-The Statesman NIKHIL DEY is one of the founding members of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Since 1990, he has been a full-time MKSS activist and a member of the organisation’s decision-making collective. A leading social activist, Dey has always been involved in grassroots struggles for land and payment of minimum wages. He has also been part of the organisation’s involvement in some groundbreaking campaigns such as people’s Right to Information...

-The Hindu Farmers will march peacefully to parliament in May, says Samyukt Kisan Morcha. Thousands of farmers who have been protesting the three farm reform laws on the borders of Delhi will march to parliament on foot in the first fortnight of May, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders said on Wednesday. They also plan to block the Western Peripheral Expressway surrounding Delhi for 24 hours on April 10 and 11 as a...

-Scroll.in India was the third-worst performer in South Asia, after Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bangladesh topped the list in the region. India has fallen 28 spots to rank 140th among 156 countries on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index. In 2020, India had ranked 112th among 153 countries on the index. “The index benchmarks the evolution of gender-based gaps among four key dimensions – Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and...

-The Hindu Advent of pandemic caused long delays at every stage, says Rural Development Ministry Less than 6% of houses sanctioned under the Centre’s flagship rural housing scheme in 2020-21 have reached completion so far this year, with COVID-19 stalling progress, the Rural Development Ministry told a parliamentary Standing Committee last month. However, some States such as Odisha and Jharkhand used the scheme to provide employment opportunities for migrant workers who returned...

-The Hindu ULPIN land database to be integrated with revenue court records, bank records, and Aadhaar The Centre plans to issue a 14-digit identification number to every plot of land in the country within a year’s time. It will subsequently integrate its land records database with revenue court records and bank records, as well as Aadhaar numbers on a voluntary basis, according to a parliamentary standing committee report submitted to the Lok...