-Business Standard The government has made an enabling provision in the code to provide insurance cover, under the ESI schemes, to gig, platform and plantation workers Workers employed in the gig economy may soon be eligible for insurance benefits provided by the state-run Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC). The move is a part of the Social security Code Bill, 2019 approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. The Code has also proposed...

-Financial Express A study by ICRIER researchers Ashok Gulati and Pritha Banerjee shows how problematic the fertiliser policy is—for farmers, industry, the environment and the government. India’s experience with fertilisers, in the later part of the Green Revolution, prompted it to adopt a policy of subsidising fertilisers. In 1977, the country had a total NPK (nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic) fertiliser consumption of 4.3 million metric tonnes (mmt) and per hectare usage...

-The Hindu Workers’ union in Rajasthan adopts motto ‘Let there be dignity of labour and decent wages for work’ Jaipur: Unorganised workers from different sectors in Rajasthan, who formed their first-ever union two years ago, have sought recognition of their labour rights for getting minimum wages, social security, monthly ration through public distribution system and implementation of law with the guarantee for 100 days of work in a year to each household. The...

-The Indian Express Sources told The Indian Express that the state government decided to table the report after a hurried Cabinet meeting late Saturday. During the meeting, sources said, at least two ministers claimed the Cabinet had been “misled” earlier about the contents of the report. The report of the Justice V K Agarwal enquiry commission, which found no evidence to support claims by security forces that 17 people killed in...

-The Indian Express Viable solutions to PDS portability are being ignored in the push for Aadhaar. Migrants’ woes are often invoked in making a case for portability of benefits in the public distribution system (PDS). Most recently, an article (‘A hundred small steps’, IE, September 26) did just that. However, in many cases of short-term seasonal migration (a dominant form in India), only one or two of the household members migrate,...