-The Hindu The absence of state accountability is at the core of issues facing tribal communities The Report of the High Level Committee on Socio-Economic, Health and Educational Status of Tribal Communities of India, under the chairmanship of sociologist Virginius Xaxa, was circulated last week. The 431-page report details the situation of tribal communities: Scheduled Tribes, de-notified tribes and particularly vulnerable tribal communities. Taking on board the findings and demands of social...

-The Hindu Business Line The rural job guarantee scheme is threatened by the undermining of its driving force, demand-driven work Is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) suffering a midlife crisis or are we staring at its death? From a budget of ₹401 billion in 2010-11, it has plummeted to ₹330 billion in 2013-14. Given the much higher wages currently offered to workers, it has taken a serious hit. The...

-The Indian Express The Centre plans to fix minimum national monthly wages at around Rs 15,000 for all jobs in both the formal and informal sectors in the country. The National Minimum Wages Act, 1948, lays down minimum wages for 45 listed economic activities, which also serve as minimum wages for these activities in the states. However, states can specify minimum wages for over 1,600 economic activities. Raising floor wages to Rs 15,000...

-The United Nations Higher education is a prerequisite for millions of youth in the developing world who hope to find a decent, "non-vulnerable" job, a new United Nations study has established. The study, conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and released today, surveys 28 countries worldwide and demonstrates that having a high level of education "serves as a fairly dependable guarantee" towards securing a formal job. "The report confirms the role of...

-Economic and Political Weekly The current regime seeks to reform labour laws with the understanding that these reforms will improve industrial growth and expand the possibilities of enterprise. However, there is already ample evidence from within India that this obsession with reforming labour law, particularly in the way the government has done it till now, will not take us any closer in creating more jobs or a healthy industrial sector. These...