-The Indian Express A renewed funding squeeze may undermine MGNREGA’s recent revival, fear civil society activists. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme which guarantees 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households, may have staged a revival in the last two quarters after showing a declining trend in person-days generation during the first year of the Narendra Modi government. But the turnaround could well be temporary,...

-The Hindu Business Line As the Right to Information Act completes 10 years, we examine how RTI has changed people’s lives, become a byword for democracy, and helped alter the relationship between citizen and state Mintu Devi’s relationship with the ration shop changed the day she filed an RTI. In the jhuggis of New Seemapuri, situated on the northeastern edge of Delhi, she is a legend. The 37-year-old mother of four is...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The ministry of women and child development on Monday strongly refuted a Reuters report which attributed certain comments to Union minister Maneka Gandhi on the impact of cuts in budgetary allocation. The ministry issued a clarification and said the interpretation of the interview and certain comments attributed to the minister in the report are completely incorrect. Here's the full text of the clarification issued by the ministry: Reuters,...

-The Times of India Though laws mandate creches, daycare is like a dream for unorganized labourers. A house is being built in Vasant Vihar, one of the many plots in the neighbourhood under construction. Men and wom en are hard at work. On the ground floor, two-year-old Jitin has been standing by a plastic can for a long, long time. A string around his ankle tethers him to a table. "He could hurt...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Rickshaw pullers, autorickshaw drivers, Anganwadi and Asha workers and other such vulnerable groups may get complete medical care (from primary to tertiary) under the umbrella of employee's state insurance (ESI) scheme. They may also be entitled for a range of cash benefits during exigencies arising out of their jobs such as death, injury, disablement, maternity and unemployment as guaranteed to workers in organized sector under the...