-Press release by National Alliance of Peoples' Movements  dated 28 November, 2019 In yet another of its egregious legislative misadventures, the BJP Government with support from some other parties, passed the regressive 'Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)' Bill, in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, despite wide-spread opposition by members of the transgender, intersex and gender non-confirming communities, seeking referral of the Bill to a Select Committee. We have all been witness to...

-PTI On a supplementary question on when outstanding dues to Andhra Pradesh will be released, Tomar gave an assurance that no pendency of dues relating to Andhra Pradesh would remain with his ministry. The government is awaiting the Labour ministry's decision on modifying consumer price indices before linking MGNREGA wages to inflation, Rajya Sabha was informed on Friday. Replying to supplementary questions during Question Hour in the Upper House on linking of wages...

-The Hindu Only 71% of rural households had access to toilets at a time the Centre was claiming 95% The latest National Statistical Office (NSO) survey on sanitation debunked the claims of an open defecation-free or ODF India made by the Centre’s flagship Swachh Bharat scheme, although it did record great progress in toilet access and use in rural areas. The survey, released on Saturday, showed that about 71% of rural households had...

-The Hindu If big money entirely funds elections in a secretive way, democracy as we know it will not exist The recent disclosures that the Election Commission (EC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had expressed reservations about the Electoral Bonds scheme highlight the importance of this issue. In 2017, the then RBI Governor wrote to the then Finance Minister that “allowing any entity other than the central bank to issue...

-TheWire.in The Agriculture Insurance Company of India returned farmers' premiums after one year, claiming that details had not been provided in "soft copy". The bank, however, has not credited the refund into farmers' accounts. Satlana (Jodhpur, Rajasthan): Thousands of farmers in the Satlana gram panchayat of Rajasthan’s Jodhpur, insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), have been denied insurance claims for two crop seasons – kharif 2016 and kharif 2017. The...