Pandemic has affected jobs: Subramanian

New Delhi: Chief Economic Adviser K Subramanian on Wednesday said that the economic fortune of the country is linked directly with the ongoing pandemic and it has impacted employment, like it has affected all the countries across the world.

Subramanian said that unemployment has gone up in India as the coronavirus pandemic has had repercussions on employment prospects, according to NDTV report At the same time though, India had taken steps to push key activities like construction and manufacturing during the third and fourth quarters of 2020-21 when the first wave had eased, the chief economic adviser said.

When asked about demand for jobs under MGNREGA, considering the fact that several migrant workers have headed back to their native places in many parts of the country, Subramanian said that though demand for it in May this year was not as high compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, allocation for the programme can certainly go up.

In the report titled 'State of Working India 2021: One year of COVID-19' (2021), 23 crore Indians have been pushed into poverty in the past one year. These are families primarily in the informal sector," the statement said.

A day after reporting lowest cases since April 8, India witnessed a slight increase in Covid numbers with 1,32,788 new infections reported in 24 hours and 3,207 more people succumbed to the pandemic, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry said on Wednesday.

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra once again took a potshot at the government over the slow rate of vaccination, asking who is responsible for India's confused vaccination programme? Priyanka also attached a video of herself saying on August 15 last year PM Modi declared that there was a plan in place to vaccinate every people of ther country by next year.

As many as 594 doctors have died in the ongoing second wave with Delhi recording the maximum 107 fatalities, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has said.

The WHO said that only one strain of the Covid-19 Delta variant first detected in India was now considered "of concern", while two other strains had been downgraded.