-TheWire.in Members of nomadic and denotified tribes are required to produce address proof from 1961 to obtain a caste certificates, without which they cannot avail the benefits of government schemes. Chetan Ramchandra Pawar, 23, works as a labourer 125 kms away from Pune in the farms of Sansar village. That is, if he is lucky enough to get work. Pawar, who belongs to the Vadar community – a nomadic tribe – otherwise...

-TheWire.in The law will benefit only a minuscule percentage of women, while ignoring the majority who are working as contractual labour, farmers, self-employed women and housewives. New Delhi: The passage of the landmark Maternity Benefits Act 1961 by the Indian parliament, which mandates 26 weeks of paid leave for mothers as against the existing 12, has generated more heartburn than hurrahs due to its skewed nature. The law will also facilitate ‘work from...

-TheWire.in The question to ask is whether it makes environmental sense or effects social justice to ship our dals from across the seas? Pulses — that group of legume crops which includes chickpeas, cowpeas, moong beans, red kidney beans, urad beans, lentils and diverse grams. No matter what your personal choice of dal is though, India is probably eating many if not most of them. But as the world’s largest consumer of...

-TheWire.in Policy makers should conduct deeper analysis on the many subtle factors that shape inflation and its effects on the Indian economy. In 1923 when Rudolf von Havenstein, the president of the German Reichsbank (later known as the Deutsche Bundesbank), recklessly initiated a money printing drive in response to the German government’s demand to spend more money, Germany was inevitably embroiled in a bout of hyperinflation and its worst crisis of the...

-TheWire.in Swaraj Abhiyan founder Prashant Bhushan discusses the Essar tapes and other scams, the role of whistleblowers and his fallout with Arvind Kejriwal. Celebrated lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan has just notched up another victory with the Supreme Court-appointed panel decreeing there was prima facie evidence that former CBI director Ranjit Sinha had attempted to influence the investigation into the coal block allocation scam under the then UPA government. The court’s observation was based...