-Reuters Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set in motion the first major revamp in decades of the archaic labour laws, part of a plan to revive the flagging economy, boost manufacturing and create millions of jobs. Successive governments have agreed labour reform is critical to absorb 200 million Indians reaching working age over the next two decades, but fears of an ugly union-led backlash and partisan politics have prevented changes to free...

India has witnessed many fiery debates on poverty estimates. Equally contentious has been the issue of inequality. Now a new report on exclusion offers a fresh perspective on poverty, inequality and social justice. (See below a summary of the report) Based on data and knowledge resources available in the public domain, India Exclusion Report 2013-14 highlights the systematic discrimination faced by women, Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), Muslims, persons with...

-Down to Earth   Programmes launched to promote use of latrines have failed to influence sanitation behaviours of many people It would be wrong to assume that construction of a toilet in every house can curb the problem of open defecation in India. According to a new study, a significant number of people prefer to defecate in open despite having latrines in their houses. The study was conducted by the Research Institute for...

-The Hindu Business Line   Small farmers in Jharkhand are growing more money and seeing better health, thanks to vegetables Indian farmers have often been perceived as lacking in initiative, but the latest developments on the farm front belie that stereotype. Not only have they shown initiative, they have started a quiet revolution. The phenomenon can be summed up in one word: vegetables. Small farmers, reeling from recurring droughts and declining productivity of staple...

-The Indian Express   The food security act is inadequate to meeting the malnutrition challenge. Malnutrition remains one of the biggest challenges facing India. In the last large survey, the National Family Health Survey of 2005-06, about 42 per cent children under the age of five were underweight. Economic growth has failed to redress this problem. Recently released estimates from the District Level Health Survey for selected states continue to paint a dismal...