-Business Standard Wants one-third of beneficiaries to be women, says wages should not be less than urban state minimum pay, with provision to revise in line with cost of living Civil society activists have recommended mandatory 100 days of guaranteed employment for urban unemployed under any Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme planned by the government. In a letter to union urban development minister Hardeep Puri, People’s Action for Employment Guarantee, (PAEG) which had worked...

-TheWire.in Prime Minister Modi uses only the visible – the hardware – to claim India is 'better off because of right decisions at the right time', even though the claim isn't even true. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim on July 27 that India “is in a better position than other countries” even as a slew of successive lockdowns fattened the COVID-19 case-load curve instead of flattening it, reflects his tendency to make...

-The Indian Express A well-educated woman’s chances of making informed decisions and exercising greater agency in the household is monumental in breaking the cycle of poverty, ill health, as well as malnutrition. India’s Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) stands at 122 as per the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) bulletin from last year — a significant decline from an MMR of 556 in 1990. A parallel decrease in the prevalence of child marriage...

-Newsclick.in Unions of workers under digital platforms are raising voices urging the government to ensure labour rights for gig workers. Hyderabad: Food delivery company Swiggy has reportedly laid-off over 350 employees citing the pandemic, after removing over 1,100 employees earlier in May. While the food delivery sector is one among the worst-hit sectors due to the raging pandemic that resulted in massive indiscriminate layoffs, unions of workers under digital platforms are raising...

-The Tribune The job guarantee scheme kept the rural sector afloat during the pandemic-induced lockdown. The number of people employed under MGNREGA in Punjab has gone up considerably. AMID the Covid crisis, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has sustained thousands of villagers who had been rendered jobless across Punjab. These also include the youth who returned to villages after they lost their jobs in towns and cities. After the...