-The Telegraph 2019-20 economic growth tumbles to 4.2% India’s economic growth has tumbled to a 12-year low of 4.2 per cent in 2019-20. What is even worse is that this statistic barely reflects the impact of the coronavirus-induced lockdown, which has silenced the clangour in its factories for over two months. The lockdown began on March 25 — barely a week before the close of the financial year. “Due to a contraction in investment of...

-TheWire.in There remains a wide chasm between the financial resources committed in budgets and the actual expenditure aimed at providing social security benefits for workers. The unprecedented crisis that the unplanned lockdown pushed workers into has once again forced social activists and researchers to contemplate over whether a legislation passed in 2008 by parliament could have provided relief to workers. Careful scrutiny of the financial resources as committed in budgets and the actual...

-The Hindu The projects, including mining and a highway, were brought up during virtual conferences; but site inspections are ‘a crucial component’ of project evaluation, say scientists Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh has a decidedly other-worldly feel. “Yeh kaunsi duniya hai,” my colleague exclaimed as we climbed the towering mountains — home to the endemic goat-antelope MIShmi takin, the ‘bright-eyed’ butterfly Callerebia dibangensis, and the MIShmi wren-babbler. I had read about the...

-TheWire.in In a petition seeking to mitigate the MISeries of migrant workers, the top court also indulged in what under normal circumstances would be considered frivolous talk. “How can we stop migrants from walking”, the Supreme Court is reported to have asked on May 15, 2020. The questions seemed quite incongruous on the face of it but bordered on being bizarre when seen in the light of a statement made by the...

-TheWire.in In an op-ed, the IT services billionaire has said that diluting "already lax laws" will exacerbate conditions of low-wage earners. New Delhi: IT services firm Wipro founder Azim Premji on Saturday said he was shocked to learn of recent decisions taken by various state governments to weaken labour laws. In an op-ed in the Economic Times, the Indian billionaire argued that the dilution of “already lax laws” would not boost economic activity. “This...