-The Hindu ‘Pandemic has made matters worse for women, the young, self-employed, migrants’. Direct transfer of money into bank accounts of informal workers and an urban employment guarantee scheme were among the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour in its report on the impact of the pandemic on rising unemployment and job loss. The report, which was presented in the Lok Sabha and tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, said:...

The pandemic's first wave had a devastating impact on the livelihoods of rural workers in Bihar (including the self-employed) last year, according to a survey based research, jointly done by economists from Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability at Monash University, Australia and the New Delhi-based Institute for Human Development. A recent press note issued by the authors of the study shows that almost 94.4 percent of the households participating...

-Newsclick.in Individuals and organisations sent a letter to FSSAI saying that the chemical fortification of food is not a solution as nutrients do not work in isolation but need each other for optimal absorption. The Indian government’s plans to make mandatory the artificial fortification of certain food items has raised concerns as 170 individuals and organisations on Saturday wrote to the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) urging it to...

-Press release by Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA Kisan Swaraj) dated 2 August, 2021 170 individuals and organizations along with the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA Kisan Swaraj) have written to the FSSAI urging it to scrap its plans to make synthetic/ chemical fortification of foods mandatory in India [1]. They cited detrimental and irreversible health and socio-economic impacts such as market shifts in favor of large...

-The Hindu Apart from PPE kits, RT-PCR tests, masks and gloves, Empowered Group later managed supply of medical oxygen The Central Information Commission (CIC) has slammed the Centre’s blanket denial of information related to a committee overseeing medical oxygen supplies during the pandemic, saying its rationale was “far fetched” and “unjustified”. In its order on Saturday, Information Commissioner Vanaja Sarna directed the Centre to respond to the Right to Information (RTI) request...