-Newsclick.in An assessment by the Environics trust and the Mineral Inheritors Rights Association shows that not even a single company qualifies the fit and proper person test often used by international agencies as a benchmark for a place in the bidding process of natural resources. For the FIRst time in five decades, India’s coal reserves are up for grabs to private sector bidders. The auction for 38 coal blocks is currently underway....

-The Indian Express A collective of NREGA women activists discovers its political voice. As Jean Dreze recently observed, one of the key ideas behind NREGA was that it would serve as a platform for increasing the overall political capacities of workers. It was hoped that people would organise themselves to collectively demand work and, in the process, learn about other legal and constitutional provisions. While learning about the latter has been patchy,...

-PTI/ The Hindu Raipur: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Sunday launched a scheme for distribution of fortified rice through Public distribution System (PDS) and other welfare initiatives for the people of Kondagaon district of the State on a pilot basis, an official statement said. While virtually launching the scheme from here on the statehood day, Mr. Baghel said it will help in checking malnutrition and anemia, it said. “The fortified rice is...

-The Hindu There is a strong case to attribute a more robust responsibility to platform companies and the State The Code on Social Security Bill, 2020, for the FIRst time in Indian law, attempted to define ‘platform work’ outside of the traditional employment category. It says: “Platform work means a work arrangement outside of a traditional employer-employee relationship in which organisations or individuals use an online platform to access other organisations or...

-NetworkIdeas.org The International Labour Organization (ILO) has for some months been bringing out a report that monitors the impact of the pandemic on the world economy, especially the labour-hours lost because of the lockdown and their ramifications. The statistics it provides are not compilations of official data from different countries; they are based on the ILO’s own estimates made with whatever information is available from these countries. One cannot say how...