-The New Indian Express An analysis by The New Indian Express shows that it is not just petrol and diesel prices that are scalding you. Prices of edible oil, tea, and pulses have seen a double-digit growth in the last year. When the April 2021 retail inflation came down to a modest 4.29%, an attempt might have been made to communicate a false sense of relief. The real picture, though, is very...

-ThePrint.in Jitendra Prasad, of Patwa Toli village in Bihar’s Gaya district, runs a loom from his three-storeyed house — he makes saffron shrouds, or kafans. Gaya: Swathes of saffron shrouds have been left to dry on the terrace of 50-year-old Jitendra Prasad’s three-storeyed home at Patwa Toli town in Bihar’s Gaya district. The other congested floors house raw materials and nine powerloom machines required to manufacture the shrouds.   Prasad reluctantly admits that...

-ThePrint.in The unemployment rate for women shot up to 17%, more than double the rate for men, data from private research firm Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy revealed. New Delhi: Women in India suffered disproportionately because of the coronavirus outbreak last year and they are once again at the receiving end of the pandemic’s second wave, adding to the risks of economic recovery. From lower wages to job losses and slower pace of...

-IndianSpend.com Recent changes to environment clearance rules allow polluting industries to expand their operations and change their product mix without full central scrutiny. This may weaken the already poor compliance with environmental regulations and could even lead to industrial accidents like the 2020 Visakhapatnam gas leak, experts say. New Delhi: Recent changes in the environment clearance process for India's most polluting industries will allow them to expand their capacity and change their...

-Hindustan Times The second wave will deepen inequality. Expand support to states, universalise PDS, and ramp up MGNREGS now Abandoned by the State that insisted on locking down, refusing to recognise the damage done to their livelihoods, India’s workers asserted their rights and made themselves heard by walking home in March 2020. The long march home was emblematic of the suffering and hardship unleashed by the first wave. A year later, it is...