Far from being dead and gone, slavery exists in many forms and is flourishing. A disturbing report on modern slavery compiles facts and figures and documents data about new forms of slavery all over the world. Even more disturbing is the fact that India figures in very high on slavery index. It says that almost 61% of those living in modern slavery are in 5 countries: India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan...

-Press Release from Centre for Budget Analysis (CBGA) and Jan Awaaz New Delhi, 29 November 2014: There have been a number of media reports recently around possible cuts in Union Budget allocations for the current fiscal 2014-15 in case of social sector programmes, i.e. reductions in allocations in the Revised Estimates (RE) for 2014-15 as compared to the Budget Estimates (BE) that were made in July this year. This issue deserves...

-The Indian Express Eight years after the Sachar committee report on the condition of Muslims and creation of a Ministry of Minority Affairs, a post-Sachar evaluation committee, headed by former JNU professor Amitabh Kundu, has concluded that though a start has been made in addressing development deficits of the community, government interventions have not quite matched in scale the large numbers of the marginalised. Poverty levels among Muslims, the committee found, remained...

-Outlook Ahmedabad: Expressing concerns for the marginalised and small farmers in the country, the Chief Justice of India H L Dattu today said it would be "immensely helpful" for agricultural community if state governments could minimise acquiring and handing over farm land to corporates even as he stressed for "fair" compensation to agriculturists. "Apart from the discussion on impact of climate change on farmers' community, the discussion can also think of how...

-The Indian Express Attitudes toward climate change in India can appear paradoxical. Although India is one of the countries most deeply vulnerable to climate impacts, climate change does not rank high on policymakers' list of concerns. Two factors explain this inattention. First, India has pressing and immediate development concerns, such as providing sanitation, improved healthcare and access to affordable energy to its population, while the effects of climate change appear abstract...