-Newsclick.in Casual and contract workers’ proportion to regular workers has gone up to a record 53%. Nearly 2.4 lakh workers of government-run public enterprises have lost their jobs since the Narendra Modi led BJP government took power in 2014. That’s a massive 25 per cent of the workforce. Simultaneously, the number of casual and contract workers has increased to 3.8 lakh. The proportion of such employees has zoomed up from just 36%...

-The Telegraph Many families depend on two entitlements for survival: social security pensions and rations from the public distribution system Particularly vulnerable tribal groups, earlier known as primitive tribal groups, are the sort of people you may never meet unless you take the trouble to look for them. In Jharkhand, they live in small hamlets scattered over the nooks and crannies of the state’s undulating forests. Without a purpose and some local...

-The Hindu The former Chief Election Commissioner on the EVM controversy, why the Supreme Court’s verdict on criminals in politics is a missed opportunity, and electoral bonds The debate on the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) refuses to settle, with political parties continuing to voice their concerns about malfunctioning machines. Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi explains how EVMs work, why he is disappointed with the Supreme Court for refusing to...

-The Hindu Lacking personnel, funds and motivation, the thana is not structured to enforce the rule of law The death of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, shot while trying to control a mob of cow vigilantes in Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh, is a vivid expression of the contempt of our ruling classes, and those aligned to them, for the rule of law. The increasing number of human sacrifices for the alleged protection...

-The Hindu The draft report of the Murli Manohar Joshi-led Estimates Committee on “measuring growth, employment and income” asks the government on how it can address the critical issue of unemployment if it does not have “real time” and “holistic” data. A report by a parliamentary panel headed by BJP MP Murli Manohar Joshi, questioning the reliability of employment data collected by the government, has been stalled following protests by other BJP...