The rise in COVID-19 daily new cases and daily new deaths compelled many state governments to impose local level lockdowns during April-May 2021. As of 20th April, 2021, partial lockdowns were noticed in 10 states across the country and complete lockdown was imposed in Delhi. As of 8th May, 2021, nearly the entire country was under complete lockdown as a result of either partial lockdowns and night curfews or complete...

-GaonConnection.com Karnataka has about 40,000 lakes and close to 10,000 lakes have already disappeared. In the wake of authorities failing to do enough to conserve these lakes, the Karnataka High Court has asked the government to decentralise the mechanism of lake governance both in rural and urban areas by involving local bodies. More details here. Directing a new model of water bodies’ governance in the state, the Karnataka High Court, on June...

-TheThirdPole.net Farmers and consumers are opting to grow coconut trees despite the national push for domestic palm oil production Jeyalakshmi Palaniappan, 55, planted one-and-a-half acres of oil palm in a village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. But she found cultivating them financially unviable and, nine years later, she uprooted them. Now, she grows coconut trees on another piece of land in the same village, and these are bringing her...

Although services provided by the gig and platform workers touch the lives of each one of us, we have little knowledge about the role of digital labour platforms in transforming the world of work. Such digital labour platforms have created unprecedented opportunities for workers, businesses and society. However, they also pose serious threats to decent work and fair competition. A recent report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows that the...

-ThePrint.in From Tamil Nadu to Rajasthan, India has several indigenous water systems that have worked for centuries. As water runs out, we need to return to nature-based solutions. A 13th century stone edict, found inside the Perur Patteeswarar temple near Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore, describes the creation of a nearby lake and lays down rules for a water-sharing arrangement between upstream and downstream regions along the Noyyal river. Starting as early as 8th...