagreements between North and South. A meeting of Eurozone finance ministers next Tuesday will be an important sign of whether Europe can pull together on the financial front.

The border crisis: In a bid to stop the spread of the virus, countries across the union have imposed border controls, some banning all entry to non-nationals. Although measures like this are technically allowed during emergencies like pandemics, they've caused huge traffic jams and disruptions to the flow of important goods. Relatedly, some member states have restricted shipping critical medical supplies with fellow EU-members, for fear that they will be needed at home.

When and under what circumstances these borders are relaxed again will be a very thorny political question, which raises concerns about whether one of the EU's great achievements the vaunted Schengen area allowing unhindered, passport-free travel across the EU will survive the crisis intact.

A crisis of democracy: Hungary's lurch towards "illiberal democracy" was the subject of serious hand wringing in Brussels well before the pandemic hit, but member states never took sufficient action to deter it. Now that the strongman Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used the crisis to grab nearly unlimited executive powers, Hungary has become an existential test of the EU's commitment to democracy and the rule of law. Other illiberal forces in Europe and beyond will be watching to see how Brussels and the other member states respond.

Bottom line: For now, the EU is holding together amid the biggest crisis in the continent's post-war history. But it's still early days. As the death toll and economic destruction mount, tougher tests of the EU's ability to function as a bloc, rather than a collection of states with competing interests, may be yet to come.

Go here to see the original:
A COVID-19 test for the European Union - GZERO Media

BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Leaders of nine EU countries urged the bloc on Wednesday to issue a common debt instrument to cushion their economies from the shock of the coronavirus crisis, challenging Germany and others adamantly opposed to pooling risk across the continent.

FILE PHOTO: European Union flags fly near the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, October 4, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

European Union finance ministers broadly agreed the previous day on an idea that governments grappling for funds might apply for a credit line worth some 2% of their GDP from a joint bailout fund called the European Stabilisation Mechanism (ESM).

But there was no agreement on joint debt issuance across the 19 member states that share the euro single currency - long a goal for the Club Med group of mostly southern member states, most prominently Italy, and just as much a red line for a group of wealthier northern countries known as the Frugals.

That left it to the leaders, who will meet in a videoconference summit on Thursday, to thrash out the issue.

Germany was one of the founders of the euro zone, in which the European Central Bank sets monetary policy for all the 19 countries that share the EUs single currency, the euro.

But the ECB, to its regret, has no power over budgets.

ECB chief Christine Lagarde asked the ministers at their meeting on Tuesday to give serious consideration to a joint issue of corona bonds as a one-off, four officials said.

One official said her proposal had run into opposition from Germany, the Netherlands and other northern European countries, but also a lot of support beyond Club Med. Germany and others could block the proposal at Thursdays meeting.

Sources said the German position, as it was in the 2010-2012 euro zone sovereign debt crisis, is that taking part in a mutual bond issue or corona bond is still a step too far, and would be resisted by its parliament and constitutional court.

There is also public opposition to putting German taxpayers money on the line to help countries seen as more spendthrift than Germany, which, alone among euro zone members, runs a balanced budget.

The push-back from northern countries - which sources said included the Netherlands, Finland and Austria - in the face of Europes most serious crisis since World War Two highlights a lack of solidarity that has been undermining the EUs principle of shared values ever since the debt crisis and the migrant crisis of 2015.

Some member states were initially reluctant to share medical equipment with Italy, which has suffered the deadliest outbreak, and several countries have reintroduced border controls - recalling the migrant crisis - inside what is normally the open-frontier Schengen Zone.

In a joint letter ahead of Thursdays virtual summit, nine countries, led by economic heavyweights France, Italy and Spain, called for a common debt instrument issued by a European institution to raise funds on the market.

By givingaclear message thatwearefacingthis unique shockall together, we would strengthen the EU and the Economic and Monetary Union and ... provide the strongest message to our citizens about European determined cooperation and resolve to provide an effective and united response, they said.

The letter was also signed by the leaders of Portugal, Ireland, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Belgium and Greece.

Officials say the need for a decision on a bailout plan has been reduced by the ECBs announcement of a coronavirus emergency bond-buying program worth 750 billion euros.

Still, the ECB has long sought a euro zone-wide safe asset, arguing that a Euro Bond would be key to crisis-proofing a currency bloc that came close to collapse in the debt crisis only a few years ago.

A German government spokesman, responding to the letter, said it was normal for leaders to put forward proposals ahead of EU summits, but in the end the matter would be decided by all member states. No comment was immediately available from the Netherlands or Austria.

Such an instrument would give Brussels a fiscal lever that could be moved quickly and in tandem with the ECB, which has for years complained that budget policy is out of sync with monetary policy, hindering its economic stimulus efforts.

