-Press release by the Right to Food Campaign, dated 21st June, 2018 Over the past ten months, at least 12 persons have succumbed to hunger in Jharkhand. Instead of taking action against functionaries whose lapses have led to these deaths and measures to improve the situation of food security in the state, Jharkhand government has denied hunger as the cause of any of these deaths and absolved itself of any blame....

-The Telegraph State ignoring ground realities of malnutrition, busy trying to prove every victim was ailing, says Drèze Ranchi: Right to Food Campaign activists claim the Jharkhand government was doing precious little to arrest the circumstances that force people to starve and die, but was continuing to "shamelessly marshal" all resources to prove after every starvation death that it was because of illness and not hunger. According to noted economist and activist, Jean...

-GoIMonitor.com The villagers getting management rights under the Forest Rights Act can inspire others “First came the forest, followed by the people, and then the government. Does this chronology allow the newest entrant in the scheme to determine the relationship between the two older entities? In other words, does the new regime of community forest resource bequeath rights or is it merely a recognition of unalienable rights already vested in the communities living...

-Firstpost.com The labour ministry has put the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) on the back burner as it wants to transition to computing payroll data based on Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscriptions, based on data from the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), according to this report in The Economic Times. Of course, the EPFO-based jobs data gives one a better picture about the...

-FactChecker.in/ IndiaSpend Team Mumbai: On completing four years in government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a slew of infographics based on what it offered as achievements. Two such claims relate to the Mahatma Gandhi National rural employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a 12-year-old rural make-work programme launched in 2006 by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, led by the Congress party. The BJP–whose leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi once said the...