In the absence of income or expenditure-based headcount ratio, the growth in the real wages (i.e., nominal wages adjusted against retail inflation) of the manual workers is considered to be a good proxy to assess the trends in poverty. This is because the manual, unskilled/ semi-skilled labourers exist at the bottom of the pyramid or economic hierarchy, and most of them belong to the social categories Scheduled Castes (SCs) and...

-Hindustan Times Overall, the enrolment of students in classes from pre-primary to higher secondary dipped by 77,585, showed the report released on Wednesday Close to four million students shifted to government-run schools in the 2020-21 academic year, according to a new ministry of education report, which captures how the pandemic affected learning and access to learning during a period when classes went virtual and millions of parents are believed to have lost...

-Press release by the Right to Food Campaign Secretariat dated February 23, 2022 * 66 percent respondents said that their income has decreased compared to the pre-pandemic period * 80 percent reported some form of food insecurity, 25 percent reported severe food insecurity * 41 percent said that nutritional quality of their diet deteriorated compared to the pre-pandemic period * 67 percent could not afford cooking gas in the month preceding the survey. * 45...

-The New Indian Express Having a uniform rate will also be convenient in terms of calculations and indexation in one go for the entire country rather than different States/UTs bringing in their own dynamics, the report said NEW DELHI:  A parliamentary standing committee has flagged the disparity in wage rates in various states under the rural employment scheme MGNREGS, calling it baffling and unjustified. While in states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand, the...

-OutlookIndia.com The Anganwadi workers alleged that they have been deprived of their minimum wage and held the AAP government accountable for making false promises over the ages.  “Jab mahilaon ko ghar ke kaam chhodkar sadkon pe aandolan karne nikalna padta hai, toh ye koi maamuli baat nahi hoti,” said Rajni, an Anganwadi worker from Birij Puri, Delhi. (When women leave their household chores to protest on the street, it’s not a petty...