-Down to Earth MGNREGA budget has declined in real terms over the years, despite claims of “highest ever” allocations In 2004, before India had any legal welfare entitlements for the informal sector, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, was furiously debated in the Parliament and the media. The aim of this legislation was to address the crisis of under employment and unemployment in the rural economy and provide job opportunities through public works...
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It's lonely on the ground -Christophe Jaffrelot & Basim U Nissa
-The Indian Express RTI Act needs to be protected against attempts to dilute it. RTI activists must be made less vulnerable In April, the government of India proposed amendments to the RTI Act, one of the most empowering pieces of legislation inherited from the UPA era. The most controversial amendment pertained to Rule 12. It would allow the withdrawal of an application in case of the applicant’s death, making the job of...
More »They're demolishing Muslim stereotypes, a tweet at a time -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India Last week, a Hyderabad court acquitted 10 accused in the 2005 Hyderabad suicide bomber case. The blast had earlier been pinned on the Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI) of Bangladesh, but the police's special investigation team could not back its claims. While most newspapers and TV channels reported the news, the hardship suffered by the 10 Muslim men who languished for 12 years in prison, was largely buried. Twocircles.net,...
More »India's children need a better deal -V Ramani
-The Indian Express For a country that aims to be a regional power, the data on child nutrition confirms that the situation is abysmal. Save for Bihar, six of the seven states with the highest incidence of stunting, for example, are ruled by the BJP or the BJP and its allies – Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar. After an agonising wait of over ten years, the...
More »Social media slurs on SC/ST punishable: HC -Abhinav Garg
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Any offensive post on social media targeting an individual of the SC/ST community, even if made in a closed group, is punishable, the Delhi high court said Monday. In an important ruling that plugs the gap between online abusers and their prosecution, the HC made it clear that Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, will apply if a casteist slur is made...
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