-The Indian Express The 19-year-old’s mother says that none of their neighbours, most of them Thakurs and Brahmins, had paid a visit to offer condolences. “We collect fodder from their farms. We thought they would come at least once." Every time he goes to the local store, the 50-year-old says, the shopkeeper tells him to stand at a distance and chucks what he has purchased. Upper castes abusing them is so common...

-The Hindu The Code on Wages (yet to be notified) has not succeeded in a consolidation of laws and is a case of tall official claims In the brief monsoon session of Parliament, three new labour codes (The Industrial Relations Code, the Social Security Code and the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020) were bulldozed into passing and now await the President’s assent. Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told the media...

-Down to Earth Complex groundwater systems cannot be controlled or predicted, but need to be better managed and made more efficient The Central Ground Water Authority’s (GGWA) latest guideline — banning the grant of no-objection certificates (NoC) for extracting groundwater to all new industries coming up in ‘over-exploited’ areas — is yet another duplication of previous failed policy regulations. By implication, the new regulatory policy is not pretentious about looking at the problem...

-ThePrint.in Indian farmers have read the writing on the wall. India’s economists have not. Do Indian farmers understand the agrarian economy better than Ashok Gulati? Ridiculous as it might sound, the answer could well be: yes. Professor Ashok Gulati is the leading agricultural economist in India, and among the scholars I read, consult and respect. He combines solid scholarship with genuine concern for the farmers. He has the spine to stand against governments...

-TheIndiaForum.in The rules of the game in markets have changed dramatically. But there are problems with the fundamental premise of the approach, there are doubts about the future of state intervention & there are major lacunae in the bills, all making the outcome uncertain. On 5 June 2020, amidst growing concern over the seismic collapse of the economy and the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government of India promulgated three ordinances...