-The Telegraph Have assured Giriraj of transparency, says Bengal minister Calcutta: Bengal panchayat minister Pradip Majumdar has said that he assured his Union counterpart Giriraj Singh that enough initiatives had been taken in Bengal to ensure the 100 days’ job scheme has transparency while urging him to release funds under the scheme soon. “The Union minister told me the Centre wants transparency in the implementation of the scheme. I assured him that enough...

-Newsclick.in Funds squeeze causes 14-17% refusals every year. The rural jobs guarantee scheme has emerged as a lifesaver for millions of Indians as they struggle with relentless unemployment. But official data shows that a very large number of job seekers are being turned away and not given work. In the FIRst six months of the current financial year (April to October 2022) nearly 1.5 crore applicants for work were refused work.  This situation...

-Newsclick.in Inequality is not natural but manufactured. It’s time policymakers stopped normalising the wealth and income gap. Else, post-Covid inequality could become a permanent feature. Wealth and income inequality are more than just economic concepts. They also influence education and health outcomes, poverty levels, employment and unemployment rates, opportunities, choices, and, ultimately, happiness. Of late, several reports have investigated the impact of COVID-19 on various segments of society at the regional, national,...

-The Telegraph Radhakamal Mukerjee: an ecological pioneer In 1922, a professor at Lucknow University named Radhakamal Mukerjee published a book called Principles of Comparative Economics. Reading the book one hundred years later, I was struck by the attention it paid to the impact of the natural environment on the social and economic life of Indian villages. Mukerjee was perhaps the FIRst Indian scholar to recognise the vital importance of common property resources...

-The Hindu “Hesitation” to comply with the direction would attract proceedings for contempt of the Supreme Court against the erring officers, the court said. The Supreme Court on October 21 said it is "tragic what we have reduced religion to" in the 21st century and a "climate of hate prevails in the country", while directing police and authorities to immediately and suo motu register cases against hate speech makers without waiting for...