-Hindustan Times The realities of India’s socio-economic situation are often cited as the reason for some of our more retrograde laws. The one on child labour is a case in point. The Union Cabinet has increased penalties for offenders but at the same time allowed children below 14 to work in select family businesses after school hours. The caveat is that such businesses cannot be hazardous but should be things like entertainment and...
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These radio stations are voices for change in rural India -Bhanu Priya Vyas
-TheWeekendLeader.com/ Women's Feature Service Radha Shukla, 43, can't really remember the last time she took a holiday. "It's been so long since I have celebrated a festival with my family or even taken leave. But I don't mind it; my work is important," she says emphatically. To Shanta Koshti, 50, the years she spent as a poorly-paid ‘Beedi' worker seem like another lifetime. "At present, my entire focus is on motivating people...
More »Why ending poverty in India means tackling rural poverty and power -Vanita Suneja
-Oxfam Blog Vanita Suneja, Oxfam India's Economic Justice Lead, argues that India can't progress until it tackles rural poverty. This entry was posted on 3 February 2015. More than 800 million of India's 1.25 billion people live in the countryside. One quarter of rural India's population is below the official poverty line - 216 million people. A search for economic justice for a population of this magnitude is never going to be...
More »Will tax hike reduce tobacco consumption in India?-R Prasad
-The Hindu The Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, recently said he "supports" higher taxes on cigarettes and other tobacco products. But even if he were to substantially increase the tax rates, will it make cigarettes and other tobacco products very expensive and hence reduce consumption? In the case of India, as per the current taxation practices, increasing the tax component is quite unlikely to reduce consumption drastically. This is unlike the...
More »A huge health burden
-The Hindu That over 27 per cent of tobacco consumers in India fall in the 15-24 year age bracket amply demonstrates how successful the tobacco companies have been in continually enticing the vulnerable sections of the population into the suicidal practice. The addition of new customers every year even as thousands of patrons die annually ensures that the tobacco companies' customer base remains wide and tall. If the global tobacco-related mortality...
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