-The Indian Express The Act was enacted to prevent the exploitation of inter-state migrant workmen by contractors, and to ensure fair and decent conditions of employment. The fallout of the lockdown in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 highlights the urgent need to rationalise the legislative framework for labour in India. Migrant labour has been among the worst affected due to the lockdown. Their efforts to leave the cities before the...

-The Indian Express In Jharkhand and Bihar, the food crisis triggered by the lockdown has put a spotlight on an old problem — leakages and corruption in the the PubLIC Distribution System. Patna, Ranchi: Earlier this week, Jharkhand’s grievance helpline 181 received four calls from Palamu on a single day. All the callers had a similar complaint: though the state had promised 70 kg rice in April, their ration dealer in Medininagar...

-The Hindu The virus reveals how dependence on private sector-led economic growth has proved to be disastrous  Dr. Manmohan Singh’s 1991-92 Budget speech marked the beginning of the end of the ‘LICence Raj’ in India. The Budget also announced the reduction of import duties and paved the way for foreign-manufactured goods to flow into India. Following this, most of the manufacturing sector was opened up to foreign direct investment. India’s industrial poLICy...

-BusinessToday.in The big buyers should be allowed to make direct purchases with minimum or without requirement of any LICensing or registration process, Centre's letter said to the states Union Agriculture ministry has asked state governments to allow bulk buyers, processors and big retailers to purchase agri-produce directly from farmers by bypassing the established mandi systems for at least three months. The directive is meant to achieve two objectives - to decongest mandis...

-The Tribune LIC is India’s biggest stock-market investor. Once listed, it might be tempted to increase its exposure to equities. We know what that did to India’s most popular mutual fund in the late 1990s. UTI’s US-64 collapsed because it had made too many risky investments. Most of 20 crore small investors never recovered investments A few years ago, I was part of a jury to select the best businesses in India...