-Scroll.in In absence of any overarching policy protecting them, home-based Workers are one of the worst affected in the coronavirus pandemic. Around 41.85 million Workers in India Work from their homes as home-based producers. They have always done so, even before the pandemic. The poor quality of their homes and the deficits in housing and urban infrastructure policies have grave economic consequences for them, which are being exacerbated by the Covid-19 crisis. At...

-The Hindu Some members furthering an agenda that isn’t in public interest, they say. A group of 40 scientists, environmentalists and ecologists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a halt to the Chardham road construction Work and that the recommendation of environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who heads a Supreme Court-appointed committee to advise on the sustainable execution of the project, be heeded. The Chardham Project (CP) is an ambitious attempt by the...

-The Hindu State rejects Centre’s options; to Work for consensus among States. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has rejected the two options for Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation mooted by the Centre at the 41st GST Council meeting earlier this week. Instead the State has asked the Centre to take a loan and provide compensation to the States. “We have decided to inform the Centre in writing that the State cannot agree to the two...

-The India Forum Nandini Sundar teaches at Delhi University. Gowhar Fazili teaches at Ambedkar University Delhi. Academic freedom is about the right to study, teach and research a diversity of viewpoints. Yet, this right that is so crucial for the pursuit of knowledge has seen widespread attacks in colleges and universities across India. The New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 claims it is based on principles that include creativity and critical thinking, constitutional values,...

ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal Workers, including migrant Workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...