-TheWire.in Caught in a quagmire of legislations, most construction workers of a particular colony have had no money to deal with illnesses and daily needs. New Delhi: Mariam spent her younger days toiling as a construction worker. When she could no longer work as an elderly person, she got the benefit of a special pension MEAnt for construction workers. This pension of Rs 3,900 per month became the main source of her subsistence...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Union Budget of 2020 is conspicuous by its non-recognition of the ongoing and widely discussed slowdown of the economy, let alone its impact on the different sections of the people. Given the negative growth in employment and consumption in the rural economy, the budget seems like a cruel joke on the plight of the poor, in general, and women, in particular. Instead of MEAsures for boosting...

-The Hindu Following the agreement allowing some 35,000 displaced Bru tribal people to settle permanently in Tripura, tension is brewing between the Brus and the non-tribal Bengali residents who worry that they will become refugees in the State. Rahul Karmakar reports on the challenges to secure suitable land for both Anandabazar, a commercial centre in northern Tripura’s Reang tribal domain, MEAns Market of Happiness. Given by Bengali refugees from present-day Bangladesh during...

-Newsclick.in As the numbers show, the government isn’t putting its money where its mouth is Everyone, including the government, recognises the special health and nutrition needs of adolescent girls. The only trouble is, the Union government forgets this at the time of actually providing funds for nutrition. Why else would the government cut the funds for the specific schemes for nutrition to only a half of the original allocation? In the budget for...

-Livemint.com With no significant spending increase to boost consumption or other major reform, the 2020 budget may lack the firepower to reignite the economy A growth slump, a precarious fiscal position and rising inflation: these are extraordinary times for the Indian economy. Yet in the 2020 Budget, these extraordinary times did not lead to the extraordinary MEAsures so many economists were clamouring for. Like previous budgets under this government, the latest one...