-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: The state government may be celebrating the next two weeks as the 'women's empowerment fortnight'. But the census 2011 data, which was released recently, shows that nearly 70.33% of the women in Gujarat who are in their prime working age group of 15 years to 34 years, are of no economic value for their families or state. A large section of these are literate and are...

-The Business Standard States need to create alternative marketing structures for farm produce since middlemen also provide vital services that are otherwise unavailable to the farmer   One of the issues often raised in the context of high food inflation is the pressing need to change the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC), the marketing boards established by state governments. The earlier United Progressive Alliance government had asked the Congress-ruled states to remove fruit...

-The Indian Express The changes also aim to prohibit pregnant women and persons with disabilities from being assigned to machinery-in-motion. In its first major step towards overhauling the country's labour Laws, the government on Wednesday cleared long-pending amendments to three critical Laws in the sector that would enable a doubling of the overtime limit for workers, exemption for firms employing up to 40 workers from compliance of labour regulations and allow more...

-The Hindu The Hindu investigates behind the rape numbers A six-month long investigation by The Hindu has revealed that the nature of reported sexual assault in Delhi is far more complex than earlier imagined. Among the key findings is that a third of all the cases heard during one year dealt with consenting couples whose parents had accused the boy of rape. Over the last six months, The Hindu analysed all cases involving...

-The Hindu Business Line The case against labour inspector raj is overstated. Labour courts need to be strengthened The labour reform debate in India has acquired renewed vigour under the new government. The Rajasthan and the Haryana governments have recently proposed to amend a few Central labour Laws. The Ministry of Labour and Employment has also circulated labour reform proposals. The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has issued an "advisory" to the...