-The Indian Express The final election manifesto will be released jointly with its alliance partners Congress and newly-formed Indian Secular Front (ISF). Kolkata: The Left Front in its draft election manifesto for the Assembly polls on Thursday promised to set up a separate ministry for migrant workers, acquire land for projects after consensus and safeguard minority rights among other promises. The CPI (M)-led Left Front, which ruled the state for a record 34...

-The Indian Express Migration for work represents a match between employers looking for certain skills at low rates and workers who want to earn more than they can back home Political rhetoric and the occasional violence against inter-state migrant workers is nothing new in India. Starting from the Mulki rules in Nizam-ruled Hyderabad in the late 19th century that favoured local employment to the anti-South Indian movements in Bombay in the 1960s...

-The Hindu Several trade unions, feminists and research groups and policy advocates have come together on International Women’s Day to campaign for the rights of anganwadi workers, helpers and ASHAs with Members of Parliament and to highlight their plight during the pandemic. The Frontline Workers’ Solidarity Campaign will be addressing several MPs as Parliament reconvenes for the second part of the Budget Session on Monday. The drive is being spearheaded by Feminist...

-TheWire.in The mass exodus of migrant workers from cities after the nationwide lockdown has amplified the housing crisis for migrant workers in cities. ‘Low-income migrants’ in cities have always subsumed under the blanket, but arguably vague, term ‘urban poor’. This categorisation overlooks the mobility dimension of migrant workers’ lives where they are constantly moving between places in search of work, following capital. The government’s own estimates also indicate that with each passing...

When a massive sum of public money is spent on a programme like Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA)--a demand-driven programme, there is likelihood of financial misappropriations and mismanagement. Thankfully there are checks and balances in the rural employment guarantee legislation to counter such malpractices. It is worth noting that the total allocation under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) for 2020-21 was Rs. 1,11,500.00 crore (R.E.), up...