-The New Indian Express The recent socio-economic and caste census (SECC) 2011 data on deprivations is profoundly disquieting. At the global level too, the latest data on economic inequality is equally disconcerting. That 75 per cent of rural households in India earn less than Rs 5,000 per month or around Rs 33 per capita per day and that over 40 per cent are landless and work as manual casual Labourers even...

-The Times of India Though laws mandate creches, daycare is like a dream for unorganized Labourers. A house is being built in Vasant Vihar, one of the many plots in the neighbourhood under construction. Men and wom en are hard at work. On the ground floor, two-year-old Jitin has been standing by a plastic can for a long, long time. A string around his ankle tethers him to a table. "He could hurt...

-The Indian Express September 18 meeting will focus on cost, specification and security issues Moving ahead with its promise to provide smart cards to unorganised sector workers that would enable them to access social security benefits, the Labour ministry has called for a meeting with smart card vendors and agencies next week. The meeting, called on September 18, will focus on finalisation of the technical aspects of such cards, including cost, specifications,...

-Business Standard This is our season of despair. This year, it would seem, the gods have been most unkind to Indian farmers. Early in the year came the weird weather events, like hailstorms and freak and untimely rains that destroyed standing crops. Nobody knew what was happening. After all, each year we witness a natural weather phenomenon called the "western disturbance" - winds that emanate from the Mediterranean and travel eastward...

-Livemint.com Team of civil servants makes presentation at PMO about plans, briefs top officials of NITI Aayog on strategy New Delhi: Undeterred by opposition from trade unions, the Narendra Modi government appears to have made up its mind to pursue Labour reforms to boost manufacturing that could potentially absorb millions of workers in a country that will have the world’s largest workforce within the next 15 years. The Labour ministry is understood...