It would also let commercial banks cut holdings of their home countrys debt, breaking the so-called doom loop between banks and their host country in which any regional debt crisis can quickly morph into a banking crisis as well.

Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi in Frankfurt, Andrey Khalip in Madrid, Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels and Andreas Rinke in Berlin; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Kevin Liffey

Link:
Club Med takes on the Frugals in EU 'corona bond' bailout battle - Reuters

On March 24, prime minister Narendra Modi announced a complete lockdown of the country for 21 days to contain the spread of novel coronavirus. All transport operations were grounded and non-essential services shut overnight. This sudden nationwide lockdown brought the nation of over a billion people to its knees but one particular group has clearly been most severely hit: Indias internal migrants.

Soon after the announcement, distressing reports emerged that many migrants were stranded in cities without income and food.

Many started to head home on foot, with some arduously walking hundreds of kilometres to return to their native places without adequate food and water along the way; some even faced police brutalities for no fault of their own.

The panic surrounding the spread of the coronavirus had already set in before the nationwide lockdown. States such as Maharashtra and Kerala, which are worst affected by the virus and also attract a large number of migrants, had already implemented strict lockdown measures. As livelihoods dwindled, migrants crowded trains to return home.

There are nearly 100 million internal migrants in India, and not all had the choice to return home.

Most rural-urban migrants work in the unorganised sector; they have precarious lives and livelihoods, and they subsist in cities and support their families in villages from savings their meagre everyday earnings allow.

Also read: As Migrants Trudge Out of Indias Cities, the Stark Realities of Migration Stand Exposed

Many had the information but chose to stay for another day of wage as they faced the cruel choice of dying from hunger before coronavirus could get them.

As news spread on the plight of stranded migrants, the Central government and several state governments have initiated actions to provide them with basic necessities such as food, shelter, sanitation. Many civil society groups, such as Aajeevika, are also working on the ground to help the migrants in crisis. These are welcome steps indeed.

Yet, there is also another group of citizens in potentially more severe crisis that needs urgent help but is conspicuously absent in current discussions on lockdown-induced migration crisis.

A family of a migrant worker sits along a highway as they wait for a bus to return to their village, during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spreading of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, March 29, 2020. Photo: Reuters/Adnan Abidi

It is the left-behind wives of migrants, who stay behind in villages and who depend on their husbands remittances to run their families. My field research in high labour outmigration state of Bihar shows the important role migrants remittances play in sustaining rural families headed by women.

These are de facto women-headed households where women assume the role of household heads in the absence of men. With their men stranded and livelihoods disrupted, these women need support in these troubling times as much migrants.

Bihar is not alone and this crisis looms large across rural India. In large parts of rural India, labour migration is predominantly undertaken by single men while the women stay behind to manage their families and farms.

As important research by Chinmay Tumbe of IIM-Ahmedabad shows, male migration is prevalent in regions covering over 200 million people, including places as diverse as coastal Maharashtra to mountainous Uttarakhand. Strikingly, this migration pattern has persisted for over 100 years.

There are two key reasons for this male-only pattern of migration. First, socio-cultural norms restrict the mobility of women to distant urban areas. As dutiful wives, mothers, daughter-in-laws, they are expected to stay in the village and manage their rural households.

Also read: 22 Migrant Workers, Kin Have Died Trying to Return Home Since the Lockdown Started

Second, where social norms allow migrants to bring their wives to cities, financial constraints preclude realistic opportunities. Most migrants in urban informal sector earn low wages and share cheap accommodation with fellow workers; they cannot afford to have separate accommodation to live with families. Besides, high costs of healthcare and childrens education in cities also prohibit family migration, especially among communities where women face cultural restrictions on wage work.

Enduring prolonged physical and emotional separation from their men, women also suffer from several gender-based vulnerabilities in villages.

My primary research in rural Bihar on migration and food security documented that women-headed households where men were absent due to migration were more vulnerable to food insecurity than the households headed by men.

This is despite the fact that women prioritised food and used household cash and other resources on food security more judiciously than men. This disadvantage arose largely because of the entrenched gender inequalities women-headed households faced.

One important reason for this is that women often face greater difficulties in accessing government-run social protection services such as PDS food rations, important source of food security in rural India. My field research shows that migration and gender coalesce to produce disadvantage for women-headed migrant households.

This occurs through two ways.

First, absence of men and social norms often restricting the participation of women in the affairs outside the household result in women who stay behind finding it hard to register their claims over their social protection entitlements; those who try are often unheard and manipulated.

Second, the local authorities in-charge of administering the safety nets often regard households with migrant members as having steady income streams, and thus, consider them ineligible for social protection benefits.

It is under such circumstances of added gender-based vulnerabilities that remittances come to their rescue. However, with migration-based livelihoods in disarray for uncertain time, women-headed households will be particularly pressed to fend for themselves.

