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...

-Newsclick.in Prison occupancy in India has been on the rise over the past five years with overcrowded jails struggling to cater to the needs of prisoners. Experts point to the mass incarceration of pre-trial prisoners. Following an increase in prison overcrowding in India, critics are calling for new reforms to the judicial process, to decrease the length of trials and reduce the number of inmates. Three out of every four people held in...

-TheWire.in As Rohingyas in India face rising Islamophobia, a strong tide of Hindu nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiment, the view that fires in refugees camps are due to accidents is rather unconvincing. Rohingya refugee camps in India witnessed four fires in 2021 alone, higher than any other year prior. Between 2016 and 2021, 12 mysterious fires broke out in Rohingya camps alone. Most of these conflagrations demonstrated a peculiar trend – they catalyse...

-Newsclick.in Among 179 countries, India ranked 93 in the Liberal Democracy Index, and 100 in the Electoral Democracy Index, says V-Dem’s report. New Delhi: India has figured in the top 10 autocratising countries of the world along with El Salvador, Turkey and Hungary, and projections indicate that there will be a further decline in democracy in the country, according to a recent report released by the Sweden-based V-Dem Institute (Varieties of Democracy...

-The Hindu Business Line APEDA in touch with countries, exporters to ship out requirements, says its chairman With wheat prices soaring to a record high of $13.50 a bushel (nearly $500 a tonne) on the Chicago Board of Trade on Friday, India is reaching out to exporters and countries that are looking for wheat supplies. In addition, it is also looking to supply other agricultural commodities such as corn (maize) and rice, which...