-Economic and Political Weekly The Indian weaver is dismissed in high places as an embarrassing anachronism, despite demand for his or her skills and products. In the new millennium, globalisation and a mindless acquiescence to imported notions of a good life threaten to take over, even as the West looks East for better concepts of sustainable living. Analysing today's crisis in the handloom sector, plagued by low-cost imitations from power looms,...
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SECC not irrelevant just yet -Rukmini S
-The Hindu Although the SECC’s objectives are not likely to be met, it is a big step towards providing accurate information on the well-being of the people. The release of data for rural households from the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) is only the latest step in India’s tortured history of trying to count its poor. The idea behind the SECC was technocratic. Commissioned by the United Progressive Alliance in 2011,...
More »Govt proposes massive dilution of whistleblower law -Nitin Sethi
-Business Standard Amendments will bar whistleblowers from disclosing info which govt and its agencies are exempted from providing under RTI Act The NDA government has proposed to substantially reduce the kind of information the whistle-blowers will be able to disclose under the Whistleblowers Protection Act, 2011. The government has tabled an amendment bill in the Lok Sabha that reduces the mandate of the law considerably. If the amendment is passed, the whistle-blower would no...
More »More power to skilled hands -Laila Tyabji
-The Hindu Handlooms are the one area where India leads the world in skill, creativity and expertise. The Handloom Reservation Act must be strengthened, not repealed Last month, Gajendra Singh, a farmer, hanged himself in New Delhi. His death attracted massive attention as it happened so publicly, in front of the hundreds of people gathered there for Aam Aadmi Party’s rally against the Land Acquisition Bill. Such attention is rare, given that...
More »Women can finally take a stand on urinating in public toilets -Usri Basistha
-Tehelka PeeBuddy is India’s first attempt at solving the health issue of contracting UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) every time a woman reluctantly decides to use a toilet of dubious sanitary standards in a public establishment. This is a country where 1.2 billion of its populace is used to not having proper public toilets, and women are more susceptible to assaults because they do not have a toilet in their homes. Hence, it...
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