-Hindustan Times NFHS-5, the most comprehensive survey on socio-economic and health indicators in the country, shows some surprising demographic transitions. The Union health ministry released the summary findings of the fifth round of the National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-5), conducted in two phases between 2019 and 2021, on November 24. NFHS is the most comprehensive survey on socio-economic and health indicators in the country. While the results of the first phase...

-The Hindu Business Line In Maharashtra, farmers have no right to decide the price of their own produce When farmers like Suresh Solanke enter the premises of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) at Dharur in Beed district of Maharashtra, they are not sure what will happen to their produce. Like all other APMCs in the State, the APMC at Dharur is dominated by politicians, who act as directors and run the show...

-The Hindu However, the job scheme’s balance sheets remain in the red in 24 States, UTs. The Finance Ministry has allocated additional funds of ₹10,000 crore as an interim measure for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme after it ran out of funds allocated in the budget, according to the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). More funds may be forthcoming based on the “assessment of demand,” added the...

The virility of Muslim men vis-à-vis men from other religious communities have often been used as a political tool and to create a divisive agenda just before elections for getting votes from the majority of the Indian electorate who are Hindus. Instead of focusing on positive agendas like human development, employment generation, and poverty reduction, political campaigns just before the elections oftentimes reduce to mere communal propaganda (when a lot...

-The Hindu Business Line The letter underlined that the MGNREGA has assumed more significance during the period of the pandemic The country’s top economists, researchers, and activists have written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing their concern about the funds crunch in MGNREGA and demanding immediate release of additional funds to ensure that the programme functions as the law requires. The letter, signed by several academics and intellectuals including Jean...