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The COVID-19 pandemic is certain to have an unprecedented impact on the global population, but marginalized and vulnerable groups in low-income countries (LICs) are predicted to carry the largest burden. This study focuses on the implications of COVID-19-related measures on three population groups in India, including (1) migrant laborers (of which a majority come from Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), as well as Other Backward Classes (OBCs)), (2) children from low-income families and, (3) refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

This study adopts a sequential mixed-method research design. A desk-based study of a selection of government reports was undertaken on the COVID-19-related mitigation measures. The desk study was followed by in-depth interviews with purposively recruited high-ranking experts in specific sectors of policy implementation and service delivery across the country.

The outcomes of this study shed light on (1) the most urgent needs that need to be addressed per population group, (2) the variety of state-level responses as well as best practices observed to deal with mitigation issues and (3) opportunities for quick relief as well as more long-term solutions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only reduced people's means of maintaining a livelihood but has simultaneously revealed some of India's long-standing problems with infrastructure and resource distribution in a range of sectors, including nutrition and health, education, etc. There is an urgent need to construct effective pathways to trace and respond to those people who are desolate, and to learn from – and support – good practices at the grassroot level.

The current study contributes to the discussion on how inclusive public health might be reached.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute original evidence about the conditions for formal and informal contracts for commodities and labour in the waste economy of a South Indian town.

Field research was exploratory, based on snowball sampling and urban traversing. The analysis follows capital and labour in the sub-circuits of capital generating waste in production, distribution, consumption, the production of labour and the reproduction of society.

Regardless of legal regulation, which is selectively enforced, formal contracts are limited to active inspection regimes; direct transactions with or within the state; and long-distance transactions. Formal labour contracts are least incomplete for state employment, and for relatively scarce skilled labour in the private sector.

The research design does not permit quantified generalisations.

Waste management technology evaluations neglect the social costs of displacing a large informal labour force.

While slowly dissolving occupational barriers of untouchability, the waste economy is a low-status labour absorber of last resort, exit from which is extremely difficult.

The first systematic exploration of formal and informal contracts in an Indian small-town waste economy.

As the crystallization of Chinese wisdom and the shared wealth of all humanity, the Socialist Political Economy with Chinese Characteristics (SPECC) not only reveals the specific traits of SPECC but also indicates the general rules of the global economic development, showing both nationality and internationality. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

Being aware of the nationality of the SPECC is of great importance. It requires to integrate the basic Marxist principles with the realities of China, and meanwhile draw lessons from, not just simply copy, the strengths of other countries. The authors must adhere to the basic principles of the SPECC.

From the perspective of past practices, the SPECC has not only provided theoretical guidance for China’s reform and development, but has also given references to some countries, especially developing countries under reform and transition.

SPECC should be based on China’s conditions and practices, absorb China’s traditional cultural essences, draw lessons from other nations’ positive theoretical and practical results, propose theoretical viewpoints independently and initially, and construct a distinct academic system and discourse system. In this way, China would work to develop the characteristics and advantages of the SPECC, and contribute Chinese wisdom to the development and improvement of world economics and economics theories.