-Hindustan Times PLFS report shows urban unemployment grew; there was an unprecedented shift from urban to rural jobs; wages fell and underemployment increased The 2019-20 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), which was released last week by the National Statistical Office (NSO) shows a fall in unemployment rate from 5.8% in 2018-19 to 4.8% 2019-20. Since PLFS follows a July-June rather than the fiscal year (April-March) period, the 2019-20 report includes the 68-day...

-The Tribune Actress-activist Gul Panag also attends the ‘sansad’ Gender lines blurred and traditional roles reversed ever so often as men and women joined hands to share responsibilities in the farm, at home and at protest sites to keep up the prolonged fight against three agri laws, women farmers said here on Monday. Gathered for an all-woman Kisan Sansad (farmers' parliament), they demanded the repeal of the Essential Services Commodities Amendment Act, and...

Media reports indicate that at the start of the southwest monsoon season, lightning strikes caused the death of over 70 people in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh on a single day i.e. 11th July, 2021. Prior to those separate events related to human casualty caused by thunderbolts, eighteen elephants were found dead on a hilltop at Kandali Proposed Reserve Forest situated in Assam's Nagaon district on...

-Scroll.in In a world of powerful spying tools, Indian democracy urgently needs checks on intelligence gathering. With allegations that opposition leaders, Union ministers, bureaucrats, an election commissioner and even a Supreme Court judge could have been spied on, the Pegasus spyware scandal points to one of the most egregious misuses of power in India’s history. The Israeli manufacturer of Pegasus insists that it only sells its weapons-grade spyware to governments, prompting allegations that...

-Down to Earth Aggressive sugarcane farming contaminates land, water The Union government intends to increase the amount of ethanol in the energy mix to lower the country’s dependence on imported oil and carbon footprint, as well as stabilise petrol prices.  India currently blends about 8.5 per cent ethanol in petrol. The government is targeting a 10 per cent ethanol blend by 2022 and a 20 per cent blend (E20) by 2025. E20 can save...