-The Telegraph Thousands of labourers are trafficked out of India every day with promises of more money and a better life. But the reality is far from it Time: 6 in the morning. PLAce: office of the National Anti-Trafficking Committee (NATC) in south Calcutta. The NATC is a non-government organisation. There are seven men sitting around a square table. They have landed hours ago from Kuala Lumpur, where they were working as...

-Financial Express There is an irony being PLAyed out in Delhi. While the national capital is reeling under one of its worst spells of air pollution, the Delhi government is bringing out a series of advertisements claiming that the pollution levels are down by 25%. The advertisements mention that the levels of PM 2.5—particulate matter of size less than 2.5 microns—have reduced from 154 microgrammes per cubic meter (µg/m3) during 2012-2014 to...

-The Tribune Chandigarh: The Punjab Government’s policy of delaying sowing of paddy has resulted in deteriorating air quality, a study carried out by researchers of Harvard University, US, has found. The study titled “Detection of delay in post-monsoon agricultural burning across Punjab, India: potential drivers and consequences for air quality” carried out by Tianjia Liu of the Department of Earth and PLAnetary Sciences and Loretta J Mickley of the School of Engineering...

-Livemint.com Since state administrations failed to contain the noxious smoke of farmland stubble fires in north India, the Supreme Court has had to order a crackdown. Here’s what else we could do There was hope for the residents of a broad expanse of north India, who faced a public health emergency due to air pollution, a significant part of which was caused by smoke arising from the burning of crop stubble—stalks of...

-The Indian Express India’s labour productivity between 2016 and 2018 grew by just 3.7 per cent — a far cry from the annual growth of 14 per cent between 2004 and 2008 An analysis done by India Ratings and Research of Annual Survey of Industries data on India’s labour productivity growth in the organised manufacturing sector shows a disappointing trend. During the high economic growth phase between 2004 and 2008 (just before...