How do working mothers in the informal economy breastfeed their children without maternity/labour protections? Using 150 interviews with domestic workers, vendors, home-based & pheri working mothers in Delhi, @antaraxrai, @sosurie & I share new work. Read: rb.gy/x2gxum 79% of the sample was breastfeeding. Of the 21 women with a child under 6 months, 14 reported exclusively breastfeeding. However, 11 of them had fed water/other food too in the last 24 hours, and 2 of the remaining 3 were at risk of disruption b/c of pressure to return to work.

Fourteen states have said the vaccine will be free. More will follow. They should - it makes ethical, economic and political sense. But just realise when we all casually say 'health is a state subject', what this implies for all spending on health, and not just vaccines. (1/7). States likely to spend 2.5-3% of budget on vaccines. Rajasthan has said ~3000cr over next 6months. The question is: what's the immediate trade-off? Income support for workers? NREGA/PDS expansions? Preparation for health infra expansion for third wave? It isn't free. (2/7).

Thread. Few questions to hold onto re: urban social protection. It’s hard to think of a “post” now, but policy makers and urban practitioners must at least grasp at the questions that must guide us through the transitions to come so we don’t go back to a deeply unjust “normal.” 1. What are the new ways to deliver social protection innovated during emergency time that must remain and endure “post” this crisis? Eg. direct cash transfers to informal workers, technological innovations, community kitchens, rent protections.

As we think of physical distancing + social solidarity, a thread on things that those of us with economic resources should consider personally doing right away.
Let’s take stock of the workers whose labour run our homes as we “work from home” because we can. (1/10). For domestic workers, offer paid leave. If you can’t, offer full pay for reduced hours. If you can’t, offer a bonus to privatise their transport to your homes. If nothing else, offer a bonus of an extra month’s income. (2/10).

1/ Second thread, time time on NPR-NRC. Puts together NPR Schedules (tinyurl.com/sy4e7xw); 2003 Citizenship Act Rules (tinyurl.com/uxmqett); Census Schedules (tinyurl.com/v7qmxdj). Read them for yourself, and real along with the thread! 2/ First, the 2003 rules. These are the basis of the NRC, and are put into action through the NPR which is defined in Para 2(l). What is the NPR? Effectively, it's a set of extra questions - called a “Schedule” - to be asked of households beyond the Census.

1/ There are lots of good and vital ethical, moral, and political arguments against the fundamental injustice of the #CAA. This thread lists other arguments and forms of resistance that focus on procedural and institutional challenges. 2/

Writing this so that we remember that our forms of resistance must be as varied and diverse as the forms of exclusion we face. The courage of today's protestors deserves pathways tomorrow to grow and sustain.