-The Hindu Rs. 35,399.40 crore spent from ₹78,521.24 crore collected, Minister tells Lok Sabha in written reply Over half the amount collected in the form of a cess on construction projects to fund welfare schemes for workers has not been utilised so far, the Labour and Employment Ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The cess, collected under the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996, is supposed to be used...

-The Hindu The Government needs to stop India’s avalanching slide into a grossly divided society, made worse by the pandemic On January 17, 2022, Oxfam International presented its annual global “Inequality Report”. Titled Inequality Kills, the report calculated and presented the quantum growth in wealth of a minuscule few, and the simultaneous impoverishment of millions of working people. During the novel coronavirus pandemic, the report reveals, more than half the world’s new...

In the month of January this year, more than 100 homeless persons died (please click here and here to access) in Delhi-NCR due to cold wave like conditions. Although a Delhi-based non-government organisation (NGO) Centre for Holistic Development (CHD) made that claim, and therefore asked the Chief Minister of Delhi to make proper arrangements for the homeless poor during winters, the officials of the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)...

-IANS/ The Shillong Times New Delhi: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday asked the states to plan in advance for their fertilisers needs and provide estimates to the Centre so that the Fertiliser Department can timely provide sufficient amount. He also suggested that states should increase the use of NPK and liquid urea and reduce the dependence on DAP fertilisers. Tomar was speaking at the National Conference on Agriculture for Summer...

In the previous news alert, we looked at the under-nutrition problem in the Bundelkhand region in terms of 3 indicators -- proportion of children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age); proportion of children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height); and proportion of children under 5 years who are underweight (weight-for-age). However, the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data also indicates that severe under-nutrition like severe wasting and anaemia among...