-Down to Earth Increasing budgetary allocations towards Rural Employment Guarantee Act is non-negotiable   The agriculture sector has continued to serve as a lifeline at a time when the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has hurt every economic activity in an unprecedented manner. It has not only ensured food supply but also provided livelihoods to daily-wage workers during the lockdown, providing the last resort for those rendered homeless. The Union Budget 2021-2022 to...

-IndiaSpend.com Mumbai: This is not the first time Sandeep Srivastava, 21, is preparing to leave his home in southwestern Uttar Pradesh for work. This time, however, his family is tense: The previous time he had migrated for a job, he had ended up in jail. “They are reluctant to let me go. They are scared for my safety,” said Srivastava who belongs to Chauth village in Jalaun district. He was among 25...

-TheWire.in Journalist Seema Chishti interviews the criminology and sociolegal studies scholar about Vikas Dubey's links with the UP police, the Delhi police's investigation of the riots and the custodial death of a father-son duo in Tamil Nadu. Beatrice Jauregui is associate professor at the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. She is most recently the author of Provisional Authority – Police. Order and Security in India....

-The Hindu The state and the rich and middle classes remain indifferent as millions slip into chronic hunger and intense poverty India’s labouring poor have largely disappeared even from the inner pages of newspapers and from television screens. It is as though, after the country has gradually unlocked and most migrants have returned home, the wrenching distress of mass hunger and sudden unemployment that racked their lives has somehow passed. The reality...

-Newsclick.in Municipal official says corporation “acted upon” February orders, issued by NGT; no prior notice was served, alleged the aggrieved residents. The multiple calls to stay at and work from home to curb the COVID-19 outbreak ceased to be a crude joke for residents in Gurugram’s Sikanderpur area, after the municipal body carried out a demolition drive, rendering almost 600 families homeless earlier this week. The shanties – which were home to many...