Also read: Coronavirus Has Revealed Just How Much Our Cities Exclude the Poor

At the global level, there are concerns that COVID-19 poses intensified risks for women and girls, including gender-based violence. The women who stay back in rural India already straddle an added burden of productive and reproductive responsibilities. This crisis will likely intensify their care work, and financial stress will further aggravate their situation.

At the time of writing, media reports showed that states such as Odisha, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh are arranging transport for stranded migrants to return home. But given the risk of coronavirus spread, it is likely that these migrants will be kept in temporary shelters before they are allowed to return home.

Some states, such as Gujarat, have already put in place strict restrictions on migrants return travel to their villages, and arranged free food and accommodation. This is a wise move, not least because it will reduce the risk of women getting infected. But all this also means it will be a while before women in villages can expect help from their men. They need social protection to help them avert this crisis.

Rise in food insecurity is a key immediate concern. One immediate measure that state governments can and should take is to provide free food rations to all such women-headed households to prevent hunger among them. In particular, poor states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh that have high labour outmigration prevalence, much of which involves male migration, should immediately implement this. Vast PDS infrastructure already exists to serve this goal.

Local gram panchayat leaders should be roped in. These leaders possess knowledge on livelihood profiles of all households in their areas and know the migrant households headed by women. Moreover, state governments should also provide cash payments to such households. Many of these households will likely have NREGS job cards and that information should be used to provide them cash support. These steps can provide immediate relief and reduce the gender-based vulnerabilities of such women-headed migrant households.

Indian cities and towns generate over 70% of countrys GDP, and migrant labour plays a key constructive role in this. Indias rural migrants build our cities and sustain our urban lives. We must protect them.

But it is the women left-behind who sustain migration by supporting their men. We must not ignore them, and help them in this time of crisis. We owe it to them.

Chetan Choithani is a postdoctoral research associate at the Urban Studies Institute, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Read this article:
What Happens to the Wives of Male Migrant Workers, Who Run Entire Households in Villages? - The Wire

4 min read01 April

The Government was warned about what would happen when we faced a pandemic the current crisis facing our NHS is the result of decades of putting profit before people.

The Governments response to the current coronavirus crisis has been woeful. But it is also a thorough indictment of the ideology that it adheres to and which has dominated British politics for more than 40 years. A coherent and determined alternative to that ideology has never been more needed.

At the time of writing we remain on the Italy trajectory for cases and deaths. Italy has already surpassed the total number of deaths recorded in China, despite having a population less than one-twentieth of the size. We are already far worse than China, adjusted for population size, in terms of both recorded cases and deaths.

Under this Government and its predecessors, the NHS has gone from permanent winter to structural weakness in a time of crisis. It is the lack of staff, the lack of protective equipment for them, the shortage of beds and the inadequacy of ventilators has made a crisis situation a catastrophe.

The argument that no-one could have foreseen this is patently false. Scientists and epidemiologists have been talking about the next pandemic for years. In 2015 the government produced its strategic defence and security review, where the threat of pandemics was mentioned, but little done. If reports are accurate, Exercise Cygnus in 2016 showed the NHS failing a pandemic simulation exercise, and yet nothing was done to correct that.

It is not broadband communism to suggest that almost everyone now needs free, fast broadband access as a basic necessity

There will need to be a reckoning when this crisis finally passes. It must first include a complete change of the way public services are regarded, and funded, as well as the esteem, pay and conditions of those public sector workers.

It turns out that routinely-disrespected low-skilled workers are among the most important workers in our society. They make things work. We dont actually need hedge fund managers at all.

Of course, this includes migrant workers, who are a key component of our NHS, of public services in general and the whole economy. They are not a burden, we rely on them.

We also see that properly resourced public services are vital, not just the NHS, and social care, but everything from transport, to infrastructure to education. It is not broadband communism to suggest that almost everyone now needs free, fast broadband access as a basic necessity to stay connected and inter-connected.

Some commentators suggest that Boris Johnson understands all this and will act on it, and that there is such a thing as society is a moment of Damascene conversion. This is wilfully nave. The Institute for Fiscal Studies tells us that austerity will be with us for a very long time to come.

In reality, a comprehensive and radical alternative will be even more urgently required once the immediate public health crisis is resolved. The damage to peoples lives, to the economy and to public services will endure much longer. Many in government will argue that the spending for the coronavirus (and subsequently the impact of a no deal Brexit) are one-offs, and that they require a renewed belt-tightening to pay for them.

Corbynism rejects this approach. Not least because the legacy of this crisis has not only revealed the damage already suffered by public services, housing, transport and so on, but it will also provide the backdrop to the continuing climate crisis.

