-UN News Billions of people are facing the greatest cost of living crisis in a generation due to rising food and energy prices amid rapid inflation and increasing debt, leaving the most vulnerable consumers in a dire situation, said the UN trade and development body, UNCTAD on Tuesday. UNCTAD’s analysis shows that a 10 per cent increase in food prices will trigger a five per cent decrease in the incomes of the...
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70 per cent of 10-year-olds in 'learning poverty', unable to read and understand a simple text
-Press release by UNICEF dated 23 June, 2022 COVID-19 worsens global learning crisis, risking $21 trillion in lifetime earnings WASHINGTON: As a result of the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history, learning poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated 70 per cent of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text, according to a new report published today by the World Bank,...
More »Why Eradicating Open Defecation Is Not the Same as Setting up New Toilets -Sujeet Kumar
-TheWire.in * India has reduced open defecation and made some progress to improve sanitation services. But its sanitation system is not yet sustainable and not yet safe. * In Tapoban Basti in Bhubaneswar, some men avoid using the toilet every day to not have to incur the cost of cleaning out the septic tank. * In a basti on the outskirts of Jaipur, a community toilet slowly ran out of water and the...
More »Don't make Punjab a junkyard for machines -Devinder Sharma
-The Tribune With policy-backing, subsidies and availability of easy credit, farmers are being pushed to buy more machines. Punjab has five times more tractors than required. As more technological gadgets and machines are promoted, farmers are increasingly sucked into a debt cycle, while equipment manufacturers are laughing all the way to the bank. At a time when farmers across the world are struggling to recover their cost of production, an Oxfam report...
More »Forget minimum wages, MGNREGA workers not even receiving notified wages in many states
Every year in the month of either February or March, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) announces the notified MGNREGA wage rates (i.e., notified daily wage rates for MGNREGA workers) for various states and Union Territories (UTs) for the upcoming financial year. The MGNREGA rates are notified every year based on the increase in Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL). Like the previous years, in 2021 too, experts and civil...
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