-The Telegraph Review petition to be filed in Supreme Court against judgment that calls for department as unit for working out quotas The government on Thursday admitted before a parliamentary panel that the Scheduled Tribes would virtually be left without reservation in college and university teachers’ jobs if each department is considered the unit for calculating the quotas, as mandated by the courts. Human resource development ministry officials who appeared before the panel...

-The Hindu Business Line In the wake of the government announcing direct income support of ?6,000 per year for small and marginal farmers in the interim Budget on February 1, the Reserve Bank of India, on Thursday, raised the limit for collateral-free agriculture loans to Rs.1.6 lakh from Rs.1 lakh. The central bank said the increased limit will enhance coverage of small and marginal farmers in the formal credit system. The circular...

-The Hindu Business Line Sociologist Dipankar Gupta discusses the dynamics of political mobilisation and the politics of reservation. Excerpts from an interview to Poornima Joshi: * The Indian state’s failure to provide the basics — universal education and healthcare — has never become the rallying point for political mobilisation. Why is that? The more cleavages of class, caste, language, race a society has, the more difficult it is to practise democracy. Democracy works...

-Livemint.com * In Kerala, the online economy taps into a labour pool willing to take up transient jobs due to lack of better options * The gig industry is defined as a labour market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs ERNAKULAM: The city was fast falling asleep. In home after home, bright porch lights were being turned off behind closed gates. Down an empty...

-The Telegraph The main organisers of the march included the student and youth wings of the CPIML-Liberation, Samajwadi Party and Swaraj India They came for jobs and to defend the quota. Thousands of students hit the streets of the national capital on Thursday, marching from Red Fort to Sansad Marg, to demand better employment and education opportunities in a show of strength that brought together youths from across the country. The 6km march of...