-The Hindu Business Line To tackle homelessness, the government should provide better incentives to developers to provide affordable housing Food, clothing and shelter are three basic human needs. Out of the three, shelter remains beyond the reach of 1.77 million people in India, accounting for 0.15 per cent of the nation’s population (Census 2011). Rights groups, however, say that the actual figure is at least three times higher. Consequently, a large number...

-Business Standard/ India Spend Another limitation of employment at app-based companies is the lack of avenues for professional growth Arif*, 28, shuffled uncomfortably in the driver’s seat of his Maruti Wagon R as he tackled the crowded streets of Lower Parel, Mumbai’s arterial business district, on a sultry April 2019 evening. A hit track from the recent Hindi movie Gully Boy played on the music system but it did nothing to drown...

-The Hindu Several interventions are needed on the demand and supply side to alleviate farm distress Loan waivers remain the preferred solution for governments to tackle farm distress. S. Mahendra Dev and M. Govinda Rao talk about the inability of governments to think of long-term solutions to tackle farm distress, in a discussion moderated by Vikas Dhoot. Edited excerpts: * Despite farm productivity rising, severe distress in the sector is a concern. How...

-Frontline.in The Oxfam India report on employment says jobs remain a huge challenge in India where half of the workforce depends on agriculturefor livelihood. Employment, or the lack of it, has emerged as one of the most contentious issues in the general election this year. Most surveys show that the single biggest concern preoccupying the electorate, especially the youth, is unemployment. The very fact that the government introduced a quota for the...

Non-payment of MGNREGA wages on time to workers and non-revision of daily wage rates, among other things, have kept the poor away from the programme in many states. When the notified daily wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (2005) Act (MGNREGA) for 2019-20 was announced on 26th March 2019, it became clear that the existing wage rates were not revised (viz. as compared to 2018-19) in...