A government survey has showed wide disparity between male and female wage earners in the 15-59 age group both in urban and rural areas. The study conducted by National Sample Survey Office for 2007-08 said that while the average wage rate in rural areas was Rs 175.30 per day for males it was Rs 108.14 for females. Similarly, in urban areas, the average wage rate for males was Rs 276.04 per day...
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Divakaran contests FICCI's proposal to privatise PDS
Kerala Food and Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran has come out strongly against the suggestion of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) that the Union government withdraw from grain procurement, storage and distribution under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and outsource these to private operators. FICCI makes the suggestion in a study report, which was released a few days ago. In a statement here on Monday, Mr. Divakaran...
More »From rubbish dump to school room in Mumbai by Prachi Pinglay
The suburb of Govandi in Mumbai is home to the Indian city's only rubbish dump. On any given day children work and play here, seemingly unaware of the scorching sun and the stench from the waste heaps. Among them are probably some of the 8 million children still out of school across India. Few people notice their presence. But in Govandi alone, more than 1,500 children are thought to be...
More »Demographic dividend? by Nitin Desai
Population growth seems to have dropped off the public agenda these days. One reason for this is a twist in the old Malthusian argument that sees the rising proportion of persons of working age as a positive for growth. This shift in the age-distribution, it is argued, will stimulate savings as pressure on household and public budgets for the needs of dependent children comes down. Young workers are assumed to...
More »Audit shock by Purnima S Tripathi
A social audit on the working of the ban on child labour in the domestic and hospitality sectors reveals a sorry state of affairs. LIKE any normal child, Illyas from Varanasi, a 13-year-old, wanted to go to a regular school and become an important man some day. But poverty forced him to start working at an eatery for Rs.200 a day so that he could feed his younger siblings. He,...
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