-The Hindu PVC flex, PLAstic boards barred, only recyclable materials permitted THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Guidelines have been issued for ensuring a ‘green’ environment for the 2021 Assembly elections. Political parties and candidates stand barred from using PVC flex boards and banners. They have been asked to avoid flags and festoons made of PLAstics and non-biodegradable materials. Recyclable materials such as cotton cloth, paper and polyethylene alone are permitted for the election campaigns. The logo ‘Recyclable, PVC...

-Hindustan Times Studies have shown that women are willing to be employed, negating the argument that cultural factors keep women from working outside the household According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-19, the female labour force participation rates among women aged above 15 years are as low as 26.4% in rural areas and 20.4% in urban areas in India. Both supply and demand factors contribute to the low levels of employment...

-TheWire.in The mass exodus of migrant workers from cities after the nationwide lockdown has amplified the housing crisis for migrant workers in cities. ‘Low-income migrants’ in cities have always subsumed under the blanket, but arguably vague, term ‘urban poor’. This categorisation overlooks the mobility dimension of migrant workers’ lives where they are constantly moving between PLAces in search of work, following capital. The government’s own estimates also indicate that with each passing...

When a massive sum of public money is spent on a programme like Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA)--a demand-driven programme, there is likelihood of financial misappropriations and mismanagement. Thankfully there are checks and balances in the rural employment guarantee legislation to counter such malpractices. It is worth noting that the total allocation under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGA) for 2020-21 was Rs. 1,11,500.00 crore (R.E.), up...

-The Hindu The Registrar-General of India (RGI) is preparing to conduct field trials of the first phase of the Census and the National Population Register (NPR) using a mobile application in all the States and Union Territories, a senior government official told The Hindu. The first phase involving house listing and housing census, along with updating the NPR, was scheduled from April 1 last year, but was postponed indefinitely due to the...