-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,...

-The Telegraph We have raised concerns to Government of India that this seems to really go beyond simply random acts of violence: Balakrishnan Rajagopal Before the latest punitive demolition by the Uttar Pradesh government in Allahabad this month, three United Nations special rapporteurs had written to the Centre criticising similar actions targeting Muslims after communal clashes in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi. This was confirmed by one of the special rapporteurs, Balakrishnan Rajagopal...

-The Telegraph West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited to file separate affidavits stating particulars of the proposed coal mine project in Birbhum district Calcutta: Calcutta High Court on Tuesday asked both the state government and the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) to file separate affidavits in two weeks stating details of the proposed Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harinsingha (DPDH) coal mine project in Birbhum district. A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice...

-The Hindu The government should re-establish its role as the principal employment generator With his announcement that 10 lakh government jobs will be provided over the next 18 months on a “mission mode”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent four messages. One, the creation of employment is indeed a problem and can no longer be hidden from the public discourse. Two, the private sector, especially modern sectors such as the service and manufacturing...

-Newsclick.in The PAEG has said that workers are entitled to wages on a piece-rate, not time-rate, basis. The Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) has opposed the rural Development ministry’s May 13 order discontinuing manual attendance at Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme worksites with more than 20 workers and replacing it with the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app. Terming the decision as a violation of law that will...