Viewed in this light, there is no basis for business as usual politics. We are not going to return to sunlit uplands without vigorous state intervention across society and the economy. A renewed, reinvigorated version of Corbynism will be required, which puts people before profits is required. Sleep-walking from one crisis to the next cannot be an option.

Diane Abbott is Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington and shadow home secretary.

The rest is here:
From migrant workers to free broadband, coronavirus has shown that Corbynism is needed - PoliticsHome.com

Our newsfeeds are flooded with videos and articles about migrant workers walking over a 100 km a day to reach their respective hometowns. The suspension of trains and buses and the sealing of State borders has left several thousands stranded across the country. Which industries do these labourers mainly service?

Real estate is the third largest sector after agriculture and manufacturing to use migrant labour. Says Prashant Thakur, Director & Head Research, Anarock Property Consultants: Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Tamil Nadu account for more than half of the countrys total construction employment. As per the National Skill Development Council, the workforce employed by the construction and real estate sector is expected to grow to 76 million by 2022.

In the light of the lockdown, it is time to ask what industry bodies and developers are doing for their workers. Due to the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 crisis, developers have been caught off guard and are unprepared to deal with the situation. However, many branded developers and major players are stepping forward with plans and policies to deal with this unforeseen situation, says Thakur.

Keeping a check

Niranjan Hiranandani, National President of the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), says, All industry bodies have communicated to their members the seriousness of the pandemics challenges and promised to assist migrant labourers as they are the most vulnerable. But, in the given scenario, he adds, we need to factor in that workers opting to move away from the sites to return to their villages is adding to the issue.

Arun Mn, Founder and Managing Director, Casagrand, explains that on-site accommodation and a daily food allowance is being provided to all the migrant labourers he employs. Basic sanitation facilities and wash areas have also been provided. We have arranged isolation rooms in each camp in case a need arises, he says. Migrant workers make up 80% of his total worker strength of 4,700. 50% of these workers are from Bihar, followed by Odisha (18%), West Bengal (15%), Uttar Pradesh (8%), Madhya Pradesh (6%), Jharkhand (2%) and Andhra Pradesh (1%).

Official guidelines (BOCW Act and Govt.)

Official directives

On March 23, the Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health sent out a circular instructing employers of Building and Other Construction Works (BOCW) establishments to comply with the provisions of the BOCW Act 1996 and the Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Condition of Service) Act of 1979. The Act states that food, medical care and suitable accommodation, with separate space for cooking, bathing, washing and lavatory facilities are to be provided on-site or at a designated space nearby.

It also states that when more than 250 workers are employed and when more than 100 inter-State migrant workers are employed, canteen facilities must be provided. The rules also say that the contractor must ensure suitable and adequate medical facilities and preventive measures against epidemics and virus infections: The entire cost on treatment, hospital charges and the travel expenses from hospital to resident shall be borne by the contractor.

According to S. Sridharan, chairman of the Tamil Nadu chapter, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) has sent directives to its builder members. They are required to provide workers with food and other essentials. This is a tough time for the industry, and we have seen to it that all members are complying with the directives. Food and provisions are being supplied to labourers on-site and to those in camps. We have also intervened with contractors to ensure the supplies reach them, he says.

Cess funds

The Cess Act requires the construction industry to pay 1% of the total cost of their project towards the welfare of the labourers.

It is difficult to say how many have followed this directive but, on the ground, several developers are trying to do their bit, says Thakur of Anarock. Builders across cities are providing grains, pulses, vegetables, drinking water and milk. In many cases, building sites and camps housing workers are being fumigated and sanitised.

On-ground

According to Chitty Babu, Chairman and CEO of Akshaya, the 679 workers he employs have been sent to 10 labour colonies in Chennai and one in Trichy. We have been sensitising them on the issue and taking precautionary measures on-site as well. Accommodation, food, access to toilets and drinking water is being provided. We have ambulance and medical facilities as well.

Other builders say they are taking similar measures. If that is the case, what explains the mass exodus of labourers across States? The lapses have happened in a few parts of the country and need to be dealt with severely, said one industry source.

You have reached your limit for free articles this month.

Register to The Hindu for free and get unlimited access for 30 days.

Find mobile-friendly version of articles from the day's newspaper in one easy-to-read list.

Enjoy reading as many articles as you wish without any limitations.

A select list of articles that match your interests and tastes.

Move smoothly between articles as our pages load instantly.

A one-stop-shop for seeing the latest updates, and managing your preferences.

We brief you on the latest and most important developments, three times a day.

Not convinced? Know why you should pay for news.

*Our Digital Subscription plans do not currently include the e-paper ,crossword, iPhone, iPad mobile applications and print. Our plans enhance your reading experience.

Read this article:
What is the real estate industry doing to help their migrant labour workforce? - The Hindu