-The Hindu How many bills have been tabled without prior discussions? What needs to be done to improve public consultation in policymaking? The story so far: The Union Government has listed 29 Bills (26 new and three pending) to be tabled in the winter session of Parliament. In 2014, the Pre-Legislative Consultation Policy was adopted, mandating a host of rules, including that whenever the Government makes any law, it must place a...

-Livemint.com From a replacement-level fertility rate to rising anaemia prevalence, here’s what the latest round of the National Family Health Survey has found on key health indicators across India’s states India hit a major demographic milestone in the last two years as its total fertility rate slipped below the replacement level for the first time, show the findings of the latest National Family Health Survey. The replacement mark—2.1 children per woman—is the...

The virility of Muslim men vis-à-vis men from other religious communities have often been used as a political tool and to create a divisive agenda just before elections for getting votes from the majority of the Indian electorate who are Hindus. Instead of focusing on positive agendas like human development, employment generation, and poverty reduction, political campaigns just before the elections oftentimes reduce to mere communal propaganda (when a lot...

-The Hindu Does the JPC adopted bill fail to protect individuals against Government agencies? The story so far: The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) constituted to examine India’s proposed data protection law, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, released its report on Monday. It contains a number of suggestions that could strengthen the final law, among others, a recognition that promotion of the digital economy cannot take precedence over the protection of citizen...

-The Hindu Business Line The letter underlined that the MGNREGA has assumed more significance during the period of the pandemic The country’s top economists, researchers, and activists have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing their concern about the funds crunch in MGNREGA and demanding immediate release of additional funds to ensure that the programme functions as the law requires. The letter, signed by several academics and intellectuals including Jean...