-ThePrint.in Officials claim the Unorganised Sector Workers’ Social Security Act had some flaws that hampered its implementation, but experts say successive govts slept on it. New Delhi: The thousands of migrant labourers facing a crisis amid the Covid-19 lockdown would have had a safety net if a 2008 law providing social protection to unorganised workers had been implemented. But successive governments have failed to do so. The current database with the government shows...

-Down to Earth Attacks by desert locusts are threatening India, Iran and Pakistan, as well as the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region Desert locusts are breeding 400 times than usual due to favourable climatic conditions, according to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). This explosive multiplication may spell disaster for large parts of Asia and Africa. Favourable climatic conditions for the pests have resulted in their multiplication,...

-The Hindu Averting a humanitarian disaster in India calls for an explosion of NREGA work in the next few weeks The abominable plight of migrant workers in recent weeks has invaded television screens and stirred the nation’s conscience. Alas, this is just the tip of the wave of hardships that is sweeping through the country. The situation looks increasingly alarming in the light of a series of surveys conducted by Azim Premji...

-The Hindu The reforms in agricultural marketing are no more than reiterations of earlier pronouncements The announcement of reforms in agricultural marketing by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in May, has been hailed by some as the “1991” moment for agriculture. While it does not mean much on the ground, it has successfully managed to deflect attention from the pittance offered by way of fiscal support to the agricultural sector, as a part...

-The Indian Express Over 150 years later, amid a pandemic and an economic crisis that has rendered several jobless, as State Governments such as Gujarat, UP, Madhya Pradesh and others bring in ‘labour reforms’ that, in some cases, have suspended almost all existing labour laws, the historical background of some of these laws provide a useful context. The British brought in the system of indentured labour in 1819 via the Bengal Regulations...