-PTI London: Leading UK retail chains such as John Lewis and Habitat have withdrawn granite products from their range over fears of child labour and slavery within its Indian supply chains. Businesses selling granite products such as kitchen worktops and tiles are scrutinising the source of their products after global investigators discovered that debt bondage, underage workers and unsafe, unhealthy working conditions are part and parcel of daily working life in Indian...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government has stated that safety standards in the cleaning of sewer and septic tanks are alarmingly low across the country in the wake of 10 people falling prey to cleaning sewers in a month in the capital. A review of the "Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act, 2013" (MS Act) has found that there is no information available about the cases...

-Hindustan Times India’s public expenditure on health is rising, but not as fast as its burgeoning population of 1.3 billion, which grow by 26 million each year It’s not the lack of oxygen that kills hundreds of children in hospitals of Uttar Pradesh each year, it’s India’s abysmal public health delivery system. “Gorakhpur is the symbol of the collapse of the primary health care system. Why should people be forced to travel 200km...

-Hindustan Times After Tamil Nadu’s pioneering Amma canteens, many states have started community kitchens, such as Karnataka’s Indira Canteens. This is a welcome development. The first coverage of the recently inaugurated “Indira canteens” in Karnataka that I noticed were two reports on television channels. Both were poking fun (justifiably) at Rahul Gandhi’s goofy speech at the launch. Sadly though, neither commented on the rationale or importance of the Karnataka government’s initiative. This...

-The Hindu Business Line Only crops to have registered an increase in area under cultivation were cotton and sugarcane New Delhi: The shortfall in sowing of oilseeds and pulses has continued to bring down the total area under cultivation during the current kharif season as compared to the previous year. Farmers across the country have so far covered only 1,013.83 lakh hectares (ha) by end of this week as compared to 1,019.6 lakh...