-IPS News   New Delhi: Bhure Lal, a 33-year-old street-food vendor, has been selling his spicy ‘chaat' outside the New Delhi Railway Station for 15 years. But despite a punishing 12-hour work schedule, and a new law to protect hawkers like him, he doesn't take home enough to feed his family. More than half of Lal's weekly income from the ‘chaat', a lip-smacking pot-pourri that is particularly popular with women, is extorted by...

-The Hindu   While migrant labourers see price rise as their primary concern, they still rate caste and religion as determining factors in their voting decision After the rural poor, farmers and the urban middle class, political parties are now seeking to make a vote bank out of migrant manufacturing labourers. The Bharatiya Janata Party's election manifesto promises the concept of "Industry Family" between workers and factory owners, but does not elaborate on...

-The Indian Express   Contrary to the popular narrative, the second green revolution is underway. A dramatic turnaround of agriculture, India's most important sector, has gone largely unheralded. Contrary to the popular narrative, agriculture has been transformed in the last 10 years. The second green revolution is underway. At the end of the second tenure of the UPA and after a decade of persistent work, we are witnessing record agricultural outputs for every...

-The Indian Express   The UPA has done well to bring rights-based social welfare schemes to the forefront. All opinion polls suggest that the UPA has only a few weeks left in office. After 10 years as prime minister - this gives him the third position in terms of longevity as head of government after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi - what is going through Manmohan Singh's mind as he contemplates retirement from...

-The Hindu   Since 2004-05, for the first time in the history of India, more workers have left agriculture for productive work in industry and services Higher than normal inflation, high current account deficit, a depreciating rupee and slowing GDP growth might hold true in recent times. However, when it comes to employment, the facts are quite different as between 2009-10 and 2011-12, non-agricultural employment grew rapidly. Between 1999-2000 and 2004-05, National Sample Survey...