-The Hindu In stark contrast to worldwide trends, women in India are being forced out of the workforce According to a recent report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), India and Pakistan have the lowest rates of women’s labour force participation in Asia, in sharp contrast to Nepal, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia that have the highest, with richer nations like Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia falling in between. Moreover, even this low rate...

-The Hindu The govt. will provide the complete unit cost of the ponds under MGNREGS Karnataka: In a bid to recharge the ground water table and enable farmers to provide water to domestic animals in summer, the Agriculture Department is promoting the construction of farm ponds. Farmers will be provided with the complete unit cost of farm ponds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). Somasundra, Joint Director of Agriculture,...

-PTI Pune: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's labour arm has asked the Narendra Modi government to take note of the "immediate adverse side effects" of demonetisation while welcoming what it called a "rare" opportunity to help those less privileged. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh also cautioned the government against pressuring people to go digital. "We take serious note of the immediate adverse side effects like defects in implementation, cash shortage, slowdown in market, job losses,...

-Livemint.com The impact of demonetisation on the organized sector creates a visible effect. The suffering of Bharat is diffused, invisible, but hugely more painful ‘Why doesn’t the informal sector, supposedly badly hit by demonetisation, protest or scream in pain?’. Defenders of demonetisation often pose this question. The question assumes that the suffering poor people face because of government policies always finds political expression. If you want an answer to the question, please...

-The Telegraph Nagpur: A special investigation team will probe the alleged harassment of poor women borrowers in Maharashtra by loan recovery agents of micro-finance institutions, the state government announced today after month-long street protests and an Assembly debate. Junior home minister Deepak Kesarkar assured an agitated Assembly that the state was considering a law similar to one Andhra Pradesh had enacted in 2011 to regulate the MFIs' lending and loan recovery practices. About...