-The Hindu They amount to an inhuman and illegal treatment, say journalists’ bodies A public interest petition was filed on Thursday in the Supreme Court that certain media organisations have issued termination notices, imposed wage cuts and unpaid leave to their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. A joint petition filed by National Alliance of Journalists, the Delhi Union of Journalists and the Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists said this amounted to an “inhuman and...

-The Hindu Rights groups demand amendments to 2003 citizenship rules Two umbrella organisations of NGOs and rights groups on Saturday said that they would withdraw their call for boycott of the National Population Register (NPR) if Home Minister Amit Shah made amendments to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, according to the statements made by the latter in the floor of the Parliament. The statements were...

-The Hindu The absence of playgrounds and electricity in govt. schools speaks poorly of policy priorities It should rank as an irony that as a founder-leader of the International Solar Alliance, India has not yet electrified a significant number of government schools, while extolling the elegance and virtue of photovoltaic electricity to the rest of the world. The lack of power in schools is taken note of by the Parliamentary Standing Committee...

-Newsclick.in An opaque policy, inefficiency and a flawed target plague this scheme. Over the past twelve months, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been one of the most-cornered ministers of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, owing largely to her weak and often ambiguous comments on the state of the Indian economy. For her and her supporters, this year’s Union budget was meant to both rejuvenate and rekindle investor’s hopes and sentiments. The...

  The Union Budget 2020-21, which was presented by the Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 1st February, 2020 has failed to impress civil society activists and farmers' rights groups (click here  and here). Through their press releases and notes, members of CSOs were demanding as well as suggesting the Union Government for hiking the budgetary allocation for schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and Pradhan Mantri...