-The Indian Express Ill-thought-out assertions about the efficacy of monetary policy can unhinge private expectations of inflation. The Indian Express recently published two articles by Surjit S. Bhalla on the subject of inflation in India (‘Where monetary policy is irrelevant', September 13 and ‘RBI, we have a problem', September 20). Bhalla's central thesis is that inflation in India is primarily driven by changes in the minimum support prices (MSP) for agricultural goods....

-Down to Earth   BJP thinks undoing labour laws will spur a manufacturing boom. Even now workers enjoy little protection or social security In recent weeks, the pink press has been singing paeans to a new star in the political firmament, one whom they see as a worthy disciple of the man who gave us the "Gujarat model" of development. The media's new discovery is none other than Vasundhara Raje, the Rajasthan...

-The Week Manorama Online Broken hearts float down the Bhakra Main Line canal. Broken by the endless struggle with the land, with the weather, with the creditor. Broken by broken promises, broken by the honour they lost, broken enough to kill themselves. And, at the sluice gate at Khanauri village they slow down, looking up with unseeing eyes. And, from the bridge across the canal, the beating hearts they broke look...

-The Indian Express The original Act identifies a factory based on the number of workers employed. More than half the factories across the country may be exempt from the restrictive provisions applicable under the current legislative framework, with the Factories Amendment Bill, 2014 proposing to revise the definition of a factory by effectively doubling the threshold of the number of workers employed in such a unit. The move is expected to ease...

-The Indian Express The changes also aim to prohibit pregnant women and persons with disabilities from being assigned to machinery-in-motion. In its first major step towards overhauling the country's labour laws, the government on Wednesday cleared long-pending amendments to three critical laws in the sector that would enable a doubling of the overtime limit for workers, exemption for firms employing up to 40 workers from compliance of labour regulations and allow more...