-Scroll.in Both children and their parents need the unique identity number to get admission, receive benefits under the education law. Along the Sagarpur nala (drain) near Uttam Nagar in West Delhi lives a community of grinding stone makers originally from Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh. They say they have lived in the row of shacks along the stormwater drain for over a decade now. But they have no documents to prove this. “No power...

-Scroll.in Activists say the insistence on the unique ID for enrolment is a violation of the Right to Education Act and will lead to the exclusion of migrant children. On the morning of April 6, Uzma Begum took her nine-year-old daughter Iram to Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in East Delhi’s New Seemapuri in an attempt to admit her into the government-run school. She had to return home unsuccessful. “Ghar mein bithao [Make your...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Despite the slow decline of the renowned handlooms of Dharmavaram in Andhra Pradesh, Shankara Dhanunjaya tried to work hard and prosper. But in 2016, at the age of 35, debts, crumbling dreams and crushing policy changes drove him to suicide All the handloom halls Into mortuary rooms Being metamorphosed That inexplicable sorrow! (From ‘Maggam bathuku’ an epic poem by Dr. U. Radheya, who is from a family of weavers; translated by Dr. P. Ramesh Narayana) In...

-The Indian Express Demonetisation shows India’s social welfare measures like MGNREGS to be worryingly patchy Following the announcement of demonetisation, reports of its devastating impact on informal sector workers, farmers and migrants began to pour in from across the country. Seeking evidence on two questions — do social security measures work in the face of such an economic shock, and do these programmes themselves face disruption because of demonetisation — we conducted...

-The Hindu Business Line They rue voting for BJP in the 2014 LS polls, and swear by Mayawati’s BSP now Jalaun (Uttar Pradesh): The reverse migration triggered by demonetisation has possibly reversed the BJP’s political fortunes in this backward and poverty-stricken region of Bundelkhand. Coupled with agrarian distress, demonetisation-induced reverse migration is pushing voters away from the BJP in the ongoing elections. While the SP-Congress alliance is the frontrunner for upper caste voters,...