-The Hindu Protest continues on Diwali against non-payment of wages Patna: Development economist Jean Drèze, along with hundreds of protesting MGNREGA workers, observed "Black Diwali" at a village in Muzaffarpur District on Thursday. For over a fortnight, the workers have been organising a dharna demanding payment of dues. Professor Drèze reached Mahant Manihari Panchayat Bhawan under the Kurhani block and sat on the day-long dharna. "Nearly 3,000 workers from six blocks have not been...

-The Times of India MUZAFFARPUR (Bihar): The Union government has started dumping MGNREGA by restricting the expenditure on wages and also limiting the area where this central project is being implemented in the country, said RJD national vice-president and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh here on Sunday, who had launched the project in February 2006 during his tenure as Union minister for rural development in the UPA regime. Talking to the...

-The Indian Express The distribution of fake cards could have meant that Bihar govt could have incurred Rs 3.23 cr monthly loss. Bihar: The Food and Consumer Protection department of Bihar government has detected 7.77 lakh fake ration cards, distribution of which could have incurred Rs 3.23 cr monthly loss to state government. The Food and Consumer Protection department suspected these cards being fake after there had been no takers for these cards...

-The Times of India Mitu Kumari, in charge of a government school in Patahin, a village on the outskirts of Muzaffarpur, Bihar, has a measured enthusiasm for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement that toilets for girls will be built in schools that still don't have this basic facility. For her 146 students and three women teachers, absence of toilets is an intolerable problem. "I have written to everybody, from the village mukhia...

India has witnessed many fiery debates on poverty estimates. Equally contentious has been the issue of inequality. Now a new report on exclusion offers a fresh perspective on poverty, inequality and social justice. (See below a summary of the report) Based on data and knowledge resources available in the public domain, India Exclusion Report 2013-14 highlights the systematic discrimination faced by women, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Muslims, persons with...