-The Hindu In bridging the GST gap, the Centre ought to help States through the Consolidated Fund of India It is beyond anyone’s imagination that the Government of India would invoke the “Force Majeure” clause against its own people. Unfortunately, this has become reality at a time when every Indian State is massively burdened by the COVID-19 crisis and governance has been severely affected. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement on Thursday that the...

-The Hindu As decennial census operations are limited, India needs new ways to know its cumulative human capital and potential Since India’s crimes data recording system is not built to capture subtleties, we do not know what proportion of pregnancies in India stART off without the consent of the woman, even though the veil of marriage may cover it legally and culturally. While physical and mental violence can be ascertained by a...

-The Hindu State rejects Centre’s options; to work for consensus among States. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala has rejected the two options for Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation mooted by the Centre at the 41st GST Council meeting earlier this week. Instead the State has asked the Centre to take a loan and provide compensation to the States. “We have decided to inform the Centre in writing that the State cannot agree to the two...

-The Hindu Some members furthering an agenda that isn’t in public interest, they say. A group of 40 scientists, environmentalists and ecologists have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding a halt to the Chardham road construction work and that the recommendation of environmentalist Ravi Chopra, who heads a Supreme Court-appointed committee to advise on the sustainable execution of the project, be heeded. The Chardham Project (CP) is an ambitious attempt by the...

ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal workers, including migrant workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...