-The Indian Express Yavatmal: Works worth Rs 36 crore were completed in less than four months, supposedly a manual effort under the central employment scheme MNREGS, according to the Maharashtra's forest department. An inquiry ordered by the district collector has found it was made possible by a collusion between forest officials and contractors, who allegedly used machines. Works worth Rs 32 crore were done in only nine of 56 gram panchayats in...
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Tankers and the economy of thirst-P Sainath
-The Hindu The water markets of Marathwada are booming. In the town of Jalna alone, tanker owners transact between Rs.6 million and Rs.7.5 million in water sales each day Thirst is Marathwada's greatest crop this season. Forget sugarcane. Thirst, human and industrial, eclipses anything else. Those harvesting it reap tens of millions of rupees each day across the region. The van loads of dried-out cane you see on the roads could end...
More »UNDP brackets India with Equatorial Guinea in human development index
-The Hindu However, the country’s value increased 61 per cent from 1980 to 2012 India has been ranked 136 among 187 countries evaluated for human development index (HDI) — a measure for assessing progress in life expectancy, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living or gross national income per capita. The Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for 2013, released on Thursday, puts India’s HDI value for...
More »Debt crushes bonded labourers in Kota’s quarries-Anumeha Yadav
-The Hindu Kota, Rajasthan: The sun is about to set over grey-brown slabs in sandstone quarries in Kota district, Rajasthan. Babulal Khairwa sits at the edge of a quarry and attentively hits a taanki, a chisel shaped like a gigantic nail, placed on the stone with a hammer. Babulal hits the stone with the hammer till it cracks in a straight line. Each 2 by 10 square feet foot slab, or...
More »"Shocking figures" of child labour discovered at Bhilwara brick kilns
-The Hindu NCPCR member visited area for investigation following reports from NGOs The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has detected large-scale child labour at brick kilns in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan and expressed surprise over the district administration’s indifference to the issue. Of the 300 brick kilns functioning in Bhilwara, only 45 are registered with the district administration. NCPCR member and Working Committee on Child Labour in Mines chairman Yogesh...
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