-The Indian Express Nearly 30 years ago, the Lalu Prasad government in Bihar introduced the step of menstrual leave for Working Women — revolutionary both for the state (which lags on most development indices), and for its time (when women formed a small portion of working staff). Zomato’s decision to grant menstrual leave to its women employees has sparked a polarised discussion on whether such a policy will sow seeds of discrimination...

-Scroll.in In absence of any overarching policy protecting them, home-based workers are one of the worst affected in the coronavirus pandemic. Around 41.85 million workers in India work from their homes as home-based producers. They have always done so, even before the pandemic. The poor quality of their homes and the deficits in housing and urban infrastructure policies have grave economic consequences for them, which are being exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis. At...

-TheWire.in The nature of their work has exposed female workers to a higher degree of abuse and exploitation in the absence of an underlying social or economic safety net An indifferent government’s response to the current pandemic and its economic impact is now presenting a set of scenarios that is likely to exacerbate deep-rooted inequities, otherwise entrenched in different socio-political, economic forms. One particular group worst affected by the economic crisis, particularly within...

-Down to Earth Women adopted specific strategies to further their interests in the context of wheat-based livelihoods, challenging men as sole decision-makers, the study found Women in societies practicing wheat-based agriculture have started challenging the norm of men being sole decision-makers. They are transitioning from workers to innovators and managers, a recent study has found. Women were adopting specific strategies to further their interests in the context of wheat-based livelihoods, the study found....

Although social activists and concerned economists demanded at least Rs. 1 lakh crore to be earmarked in favour of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Finance Minister in her budget speech on 1st February allocated only Rs.61,500 crore to it for the financial year 2020-21. As compared to the fund spent on MGNREGA in 2019-20 (i.e. revised estimate of Rs.71,001.81 crore), the amount set aside for the...